Egyptian Myths and Mysteries
GA 106
8 September 1908, Leipzig
Sixth Lecture
The Influence of Osiris and Isis. Facts of Occult Anatomy and Physiology.
Many of you, in reflecting upon what we have said in the last few days about the evolution of the earth and the solar system in relation to man, will have encountered what seems to you a curious contradiction of many present-day highly prized notions. You will have said to yourselves, “Yesterday we heard that the worst forces in evolution were connected with the moon, that when the moon separated from the earth the worst forces went out with it, and that only through this did the earth achieve a condition in which man could pursue his evolution. When we hear all this, what about the romantic aspect of the moon, what about all the poetry that speaks with such true feeling of the moon's wonderful influences upon man?”
This is only an apparent contradiction. It is resolved if we do not regard the facts one-sidedly, if we place the whole complex of facts before our souls. It is certainly true that if we examined the physical mass of the moon we would find that it was not fitted to support life as we know it here on earth. We must also say that everything of an etheric nature that is connected with the moon and its physical substances appears in large part inferior, even decadent, when compared with the etheric in our own corporeality. Furthermore, if we should observe the astral nature of the individual moon-beings clairvoyantly—and we are entirely justified in speaking of them—we would be convinced that the worst and basest feelings that we have on earth are as nothing compared to what is found on the moon. Thus, in respect of the astral, the etheric, and the physical parts of the moon, we may speak of beings, of elements, that had to be expelled so that our earth could pursue its way, free from injurious influences.
But now we must recognize another fact. We must not forget that we cannot simply stop with what is base or evil, for everything that becomes base or evil in evolution is subject to a significant fact. As long as this is at all possible, everything that has sunk deep down into lower spheres must be purified through other, more perfect beings, must be raised up and purged, so that it may again be used in the economy of the universe. If we find a place in the cosmos where especially base beings congregate, we may be sure that with these baser beings are connected other higher ones, who have so great a power for the good, the beautiful, and the noble that they are fitted to lead even the lowest forces toward the good. It is true that all the basest things are connected with the moon's existence, but on the other hand, very high beings also are connected with it. We already know, for example, that the high spiritual personality of Yahweh dwells on the moon. So exalted a being, possessed of such power and glory, has under him vast hosts of ministering beings of a benevolent nature. We must understand that, although the basest forces departed from the earth with the moon, there also remained connected with the moon certain beings who are capable of transforming the bad into good, the ugly into beauty. They could not have done this had they left the ugly in the earth; they had to withdraw it.
But why did evil and ugliness have to come into existence at all? They had to come into existence because without them something else would never have come to birth. Man would never have been able to become a self-forming, self-contained being.
Let us recall the foregoing lecture. There we saw how man's lower nature was rooted in the water, how he was half sunk in the dark water-earth. There were no bones at that time, no firm human shape. There was a flower-like form, which perpetually metamorphosed itself. Man would have remained like this if the forces had not developed further, under the influence of the moon. Had the earth remained exposed to the sun alone, the mobility of the human form would have been enhanced to the highest degree. The earth would have attained a tempo impossible for man, and man would never have been able to develop his present form. On the other hand, if only the moon forces had been influential, man would have rigidified immediately; his form would have been frozen at the moment of birth; he would have become a mummy. Today man evolves between these two extremes, between unlimited mobility and complete rigidity. Because the forming forces are in the moon, the physical moon has become slag. Only the exalted and powerful beings who are connected with the moon can extend their influence into these forms.
Thus two types of forces influence the earth; the sun-forces and the moon-forces, the one stimulating and the other mummifying. Let us imagine that a giant steals the sun away. In that moment we would all become stiff like mummies, so stiff that we would never again be able to lose this form. But if the giant took the moon away, all the beautiful measured movements that we have today would become convulsive. We would become inwardly entirely mobile; we would see our hands prolong themselves to the gigantic, and then shrink up again. The power of metamorphosis would be vastly intensified. Now, however, man is inserted between these two forces.
Within this cosmos, many things are wisely arranged, not only in the various forms and substances but in the relations of things to each other. In order to bring this endless wisdom before our souls we shall now consider a relationship associated with the figure of Osiris.
In the figure of Osiris, the Egyptian saw the influence of the sun upon the earth in the time when mists and vapors still covered the earth, when there was still no air, and he saw that when breathing began in man, the unitary being, Osiris-Set, split. Set or Typhon caused the breath to enter into us. Typhon separated himself from the light of the sun, while Osiris worked only as the light of the sun. But this is also the moment when birth and death entered into the being of man. Into what was forming and unforming, which was previously like putting on and taking off a garment, a great change had entered. If man had been able to experience the effects of those high beings who later went out from the earth with the sun in the time when the influences proceeding from the sun had not yet left the earth, he would have looked up with thankfulness to these sun-beings. But as the sun separated itself from the earth more and more, and as the vapor-sphere—which for man at that time was the realm of his higher nature—refined itself more and more, then man, who was able to perceive the direct influence of the sun less and less, acquired the consciousness of what the forces in his lower nature were, and he came to the point of grasping his ego there. When he dived down into his lower nature, he became conscious of himself for the first time.
Why has the being whom we know as Osiris become darkened? The light ceased to work when the sun departed, but Yahweh remained with the earth until the moon split off. Osiris was the spirit who contained the force of the sunlight in such a way that, when the moon later departed, he accompanied it and received the task of reflecting the sunlight from the moon to the earth. Thus at first we see the sun depart; Yahweh remains behind on earth with his hosts, with Osiris. Man learns to breathe, and at the same time the moon departs. Osiris withdraws with the moon and is given the task of reflecting the sunlight from the moon to the earth. Osiris is laid into a chest, i.e., he withdraws with the moon. Until this time man had received the Osiris-influence from the sun. At this point he begins to feel that what previously came to him from the sun now streams down upon him from the moon. Man said to himself when the moon shone down, “Osiris, it is you who from the moon send me the light of the sun, which belongs to your nature.”
But this light of the sun is reflected in a different form every day. We have the first form when the moon appears as a tiny crescent in the heavens. On the next day it has grown to the second form, and so on through fourteen days until we have the fourteenth form in the full moon. In fourteen days Osiris turns himself toward the earth in the fourteen forms of the illuminated moon-disk. It is of deep significance that the moon, i.e., Osiris, takes on fourteen forms, fourteen phases of growth, in order to guide the light of the sun to us. In the cosmos this activity of the moon is connected with the concurrent fact that man has learned to breathe. Only when this phenomenon was fully established in the heavens was man able to breathe. Thereby he was attached to the physical world, and the first germ of the ego could originate in the being of man.
The later Egyptian knowledge felt all that has been described here, and recounted it by saying, “Osiris ruled the earth in past times. Then arose Typhon, the wind. (This is the time when the waters sink so far that the air appears, through which man becomes an air-breather.) Typhon overcame the Osiris-consciousness, killed Osiris, laid him in a chest, and committed him to the sea.”
How could the cosmic event be better described in a picture? First, the sun-god Osiris reigns, then he is driven out with the moon. The moon is the chest that is pushed out into the ocean of cosmic space; thereafter Osiris is in cosmic space. But we recall that in the myth it is told that when Osiris was found again, when he arose again in cosmic space, he appeared in fourteen forms. The myth says that Osiris was cut into fourteen pieces and was buried in fourteen graves. Here in this profound myth we have a wonderful reference to the cosmic event. The fourteen aspects of the moon are the fourteen pieces of the dismembered Osiris.1For confirming material see E. A. Wallis Budge: Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection (London, P. L. Warner, 1911), pp. 19-21. The complete Osiris is the whole moon-disk.
At first this appears as though it were all only a symbol. But we shall see that it had a real significance. Now we come to something without which the mysteries of the cosmos will never be clear to us. If such a constellation of sun, moon, and earth had not arisen, if the moon had not appeared in fourteen aspects, then something else could not have arisen, for these fourteen aspects caused something special. Each of them has had a great and powerful influence on man in his evolution on earth. Now I must tell you something that is strange, but true.
At the time when all this had not yet happened, when Osiris had not yet withdrawn, man in his light-form did not have the foundation for something that today is of the greatest importance. We know that the spinal cord is important. The nerves proceed from it. Not even the beginnings of these were present in the time when the moon had not yet departed. These fourteen aspects of the moon, in the order in which they follow on one another, were the cause of fourteen nerve-filaments being annexed to the human spinal cord. The cosmic forces worked in such a way that these fourteen nerve-filaments correspond to the fourteen phases or aspects of the moon. This is the result of the Osiris influence. But something else also corresponds to the moon-evolution. These fourteen phases are only half the phenomena of the moon. The moon has fourteen phases from new moon to full moon, and fourteen phases from full moon to new moon. During the fourteen days leading to the new moon, there is no Osiris influence. Then the sun shines upon the moon in such a way that the latter gradually turns its unilluminated surface to the earth as the new moon. These fourteen phases from full moon to new also have their result, and for the Egyptian consciousness this result was achieved through Isis. These fourteen phases are ruled by Isis. Through the Isis influence fourteen other nerve-filaments proceed from the spinal cord. This makes a total of twenty-eight nerve-filaments, corresponding to the different phases of the moon. So we see, from the viewpoint of cosmic events, the origin of specific members of the human organism.
Many will now object that this does not account for all the nerves, but only for twenty-eight of them.2There are generally thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves. There would have been only twenty-eight had the moon-year coincided with the sun-year. But the sun-year is longer, and the difference between the two caused the surplus nerves. Thus from the moon the influences of Isis and Osiris were built into the human organism. But something further is connected with this.
Up to the moment when the moon began to work from outside, here had been no duality of sex. There had been only a human being who was both male and female. The division occurred first through the alternating influences of Isis and Osiris from the moon. Whether a person became male or female depended upon whether the Osiris nerves or the Isis nerves exercised a certain influence on the organism. An organism in which the Isis influence predominated was male, whereas a body in which the Osiris influence prevailed became female. Naturally, both forces, Isis and Osiris, work in every man and in every woman, but in such a way that in men the etheric body is female, while in women it is male. Here we have something of the wonderful Connection between the single being and the situation in the cosmos.
We have seen that man is influenced not only through the forces but also through the constellations, or positions, of the heavenly bodies. All that belongs to the male or female organisms formed itself under the influence of these twenty-eight nerves proceeding from the spinal cord. Now we will bring forward something that will give an insight into the cosmos and its connections with human evolution. These forces form the human shape, but man does not rigidify in it; an equilibrium is achieved between sun and moon influences. In the following, we must not think that we are dealing with mere symbols; it is solid facts that concern us.
What is the original Osiris, the undismembered Osiris? What is the divided Osiris? What previously was a unity in man is now divided into the twenty-eight nerves. We have seen how in ourselves he lies dismembered. Without this, the human form could never have come into being. What formed itself under the influence of the sun and moon? Through the joint working of all the nerves there was brought into being, not only the externally male and female, but also within man something arose through the influence of the male and female principles. There arose the inner Isis-result, and this is the lungs. The lungs are the regulator of the influences of Typhon or Set. What works on man from Osiris, by stimulating the female influence in a masculine way, causes the lungs to be made productive through the breath. Through the influences that proceed from sun and moon, the masculine and feminine principles are regulated: in every female, something masculine—the larynx; in every male, something feminine—the lungs.
Isis and Osiris work inwardly in every person, in respect to his higher nature. Thus every person is double-sexed, having both lungs and larynx. Every person, whether man or woman, has the same number of nerves.
After Isis and Osiris had thus torn themselves out of the lower nature, they bore the son, the creator of the future earth-man. Together they produced Horus. Isis and Osiris begot the child, which was sheltered and nurtured by Isis: the human heart, sheltered and nurtured by the lung-wings of Mother Isis. Here in this Egyptian image we have something that shows us that in these ancient mystery-schools what had become the higher nature of man was looked upon as male-female, which is what the Indian recognized as Brahma. The Indian pupil was shown, in the original man, what later appears as that loftier form. Horus the child was shown to him, and he was told that all this had arisen through the primeval sound, through the Vach, the primeval sound that differentiates itself into many sounds.
What the Indian pupil experienced has been preserved for us in a remarkable verse in the Rig-Veda. In this is a passage that says, “And there come over man the seven from below, the eight from above, the nine from behind, the ten from out the foundations of the rocky vault, and the ten from within, while the mother cares for the suckling child.” This is a remarkable passage. Let us imagine Isis, whom I described as the lungs, and Osiris, whom I described as the breathing-apparatus, and let us think how the voice works into this, differentiating itself into throat-sounds, lung-sounds, as in the letters of the alphabet. These letters come from different sides; seven come from below out of the throat, and so on. The singular working of everything connected with our air-apparatus is shown here. The place where the sound differentiates and divides is the higher mother, who fosters and nurses the child: the mother—the lungs; the child—the human heart, which is molded by all the influences, and from which come impulses to ensoul the voice.
Thus the mysterious working and weaving within the cosmos was revealed to the neophyte. Thus it built itself up in the course of time, and we shall see how the other members of man built themselves into this web. In this Egyptian occult teaching we have a chapter of occult anatomy as this was cultivated in an Egyptian mystery-school, insofar as man had knowledge of cosmic forces, of cosmic beings, and their connection with the human physical body.
Sechster Vortrag
Mancher von Ihnen wird wohl beim Nachdenken über die in den letzten Tagen angestellten Betrachtungen über die Entwickelung unserer Erde und auch im weiteren Sinne des Sonnensystems im Zusammenhang mit dem Menschen einem ihm sonderbar erscheinenden Widerspruch begegnet sein mit vielen liebgewonnenen Vorstellungen des Lebens. Mancher wird sich gesagt haben: Nun haben wir da gestern gehört, die schlechtesten Kräfte in der Evolution seien gebunden an den Mond, und erst in dem Momente, als der Mond sich trennte von der Erde, seien mit ihm die schlechtesten Kräfte herausgegangen, und es sei erst dadurch ein solcher Zustand der Erde übriggeblieben, daß der Mensch seine Evolution finden konnte. — Das alles haben wir nun gehört, wo aber bleibt alle Romantik des Mondes? Alle jene Poesie, die doch aus wahren Empfindungen entsprang, die sich bezieht auf alle die wunderbaren Wirkungen des Mondes auf den Menschen?
Dieser Widerspruch ist nur ein scheinbarer, und er löst sich, wenn wir die Tatsachen nicht einseitig betrachten, sondern wenn wir die ganze Summe der Tatsachen vor unsere Seele stellen. Wenn wir allerdings heute den Mond auf seine physische Masse prüften, so würden wir finden, daß diese ungeeignet erscheinen würde, solches Leben, wie wir es jetzt auf der Erde haben, auf sich zu haben. Zugleich aber müssen wir auch sagen, daß auch alles das, was als Ätherisches mit dem Monde und seinen physischen Substanzen verknüpft ist, zu einem großen Teil auch solcherart ist, daß es sich als etwas sehr Minderwertiges, als dekadent ausnimmt gegenüber dem, was als Ätherisches in unserer eigenen Körperlichkeit ruht. Und wenn wir erst dasjenige, was bei den einzelnen Mondwesen — von denen wir durchaus sprechen können - als Astralisches in Betracht kommt, hellsehend betrachten würden, so würden wir uns überzeugen können, daß gegenüber dem Schlimmsten, was auf unserer Erde an niederen Gefühlen vorhanden ist, daß dem gegenüber unzählig Schlechteres und Minderwertigeres auf dem Monde ist. So dürfen wir also sowohl in bezug auf das Astralische, als auch auf das Ätherische, als auch auf das Physische des Mondes sprechen von Wesen, von Elementen, die ausgeschieden werden mußten, damit unsere Erde ihren Weg frei von schädlichen Einflüssen gehen konnte.
Nun müssen wir uns aber einer anderen Tatsache bewußt werden. Wir dürfen nicht außer acht lassen, daß wir überall bei dem Schlechten, Bösen nicht stehen bleiben dürfen. Denn alles das, was in der Evolution niedrig, böse wird, alles das unterliegt immer einer bedeutungsvollen Tatsache. So lange es irgend geht, muß alles das, was tief heruntergestiegen ist in niedere Sphären, durch andere, vollkommenere Wesen gereinigt werden, in die Höhe gebracht und geläutert werden, so daß es im Haushalt des Universums wieder verwendet werde. Wenn wir irgendwo eine Stelle im Weltall finden, wo besonders niedrige Wesen sind, so können wir sicher sein, daß mit diesen niederen Wesen andere, höhere verbunden sind, welche eine so große Macht des Guten, Schönen, Herrlichen haben, daß sie geeignet sind, auch die niedersten Kräfte noch zum Guten zu lenken. Deshalb ist es wahr, daß all das Niedere mit dem Mondendasein verknüpft ist, auf der anderen Seite aber sind mit ihm wiederum hohe, höchste Wesen verknüpft. Wir wissen ja schon, daß auf dem Monde zum Beispiel die hohe, sehr hohe geistige Wesenheit Jahve wohnt. Eine so hohe Wesenheit, mit einer solchen Macht und Herrlichkeit, hat aber unter sich in ihrer Tätigkeit große, große Scharen von dienenden Wesen guter Art. So daß wir uns vorzustellen haben, daß allerdings das Niederste aus der Erde mit dem Monde herausgegangen ist, daß aber zugleich diejenigen Wesen, die fähig sind, das Schlechte in Gutes, das Häßliche in Schönes zu verwandeln, mit dem Monde verbunden geblieben sind. Das konnten sie nicht, wenn sie das Häßliche im Erdenkörper ließen; sie mußten es herausnehmen. Warum denn aber überhaupt muß das entstehen, was da als Häßliches und Böses existiert? Es mußte entstehen, weil ohne die Einwirkung des Häßlichen und Bösen unmöglich etwas anderes hätte zustande kommen können: es hätte der Mensch niemals ein in sich gestaltetes, geschlossenes Wesen werden können. Erinnern wir uns an die vorige Betrachtung. Da haben wir gesehen, wie des Menschen niedere Natur im Wasser wurzelte, wie er zur Hälfte in die dunkle Wassererde hineinragte. Da gab es keine Knochen, da gab es keine feste Menschengestalt. Eine sich metamorphosierende Form war da, pflanzlich, blütenähnlich, die Form wechselte immerfort. So wäre der Mensch geblieben, wenn nicht die Kräfte sich so herausgebildet hätten, wie sie im Monde herausbefördert worden sind. Wäre die Erde nur einzig der Sonne ausgesetzt geblieben, es wäre die Beweglichkeit des Menschenwesens zum höchsten Grade gestiegen, die Erde hätte ein für den Menschen unmögliches Tempo eingeschlagen; der Mensch hätte in seiner heutigen Form nicht entstehen können. Würden dagegen nur die Mondeskräfte gewirkt haben, dann wäre der Mensch sofort erstarrt; seine Gestalt würde sich im Augenblick der Geburt verfestigen, er würde zur Mumie werden und so verewigt werden. Zwischen diesen zwei Extremen entwickelt sich der Mensch heute mitten darinnen: zwischen unbegrenzter Beweglichkeit und dem Erstarren in der Form. Weil in dem Monde die formenden Kräfte sind, ist auch der physische Mond zur Schlacke geworden. In diese Formen hineinwirken können nur die hohen, starken Wesen, die mit dem Monde in Verbindung sind. So wirken auf die Erde zwei Kräfte: die Sonnenkräfte und die Mondenkräfte, die einen treibend, die anderen mumifizierend. Denken Sie sich, ein riesiges Wesen schleppte die Sonne weg - in dem Augenblick würden wir auch alle schon zu Mumien erstarren, und zwar so sehr, daß wir diese Gestalt nie mehr würden verlieren können. Nehmen wir aber an, es schleppte ein Riese den Mond weg - dann würden alle die schönen, gemessenen, abgerundeten Bewegungen, die wir heute haben, zappelig werden. Wir würden innerlich ganz beweglich werden; wir würden unsere Hände sich verlängern sehen bis ins Riesenmäßige und wieder zurückschrumpfen. Die Metamorphosierungskraft würde sich bis ins Riesenmäßige steigern. Jetzt aber ist der Mensch eingeschaltet zwischen diese zwei Kräfte.
Nun ist aber auch in diesem Kosmos, nicht nur in den Gestalten und Substanzen, sondern auch in den Verhältnissen der Dinge zueinander mancherlei außerordentlich weise eingerichtet. Und wir werden nunmehr, um uns heute einmal vor die Seele zu führen, welche unendliche Weisheit im Kosmos liegt, ein Verhältnis betrachten, anknüpfend an die Ösirisgestalt.
In der Gestalt des Osiris sah der Ägypter die Wirkung des Sonnengestirns auf unsere Erde in der Zeit, als noch Nebeldünste um die Erde wogten, als noch keine Luft da war, und er sah, daß, als im Menschen die Luftatmung anfing, daß in dem Momente die einheitliche Wesenheit, Osiris-Set sich trennte. Set oder Typhon bewirkt, daß der Lufthauch in uns eingeht. Typhon, der Windhauch, löste sich von dem Licht der Sonne, und Osiris wirkt nur als Licht der Sonne. Es ist aber auch derselbe Moment, in dem Geburt und Tod in das Wesen des Menschen hereinzog. In das, was formend und entformend war, was bis dahin etwa so war, als ob wir einen Rock anziehen und ausziehen, war eine große Änderung getreten. Wenn der Mensch damals hätte empfinden können, in der Zeit, als noch nicht die von der Sonne ausgehenden Wirkungen die Erde selbst verlassen hatten, die Wirkungen, die von jenen hohen Wesenheiten ausgingen, die später mit der Sonne hinausgegangen sind, so hätte er mit Dankbarkeit hinaufgesehen zu diesen Sonnenwesen. Als die Sonne aber sich nunmehr immer mehr von der Erde trennte, als dann immer mehr das, was Dunstsphäre war — die allerdings damals für den Menschen das Reich seiner höheren Natur war -, sich verfeinerte, da bekam der Mensch, der immer weniger die direkte Einwirkung der Sonne wahrnehmen konnte, das Bewußtsein davon, was die Kräfte in seiner niederen Natur waren, und er kam dazu, daß er dort sein Ich erfaßte. Wenn er in seine niedere Natur untertauchte, da wurde er sich seiner selbst erst bewußt.
Warum nun ist die Wesenheit, welche wir als Osiriswesenheit kennen, verfinstert worden? Das Licht hörte mit dem Weggang der Sonne zu wirken auf, aber Jahve blieb zunächst auf der Erde, bis der Mond sich trennte. Osiris war der Geist, welcher so die Kraft des Sonnenlichtes in sich enthielt, daß er später, als der Mond sich trennte, mit dem Monde mitging, und die Aufgabe erhielt, vom Monde aus das Sonnenlicht auf die Erde zu lenken. Zuerst haben wir also die Sonne herausgehen schen; Jahve bleibt mit seiner Schar, mit Osiris in der Erde zurück. Der Mensch lernt atmen. Zugleich aber trat der Mond heraus; Osiris zieht mit dem Monde heraus und erhält die Aufgabe, das Sonnenlicht vom Monde zu reflektieren auf die Erde. Osiris wird in einen Kasten gelegt, das heißt, er zieht sich mit dem Monde zurück. Vorher hatte der Mensch die Osiriswirkung von der Sonne her; jetzt erhielt er die Empfindung, daß das, was ihm früher von der Sonne kam, ihm jetzt vom Monde zuströmte. Der Mensch sagte sich damals, wenn der Mond herunterstrahlte: Osiris, du bist es, der mir vom Monde das Licht der Sonne strahlt, das zu deinem Wesen gehött.
Aber dieses Licht der Sonne wird täglich in einer anderen Gestalt zurückgestrahlt. Wenn der Mond in schwacher Sichel am Himmel steht, dann haben wir die erste Gestalt; wenn er am zweiten Tage gewachsen ist, die zweite, und so durch vierzehn Tage durch haben wir vierzehn Gestalten bis zum Vollmond. Osiris wendet sich durch vierzehn Tage in den vierzehn Gestalten der beleuchteten Mondesscheibe der Erde zu. Es ist von tiefer Bedeutsamkeit, daß diese vierzehn Gestalten, vierzehn Wachstumsphasen, der Mond, das heißt, Osiris annimmt, um das Licht der Sonne uns zuzustrahlen. Dieses, was da der Mond tut, das ist im Kosmos gleichzeitig damit verknüpft, daß der Mensch atmen gelernt hat. Erst als diese Erscheinung in ihrer Art voll am Himmel war, erst da konnte der Mensch atmen, und damit war er verknüpft mit der physischen Welt, und es konnte der erste Keim des Ichs in der menschlichen Wesenheit entstehen.
Die spätere ägyptische Erkenntnis hat das alles, was hier geschildert worden ist, empfunden und so erzählt: Osiris regierte früher die Erde, dann aber trat Typhon auf, der Wind. — Das ist die Zeit, in der die Wasser soweit herabfallen, daß die Luft auftritt, wodurch der Mensch zum Luftatmer wird. Das Osirisbewußtsein hat Typhon besiegt, er hat Osiris getötet, ihn in einen Kasten gelegt und dem Meere übergeben. Wie könnte man denn das kosmische Ereignis bedeutungsvoller ausdrücken im Bilde? Erst regiert der Sonnengott Osiris, dann wird er hinausgetrieben im Monde. Der Mond ist der Kasten, der in das Meer des Weltenraumes hinausgedrängt wird; nunmehr ist Osiris im Weltenraum. Wir erinnern uns nun aber auch daran, daß in der Sage gesagt wird, daß, als Osiris wiedergefunden wurde, als er auftauchte im Weltenraum, er in vierzehn Gestalten erschien. Die Sage erzählt: Osiris wurde in vierzehn Glieder zerstückelt und in vierzehn Gräbern begraben. Hier haben wir einen wunderbaren Hinweis in dieser tiefgründigen Sage auf den kosmischen Vorgang. Die vierzehn Gestalten des Mondes, die Mondphasen, sind die vierzehn Stücke des zerstückelten Osiris. Der ganze Osiris ist die ganze Mondscheibe.
Das erscheint ja nun zunächst so, als wenn das alles nur ein Symbolum wäre. Wir sehen aber schon, daß das seine wirkliche Bedeutung gehabt hat. Und jetzt kommen wir auf etwas, ohne das uns niemals die Geheimnisse des Kosmos klarwerden. Wenn nicht eingetreten wäre eine solche Konstellation von Sonne, Mond und Erde, wenn der Mond nicht in vierzehn Gestalten erschienen wäre, dann wäre etwas anderes nicht eingetreten, denn diese vierzehn Gestalten haben etwas ganz Besonderes bewirkt. Jede derselben hat einen großen, gewaltigen Einfluß auf den Menschen in seiner Entwickelung auf der Erde gehabt. Nun werde ich Ihnen etwas Sonderbares sagen müssen, es ist aber wahr. Damals, als das alles noch nicht geschehen war, als Osiris noch nicht hinausgegangen war, da hatte der Mensch in seiner Lichtgestalt nicht einmal der Anlage nach etwas, was heute von größter Wichtigkeit ist. Wir wissen, daß das Rückenmark sehr wichtig ist. Von ihm gehen Nerven aus. Diese waren nicht einmal der Anlage nach vorhanden in der Zeit, als der Mond noch nicht heraus war. Die vierzehn Gestalten des Mondes, in der Anordnung, wie sie aufeinander folgen, wurden die Veranlassung, daß sich vierzehn Nervenstränge an das Rückenmark des Menschen angliederten. Die kosmischen Kräfte wirkten so, daß den vierzehn Phasen oder Gestalten des Mondes diese vierzehn Nervenstränge entsprechen. Das ist die Folge der Osiriswirkung.
Nun entspricht der Mondesentwickelung noch etwas anderes. Diese vierzehn Phasen sind ja nur die Hälfte der Erscheinungen des Mondes. Der Mond hat vierzehn Phasen vom Neumond bis zum Vollmond und vierzehn Phasen vom Vollmond bis zum Neumond. Während der vierzehn Tage, die zum Neumond gehen, ist keine Osiriswirkung da. Da wird der Mond von der Sonne so beschienen, daß er allmählich seine unbeleuchtete Fläche der Erde als Neumond zuwendet. Diese vierzehn Phasen vom Vollmond bis zum Neumond haben auch ihre Wirkung, und diese Wirkung wird für das ägyptische Bewußtsein erreicht durch die Isis. Diese vierzehn Phasen werden von der Isis regiert. Durch die Isiswirkung gehen vierzehn andere Nervenstränge vom Rückenmark aus. Das gibt im ganzen achtundzwanzig Nervenstränge, die den verschiedenen Phasen des Mondes entsprechen. Da sehen wir den Ursprung ganz bestimmter Glieder des Menschenorganismus, aus den kosmischen Ereignissen heraus. Mancher wird nun sagen: Das sind ja nicht alle Nervenstränge, das sind ja nur achtundzwanzig. — Es wären nur achtundzwanzig, wenn das Mondenjahr mit dem Sonnenjahr zusammenfiele. Das Sonnenjahr ist aber länger, und die Differenz des Sonnenjahrs gegenüber dem Mondenjahr hat die überzähligen Nervenstränge bewirkt. So ist dem Menschen eingegliedert worden in seinen Organismus von dem Monde aus die Isiswirkung und die Osiriswirkung. Damit ist aber noch etwas anderes verknüpft.
Bis zu dem Moment, als der Mond von außen zu wirken begann, gab es noch keine Zweigeschlechtlichkeit. Es gab bis dahin nur einen Menschen, der sozusagen beides war, männlich und weiblich. Jene Trennung geschah erst durch die abwechselnde Wirkung von Isis und Osiris vom Monde her, und je nachdem die Osirisnerven oder die Isisnerven eine besondere Wirkung auf den Organismus ausüben, je nachdem wird der Mensch männlich oder weiblich. Ein Organismus, in dem vorzugsweise die Isiswirkung herrscht, wird männlich, ein Leib, in dem die Ositiswirkung vorherrscht, wird weiblich. Natürlich wirken in jedem Mann und in jedem Weib beide Kräfte, Isis und Osiris, aber so, daß beim Manne der Ätherleib weiblich ist, und bei der Frau der Ätherleib männlich ist. Hier haben wir etwas von dem wunderbaren Zusammenhang, wie das Einzelwesen mit den Stellungen im Kosmos zusammenhängt.
Wir haben nun gefunden, daß nicht nur durch die Kräfte, sondern auch durch die Konstellationen der Weltenkörper Einwirkungen auf den Menschen stattfinden. Unter den Einflüssen dieser achtundzwanzig Nervenstränge, die vom Rückenmark ausgehen, bildete sich alles, was zum männlichen und weiblichen Organismus gehört. Nun soll noch etwas angeführt werden, womit wir weit hineinleuchten werden in den Kosmos und die Zusammenhänge mit der Entwikkelung des Menschen. Diese Kräfte formen die Gestalt des Menschen, aber der Mensch verhärtet nicht in ihr; es wird eine Gleichgewichtslage geschaffen zwischen Sonnen- und Mondenwirkung. Bei folgendem dürfen wir nicht denken, daß wir es zu tun haben mit irgendeiner Symbolik bloß, wir haben es mit realen Tatsachen zu tun.
Was ist der ursprüngliche Osiris, der unzerstückelte Osiris? Was ist der zerteilte Osiris? Was vorher noch eine Einheit war im Menschen, das ist jetzt zerstückelt in die achtundzwanzig Nerven. Wir haben gesehen, wie er in uns selbst zerstückelt liegt. Ohne das hätte niemals bewirkt werden können, daß die menschliche Gestalt entstanden ist. Was hat sich aber zunächst unter dem Einfluß von Sonne und Mond gebildet? Zunächst entstand durch das Zusammenwirken aller der Nervenstränge nicht nur äußerlich Männliches und Weibliches, sondern auch im Inneren des Menschen entstand etwas durch den Einfluß des männlichen und weiblichen Prinzips. Es entstand die innerliche Isiswirkung, und diese innerliche Isiswirkung, das ist die Lunge. Die Lunge ist der Regulator der Einflüsse des Typhon oder Set. Und das, was auf den Menschen von Osiris aus wirkt, das wirkt, indem es die weibliche Wirkung anregt, in männlicher Art so, daß produktiv gemacht wird die Lunge durch den Atem. Durch die Wirkungen, die ausgehen von Sonne und Mond, wird geregelt das männliche und weibliche Prinzip: in jedem Weiblichen ein Männliches — der Kehlkopf; in jedem Männlichen ein Weibliches — die Lunge.
Innerlich wirkt Isis und Osiris in jedem Menschen, in bezug auf seine höhere Natur. So ist jeder Mensch doppelgeschlechtlich, denn jeder Mensch hat Lunge und Kehlkopf. Jeder Mensch, ob Weib oder Mann, hat gleich viele Nerven. Und nunmehr, nachdem sich auf diese Weise Isis und Osiris der niederen Natur entrissen haben, da haben sie den Sohn geboren, den Schöpfer des zukünftigen Erdenmenschen. Beide haben hervorgebracht den Horus. Isis und Osiris haben gezeugt das Kind, gehütet und gepflegt von der Isis: das menschliche Herz, gehütet und gepflegt von den Lungenflügeln der Mutter Isis. Hier haben wir in der ägyptischen Vorstellung etwas, was uns zeigt, daß in diesen alten Mysterienschulen das, was höhere Natur des Menschen geworden war, als Männlich-Weibliches angesehen wurde: das, was der Inder als Brahma erkannte. Dem indischen Schüler, dem wurde schon im Urmenschen gezeigt, was später einmal als jene höhere Gestalt erscheint. Horus, das Kind wurde ihm gezeigt, und es wurde ihm gesagt: das alles ist entstanden durch den Urlaut, durch die Väc, den Urlaut, der sich differenziert in viele Laute. — Und das, was der indische Schüler erlebte, das ist uns erhalten geblieben in einem merkwürdigen Spruch im Rigveda. Eine Stelle steht darinnen, die heißt: Und es kommen über den Menschen die sieben von unten, die acht von oben, die neun von hinten, die zehn aus den Gründen des Felsengewölbes und die zehn aus dem Inneren, während die Mutter sorgt für das zu tränkende Kind. — Das ist eine merkwürdige Stelle. Stellen wir uns einmal diese Isis, die ich als Lunge schilderte, diesen Osiris, den ich geschildert habe als Atmungsapparat, vor, und denken wir das alles: wie da die Stimme hineinwirkt, sich differenziert als Kehllaute, Lungenlaute, wie sie in Buchstaben sich differenziert. Diese Buchstaben kommen von verschiedenen Seiten: sieben kommen von unten aus der Kehle und so weiter. Das eigentümliche Wirken von allem, was mit unserem Luftapparat zusammenhängt, ist darin niedergelegt. Wo der Laut sich differenziert und gliedert, da ist die höhere Mutter, die das Kind hegt und pflegt — die Mutter: die Lunge; das Kind: das unter allen den Einflüssen gebildete menschliche Herz, aus dem die Impulse kommen, die Stimme zu beseelen.
So zeigte sich für den Einzuweihenden das geheimnisvolle Wirken und Weben im Inneren des Kosmos, so baute es sich auf im Laufe der Zeit. Und wir werden sehen, wie in dieses Gewebe sich die anderen Glieder des Menschen hineingebaut haben. So haben wir in dieser ägyptischen Geheimlehre auch ein Kapitel der okkulten Anatomie, wie sie getrieben wurde in einer ägyptischen Geheimschule, sofern man von kosmischen Kräften, von kosmischen Wesen und dem Zusammenhang mit dem physischen Leibe des Menschen gewußt hat.
Sixth Lecture
Some of you, when reflecting on the observations made in recent days about the development of our Earth and, in a broader sense, of the solar system in relation to human beings, may have encountered a contradiction that seems strange to you, a contradiction with many cherished ideas about life. Some of you may have said to yourselves: Now we heard yesterday that the worst forces in evolution are bound to the moon, and that it was only at the moment when the moon separated from the earth that the worst forces left with it, and that it was only because of this that the earth was left in such a state that human beings could find their evolution. We have heard all this, but where is all the romance of the moon? All that poetry, which sprang from true feelings and referred to all the wonderful effects of the moon on human beings?
This contradiction is only apparent, and it resolves itself when we do not look at the facts one-sidedly, but when we place the whole sum of the facts before our soul. If we were to examine the moon today in terms of its physical mass, we would find that it would appear unsuitable to support life as we now have it on Earth. At the same time, however, we must also say that everything that is connected with the moon and its physical substances as ether is, to a large extent, of such a nature that it appears very inferior, decadent, compared to what rests as ether in our own physicality. And if we were to clairvoyantly observe what we can certainly refer to as the astral element in the individual lunar beings, we would be convinced that, compared to the worst of the base emotions that exist on our Earth, there are countless worse and inferior things on the Moon. Thus, in relation to the astral, the etheric, and the physical aspects of the moon, we can speak of beings, of elements that had to be eliminated so that our earth could follow its path free from harmful influences.
Now, however, we must become aware of another fact. We must not forget that we cannot dwell on the bad and evil. For everything that becomes low and evil in evolution is always subject to a significant fact. As long as it is possible, everything that has descended into lower spheres must be purified by other, more perfect beings, raised up and purified so that it can be reused in the economy of the universe. If we find a place in the universe where there are particularly low beings, we can be sure that these low beings are connected with other, higher beings who have such great power for good, beauty, and glory that they are able to guide even the lowest forces toward good. Therefore, it is true that all that is low is connected with the moon, but on the other hand, high, highest beings are connected with it. We already know that, for example, the high, very high spiritual being Yahweh dwells on the moon. Such a high being, with such power and glory, has under itself in its activity great, great multitudes of serving beings of a good nature. So we must imagine that the lowest elements of the earth did indeed leave the earth with the moon, but that at the same time those beings who are capable of transforming evil into good, ugly into beautiful, remained connected with the moon. They could not do this if they had left the ugly in the earthly body; they had to take it out. But why, then, must that which exists as ugly and evil come into being at all? It had to come into being because without the influence of the ugly and the evil, nothing else could have come into being: man could never have become a formed, closed being in himself. Let us recall the previous consideration. There we saw how the lower nature of man was rooted in water, how he protruded halfway into the dark watery earth. There were no bones, there was no fixed human form. There was a metamorphosing form, plant-like, flower-like, the form constantly changing. Human beings would have remained this way if the forces had not developed as they did under the influence of the moon. If the earth had remained exposed only to the sun, the mobility of human beings would have increased to the highest degree, the earth would have reached a speed impossible for human beings, and human beings in their present form could not have come into being. If, on the other hand, only the forces of the moon had been at work, human beings would have frozen immediately; their form would have solidified at the moment of birth, they would have become mummies and thus immortalized. Between these two extremes, human beings today are developing in the middle: between unlimited mobility and solidification in form. Because the formative forces are in the moon, the physical moon has also become slag. Only the high, strong beings connected with the moon can work into these forms. Thus, two forces act upon the earth: the forces of the sun and the forces of the moon, one driving, the other mummifying. Imagine that a giant being dragged the sun away—at that moment we would all freeze into mummies, so much so that we would never be able to lose this form again. But suppose a giant dragged the moon away—then all the beautiful, measured, rounded movements we have today would become fidgety. We would become completely mobile internally; we would see our hands lengthen to gigantic proportions and then shrink back again. The power of metamorphosis would increase to gigantic proportions. But now man is caught between these two forces.
Now, however, in this cosmos, not only in the forms and substances, but also in the relationships between things, there are many things that are extraordinarily wisely arranged. And in order to reveal to ourselves today the infinite wisdom that lies in the cosmos, we will now consider a relationship that is connected to the figure of Osiris.
In the figure of Osiris, the Egyptians saw the effect of the sun on our earth at a time when misty vapors still swirled around the earth and there was no air, and they saw that when human beings began to breathe air, the unified entity, Osiris-Set, separated at that moment. Set or Typhon causes the breath of air to enter us. Typhon, the breath of wind, separated itself from the light of the sun, and Osiris acts only as the light of the sun. But this is also the moment when birth and death entered into the essence of human beings. A great change had come into that which was forming and unfolding, which until then had been something like putting on and taking off a coat. If human beings had been able to feel at that time, when the effects emanating from the sun had not yet left the earth, the effects emanating from those high beings who later left with the sun, they would have looked up with gratitude to these sun beings. But as the sun separated more and more from the earth, as the vapor sphere—which at that time was the realm of man's higher nature—became more refined, man, who was less and less able to perceive the direct influence of the sun, became aware of the forces in his lower nature and came to grasp his ego there. When he immersed himself in his lower nature, he became conscious of himself for the first time.
Why, then, was the being we know as Osiris darkened? The light ceased to work with the departure of the sun, but Yahweh remained on earth for the time being until the moon separated. Osiris was the spirit who contained the power of sunlight within himself in such a way that later, when the moon separated, he went with the moon and was given the task of directing the sunlight to the earth from the moon. So first we see the sun go out; Yahweh remains behind on Earth with his retinue, with Osiris. Man learns to breathe. At the same time, however, the moon comes out; Osiris goes out with the moon and is given the task of reflecting the sunlight from the moon onto the Earth. Osiris is placed in a coffin, that is, he withdraws with the moon. Previously, man had received the Osiris effect from the sun; now he felt that what had previously come to him from the sun was now flowing to him from the moon. When the moon shone down, man said to himself: Osiris, it is you who shines the light of the sun from the moon, which belongs to your being.
But this light of the sun is reflected back every day in a different form. When the moon is a faint crescent in the sky, we have the first form; when it has grown on the second day, we have the second, and so on through fourteen days, we have fourteen forms until the full moon. Osiris turns toward the earth through fourteen days in the fourteen forms of the illuminated moon disc. It is of profound significance that these fourteen forms, fourteen phases of growth, are assumed by the moon, that is, by Osiris, in order to shine the light of the sun upon us. What the moon does is simultaneously linked in the cosmos with the fact that human beings learned to breathe. Only when this phenomenon was fully present in the sky could human beings breathe, and thus they were linked to the physical world, and the first seed of the I could arise in the human being.
Later Egyptian knowledge perceived all that has been described here and recounted it as follows: Osiris used to rule the earth, but then Typhon, the wind, appeared. This is the time when the waters fall so far that air appears, enabling human beings to breathe air. The consciousness of Osiris defeated Typhon, who killed Osiris, placed him in a chest, and cast him into the sea. How could this cosmic event be expressed more meaningfully in images? First, the sun god Osiris reigns, then he is driven out into the moon. The moon is the box that is pushed out into the sea of the world space; now Osiris is in the world space. But we also remember that the legend says that when Osiris was found again, when he appeared in the world space, he appeared in fourteen forms. The legend tells us that Osiris was cut into fourteen pieces and buried in fourteen graves. Here we have a wonderful reference in this profound legend to the cosmic process. The fourteen forms of the moon, the phases of the moon, are the fourteen pieces of the dismembered Osiris. The whole Osiris is the whole moon disc.
At first glance, this seems to be nothing more than a symbol. But we can already see that it had a real meaning. And now we come to something without which the mysteries of the cosmos would never become clear to us. If such a constellation of sun, moon, and earth had not occurred, if the moon had not appeared in fourteen forms, then something else would not have happened, for these fourteen figures had a very special effect. Each of them had a great, powerful influence on human beings in their development on earth. Now I must tell you something strange, but it is true. At that time, when all this had not yet happened, when Osiris had not yet gone forth, man in his light form did not even have the beginnings of something that is of the greatest importance today. We know that the spinal cord is very important. Nerves emanate from it. These were not even present in the form of beginnings at the time when the moon had not yet come forth. The fourteen phases of the moon, in the order in which they follow one another, caused fourteen nerve strands to attach themselves to the human spinal cord. The cosmic forces worked in such a way that these fourteen nerve strands correspond to the fourteen phases or forms of the moon. This is the result of the Osiris effect.
Now there is something else that corresponds to the development of the moon. These fourteen phases are only half of the moon's appearances. The moon has fourteen phases from new moon to full moon and fourteen phases from full moon to new moon. During the fourteen days leading up to the new moon, there is no Osiris effect. The moon is illuminated by the sun in such a way that it gradually turns its unilluminated surface toward the earth as a new moon. These fourteen phases from full moon to new moon also have their effect, and this effect is achieved for the Egyptian consciousness through Isis. These fourteen phases are governed by Isis. Through the Isis effect, fourteen other nerve strands extend from the spinal cord. This makes a total of twenty-eight nerve strands corresponding to the different phases of the moon. Here we see the origin of very specific parts of the human organism arising from cosmic events. Some will now say: But that's not all the nerve strands, there are only twenty-eight. — There would only be twenty-eight if the lunar year coincided with the solar year. But the solar year is longer, and the difference between the solar year and the lunar year has caused the extra nerve strands. Thus, the Isis and Osiris influences have been incorporated into the human organism from the moon. But there is something else connected with this.
Until the moment when the moon began to exert its influence from outside, there was no dual sexuality. Until then, there was only one human being who was, so to speak, both male and female. This separation only occurred through the alternating effects of Isis and Osiris from the moon, and depending on whether the Osiris nerves or the Isis nerves exert a particular effect on the organism, the human being becomes male or female. An organism in which the Isis effect predominates becomes male, a body in which the Osiris effect predominates becomes female. Of course, both forces, Isis and Osiris, are at work in every man and every woman, but in such a way that in men the etheric body is female and in women the etheric body is male. Here we have something of the wonderful connection between the individual being and the positions in the cosmos.
We have now discovered that influences on human beings occur not only through forces, but also through the constellations of the world bodies. Under the influence of these twenty-eight nerve strands emanating from the spinal cord, everything belonging to the male and female organisms was formed. Now we will mention something else that will shed light on the cosmos and its connections with human development. These forces shape the human form, but humans do not harden within them; a balance is created between the effects of the sun and the moon. In the following, we must not think that we are dealing with mere symbolism; we are dealing with real facts.
What is the original Osiris, the unbroken Osiris? What is the divided Osiris? What was previously a unity in the human being is now divided into the twenty-eight nerves. We have seen how it lies divided within us. Without this, the human form could never have come into being. But what was formed initially under the influence of the sun and moon? First, through the interaction of all the nerve strands, not only did the external male and female arise, but also something arose within the human being through the influence of the male and female principles. The inner Isis effect arose, and this inner Isis effect is the lung. The lung is the regulator of the influences of Typhon or Set. And what Osiris does for us is to stimulate the female effect in a male way, so that the lungs become productive through breathing. The male and female principles are regulated by the effects of the sun and moon: in every female there is a male — the larynx; in every male there is a female — the lungs.
Isis and Osiris work inwardly in every human being in relation to their higher nature. Thus, every human being is dual in gender, for every human being has lungs and a larynx. Every human being, whether female or male, has the same number of nerves. And now, after Isis and Osiris have thus torn themselves away from the lower nature, they have given birth to their son, the creator of future human beings on earth. Both brought forth Horus. Isis and Osiris begot the child, guarded and nurtured by Isis: the human heart, guarded and nurtured by the lungs of the mother Isis. Here we have something in the Egyptian conception that shows us that in these ancient mystery schools, what had become the higher nature of man was regarded as male-female: what the Indians recognized as Brahma. The Indian student was shown in the primordial human being what would later appear as that higher form. Horus, the child, was shown to him, and he was told: all this came into being through the primal sound, through the Vach, the primal sound that differentiates itself into many sounds. And what the Indian student experienced has been preserved for us in a remarkable saying in the Rigveda. There is a passage that says: And there come upon man the seven from below, the eight from above, the nine from behind, the ten from the depths of the rock vault, and the ten from within, while the mother cares for the child to be nursed. — This is a remarkable passage. Let us imagine this Isis, whom I described as the lungs, this Osiris, whom I described as the respiratory system, and let us think about all this: how the voice works within, differentiating itself as throat sounds, lung sounds, how it differentiates itself into letters. These letters come from different sides: seven come from below, from the throat, and so on. The peculiar workings of everything connected with our respiratory system are laid down in this. Where the sound differentiates and structures itself, there is the higher mother who nurtures and cares for the child — the mother: the lungs; the child: the human heart, formed under all influences, from which the impulses come to animate the voice.
Thus, the mysterious workings and weavings within the cosmos were revealed to the initiate, and thus they built themselves up over time. And we will see how the other members of the human being have built themselves into this fabric. Thus, in this Egyptian secret teaching, we also have a chapter on occult anatomy as it was practiced in an Egyptian secret school, insofar as one knew about cosmic forces, cosmic beings, and their connection with the physical body of the human being.