The Spiritual Hierarchies
GA 110
Düsseldorf, April 13, 1909, Evening
Lecture IV
[ 1 ] When considering the conditions of Saturn which are still transparent and less immersed in Maya, we glance back a little at what was said this morning, we shall be able to understand in what way the liberation or imprisonment of certain beings can be brought about — the liberation of those beings of which we spoke yesterday in relation to that most significant and incisive passage of the divine Gita. Remember it has been said that if the Spirits of Personality in ancient Saturn had each time absorbed those egg-shaped bodies of warmth without leaving anything behind, then at the end of its evolution the whole of Saturn would have been reabsorbed into the spiritual world. As was stated, this did not happen, but the Spirits of Personality impressed their mark on the whole of Saturn in a much more intense way than they would otherwise have done; they impressed it through those remnants they left on Saturn, for they did not take everything away with them; they left those outwardly perceptible bodies of warmth behind them.
[ 2 ] What is the power that rules in the Spirits of Personality on ancient Saturn? It is no other than that which we know in modern man as the power of thought. For in reality, the Spirits of Personality did nothing else on ancient Saturn but exercise the power of their thoughts. They brought about the formation of these eggs of warmth, because they conceived the idea of them. Thus it is the power of conception in the Spirits of Personality which has, however, a much stronger potentiality than is the case with modern humanity. What is the power behind the force of ideas, or concepts, in modern humanity? When one formulates an idea to-day, it is formed only in the astral; the conception penetrates only a far as the astral. And so the permanence of that form cannot be distinguished in the outer physical world. On ancient Saturn the Spirits of Personality were powerful magicians. They formed those eggs of warmth on Saturn by the force of their thoughts, and through that same force they also left them behind. So in reality it was the power of those Spirits of Personality which caused the residue of ancient Saturn to be left behind, and this appears again and again, and still appeared even during the Sun evolution.
[ 3 ] It is perfectly comprehensible that an entity, who is really human should take on form from his surroundings, (for the eggs that were formed there were constructed out of the surroundings of Saturn) and those eggs were bewitched, or chained to a further existence. To day, this is presented to you in a more general sense, for the conditions we spoke of yesterday had not as yet become so complicated.
[ 4 ] At this point we might say: Behold the Saturn fire, behold that which is always spiritualised anew by that ancient fire, that which is ever withdrawn again as inner soul's fire, as comfortable warmth which rises upwards into higher worlds. But if only this had been there, Saturn would have disappeared into higher worlds. That which is perceptible as outer warmth, which has condensed into external warmth must be born again, must appear again, and does appear next on the Sun, as has been described.
[ 5 ] Now let us glance at the other things we have described in the previous lecture. We have made it clear that those beings of the spiritual hierarchies whom we call Archangels, or Fire Spirits, passed through their human stage on the ancient Sun; that there the element of warmth condensed on the one side to smoke, or to gas, so that the sun became a ball of gas, and that on the other side the gas burned in such a way that light streamed out into the world; and it is the Archangels or Fire Spirits who lived in the outstreaming light, who inhaled it and poured it forth and had their being in the light. As I have already said, if you could have then taken a voyage through the universe to the Sun, you would have seen that ancient Sun shining before you in the distance. In the interior you would have seen various streams and currents of gas; you would have perceived it as the breathing process of the whole body of the Sun.
[ 6 ] Let us now call up once more before our minds this ancient Saturn and ancient Sun. We have seen that in both of these planetary bodies life and activity reigned, that something was happening there. We have been able to describe ancient Saturn, the egg formations, which were always built up there anew and again dissolved, with the exception of those remnants which remained behind. Anyone observing this inner activity of Saturn would have said to himself: ‘Saturn is really a living being. It is in truth exactly as if it were a living being. It lives: it lives in itself; it continually builds up forms out of its own life and so on.’ In a still higher degree is this the case with the ancient Sun. It presents itself as an unit, as a totality in the changing conditions of its Sun's night and Sun's day, of the inhalation and the exhalation of light. If it could have been observed it would have given the impression of a heavenly body which was not dead, but was full of life.
[ 7 ] Now everything that lives, that has that sort of activity, is inwardly living and inwardly in motion because spiritual beings govern and guide that motion. We have indeed said, that the Spirits of Personality built those egg forms through their thought power. Yes, but first something must exist, out of which the substance of those eggs can be taken. The Spirits of Personality, those primeval ‘beginners’ or Archai cannot produce that substance. That is the first, principle thing we must put before our minds, that something must be there which provides the substance, that is the undifferentiated warmth, the fire itself. The spirits of Personality are only those who mould that substance. But the warmth — they must receive from elsewhere. Whence does the total world of Saturn, and whence, before all others do the Spirits of Personality, get that warmth substance, that warmth or fire element?
It comes from Spirits essentially higher, Spiritual Beings who have passed through their human evolution so very long ago, that on the ancient Saturn they were already far beyond that stage.
In order to form an idea of such sublime Beings, and why they were necessary to the out-giving of the fiery warmth of ancient Saturn, we must by way of a comparison, recall to our minds the development of man himself, for man will also, some day, become a divine being.
[ 8 ] We know that the man of to-day, as he stands before us, consists in his human nature of four parts which are the key to all spiritual science — that the man consists of the physical, etheric and astral bodies, and of the ‘I.’ We know how a man develops these further, that the ‘I’ works from within outwards, that in the first place the astral body is changed in such a way as to bring it completely under the dominion of the ‘I.’ Now when the astral body is so far transmuted that the ‘I’ has complete power over it, we say: this astral body has become of such a nature that it can contain the Spirit-self or Manas. It is the same with the etheric body. When the work of the ‘I’ becomes still more effective, it masters also the resisting forces of the etheric body, and the transmuted etheric body is the Life-spirit or Budhi. And last of all, when the ‘I’ becomes ruler of the physical body, when it overcomes the strongest of the resisting forces, the forces of the physical body, then the man has in him the Spirit-man or Atma. So he should be a seven-membered man when he had transmuted his physical body to Atma or Spirit-man. Externally, the physical body is seen just as a physical body, but internally, it is completely dominated by the ‘I,’ it glows with the ‘I;’ such is the body which is physical body and Atma at the same time. The etheric body is at the same time etheric body and Life-Spirit or Budhi, the astral is astral body and Spirit-self or Manas; the ‘I’ has now become the general Ruler. Thus man pushes onwards to higher stages of development, thus he transforms himself, and works at his own godliness, at his deification, as is said by Dionysius, the Areopagite, the friend and pupil of the Apostle Paul. But arriving at this point, development is not yet finished. When the man is so far advanced that he has completely conquered and absolutely dominated the physical body, he has still higher stages of development before him. This rises ever higher and higher, and we gaze upwards into spiritual heights, to super-human beings, and these become ever mightier and mightier. In what really does the continual increase in the power of those Beings consist, how is it expressed? It consists in this, that in the first place they are in need of something, they want something, they demand something from the world, and that later on they develop to the point, when they themselves have something to give. Fundamentally, the whole meaning and spirit of evolution rests on the fact, that we pass from taking, to giving. You have an analogy for this in human evolution in our life here between birth and death: the child is helpless, it must receive the help of those about it. It grows more and more out of this helplessness, and at last itself become a helper in its turn. So too in the great universal evolution of the human race.
[ 9 ] On ancient Saturn, man existed only as the earliest human physical germ. There he had to content himself with receiving the first foundations of his humanity; and so it continued all through the Sun and Moon period. On the Earth he acquired his ego, and now he is gradually preparing himself to let his Ego act upon his astral and etheric bodies and his physical body. Through this he will gradually grow into a Being who will be able to give, cosmically. This Being grows gradually in cosmic, universal giving; from taking he grows to giving.
You have an example of this indeed in those beings of whom we have spoken already, in the Archangels or Archangeloi. In a certain sense they already developed on the Sun to the point when they could give out light to universal space.
Thus, evolution progresses from taking to giving. In the case of giving, the thing goes very far indeed. Let us take some being who can give only his thoughts; that speaking truly, is not as yet much to give; for he who gives thoughts — even if he has given ever so many thoughts, when he goes away things remain as they were. He has not given anything visible or tangible, in the higher sense. But a time comes when Beings do not only give thoughts and the like, a time when they are able to give much more, when for instance, they will be able to give just that which the Spirits of Personality had need of on ancient Saturn: the substance of the warmth-fire.
[ 10 ] Who was at such a high stage of development that they could then let that warmth of ancient Saturn stream out of their own bodies? They were the Beings whom we call Thrones or Spirits of Will.
[ 11 ] Thus we see that ancient Saturn took form through the fact, that from the surrounding universe the Thrones concentrated on one point in space. They did in great measure what in a lower sphere of existence is done by the silkworms, when they spin threads of silk out of their bodies. The Thrones spun the substance of warmth out of themselves, sacrificed themselves on the altar of Saturn.
We have to regard the life of the Spirits of Personality on Saturn in such a way, that these Spirits of Personality or Archai actually imparted personality, Ego-consciousness to the warmth. The substance of the fire-warmth streamed together from out [of] the universe, — the Cosmos, it streamed forth from highly exalted Beings — the Thrones.
We now know of what those eggs of warmth, that arose on Saturn, consisted. They were spun out of the bodies which the Thrones offered up as a sacrifice.
[ 12 ] But that would not have sufficed; the co operation of the Spirits of Personality had the power to give form to the substance of warmth, but they could not do it alone. To produce that inner life and activity, other spiritual beings were necessary who had also had to inhabit ancient Saturn, beings inferior to the Thrones, but higher than the Archai or Spirits of Personality. To their share fell the task of helping the Spirits of Personality. We can form an idea of that help if we think of the Angels who are the first immediately above us, then of the Archangels, then of the primeval Beginnings, or Spirits of Personality — Archai. These Beings belong to the Hierarchy which stands next above us. The Thrones do not come immediately above the Spirits of Personality. There are intermediate stages between the Spirits of Personality, and the Thrones, and it is there that those Beings stand, whom we call Powers or Exusiai, according to Dionysius the Areopagite; Powers is the name in English (also Spirits of Form). The Powers are one stage higher than the Spirits of Personality. They hold the same relation to the Spirits of Personality which the Angels do towards us. Yet a stage higher than these Powers are those Beings we call Mights — Spirits of Motion — Dynamis. These were related to the Spirits of Personality on ancient Saturn in the same way as the Archangels are to us to-day. A stage higher still than the Spirits of Motion are those beings we call Spirits of Wisdom — Dominions, Kyriotetes. They were to the Spirits of Personality on ancient Saturn, what the Spirits of Personality or Archai are to us now. Then, after these come the Thrones or Spirits of Will.
[ 13 ] Thus on ancient Saturn we have an ascending scale of Beings: the Spirits of Personality who awaken and bring about the ‘I’ consciousness; we have the Thrones, Spirits of Will, who stand four stages higher than the Spirits of Personality, and who give out the fire substance; and in between, to order and guide all the life on ancient Saturn, we have, naming them from below upwards: the Powers, or Spirits of Form; the Might or Spirits of Motion; the Dominions, or Spirits of Wisdom; in Greek Exusiai; Dynamis and Kyriotetes. These were, if one may so call them, the inhabitants of ancient Saturn.
[ 14 ] Whilst the ancient Saturn is evolving into the Sun — as we have described in the last lecture — those Beings who have just been named are also evolving each one stage higher, and the Archangels enter upon the human stage. Externally — we might say physically — the warmth condenses into gas. The Sun is a gaseous body. While ancient Saturn was a dark warmth-body, the Sun now begins to shine outwardly; but it alternates, so to speak, from Sun-days to Sun nights. It is particularly important to take notice of those interchanges from Sun-days to Sun-nights. For an enormous difference between the life of the days and the nights obtains on ancient Sun. If nothing else had intervened but what has been described in the Third Lecture, the Archangels, who are the men of the ancient Sun, would during the Sun-days hurry with the rays of light out into the Universe, would expand to the Universe and would have to return to the Sun during the Sun's nights. It would be an inhaling and exhaling of the light, together with all the creatures weaving their existence within it. But it is not so.
I should like once more to describe these Archangels, in a simple, I might also say trivial, way. It pleased them too much, when they soared out into the Universe; the flowing outwards, the soaring up to the Spirits of the universe, pleased them more than the contracting, or drawing of themselves together again. The latter seemed a narrowing, inferior existence. Life in the light-ether pleased them better. But they never could have extended this life in the light-ether further than a certain limit, if something had not come to their help. If those Beings on the ancient Sun had been left to themselves, it would have been quite impossible for them to do anything else than bravely to return to the Sun, in the Sun-night. Yet they did not do it, they lengthened the time of their stay outside in the Universe always more and more, they remained longer and longer in the Spiritual World. Who helped them to do this?
[ 15 ] Let us imagine that the small circle is the ball of the Ancient Sun; the Archangels strive to get out into the spaces of the world from all sides of that ancient Sun ball, they spread out their presence, spiritually into the Universe. The Archangels were helped in this out-spreading by the fact that there were Beings out in the Universe who came to meet them. Just as earlier, the fire elements of the Thrones, streamed towards ancient Saturn, so now other Beings come to meet the out-streaming Archangels, Beings who are still higher than the Thrones, and these help them to stay longer out in the Universe than they otherwise could have done.
[ 16 ] Those Beings who came out of spiritual space to meet the Archangels, we call Cherubim (The Spirits of Harmony). They are Beings of an exceptionally sublime nature; they have power to receive the Archangels, so to speak, with open arms. When the Archangels spread outwards, the Cherubim came to meet them, out of the Universal All. Thus, all round the globe of the ancient Sun, we have the approaching Cherubim. If I may use the comparison — just as our earth is surrounded by its atmosphere, so was the ancient Sun surrounded by the realm of the Cherubim, for the benefit of the Archangels. When the Archangels went out into the Universal spaces, they beheld their great helpers.
[ 17 ] In what way did those great helpers meet them, and what appearance had they? This can naturally only be stated by clairvoyant consciousness as read in the Akasha Chronicles. These great Universal Helpers revealed themselves in quite definite etheric shapes or figures. Our forefathers who, through their traditions, were still conscious of these most important facts, represented the Cherubim as those strangely winged animals with differently formed heads — the winged Lion, winged Eagle, winged Bull, winged Man. The fact is, that the Cherubim made their approach from four sides, in forms afterwards represented in the way the Cherubim are known to us. In the schools of the first post-Atlantean Initiates, these Cherubim, approaching the Ancient Sun on four sides, were given names, which later became the names, Bull, Lion, Eagle, Man.
[ 18 ] The aspect presented by the Ancient Sun, was that of its human inhabitants, otherwise called Archangels, passing out into Universal space, and the four kinds of Cherubim, coming from four sides to meet them. On account of this, the Archangels were enabled to stay in the spiritual region which surrounded the ancient Sun longer than they otherwise could have done. For the influence of those Cherubim upon the Archangels was vivifying in the highest degree, in the spiritual sense. But as the Cherubim came into the vicinity of the Sun, their influence was active also in another way. They acted in the way described, on those Sun-beings who had evolved up to the element of light, who knew how to live in that element. But this element of light could be influenced only during the Sun-days, when light streamed out into Universal space. But there were also the Sun-nights when light did not stream out. The Cherubim were then also in the skies. During this time, when the Sun-planet was darkened, only warmth-gas was there, the illuminated warm gases streamed within the Sun-ball. Round about it were the Cherubim sending down their influence, which was active now within the dark gas. When the Cherubim could not act in a normal way upon the Archangels, they sent their influence into the dark smoke and gas of the Sun. Whilst on ancient Saturn influences were exercised upon the warmth, influences were now exerted out of cosmic space on the condensed warmth, or gas, of the ancient Sun. To this action we must ascribe the fact, that out of that Sun-mist was built the first foundation or germ of what we call to-day the animal kingdom. Just as the earliest foundations of the human kingdom arose in the physical human body on Ancient Saturn, so on the Sun, out of its smoke and gas was formed the first germ of the animal kingdom. Out of the warmth of Ancient Saturn was formed the first germ of the human body; on the Ancient Sun was formed the first germ of the smoke-like changing animal bodies, created through the mirroring of the forms of the Cherubim in this Sun-gas.
[ 19 ] Thus, we find, spread abroad in space surrounding the Sun — that totality of exalted Beings, the Cherubim who receive the Archangels, as it were, with open arms — and we find also, evoked as by magic out of the Sun-gas during the Sun's nights, the earliest germinal beginnings of the animal kingdom. The animal kingdom in its first physical foundation grew out of the Sun mist. Therefore those of our forefathers who from the Mysteries had knowledge of these deeply important things out of spiritual Cosmology, called the Beings, who, acted upon the Ancient Sun, from all sides of Space: the Zodiac or Animal Circle. That is the primeval significance of the Zodiac. On Ancient Saturn the germinal beginnings of humanity were first laid down, and the substance which to-day is in the physical body was poured out, sacrificed, by the Thrones.
On the Sun was laid down the earliest beginnings of the Animal Kingdom, through the forms of the Cherubim being mirrored in, and conjured forth from, the gas which had condensed from the warmth substance of the earlier planet.
Thus the animals were in the first place reflected Sun-images of the Zodiac. There is a real inner relation between the Zodiac and the animals which were coming into existence upon the Sun. Truly it is not for nothing, that such names have been given to those things. One must never think that in those ancient times names were chosen at random. To-day, when a new planet is discovered out of the planetary chain, what does the Astronomer do who has had the luck to discover it? He opens a Lexicon, finds a Greek mythological name which is still unappropriated and sticks it upon the star. In the times when in names people looked for the expression of the things represented; in the times when the Mysteries were still powerful, names were not given in that way; but in the names then given you could always find the deeper meaning of the thing itself.
[ 20 ] The forms of our animals, even although to-day they are degenerated into caricatures, have been brought down from the encircling Universe, from the figures of the Zodiac, as they then existed.
It may strike you that we have mentioned only four names of the Zodiac. These are the principal expressions for the Cherubim; for in reality each of those Cherubic forms has to left and to right a sort of follower or companion. Think of the form of each Cherubim having two companions and you will have twelve forces and powers encircling the Sun, certain indications of which already existed on the Ancient Saturn. We have twelve such powers, belonging to the kingdom of the Cherubim, who have to perform their task in the Universe in the way we have just described.
[ 21 ] You may now ask: What relation has this to the ordinary names of the animal circle or Zodiac? We shall say a word about this during the next few days. For the sequence of the names has somewhat changed. One generally begins to count with Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo. Then comes Virgo the Virgin and Libra the Scales or Balance. The Eagle, through a later transformation, has had to be named Scorpio, for a definite reason. And then the two companions: Sagittarius, Capricornus. The Man, for reasons which we will hear later, is called Aquarius the Water-man. Then Pisces the Fishes. You still see the true form, out of which the Zodiac originated, in the Bull (Taurus), in the Lion and a little in the Man, which in the ordinary exoteric nomenclature is called the Waterman. We shall explain in the next few days why the Zodiac has passed through this transformation. [ 22 ] High spiritual Beings, high Hierarchies, the Thrones gave out of their own substance the fire of Ancient Saturn. Still higher Beings, whom we characterise as Cherubim, took into themselves the light which sprang from the fire and glorified its existence, uplifted it. But each time that an uplifting process happens in the Universe, a lowering process must also step in to create the relative balance or adjustment. In order that the Archangels should have the opportunity of extending their spiritual existence during daytime, the Cherubim were obliged to continue their activity by night, and bring forth the animal beings which are lower than humanity, forms evoked out of that warmth-substance which had condensed into mist, gas and smoke.
[ 23 ] You have thus been given the first idea, in the sense of the primeval wisdom, of the way in which certain Spiritual Beings of the Universe act in unison with our own planetary body; and at the same time you have been shown how in the outward, physical world everything can always be traced back to spiritual Beings. That which we call so materially the Zodiac to-day (from the Greek word which implies figures), animals, and living beings originated in the kingdoms of the Cherubim, who, from the encircling Universe, sent down their influence upon the Ancient Sun and allowed their forces to stream forth into this Universe as a force of light.
[ 24 ] With this we have introduced an important conception of the Animal circle or Zodiac, and we shall continue this study tomorrow; we shall gradually be able to rise to the comprehension of other universal bodies, and have more and more light thrown upon their relationship with the spiritual Hierarchies.
Vierter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Wenn wir nunmehr etwas zurückblicken auf das heute vormittag Gesagte, dann wird uns an den noch durchsichtigeren und weniger in Maja oder Illusion getauchten Verhältnissen des Saturn klarer sein können, wie sich vollzieht die Erlösung oder die weitere Fesselung von gewissen Wesenheiten, die wir gestern in Anknüpfung an jene tief einschneidende, bedeutungsvolle Stelle der Göttlichen Gita erkannt haben. Erinnern Sie sich daran, daß gesagt worden ist: Wenn die Geister der Persönlichkeit auf dem alten Saturn jedesmal diese eiförmigen Wärmekörper aufsaugen und nichts zurücklassen würden, dann müßte der ganze Saturn, wenn er seine Entwickelung vollendet hat, eigentlich in die geistige Welt aufgesogen werden. Nun geschieht das aber nicht, wie ausgeführt worden ist, sondern die Geister der Persönlichkeit auf dem alten Saturn, die drücken sozusagen intensiver, als sie es tun sollten, dem ganzen Saturn ihren Stempel dadurch auf, daß sie etwas von sich zurücklassen, daß sie nicht alles wiederum in sich aufnehmen; daß sie also die äußerlich wahrnehmbaren Wärmekörper zurücklassen.
[ 2 ] Welche Kraft ist es denn eigentlich, die da in den Geistern der Persönlichkeit auf dem alten Saturn waltet? Das ist keine andere Kraft als diejenige, die wir heute kennen am Menschen als die Denkkraft. Denn im Grunde genommen tun die Geister der Persönlichkeit auf dem alten Saturn nichts anderes, als die Kraft ihrer Gedanken ausüben. Daß diese Wärme-Eier sich bilden, das bewirken sie dadurch, daß sie in sich die Vorstellung dieser Wärme-Eier hervorrufen. Also es ist die vorstellende Kraft bei den Geistern der Persönlichkeit, die nur eine viel stärkere Macht hat, als es beim heutigen Menschen der Fall ist. Was hat die vorstellende Kraft des heutigen Menschen für eine Macht? Wenn Sie heute eine Vorstellung sich bilden, meine lieben Freunde, dann bildet sich bloß im Astralischen eine Form, die Vorstellung setzt sich bloß bis ins Astralische hinein fort. Daher kann auch nicht äußerlich-physisch das Bleiben dieser Form konstatiert werden. Auf dem alten Saturn waren die Geister der Persönlichkeit gewaltige Magier. Sie haben durch ihre Gedankenkraft diese Saturn-WärmeEier geformt und sie durch ihre Gedankenkraft also auch zurückgelassen. So war es im Grunde genommen die Kraft dieser Geister der Persönlichkeit selber, welche Reste vom alten Saturn zurückgelassen hat, und diese Reste erscheinen nun immer wieder und wieder und zuletzt sogar während der Sonnenentwickelung.
[ 3 ] Da haben wir es also sehr greifbar, daß eine Wesenheit, die eigentlich Mensch ist, aus der Umgebung heraus Formen entnimmt - denn was als Eier da geformt wird, das ist aus der Umgebung des Saturn heraus gebildet - und daß diese Eier verzaubert, gefesselt werden bis zu einem nächsten Dasein.
[ 4 ] Also hier tritt es uns schon, weil die Verhältnisse noch nicht so verwickelt sind, in umfassenderem Maße vor Augen, was wir gestern gesagt haben. Hier könnten wir sagen: Sieh an das Saturnfeuer, sieh an dasjenige, was von dem alten Saturnfeuer immer wiederum vergeistigt wird, was immer wiederum zurückgenommen wird als inneres Feuer, als Seelenfeuer, als Wärmebehaglichkeit, das steigt auf in höhere Welten. Und wäre nur das da, so würde der Saturn in höhere Welten verschwinden. Das, was wahrnehmbare äußere Wärme ist, was zur äußeren Wärme sich verdichtet, das muß wiedergeboren werden, wiedererscheinen und erscheint zunächst, wie beschrieben worden ist, auf der Sonne.
[ 5 ] Nun blicken wir zurück auf das übrige, das wir heute beschrieben haben. Wir haben uns da klargemacht, daß auf dieser alten Sonne diejenigen Wesenheiten der geistigen Hierarchien, die wir Erzengel, Archangeloi oder Feuergeister nennen, ihre Menschheitsstufe durchmachen, daß das Wärme-Element bereits auf der einen Seite sich zu Rauch verdichtet, zu Gas, so daß die Sonne bereits eine Gaskugel ist, und daß auf der anderen Seite dieses Gas so verbrennt, daß Licht in den Weltenraum hinausströmt. Und es sind eben gerade die Erzengel oder Feuergeister, welche in diesem Ausströmen des Lichtes leben, welche Licht einsaugen und ausströmen und darinnen ihr Leben haben. Und ich habe Ihnen schon gesagt, daß, wenn Sie damals eine Reise durch den Weltenraum hätten unternehmen können, Sie die alte Sonne gesehen haben würden von ferne Ihnen entgegenleuchten. Im Innern der alten Sonne würden Sie die verschiedenen Gasströmungen wie einen Atmungsprozeß des ganzen Sonnenleibes wahrgenommen haben.
[ 6 ] Nun halten wir uns noch einmal vor die Seele diesen alten Saturn, diese alte Sonne. Wir haben gesehen, daß in diesen beiden planetarischen Körpern Leben und Regsamkeit herrscht, daß da etwas geschieht. Wir haben ja den alten Saturn so beschreiben können, daß sich auf ihm diese Eierbildungen neu formen und wiederum auflösen mit Ausnahme der Reste, die zurückbleiben. Daher würde jemand, der diese innere Regsamkeit des alten Saturn beobachtete, sich sagen: Eigentlich ist dieser Saturn ein einziges Lebewesen. Es ist wirklich so, wie wenn er völlig ein Lebewesen wäre. Er lebt; er lebt in sich selber, er bildet aus seinem eigenen Leben heraus fortwährend Formen und so weiter. Und in noch höherem Maße ist das bei der alten Sonne der Fall. Sie stellt sich dar als eine Gesamtheit in den Wechselzuständen von Sonnentag und Sonnennacht, von Einatmen und Ausatmen des Lichtes. Das alles würde, wenn es eben beobachtet werden könnte, den Eindruck von nicht toten, sondern von lebensvollen Weltenkörpern machen.
[ 7 ] Nun ist alles dasjenige, was lebt, was überhaupt in einer solchen Tätigkeit ist, deshalb innerlich belebt und bewegt, weil geistige Wesenheiten diese Bewegung lenken und leiten. Zwar haben wir gesagt, daß die Geister der Persönlichkeit durch ihre Gedankenkraft diese Eiformen bilden. Ja, aber erst, das werden Sie begreiflich finden, erst muß etwas da sein, woraus der Stoff zu diesen Eiern genommen werden kann. Den Stoff können die Geister der Persönlichkeit, die Urbeginne oder Archai, nicht schaffen. Das ist das erste, was wir uns vor die Seele führen müssen, daß etwas da sein muß, was den Stoff hergibt, also die undifferenzierte Wärme, das Feuer selber. Die Geister der Persönlichkeit sind nur diejenigen, die es formen, aber die Wärme müssen sie erst von anderswoher empfangen. Woher empfängt nun die gesamte Welt des Saturn, also vor allem die Geister der Persönlichkeit, woher empfangen sie diesen Wärmestoff, das Wärme- oder Feuerelement? Das kommt nun von wesentlich höheren Geistern, von geistigen Wesenheiten, welche ihre Menschheitsstufe so weit zurück durchgemacht haben, daß sie auf dem alten Saturn schon längst über diese Menschheitsstufe hinaus waren. Wir müssen uns, um uns eine Vorstellung zu machen von solch erhabenen Wesenheiten, wie sie notwendig waren, um das Wärme-Feuer des alten Saturn herzugeben, wir müssen uns vergleichsweise die Entwickelung des Menschen selber ein wenig vor die Seele rücken, denn der Mensch wird ja einstmals auch ein göttliches Wesen.
[ 8 ] Wir wissen, daß der Mensch, wie er heute vor uns steht, aus den vier Gliedern der menschlichen Natur besteht, die wir oft erwähnt haben, die aber der Schlüssel sind zu aller Geisteswissenschaft: daß der Mensch besteht aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib, astralischem Leib und Ich. Wir wissen dann, wie sich der Mensch weiter entwickelt; daß das Ich von innen heraus arbeitet, daß es zunächst den astralischen Leib umgestaltet, um ihn ganz unter die Herrschaft des Ich zu bringen. Wenn nun dieser astralische Leib so weit umgestaltet ist, daß das Ich ihn in voller Gewalt hat, dann sagen wir: Dieser astralische Leib ist so geworden, daß er das Geistselbst oder Manas in sich enthält. Ein Astralleib also, der vom Ich beherrscht wird, ist Geistselbst oder Manas. Ebenso ist es mit dem Ätherleib. Wenn das Ich noch bedeutsamer arbeitet, so überwindet es auch die widerstrebenden Kräfte des Ätherleibes, und der umgewandelte Ätherleib ist der Lebensgeist oder die Budhi. Und endlich, wenn das Ich Herr wird über den physischen Leib, wenn es die am stärksten widerstrebenden Kräfte, die des physischen Leibes, überwindet, dann hat der Mensch in sich auch noch den Geistesmenschen oder Atma. So daß wir dann einen siebengliedrigen Menschen haben, der seinen physischen Leib umgewandelt hat zu Atma oder Geistesmenschen. Nach außen hin erscheint der physische Leib als physischer Leib, innerlich ist er ganz beherrscht und durchglüht vom Ich; da ist der physische Leib zugleich physischer Leib und Atma. Der Ätherleib ist zugleich Ätherleib und Lebensgeist oder Budhi, und der astralische Leib ist zugleich astralischer Leib und Geistselbst oder Manas, und das Ich ist nun der Herrscher in allen geworden. So rückt der Mensch auf zu höheren Stufen seiner Entwickelung, so gestaltet er sich selber um, so arbeitet er seiner Vergottung entgegen, der Deifikation, wie Dionysius der Areopagite, der Freund und Schüler des Apostels Paulus, sagt. Aber mit diesem Punkt ist die Entwickelung noch nicht abgeschlossen. Wenn der Mensch so weit aufgerückt ist, daß er sich ganz bezwungen hat, daß er ganz diesen physischen Leib unter seine Herrschaft gebracht hat, dann hat er noch höhere Stufen der Entwickelung vor sich. Es geht immer höher und höher hinauf, und da blicken wir in geistige Höhen, zu übermenschlichen Wesenheiten hinauf, und immer mächtiger werden diese Wesenheiten, immer gewaltiger und gewaltiger. Und worin besteht es denn eigentlich, daß Wesenheiten immer mächtiger werden? Das besteht darin, daß sie zuerst sozusagen bedürftig sind und etwas brauchen; daß sie etwas verlangen müssen von der Welt und daß sie später sich dazu entwickeln, erwas geben zu können. Darin beruht im Grunde genommen der Geist und Sinn der Entwickelung, daß man vom Nehmen zum Geben hinschreitet. Sie haben ja ein Analogon an der menschlichen Entwickelung schon hier zwischen Geburt und Tod: Das Kind ist hilflos, muß nehmen die Hilfe derjenigen, die in seiner Umgebung sind. Immer mehr und mehr wächst es heraus aus dieser Unbeholfenheit und wird endlich selber ein Helfer in seinem Kreis. So ist es auch mit der großen Menschheitsentwickelung im Universum.
[ 9 ] Der Mensch war auf dem alten Saturn als erste physische Menschenanlage vorhanden. Da mußte er noch sozusagen sich geben lassen die erste Anlage zur Menschheit. So ging es aber auch während der Sonnen- und der Mondenzeit. Auf der Erde bekam er sein Ich, und jetzt bereitet er sich allmählich vor, sein Ich wirken zu lassen in den Astralleib, Ätherleib und physischen Leib hinein. Dadurch wird er allmählich ein Wesen, das kosmisch geben kann. Es wächst das Wesen allmählich hinein in das kosmische, in das universelle Geben, aus dem Nehmen in das Geben. Ein Beispiel haben Sie ja auch an jenen Wesenheiten, von denen wir heute gesprochen haben, an den Erzengeln oder Archangeloi. Sie haben sich in einer gewissen Beziehung schon auf der Sonne dazu heranentwickelt, daß sie dem Weltenraum das Licht geben können. Also, die Entwickelung geht vom Nehmen zum Geben. In bezug auf das Geben geht aber die Sache sehr weit. Wenn irgendwelche Wesenheiten, nehmen wir an, bloß ihre Gedanken geben können, so ist das im Grunde genommen noch nicht viel des Gebens, denn wer Gedanken gibt - nun, wenn er noch so viel Gedanken gegeben hat und er geht hinweg, so ist es so wie früher. Er hat sozusagen nichts Sichtbarliches, nichts Substantielles im höheren Sinne gegeben. Aber es kommt dann eine Zeit, wo die Wesen nicht nur so etwas wie Gedanken oder dergleichen geben können, sondern wo sie viel mehr geben können, wo sie zum Beispiel das geben können, was gerade die Geister der Persönlichkeit brauchten auf dem alten Saturn: den Stoff des Wärme-Feuers.
[ 10 ] Wer war denn nun auf einer so hohen Stufe der Entwickelung, daß er aus seinem eigenen Leib ausströmen konnte diesen WärmeFeuer-Stoff des alten Saturn? Das waren jene Wesenheiten, die wir als die Throne bezeichnen.
[ 11 ] So also sehen wir, daß der alte Saturn sich bildet, indem aus dem Umkreis des Universums sich zusammenziehen an einem Punkt des Weltenalls die Throne und, ich möchte sagen, im großen Maßstabe das tun, was in einer niedrigeren Sphäre der Seidenspinner tut, wenn er seinen eigenen Leib ausspinnt in den Seidenfaden. Sie spinnen den Wärmestoff heraus, opfern ihn hin am Altar des alten Saturn, die Throne. Wir haben das Leben der Geister der Persönlichkeit auf dem alten Saturn so anzusehen, daß diese Geister der Persönlichkeit oder Archai im Grunde genommen eben bloß die Persönlichkeit, das Ich-Bewußtsein geben dieser Wärme. Die Substanz des WärmeFeuers, die strömt zusammen aus dem Universum, aus dem Kosmos, sie entströmt hohen, erhabenen geistigen Wesenheiten, den Thronen. Wir wissen also jetzt schon sozusagen, woraus diese Eier bestehen, die da auf dem Saturn vorhanden sind. Sie sind aus dem sich hinopfernden Leib der Throne gesponnen.
[ 12 ] Aber das würde noch nicht genügen, damit würde der Saturn noch immer nicht jene innere Lebendigkeit und Regsamkeit haben, wenn bloß die Geister der Persönlichkeit und die Throne da zusammenarbeiten würden. Die Geister der Persönlichkeit haben die Kraft, den Wärmestoff zu formen, aber sie können das nicht allein machen. Damit diese ganze innere Regsamkeit, diese innere Lebendigkeit des alten Saturn zustande kommt, muß der alte Saturn noch bewohnt sein von anderen geistigen Wesenheiten, die niedriger sind als die Throne, aber höher als die Geister der Persönlichkeit oder Archai. Diesen fällt die Aufgabe zu, den Geistern der Persönlichkeit zu helfen. Auch über diese Hilfe können wir uns eine Vorstellung machen, wenn wir daran denken, daß wir über uns haben zunächst Engelwesen oder Angeloi, Erzengelwesen oder Archangeloi und Urbeginne oder Geister der Persönlichkeit, Archai. Diese Wesenheiten sind der Hierarchie angehörig, die zunächst über uns steht. Die Throne sind nicht die allernächsten über den Geistern der Persönlichkeit. Zwischen den Geistern der Persönlichkeit und den Thronen gibt es Zwischenstufen, und das sind die Wesenheiten, die wir nennen die Gewalten oder Exusiai nach Dionysius dem Areopagiten. Gewalten also, das ist der Name, den wir im Deutschen gebrauchen dürfen. Die Gewalten sind um eine Stufe höher als die Geister der Persönlichkeit. Sie verhielten sich dazumal zu diesen Geistern der Persönlichkeit, wie sich zu uns verhalten die Engel. Wiederum eine Stufe höher als diese Gewalten sind diejenigen Wesenheiten, die wir die Mächte nennen, Dynamis. Sie verhielten sich zu den Geistern der Persönlichkeit auf dem alten Saturn, wie sich heute zu uns die Erzengel verhalten. Und eine Stufe höher als die Mächte sind diejenigen Wesenheiten, die wir Herrschaften, Kyriotetes nennen. Sie verhielten sich zu den Geistern der Persönlichkeit aufdemalten Saturn, wie sich zu uns die Urkräfte oder Geister der Persönlichkeit verhalten. Dann erst kommen die Throne.
[ 13 ] So haben wir auf dem alten Saturn eine Stufenfolge von Wesenheiten: Die Geister der Persönlichkeit, die das Ich-Bewußtsein anregen und durchführen. Wir haben die Throne, die um vier Stufen höher stehen als die Geister der Persönlichkeit, die den Feuerstoff hergeben. Und zwischen drinnen, damit alles Leben auf dem Saturn geregelt und gelenkt werden kann, haben wir stehen, von unten nach oben, die Gewalten, die Mächte und die Herrschaften — Exusiai, Dynamis und Kyriotetes. Das ist, wenn so gesagt werden darf, die Bevölkerung des alten Saturn.
[ 14 ] Indem nun, wie das heute vormittag geschildert worden ist, der alte Saturn sich fortentwickelt zur Sonne, da entwickeln sich diese Wesenheiten, die jetzt aufgezählt worden sind, um eine Stufe höher, und in die Menschheitsstufe treten ein die Erzengel. Äußerlich, wir könnten sagen physisch, verdichtet sich die Wärme zum Gas. Die Sonne ist ein gasiger Körper. Und während der alte Saturn ein dunkler Wärmekörper war, fängt die Sonne an, nach außen zu leuchten, aber sie wechselt sozusagen ab in Sonnentagen und Sonnennächten. Und das zu beachten, daß sie abwechselt zwischen Sonnentagen und Sonnennächten, das ist von ganz besonderer Wichtigkeit. Denn es herrscht auf dieser alten Sonne ein gewaltiger Unterschied im Leben zwischen Sonnentagen und Sonnennächten. Wenn nichts anderes eintreten würde als das, was ich im letzten Vortrag und jetzt beschrieben habe, dann würden die Erzengel, die da Menschen sind auf der alten Sonne, in den Sonnentagen mit den Lichtstrahlen hinauseilen in das Universum, würden sich verbreiten im Universum, und sie müßten in den Sonnennächten wiederum zurückkehren zur Sonne. Ein Aus- und Einatmen des Lichtes und damit auch der im Licht webenden und wesenden Geschöpfe würde da sein. Aber so ist es nicht. Und ich möchte jetzt wiederum in einer einfachen Weise, ich möchte sagen, fast trivial charakterisieren das Wesen dieser Erzengel oder Archangeloi. Es gefällt ihnen sozusagen zu gut, wenn sie da hinausschweben in das Universum; es gefällt ihnen besser das Hinausschweben und Aufgehen in dem Geist des Universums als das Wiedersichzusammenziehen. Das ist ihnen wie ein sie beengendes Dasein, ein niedrigeres Dasein. Das Leben im Lichtäther gefällt ihnen also besser. Nun könnten sie dieses Leben im Lichtäther nimmermehr über eine gewisse Grenze hinaus ausdehnen, wenn ihnen nicht irgend etwas zu Hilfe käme dabei. Wenn diese Wesenheiten auf der alten Sonne allein auf sich angewiesen wären, ganz unmöglich könnten sie etwas anderes tun als, sagen wir, brav wieder zurückkehren zur Sonne in den Sonnennächten. Dennoch haben sie es nicht getan, sondern sie haben sozusagen die Zeit ihres Verweilens in der Welt draußen immer länger und länger ausgedehnt, haben sich immer mehr und mehr aufgehalten in der geistigen Welt. Was kam ihnen da zu Hilfe?
[ 15 ] Wenn wir uns vorstellen, dieser Kreis sei der alte Sonnenball, so streben nach allen Seiten hinaus von diesem alten Sonnenball in den Weltenraum die Erzengel, es verbreitet sich geistig das Wesen der Erzengel in das Universum. Zu Hilfe kam den Erzengeln bei dieser Ausbreitung der Umstand, daß ihnen Wesen aus dem Universum entgegenkamen. So wie früher bei dem alten Saturn eingeströmt sind aus dem Universum die Feuerelemente der Throne, so kommen jetzt den Erzengeln, die da hinausgehen, andere Wesenheiten entgegen, Wesenheiten, die noch höher sind als die Throne; und sie helfen ihnen, so daß sie länger da draußen in der geistigen Welt bleiben können, als sie es sonst hätten können.
[ 16 ] Diese Wesenheiten, die den Erzengeln aus dem geistigen Raum entgegengekommen sind und die Erzengel aufgenommen haben, nennen wir Cherubim. Das ist eine besonders erhabene Art von geistigen Wesenheiten, denn sie haben die Macht, sozusagen mit offenen Armen aufzunehmen die Erzengelwesen. Wenn diese Erzengelwesen hinaus sich verbreiten, kommen ihnen die Cherubim aus dem Weltenall entgegen. Also wir haben rings um den alten Sonnenball herum die sich nahenden Cherubim. Wie, wenn ich den Vergleich gebrauchen darf, unsere Erde von ihrer Atmosphäre umgeben ist, so ist die alte Sonne umgeben gewesen von dem Reich der Cherubim zur Wohltat der Erzengel. Diese Erzengel schauten also, wenn sie hinausgingen in den Weltenraum, sie schauten ihre großen Helfer an.
[ 17 ] Und wie kamen ihnen diese großen Helfer entgegen, wie sahen sie aus? Das kann ja natürlich nur das in der Akasha-Chronik lesende hellseherische Bewußtsein konstatieren. In ganz bestimmten ätherischen Gestalten stellten sich dar diese großen universellen Helfer. Und unsere Vorfahren, die noch ein Bewußtsein gehabt haben durch ihre Tradition von dieser bedeutungsvollen Tatsache, die haben die Cherubim abgebildet als jene eigentümlich geflügelten Tiere mit den verschieden gestalteten Köpfen: den geflügelten Löwen, den geflügelten Adler, den geflügelten Stier, den geflügelten Menschen. Denn in der Tat: Von vier Seiten haben sich zunächst genähert die Cherubim. Und sie nahten sich in solchen Gestalten, daß sie in der Tat nachher so abgebildet werden konnten, wie sie uns als die Gestalten der Cherubim bekannt geworden sind. Und deshalb haben die Schulen der ersten Eingeweihten der nachatlantischen Zeit diese von vier Seiten an die alte Sonne heranrückenden Cherubim mit Namen bezeichnet, die dann geworden sind zu den Namen Stier, Löwe, Adler, Mensch.
[ 18 ] Wir werden noch manches genauer darüber hören; heute wollen wir einmal diese vier Arten von Cherubim, die da den Erzengeln entgegenkommen, ins Auge fassen. Das war also der Anblick auf der alten Sonne, daß, als die eigentlich die Sonne belebenden Menschen, nämlich die Erzengel, sich da hinaus begaben in den Weltenraum, daß ihnen da von vier Seiten die Cherubim, und zwar vier Arten von Cherubim, entgegenkamen. Dadurch also war es den Erzengelwesen möglich, länger im Reich des Geistes, das die alte Sonne umgab, zu verweilen, als es ihnen sonst möglich gewesen wäre. Denn belebend im höchsten Grade, im geistigen Sinn belebend, wirkte auf die alten Erzengel der Einfluß dieser Cherubim. Aber da diese Cherubim in die Nähe der Sonne kamen, mußte sich ja ihre Wirkung, die Wirkung dieser Cherubim, auch sonst geltend machen. Nicht wahr, etwas, was irgendwo ist, macht sich ja nicht immer bloß in einer Beziehung geltend. Sagen wir, in einem Zimmer seien zwei Menschen; der eine wünscht etwas stark geheizt zu haben, aber der zweite, der das nicht wünscht, muß auch drinnen sein: Es wird auch dem anderen warm. So war es auch bei diesen aus dem Weltenraum hereinstrahlenden Cherubim. Auf diejenigen Wesenheiten der alten Sonne, die sozusagen sich bis zum Licht-Element aufgeschwungen hatten, die im LichtElement zu leben wußten, auf die wirkten sie in der geschilderten Weise. Aber auf dieses Licht-Element konnte ja nur gewirkt werden während eines Sonnentages, während Licht hinausströmte in den Weltenraum. Es gab aber auch Sonnennächte, wo Licht nicht hinausströmte, da waren die Cherubim doch auch am Himmel. In dieser Zeit, wo sich der Sonnenplanet verfinsterte, da war er also bloß Wärme-Gas, nicht leuchtend; da strömten Wärme-Gase innerhalb des Sonnenballs. Ringsherum waren nun die Cherubim und sandten ihre Wirkung herunter: Jetzt wirkten sie in das finstere Gas hinein. Wenn also diese Cherubim nicht auf die Erzengel in normaler Weise einwirken konnten, dann wirkten sie herein auf den dunklen Rauch der Sonne, auf das dunkle Gas. Während also auf dem alten Saturn Wirkungen geübt wurden auf die Wärme, wurden jetzt vom Weltenraum herein Wirkungen geübt auf die verdichtete Wärme, auf das Gas der alten Sonne. Dieser Wirkung ist es zuzuschreiben, daß auf der alten Sonne aus dem Sonnennebel heraus sich die erste Anlage bildete zu demjenigen, was wir heute das Tierreich nennen. So wie auf dem alten Saturn die erste Anlage des Menschenreiches im physischen Menschenleib entstanden ist, so wird auf der Sonne aus dem Rauch, aus dem Gas die erste Anlage des Tierreiches gebildet. Aus der Wärme bildete sich auf dem alten Saturn die erste Anlage des Menschenleibes; auf der alten Sonne bilden sich durch die sich in diesen Sonnengasen spiegelnden Cherubimgestalten die ersten rauchartig sich bewegenden physischen Tierkörper-Anlagen.
[ 19 ] So ist das, was sich da als Cherubimgestalten rings herum um die Sonne ausbreitet, jene Gesamtheit hoher Wesenheiten, die auf der einen Seite mit offenen Armen sozusagen den Erzengeln entgegenkommt und auf der anderen Seite in den Sonnennächten herauszaubert aus dem Sonnengas die ersten physischen Anlagen zum Tierreich. Es wächst aus dem Sonnennebel heraus das Tierreich in seiner ersten physischen Anlage. Deshalb haben diejenigen unserer Vorfahren, die aus den Mysterien heraus Bekanntschaft hatten mit diesen tief bedeutsamen Sachen der geistigen Kosmologie, sie haben diese Wesenheiten, die von den verschiedenen Seiten des Weltenraums hereinwirkten auf die alte Sonne, den Tierkreis genannt. Das ist die ursprüngliche Bedeutung des Tierkreises. Auf dem alten Saturn wird zuerst die Menschheit veranlagt, indem der Stoff, den sie heute im physischen Leib hat, von den Thronen ausgegossen, hingeopfert wird. Auf der Sonne wird die erste Anlage zum Tierreich gebildet, indem aus dem zum Gas verdichteten Wärmestoff durch die sich spiegelnden Gestalten der Cherubim herausgezaubert werden die ersten Tierformen. Und so werden die Tiere zunächst Sonnenabbilder des Tierkreises. Das ist eine wirkliche innere Beziehung zwischen dem Tierkreis und den auf der Sonne werdenden Tieren. Unsere Tiere sind karikaturenhafte Nachfolger jener auf der Sonne werdenden Tiere. Wahrhaftig, man hat nicht umsonst den Dingen solche Namen gegeben. Man darf niemals glauben, daß in jenen alten Zeiten die Namen in beliebiger Weise ausgedacht wurden. Heute, wenn ein neuer Stern aus der Planetoidenkette entdeckt wird, was macht da der betreffende Astronom, der das Glück gehabt hat, den Stern zu erspähen? Er schlägt ein Lexikon auf und sucht einen Namen aus der griechischen Mythologie, der noch freigeblieben ist, und legt ihn dem Stern bei. So hat man in den Zeiten, wo man in den Namen den Ausdruck gesucht hat für die Sache, so hat man in den Zeiten, wo die Mysterien mächtig waren, niemals Namen gegeben; sondern in den Namen, die damals gegeben wurden, können Sie überall die tiefe Bedeutung der Sache drinnen finden.
[ 20 ] Die Formen unserer Tiere, wenn sie heute auch zu Karikaturen verzerrt sind, sind heruntergeholt aus dem Umkreis des Universums, aus der Gestalt des Tierkreises, die damals vorhanden war. Nun kann es Ihnen auffallen, daß hier zunächst nur vier Namen des Tierkreises hingeschrieben sind. Das sind eben nur die hauptsächlichsten Ausdrücke für die Cherubim, denn im Grunde genommen hat jede solche Cherubimgestalt nach links und rechts eine Art Nachkommen oder Begleiter. Denken Sie sich jede der vier Cherubimgestalten mit zwei Begleitern ausgestattet, dann haben Sie zwölf Kräfte und Mächte im Umkreis der Sonne, die in einer gewissen Andeutung auch schon beim alten Saturn vorhanden waren. Wir haben zwölf solcher Mächte, die angehören dem Reich der Cherubim und die in der Weise ihre Aufgabe, ihre Mission im Universum zu erfüllen haben, wie wir es jetzt gesagt haben.
[ 21 ] Nun könnten Sie noch fragen, wie verhält es sich aber mit den gewöhnlichen Tierkreisnamen? Davon werden wir noch ein Wort in den nächsten Tagen sprechen. Denn in der Reihenfolge der Namen hat sich einiges geändert. Man fängt gewöhnlich an zu zählen mit Widder, Stier, Zwillinge, Krebs, Löwe, dann kommt Jungfrau, Waage. Der Adler hat durch eine spätere Verwandlung sich die Benennung Skorpion gefallen lassen müssen — aus ganz bestimmten Gründen. Und dann die zwei Begleiter Schütze, Steinbock. Der Mensch heißt aus gewissen Gründen, die wir auch noch kennenlernen werden, Wassermensch oder Wassermann. Und dann die Fische. — Sie sehen also sozusagen die wirkliche Gestalt, aus der der Tierkreis entsprungen ist, nur noch durchleuchten in dem Stier, in dem Löwen, ein wenig noch im Menschen, der in der gewöhnlichen exoterischen Benennung der Wassermensch oder Wassermann heißt. Warum der Tierkreis die Umwandlung erfahren hat, wird noch zu besprechen sein in den nächsten Tagen.
[ 22 ] So also sehen Sie, daß hohe geistige Wesenheiten, hohe Hierarchien, die Throne zunächst, aus ihrer eigenen Substanz die Feuermaterie heraussondern auf dem alten Saturn. Und Sie sehen, wie noch höhere Geister, die wir bezeichnen als Cherubim, das was gleichsam als Licht entspringt aus dieser Feuermaterie, in sich aufnehmen können und ihm sein Lichtdasein verklären, erhöhen können. Aber jedesmal, wenn im Universum eine Erhöhung eintritt, muß auch, um den entsprechenden Ausgleich zu schaffen, eine Erniedrigung eintreten. Damit bei Tag die Erzengel die Gelegenheit finden, ihr geistiges Dasein auszudehnen, müssen die Cherubim in der Nacht fortwirken und die unter der Menschheit stehenden tierischen Wesenheiten, tierische Formen in dem zum Nebel, zum Rauch, zum Gas verdichteten Wärmestoff zum Ausdruck bringen.
[ 23 ] Damit haben wir im Sinne der Urweltweisheit sozusagen die erste Vorstellung gewonnen von dem Zusammenwirken gewisser geistiger Wesenheiten des Universums mit unserem eigenen Weltenkörper, und wir haben damit zugleich gesehen, wie das, was uns äußerlich physisch entgegentritt, immer auf geistige Wesenheiten zurückzuführen ist. Was man heute so materiell den Tierkreis nennt, ist zurückzuführen auf den Reigen der Cherubim, die vom Weltenumkreis herunterwirkten auf die alte Sonne, die ihre Kraft als Leuchtekraft in dieses Universum hinausstrahlte.
[ 24 ] Damit haben wir also den einen wichtigen Begriff, den Begriff des Tierkreises, abgeleitet, und wir werden morgen in dieser Betrachtung fortfahren, wir werden zu den anderen Begriffen der Weltenkörper allmählich aufsteigen können und den Zusammenhang mit den geistigen Hierarchien immer mehr und mehr beleuchten.
Fourth Lecture
[ 1 ] If we now look back at what was said this morning, then, with the even more transparent and less maja or illusionary conditions of Saturn, we can see more clearly how the redemption or further enslavement of certain entities takes place, which we recognized yesterday in connection with that deeply significant passage in the Divine Gita. Remember what was said: If the spirits of personality on old Saturn were to absorb these egg-shaped heat bodies every time and leave nothing behind, then the whole of Saturn, when it has completed its evolution, would actually have to be absorbed into the spiritual world. But this does not happen, as has been explained. Instead, the spirits of the personality on the old Saturn, as it were, impress their stamp on the whole of Saturn more intensely than they should, by leaving something of themselves behind, by not absorbing everything back into themselves; by leaving behind the externally perceptible heat bodies.
[ 2 ] What then is the power that actually rules in the spirits of personality on old Saturn? It is no other power than that which we know today in man as the power of thought. For basically the spirits of personality on old Saturn do nothing but exercise the power of their thoughts. They cause these warm eggs to form by evoking the image of these warm eggs within themselves. So it is the power of imagination that the spirits of personality have, only much more strongly than is the case with today's human beings. What power does the imagination have in today's human beings? When you form an image today, my dear friends, a form is merely formed in the astral; the image merely continues into the astral. Therefore, the persistence of this form cannot be observed externally and physically. On ancient Saturn, the spirits of personality were powerful magicians. They formed these Saturn-warmth-eggs through their power of thought and also left them through their power of thought. So it was basically the power of these spirits of personality themselves that left the remains of old Saturn, and these remains now appear again and again and finally even during the development of the sun.
[ 3 ] So here we have it very clearly: a being that is actually human takes forms from the environment – because what is formed as eggs is formed from the environment of Saturn – and that these eggs are enchanted, bound until the next existence.
[ 4 ] So here we can see more comprehensively what we said yesterday, because the circumstances are not yet so complicated. Here we could say: Behold the fire of Saturn, behold that which is spiritualized again and again from the old Saturn fire, which is always taken back again as inner fire, as soul fire, as warmth comfort, that rises into higher worlds. And if only that were there, Saturn would disappear into higher worlds. That which is perceptible external warmth, which condenses into external heat, must be reborn, reappear, and appears first, as has been described, on the sun.
[ 5 ] Now let us look back at the rest that we have described today. We realized that on this old sun those entities of the spiritual hierarchies that we call archangels, archangeloi or fire spirits are going through their stage of humanity, that the warmth element is already condensing into smoke, into gas, on one side, so that the sun is already a ball of gas, and that on the other side this gas is burning in such a way that light streams out into the universe. And it is precisely the archangels or fire spirits who live in this outpouring of light, who absorb light and radiate it and have their life in it. And I have already told you that if you had been able to undertake a journey through space at that time, you would have seen the old sun shining from afar. Inside the old sun, you would have perceived the various gas currents as a breathing process of the entire solar body.
[ 6 ] Now let us once more place ourselves before the soul of this old Saturn, this old sun. We have seen that life and activity prevail in these two planetary bodies, that something is happening there. We have indeed been able to describe the old Saturn in such a way that these egg formations reform and dissolve again on it, with the exception of the remains that remain. Therefore, someone who observed this inner activity of the old Saturn would say to himself: Actually, this Saturn is a single living being. It is really as if it were completely a living being. It lives; it lives within itself, it continually forms out of its own life, forms and so on. And to an even greater extent this is the case with the old sun. It presents itself as a totality in the changing states of solar day and solar night, of inhalation and exhalation of light. All this, if it could be observed, would give the impression of not dead, but living world bodies.
[ 7 ] Now, everything that is alive, that is in any kind of activity, is internally animated and moved because spiritual beings direct and guide this movement. We have said that the spirits of personality form these egg-forms by their power of thought. Yes, but first, as you will find understandable, something must be there from which the material for these eggs can be taken. The spirits of personality, the primeval beginnings or archai, cannot create the material. That is the first thing we must bear in mind: that something must be present that provides the material, that is, undifferentiated warmth, fire itself. The spirits of personality are only those that shape it, but they must first receive the warmth from elsewhere. From where does the entire world of Saturn receive this warmth, this element of fire? This comes from much higher spirits, from spiritual beings who have passed through their stage of humanity so far back that they were already long past this stage of humanity on ancient Saturn. To get an idea of the exalted nature of the beings that were necessary to provide the warmth-fire of ancient Saturn, we must, comparatively speaking, bring the development of the human being a little closer to our minds, for the human being will one day also become a divine being.
[ 8 ] We know that the human being, as he stands before us today, consists of the four elements of human nature, which we have often mentioned but which are the key to all spiritual science: that the human being consists of a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body and an I. We then know how man develops further; that the I works from within, that it first transforms the astral body in order to bring it completely under the control of the I. When this astral body is so transformed that the I has full control over it, then we say: This astral body has become such that it contains the spirit self or manas within it. An astral body ruled by the I is therefore spirit-self or manas. It is the same with the etheric body. When the I works even more significantly, it also overcomes the opposing forces of the etheric body, and the transformed etheric body is the life spirit or budhi. And finally, when the I becomes master of the physical body, when it overcomes the most strongly opposing forces, those of the physical body, then the human being also has within him the spiritual man or Atma. So that we then have a seven-part human being who has transformed his physical body into Atma or spiritual man. Outwardly, the physical body appears as a physical body; inwardly, it is completely dominated and aglow with the I; the physical body is at the same time physical body and Atma. The etheric body is at the same time etheric body and life spirit or Budhi, and the astral body is at the same time astral body and spirit self or Manas, and the I has now become the ruler in all of them. Thus man advances to higher stages of his development, thus he transforms himself, thus he works towards his deification, as Dionysius the Areopagite, the friend and disciple of the Apostle Paul, says. But with this point the development is not yet complete. When man has advanced so far that he has completely conquered himself, that he has completely brought this physical body under his rule, then he still has higher stages of development ahead of him. It goes higher and higher, and there we look up to spiritual heights, to superhuman entities, and these entities become more and more powerful, more and more powerful. And what is it actually that makes entities more and more powerful? It is that they are at first, so to speak, needy and in need of something; that they must demand something from the world and that later they develop the ability to give. This is basically the spirit and meaning of development, that one progresses from taking to giving. There is an analogy to human development here between birth and death: the child is helpless, must take the help of those around it. More and more, it grows out of this awkwardness and finally becomes a helper in its circle. This is also the case with the great development of humanity in the universe.
[ 9 ] The human being was present on ancient Saturn as the first physical human disposition. There he still had to be given, so to speak, the first disposition for humanity. But it was the same during the solar and lunar periods. On Earth, he acquired his ego, and now he is gradually preparing to let his ego work in the astral body, etheric body and physical body. In this way it gradually becomes a being that can give cosmically. The being gradually grows into cosmic, into universal giving, out of taking into giving. You have an example of this in the beings we spoke of today, the archangels or archangeloi. They have already developed on the sun to the point where they can give light to the universe. So, the development goes from taking to giving. But in terms of giving, the matter goes very far. If any entities, let us assume, can only give their thoughts, then basically that is not much of giving, because whoever gives thoughts - well, when he has given so many thoughts and he passes away, it is as it was before. He has, so to speak, given nothing visible, nothing substantial in the higher sense. But there comes a time when beings can give not only something like thoughts or the like, but much more, for example, they can give what the spirits of the personality needed on old Saturn: the substance of the warmth-fire.
[ 10 ] Who then was at such a high level of development that he could pour out of his own body this warmth-fire substance of old Saturn? These were the beings we call the Thrones.
[ 11 ] So we see that old Saturn is formed when the thrones contract from the periphery of the universe to a point in the universe and, I would say, do on a large scale what the silk moth does on a lower level when it spins its own body into a silk thread. They spin out the warmth, and sacrifice it at the altar of the old Saturn, the thrones. We have to look at the life of the spirits of the personality on old Saturn in such a way that these spirits of the personality or archai basically just give the personality, the sense of self, to this warmth. The substance of the warmth-fire streams together out of the universe, out of the cosmos, it flows out of the high, exalted spiritual beings, the thrones. So we already know, so to speak, what these eggs consist of, which are present on Saturn. They are spun out of the self-sacrificing body of the thrones.
[ 12 ] But that would not be enough; Saturn would still not have that inner vitality and activity if only the Spirits of Personality and the Thrones were working together. The Spirits of Personality have the power to form the warmth-giving substance, but they cannot do it alone. For this inner activity, this inner vitality of old Saturn to come about, old Saturn must still be inhabited by other spiritual beings that are lower than the Thrones, but higher than the Spirits of Personality or Archai. These have the task of helping the Spirits of Personality. We can also form an idea of this help if we remember that we have, above us, first of all angelic beings or Angeloi, archangelic beings or Archangeloi and Primordial Beings or Spirits of Personality, Archai. These entities belong to the Hierarchy, which is above us. The Thrones are not the nearest above the Spirits of Personality. Between the Spirits of Personality and the Thrones there are intermediate levels, and these are the entities we call the Powers or Exusiai according to Dionysius the Areopagite. Powers, then, is the name we may use in English. The Powers are one level higher than the Spirits of Personality. They related to these spirits of personality in the same way that the angels relate to us.Again, one step higher than these forces are those entities that we call the powers, Dynamis. They related to the spirits of personality on ancient Saturn in the same way that the archangels relate to us today. And a step higher than the powers are those entities that we call dominions, kyriotetes. They related to the spirits of personality on ancient Saturn as the archpowers or spirits of personality relate to us. Only then do the thrones come.
[ 13 ] Thus, on ancient Saturn we have a hierarchy of beings: the Spirits of Personality, which stimulate and carry out the ego consciousness. We have the Thrones, which stand four levels higher than the Spirits of Personality, which provide the fire element. And in order that all life on Saturn may be regulated and directed, we have, from bottom to top, the Powers, the Authorities, and the Forces—Exusiai, Dynamis, and Kyriotetes. That is, if one may say so, the population of old Saturn.
[ 14 ] Now, as has been described this morning, as old Saturn develops into the sun, these entities, which have now been enumerated, develop one step higher, and the archangels enter the stage of humanity. Outwardly, we could say physically, the warmth condenses into gas. The sun is a gaseous body. And while the old Saturn was a dark body of warmth, the sun begins to shine outwards, but it alternates, so to speak, between solar days and solar nights. And to note that it alternates between solar days and solar nights is of very special importance. Because there is a huge difference in life on this old sun between sunny days and sunny nights. If nothing else were to happen than what I have described in the last lecture and now, then the archangels, who are human beings on the old sun, would rush out into the universe with the rays of light on sunny days, would spread throughout the universe, and they would have to return to the sun on sunny nights. It would seem as if the light and the creatures that live and move in the light were breathing out and breathing in. But that is not the case. And now, in a simple way, I would like to give an almost trivial description of the nature of these archangels or archangeloi. They enjoy floating out into the universe so much; they enjoy floating out and merging into the spirit of the universe more than contracting back together. That is like a constricting existence for them, a lower existence. They therefore prefer life in the light ether. Now they could never expand this life in the light ether beyond a certain limit if something did not come to their aid. If these entities were left to their own resources on the old sun, they would have no choice but to return obediently to the sun during the solar nights. Nevertheless, they did not do so, but rather extended the time of their sojourn in the world outside more and more, and remained more and more in the spiritual world. What came to their aid?
[ 15 ] If we imagine this circle to be the old ball of fire, the archangels are striving outwards from this old ball of fire into space on all sides; the spiritual nature of the archangels spreads out into the universe. In this expansion, the archangels were helped by the fact that beings from the universe came to meet them. Just as the fire elements of the thrones had previously flowed in from the universe at the time of ancient Saturn, so now other entities, even higher than the thrones, come to meet the archangels who go out there; and they help them so that they can stay out there in the spiritual world longer than they would otherwise have been able to.
[ 16 ] These entities, who have met the archangels from the spiritual realm and have received the archangels, we call cherubs. This is a particularly exalted kind of spiritual entities, because they have the power to receive, so to speak, with open arms, the archangelic beings. When these archangelic beings spread out, the cherubs come to meet them from the universe. So we have the approaching cherubim all around the old sun ball. Just as, if I may use the comparison, our Earth is surrounded by its atmosphere, so the old sun was surrounded by the realm of cherubim for the benefit of the archangels. So these archangels looked, when they went out into space, they looked at their great helpers.
[ 17 ] And how did these great helpers look when they came to meet them? Of course, only the clairvoyant consciousness reading in the Akasha Chronicle can state this. These great universal helpers presented themselves in very specific ethereal forms. And our ancestors, who still had an awareness of this significant fact through their tradition, depicted the cherubs as those peculiarly winged animals with the variously shaped heads: the winged lion, the winged eagle, the winged bull, the winged man. For indeed, the cherubs approached from four sides. And they approached in such forms that they could indeed be depicted afterwards as they have become known to us as the forms of the cherubim. And that is why the schools of the first initiates of the post-Atlantean time gave names to these cherubim approaching the old sun from four sides, which then became the names of the bull, the lion, the eagle, and the man.
[ 18 ] We will hear more about this in detail; today let us consider these four types of cherubim, who go out to meet the archangels. So that was the sight on the old sun, that when the humans actually animating the sun, namely the archangels, went out into space, that the cherubim, and four kinds of cherubim, came to meet them from four sides. Thus it was possible for the archangelic beings to remain longer in the realm of the spirit surrounding the old sun than would otherwise have been possible for them. For the influence of these cherubim had a reviving effect on the old archangels in the highest degree, in the spiritual sense. But since these cherubim came near the sun, their effect, the effect of these cherubim, had to be felt in other ways as well. It is not true that something which is somewhere only asserts itself in one relationship. Let us say there are two people in a room; one of them wishes to have it very hot, but the second person, who does not wish this, must also be inside: the other person also gets warm. It was the same with these cherubim radiating in from the universe. On those entities of the old sun, which had, so to speak, risen to the light element, which knew how to live in the light element, they had an effect in the manner described. But this light element could only be affected during a solar day, while light streamed out into space. But there were also solar nights when light did not stream out, and the cherubim were also in the sky. During this time, when the sun planet was in eclipse, it was just a ball of warm, non-luminous gas, with warm gases flowing within it. The cherubim were all around it, sending their influence down: Now they worked into the dark gas. So when these cherubs could not influence the archangels in the normal way, they worked into the dark smoke of the sun, into the dark gas. So while effects were being exerted on the warmth on the old Saturn, effects were now being exerted from space on the condensed warmth, on the gas of the old sun. It is to this effect that on the old sun, out of the solar nebula, the first rudiment was formed for that which we today call the animal kingdom. Just as on the old Saturn the first rudiment of the human kingdom arose in the physical human body, so on the sun out of the smoke, out of the gas, the first rudiment of the animal kingdom is formed. From the warmth, the first structure of the human body formed on the old Saturn; on the old sun, the first physical animal body structures, moving like smoke, are formed by the cherubic figures reflecting in these solar gases.
[19] So what is spreading out around the sun as cherubic figures is that totality of high beings, which on the one hand, so to speak, comes to meet the archangels with open arms and on the other hand, during the nights of the sun, conjures up the first physical predispositions for the animal kingdom out of the solar gas. The animal kingdom grows out of the solar nebula in its first physical form. That is why those of our ancestors who, through the mysteries, were familiar with these deeply significant matters of spiritual cosmology called these entities, which from the different sides of space influenced the ancient sun, the zodiac. That is the original meaning of the zodiac. On the ancient Saturn, humanity is first assessed by the substance that it has in its physical body today being poured out from the thrones and sacrificed. On the sun, the first disposition to the animal kingdom is formed by the first animal forms being conjured out of the heat substance condensed into gas through the mirroring forms of the cherubim. And so the animals initially become solar images of the zodiac. There is a real inner relationship between the zodiac and the animals evolving on the sun. Our animals are caricature-like descendants of the animals evolving on the sun. Truly, it is not without reason that things have been given such names. We must never believe that in those ancient times names were thought up in an arbitrary manner. Today, when a new star is discovered among the chain of planetoids, what does the astronomer who has had the good fortune to spot it do? He opens a dictionary and picks a name from Greek mythology that is still available, and attaches it to the star. So in the times when people were looking for the expression for the thing in the name, in the times when the mysteries were powerful, they never gave names; but in the names that were given then, you can find the deep meaning of the thing in them everywhere.
[ 20 ] The forms of our animals, even if they are distorted into caricatures today, were taken from the circumference of the universe, from the shape of the zodiac that existed at that time. You may have noticed that only four names of the zodiac are written here. These are only the most important expressions for the cherubim, because basically each of these cherubim figures has a kind of offspring or companion on the left and right. If you imagine each of the four cherubim figures with two companions, then you have twelve powers and authorities in the vicinity of the Sun, which were already present to a certain extent in the old Saturn. We have twelve such authorities that belong to the realm of the cherubim and that have their task, their mission in the universe to fulfill as we have just said.
[ 21 ] Now you might still ask, but what about the usual zodiac names? We will say a few words about that in the next few days. Because some things have changed in the order of the names. We usually start counting with Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, then comes Virgo, Libra. The eagle had to accept the name scorpion due to a later transformation — for very specific reasons. And then there are the two companions sagittarius and capricorn. The human being is called aquarius or waterman for certain reasons, which we will also get to know. And then Pisces. — So you see, so to speak, the real form from which the zodiac originated, only in Taurus, in Leo, and to a lesser extent in man, who in the ordinary exoteric naming is called the water man or Aquarius. Why the zodiac has undergone the transformation will be discussed in the next few days.
[ 22 ] So you see that high spiritual beings, high hierarchies, the thrones themselves, separate fire-matter from their own substance on old Saturn. And you see how still higher spirits, which we call cherubim, can take up into themselves that which arises as light from this fire-matter, and can glorify and uplift its existence as light. But every time there is an exaltation in the universe, there must also be a degradation to create the corresponding balance. So that by day the archangels find the opportunity to expand their spiritual existence, the cherubim must continue to work by night and express the animal entities, animal forms in the warmth condensed into mist, smoke, gas, among mankind.
[ 23 ] Thus, in the sense of the wisdom of the primeval world, we have gained the first idea, so to speak, of the interaction of certain spiritual entities of the universe with our own world body, and at the same time we have seen how what appears to us externally physically can always be traced back to spiritual entities. What is today so materially called the zodiac can be traced back to the dance of the cherubim, which worked down from the circumference of the world onto the old sun, which radiated its power into this universe as a luminous force.
[ 24 ] So we have derived the one important concept, the concept of the zodiac, and we will continue with this reflection tomorrow. We will be able to gradually ascend to the other concepts of the cosmic bodies and shed more and more light on the connection with the spiritual hierarchies.