The Cycle of the Year
GA 223
31 March 1923, Dornach
Lecture I
At the times when the great festivals of the year approach our souls, it is good ever and again to bring before our inner eye, out of spiritual cosmic connections, the meaning of the festival year. And I should like to do this by setting before you how, under the influence of spiritual insights and over long ages, the festival year has gradually evolved out of the whole constitution of the Earth. If we look at the Earth and its events from such an aspect, we must only make clear that we cannot conceive the Earth as a mere conglomeration of minerals and rocks, as is done by modern mineralogy and geology, but we must rather regard it as a living, ensouled organism, which brings forth the plants, the animals and the physical being of man out of its own inner forces. Then what I shall now set forth will be in agreement.
You know that the Earth, with all the beings belonging to it—consider only the plant covering of the Earth—completely changes its aspect in the course of the year, changes everything with which it looks out into cosmic space as with its physiognomy, so to speak. After a year the Earth has always arrived again at about the same point, as to its appearance, at which it stood a year before. You need only to think how almost everything related to weather conditions, to the budding of plants, to the appearance of animal creatures—how with regard to all this the Earth has arrived again in this March, 1923, at about the same point of development at which it stood in March of the year 1922.
Today we intend to consider this cycle of the Earth as a kind of mighty breathing which the Earth carries out in relation to the surrounding cosmos. We can consider still other processes which take place on the Earth and around it as breathing processes of a sort. We can even speak of a daily breathing of the Earth. But today we want to place before our inner eye the yearly cycle, in the large, as a mighty breathing process of the Earth, in which of course it is not air that is breathed in and out, but rather those forces which are at work for example in vegetation, those forces which push the plants out of the Earth in spring, and which withdraw again into the Earth in fall, letting the green plants fade and finally paralyzing plant growth.
To repeat, it is not a breathing of air of which we speak, but the in-and-out-breathing of forces, of which we can get a partial idea if we notice the plant-growth during the course of the year. We intend today to bring this annual breathing process of the Earth before our souls.
Let us first look at the Earth at the time of the winter solstice, in the last third of December, according to our present reckoning. At this time we may compare the Earth's breathing with the lung-breathing of a man when he has inhaled a breath of air and is working on it in himself, that is, when he is holding his breath within him. In the same way, the Earth has within it those forces which I spoke of as being inhaled and exhaled. At the end of December it is holding these forces. And what is happening then with the Earth I can sketch for you schematically in the following way:
Let us think of this (red) as representing the Earth. We can of course only consider one part of the Earth in connection with this breathing. We shall consider that part in which we ourselves dwell; the conditions are of course reversed on the opposite side of the Earth. We must picture (vorstellen) the breathing of the Earth in such a way that in one region there is out-breathing, and in the opposite region in-breathing; but this we need not consider today.
Let us picture in our minds the season of December. Let us imagine what I am drawing here in yellow to be the held breath in our region. At the end of December the Earth has fully in-breathed and is holding in herself the forces of which I just spoke. She has entirely sucked in her soul element, for the forces of which I have spoken are the soul element of the Earth. She has drawn it completely in, just as a man who has inhaled holds the air entirely in himself.
This is the time at which with good reason the birth of Jesus has been set, because Jesus is thus born out of an Earth force which contains the entire soul element of the Earth within it. At the time of the Mystery of Golgotha the initiates who were still worthy of the ancient initiation connected a deep meaning with the view which placed the birth of Jesus just at this point of the earthly in-breathing and holding of the breath.
These initiates said something like the following: “In the ancient days, when our places of initiation stood within the Chaldean and Egyptian cultures, when a wish arose to know what that Being who represents the lofty Sun-Being had to say to earthly humanity, an idea of his message was formed, not by looking at the sunlight directly in all its spirituality, but rather by observing the way in which the sunlight was rayed back from the Moon.” And when the gaze was turned toward the Moon, they saw—with the help of clairvoyant vision—along with the flooding moonlight the manifestation of the Spirit of the Universe. And the meaning of this manifestation was realized in a more external way when they regarded the constellation of the Moon in relation to the planets and fixed stars.
In this way the position of the stars, especially in relation to the down-streaming moonlight, was observed during the night hours in the Chaldean, and still more in the Egyptian mysteries. Just as a man now reads the meaning of letters on a sheet of paper, in those times meaning was read in the relation of Aries, or of Taurus, of Venus, or of the Sun itself, to the streaming moonlight. From the way in which the constellations and the stars stood in relation to one another, especially from the way they were oriented with the moonlight, there was read what the heavens had to say to the Earth. All this was put into words. And according to the meaning of what was thus put into words, the ancient initiates sought what that Being Who was later called the Christ had to say to earthly man. They sought to interpret what was conveyed by the stars in their relation to the Moon and apply it to the earthly life.
But now as the Mystery of Golgotha drew near, the whole nature of the Mysteries passed through what I might call a great soul-spiritual metamorphosis. Then the oldest of the initiates said to their pupils: “A time is at hand when the stellar constellations must no longer be related to the flooding moonlight. The universe will speak differently to earthly man in the future. The light of the Sun must be observed directly. The spiritual gaze of the knower must be turned away from the revelations of the Moon and toward the revelations of the Sun.”
The teachings given in the Mysteries made a profound impression upon those men who at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha still ranked as initiates of the old order. And it was from this point of view that these initiates formed their judgment of the Mystery of Golgotha. But at the same time they said, “Some Earth event must enter in, which can bring about this transition from a lunar to a solar orientation.”—It was in this way that the cosmic significance of the birth of Jesus dawned on them.
They saw the birth of Jesus as something which gave the impulse out of the very Earth itself, no longer to regard the Moon as the regent, so to speak, of celestial phenomena, but rather the Sun itself.—“The event that brings this about,” so they said to themselves, “must be of an extraordinary kind.” And the nature of this extraordinary event yielded its secret to them through the following: They began to understand the inner meaning of the Earth occurrence that took place in the last third of December, the occurrence which we now call Christmas. They said to themselves: “Everything must now be related to the Sun.”—But the Sun can exert its power on the Earth only when the Earth has exhaled its forces. At Christmas time it has breathed them in; its breath is being held. If Jesus is born at this time, He is born at a time when the Earth is in a certain way not speaking with the heavens, a time when the Earth with its being has entirely withdrawn into itself. Jesus is born, then, at a time when the Earth is rolling along through cosmic space quite alone, when it is not sending out its breath to be welled and woven through by the force of the Sun, by the light of the Sun. At this time the Earth has not offered its soul-being to the cosmos; it has withdrawn its soul being into itself, has sucked it in. Jesus is born on the Earth at a time when the Earth is alone with itself, is isolated as it were from the cosmos.
Try to feel for yourselves the cosmic perceiving-feeling (Empfinden) which lies at the basis of such a way of calculating!
Now let us follow the Earth further in its yearly course. Let us follow it up to the time in which we are just now, about the time of the spring equinox, the end of March. Then we shall have to picture the situation in this way:
The Earth (red) has just breathed out; the soul is still half within the Earth, but the Earth has breathed it out; the streaming soul-forces are pouring out into the cosmos. Whereas since December, the force of the Christ Impulse has been intimately bound up with the Earth, with the soul-element of the Earth, we find that now this Christ Impulse, together with the outward-streaming soul element, is beginning to radiate around the Earth (arrows). This which here as Christ-permeated Earth-soul is flowing out into spiritual cosmic space, must be met now by the force of the sunlight itself. And the mental picture arises: While in December the Christ withdrew the Earth-soul element into the interior of the Earth, in order to be insulated from cosmic influences, now with the out-breathing of the Earth, He begins to let His forces breathe out, to extend them to receive the forces of the Sun (das Sonnenhafte) which radiate toward Him. And our schematic drawing will be correct if we represent the Sun force (yellow) as uniting with the Christ force radiating from the Earth. The Christ begins to work together with the Sun forces at Easter time; hence Easter falls at the time of the out-breathing of the Earth. But what happens then must not be related to the light flowing back from the Moon; it must be related to the Sun.
This is the origin of fixing the time of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox. And anyone who is sensitive to such things would have to say to himself with regard to the Easter time: “If I have united myself with the Christ force, my soul also streams out into cosmic spaces along with the out-breathing force of the Earth-soul, and receives the Sun force, which the Christ now brings to human souls from the Earth, whereas before the Mystery of Golgotha He brought it to them from the cosmos.”
But here something else enters in. When festivals were established in those times in which whatever was important on Earth was referred to the flooding moonlight, it was done purely in accordance with what could be observed in space: how the Moon stood in relation to the stars. The intent of the Logos, which had been written into space by Him, was thus deciphered in order to determine the festivals. But if you consider the fixing of the Easter festival as we have it now, you will see that it has been established according to space only up to a certain point, that point at which we speak of the full moon after the beginning of spring. Thus far everything is spatial, but we depart from space when we refer to the Sunday after the spring full moon. This Sunday is determined, not spatially, but according to how it stands in the cycle of the year, how it stands in the cycle of the weekdays, where following Saturday come Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and again Saturday, always in periodical succession. We step out of space here, when we cross over from the spatial setting of the Moon constellation to the purely temporal course in the yearly cycle of Sundays.
Thus it was possible still in the old mysteries to perceive in feeling that the fixing of the festivals had formerly been related to cosmic space but that with the Mystery of Golgotha there was a progression out of cosmic space into time, which itself was no longer related to cosmic space. What related to the spirit was as it were torn away from the purely spatial. This was a powerful “jolt” of mankind toward the spirit.
If we carry further our view of the Earth's breathing process during the course of the year, we find the Earth in yet a third condition in June. At this place which we are observing, the Earth has completely exhaled. The entire soul-element of the Earth has been poured forth into cosmic space; it is yielded up to cosmic space and is saturating itself with the forces of the Sun and the stars. The Christ, Who is joined with this soul-element of the Earth, now unites His force also with the forces of the stars and the Sun, surging there in the Earth-soul that is given over to the cosmic All. It is St. John's Day—Mid-summer. The Earth has fully out-breathed. In her outer physiognomy, with which she looks out into the universe, she reveals not her own inherent force, as she did at the time of the winter solstice; instead, the Earth reveals on her surface the reflected forces of the stars, of the Sun, of all that is in the cosmos outside her.
The old initiates, particularly those in the northern regions of Europe, felt most livingly the inner meaning and spirit of this time that is our June. At this time they felt their own souls, along with the Earth soul, given over to the cosmic expanses. They felt themselves to be living, not within the earthly realm, but rather in the cosmic distances. Indeed they said the following to themselves: “We live with our soul in the cosmic expanses. We live with the Sun, we live with the stars. And when we direct our gaze back upon the Earth, which has filled herself with springing and sprouting plants, which has brought forth animals of all kinds, then we see in the springing and sprouting plants, in the gleaming, unfolding colors of the flowers; we see in the insects flitting and creeping hither and yon, in the birds with their multicolored feathers traversing the air; we see gleam back from the Earth as though mirrored, what we take up into our souls just when we abandon the Earth and unite ourselves with the out-flowing breath of the Earth in order to live with the cosmos rather than with the Earth. What appears in world space springing and sprouting from the Earth in thousandfold colors—this is of the same nature. Only it is a reflection, a raying-back force, whereas we bear in our human souls the original force itself.”
This was the feeling of those men who were inspired out of the Mystery places, those men who especially understood the festival of the summer solstice; and so we see the St. John's festival placed at the time of the Earth's great out-breathing into the cosmos.
If we follow this breathing-process still further we come finally to the stage that makes its entry at the end of September. The out-breathed forces begin their return movement; the Earth begins once more to inhale. The soul of the Earth which was poured out into the cosmos now draws back into the interior of the Earth again. Human souls perceive this in-breathing of the Earth-soul element, either in their subconscious or in their clairvoyant impressions, as processes of their own souls. Those men who were inspired by initiation knowledge of these things could say to themselves at the end of September: “What the cosmos has given us and what has united itself with our soul force through the Christ Impulse—this we now allow to flow back into the earthly realm, into that earthly sphere which throughout the summer has served only as a reflection, as a kind of mirror in relation to the extraterrestrial cosmos.”
But a mirror has the property of not permitting anything that is in front of it to pass through it. Because the Earth is a mirror of the cosmos in the summer, it is also opaque in its inner nature, impermeable by cosmic influences and therefore, during the summer time, impermeable by the Christ Impulse. (See drawing). At this time the Christ Impulse has to live in the exhaled breath. The Ahrimanic forces, however, establish themselves firmly in this Earth which has become impervious to the Christ Impulse. And when the human being returns once more with the forces which he has taken up into his own soul through the Earth's out-breathing—including the forces of the Christ—he plunges into an Earth which has been ahrimanized.
However, it is so, that in the present cycle of Earth evolution—since the last third of the nineteenth century—from spiritual heights there comes to the aid of the descending human soul the force of Michael, who, while the Earth's breath is flowing back into the Earth itself, contends with the Dragon, Ahriman.
This was already foreseen prophetically by those in the ancient Mysteries who understood the course of the year spiritually. They knew that for their time the Mystery had not yet approached which would reveal Michael coming to the help of descending human souls. But they knew that when the souls should have been reborn again and again, this Michael force would enter, would come to the aid of earthly human souls. This was the meaning they saw in the cycle of the year.
Hence it is out of ancient wisdom that you will find written in the calendar on September 29, a few days after the fall equinox—Michael's Day, Michaelmas. And Michaelmas is for simple country people an exceedingly important time. But because of its position in the cycle of the year, Michaelmas is an important time also for those who want to grasp the whole significance of our present earth epoch. If we want to take our place in the present time with the right consciousness, we need to understand that in the last third of the nineteenth century the Michael force took up the struggle with the Dragon, with the Ahrimanic powers, in just the way necessitated by our time. And we must insert ourselves into this intention of earthly and human evolution by taking part in the right way with our own consciousness in this cosmic-spiritual battle.1This is the first occasion on which Rudolf Steiner spoke in a broader sense of the importance of celebrating Michaelmas today. His first allusion to the subject at all had been in a brief reference three months earlier. (The Spiritual Communion of Mankind, December 24, 1922)
We may say that up until now Michaelmas has been a festival for peasants—you know the sense in which I use the word—a festival for simple folk. But once the significance of the yearly breathing process that takes place between the Earth and the cosmos is recognized, Michaelmas will be more and more called upon to form a very real supplement to Easter. For mankind, who will understand earthly life again also in a spiritual sense, will eventually have to think in this way.
While the summer out-breathing occurred, the Earth was ahrimanized. Woe if Jesus had been born into this ahrimanized Earth! Before the cycle is completed again and December approaches, which brings about the birth of the Christ Impulse in the ensouled Earth, the Earth must be purified by spiritual forces, from the Dragon, from the Ahrimanic forces. And the purifying force of Michael, which subdues the evil Ahrimanic forces, must unite itself, from September into December, with the in-flowing earth breath, so that the Christmas festival may approach in the right way, and the birth of the Christ Impulse take place in the right way, so that it will then mature up until the beginning of the out-breathing at Easter time.
We can therefore say: “At Christmas time the Earth has drawn its soul-element into itself, the Earth has taken its soul-being into itself in the great yearly respiration. In this Earth-soul element which has been drawn into the Earth, the Christ Impulse is born in the inwardness of the Earth. Toward spring it flows out into the cosmos with the out-breathing of the Earth. It views the star world and enters into reciprocal action with it, but in such a way that its relation to the stars is no longer spatial, but temporal, so that the temporal is withdrawn from the spatial.”
Easter is on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. Within the full out-going breath man rises up with his soul-being into the cosmic world, permeates and saturates himself with the quality of the stars, takes in the breath of the cosmos with his earthly breath, thus permeating himself with the Easter spirit, and by St. John's Day he is most strongly imbued with that with which he began to permeate himself at Easter. He must then return to the Earth, with the Earth soul and his own soul-being, but he depends upon Michael's standing by him, so that he may penetrate the earthly world in the right way after the Ahrimanic element has been overcome through the Michael forces.
And ever more and more, with the strength of the indrawn breath, does the soul-element of the Earth retire into the Earth itself, up to Christmas time. And today we celebrate Christmas time in the right way if we say to ourselves: “Michael has purified the Earth, so that the birth of the Christ Impulse can occur at Christmas time in the right way.”
Then the out-flowing into the cosmos begins again. In this outflowing Christ takes Michael with Him, in order that Michael may again gather to him out of the cosmos those forces which he has used up in his struggle with the earthly Ahrimanic forces. At Easter time Michael begins again to immerse himself in the cosmic world, and is most strongly interwoven with the cosmos at St. John's time.
And a man in the present who comprehends in the right sense what unites him as man with the earthly, says to himself: “The age is beginning for us in which we see the Christ Impulse aright when we know that it is accompanied by the force of Michael in the course of the year; when we see the Christ flowing down into the earthly and rising up into the cosmos, accompanied by Michael, who at one time is contending within the earthly, at another gathering strength for the fight in the cosmic spaces.” (See lemniscate)
In the Easter thought we have an image of utmost grandeur which has been implanted into earth existence in order to bring enlightenment; namely, the image of Christ arising out of the grave in victory over Death. We can grasp this Easter thought in the right way in our time only if we understand that we must add to it today the Being of Michael, at the right hand of Christ Jesus. For while the force of the Earth's breath is becoming woven through with the force of Christ during the breathing process of the Earth in the course of the year's cycle, Michael accompanies Christ.
If we as Earth men would understand how to make the Christ thought alive in ourselves at each of the four great festivals of the year, including Easter, as indeed we must do, we need to be able to place this thought in the right way and in full consciousness into the present time. The hope that was focused on the coming of the Michael force in the service of the Christ force animated those who understand the Christ Impulse in the right way up to our time.
The obligation arises for us, especially in the modern age, to permeate ourselves with the Christ Impulse in the sense of the Michael thought. We do this in the right way when we know how to link the Resurrection thought with the active Michael thought which has been implanted into human evolution, in the way I have often explained.
Erster Vortrag
In der Zeit, in welcher die großen Festtage des Jahres an unsere Seele herantreten, ist es gut, aus der Erkenntnis der geistigen Weltzusammenhänge sich immer wiederum den Sinn des Festjahres vor das Auge zu führen, und ich möchte das heute in der Weise tun, daß ich Ihnen darlege, wie aus der ganzen Konstitution der Erde heraus zu verstehen ist, was sich ja immerhin unter dem Einfluß geistiger Erkenntnisse als das Festesjahr im Laufe langer Zeiten festgelegt hat. Wir müssen nur, wenn wir in einem solchen Zusammenhange über die Erde und ihre Tatsachen sprechen, uns klar darüber sein, daß wir die Erde nicht auffassen dürfen als den bloßen Zusammenhang von Mineralien und Gesteinen, als der sie von der mineralogischen und geologischen Wissenschaft angesehen wird, sondern wir müssen die Erde als einen lebendigen, beseelten Organismus ansehen, der aus seinen inneren Kräften das Pflanzliche, das Tierische, das Physisch-Menschliche hervortreibt. So daß, wenn wir von einem gewissen Gesichtspunkte, wie wir es heute tun werden, von der Erde sprechen, wir die Gesamtheit alles Lebendigen, alles beseelt Körperlichen, das sich auf der Erde findet, zu dem Wesen der Erde hinzurechnen wollen, und dann trifft dasjenige zu, was ich jetzt auseinandersetzen werde.
Sie wissen ja, die Erde mit all den Wesenheiten, die zu ihr gehören betrachten Sie nur die Pflanzendecke der Erde -, verändert im Laufe eines Jahres vollständig ihre Gestaltung, verändert alles das, womit sie gewissermaßen als mit ihrer Physiognomie hinausschaut in den Weltenraum. Jeweils nach einem Jahre ist die Erde wiederum ungefähr bei demselben Punkte angelangt, in welchem sie mit ihrem Aussehen vor einem Jahre stand. Sie brauchen ja nur daran zu denken, wie ungefähr alles in bezug auf die Witterungsverhältnisse, in bezug auf das Hervorkommen der Pflanzen, in bezug auf das Erscheinen tierischer Wesenheiten, wie in bezug auf all dieses die Erde an diesem Märzende 1923 ungefähr wiederum bei dem Punkte ihrer Entwickelung angelangt ist, an dem sie am Märzende des Jahres 1922 stand.
Wir wollen heute einmal diesen Kreislauf der Erde als eine Art großer Atmung betrachten, welche die Erde vollzieht gegenüber ihrer kosmischen Umgebung. Wir können noch andere Vorgänge, die an der Erde und um die Erde sich abspielen, als eine Art Atmungsvorgänge auffassen. Wir können auch von einer täglichen Atmung der Erde sprechen. Allein wir wollen heute einmal den Jahreslauf im großen wie einen mächtigen Atmungsprozeß der Erdeins Auge fassen, wobei allerdings nicht die Luft von der Erde aus- und eingeatmet wird, sondern diejenigen Kräfte, welche zum Beispiel in der Vegetation des Pflanzlichen wirken, die Kräfte, die im Frühling aus der Erde die Pflanzen heraustreiben, die im Herbst wiederum sich zurückziehen in die Erde, welk werden lassen die grünen Pflanzenbestandteile und endlich ablähmen das Pflanzenwachstum. Also wie gesagt, nicht eine Luftatmung ist es, von der wir sprechen, sondern die Atmung, die Ein- und Ausatmung von Kräften, von denen man eine Teilvorstellung gewinnen kann, wenn man auf das Pflanzenwachstum im Laufe eines Jahres sieht. Diesen Jahresatmungsprozeß der Erde wollen wir uns heute einmal vor die Seele führen.
Sehen wir hin zunächst auf die Zeit, in welcher die Erde sich in der sogenannten Wintersonnenwende befindet, im letzten Drittel des Dezember nach unserer heutigen Jahresrechnung. In dieser Zeit müssen wir in bezug auf diesen Atmungsvorgang die Erde so ansehen, wie wir den Menschen ansehen bei seiner Lungenatmung, wenn er eingeatmet hat, wenn er die Atemluft in sich hat und sie in sich verarbeitet, wenn er also den Atem in sich hält. So hat die Erde diejenigen Kräfte, in bezug auf die ich jetzt von Aus- und Einatmung spreche, in sich. Sie hält sie, diese Kräfte, mit dem Ende des Dezember. Und was da mit der Erde geschieht, kann ich Ihnen in der folgenden Weise schematisch aufzeichnen. Denken wir uns, das (siehe Schema Seite 13, rot) stellte die Erde vor. Wir können in bezug auf diese Atmung nur immer einen Teil der Erde betrachten. Wir betrachten denjenigen Teil, den wir selbst bewohnen; auf der entgegengesetzten Seite der Erde liegen die Bedingungen ja eben entgegengesetzt. Wir müssen uns die Atmung der Erde so vorstellen, daß an einem Orte der Erde Ausatmung ist, am entgegengesetzten Einatmung, aber wir brauchen darauf heute keine Rücksicht zu nehmen.
Wir stellen uns vor die Dezemberzeit. Wir stellen uns vor das, was ich hier als Gelbes einzeichne, als eben der gehaltene Atem in unserer Gegend. Die Erde hat vollständig eingeatmet; sie hält die Kräfte, von denen ich eben gesprochen habe, in sich zusammen. In diesem Augenblicke des Jahres ist die Erde so, daß man sagen kann, sie hält ihr Seelisches in sich. Sie hat ihr Seelisches ganz in sich gesogen, denn die Kräfte, von denen ich gesprochen habe, die sind das Seelische der Erde. Die Erde also hält mit Ende Dezember ihr Seelisches ganz in sich. Sie hat es ganz aufgesogen, so wie der Mensch, wenn er eingeatmet hat, die Luft ganz in sich hält. Das ist die Zeit, in welche mit Recht die Geburt Jesu gesetzt wird, weil da die Erde gewissermaßen im inneren Besitz ihrer gesamten Seelenkraft ist. Und indem Jesus geboren wird in diesem Zeitpunkte, wird er herausgeboren aus einer Erdenkraft, die alles Erdenseelische in sich trägt. Und einen tiefen Sinn haben in der Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha die Eingeweihten, die, ich möchte sagen, der alten Einweihung noch würdig waren, einen tiefen Sinn haben diese Eingeweihten verbunden mit der Anschauung, die sie ausgebildet haben von dem Fallen der Geburt Jesu in diesen Zeitpunkt der irdischen Einatmung, des irdischen Atemhaltens. Diese Eingeweihten haben etwa das Folgende gesagt. Wenn man in alten Tagen, da unsere Einweihungsstätten gestanden haben innerhalb der chaldäischen, innerhalb der ägyptischen Kultur, von jener Wesenheit, die das Hohe Sonnenwesen darstellt, sprach und man wissen wollte, was dieses Hohe Sonnenwesen zu sagen hatte den irdischen Menschen, dann bildete man sich über diese Sprache des Hohen Sonnenwesens auf die folgende Weise eine Ansicht. Man beobachtete das Sonnenlicht in seiner Geistigkeit nicht direkt; man beobachtete das Sonnenlicht in der Art, wie es vom Monde zurückgestrahlt wird. Indem man den Blick hinaufwendete zum Monde, sah man mit Hilfe des alten hellseherischen Seelenblickes mit dem Heranfluten des Mondenlichtes die Offenbarung des Geistes des Weltenalls. Und in einer mehr äußerlichen Weise ergab sich der Sinn dieser Offenbarung, indem man die Konstellation des Mondes in bezug auf die Fixsternbilder und in bezug auf die Planeten beobachtete.
So beobachtete man denn in den chaldäischen und namentlich in den ägyptischen Mysterien zur nächtlichen Stunde den Stand der Sterne, namentlich in bezug auf das heranflutende Mondenlicht. Und geradeso wie der Mensch aus den Buchstaben, die er auf seinem Papierblatt hat, sich den Sinn desjenigen klar macht, was er lesen will, so schaute man hin, wie Widder, Stier zum flutenden Mondenlichte standen, wie Venus, wie die Sonne selber und so weiter, zum flutenden Mondenlichte standen. Und aus dem Verhältnis, wie die Sternbilder und Sterne zueinander standen, namentlich wie sie orientiert wurden durch das flutende Mondenlicht, las man ab, was der Himmel der Erde zu sagen hatte. Man brachte das in Worte. Und nach dem Sinne dessen, was da in Worte gebracht wurde, suchten die alten Eingeweihten. Sie suchten, was jenes Wesen, das später der Christus genannt wurde, dem irdischen Menschen zu sagen hatte. Auf das sahen jene alten Eingeweihten hin, was die Sterne im Verhältnisse zum Monde dem irdischen Leben sagen konnten.
Aber nun, als das Mysterium von Golgatha herannahte, da ging, möchte ich sagen, eine große geistig-seelische Metamorphose durch alles Mysterienwesen. Da sagten die Ältesten dieser Eingeweihten zu ihren Schülern: Jetzt kommt eine Zeit, wo fortan nicht mehr die Sternkonstellationen auf das flutende Mondenlicht bezogen werden dürfen. Das Weltenall spricht anders zu den irdischen Menschen in der Zukunft. Es muß das Licht der Sonne direkt beobachtet werden. Wir müssen herüberwenden die geistigen Erkennerblicke von den Offenbarungen des Mondes zu den Offenbarungen der Sonne.
Was dazumal zuerst in den Mysterien Lehre wurde, das machte einen gewaltigen Eindruck auf diejenigen Menschen, die noch zu den Eingeweihten eben der älteren Zeiten in der Epoche des Mysteriums von Golgatha zählten. Und von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus beurteilten diese Eingeweihten das Mysterium von Golgatha. Aber sie sagten: Es muß etwas in das Erdengeschehen hereinfallen, was diesen Übergang von dem Mondenhaften zu dem Sonnenhaften bewirken kann. Und so kamen sie auf die kosmische Bedeutung der Geburt Jesu. Die Geburt Jesu sahen sie an als etwas, was von der Erde aus den Impuls gab, fortan nicht mehr den Mond zum universalen Regenten der Himmelserscheinungen zu machen, sondern die Sonne selber. Aber das Ereignis, das da hineinfällt, das muß besonderer Art sein - so sagten sie sich. Und diese besondere Art ergab sich ihnen durch das Folgende. Sie fingen an zu verstehen den inneren Sinn dieses Erdengeschehens im letzten Drittel des Dezember. Sie fingen an zu verstehen den Sinn des Erdengeschehens zu der Zeit, die wir jetzt die Weihnachtszeit nennen. Sie sagten sich: Auf die Sonne muß alles bezogen werden. Aber die Sonne kann auf die Erde nur Gewalt ausüben, wenn die Erde ihre Kräfte ausgeatmet hat. Zur Weihnachtszeit hat sie sie eingeatmet, hält sie den Atem in sich. Wird da der Jesus geboren, so wird er zu einer Zeit geboren, in der die Erde gewissermaßen nicht spricht mit den Himmeln, in der die Erde mit ihrem Wesen ganz in sich selber zurückgezogen ist. Da wird der Jesus in einer Zeit geboren, in der die Erde einsam durch den kosmischen Raum hinrollt, ohne ihren Atemzug hinauszusenden, so daß dieser Atemzug durchwellt werden könnte von der Sonnenkraft, von dem Sonnenlichte. Die Erde hat gewissermaßen ihr Seelisches in dieser Zeit nicht dargeboten dem Kosmos; sie hat ihr Seelisches in sich zurückgezogen, sie hat es in sich aufgesogen. Der Jesus wird in einer Zeit auf der Erde geboren, in der die Erde allein ist mit sich gegenüber dem Kosmos. — Fühlen Sie dieses, ich möchte sagen, kosmische Empfinden, das einer derartigen Berechnung zugrunde liegt!
Verfolgen wir jetzt die Erde weiter im Jahreslauf. Verfolgen wir die Erde bis in die Zeit, in der wir eben jetzt stehen. Verfolgen wir die Erde ungefähr bis zu der Zeit der Frühlingssonnenwende, bis zum Ende des März. Da müssen wir schematisch die Sache so zeichnen: Die Erde (siehe Schema Seite 17, rot) hat eben ausgeatmet; die Seele ist noch halb in der Erde, aber die Erde hat die Seele ausgeatmet, die flutenden Seelenkräfte der Erde ergießen sich in den Kosmos hinaus. Ist nun die Kraft des Christus-Impulses seit dem Dezember innig mit der Erde verbunden, mit dem Seelischen der Erde, dann finden wir jetzt, wie dieser Christus-Impuls mit dem hinausflutenden Seelischen die Erde zu umstrahlen beginnt (Pfeile). Dem, was da als durchchristetes Erdenseelisches in den geistigen kosmischen Raum hinausströmt, dem muß aber jetzt begegnen die Kraft des Sonnenlichtes selber. Und die Vorstellung entsteht: Jetzt beginnt der Christus, der sich mit der Erde seelisch im Dezember zurückgezogen hat in das Erdeninnere, um isoliert zu sein von den kosmischen Einflüssen, mit der Ausatmung der Erde selber seine Kräfte hinausatmen zu lassen, sie hinzureichen zum Empfange des Sonnenhaften, das ihm entgegenstrahlt. Und wir erlangen eine richtige schematische Zeichnung, wenn wir nun das Sonnenhafte als dasjenige, was sich mit der von der Erde ausstrahlenden Christus-Kraft vereinigt, also zeichnen (gelb):
Der Christus beginnt mit dem Sonnenhaften zusammenzuwirken zur Osterzeit. Die Osterzeit fällt daher in die Zeit der Ausatmung der Erde. Aber es darf dasjenige, was da geschieht, nicht bezogen werden auf das zurückflutende Mondenlicht, sondern auf das Sonnenhafte.
Dem entstammt die Festlegung der Osterzeit am ersten Sonntag nach dem Frühlingsvollmonde, nach dem Vollmonde, der nach der Frühlingssonnenwende kommt. Und der Mensch müßte, solches empfindend, gegenüber der Osterzeit sagen: Habe ich mich mit der Kraft des Christus vereinigt, so flutet auch meine Seele mit der Ausatmungskraft der Erdenseele hinaus in die kosmischen Weiten und empfängt die Sonnenkraft, die der Christus von der Erde jetzt ebenso zuführt den Menschenseelen, wie er sie vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha diesen Menschenseelen vom Kosmos herein zugeführt hat.
Damit tritt aber noch etwas anderes ein. Wenn in denjenigen Zeiten, in denen das Wichtigste auf der Erde auf das flutende Mondenlicht bezogen wurde, Feste festgesetzt wurden, dann wurden sie rein festgesetzt nach dem, was man im Raume beobachten konnte: wie der Mond stand zu den Sternen. Man entzifferte den Sinn, den der Logos in den Raum hineingeschrieben hatte, um Feste festzusetzen. Wenn Sie sich die Festsetzung des Osterfestes, wie wir es jetzt haben, ansehen, so werden Sie sehen, die Raumesfestsetzung geht bis zu einem gewissen Punkte, bis zu dem Punkte, an dem man sagen kann: Es ist der Vollmond nach Frühlingsbeginn. - Bis daher alles raumhaft. Jetzt aber fällt man aus dem Raum heraus: Sonntag nach dem Frühlingsvollmond, Sonntag, wie er nicht räumlich festgesetzt wird, wie er im Zyklus des Jahreskreislaufes festgesetzt wird, wie sich im Zyklus der Wochentage immer folgen Saturntag, Sonntag, Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Saturntag und so weiter, immer im Kreislauf. Jetzt tritt man aus dem Raum heraus, indem man von der räumlichen Festsetzung der Mondenkonstellation zu dem reinen zeitlichen Verlaufe im Jahreszyklus der Sonntage übergeht.
Das war das weitere, das man in den alten Mysterien empfunden hat: daß die alten Feststellungen also auf den kosmischen Raum bezogen wurden und daß man mit dem Mysterium von Golgatha herausging aus dem kosmischen Raum in die Zeit, die selber nicht mehr auf den kosmischen Raum bezogen wurde. Man riß gewissermaßen das, was man auf den Geist bezog, vom reinen Räumlichen hinweg. Es war ein gewaltiger Ruck der Menschheit nach dem Geiste.
Und gehen wir im Jahreslauf, ich möchte sagen, in der Atmung der Erde weiter, dann finden wir, wie im Juni die Erde den dritten Zustand hat. Die Erde hat an dem Fleck, den wir jetzt beobachten, ganz ausgeatmet. Das ganze Seelenhafte der Erde ist in den kosmischen Raum hinaus ergossen, das ganze Seelische der Erde ist dem kosmischen Raum hingegeben. Das Seelenhafte der Erde durchtränkt sich mit der Kraft der Sonne, mit der Kraft der Sterne. Der Christus, der mit diesem Seelenhaften der Erde verbunden ist, vereinigt auch seine Kraft mit der Sternenkraft und der Sonnenktraft, die da fluten in dem an das kosmische All hingegebenen Seelenhaften der Erde. Es ist Johanni, es ist Johannizeit. Die Erde hat voll ausgeatmet. Die Erde zeigt in ihrer äußeren Physiognomie, mit der sie hinausblickt zum Weltenall, nicht ihre eigene Kraft, wie sie sie in sich zeigte zur Wintersonnenwende, die Erde zeigt auf der Oberfläche die rückstrahlende Kraft der Sterne, der Sonne, alles dessen, was kosmisch außer ihr ist.
Die alten Eingeweihten haben besonders lebhaft, namentlich in den.nördlichen Gegenden Europas, den inneren Sinn und Geist dieser Zeit, unserer Junizeit, gefühlt. Sie haben ihre eigene Seele mit der Erdenseele in dieser Zeit hingegeben gefühlt den kosmischen Weiten. Sie haben sich lebend gefühlt nicht innerhalb des Irdischen, sondern in den kosmischen Weiten. Und vor allen Dingen haben sie sich etwa das Folgende gesagt: Wir leben mit unserer Seele in den kosmischen Weiten. Wir leben mit der Sonne, wir leben mit den Sternen. Und wenn wir den Blick zurückwenden auf die Erde, die sich erfüllt hat mit sprießenden, sprossenden Pflanzen, die alles mögliche an Tieren hervorgebracht hat, dann sehen wir in den sprießenden, sprossenden Pflanzen, in den farbenentfaltenden, farberglitzernden Blumen, sehen in den hin und her sich bewegenden Insekten, in den die Luft durchmessenden Vögeln mit ihren mannigfaltigen farbigen Federdecken wiederum von der Erde wie spiegelnd zurückglänzen dasjenige, was wir in die Seele aufnehmen, wenn wir gerade die Erde verlassen und uns mit dem hinausflutenden Atem der Erde verbinden, um kosmisch, nicht irdisch zu leben. Aber was sich da tausendfältig farbig, sprießend, sprossend, von der Erde hinauswachsend zeigt in den Weltenraum, das ist von derselben Art. Nur ist es eben die Reflexion, die rückstrahlende Kraft, während wir die direkte Kraft in unseren Menschenseelen tragen. - Das war das Sich-Fühlen derjenigen Menschen, die inspiriert waren von den Einweihungsstätten, welche insbesondere das Sommersonnenwendefest verstanden. So sehen wir hineingestellt das Johannifest in den großen Atemzug des Irdischen gegenüber dem Kosmos.
Verfolgen wir diesen Atemzug noch weiter, so kommen wir endlich zu jenem Stadium, das Ende September eintritt. Die ausgeatmeten Kräfte beginnen wiederum sich zurückzubewegen, die Erde beginnt wiederum einzuatmen. Die Erdenseele, welche hinausergossen war in den Kosmos, zieht sich wiederum in das Innere der Erde zurück. Die Menschenseelen nehmen in ihrem Unterbewußten oder in ihren hellseherischen Impressionen dieses Einatmen des Erdenseelenhaften als Vorgänge ihrer eigenen Seele wahr. Die Menschen, die inspiriert waren von der Einweihungserkenntnis über solche Dinge, sie konnten sich Ende September dann sagen: Was uns der Kosmos gegeben hat und was mit unserer eigenen Seelenkraft durch den Christus-Impuls sich verbunden hat, das lassen wir wiederum zurückfluten in das Irdische, in jenes Irdische, das den ganzen Sommer hindurch nur der Reflexion gedient hat, das also wie ein Spiegel sich verhalten hat gegenüber dem Kosmos, dem außerirdischen Kosmos.
Ein Spiegel verhält sich aber so, daß er nichts von dem hindurchläßt, was vor ihm ist. Weil die Erde ein Spiegel des Kosmischen im Sommer ist, ist sie gewissermaßen auch in ihrem Inneren undurchsichtig, undurchlässig für das Kosmische, undurchlässig deshalb für den Christus-Impuls während der Sommerzeit. Da muß der ChristusImpuls gewissermaßen in der Ausatmung leben; die Erde erweist sich selber als undurchlässig für den Christus-Impuls. Die ahrimanischen Kräfte setzen sich fest in dieser für den Christus-Impuls undurchlässigen Erde. Und wenn der Mensch wiederum zurückkehrt mit den durch die Ausatmung der Erdenkräfte in die eigene Seele aufgenommenen Kräften, auch mit den Christus-Kräften, so taucht er unter in die ahrimanisierte Erde. Da aber ist es so, daß im jetzigen Zeitlauf der Erdenentwickelung, seit dem letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts, aus Geisteshöhen der untertauchenden Menschenseele zu Hilfe kommt die Kraft des Michael, die bei diesem Rückfluten der Frdenatmung in die Erde selbst hinein den Drachen Ahriman bekämpft.
Das haben wie prophetisch vorausgesehen diejenigen, die auch schon in den alten Mysterien den Jahreslauf geistig verstanden haben. Sie wußten, daß für ihre Zeit noch nicht dieses Geheimnis herangekommen war: daß die Kraft des Michael der untertauchenden Menschenseele zu Hilfe kommt. Aber sie wußten, daß, wenn die Seelen immer wieder geboren werden, diese Michael-Kraft eintritt, diese Michael-Kraft zu Hilfe kommt den Erdenmenschenseelen. In diesem Sinne haben sie den Jahreskreislauf angesehen. Sie finden daher im Kalender aus alter Weisheit eingeschrieben auf den 29. September, einige Tage nach der Herbst-Tagundnachtgleiche, den Michaeltag. Und Michaeli ist gerade für die einfachen Leute auf dem Lande eine außerordentlich wichtige Zeit.
Aber Michaeli ist durch seine Einstellung in den Jahreskreislauf auch für diejenigen eine wichtige Jahreszeit, welche den ganzen Sinn unserer gegenwärtigen Erdenepoche zu verstehen vermögen. Muß man doch, wenn man mit dem richtigen Bewußtsein sich in die gegenwärtige Zeit hereinstellen will, verstehen, wie in dem letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts die Michael-Kraft in der Art, wie das eben für unsere Zeit sein muß, den Kampf mit dem Drachen, den Kampf mit den ahrimanischen Mächten aufnimmt. Muß man sich doch selber einfügen in den Sinn der Erden- und Menschheitsentwickelung, indem man mit dem eigenen Bewußtsein in der rechten Weise an diesem kosmisch-geistigen Kampfe teilnimmt.
Bisher ist der Michaeltag ein Bauernfeiertag. Sie wissen, was ich für einen Sinn damit verbinde: ein Feiertag der einfachen Menschen. Er ist dazu berufen, aus dem Einsehen des ganzen Sinnes des irdischkosmischen Jahresatemzuges immer mehr und mehr das Ergänzungsfest für das Osterfest zu bilden. Denn so wird die Menschheit, die wiederum das Erdenleben auch im geistigen Sinne verstehen wird, einmal denken müssen.
Während die Sommerausatmung geschah, ist die Erde ahrimanisiert. Wehe, wenn in diese ahrimanisierte Erde die Geburt Jesu hineinfiele! Bevor wiederum der Kreislauf vollendet ist und der Dezember herankommt, der den Christus-Impuls in der durchseelten Erde geboren werden läßt, muß die Erde durch geistige Kräfte gereinigt sein von dem Drachen, von den ahrimanischen Kräften. Und vereinigen muß sich die Michael-Kraft mit dem, was hineinflutet als Erdenatmung von der Septemberzeit an bis in die Dezemberzeit, vereinigen muß sich damit die reinigende, die das böse Ahrimanische besiegende Michael-Kraft, damit in der richtigen Weise das Weihnachtsfest herankommen und in der richtigen Weise sich die Geburt des ChristusImpulses vollziehen kann, der dann weiter reift bis zu dem Beginn der Ausatmung, bis zu der Osterzeit.
So sehen wir, daß man sagen kann: Zur Weihnachtszeit hat die Erde ihr Seelisches in sich aufgenommen, hat die Erde ihr Seelisches in dem großen Jahresatemzug in sich aufgenommen. Der ChristusImpuls wird in dem von der Erde aufgenommenen Erdenseelischen im Innern der Erde geboren. Er flutet hinaus in das Kosmische mit dem Ausatmen der Erde gegen die Frühlingszeit hin. Er wird dessen ansichtig, was sternenhaft ist, und tritt mit ihm in Wechselwirkung, aber so, daß er nicht mehr räumlich bloß in Beziehung tritt, sondern zeitlich, so daß das Zeitliche aus dem Räumlichen herausgenommen ist.
Ostern ist am ersten Sonntag nach dem Frühlingsvollmond. Der Mensch erhebt sich mit seinem Seelischen innerhalb der Vollausatmung hinaus in das Kosmische, durchtränkt und durchdringt sich mit dem Sternenhaften, nimmt den Atem der Welt mit dem Erdenatem selber auf, durchdringt sich mit dem Österlichen. Und mit dem, womit er begonnen hat sich zu durchdringen seit der Osterzeit, steht er am stärksten drinnen zur Johannizeit, muß dann zurückkehren mit der Erdenseele und zugleich mit seinem eigenen Seelenhaften in die Erde, ist aber angewiesen darauf, daß Michael ihm zur Seite steht, damit er in der richtigen Weise eindringen kann in das Irdische nach Besiegung des Ahrimanischen durch die Michael-Kräfte.
Immer mehr und mehr zieht sich das Seelische der Erde mit der eingezogenen Atemkraft in das Irdische selber zurück, bis die Weihnachtszeit da ist, und in der richtigen Weise feiert dann die Weihnachtszeit derjenige heute, welcher sich sagt: Michael hat die Erde gereinigt, damit zur Weihnachtszeit in der richtigen Weise die Geburt des Christus-Impulses stattfinden kann. -— Dann findet wiederum das Hinausfluten in das Kosmische statt. Da nimmt Christus bei dem Hinausfluten den Michael mit, damit Michael diejenigen Kräfte, die er verbraucht hat bei seinem Kampfe gegen das Irdisch-Ahrimanische, aus dem Kosmischen sich wiederum aneignen kann. Mit dem Österlichen beginnt auch Michael wiederum in das Kosmische sich zu versenken, durchwebt sich mit dem Kosmischen am stärksten in der Johannizeit. Und ein Mensch, der im rechten Sinne in der Gegenwart erfaßt, was ihn verbindet als Menschen mit dem Irdischen, der sagt sich: Es beginnt für uns das Zeitalter, in dem wir den Christus-Impuls richtig sehen, wenn wir ihn im Jahreskreislauf von der Kraft des Michael in der richtigen Weise begleitet wissen, wenn wir gewissermaßen sehen den Christus ziehen, flutend ins Irdische und hinauf in das Kosmische, begleitet in der entsprechenden Weise von dem in der Erde kämpfenden Michael, von dem in den Weltenweiten die Kampfeskraft sich erobernden Michael (siehe Lemniskate).
So wird auch der Ostergedanke im richtigen Sinne unserer Zeit dann erfaßt werden, wenn der Mensch versteht, zu jenem allergrandiosesten Bilde, das hineingestellt ist, Aufklärung bringend in das Erdendasein, zu dem Bilde des aus dem Grabe erstehenden, den Tod besiegenden Christus heute hinzuzufügen die Wesenheit des Michael, zur Rechten des Christus Jesus, beim Durchwirken der Erdenatemkraft mit Christus-Kraft während eines Jahreskreislaufes in der Erdenatmung.
Versteht man so zu jeder der vier großen Festeszeiten des Jahres, also auch zur Osterzeit, den Christus-Gedanken in sich lebendig zu machen, so macht man ihn heute in dem Sinne lebendig, wie er lebendig werden muß, wenn man sich als Erdenmensch ihn richtig in seine Gegenwart mit vollem Verständnis hereinzustellen vermag. Die Hoffnung auf das Kommen der Michael-Kraft im Dienste der ChristusKraft beseelte diejenigen, die in der richtigen Weise den ChristusImpuls bis in unsere Zeit herein verstanden.
Die Verpflichtung, im Sinne des Michael-Gedankens sich mit dem Christus-Impuls zu durchdringen, erwächst uns insbesondere für die heutige Zeit. Wir durchdringen uns in der richtigen Weise, wenn wir den Auferstehungsgedanken zu verbinden wissen mit dem wirksamen Michael-Gedanken, wie er sich hereingestellt hat in die Menschheitsentwickelung in der Weise, wie ich das ja öfter auseinandergesetzt habe.
First Lecture
In the time when the great feast days of the year are approaching our souls, it is good to keep bringing the meaning of the feast year before our eyes from the knowledge of the spiritual world connections, and I would like to do this today in such a way that I explain to you how it is to be understood from the whole constitution of the earth, which after all has been established as the feast year in the course of long times under the influence of spiritual knowledge. When we speak of the earth and its facts in such a context, we must be clear about the fact that we must not regard the earth as a mere combination of minerals and rocks, as it is regarded by mineralogical and geological science, but we must regard the earth as a living, animated organism, which brings forth from its inner forces the vegetable, the animal, the physical-human. So that when we speak of the earth from a certain point of view, as we will do today, we want to add the totality of all living things, all animated physical things that are found on the earth, to the essence of the earth, and then what I will now discuss applies.
You know, the earth with all the beings that belong to it - just look at the plant cover of the earth - completely changes its form in the course of a year, changes everything with which it looks out into the world space as it were with its physiognomy. At the end of each year, the earth has again reached approximately the same point in which it stood with its appearance a year ago. You need only think of how approximately everything in relation to the weather conditions, in relation to the emergence of plants, in relation to the appearance of animal entities, how in relation to all this the earth at the end of March 1923 has again reached approximately the point in its development at which it stood at the end of March 1922.
Today we want to look at this cycle of the earth as a kind of great breathing, which the earth carries out in relation to its cosmic surroundings. We can also understand other processes that take place on and around the earth as a kind of breathing process. We can also speak of the Earth's daily respiration. But today we want to consider the course of the year on the whole as a mighty breathing process of the earth, although it is not the air that is breathed in and out of the earth, but those forces that are at work in the vegetation of plants, for example, the forces that drive the plants out of the earth in spring, which in turn withdraw back into the earth in autumn, wither the green parts of the plants and finally paralyze plant growth. So, as I said, it is not the breathing of air that we are talking about, but the breathing, the inhalation and exhalation of forces, of which we can gain a partial idea if we look at plant growth over the course of a year. Today we want to visualize this annual breathing process of the earth.
Let us first look at the time when the earth is in the so-called winter solstice, in the last third of December according to our current annual reckoning. At this time we must look at the earth in relation to this breathing process in the same way as we look at man when he breathes in, when he has inhaled, when he has the air he breathes and processes it within himself, when he holds his breath within himself. In this way, the earth contains the forces that I am now talking about inhaling and exhaling. It holds them, these forces, with the end of December. And I can show you schematically what happens to the earth in the following way. Let us imagine that (see diagram on page 13, red) represents the earth. We can only ever look at one part of the earth in relation to this breathing. We are looking at the part that we ourselves inhabit; on the opposite side of the earth the conditions are just the opposite. We must imagine the earth's respiration in such a way that in one part of the earth there is exhalation, in the opposite part there is inhalation, but we need not take this into consideration today.
We place ourselves before the December time. We imagine what I am drawing here as yellow, as the breath held in our region. The earth has fully inhaled; it holds the forces I have just spoken of within itself. At this moment of the year the earth is such that one can say that it holds its soul within itself. It has completely absorbed its soul, for the forces of which I have spoken are the soul of the earth. So at the end of December the earth holds its soul completely within itself. It has absorbed it completely, just as man, when he has breathed in, holds the air completely within himself. This is the time in which the birth of Jesus is rightly placed, because the earth is, so to speak, in inner possession of its entire soul power. And by being born at this time, Jesus is born out of an earthly power that carries all earthly soul within itself. And in the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, the initiates who, I would like to say, were still worthy of the old initiation, have a deep meaning, these initiates have a deep meaning connected with the view they have formed of the fall of the birth of Jesus into this time of earthly inhalation, of earthly breath-holding. These initiates have said something like the following. In the old days, when our places of initiation stood within the Chaldean, within the Egyptian culture, when one spoke of that entity which represents the High Solar Being, and one wanted to know what this High Solar Being had to say to earthly men, then one formed an opinion about this language of the High Solar Being in the following way. One did not observe the sunlight in its spirituality directly; one observed the sunlight in the way it is reflected from the moon. By turning one's gaze upwards to the moon, one saw, with the help of the old clairvoyant vision of the soul, the revelation of the spirit of the universe as the moonlight flooded in. And in a more external way the meaning of this revelation was revealed by observing the constellation of the moon in relation to the fixed constellations and in relation to the planets.
So in the Chaldean and especially in the Egyptian mysteries the position of the stars was observed at night, especially in relation to the approaching moonlight. And just as man makes the meaning of what he wants to read clear from the letters he has on his sheet of paper, so one looked at how Aries and Taurus stood in relation to the flooding moonlight, how Venus, like the sun itself and so on, stood in relation to the flooding moonlight. And from the relationship of the constellations and stars to each other, especially how they were oriented by the flooding moonlight, one could read what the heavens had to say to the earth. This was put into words. And the ancient initiates searched for the meaning of what was put into words. They searched for what that being, who was later called the Christ, had to say to earthly man. Those ancient initiates looked to see what the stars could say to earthly life in relation to the moon.
But now, as the Mystery of Golgotha approached, I would like to say that a great spiritual-mental metamorphosis went through all mystery beings. Then the elders of these initiates said to their disciples: "Now a time is coming when from now on the constellations of the stars may no longer be related to the flowing light of the moon. The universe will speak differently to earthly people in the future. The light of the sun must be observed directly. We have to turn the spiritual cognitive gaze from the revelations of the moon to the revelations of the sun.
What was first taught at that time in the Mysteries made a tremendous impression on those people who still belonged to the initiates of the older times in the epoch of the Mystery of Golgotha. And it was from this point of view that these initiates judged the Mystery of Golgotha. But they said: Something must fall into the earthly events which can bring about this transition from the lunar to the solar. And so they came up with the cosmic significance of the birth of Jesus. They saw the birth of Jesus as something that gave the impulse from the earth to no longer make the moon the universal ruler of celestial phenomena, but the sun itself. But the event that falls into this must be of a special kind - so they said to themselves. And this special nature came to them through the following. They began to understand the inner meaning of this earthly event in the last third of December. They began to understand the meaning of what was happening on earth at the time we now call Christmas time. They said to themselves: Everything must be related to the sun. But the sun can only exert force on the earth when the earth has exhaled its powers. At Christmas time it has breathed it in, it holds its breath. When Jesus is born, he is born at a time when the earth does not speak to the heavens, so to speak, when the earth and its being are completely withdrawn into itself. Jesus is born at a time when the earth rolls lonely through cosmic space without sending out its breath, so that this breath could be waved through by the power of the sun, by the light of the sun. In a sense, the earth has not offered its soul to the cosmos at this time; it has withdrawn its soul into itself, it has absorbed it. Jesus is born on earth at a time when the earth is alone with itself in relation to the cosmos. - Feel this, I would like to say, cosmic feeling that underlies such a calculation!
Let us now follow the earth further in the course of the year. Let us follow the earth up to the time in which we are now standing. Let us follow the earth approximately up to the time of the spring solstice, up to the end of March. We have to draw it schematically like this: The earth (see diagram on page 17, red) has just exhaled; the soul is still half in the earth, but the earth has exhaled the soul, the flooding soul forces of the earth are pouring out into the cosmos. If the power of the Christ impulse has been intimately connected with the earth since December, with the soul of the earth, then we now find how this Christ impulse begins to radiate around the earth (arrows) with the flooding soul. That which flows out into the spiritual cosmic space as the earth's soul, however, must now be met by the power of the sunlight itself. And the idea arises: Now the Christ, who has withdrawn with the earth in December into the interior of the earth in order to be isolated from the cosmic influences, begins to let his forces breathe out with the exhalation of the earth itself, to reach out to receive the sunlike that radiates towards him. And we obtain a correct schematic drawing if we now draw the solar nature as that which unites with the Christ power radiating from the earth (yellow):
The Christ begins to work together with the solar at Easter time. Easter time therefore falls at the time of the exhalation of the earth. However, what happens there must not be related to the moonlight flooding back, but to the solar element.
This is the origin of the determination of Easter time on the first Sunday after the spring full moon, after the full moon that comes after the spring solstice. And man, feeling this, would have to say to the Easter time: If I have united myself with the power of the Christ, then my soul also floods out into the cosmic expanses with the exhaling power of the earth soul and receives the solar power, which the Christ now supplies from the earth to the human souls just as he supplied it to these human souls from the cosmos before the Mystery of Golgotha.
But with this something else occurs. When, in those times when the most important things on earth were related to the moonlight, festivals were set, then they were set purely according to what could be observed in space: how the moon stood in relation to the stars. One deciphered the meaning that the Logos had written into space in order to establish festivals. If you look at the determination of Easter as we have it now, you will see that the determination of space goes up to a certain point, up to the point where you can say: It is the full moon after the beginning of spring. - Until then everything was spatial. But now one falls out of space: Sunday after the spring full moon, Sunday, as it is not fixed spatially, as it is fixed in the cycle of the annual cycle, as Saturn's day, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturn's day and so on, always following each other in the cycle of the weekdays. Now we step out of space by moving from the spatial determination of the lunar constellation to the pure temporal progression in the annual cycle of Sundays.
This was the other thing that was felt in the old mysteries: that the old determinations were thus related to cosmic space and that with the Mystery of Golgotha one went out of cosmic space into time, which itself was no longer related to cosmic space. In a sense, what was related to the spirit was torn away from the purely spatial. It was a tremendous jolt of humanity towards the spirit.
And if we go further in the course of the year, I would like to say, in the breathing of the earth, then we find how the earth has the third state in June. The earth has exhaled completely in the spot we are now observing. The whole soulfulness of the earth has poured out into cosmic space, the whole soulfulness of the earth has been surrendered to cosmic space. The soulfulness of the earth is imbued with the power of the sun, with the power of the stars. The Christ, who is connected with this soulfulness of the earth, also unites his power with the power of the stars and the power of the sun, which flow into the soulfulness of the earth that is given over to the cosmic universe. It is St. John's Day, it is St. John's time. The earth has fully exhaled. In its outer physiognomy, with which it looks out to the universe, the earth does not show its own power, as it showed it within itself at the winter solstice, the earth shows on its surface the reflecting power of the stars, the sun, everything that is cosmically outside of it.
The ancient initiates felt the inner meaning and spirit of this time, our June time, particularly vividly, especially in the northern regions of Europe. They felt their own souls, together with the earth soul, surrendered to the cosmic expanses at this time. They have felt themselves alive not within the earthly, but in the cosmic expanses. And above all, they said the following to themselves: We live with our soul in the cosmic expanses. We live with the sun, we live with the stars. And when we turn our gaze back to the earth, which has been filled with sprouting, sprouting plants, which has produced all kinds of animals, then we see in the sprouting, sprouting plants, in the color-developing, color-glittering flowers, we see in the insects moving to and fro, in the birds with their manifold colorful feather coverings, we see in the moving insects, in the birds with their manifold colorful feather coverings that which we take into our souls when we leave the earth and connect with the outflowing breath of the earth in order to live cosmically, not earthly. But that which shows itself there in a thousand different colors, sprouting, sprouting, growing out from the earth into the world space, is of the same kind. Only it is the reflection, the reflecting power, while we carry the direct power in our human souls. - This was the feeling of those people who were inspired by the places of initiation, who understood the summer solstice festival in particular. In this way, we see St. John's Day as part of the great breath of the earthly towards the cosmos.
Following this breath even further, we finally arrive at the stage that occurs at the end of September. The exhaled forces begin to move back again, the earth begins to breathe in again. The earth soul, which was poured out into the cosmos, withdraws again into the interior of the earth. In their subconscious or in their clairvoyant impressions, the human souls perceive this inhalation of the earth-soul as processes of their own soul. The people who were inspired by the initiatory knowledge of such things were then able to say to themselves at the end of September: What the cosmos has given us and what has connected with our own soul power through the Christ impulse, we in turn allow to flow back into the earthly, into that earthly which has only served as a reflection throughout the summer, which has thus behaved like a mirror towards the cosmos, the extraterrestrial cosmos.
But a mirror behaves in such a way that it lets nothing through of what is in front of it. Because the earth is a mirror of the cosmic in summer, it is to a certain extent also opaque in its interior, impermeable to the cosmic, and therefore impermeable to the Christ impulse during the summertime. There the Christ impulse must, so to speak, live in the exhalation; the earth itself proves to be impermeable to the Christ impulse. The ahrimanic forces take root in this earth which is impermeable to the Christ impulse. And when man returns again with the forces absorbed into his own soul through the exhalation of the earth forces, also with the Christ forces, he submerges into the ahrimanized earth. But it is so that in the present course of time of the earth's development, since the last third of the 19th century, the power of Michael comes to the aid of the submerging human soul from spiritual heights, which fights the dragon Ahriman in this flooding back of the earthly respiration into the earth itself.
This was prophetically foreseen by those who already understood the course of the year spiritually in the ancient Mysteries. They knew that for their time this secret had not yet come to them: that the power of Michael would come to the aid of the submerged human soul. But they knew that when the souls are born again and again, this Michael-power enters, this Michael-power comes to the aid of the human souls on earth. In this sense they looked at the annual cycle. They therefore find Michaelmas inscribed in the calendar from ancient wisdom on September 29, a few days after the autumnal equinox. And Michaelmas is an extremely important time, especially for ordinary people in the countryside.
But because of its position in the annual cycle, Michaelmas is also an important time of year for those who are able to understand the whole meaning of our present earthly epoch. If we want to place ourselves in the present time with the right consciousness, we must understand how, in the last third of the 19th century, the Michael power takes up the battle with the dragon, the battle with the Ahrimanic powers, in the way that it must be for our time. After all, one must fit oneself into the sense of earthly and human development by participating with one's own consciousness in the right way in this cosmic-spiritual battle.
Hitherto St. Michael's Day has been a farmers' holiday. You know what I mean by that: a holiday for ordinary people. It is called to become more and more the complementary feast for Easter by understanding the whole meaning of the earthly-cosmic annual breathing procession. For this is how humanity, which in turn will also understand earthly life in a spiritual sense, will one day have to think.
While the summer exhalation happened, the earth is ahrimanized. Woe if the birth of Jesus were to fall into this ahrimanized earth! Before the cycle is completed again and December arrives, which allows the Christ impulse to be born in the soul-saturated earth, the earth must be purified by spiritual forces from the dragon, from the ahrimanic forces. And the Michael-power must unite with that which flows in as earth-breathing from the time of September until the time of December, the purifying Michael-power, which conquers the evil Ahrimanic, must unite with it, so that the Christmas festival can approach in the right way and the birth of the Christ-impulse can take place in the right way, which then matures further until the beginning of the exhalation, until the time of Easter.
So we see that we can say: At Christmas time the earth has absorbed its soul, the earth has absorbed its soul in the great annual breath. The Christ impulse is born in the souls of the earth that have been absorbed by the earth. It floods out into the cosmic with the exhalation of the earth towards the time of spring. He becomes aware of that which is stellar and interacts with it, but in such a way that he no longer merely relates spatially, but temporally, so that the temporal is taken out of the spatial.
Easter is on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. Man rises with his soul within the full exhalation out into the cosmic, imbues and permeates himself with the star-like, absorbs the breath of the world with the earth-breath itself, permeates himself with the paschal. And with that with which he has begun to permeate himself since the Easter time, he stands most strongly inside at the time of John, must then return with the earth soul and at the same time with his own soulfulness into the earth, but is dependent on Michael standing by his side so that he can penetrate the earthly in the right way after defeating the Ahrimanic through the Michael forces.
More and more the spiritual of the earth withdraws into the earthly itself with the drawn in breath power, until Christmas time is there, and in the right way Christmas time is then celebrated today by the one who says to himself: Michael has purified the earth, so that at Christmas time the birth of the Christ impulse can take place in the right way. -- Then again the outpouring into the cosmic takes place. Christ takes Michael with him when he floods out, so that Michael can re-appropriate from the cosmic those forces which he has used up in his struggle against the earthly-Ahrimanic. With Easter, Michael also begins to immerse himself in the cosmic, interweaving himself with the cosmic most strongly in the time of John. And a person who grasps in the right sense in the present what connects him as a human being with the earthly, says to himself: The age begins for us in which we see the Christ impulse correctly, when we know it is accompanied in the right way by the power of Michael in the cycle of the year, when we see the Christ moving, as it were, flooding into the earthly and up into the cosmic, accompanied in the appropriate way by Michael fighting in the earth, by Michael conquering the fighting power in the world (see Lemniscate).
So also the Easter thought will be grasped in the right sense of our time when man understands to add to that most grandiose image, which is put in, bringing enlightenment into the earth existence, to the image of Christ rising from the grave, conquering death, today the entity of Michael, at the right hand of Christ Jesus, in the working through of the earth breathing power with Christ power during a yearly cycle in the earth breathing.
In this way, at each of the four great feast times of the year, thus also at Easter time, one understands how to make the Christ-thought alive in oneself, so today one makes it alive in the sense in which it must become alive if one, as an earth person, is able to place it correctly in his presence with full understanding. The hope of the coming of Michael's power in the service of Christ's power animated those who understood the Christ impulse in the right way right up to our time.
The obligation to imbue ourselves with the Christ impulse in the spirit of the Michael idea arises for us today in particular. We permeate ourselves in the right way when we know how to connect the idea of resurrection with the effective Michael-thought, as it has placed itself in the development of humanity in the way I have often explained.