LECTURE 3.
In order to carry further the
matters with which I have dealt in the last few
days, I would now like to refer to the astronomical aspect of
Easter. In order to do this it is necessary to allude to some
of the facts connected with the so-called Moon-Mysteries.
During all those ages in which men were aware of
mystery-wisdom, the Moon-Mysteries were spoken of, and these
were connected with the being of man in so far as he is a part
of the whole cosmos. For we must clearly realize that man with
his complete being is dependent on the whole cosmos, just as he
is dependent on the earth as regards his physical body.
Now
the years of materialism have brought in their train a complete
loss of consciousness on the part of humanity, of the
spirituality existing in the wide spaces of the cosmos, as
revealed in the formation of the constellations, and in
the movements of the stars, when these are planets. No trace of
this consciousness has remained beyond the outward observance
of the stars and the calculation of the movements of the
planets.
When we observe how all this is studied according to the ideas
of modern astronomy, it strikes us as being exactly the same as
if one were to study the human physical organism, completely
unconscious of the fact that it is permeated with soul and
spirit, keeping before one only the conditions of measure, and
the external relationships of movement of this organism, and
forgetting entirely that in the relationship of measure and of
movement the soul and spirit find expression.
In
man, an undivided soul- and spirit-nature comes to expression,
held together by the ego. But in the organism of the whole
universe, spiritual perception finds the expression not of a
single undivided soul- and spirit-nature but of a
multiplicity — an immeasurable, boundless
multiplicity of spiritual Beings, who reveal themselves in the
grouping of the stars, in the movements of the planets, through
the light streaming from the stars, and so on.
All
this multiplicity of spirituality living in the stars is
related inwardly to man in the same way as those things are
related to him, which, from an earthly side, and throughout the
whole realm of Nature, provide him with the means of
sustenance. But the closest connection between man and
the universe has to do with what is called the “Moon
Mystery.”
When the moon is observed outwardly, it is seen in its relation
to the earth to be in a state of metamorphosis or change. At
one time it is seen as a full luminous orb; we look again and
see that only a part of it is luminous — a half, then a
quarter. We also have that state of the moon in which it is
entirely withdrawn from external sight, the state which we call
that of new moon. Then we have again the return of full
moon.
All
this is explained nowadays by merely saying that in the moon we
have a body moving in space which is illumined by the sun from
different directions, so that to us it seems to assume
different forms. But with this we have not exhausted what the
moon does for the earth, and more especially what it does for
man on the earth. We must clearly understand when we look at
anything so apparently physical on the surface, as the full
moon is, that what it here presents to us in its physical
aspect is something entirely different, in that physical
aspect, from what the new moon presents to us (which
because of the relative connection of worlds it cannot do
directly and physically), and we must not think when the moon
does not show itself that its powers and activities are not
present.
When because of the relationship of the heavenly bodies we
know: now it is New Moon ... the moon certainly is
invisible, but because of this it is present in a more
spiritual way than when we see its physical light at the time
of Full Moon. So the moon is present at one time physically and
at another time spiritually. We have therefore a constant
rhythmic alteration between a physical manifestation and a
spiritual manifestation of the moon.
If
we wish really to understand what is brought about through
this, we must turn back to those facts already known to you
through statements made in my book,
An Outline of Occult Science.
We must recall what is said there: The moon was
once within the earth; it belonged to the earth-body; it left
the earth and became what might be called a neighbouring
planet. It has therefore split off from the earth, and now
circles round it. It showed influences exercised by it on men
while it was still connected with the earth.
Man
was, of course, an entirely different being when he lived and
evolved on an earth that still had the moon within it. Since
the withdrawal of the moon the earth has been impoverished in
respect of moon-qualities; from that time man has been
maintained in his lower parts by other forces, by purely
earth-forces, not by earth- and moon-forces. On the
other hand, those forces which (so long as the moon was within
the earth) worked on man from within have now, since its
withdrawal, worked on him from the moon — that is, from
outside.
We
can therefore say: The forces of the moon streamed at one time
through man, they encountered first his feet and legs, then
streamed through him upwards from below. Since the departure of
the moon from the earth these have worked in a reverse
direction, from the head of man downwards. Because of this the
Moon-forces have had an entirely different task for humanity
than they had before.
In
what way did this task show itself? It became evident through
man having a clearly defined experience on descending from
pre-earthly to earthly existence. When a man has passed through
the period between death and rebirth, and has been acquitted of
everything regarding the things affecting his soul and spirit
during that period, he turns his attention to the descent to
earth, to the union of himself with what in a physical,
corporal way is to come to him from his father and mother. But
before — with the help of his ego and astral body —
he can find the means for union with the physical body; he must
be clothed with an etheric body which he attracts to himself
out of his cosmic surroundings.
This occurrence has been fundamentally changed since the time
of the moon's withdrawal from the earth. Before the moon's
departure, when a man, having completed his life between
death and a new birth, drew near to earth again, he had need of
powers by which he could organise the ether which was dispersed
through all the surrounding universe, around himself, his ego,
and astral body into the form of an etheric body. These powers
he acquired on his approach to earthly existence from the moon,
which was then one with the earth. Since the moon's departure
he has acquired the powers necessary to the formation of his
etheric body from outside the earth, in fact from the departed
moon; so that immediately before his entrance into
earthly life man has to apply to that which is contained in the
moon — to something cosmic — in order to construct
his etheric body.
Now, this etheric body must be so constructed that it has, as
it were, an outer and an inner side. Let us try to picture in a
quite diagrammatic way how the etheric body is formed. It has
an outer and an inner side, so that we realize man has to
construct it both outwardly and inwardly. In forming the outer
part of the etheric body he requires the forces of light, for
besides other substances the etheric body is principally formed
of waves of cosmic light. Sunlight is not fitted for this;
sunlight cannot supply the power which enables man to form his
etheric body. For this purpose light is needed that has shone
from the sun on to the moon and has been reflected back from
the moon again, and through this the light has become radically
changed. All the light coming from the moon, and streaming from
it out into the cosmos, contains powers which enable man when
coming down to earth to construct the outer side of his
etheric body.
On
the other hand, that which streams spiritually from the moon,
at the time of the new moon, sends into the cosmos the forces
needed by man for the construction of the inner side of
his etheric body.
Therefore, man's power to form the outer and inner sides of his
etheric body depends on the rhythm between the periods of
bright external moonshine and the dark of the moon.
What the Moon-forces are thus able to bring about in man
depends also on this: that the moon is not the mere physical
body that modern natural science imagines it to be, but that it
is permeated through and through with spirit, that it is indeed
composed of a plurality of Spiritual Beings.
I
have explained on many occasions how it was that the moon
separated at one time from the earth. It was not only physical
substance that passed out into space, but I explained how those
ancient Beings who lived at one time on the earth, not in any
kind of physical body but in a spiritual form, how they were
the original teachers of humanity and withdrew along with the
moon into cosmic space, and that there they established a kind
of moon-colony. So that we must distinguish on the moon between
its physical-etheric and its psychic-spiritual nature, only
this latter is not a unity but a multiplicity.
The
whole spiritual life of the moon is dependent on the manner in
which the Beings dwelling in the moon look from their
moon-standpoint out on the surrounding universe — how
they regard the world around them. And were I to express myself
in a pictorial way I might say: the Spiritual Beings of the
moon turn their attention first to what is of the greatest
importance to them — to the planets belonging to our
planetary system. Everything that takes place in the moon, by
which man receives in the right way the forces necessary for
the forming of his etheric body, depends on the results of
observations
(Beobachtungsresultaten)
arrived at by those Beings living, as one might say, in the moon
and observing from it the planets of our surrounding planetary system
— Mercury, Sun, Moon, etc.
This was a knowledge that existed in certain of the Mysteries.
An ancient knowledge preserved in certain of the Mystery
Oracles held that the constellations and the mutual movements
of our planetary system were observed from the moon, and that
in accordance with these movements the deeds of the Moon-beings
were determined.
Stress was laid on this by those who regarded the Moon as the
point from which, in a certain way, world-connections
(Weltenverhältnissen)
having to do with the formation of
the human etheric body were determined; and these Moon-forces
came to be associated in the consciousness of men with
the forces of the other planets.
We
see this in the names of the days of the week, how
Moon
| | = |
Monday.
|
and
how the moon in its observation has to do
|
with
Mars or Zeus on
| Zeusday | = |
Tuesday.
|
with
Merkury or Wodin on
| Wodensday | = |
Wednesday.
|
with
Jupiter or Thor on
| Thorsday | = |
Thursday.
|
with
Venus or Freia on
| Freiasday | = |
Friday.
|
with
Saturn on
| Saturnsday | = |
Saturday.
|
with
the Sun itself; which does not work directly with its forces
on the etheric body, but is reflected indirectly from the moon
on
| Sunsday | = |
Sunday.
|
So
men came to associate what was perceived from the moon with
that which entered their consciousness regarding the
relationship of the planets to different parts of time.
In
the centres of the Ancient Mysteries something like the
following was said: “Remember, O man! that before thy
descent to earth thou hadst need of powers that were built up
by the moon, through the fact that the Moon-beings gazed upon
the other planets of the planetary system. Thou hast to thank
the powers of the moon derived from Zeusday, Wodensday,
Thorsday, Freiasday, etc., for the special configuration
assumed by thine etheric body at its descent into thy physical
body.”
Thus on one side we have the rhythmic progression of the moon
in periods of light and darkness round the earth; on the other
side we have the impression made on the consciousness of men by
the whole sequence of the planets in their courses. The
Mysteries added to that which had already been given out, this:
Because certain Moon-beings could gaze on Mars, man was enabled
to organize within his etheric body the capacity for
speech. Because these Beings were able to gaze on Mercury,
man acquired that which enabled him to construct within his
etheric body the aptitude for movement.
If
people desire to speak in accordance with these Moon-mysteries
at the present time, it is possible to give expression to them
in an entirely different form: this can be done by means of
Eurythmy. Eurythmy develops out of speech. Having investigated
the mysteries of language, by allowing the Moon-beings to
instruct us in what they are able to observe when gazing on
Mars, we make further investigations: we then notice how what
we investigate changes, if after having directed our
observation to Mars we direct it to Mercury. Thus when we turn
from what the Moon-beings experience through Mars, to what they
experience with regard to Mercury, we pass from the human
aptitude for sound-production to the human aptitude for
Eurythmy. This is to explain the matter in its cosmic aspect.
What pours into man as the capacity for acquiring wisdom
comes to him through experiences the Moon-beings have in
respect of Jupiter.
All
that permeates the souls of men, as love and
beauty, they receive through the experiences that come
to the Moon-beings from Venus.
The
experiences that come to the Moon-being through their
observation of Saturn impart to the etheric bodies of men their
inner soul-warmth; and that from which man must be
preserved, that which must be repulsed, as it were, by him so
that the construction of his etheric body is not disturbed
immediately before its descent to earth, is what comes to him
from the sun. Thus those things come from the sun — or
rather from this contemplation of the sun — against which
man must be shielded by protecting powers so that he may become
a being cut off and enclosed within his etheric body.
In
this way man learns to know what takes place on the moon. In
this way he also learns how the human etheric body is formed
— how it is constructed when a man comes down from
pre-earthly into earthly existence. The things just described
are those connected with the Mysteries of the Moon
(Mondengeheimnisse).
It is possible to speak of such things
to-day; in certain of the Ancient Mysteries they were not only
described but experienced — truly experienced. They were
experienced in such a way that what is written below was not
only known but really inwardly felt —
Monday
|
—
|
Tuesday
|
Speech.
|
Wednesday
|
Movement.
|
Thursday
|
Love, Beauty.
|
Saturday
|
Inner
Soul Warmth.
|
Sunday
|
Protective
Forces.
|
Through initiation into the Mysteries, of which I spoke in the
last lecture, people could rise above mere sight by the eyes,
and hearing by the ears, as these are known in earthly
conditions, they could free themselves from the body, they
could withdraw
(sich fernhalten)
from the physical body and
live only in the etheric body. But when living thus in the
etheric body a man lived with all those things of which I have
just been speaking. He then lived with speech, not as formed by
the larynx, but with the speech that resounds in Mars as
universal language
(Weltensprache).
He moved in accordance with
the way Mercury controls movements in the cosmos; not with feet
and limbs, but in the sense in which Mercury guides the
movements of human beings. A man did not then attain to wisdom
with such trouble as is customary in the years of a child's
education to-day, and which in this materialistic age is in
fact un-wisdom, but he lived directly in the wisdom of Jupiter,
because he was able to unite himself with the Moon-beings who
gaze on Jupiter. When men were initiated in this way they were
actually and entirely within the rays of the moon's light; they
were not beings living in flesh and blood on earth — they
had left the earth and dwelt as beings in the moonlight, but in
moonlight that was modified and transformed by what lived in
the other planets of our planetary system During the periods of
spiritual observation a man living in such Mysteries was a
Light-being of the Moon. This must not be taken in a symbolic
sense, or thought of as in any way abstract; but just as a man
is aware of reality when he goes on a journey, say to Basle and
back, such an one was conscious of the reality about him when
through the ceremonies of initiation he had approached the
Moon-beings.
Such a man knew that he had left his physical body for a time,
and with his soul- and spirit-nature had entered the
light-sphere of the Moon, that he had been clothed with a
light-body, and, because united with the Moon-beings, he had
gazed out into the wide spaces of the planetary worlds and had
actually been able to perceive what it is possible to discover
there. And what was it he saw? The principal thing he saw
— he saw other things too — was that the forces
coming from the Sun-beings have nothing to do with the
formation of the human etheric body. In observing the sun he
beheld something that for the etheric body was disruptive; and
he knew that none of the forces proceeding from the etheric
body could be acceptable to the sun, but that such forces must
proceed from the higher members of human nature, from the ego
and the astral body. Only on these could the Sun-forces work.
Thus he knew that one did not look to the sun, but to the
planets, for the human etheric body. One looked to the sun for
the human astral body, and especially for the ego; but that for
the whole inner power of the ego one must turn to the sun. This
was the second fact that came to him through initiation into
the recurring mysteries of the moon: the fact that in the
etheric body he belonged to the planetary system, but that for
the forces strengthening and permeating the ego and the astral
body he must look to the sun.
The
actual result of this initiation was that a man felt himself to
be one with the moonlight, but that through the
moonlight-existence
(Mondenlichtdasein)
of his own being he
could gaze into the sun. He now said to himself: The sun sends
its light to the moon because it must not impart it directly to
man. He receives the moonlight united with the forces of the
planets. From these he constructs his etheric body.
These secrets were known to anyone who had been initiated in
this manner. By this he knew in how far he bore the power of
the spiritual sun within him. He had seen it. He had reached a
consciousness of the extent to which he bore the spiritual sun
within him. This marked the degree of initiation he had gained,
and by which a man became a Bearer of the Christ, which means a
bearer of the Sun-being; not a receiver, but a bearer of the
Sun-being. In the same way as the moon when it is full is a
bearer of the sunlight, so such a man was a bearer of the
Christ — a Christophoros. Initiation to this degree was
therefore an entirely real experience.
And
now picture to yourselves that other absolutely real experience
by which a man escapes from the earth and, as an initiated
human being, rises to the existence of a Light-being, and think
of this earlier inward human Easter experience as changed to a
cosmic experience — a cosmic festival. In later times men
knew nothing of this; they did not know that such a thing was
possible as that a man could really pass out of earthly
existence into super-earthly existence, could unite with the
Moon-nature
(mit dem Mondenhaften)
and from the moon gaze on
the sun. But a remembrance of this had to be preserved; and
this remembrance is preserved in the Festival of Easter.
The
way in which all this can be experienced by man does not pass
over into our later super-materialised consciousness.
Instead, we are left with but an abstract conception of it. A
man no longer looks into his own being so that he says: I can
become one with the moonlight ... but he looks to the
moon — to the full moon. In those days he looked up to
the full moon and said: It is not I who evolve so as to attain
that; but the earth which strives towards it. When does she
strive towards it most? She strives towards it most in early
spring, when the forces which were formerly with the seeds and
the plants within the earth stream forth from the surface of
the earth. On earth these forces become plants; but they go
further, they stream forth into the wide spaces of the cosmos.
In the Mysteries people made use of the following image; they
said: At the time when the inner forces of the earth carry that
which streams upwards through the stalks and leaves of plants
out into the cosmos, man is able most easily to attain to the
Sun-moon initiation and become a Christophoros; for he then
floats, as it were, towards the moon on the forces that in
spring stream from the earth to the moon. But he has to do this
at the time of the full moon.
All
this passed into the memory of the people, but it became
abstract. They felt something must come to them with the full
moonlight.... but it was an unconscious feeling, it was no
longer a clear knowledge that these people experienced.
Something, not the man himself, streamed up towards the full
moon when this was the first full moon after the beginning of
spring.
What can the full moon do now? It gazes on the sun — that
is, it gazes on it on the first day dedicated to the sun, on
the first Sunday following the coming of spring. As in former
times the Christophoros looked up to the Sun-being from the
standpoint of the moon, so the moon now gazes on the sun
— that is, on what it symbolises — on the
Sunsday.
Thus we have, say on the 21st of March, the beginning of
spring; the forces of the earth then begin to reach forth into
space. The right moment must be awaited when the observer
— the full moon — is present. Full moon falls this
year on the 21st of March. What does the moon gaze on? The sun.
The following Sunday was then fixed as Easter Sunday.
It
is therefore an abstract computation of time, and has endured
as the relic of an entirely real event of the Mysteries which
took place frequently in ancient times and happened to many
people.
This is the truth concerning the Easter festival. Our present
day spring festival represents a certain occurrence in the
Mysteries that was celebrated everywhere in spring; but this
occurrence in the Mysteries was different from the one I
described in the first lecture.
The
one I then described was that which led men to an understanding
of death. I then explained that the thought of resurrection,
which was made comprehensible by such means as the celebration
of the Adonis festival in autumn, led them in about three days,
through experiencing death, to a realization of
resurrection in the spirit. This process of resurrection
belongs really to autumn for the reason I then stated.
The
event I am describing to-day is different; it was celebrated in
other Mysteries and was carried out in connection with
special initiations, those of the sun and moon. And this event
was placed by man at a time before the beginning of life
(vor den Lebensanfang).
So that we must be able to look back to a
time when in certain Mysteries there was knowledge concerning
man's descent from pre-earthly to earthly existence, and in
other Mysteries — those connected with autumn —
there was knowledge concerning his ascent to that which was
spiritual.
But
in later ages, when there was no longer any understanding
for the living connection between man and the spiritual nature
of the cosmos, it happened that the autumnal festival of the
Mystery of Resurrection became simply confused with the mystery
of man's descent
(Niederstiegsmysterium)
— that of the
spring.
In
the confusion which thus arose we see how materialism gradually
entered into human evolution, and how this not only gave rise
to false views but actually produced absolute confusion in
men's minds regarding things in which at one time a holy order
reigned. For there was a holy order in the fact that, as autumn
approached, a cosmic festival drew near which again called
attention to an occurrence in the Mysteries. On these occasions
it was said: Nature now becomes barren, withers and dies; this
resembles the death of the physical side of man. But while man,
when looking at Nature, sees only that which works
destructively, something lives in him that is eternal,
something that, disregarding what takes place in Nature, can be
seen in spirit, something that rises after death to life in the
spiritual world. In the mystery of the spring season it was
made clear to men that Nature is conquered by the spirit; that
spirit works down again out of the cosmos; that physical life
will sprout and spring again from the earth because the spirit
compels it to do so.
At
this festival men were not to think of how they passed through
death to a spiritual life but of how they had come down
from what was spiritual. Therefore, when Nature first began to
stir in spring, man had to think of his descent into physical
life; and when Nature was in decline, then he had to think of
rising to what was spiritual — to think of his
resurrection. The life of the soul can be intensified in an
extraordinary way when anyone thus experiences his connection
with the cosmos. The carrying out of these mysteries varied in
different regions. In ancient times there were some races that
were really more Autumn-people and some who were more
Spring-people. The people of the Adonis-mystery were among the
Autumn-people; the Spring-people were connected with other
Mysteries, more with those I have been describing to-day. And
only those people who, seeking wisdom, journeyed like
Pythagoras from Mystery to Mystery have passed through the
totality of human experiences. Prom one Mystery
“station” where the secrets concerning autumn
— the true Sun-mysteries — were seen, they passed
on to another where the secrets of the Spring — the
Moon-mysteries — could be perceived. This is why we are
always told concerning the ancient fully qualified Initiates
that they travelled from one station of the Mysteries to
another. It could be said of them that in a certain way these
Initiates experienced the year inwardly through its festivals.
An Initiate of olden times might have said: When I arrive at a
place where the Festival of Adonis is celebrated, I behold
within me the autumn of the universe and the rays of the
spiritual sun when the night of winter begins. If he came to
another place where the Spring-mysteries were celebrated he
said: Here I behold the secret of the Moon-mysteries. Thus he
learnt to know inwardly that which was connected with the real
meaning of the whole year.
You
can gather that our Easter Festival is really burdened with
something that it should not be burdened with. Our Easter
should really be a Festival of Burial, and this burial-festival
had also to occur in spring, as was really the case in respect
of the Festival of Human Spirituality; it was a festival for
the purpose of stimulating men to work, and was necessary
for primitive humanity as summer approached. Thus the Easter
Festival was a Festival of Exhortation to work during summer.
And the Autumn Festival, the Festival of Resurrection, was an
exhortation to strive towards the spiritual world, and was
celebrated at the time when work ceased in the outer world. But
when man ceased from work it was intended that he should
experience in his inner being that which was of greatest
importance to his soul and spirit: consciousness of the eternal
part of him, by looking to his resurrection in the spiritual
world three days after death.
When we pass in this way from earthly mysteries
(Geheimnissen)
to cosmic knowledge we are able to recognise the inner
structure of the order of the year in its festivals. But much
of what was veiled in the festivals, much of what they really
contained, has disappeared.
In
the next lecture I shall endeavour as far as possible, and in
close connection with certain Mystery-stations, to enter more
deeply into the subject which to-day I desired to place before
you more in accordance with the connections of the heavenly
bodies themselves.
|