FOUNDATIONS AT THE PERIPHERY:

RUDOLF STEINER'S OBSERVATIONS ON STAR KNOWLEDGE

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.” (3, 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.” (3, 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.” (3, 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 . . . ” (3, 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.” (3, 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.” (3, 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.” (3, 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” (3, 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.” (3, pp. 259-260)