The Easter Festival in the Evolution of the Mysteries
GA 233a
21 April 1924, Dornach
Lecture III
As an extension of my comments of the last few days, I would like today to take a closer look at the astronomical aspect of Easter. To do this, however, I will first have to touch upon certain facts relating to the so-called mystery of the moon.
For as long as there was Mystery knowledge people spoke of a secret of the moon. Inasmuch as human beings participate in the cosmos as a whole, this secret was related to human nature. It must be understood that with respect to our whole nature we are connected with the cosmos, just as through our physical bodies we are connected with the earth. Our materialistic times, however, have deprived us of the ancient awareness of the spirituality pervading the universe, spirituality that lives in the forms of constellations and in the motions of heavenly bodies. Our perception of heavenly bodies is now purely external; all we can do with them is calculate their movements, as we do with the planets.
Such an approach to astronomy, however, is like studying the human organism while ignoring that it is animated by a being of soul and spirit. Attending only to measurable quantities and to mechanical laws of motion, we overlook the spirit and soul that express themselves through these phenomena.
This spirit and soul, as they manifest themselves in the human being, are unified by the ego into a single entity, whereas in the cosmos as a whole we have to do in spiritual observation not with one but with a multitude, an immeasurable, limitless multitude of spiritual beings. Some of these express themselves in the forms of the constellations, others in the wanderings of the planets, still others in the radiant light of the stars, and so on.
This many-faceted heavenly spirituality is related to humanity's inner nature in the same way that earthly foodstuffs are related to our physical nature. The secret of the moon represents the most basic of these inner relations between us and the cosmos.
To the earthly eye the moon appears engaged in a constant metamorphosis. From a round, luminous disk such as we see now, it diminishes to half, then to a quarter, until finally it vanishes from sight in a phenomenon we call the new moon. This is followed by a gradual growth in size back to the full moon.
The usual explanation for this is, of course, that the moon is just a body that moves about in space and is illuminated from different angles by the sun, so that its shape apparently changes. Such an explanation, however, does not encompass everything the moon means to earth and to earthly humanity. Instead it must be realized that when we look at something as physically conspicuous as the full moon, something that presents us with a physical aspect, we are dealing with a completely different thing than when the same object presents itself to us as the new moon, which obviously cannot manifest itself in a visible, physical way due to the celestial configuration connected with it. However, we must not conclude from this that the new moon is completely without effect. When the state of the heavens is such that we know the moon to be new, it is simply a matter of the moon being present in an invisible and therefore more spiritual manner than when it appears in the physical light as full moon. The moon is therefore present at one time in a completely physical way, at another in a completely spiritual way, always rhythmically alternating between these two forms of expression.
In order to understand why this is so, it is necessary to recall certain facts with which you may be familiar from the account I give of them in my Outline of Occult Science. [Rudolf Steiner, An Outline of Occult Science, (Spring Valley, N.Y.: Anthroposophic Press, 1972). ] We must particularly call to mind that the moon was once inside the earth. It was part of it. Then it split away, becoming a satellite, as they say, and since then has orbited around it. But during the time when it was still joined with the earth, it acted upon human beings from within it.
Humanity, of course, lived and developed completely differently on the earth when it still had the moon within it. Earth was impoverished when the moon split off, because the forces by which humanity was shaped and held fast from then on were entirely earthly rather than both earthly and lunar. Lunar forces that once acted upon human beings from within the earth now exert their influence from without.
At one time the lunar forces radiated into the human being from below upwards, affecting first the feet and legs and coursing upwards from there into the entire body. Since the moon split off, however, these forces have acted in the opposite direction, from the head downwards, and in doing so have acquired a completely different role in the life of humanity from the one they had previously.
Where do we see this different function of the moon? In descending from pre-earthly existence to a new life on earth the human being has very definite experiences. When he has undergone everything necessary in the period between death and a new birth, the human being prepares to come down to earth, to unite himself with a physical body provided by an earthly father and mother. But before his ego and astral body can unite themselves with a physical body, he must clothe himself in an etheric body, which he gathers form the surrounding cosmos. It is here that the new role of the lunar forces comes to expression, for this process has changed fundamentally since the moon separated from the earth. Prior to that time, human beings who had completed the life between death and a new birth and again approached earth needed forces to gather the ether, which is scattered throughout the cosmos, around their ego and astral bodies, in order to fashion from it the shape of their etheric bodies. Such forces were provided by the moon from within the earth. Since the moon split off, human beings have obtained the necessary forces from outside the earth, that is, from the moon. Immediately before they enter earthly existence, then, human beings must call upon what lies in the moon forces, that is, upon something cosmic, in order to fashion their etheric bodies.
This etheric body must be shaped in such a way that it has, so to speak, an outside and an inside. This may be depicted as follows:
In fashioning the outer side of the etheric body human beings need forces of light, for in addition to other substances the etheric body is composed primarily of the streaming light of the cosmos. Sunlight, however, is of no use for this. Sunlight cannot bestow the forces that enable human beings to shape their etheric bodies. To obtain these we need the light that shines from the sun to the moon and is then reflected back, for in this process the light is essentially changed. All the light we receive from the moon, the light that the moon sends out into the cosmos, contains the forces we need to form the outside of our etheric bodies. Conversely, the spiritual forces that radiate from the new moon are the ones we need to shape the inside of our etheric bodies.
Thus our ability to form the outside and inside of our etheric bodies is related to the moon's rhythmic alternation between light and darkness. And this is possible only because the moon, contrary to the idle chatter of modern science, is really more than just a body in space; in reality it is permeated with spirit; it bears a multiplicity of spiritual beings within it.
On various occasions I have explained that when the moon separated from the earth not only did physical matter stream out into space but also a class of spiritual beings who had lived on earth in spiritual rather than physical form and who were mankind's original teachers. These beings went with the moon into space and founded a sort of lunar colony. We must therefore distinguish between the moon's physical-etheric and its soul-spirit aspects, keeping in mind that the latter is a multiplicity rather than a unity.
The activity of the moon's spiritual beings is entirely determined by how they view the surrounding world from their standpoint. To express myself pictorially, these beings first direct their gaze to what is most important to them, namely, to the planets. All occurrences on the moon, including those that assure human beings of the forces they need to fashion their etheric bodies, depend upon the results of observations that the beings living in the moon make of our solar system's planets—Mercury, sun, moon, and so on.
This was known in certain of the old Mysteries. Initiates of such Mysteries were aware that the moon-beings acted according to observations of the planets' positions and motions. This was expressed by bringing the moon, by which celestial configurations important to the fashioning of the human etheric body were determined, into human awareness and in connection with the other planetary forces. This was done by means of the names given to the days of the week:
Moon: Monday: Monday: |
Monday |
From this point the other planets could be observed: | |
Mars: Marsday (in French mardi): |
Tuesday |
Mercury: Mercury's day (mercredi): |
Wednesday |
Jupiter: Jupiter's day (Jupiter being the German Donar, Donnerstag): |
Thursday |
Venus: (the German Freya, Freitag): |
Friday |
Saturn: Saturn's day: |
Saturday |
and finally the sun, whose forces cannot directly influence the etheric body's formation, but rather only indirectly, by reflection from the moon: Sunday |
Sunday |
In this way the moon's viewpoint was incorporated into a structuring of time that reminded human beings of the entire planetary context. In this way the ancient Mysteries attempted to awaken people's memories of pre-earthly existence, of a time when they had needed forces created on the moon by the moon-beings' observation of the planets. People were to be reminded that they owed the particular form of their etheric bodies to what the moon had been able to glean from Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and so on.
Thus we have on the one hand the moon's rhythmic oscillation between light and darkness as it orbits around the earth, and on the other the entire planetary system, inscribed into human consciousness by the names of days of the week. And to this the Mysteries could add even more. They taught, for example, that because the moon-beings can look toward Mars, we receive etheric bodies endowed with the capacity for speech. Likewise, because the moon-beings can observe Mercury, our etheric bodies are infused with the capacity for movement. In fact, if we consider these same teachings from an altogether different point of view, we can discover how eurythmy arises from human speech. Eurythmy develops out of speech when we explore the mysteries of speech by asking the moon-beings about their observations of Mars, and then watch how these observations change when they shift their gaze to Mercury. If we transform the Mars experiences of the moon-beings into their Mercury experiences, then we see the capacity for eurythmy develop out of our capacity for speech. This is the cosmic perspective on how speech is metamorphosed into eurythmy.
The capacity for wisdom that lives within us is made possible by the moon-beings' experiences of Jupiter. Our ability to love and to appreciate beauty derives from their experiences of Venus. Inner warmth of soul is planted into our etheric bodies by what the moon-beings learn from observing Saturn. And in order that our etheric body's formation not be disturbed during the period immediately preceding our descent to earth, everything that derives from the sun is kept at a distance; one could almost say, it is pushed away. It is from the sun or rather from the sight of the sun that protective forces must shield us if we are to become self-contained beings through the formation of an etheric body.
In this way we come to know what takes place on the moon, as well as how the etheric body is fashioned as the human being descends from pre-earthly into earthly existence. These are the facts I mentioned relating to the secret of the moon.
Such things may be spoken of today. In certain of the older Mysteries they were not merely spoken of, but actually lived through. What I wrote on the blackboard was not just known, but inwardly experienced:
Monday
Tuesday Language
Wednesday Movement
Thursday Wisdom
Friday Love, beauty
Saturday Inner warmth of soul
Sunday Protective Forces
The Mysteries of which I spoke to you yesterday enabled initiates to transcend the merely external use of their bodily senses, to free or distance themselves from their physical bodies, and to live exclusively in their etheric bodies. When they did so, however, they lived with all the realities of which I have just spoken. Rather than the speech that is formed in the larynx, they experienced the cosmic language that resonates from Mars. Their movements, too, were in harmony with the guidance Mercury exerts over the cosmos. They moved, that is, not with feet and legs, but in their essential being in accordance with Mercury's direction. And instead of having the wisdom we normally acquire with such difficulty as we progress through childhood and youth—nowadays it is really a lack of wisdom—the initiates lived entirely within the wisdom of Jupiter, not directly, but by uniting themselves with the moon-beings who observed it.
Through this form of initiation one could live entirely in the moon's radiant light. One actually left the earth.
No longer a being of earthly flesh and blood, one lived within the moonlight, but in the moonlight structured and modified by what lived in the other planets of the solar system. Through this kind of spiritual observation one actually became a light-being of the moon.
This must not be taken symbolically or abstractly. Just as today when we take a walk into Basel and back, we are fully conscious that what we are experiencing is real, so at that time people could be conscious of actually paying the moon-beings a visit through initiation. Initiates were conscious of taking leave for a while of their physical bodies and of moving into the moon's luminous realm as beings of spirit and soul. Clothed in bodies of light and united with the moon-beings, they could gaze out into the solar system and observe what revealed itself there.
Primary among the things they observed was that sun-beings exerted forces that could not be permitted to play any part in the fashioning of the human etheric body. They perceived, that is, that the sun tends to disintegrate or destroy the etheric body. And for that reason they knew that the forces emanating from the sun-beings must be received by the higher human members, the ego and the astral body, but not by the etheric body. Only upon the higher members could the sun-forces be allowed to work. For the etheric body, on the other hand, one turned not to the sun but to the planets. For the astral body and even more so for the ego's full inner power one had to turn to the sun.
This was the second thing revealed by the Mysteries that had access to the secret of the moon. Initiates knew that through their etheric bodies they belonged to the system of the planets, but that their ego forces in particular and also those of their astral bodies derived from the sun. In other words, through this form of initiation they became one with the moonlight, but looked at the same time toward the sun.
Initiates grasped that the sun shines its light upon the moon because it may not directly transmit that light to human beings. We then have moonlight in conjunction with the influences of the planets, out of which, as we have seen, the human etheric body is fashioned. That was the knowledge conveyed by this particular form of initiation, which thus also revealed the extent to which an initiate carried within himself the power of the spiritual sun. The initiate observed this directly, achieving thereby the level of a Christ-bearer. He became the bearer of a sun-being, not a vessel, but a bearer. Just as the moon itself, when it is full, is a sunlight-bearer, the initiate became a Christ-bearer, a christophor. His initiation into this was a thoroughly real experience. He escaped form the earth and ascended to become a being of light.
Now try to imagine this real experience, this earlier, inner Easter experience, transformed into a cosmic festival. In later times people no longer knew that they could rise above the earthly, unite themselves spiritually with the moon, and from there observe the sun. However, a reminder of all this had to be preserved, and it was preserved in the Easter festival.
Although in later times people with a more materialistic outlook could not recognize the possibility of such experiences, they did retain an abstract recollection of them. Rather than looking within themselves and knowing that they could unite themselves with the moonlight, they looked up to the full moon, imagining that not they but rather the entire earth was striving up towards it.
At no time could this be experienced more strongly than at the beginning of spring, when forces rise upward from the earth's surface out of the seeds buried in it.
Even after developing into plants these forces continue to stream upward into the cosmos. In the ancient Mysteries it was known that human beings could most readily achieve the lunar and solar initiation and become christophors when the earth's inner forces streamed up in this way into the cosmos through the stems and leaves of plants. The Mysteries represented this in the image of a human being floating upward on these forces toward the moon. This could only happen, however, when the moon was full.
Something of this knowledge survived into later times, but it became abstract. “The moon must be full.” Dimly, no longer realizing it could be an actual human experience, people subconsciously imagined something other than themselves streaming upward in the spring toward the first full moon. The moon itself, they thought, then looked toward the sun, that is, toward the first following Sunday. In other words, instead of a christophor looking at the sun from his newly-gained vantage point in the moon, people imagined that the moon looked at the sun, that is, at its symbolization in Sunday. Thus we have the following sequence:
March 21: Full moon: Sunday.
March 21 is the beginning of spring; the earth's forces burgeon forth into the cosmos. One must then wait until the proper observer, the full moon, is there. The moon then observes the sun, making the following Sunday Easter. Our method for fixing Easter's date is thus an abstract vestige of what was once a thoroughly real Mystery procedure, one that in ancient times many people experienced.
This procedure, however, is different from the one I described the day before yesterday. The latter, as you will recall, led to an understanding of the nature of death. I said that the process of resurrection, which was symbolized by the rituals of the Adonis cult and of others like it, demanded that one first undergo a kind of death experience in order to rise in the spiritual world after three days. For reasons I have already set forth, this resurrection process took place in the fall. By contrast, the procedure I have described today was celebrated or enacted in a different set of Mysteries, those conferring the solar and lunar initiation. It carried the initiates back before the beginning of earthly life.
Thus we look back to a time when certain Mysteries recognized our descent from pre-earthly into earthly life, while others, the autumnal Mysteries, recognized our ascent into the spiritual. In later times, however, when people no longer sensed this living relationship between themselves and the cosmos, the autumnal Mystery of ascent was mistakenly combined with the spring Mystery of descent.
Here materialism began to show its effects. For materialism not only gave rise to false opinions, it cast people into total confusion concerning things that had previously lent a kind of sacred order to human existence.
Part of that sacred order was that when fall came, a cosmic festival was observed that pointed toward a Mystery procedure, the spirit of which might be captured by the following words: “Nature is falling into decay, withering away. In this it resembles the decay of our own physical being. However, even as we look at nature, perceiving only transient things, the eternal lives within us. This must be viewed with spiritual eyes and is not affected by what happens in nature. After death it rises again in the spiritual world.”
Through the spring Mysteries, on the other hand, humanity realized that nature is overcome by the spirit.
Spirit works in from the cosmos, causing physical life to burgeon and sprout forth from the earth. People were thus reminded, not of how we proceed into the spiritual world at death, but rather of how we emerge from it and descend to earth. In other words, precisely when nature was on the rise, human beings were reminded of their descent into the physical, while when nature fell into decay, they were to reflect upon their rise, their resurrection, into the spiritual.
You can imagine the extent to which inner life was deepened by this experience of humanity's relation to the cosmos.
Different regions stressed different festivals. In ancient times there really were peoples who were more autumnal, while others were more vernal. The autumnal peoples celebrated Mysteries like those of Adonis; the others had Mysteries based upon such realities as I have described today. Only people of whom it is reported, and correctly so, that they traveled like Pythagoras from place to place, from Mystery center to Mystery center seeking knowledge, were able to have the entire range of human experience. Traveling from one place to another, they might at one time behold the autumnal Mystery, which is actually the Mystery of the sun, and at another the spring Mystery, which is the Mystery of the moon. This is why the ancient universal initiates are always portrayed as traveling from one Mystery center to another. And it may truly be said that they thereby inwardly experienced the year through the various festivals. Coming to a place where an Adonis festival was celebrated, they might say: “I behold the cosmic autumn and the radiance of the spiritual sun at the onset of winter's night.” Where a spring Mystery was celebrated they might say: “I behold the Mystery of the moon.” In this way they came to know the year's full inner meaning.
Thus, as you can see, Easter as we know it today is encumbered with things that do not really belong to it. It should actually be a ceremony of burial, one that goads us into working, just as the spring festivals did for ancient peoples. Such festivals gave them the spiritual incentives they needed for work in the summer; in other words, Easter was an admonishment to prepare for the summer's work. By contrast, the fall festival of resurrection was celebrated at a time when human beings left work behind. In leaving it behind, however, they experienced within themselves something of supreme importance to beings of spirit and soul, namely, an awakening to the eternal in them. This they experienced by contemplating the soul's resurrection in the spiritual world three days after death.
By proceeding from earthly Mysteries to cosmic Mysteries, from earthly knowledge to cosmic knowledge, we thus begin to recognize the year's inner structure as revealed through the festivals, even though much of the festivals' hidden meaning has been lost. Tomorrow, as time permits, I will try to go more deeply into matters that have been described today in more general, cosmic terms, by focusing on particular Mystery centers.

Dritter Vortrag
Ich möchte nun, dasjenige weiter ausführend, was ich in diesen Tagen besprochen habe, heute hinweisen auf den astronomischen Aspekt des Osterfestes. Um auf diesen astronomischen Aspekt des Osterfestes hinweisen zu können, ist es nötig, einige der Tatsachen zu berühren, welche sich auf das sogenannte Mondgeheimnis beziehen.
Es wurde zu allen Zeiten, in denen man von Mysterienweisheit gewußt hat, von dem Mondengeheimnisse gesprochen und dieses Mondengeheimnis in Zusammenhang gebracht mit dem Wesen des Menschen, insofern der Mensch zusammenhängt mit dem ganzen Kosmos. Dessen müssen wir uns ja klar sein, daß der Mensch seiner vollen Wesenheit nach mit dem ganzen Kosmos zusammenhängt, wie er in bezug auf seinen physischen Leib mit der Erde zusammenhängt. Nun haben es ja die Zeiten des Materialismus mit sich gebracht, daß von den Weiten des Kosmos, die sich in ihrer Geistigkeit ausleben in den Formen der Sterngruppen, in den Bewegungen der Sterne, daß von dieser Geistigkeit des Kosmos im menschlichen Bewußtsein nichts zurückgeblieben ist außer der äußeren Erscheinung der Sterne, den Berechnungen der Sternbewegungen, wenn die Sterne Wandelsterne und so weiter sind.
Alles das nimmt sich ja so aus, wenn man es in dem Sinne betrachtet, wie man heute Astronomie studiert, wie wenn man mit voller Unbewußtheit darüber, daß den menschlichen physischen Organismus ein Geistig-Seelisches durchdringt, bloß die Maßverhältnisse und die äußeren mechanischen Bewegungsverhältnisse dieses menschlichen Organismus ins Auge fassen würde und eben ganz vergessen würde, daß in diesen Maß-, in diesen Bewegungsverhältnissen innerlich Geistig-Seelisches zum Ausdruck kommt.
Nun, im Menschen kommt ein einheitliches, vom Ich zusammengehaltenes Geistig-Seelisches zum Vorschein. Vom ganzen Weltenorganismus kommt für die geistige Betrachtung nicht ein einheitliches Geistig-Seelisches zum Ausdrucke, sondern eine Vielheit, eine unermeßlich, unbegrenzt große Vielheit von geistigen Wesenheiten, die sich äußern durch die Formen der Sterngruppen, durch die Bewegungen der Wandelsterne, durch das ausstrahlende Licht der Sterne und so weiter.
Alles das, was so in den Sternen lebt an Vielheit in Geistigkeit, das steht mit dem Menschen innerlich in einem solchen Zusammenhange, wie dasjenige, was an Substanzen in der Erdenumgebung zur menschlichen Nahrung werden kann, mit dem physischen Menschen von der Erde aus im Zusammenhang steht. Und mit der nächsten Beziehung des Menschen zum Weltenall hat eben das zu tun, was man das Mondengeheimnis nennen kann.
Wenn man äußerlich den Mond betrachtet, so erscheint er ja für das Auge sich darstellend in einer Metamorphose. Wir schauen den Mond etwa so, wie wir ihn jetzt schauen, als volle Scheibe leuchtend. Wir schauen dann den Mond, indem wir annehmen, daß er teilweise beleuchtet ist, halb beleuchtet ist, viertel beleuchtet ist. Wir haben auch jene Erscheinung des Mondes, wodurch er uns dem äußeren Anblicke nach sich ganz entzieht, was man ja dann als Neumond bezeichnet. Und wir haben wiederum das Zurückkommen zu dem Vollmonde.
Das alles wird heute nur so erklärt, als wenn man im Monde irgendeinen Körper hätte, der da draußen im Weltenraume herum sich bewegt und der von der Sonne in verschiedenen Richtungen beleuchtet wird, so daß er uns dann für den Anblick verschiedene Gestaltungen zeigt. Aber damit ist das, was der Mond für die Erde, namentlich für die Menschheit der Erde ist, nicht erschöpft; sondern wir müssen uns insbesondere beim Monde klar werden darüber, daß, wenn wir auf etwas hinschauen, was sich uns in physischen Oberflächen so vernehmlich darstellt wie der Vollmond, was uns also einen physischen Aspekt darbietet, das in dieser Erscheinung etwas ganz anderes ist, als wenn es sich uns zeigt wie der Neumond, der sich äußerlich physisch allerdings durch die mit ihm zusammenhängenden Weltenverhältnisse nicht unmittelbar äußern kann. Aber wir dürfen auch nicht der Anschauung sein, daß, wenn dieser Mond sich nicht äußert als Erscheinung, er dann in seiner Wirkung nicht da sei. Wenn wir aus dem Weltenzusammenhang das Bewußtsein haben müssen, es ist Neumond, ja, dann ist eben der Mond auf eine unsichtbare und deshalb geistigere Weise da, als wenn er uns im physischen Lichte als Vollmond erscheint. Der Mond ist also einmal in voll physischer Art, das andere Mal in voll geistiger Art vorhanden, so daß wir fortwährend den rhythmischen Wechsel haben zwischen physischer Mondenäußerung und geistiger Mondenäußerung.
Nun müssen wir, wenn wir verstehen wollen, um was es sich dabei eigentlich handelt, zurückblicken auf jene Tatsachen, die Sie ja aus der Darstellung kennen, die Sie auch in meinem Umriß einer Geheimwissenschaft finden. Wir müssen auf diese Darstellung uns besinnen. Der Mond war einmal in der Erde drinnen. Er gehörte zum Erdenkörper. Er ist aus dem Erdenkörper herausgegangen, ist Nebenplanet, wie man sagt, der Erde geworden, hat sich also abgespalten von der Erde und umkreist die Erde. Er hat Wirkungen von der Erde aus auf den Menschen geäußert in der Zeit, da er mit der Erde verbunden war.
Der Mensch war natürlich ein ganz anderes Wesen, als er auf einer Erde stand und sich entwickelte, die den Mond noch im Leibe hatte. Die Erde ist um dasjenige, was der Mond ist, verarmt, als dieser Mond von der Erde herausgegangen war, und der Mensch wird mit den anderen Kräften, seither eben mit den bloßen Erdenkräften, nicht mehr mit den Erden- und Mondenkräften, nach unten hin von der Erde gestaltet, festgehalten. Dasjenige dagegen, was, als der Mond noch in der Erde war, auf den Menschen von innen heraus aus der Erde wirkte, das wirkt, nachdem der Mond außen ist, von außen herein, vom Monde herein auf den Menschen. So daß man sagen kann: Die Mondenkräfte durchstrahlten einmal den Menschen, indem sie zuerst auf seine Gliedmaßen, auf Füße und Beine auftrafen und dann ihn von unten nach oben durchströmten. Seit dem Herausgang des Mondes aus der Erde wirken die Mondenkräfte umgekehrt, vom Haupte des Menschen nach unten. Damit haben diese Mondenkräfte aber eine ganz andere Aufgabe für den Menschen erhalten, als sie früher hatten.

Wodurch kommt denn diese Aufgabe nun zum Vorschein? Diese Aufgabe kommt dadurch zum Vorschein, daß der Mensch ja ganz bestimmte Erlebnisse hat, wenn er aus dem vorirdischen Dasein heruntersteigt zum irdischen Dasein. Wenn der Mensch die Zeit zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt durchgemacht hat, wenn er in bezug auf Seelisch-Geistiges alles absolviert hat, was zu absolvieren ist zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, da schickt sich der Mensch an zum Heruntersteigen zur Erde, zum Sichverbinden mit dem, was ihm von Vater und Mutter an PhysischKörperlichem übergeben wird. Aber ehe er von seinem Ich und von seinem astralischen Leibe aus die Möglichkeit finden kann, sich mit dem physischen Leibe zu verbinden, muß er sich mit einem Ätherleib umkleiden, den er aus der Umgebung des Kosmos heranzieht.
Dieser Vorgang hat sich gründlich verändert seit der Zeit, da der Mond von der Erde ausgetreten ist. Als der Mensch vor dem Mondenausgange, nachdem er das Leben zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt absolviert hatte, sich der Erde wieder näherte, da brauchte er Kräfte, durch die er den Äther, der ja in alle Welt zerstreut ist, um sich herum, um sein Ich und seinen astralischen Leib anordnen konnte in Form eines Ätherleibes. Diese Kräfte hat er bekommen beim Herannahen an das irdische Dasein von dem in der Erde befindlichen Monde heraus. Seit der Mond sich abgespalten hat, bekommt der Mensch diese Kräfte, die er braucht, um seinen Ätherleib zu bilden, von außerhalb der Erde, eben von dem von der Erde abgespaltenen Monde, so daß der Mensch unmittelbar vor seinem Eintritte in das irdische Leben an dasjenige appellieren muß, was in den Mondenkräften liegt, also an etwas Kosmisches, um seinen Ätherleib zu bilden.
Dieser Ätherleib muß nun so gebildet werden, daß er gewissermaßen eine äußere und eine innere Seite hat. Stellen wir uns ganz schematisch diesen Ätherleib vor, wie er gebildet wird. Er hat eine Außenseite, und er hat eine Innenseite. Also wir können uns vorstellen, daß der Mensch seinen Ätherleib nach der Außen- und nach der Innenseite bildet.

Wenn der Mensch das Äußere dieses Ätherleibes formt, so braucht er die Kräfte des Lichtes, denn der Ätherleib wird neben anderem Substantiellen vorzugsweise aus dem flutenden Lichte des Kosmos gebildet. Aber Sonnenlicht ist dafür nicht brauchbar. Sonnenlicht kann nicht Kräfte liefern, welche den Menschen befähigen können, seinen Ätherleib zu formen. Dazu ist notwendig das von der Sonne nach dem Monde scheinende und von dem Monde wiederum zurückstrahlende Licht, das dadurch wesentlich verändert ist. Aber all das Licht, das uns vom Monde zukommt, das überhaupt vom Monde aus hinausstrahlt in den Kosmos, das enthält die Kräfte, durch welche der Mensch beim Heruntersteigen imstande wird, die äußere Seite seines Ätherleibes zu bilden. Dagegen alles das, was geistig vom Monde ausstrahlt, wenn Neumond ist, das strahlt die Kräfte in den Kosmos, die der Mensch braucht, um die Innenseite seines Ätherleibes zu bilden. So daß es also mit diesem Rhythmus zwischen äußerer Lichterscheinung des Mondes und Dunkelwerden des Mondes zusammenhängt, daß der Mensch Außenseite und Innenseite seines Ätherleibes bilden kann.
Nun hängt aber dasjenige, was da gewissermaßen die Mondenkräfte für den Menschen vollbringen, damit zusammen, daß ja der Mond wirklich nicht bloß der physische Körper ist, von dem die heutige Naturkunde fabelt, sondern daß der Mond eben durchaus überall durchsetzt ist von Geistigkeit, daß auch der Mond eine Vielheit von geistigen Wesen enthält.
Ich habe an verschiedenen Orten auseinandergesetzt, wie der Mond sich einmal getrennt hat von der Erde, wie aber nicht nur physische Materie hinausgeströmt ist in den Weltenraum, sondern wie jene alten, auf der Erde lebenden Wesenheiten, die nicht in einem physischen Leibe, aber in geistiger Form auf der Erde gelebt haben und welche die Urlehrer der Menschheit waren, mit dem Monde hinausgezogen sind in das Weltenall, dort eine Art Mondenkolonie gegründet haben, so daß wir also zu unterscheiden haben am Monde dessen Physisch-Ätherisches und dessen Geistig-Seelisches, nur daß das Geistig-Seelische eben auch keine Einheit, sondern eine Vielheit ist.
Nun hängt das ganze Leben der Geistigkeit im Monde ab von der Art und Weise, wie die im Monde befindlichen Wesenheiten von ihrem Mondstandpunkte aus, von ihrem Mondgesichtspunkte aus ringsherum die Welt schauen, ringsherum die Welt ansehen. Und wenn ich mich bildhaft ausdrücken darf, so möchte ich sagen, die geistigen Wesenheiten des Mondes richten ihr Auge zunächst auf das, was ihnen das wichtigste ist, auf die Wandelsterne, die zu unserem Planetensystem gehören. Alles, was auf dem Monde geschieht, was auch dazu geschieht, daß der Mensch die Kräfte richtig erhält, die er braucht, um seinen ätherischen Leib zu bilden, alles das hängt ab von den Beobachtungstesultaten, zu denen die Wesen im Monde kommen, die sozusagen im Monde leben und ringsherum die Wandelsterne unseres Planetensystems, Merkur, Sonne, Mond und so weiter, betrachten.
Das war ein Wissen, welches in gewissen Mysterien vorhanden war. Ein altes Mysterienwissen gewisser Mysterienstätten war das, daß vom Monde aus die Konstellation, die Bewegungsverhältnisse des Planetensystems, das zu unserer Erde gehört, beobachtet und darnach die Taten der Mondwesen bestimmt wurden. Man drückte das dadurch aus, daß man gewissermaßen den Mond, als den Punkt, von dem aus gerade diejenigen Weltenverhältnisse bestimmt werden, die mit der Bildung des menschlichen Ätherleibes zusammenhängen, daß man diese Mondenkräfte ins Bewußtsein der Menschheit in Zusammenhang mit den Kräften der anderen Wandelsterne hereinbrachte.
Und man tat das in den Wochentagen:
Mond: Mondtag: Montag daß der Mond zu tun hat in seiner Beobachtung
mit Mars: Marstag: Dienstag
mit Merkur: Merkurstag, mercredi: Mittwoch
dann weiter mit Jupiter: Jupitertag, Jupiter ist der deutsche Donar: Donnerstag
dann weiter mit Venus, das ist die deutsche Freya: Freitag
dann weiter mit Saturn: Saturnstag, saturday: Samstag
mit der Sonne selber, die mit ihren Kräften nicht unmittelbar wirken kann auf die Bildung des Ätherleibes, aber in der Rückstrahlung vom Monde wirkt: Sonntag
So gliederte man dem, was sich auf den Gesichtspunkt des Mondes bezog, dasjenige an, was in der Einteilung der Zeit den Planetenzusammenhang in das Bewußtsein der Menschheit hereinbrachte. Und es wollte gewissermaßen gesagt sein.im alten Mystetienwesen: Mensch, erinnere dich, daß du, bevor du heruntergestiegen bist auf die Erde, Kräfte brauchtest, die auf dem Monde dadurch ausgebildet werden, daß von den Mondenwesen hingeblickt wird auf die anderen Planeten des Planetensystems. Dem, was der Mond hat von Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag und so weiter, dem verdankst du die besondere Konfiguration, die dein ätherischer Leib beim Herabstieg in das irdische Leben annehmen kann.
Und so haben wir einmal auf der einen Seite den rhythmischen Gang des Mondes durch Licht und Dunkelheit um unsere Erde herum, auf der anderen Seite im Menschenbewußtsein verzeichnet die ganze Planetenfolge. Ja, die Mysterien gaben dazu auch noch dieses, daß gesagt wurde: Dadurch, daß die Mondenwesen hinblicken können nach dem Mars, bekommt der Mensch die Fähigkeit zur Sprache in seinen Ätherleib hineinorganisiert. Dadurch, daß die Mondenwesen hinblicken können auf den Merkur, bekommt der Mensch die Fähigkeit der Bewegung in seinen Ätherleib hineinkonzentriert.
Wenn man mit diesen Mondengeheimnissen nun sprechen will, so kann man das in einer ganz anderen Form: Dann wird Eurythmie aus der Sprache. Man kann sagen, Eurythmie wird aus der Sprache, wenn man - nachdem man die Geheimnisse der Sprache dadurch erforscht hat, daß man sich von den Mondenwesen sagen ließ, was sie, auf den Mars hinschauend, für Beobachtungen machen - nun auch erforscht, wie sich diese Beobachtungen verändern, wenn die Mondenwesen nach dem Merkur hinschauen. Wenn man also die Marserfahrungen der Mondwesen umwandelt in die Merkurerfahrungen der Mondwesen, dann bekommt man aus der Lautsprachenfähigkeit im Menschen die eurythmische Fähigkeit im Menschen. Das ist die Sache kosmisch ausgesprochen.
Was den Menschen mit der Fähigkeit zur Weisheit durchströmt, das bekommt man durch die Erfahrungen der Mondwesen mit Jupiter.
Was den Menschen durchströmt an Liebe und Schönheit in seiner Seele, bekommt man durch die Erfahrungen der Mondenwesen mit Venus.
Dasjenige, was von den Mondenwesen erfahren wird durch die Beobachtung des Saturn, das gibt die innere Seelenwärme für den Menschen in seinen Ätherleib hinein. Und dasjenige, was abgehalten werden muß, gewissermaßen weggedrängt werden muß, damit es die Bildung des Ätherleibes nicht stört unmittelbar vor dem Herunterstieg auf die Erde, das ist, was von der Sonne herrührt. Von der Sonne oder von dem Anblick der Sonne rührt also alles dasjenige her, vor dem der Mensch geschützt werden muß, damit er ein geschlossener Mensch werden kann durch Einbildung des Ätherleibes, also durch schützende Kräfte.
Auf diese Weise, kann man sagen, lernt man erkennen, was auf dem Monde geschieht. Dann lernt man dadurch auch erkennen, wie dieser menschliche Ätherleib geformt, gebildet wird, wenn der Mensch heruntersteigt aus dem vorirdischen Dasein in das irdische Dasein. Das sind die Dinge, die sich auf das Mondengeheimnis beziehen.
Ja, solche Dinge kann man heute erzählen. In gewissen älteren Mysterien wurden sie nicht bloß erzählt, sondern sie wurden erlebt, richtig erlebt. Und sie wurden so erlebt, daß man das, was ich Ihnen da an die Tafel geschrieben habe, nicht bloß wußte, sondern daß man es innerlich erfuhr:
Mondtag
Dienstag Sprache
Mittwoch Bewegung
Donnerstag Weisheit
Freitag Liebe, Schönheit
Samstag innere Seelenwärme
Sonntag schützende Kräfte
Man konnte durch die Einweihung in die Mysterien, von denen ich Ihnen gestern gesprochen habe, herauskommen von dem bloßen Hinausschauen durch die Augen, Hinaushören durch die Ohren für die physische Erdenumgebung; man konnte frei werden, konnte sich fernhalten von dem physischen Leib und nur leben im Ätherleib. Wenn man aber lebte im Ätherleibe, dann lebte man mit all dem. Dann lebte man nicht mit der Sprache, die sich durch den Kehlkopf formt, sondern man lebte mit der Sprache, die im Mars als Weltensprache ertönt. Man bewegte sich in dem Sinne, wie Merkur die Bewegungen im Kosmos lenkte; man bewegte sich nicht mit Füßen und Beinen, sondern man bewegte sich im Sinne desjenigen, wie Merkur die Bewegungen des Menschenwesens lenkt. Man hatte auch nicht die mit solcher Mühe in der kindlich-jugendlichen Entwickelung erlangte Weisheit, die ja in der materialistischen Zeit eigentlich eine Unweisheit ist, sondern man lebte direkt in der Weisheit des Jupiter darinnen; aber man lebte in der Weisheit des Jupiter dadurch, daß man sich vereinigen konnte mit den Mondenwesen, die den Jupiter beobachteten. Man war eigentlich, indem man in dieser Weise eingeweiht wurde, ganz in dem mondenstrahlenden Lichte darinnen. Man war weggegangen von der Erde. Man war nicht Wesen in Fleisch und Blut auf der Erde, man war weggegangen von der Erde, und man lebte als ein Wesen im Mondenlichte, aber im konfigurierten Mondenlichte, im Mondenlichte, das modifiziert wurde durch das, was in den anderen Planeten unseres Planetensystems lebte.
Man wurde da für die Zeit der geistigen Beobachtung in solchen Mysterien eben ein Lichtwesen des Mondes, und zwar nicht wie irgend etwas, was symbolisch ist, oder etwas, was abstrakt vorzustellen ist, sondern wie der Mensch, wenn er heute einen Gang nach Basel hinein und wieder zurück macht, sich der Wirklichkeit bewußt ist und weiß, daß er da etwas Wirkliches erlebt hat, so war man sich auch der Wirklichkeit bewußt, wenn man durch die Einweihungshandlung den Besuch gemacht hatte bei den Mondenwesen. Man wußte, man hat Abschied genommen für eine Weile von seinem physischen Leibe, ist mit seinem Geistig-Seelischen in die Lichtsphäre des Mondes gezogen, hat einen Lichtleib um sich gehabt, und weil man vereinigt war mit den Mondenwesen, hat man hinausgeschaut in die Weiten des Planetarischen und hat so nun wirklich beobachten können, was sich einem enthüllen konnte in den Weiten des Planetarischen.
Und was hat man beobachtet? Nun, da hat man hauptsächlich beobachtet - das andere hat man mitbeobachtet, aber hauptsächlich hat man dieses beobachtet -, daß von der Sonne her die Kräfte von Wesen kommen, die mit der Bildung des Ätherleibes des Menschen nichts zu tun haben dürfen. Man sah zur Sonne hin wie zu etwas, was für den Ätherleib etwas Auflösendes, etwas Zerstörendes hatte. Man wußte dadurch: Nicht vom Ätherleibe dürfen Kräfte, welche von den Sonnenwesen ausgehen, aufgenommen werden, sondern die müssen von den höheren Gliedern der Menschennatur aufgenommen werden, vom Ich und vom astralischen Leibe. Nur darauf dürfen die Sonnenkräfte wirken. Also man wußte, man wendet sich nicht zur Sonne für den Ätherleib des Menschen; für den Ätherleib wendet man sich zu den Planeten. Zur Sonne wendet man sich für den Astralleib und namentlich für das Ich des Menschen. Das wußte man: Für die ganze innere Kraft des Ich muß man sich an die Sonne wenden. Das war das zweite, was bei dieser auf das Mondgeheimnis rekurrierenden Einweihung da war. Es war das zweite, daß man wußte, für den Ätherleib gehört man dem Planetensystem an; man schaut aber für die Durchkraftung namentlich seines Ichs und auch des astralischen Leibes auf die Sonne hin.
So war eigentlich diese Einweihung, daß man selber eins wurde mit dem Mondenlichte, aber durch das Mondenlichtdasein des eigenen Wesens schaute man hinein in die Sonne.
Nun sagte man sich: Die Sonne sendet ihr Licht auf den Mond, weil sie es direkt dem Menschen nicht übergeben darf. Dann hat man das Mondenlicht im Verein mit den planetarischen Kräften. Aus denen bildet man seinen Ätherleib. - Dieses Geheimnis wußte derjenige, der in dieser Art eingeweiht war. Und so wußte er, inwiefern er die Kraft der geistigen Sonne in sich trug. Er hatte das geschaut. Er hatte ein Bewußtsein davon erlangt, inwiefern er die geistige Kraft der Sonne in sich trug. Und das war eben der Grad der Einweihung, durch den der Mensch ein Christus-Träger, das heißt ein Sonnenwesen-Träger wurde, nicht ein SonnenwesenEmpfänger, sondern ein Sonnenwesen-Träger. Wie der Mond selber, wenn er Vollmond ist, ein Sonnenlicht-Träger ist, so wurde der Mensch ein Christus-Träger, ein Christophorus. Diese Einweihung zum Christophor war also ein durchaus reales Erlebnis.
Nun stellen Sie sich dieses durchaus reale Erlebnis vor, durch das der Mensch gewissermaßen der Erde enteilte und sich als initiierter Erdenmensch hinauferhob zum Lichtwesen, dieses frühere, innere menschliche Ostererlebnis, denken Sie sich das umgestaltet zum kosmischen Feste. In späteren Zeiten wußten die Menschen nichts davon, daß so etwas geschehen kann: daß der Mensch wirklich heraustreten kann aus dem Irdischen, sich mit dem Mondenhaften vereinigen und vom Monde aus die Sonne anschauen kann. Aber eine Erinnerung daran sollte erhalten werden, und diese Erinnerung ist im Osterfeste erhalten worden.
Denn wie der Mensch das alles erleben kann, das ging eben nicht über in das spätere, sich vermaterialisierende Bewußtsein, dagegen in eine abstrakte Vorstellung. Man schaute nicht mehr in sich hinein, so daß man sagte: Ich kann mit dem Mondenlichte mich vereinigen.Aber man sah auf den Mond hin, auf den Vollmond. Zum Vollmond sah man hinauf und sagte dann: Nicht ich entwickele mich da hinauf, sondern die Erde strebt dahin. - Wann strebt sie denn am meisten dahin? Dann strebt sie am meisten dahin, wenn der Frühling beginnt, wenn die Kräfte, die vorher mit den Samen, mit den Pflanzen in der Erde drinnen waren, aus der Oberfläche der Erde hervorströmen. Sie werden auf der Erde zu Pflanzen, aber sie gehen weiter, sie strömen in die Weiten des Kosmos hinaus.
Man hat in alten Mysterien das Bild gebraucht: Wenn die inneren Kräfte der Erde durch die Pflanzenstengel, durch die Pflanzenblätter dasjenige heraustragen, was von der Erde ausstrahlt, hinaus in den Kosmos, dann kann der Mensch am leichtesten die MondenSonneneinweihung erlangen und Christophor werden; denn dann schwimmt er gewissermaßen auf den von der Erde im Frühling ausstrahlenden Kräften zum Monde hinauf. Aber er muß in das volle Mondenlicht kommen.

Das alles ging in die Erinnerung über, wurde aber abstrakt. «Er muß in das volle Mondenlicht kommen.» Also unterbewußt, nicht mehr klar wissend, daß dies menschliches Erlebnis werden konnte, wurde vorgestellt: Irgend etwas, nicht der Mensch selber, strömt gegen den Vollmond hin, der da der erste Vollmond ist, nachdem Frühlingsanfang war. Und was kann dieser Vollmond jetzt tun? Er schaut die Sonne an, das heißt, er schaut zum ersten der Sonne geweihten Tag hin, zum ersten Sonntag, der auf ihn folgt. Wie früher der Christophorus, der Christophor, angeschaut hat vom Mondenstandpunkt aus die Sonnenwesenheit, so schaut jetzt der Mond die Sonne an, das heißt ihre Symbolisierung im Sonntag.
So haben wir also Frühlingsanfang, 21. März: Die Kräfte der Erde sprossen hinaus in das Weltenall. Man muß warten, bis der richtige Beobachter da ist, bis der Vollmond da ist.
21. März: Vollmond: Sonntag.
Was beobachtet er? Die Sonne. Man läßt den nächsten Sonntag darauf folgen als den Ostersonntag.
Also ist es eine abstrakte Zeitbestimmung, geblieben von einem ganz realen Mysterienvorgang, der in älteren Zeiten eben für viele Menschen oftmals stattgefunden hat. Und so ist es wirklich bei diesem Osterfeste. Es stellt unser heutiges Frühlings-Osterfest einen Mysterienvorgang dar, der schon überall im Frühling getan worden ist; aber es ist dies ein anderer Mysterienvorgang als derjenige, den ich vorgestern besprochen habe. Der Mysterienvorgang, den ich vorgestern besprochen habe, ist der, welcher den Menschen dazu führte, das Todesereignis zu begreifen. Ich sagte: Jener Auferstehungsvorgang, der dem Menschen begreiflich gemacht wurde durch so etwas wie die Adonisfeier im Herbste, der führte eigentlich den Menschen in das Todeserlebnis hinein, in diese Auferstehung im Geistigen nach ungefähr dreien Tagen. Dieser Vorgang, dieser Auferstehungsvorgang, der gehört eigentlich in die Herbsteszeit aus den Gründen, die ich ja auseinandergesetzt habe.
Ein anderer Vorgang ist dieser, den ich heute beschrieben habe, der in anderen Mysterien gefeiert oder getan worden ist für gewisse Einweihungen, für die Sonnen- und Mondeneinweihung. Und dieser Vorgang stellte den Menschen vor den Lebensanfang hin. So daß wir also auf Zeiten zurückblicken können, in denen der Herunterstieg des Menschen aus dem vorirdischen Dasein zum irdischen Dasein in gewissen Mysterien erkannt wurde durch den Niederstieg. In anderen Mysterien, in den Herbstmysterien, wurde der Aufstieg im Geistigen erkannt.

Aber in den späteren Zeiten, in denen man nicht mehr den lebendigen Inhalt dieser Beziehung des Menschen zu dem Geistigen im Kosmos durchschauen konnte, da kam es eben so weit, daß das Herbstesmysterium des Aufstieges einfach zusammengelegt wurde mit dem Niederstiegsmysterium des Frühlings. Und so zeigt sich in der Konfusion, die da eingetreten ist im Laufe der Entwickelung der Menschheit, wie nach und nach der Materialismus gewirkt hat, wie er nicht bloß falsche Ansichten erzeugt hat, sondern wie er tatsächlich die Menschen ganz in Verwirrung gebracht hat über dasjenige, was einstmals, ich möchte sagen, in einer heiligen Ordnung da war im Verlaufe des menschlichen Erdengeschehens. In einer heiligen Ordnung war es so da, daß die Menschheit, wenn es gegen den Herbst zuging, ein kosmisches Fest beging, das aber wiederum hinwies auf einen Mysterienvorgang, aus dem heraus gesagt werden konnte: Die Natur verfällt in Öde, verwelkt, stirbt dahin; das ist gleich dem Hinsterben des Menschen nach seiner physischen Seite. Aber während man, wenn man auf die Natur hinschaut, in ihr nur das Vergängliche wirksam sieht, lebt im Menschen das Ewige, das nun, abgesehen von dem, was in der Natur sich vollzieht, angeschaut werden soll im Geiste und das nach dem Tode in der geistigen Welt das Auferstehende ist. Durch die Frühjahrsmysterien wurde dem Menschen klar, daß die Natur überwunden wird vom Geist, daß das Geistige wiederum hereinwirkt aus dem Kosmos, daß das Physische aus der Erde heraus sprießt und sproßt, weil es vom Geistigen getrieben wird.
Aber durch dieses sollten die Menschen gedenken, nicht wie sie hingehen zum Geiste durch den Tod, sondern wie sie herkommen aus dem Geiste, herabsteigen aus dem Geiste. Also da, wo gerade die Natur im Aufgange ist, da sollte der Mensch gedenken seines Niederganges in das Physische. Da, wo die Natur im Niedergange ist, da sollte der Mensch gedenken seines Aufstieges, seiner Auferstehung im Geiste. Und es vertiefte schon das seelische Leben ungeheuer, wenn so erfahren werden konnte, wie der Mensch sich zum Kosmos verhält.
Es war das verschieden, je nach den Gegenden. In den alten Zeiten gab es wirklich Völker, die mehr Herbstvölker waren, und Völker, die mehr Frühlingsvölker waren. Innerhalb der Herbstvölker waren die Adonismysterien; innerhalb der Frühlingsvölker waren andere Mysterien, die sich bezogen auf dasjenige, was ich heute dargestellt habe. Und nur solche erkenntnissuchende Menschen, von denen mit Recht erzählt wird, wie sie von Ort zu Ort gezogen sind wie etwa Pythagoras, wie sie von Mysterium zu Mysterium gekommen sind, die haben dann eigentlich die Totalität des menschlichen Erlebens gehabt. Sie sind von einem Mysterienorte, wo sie das Herbstgeheimnis, das eigentlich das Sonnengeheimnis ist, schauen konnten, gezogen zu einem anderen Orte, wo sie das Frühlingsgeheimnis, das das Mondengeheimnis ist, schauen konnten. Deshalb wird von den alten umfassenden Eingeweihten immer wieder erzählt, wie sie von Mysterienstätte zu Mysterienstätte gezogen sind. Und man kann schon sagen: Diese Eingeweihten haben in einer gewissen Weise innerlich das Jahr erlebt, das Jahr in seinen Festlichkeiten. So ein alter Eingeweihter hat sagen können: Komme ich an diesen Ort, wo Adonisfeste gefeiert werden, so schaue ich mir den Weltenherbst und das Strahlen der geistigen Sonne in der beginnenden Winternacht an. - Kam er an einen anderen Mysterienort, wo die Frühlingsmysterien gefeiert wurden, so konnte er sagen: Ich schaue mir da das Mondengeheimnis an. - Und so lernte er innerlich dasjenige kennen, was eigentlich mit dem ganzen Sinn des Jahres zusammenhängt.
Sie sehen, unser Osterfest ist eigentlich beladen worden mit etwas, mit dem es nicht beladen sein dürfte. Unser Osterfest müßte eigentlich ein Grablegungsfest sein, und es müßte dieses Grablegungsfest in der Frühlingszeit zu gleicher Zeit, so wie es wirklich bei solchen Grablegungsfesten war gegenüber der menschlichen Geistigkeit, ein Fest des Ansporns zur Arbeit sein, wie sie der ursprünglichere Mensch während der Sommerzeit brauchte. So war das Osterfest ein Ermahnungsfest für die Arbeit während des Sommers. Und so war das Herbstes-Auferstehungsfest für die geistige Welt ein Fest, welches in der Zeit gefeiert wurde, wo der Mensch von der Arbeit wieder wegging. Aber wenn er von der Arbeit wegging, sollte er eben in seinem Inneren erleben das, was für sein Geistig-Seelisches das Allerwichtigste ist: sich seines Ewigen bewußt zu werden, indem er auf die Auferstehung in der geistigen Welt, drei Tage nach dem Tode, hinschaut.
So können wir, wenn wir von den irdischen Geheimnissen zu den kosmischen Geheimnissen gehen, von irdischer Erkenntnis zu kosmischer Erkenntnis gehen, auch noch die, ich möchte sagen, innere Struktur unserer Jahresordnung in den Festen erkennen. Aber vieles von dem, was in die Feste eigentlich hineingeheimnißt ist, vieles von dem ist verschwunden.
Nun werde ich morgen, so viel es noch sein kann, versuchen, in engerer Anlehnung an gewisse Mysterienstätten die Sache noch weiter zu vertiefen, die ich Ihnen heute darlegen wollte an der Betrachtung der Himmelsverhältnisse selber.

Third Lecture
Continuing what I have been discussing over the last few days, I would now like to refer to the astronomical aspect of Easter. In order to be able to refer to this astronomical aspect of Easter, it is necessary to touch on some of the facts relating to the so-called mystery of the moon.
At all times when mystery wisdom was known, the mystery of the moon was spoken of and this mystery of the moon was connected with the nature of man, in so far as man is connected with the whole cosmos. We must be clear about this, that man in his full being is connected with the whole cosmos, just as he is connected with the earth in relation to his physical body. Now the times of materialism have brought with them that of the vastness of the cosmos, which lives itself out in its spirituality in the forms of the asterisms, in the movements of the stars, that of this spirituality of the cosmos nothing has remained in human consciousness except the outer appearance of the stars, the calculations of the movements of the stars, when the stars are mutable stars and so on.
All this appears to be the same if one looks at it in the same way as one studies astronomy today, as if one, with complete unconsciousness of the fact that a spiritual-soul permeates the human physical organism, would only consider the dimensional relationships and the external mechanical relationships of movement of this human organism and would completely forget that in these dimensional and movement relationships something spiritual-soul is expressed internally.
Well, in the human being a unified spiritual-soul element, held together by the ego, comes to light. From the whole organism of the world, spiritual observation does not see the expression of a unified spiritual-soul, but rather a multiplicity, an immeasurably, infinitely great multiplicity of spiritual entities, which express themselves through the forms of the asterisms, through the movements of the wandering stars, through the radiating light of the stars and so on.
All that which so lives in the stars in multiplicity in spirituality, that stands with man inwardly in such a connection, as that which can become human food in the earth environment, stands in connection with the physical man from the earth. And the closest relationship of man to the universe has to do with what can be called the mystery of the moon.
When you look at the moon externally, it appears to the eye to be undergoing a metamorphosis. We see the moon approximately as we see it now, shining as a full disk. We then look at the moon by assuming that it is partially illuminated, half illuminated, quarter illuminated. We also have that appearance of the moon whereby it completely withdraws from us according to the outer sight, which is then called the new moon. And again we have the return to the full moon.
All this is explained today only as if one had in the moon some body that moves around out there in the universe and that is illuminated by the sun in different directions, so that it then shows us different forms for the sight. But this does not exhaust what the moon is for the earth, namely for the humanity of the earth; but we must realize, especially with the moon, that when we look at something which presents itself to us in physical surfaces as perceptibly as the full moon, which thus presents us with a physical aspect, it is something quite different in this appearance than when it shows itself to us like the new moon, which, however, cannot express itself outwardly physically directly through the world conditions connected with it. But we must also not be of the opinion that if this moon does not express itself as an appearance, then it is not there in its effect. If we must have the consciousness from the world context that it is new moon, yes, then the moon is there in an invisible and therefore more spiritual way than when it appears to us in the physical light as a full moon. So the moon is present once in a fully physical way, the other time in a fully spiritual way, so that we constantly have the rhythmic change between physical moon manifestation and spiritual moon manifestation.
Now, if we want to understand what it is actually about, we must look back at those facts which you know from the description which you also find in my outline of a secret science. We must remember this description. The moon was once inside the earth. It belonged to the body of the earth. It has gone out of the body of the earth, has become a secondary planet, as they say, of the earth, has therefore split off from the earth and orbits the earth. It had an effect on man from the earth at the time when it was connected to the earth.
Man was of course a completely different being when he stood and developed on an earth that still had the moon in its body. The earth was impoverished by what the moon is when this moon left the earth, and man is held down by the other forces, since then by the mere forces of the earth, no longer by the forces of the earth and the moon. On the other hand, that which, when the moon was still in the earth, acted on man from within out of the earth, now that the moon is outside, acts on man from outside in, from the moon in. So that one can say: The lunar forces once radiated through man by first striking his limbs, feet and legs, and then flowing through him from below upwards. Since the moon's departure from the earth, the lunar forces have worked in reverse, from the head of the human being downwards. As a result, however, these lunar forces have taken on a completely different task for man than they used to have.

How does this task come to light? This task comes to light through the fact that man has quite specific experiences when he descends from the pre-earthly existence to the earthly existence. When the human being has gone through the time between death and a new birth, when he has completed everything that has to be completed between death and a new birth with regard to the soul-spiritual, then the human being prepares to descend to earth, to connect with that which is handed over to him by his father and mother in the physical-bodily. But before he can find the possibility to connect with the physical body from his ego and his astral body, he must clothe himself with an etheric body, which he draws from the environment of the cosmos.
This process has changed radically since the time when the moon left the earth. When man approached the earth again before the moon's exit, after he had completed the life between death and a new birth, he needed powers through which he could arrange the ether, which is scattered all over the world, around himself, around his ego and his astral body in the form of an etheric body. He received these powers when he approached earthly existence from the moon in the earth. Since the moon has split off, man receives these forces, which he needs to form his etheric body, from outside the earth, precisely from the moon that has split off from the earth, so that immediately before his entry into earthly life man must appeal to that which lies in the lunar forces, thus to something cosmic, in order to form his etheric body.
This etheric body must now be formed in such a way that it has, so to speak, an outer and an inner side. Let us imagine this etheric body quite schematically as it is formed. It has an outer side, and it has an inner side. So we can imagine that the human being forms his etheric body according to the outer and the inner side.

When man forms the outside of this etheric body, he needs the powers of light, for the etheric body is formed preferably from the flooding light of the cosmos in addition to other substantial things. But sunlight is not useful for this. Sunlight cannot provide the forces that enable man to form his etheric body. This requires the light shining from the sun to the moon and reflecting back from the moon, which is thereby substantially changed. But all the light that comes to us from the moon, that radiates out from the moon into the cosmos, contains the forces through which the human being is able to form the outer side of his etheric body as he descends. On the other hand, everything that radiates spiritually from the moon when there is a new moon radiates the forces into the cosmos that man needs to form the inner side of his etheric body. So that it is connected with this rhythm between the outer light appearance of the moon and the darkening of the moon that man can form the outside and inside of his etheric body.
Now, however, what the lunar forces accomplish for man is connected with the fact that the moon is really not just the physical body that today's natural science fables about, but that the moon is interspersed with spirituality everywhere, that the moon also contains a multiplicity of spiritual beings.
I have explained in various places how the moon once separated from the earth, but how not only physical matter flowed out into the world space, but how those old beings living on earth, who did not live in a physical body but in spiritual form on earth and who were the original teachers of mankind, moved out with the moon into the universe and founded a kind of moon colony there, so that we have to distinguish between the physical-etheric and the spiritual-mental of the moon, except that the spiritual-mental is not a unity but a multiplicity.
Now the whole life of spirituality in the moon depends on the way in which the beings situated in the moon look all around the world from their moon position, from their moon point of view, look all around the world. And if I may express myself figuratively, I would like to say that the spiritual beings of the moon first of all direct their eyes to what is most important to them, to the variable stars that belong to our planetary system. Everything that happens on the moon, everything that happens to ensure that the human being receives the forces he needs to form his etheric body correctly, all this depends on the results of the observations made by the beings in the moon, who live in the moon, so to speak, and look around at the changing stars of our planetary system, Mercury, the sun, the moon and so on.
This was a knowledge that existed in certain mysteries. An old mystery knowledge of certain mystery places was that from the moon the constellation, the movement conditions of the planetary system, which belongs to our earth, were observed and according to this the deeds of the moon beings were determined. This was expressed by the fact that the moon, as the point from which precisely those world conditions are determined that are connected with the formation of the human etheric body, was brought into the consciousness of humanity in connection with the forces of the other mutable stars.
And this was done in the days of the week:
Moon: lunar day: Monday that the moon has to do in its observation
with Mars: Mars day: Tuesday
with Mercury: Mercury day, mercredi: Wednesday
then on with Jupiter: Jupiter day, Jupiter is the German Donar: Thursday
then on with Venus, which is the German Freya: Friday
then on with Saturn: Saturnstag, saturday: Saturday
with the Sun itself, which with its forces cannot have a direct effect on the formation of the etheric body, but works in the re-radiation from the Moon: Sunday
So that which related to the aspect of the moon was joined to that which, in the division of time, brought the planetary connection into the consciousness of mankind. And it wanted to be said, so to speak, in the old mythology: Man, remember that before you descended to earth, you needed forces that were formed on the moon by looking from the lunar beings to the other planets of the planetary system. To what the moon has of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and so on, you owe the special configuration that your etheric body can assume on your descent into earthly life.
And so we have on the one hand the rhythmic course of the moon through light and darkness around our earth, and on the other hand the whole sequence of planets recorded in human consciousness. Yes, the Mysteries also gave this, that it was said: Through the fact that the lunar beings can look towards Mars, man receives the ability to speak organized into his etheric body. Through the fact that the lunar beings can look towards Mercury, man receives the ability of movement concentrated into his etheric body.
If you now want to speak with these lunar secrets, you can do so in a completely different form: Eurythmy then becomes language. One can say that eurythmy becomes out of language if - after having explored the secrets of language by letting the lunar beings tell us what kind of observations they make when they look at Mars - one now also explores how these observations change when the lunar beings look at Mercury. So if one transforms the Mars experiences of the lunar beings into the Mercury experiences of the lunar beings, then one gets the eurythmic ability in man from the phonetic ability in man. That is the matter in cosmic terms.
What flows through the human being with the capacity for wisdom is obtained through the experiences of the lunar beings with Jupiter.
What flows through man in love and beauty in his soul is obtained through the experiences of the lunar beings with Venus.
That which is experienced by the lunar beings through the observation of Saturn gives the inner soul warmth for the human being into his etheric body. And that which must be kept away, pushed away so to speak, so that it does not disturb the formation of the etheric body immediately before the descent to earth, is that which comes from the sun. From the sun or from the sight of the sun, therefore, comes everything from which the human being must be protected so that he can become a closed human being through the imagination of the etheric body, that is, through protective forces.
In this way, one can say, one learns to recognize what happens on the moon. Then one also learns to recognize how this human etheric body is formed when the human being descends from the pre-earthly existence into the earthly existence. These are the things that relate to the mystery of the moon.
Yes, such things can be told today. In certain older mysteries they were not merely told, but they were experienced, really experienced. And they were experienced in such a way that what I have written on the blackboard was not merely known, but experienced inwardly:
Moon Day
Tuesday Language
Wednesday Movement
Thursday Wisdom
Friday Love, Beauty
Saturday inner warmth of the soul
Sunday protective powers
Through the initiation into the Mysteries, of which I spoke to you yesterday, one could come out of the mere looking out through the eyes, listening out through the ears for the physical earthly surroundings; one could become free, could keep away from the physical body and live only in the etheric body. But if one lived in the etheric body, then one lived with all this. Then one did not live with the language that is formed through the larynx, but one lived with the language that resounds in Mars as the language of the world. One moved in the sense of how Mercury directs the movements in the cosmos; one did not move with feet and legs, but one moved in the sense of how Mercury directs the movements of the human being. Nor did one have the wisdom acquired with such effort in the childish-youthful development, which is actually an unwisdom in the materialistic time, but one lived directly in the wisdom of Jupiter; but one lived in the wisdom of Jupiter through the fact that one could unite with the moon beings who observed Jupiter. One was actually, by being initiated in this way, completely in the light of the moon. One had departed from the earth. One was not a being in flesh and blood on earth, one had departed from earth, and one lived as a being in the lunar light, but in the configured lunar light, in the lunar light that was modified by what lived in the other planets of our planetary system.
For the time of spiritual observation in such mysteries one became a light being of the moon, and not like something that is symbolic or something that can be imagined abstractly, but just as a person today, when he takes a walk into Basel and back again, is aware of reality and knows that he has experienced something real there, so one was also aware of reality when one had made the visit to the lunar beings through the act of initiation. One knew that one had taken leave of one's physical body for a while, had moved with one's spiritual soul into the sphere of light of the moon, had a body of light around oneself, and because one was united with the lunar beings, one looked out into the vastness of the planetary and was thus now really able to observe what could reveal itself to one in the vastness of the planetary.
And what was observed? Well, it was mainly observed - the other things were also observed, but mainly this was observed - that from the sun come the forces of beings which must have nothing to do with the formation of the etheric body of man. One looked towards the sun as towards something that had something dissolving, something destructive for the etheric body. Thus one knew: Forces emanating from the solar beings must not be absorbed by the etheric body, but must be absorbed by the higher members of the human nature, by the ego and the astral body. Only on these may the solar forces act. So it was known that one does not turn to the sun for the etheric body of man; for the etheric body one turns to the planets. One turns to the sun for the astral body and especially for the ego of the human being. This was known: For the whole inner power of the ego one must turn to the sun. That was the second aspect of this initiation, which was based on the mystery of the moon. It was the second thing that one knew that for the etheric body one belongs to the planetary system; but one looks to the sun for the power of one's ego in particular and also of the astral body.
So this initiation was actually that one became one with the moonlight, but through the moonlight existence of one's own being one looked into the sun.
Now one said to oneself: The sun sends its light to the moon because it is not allowed to give it directly to man. Then you have the moonlight in combination with the planetary forces. From these you form your etheric body. - This secret was known to those who were initiated in this way. And so he knew to what extent he carried the power of the spiritual sun within him. He had seen this. He had attained an awareness of the extent to which he carried the spiritual power of the sun within him. And that was precisely the degree of initiation through which man became a Christ-bearer, that is, a sun-bearer, not a sun-being-receiver, but a sun-bearing-bearer. Just as the moon itself, when it is full, is a carrier of sunlight, so man became a Christ-bearer, a Christophorus. This initiation into Christophorus was therefore a very real experience.
Now imagine this quite real experience, through which man, as it were, separated from the earth and, as an initiated earth-man, raised himself up to become a being of light, this earlier, inner human Easter experience, imagine it transformed into a cosmic festival. In later times people knew nothing of the fact that such a thing could happen: that man could really step out of the earthly, unite with the lunar and look at the sun from the moon. But a memory of this should be preserved, and this memory has been preserved in Easter.
For how man can experience all this did not pass over into the later, materializing consciousness, but into an abstract idea. One no longer looked into oneself, so that one said: I can unite with the moonlight, but one looked at the moon, at the full moon. One looked up at the full moon and then said: "It is not I who am developing up there, but the earth is striving towards it. - When does it strive the most? Then it strives most when spring begins, when the forces that were previously inside the earth with the seeds, with the plants, flow out from the surface of the earth. They become plants on the earth, but they go further, they flow out into the vastness of the cosmos.
The image was used in ancient mysteries: When the inner forces of the earth carry out through the plant stems, through the plant leaves, that which radiates from the earth, out into the cosmos, then man can most easily attain the moon-sun initiation and become Christophor; for then he floats, as it were, up to the moon on the forces radiating from the earth in spring. But he must come into the full moonlight.

This all passed into memory, but became abstract. “He must come into the full moonlight.” So subconsciously, no longer clearly knowing that this could become a human experience, it was imagined: Something, not the human being himself, is flowing towards the full moon, which is the first full moon after the beginning of spring. And what can this full moon do now? It looks at the sun, that is, it looks at the first day dedicated to the sun, the first Sunday that follows it. Just as Christophorus, the Christophorus, used to look at the solar being from the lunar point of view, so now the moon looks at the sun, that is, its symbolization in Sunday.
So we have the beginning of spring, March 21: The forces of the earth sprouted out into the universe. You have to wait until the right observer is there, until the full moon is there.
March 21: Full moon: Sunday
What is he observing? The sun. One lets the next Sunday follow as Easter Sunday.
So it is an abstract determination of time, left over from a very real mystery process that often took place for many people in older times. And so it really is with this Easter celebration. Our spring Easter today represents a mystery process that has already been performed everywhere in spring; but it is a different mystery process from the one I discussed the day before yesterday. The mystery process I discussed the day before yesterday is the one that led man to understand the event of death. I said: That process of resurrection, which was made comprehensible to man through something like the Adonis celebration in autumn, actually led man into the experience of death, into this resurrection in the spiritual after about three days. This process, this resurrection process, actually belongs to the autumn season for the reasons I have explained.
Another process is that which I have described today, which has been celebrated or done in other mysteries for certain initiations, for the initiation of the sun and moon. And this process placed the human being before the beginning of life. So that we can look back to times in which the descent of man from the pre-earthly existence to the earthly existence was recognized in certain Mysteries through the descent. In other mysteries, in the autumn mysteries, the ascent was recognized in the spiritual.

But in the later times, when one could no longer see through the living content of this relationship of man to the spiritual in the cosmos, it just came to the point that the autumn mystery of ascent was simply merged with the descent mystery of spring. And so the confusion that has arisen in the course of the development of mankind shows how materialism has gradually taken effect, how it has not only created false views, but how it has actually completely confused people about what was once, I would like to say, in a sacred order in the course of human life on earth. There was a sacred order in which, as autumn approached, mankind celebrated a cosmic festival, which in turn pointed to a mysterious process from which it could be said: Nature decays into barrenness, withers, dies away; this is like the death of man according to his physical side. But whereas, when one looks at nature, one sees in it only that which is transient, in man lives that which is eternal, which, apart from that which takes place in nature, is to be seen in the spirit and which, after death, is the resurrection in the spiritual world. Through the spring mysteries it became clear to man that nature is overcome by the spirit, that the spiritual again works in from the cosmos, that the physical sprouts and sprouts out of the earth because it is driven by the spiritual.
But through this men should remember, not how they go to the spirit through death, but how they come from the spirit, descend from the spirit. So where nature is in the process of rising, man should remember his descent into the physical. Where nature is in decline, man should remember his ascent, his resurrection in the spirit. And it deepened the spiritual life tremendously when it could be experienced in this way how man relates to the cosmos.
It was different depending on the region. In ancient times there really were peoples who were more autumn peoples and peoples who were more spring peoples. Within the autumn peoples were the Adonis mysteries; within the spring peoples were other mysteries that related to what I have described today. And only those knowledge-seeking people who are rightly told how they moved from place to place, like Pythagoras, for example, how they went from mystery to mystery, then actually had the totality of human experience. They moved from one mystery place, where they could see the autumn mystery, which is actually the mystery of the sun, to another place where they could see the spring mystery, which is the mystery of the moon. This is why the ancient, all-encompassing initiates repeatedly recount how they moved from mystery site to mystery site. And it can be said that these initiates experienced the year in a certain way inwardly, the year in its festivities. Such an old initiate could say: If I come to this place where Adonis festivals are celebrated, I look at the autumn of the world and the shining of the spiritual sun in the beginning winter night. - If he came to another mystery place where the spring mysteries were celebrated, he could say: I am looking at the mystery of the moon. - And so he got to know inwardly what is actually connected with the whole meaning of the year.
You see, our Easter has actually been burdened with something with which it should not be burdened. Our Easter festival should actually be a burial festival, and this burial festival in the springtime at the same time, as it really was with such burial festivals in relation to human spirituality, should be a festival of incentive to work, as the more original human being needed it during the summertime. Thus Easter was a feast of exhortation to work during the summer. And so the autumn resurrection feast was a feast for the spiritual world, which was celebrated in the time when man went away from work again. But when he went away from work, he should experience in his inner being what is most important for his spiritual-soul: to become aware of his eternity by looking towards the resurrection in the spiritual world, three days after death.
So when we go from the earthly mysteries to the cosmic mysteries, from earthly knowledge to cosmic knowledge, we can also still recognize the, I would like to say, inner structure of our annual order in the festivals. But much of what is actually hidden in the festivals has disappeared.
Now tomorrow, as much as it can still be, I will try to deepen the matter that I wanted to explain to you today by looking at the celestial conditions themselves, with closer reference to certain mystery sites.
