The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Seventh Lecture

[ 1 ] You will have gathered from the lectures given so far that when we look out at the planetary system—or indeed at the starry sky in general—what we see with our physical eyes is truly nothing but a maya, merely a great illusion; that we only arrive at reality, at the true nature of things, when we gradually gain insight into what spiritual beings are actually at work within these various celestial bodies. In our consideration so far, we have had to attempt to get to know the individual spiritual beings active in outer space and in the star systems as such spiritual beings; in other words, we have had to attempt to get to know the various beings of the three hierarchies standing above humanity. You have noticed, my dear friends, that so far we have approached the beings of these hierarchies by pointing out everywhere the paths along which occult consciousness truly leads to a kind of perception, to a kind of understanding of those beings who, in the supersensible world, are directly or indirectly exalted above the human being. Thus we have sought to follow an inner, so to speak, mystical-esoteric path in order to gain a kind of mental image—a purely spiritual-soul mental image—of the character of the beings of the higher hierarchies. Only in the last hour have we attempted, so to speak, to bring a little of the inner into the outer and to show how, through the interaction of a duality within the hierarchies—namely, the normal ‘beings of the hierarchies’ and the Luciferic beings of the hierarchies—the actual outer forms of the stars, visible to the senses, come into being. In today’s lecture, before we proceed with the occult-esoteric consideration, I would like to seek the path from another angle—namely, from the perspective accessible to ordinary consciousness—a path that will then converge with the paths we have taken in previous sessions. However, we will have to refer to various points from the previous sessions as we embark on this more external path, which proceeds from the facts available to ordinary consciousness.

[ 2 ] When ordinary, normal consciousness looks out into outer space, it immediately encounters celestial bodies of various kinds. These celestial bodies of various kinds have, of course, also been distinguished and described by external, materialistic astronomy. Today we want to consider what, so to speak, is already apparent to external consciousness—to materialistic astronomy—within a planetary system. We have the planets themselves; set in opposition to them, as if governing them, are the fixed stars, the Sun, and, orbiting the planets, the moons—so when we speak of our Earth, our Moon—and within the planetary system we have those peculiar stars that are so difficult for external consciousness to fit into the overall picture of the planetary system, we have the meteoric and comet-like bodies. Let us first disregard everything else in the star systems and consider this fourfold structure within a planetary system: the planet, the fixed star, the moon, and the comet. Let us first be clear about the self-evident fact that for the normal outer consciousness, only the observation of the planet itself is actually possible—namely, that planet on which this normal consciousness is situated, that is, for the inhabitants of Earth, the Earth as a planet. Everything else is, after all, for normal outer consciousness initially observable only—one might say—in its most external aspect. We wish to approach this outer classification provided by normal consciousness with the premises given to us by the esoteric-occult path.

[ 3 ] So far, in the series of beings under consideration, we have distinguished humanity itself as standing, so to speak, initially on the lowest rung of the hierarchical ladder; we then ascended through the three categories of the third hierarchy and characterized the corresponding beings, whom we call, according to Western esotericism, angels or angeloi, archangels or archangeloi, and archai. Above these, as the next hierarchy, we have those entities we have designated as Spirits of Form, Spirits of Movement, and Spirits of Wisdom, and above them the Spirits of Will, or Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. When we thus consider the sequence of individual beings—as it were, the hierarchical ladder of the individual beings within the hierarchies—we first have before our esoteric consciousness the conditions of the Earth. As we have seen, we are dealing with all these beings if we wish to fully consider the human being and everything on his planet that belongs to him. We have seen in the last few hours that the phenomena surrounding the human being and his planet cannot be explained spiritually unless we take these beings into account. We have seen that, from human beings up to the spirits of the age, we are dealing with beings that initially play their role in the historical cultural process of humanity, so that in these beings of the third hierarchy we must see that which, in the course of Earth’s development, itself carries humanity forward step by step, that which guides cultural development. We have further seen that, while these beings of the third hierarchy themselves remain above in the cultural process, certain descendants of theirs, whom we have called nature spirits, descend into the world of natural existence and act as nature spirits. We have also seen that, when we consider the planet itself, what belongs to the planet cannot be explained unless we conceive of its form through the spirits of form, its inner mobility and activity through the spirits of movement, and the planetary consciousness through the spirits of wisdom. With this, we have remained within the planet, that is, within what belongs to the Earth, for example, to the human being. We have further seen that if only these higher beings up to the Spirits of Wisdom were active, the planet would stand still. That it moves outward, that it has an impulse of motion, we had to attribute to the Spirits of Will, and that the motion is regulated within the plan of the entire planetary system, we had to attribute to the Cherubim. But with this we have already brought the planetary system together, for in that the individual movements of the planets are regulated in such a way that they form the system, the prerequisite is given that the whole is directed from the fixed stars. And in the Seraphim we then have that which speaks out from the planetary system into outer space, toward the neighboring planetary systems. We could compare this to the fact that human beings, in a social context, do not simply go about their business individually—which could be likened to the direction provided by the spirits of will—but rather that human beings communicate through their language. Thus, communication takes place from one planetary system to another through the Seraphim. They are, as it were, to the planetary system what language is on Earth, which brings people together, holds them together, and leads to understanding. The Seraphim carry the messages from one planetary system to another, conveying news of what is happening in one planetary system to the other. In this way, the world of the planetary systems unites and forms a whole.

[ 4 ] Essentially, then, we had to outline this hierarchy of beings because all the forces and modes of action emanating from these hierarchies are perceptible in the entire manifestation of human beings on their planet. Just as the occult gaze teaches us that this entire system of beings is connected to the Earth, so too is a similar system connected to other planets. When, using all the means at his disposal, man directs the occult gaze toward the other planets of our solar system, he finds that we have the same experiences with regard to other planets as we do when, as human beings, we approach the Seraphim, the Cherubim, or the Thrones. In other words, everything I have described to you as necessary to rise to a seraphic, a cherubic being, to a being belonging to the order of the Thrones—everything one must do to rise to these spirits, insofar as they participate in the events of the Earth— all of this can also be found when one directs the occult gaze, let us say, toward Saturn or other planets in our system. One must proceed in exactly the same way all the way down to the spirits of motion. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Spirits of Wisdom—up to this point, the result for the occult gaze is exactly the same for all the individual planets of our solar system, whether you make the observation for Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, or Venus. Everywhere, when you consider the workings of the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom, you will find the same results. In contrast, we no longer find the same results when we consider, for the other planets of our system, the modes of action that stem from the Spirits of Movement and the Spirits of Form. In other words, if we try to direct our occult gaze toward another planet, say Mars, and ask ourselves: How do the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom act on Mars? — then we receive the answer: They act there just as they do on our Earth. — If we ask the same question regarding the spirits of movement and form, this is not the case; the activities of these two categories of the higher hierarchies differ from one planet to another. Thus, we must distinguish specific spirits of form and specific spirits of movement for each individual planet in our solar system.

[ 5 ] We can now also direct our occult-trained gaze toward the Sun itself, the fixed star. If we wish to come to know the fixed star in its very essence, we must take care not to introduce into our observation of the fixed star elements that are, in essence, significant not for the fixed star itself but for the surrounding planets. Let us be clear. The day before yesterday we explained how all these beings of the higher hierarchies, up to the Spirits of Form—that is, from the Seraphim down to these Spirits of Form—actually function as a kind of college within the world system, with its seat in the Sun, so that the starting point for the activities of these spirits is indeed in the Sun. So when we have stated today that, for example, Mars has its own Spirits of Form, as does Jupiter, and as does the Earth, we must—if we wish to speak figuratively—create a mental image, with regard to these sublime conditions, of everything being more or less a figure of speech—that while the seat, the point of action for the Spirits of Form of Mars, for the Spirits of Form of Jupiter, and so on, is always in the Sun, in the fixed star, that they act from there—but the spirits of form that act upon Mars are, so to speak, assigned this sphere of influence from the Sun; they act from the Sun upon Mars, others upon the Earth, others upon Jupiter as spirits of form. What they do in this way is an activity that benefits the system. But now we are not asking: What happens from the Sun, from the fixed star, for the planets? — but rather: What happens within the sphere of the fixed star for its own beings, for the development of the beings on the fixed star? — Can we not understand the matter here in much the same way as, comparatively speaking, what one human being does for another? We cannot initially understand the activity that one human being performs for another in such a way that this activity must immediately mean something for his own development. It benefits the other. Thus, the activity of the spirits of movement and the spirits of form, which is meant here, benefits the planetary system. But now let us ask: Setting aside the fact that the fixed star is surrounded by planets, how does development take place on the fixed star itself, as an individual being? What participates in the development of the beings on the fixed star itself? And here we indeed encounter the same limitation. For when we direct our occult gaze toward the fixed star—that is, within our own planetary system, toward the Sun—we must say: Only those spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies, ranging from the Seraphim down to the Spirits of Wisdom, possess a certain power over the beings of the Sun. They are active in the development of the fixed star itself and its beings, whereas the spirits of movement and form can, so to speak, do nothing for the development of the beings on the fixed star itself, but have been assigned precisely that which surrounds the fixed star within the planetary system.

[ 6 ] So when we turn our gaze toward the fixed star, we can say: Life on the fixed star is so sublime, so magnificent, so immense that the beings developing there can only interact with beings of such sublimity as the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom, while those beings who undergo their evolution on the fixed star itself—namely, the Spirits of Movement and Form—are powerless to do anything to influence its development. They are not of such high rank. They, who still mean something immense for the humanity of the planet, are of no significance to the beings of the fixed star. They are powerless to intervene in the development, in the evolution of the fixed star. So if we consider, on the one hand, the nature of the planet and initially disregard the human being who dwells on the planet, on our Earth, we can say: For the planet, insofar as this planet holds its position in the solar system, the beings down to the Spirits of Form have an influence on its development. Thus, we must count the sphere of influence of the fixed stars up to the Spirits of Wisdom, and the sphere of influence of the planets down to the Spirits of Form.

[ 7 ] This leaves us with two celestial bodies within the planetary system: the moons and the comets. And the question now is: How do these celestial bodies appear to the occult eye? When the occult eye turns to the moon that orbits our Earth, what kinds of effects does it find there?

[ 8 ] Nothing of what develops on Earth as human life can be found on the Moon when viewed through the occult lens. An evolution similar to that of humans cannot be found on the Moon. Nor can anything be found there that, in terms of its evolution, would resemble our animal kingdom. Neither of these can be found on our Moon through occult research. I certainly do not wish merely to state the obvious—which would indeed be a triviality—that no humans embodied in flesh walk about on the Moon, nor are there animals such as those found on Earth; rather, when the occultist makes such a statement, he means something essentially different. It could well be that something like the higher aspects of human nature—the human ego or the human astral body—might exist on some celestial body under different conditions and undergo development there without being embodied in a human physical or human etheric body. It would be conceivable—and such conditions do indeed exist—that an evolution in the spiritual sense could take place, for example on the Moon, without the outer embodiment, the outer form of the beings, being like that of human beings. But that is simply not the case. Something like human history, like an evolution of beings that would also be similar to humans or our animals in a soul-like sense, does not take place on the Moon. But even when we ascend from human beings upward to those beings we have called the next spiritual guides of humanity—whom we have referred to in the hierarchy of higher beings as angels—even then we do not find their evolution, the evolution of the angels, on the Moon. We find no modes of action, no forces, such as those emanating from the intervention of the angels or angeloi on Earth. We have characterized quite precisely what these beings have to do for human beings on Earth. Such an intervention does not take place on the Moon. Nowhere do we find, so to speak, a trace of human or animal activity, or of the kind we know from the angels.

[ 9 ] If we now consider the forces with which the archangels drive human evolution forward, and if we now direct our occult gaze toward the Moon, we find, strangely enough, that these forces are indeed present: the occult gaze finds on the Moon the same forces as active forces that it finds where, within the development of the Earth, it beholds the development of a people through its national spirit, through its archangel. The archangel who spiritually guides the life of a people is present on the moon in his characteristic form as forces; he speaks to us when we direct our occult gaze toward the moon. When we consider the nature of those spiritual beings we call the Archai or spirits of the ages—those beings who take over and guide earthly evolution from epoch to epoch, for example, from Egyptian culture to Greek or from Greek to our present one—if we gain an occult view of the forces at work in the guidance of evolution by the spirits of the ages, then we find the same characteristic kind of forces again when we look at what gazes back at us from the Moon. Just as we could describe the sphere of the planet as extending to the beings of the spiritual hierarchies, up to the Spirits of Form, so too can we draw the boundary at the Moon and say: The sphere of the Moon extends down into the realm of the Archangels.

[ 10 ] Now, before we continue to examine the findings of occult observation in the same way as before, it will be useful for our further consideration to compare the Moon, the planets, and the fixed stars even more closely, so to speak, from the perspective of occultism. When undertaking such an examination, it is necessary first to acquire a clear mental image of what is already present in the human being—specifically in the human physical body—and what is completely overlooked by the ordinary materialistic anatomy and physiology of our science. Isn’t that right? What does the ordinary anatomist of today do when he examines the physical body? Well, he examines a piece—let’s say the liver—then a piece of nerve and brain matter, precisely as substances lying side by side. He examines both just as one places two things side by side and then compares them with one another, purely externally. The ordinary external materialistic anatomist or physiologist does not take into account that when we have a piece of brain substance before us and a piece of liver substance, we are dealing with fundamentally different things. In one part of the human body, we have something in which the higher bodies, the supersensible members, work in a completely different way than in another part. For example, when we have a piece of brain substance, everything in it is such that the entire structure, the entire formation, could not come into being if this substance had not been worked through not only by the etheric body but also by an astral body. The astral body permeates and works through the brain substance, and there is nothing within the brain substance, nothing within any nerve substance, in which the astral body has not worked alongside the etheric body. Take, on the other hand, a large portion of the liver; you would have to create a mental image of it as follows: although the astral body also permeates the liver, it does nothing within the liver, takes no part in the liver’s internal organization; whereas the etheric body plays a very essential role in the organization, in the structure of the liver. The various organs are actually quite different things in the human being. A piece of liver is something we can only study if we know that the etheric body, with its forces, plays the main role there, and that the astral body, like water permeating a sponge, does indeed permeate the liver but plays no special part in the formation of the liver or in its internal configuration. We cannot form a mental image of a piece of brain substance in any other way than that the astral body plays a substantially large part and the etheric body only a small one. Again, in the entire structure of the circulatory system, right down to the structure of the heart, the ego plays an essential part, whereas, for example, the ego plays no part at all in the organization of the nervous substance as such, let alone in the other organs.

[ 11 ] Thus, when we consider the human physical body in the sense of true occultism—not in the sense of mere occult schematics—we find within its various organs things, entities of entirely different value, of entirely different essence, indeed of entirely different nature. We can say that what a being already is in the human being—whether liver or spleen—depends on the higher members that act upon them. The liver and spleen are entirely different organs. The astral body has a particularly strong influence on the spleen, whereas it has almost no influence on the liver. All these things will one day—and indeed in the not-too-distant future—have to be studied, even by physiologists and anatomists, because facts will gradually come to light in the materialistic description of human, animal, and plant organs that will make no sense if one merely places things side by side like peas and beans, as external anatomy and physiology do today. Just as a thing in the world and in the human being relates to the spirit, so it is in general; such is its essence. And just as it is in the human being, so it is also in the celestial system. A moon is something entirely different from a planet or a fixed star. Since we have already seen that the relationships of the essences of the higher hierarchies are different toward the fixed star, different toward the planet, and different toward the moon, we must now consider the following in order to characterize the distinctiveness of the moon, the planet, and the fixed star. Let us take, as it were, everything that constitutes the moons of the individual planets out of a planetary system—that is, imagine for a moment that the fixed star itself has been removed, and the planets have been removed, so that only the moons remain in the planetary system. When the occult gaze is directed in such a way that it now observes only what I have just highlighted for you—the moons, everything that is a moon within a planetary system, everything where the forces down to the archangels are the same as on our Earth in the successive evolution of humanity—then we gain a very specific impression; then we have a very specific occult experience. We can have this occult experience a second time.

[ 12 ] Isn't it true that someone who approaches things with a practical occult perspective can, if they have sufficient willpower, mentally set aside the fixed stars and the planets of the solar system: what remains are the moons; that is, they focus their gaze on everything for which they have prepared themselves in this way. And now one must seek something else where one has the same impression, the same feeling, that one has from all the moons of a planetary system taken together. One has precisely the same impression that one has of all the moons together when one looks at a human corpse, a physical body whose bearer has just or recently passed through the gate of death. As much as things appear outwardly different—what external natural science points to as external difference—that is maya. What emerges as an impression to the occult gaze—how we as human beings relate to the sum of the moons of a planetary system in one instance, and to what a physical body, which has been abandoned by its etheric, astral body, and so on, evokes in us as an impression in another instance—is the same. From this arises the occult insight that the planetary system, within itself, gradually forms its corpse through the continuously emerging moons. All the moons of a planetary system are what continually integrate as the corpse of the planetary system. The difference compared to the human being is that the human being, from the moment when he passes with his being into the state in which the planetary system is when it forms its moons, then excretes his corpse, whereas the planetary system retains the corpse within itself, binding together and condensing what is dying in the moons. It is as if, when a human being passes through the gate of death, he were not to shed his physical body, but were to clump it together into certain organs and, by some power he possesses, were to drag it along with him. In its moons, a planetary system actually drags along its own, constantly changing corpse—a corpse that is in the process of becoming, that is in a state of evolution.

[ 13 ] We will now proceed to attempt to describe the impression that the occult gaze has when it disregards all the moons of a planetary system, the fixed stars, and any comets that may be present. So when he takes in the entire system of planets with his own eyes, places them before his occult gaze, and then—by concentrating fully and allowing only this system of planets to act upon him—clarifies the impression and imprints it upon his memory so as to be able to characterize it, he must later compare this impression with something else that differs from the impression he receives from the individual planets. When a person seeks something that gives him an impression similar to that of the totality of the planets in a system, he finds nothing in his immediate earthly surroundings other than the impression he has when he allows the various forms of animals to act upon him. It is extremely difficult to gain this impression in its entirety, but one can gain it partially by allowing various animal forms to act upon oneself. One cannot have an occult impression of all the animals on Earth at the same time; that would be too complicated. However, one can make a compromise by allowing a number of characteristic animal forms to act upon oneself in such a way that one considers only the occult forces at work within those forms. Then, with a comparative occult gaze, one can gain something from the animal forms that makes a similar impression to the totality of the planets in a system. Since, then, the animal kingdom—and insofar as the human being possesses the essence of the animal body within their living body, we can also draw on the human living body for comparison—lives on Earth and conveys an impression of all the forces at work within it that is similar to the forces emanating from the individual planets, we can say: The actual living body, the body with which a living, conscious being is endowed, as we know such a being, for example, in primitive humans or in animals, corresponds to the system of planets in a planetary system, so that we have before us the living body, that is, the body permeated by the principle of life and consciousness, within an entire planetary system in what we may call the totality of the planetary mass. The totality of the planets in a system is thus the living body of the planetary system. If we regard all the spiritual beings we have described as contained within the planetary system as the spirit and soul of the planetary system, then we must regard the totality of the planets as the living body and the totality of the moons as the corpse of the planets that has already been dragged along.

[ 14 ] Now let us turn our occult gaze to the fixed star—in our case, the Sun. In a manner similar to what we have described for the moons and planets as a whole, we seek to gain an impression of the fixed star. If we take note of the impression we gain through the forces active in the fixed star, we can in turn find something that can evoke the same impression within the conditions of the Earth itself. And lo and behold, this is again somewhat difficult, because this time we are dealing with plants and cannot draw upon the entire plant world on our Earth. But it is comparatively sufficient to take just a number of plant forms into the—if I may use the expression—occult eye in order to receive the occult impression of that which acts and lives within the plants. And when one allows this to act upon one’s occult gaze, it recalls the impression one has received from the inner development of the fixed star.

[ 15 ] The difference, however, is growing ever greater. In terms of the occult impression, the resemblance between a human corpse after death and the totality of the moons is actually still striking. This resemblance is also distinctly present in the impressions that the plant world and the fixed stars make on human beings. The resemblance is clearly present there, but it is no longer as great as that between the physical human body after death and the totality of the moons. However, the resemblance becomes much greater when we now ask the occult gaze to do something special: namely, after we have received the impression of a number of plant forms, we now also look beyond these plants that we have observed with the occult gaze, look beyond the physical plant bodies, and apply those methods that the practical occultist uses when he observes the etheric bodies of plants. So we make a secondary observation. We have noted the impression we receive from the fixed star, then seek the already similar, yet still unsatisfactory impression we receive from a number of plants. We go further, abstracting from the plant’s outer form and allowing only the etheric body—which is, after all, present in the plants—to act upon us. Then this similarity increases and becomes almost as great as the similarity between the physical corpse of a human being and the totality of the moons. From this follows, for occult knowledge, that when we look up at the fixed star, we have grasped as acting within the fixed star what the etheric body of the planetary system is, for we actually receive the impression of an etheric body. We understand the impression we receive from the fixed star when we observe the etheric body in plants, where the etheric body is still unmixed, not yet interacting with an astral body, but interacting with the physical body solely as an etheric body. It follows, therefore, that by looking at the fixed star, we indeed perceive the etheric body of the planetary system radiating from the fixed star.

[ 16 ] We can now say: In the Moon we have the corpse of the planetary system; in the sum of the planets we have the body—namely, the physical body; and in the fixed star itself, radiating from it, we have the etheric body of the planetary system. In fact, for the occult eye, the possibility of perceiving that dead, one might say papier-mâché-like, aspect present in all physical astronomy very soon ceases, for the occult eye perceives everywhere how the entire planetary system is permeated by life, is a living organism. Indeed, a continuous stream of etheric life flows from the fixed star to the outermost edge of the planetary system and flows back again. We are constantly dealing with life forces, as in the living animal and plant bodies, which are centered—I say this now by way of comparison—within the fixed star in much the same way that the life of the animal is centered, let us say, in the heart, or as plant life is centered in the various organs that regulate the ascending and descending sap movements. In short, we are dealing with a center of the planetary system that we must seek within the fixed star.

[ 17 ] Then one can also turn one’s occult gaze toward the comet, toward cometary life. Well, I have no doubt that if the things we have just discussed—the characteristics of the planetary system—were to be heard anywhere in mainstream science, they would be regarded today as utter folly; but that doesn’t matter. When it comes to cometary life, however, the matter becomes particularly difficult, because the opportunity to observe cometary life is a rare one, so that a certain impartiality of the occult gaze is required in order to observe this peculiar cometary life within the planetary system.

[ 18 ] You will surely not doubt for a moment, my dear friends, that the entire planetary system contains not only what we have just called the physical body and the etheric body, but that it is naturally permeated everywhere by the beings of the various hierarchies; there are, of course, spiritual and soul forces present throughout. And you need only consider that within the planetary system, of course, the spirits of the age, the archangels, and the Luciferic beings are present; they, too, are part of it. We have now discovered within the planetary system the corporeal body, the physical body, and the etheric body. From what we have heard so far, we can of course say that there is astral substance everywhere within it, organized into beings, for the beings of the higher hierarchies are precisely astral substance. When we speak of the human being as he walks before us, the microcosm, we say: This human being consists of a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, and so on. When we describe a planetary system, we need only place the lowest link somewhat differently; we must say: A planetary system consists of its moons, which is its corpse; of its planets, which is its physical body; and of all of this, with the fixed star acting as its conductor, which is its etheric body. We find the astral aspect within it already, for we come to know this through the fact that we know beings dwell within it. Just as the human being dwells in his sheaths, so do the beings of the higher hierarchies dwell in the corpse-sheath, the physical sheath, and the etheric sheath of the planetary system. As for the astral body, I would say, we need not first concern ourselves with it; we already possess it through the esoteric-occult gaze directed inward. But even if you consider human life on Earth, you will admit that through this human life—as you know from elementary Spiritual Science—a sum of astral beings and forces, of astral forms, arises that are actually harmful and inhibitory to life. After all, erroneous, ugly, and evil thoughts constantly flow out from the human being: these are realities that go out into the astral world and continue to live there. So that the astral sphere of a planet is filled not only with what constitutes the normal substances of its soul-being, but also with this outflowing astral matter. And if we were to consider all the harmful forces produced by the various Luciferic spirits, you would find a vast amount of harmful astral substances within a planetary system. And curiously, the occult gaze, which has the opportunity to observe a comet’s life for a time, shows us that everything cometary and everything meteor-like within our planetary system is always striving to gather around itself the harmful astral products in the planetary system and to carry these harmful astral products away from the planetary system. We will see in the course of these lectures how this relates in particular to the harmful astral products of human beings, but we see that the great harmful forces, the Luciferic harmful forces, are carried out of the planetary system by the comets. I would like to give you a mental image of how this removal takes place at the end of this lecture.

[ 19 ] Isn't it true that if I were to sketch a planetary system with its sun here, we could sketch any comet passing through it in such a way that it crosses the planetary system, as it were, along such an orbit. Physical astronomy says: Well, the comet simply comes from very far away. — If one cannot trace the origin of a thing, then one simply says: It comes from very far away. And so physical astronomy also says: It comes from very far away and also goes very far away again. — But because certain comets return periodically, physical astronomy can think of nothing else but that these comets, which do come from very far away, then pass through our system and disappear again, that they simply travel a very long way through space and then return. Materialistic astronomy cannot create a mental image of it in any other way. The occult gaze shows us that the comet, in fact, where it seems to vanish from the physical gaze, dissolves and now makes its way through a world that is not limited to the ordinary three spatial dimensions. It does not exist at all within the ordinary world. It does indeed vanish on one side and reappears on the other. It is not there at all in the intervening spaces. It disappears on one side and reforms on the other. This is, of course, a mental image with which materialistic astronomy cannot come to terms, since it cannot conceive that the comet, which reappears there, should not have been present in the meantime. The anthroposophist should know what to make of such things, for he knows, for example, that the succession of physical bodies in human incarnations does indeed, in a certain sense from the perspective of force, form a whole, yet is not physically connected. In short, with the exception of a few comets that have truly elongated, elliptical orbits, most comets are structured such that the comet comes from one side and disappears to the other, and when it returns, it has simply reformed. Why? Because as it approaches, it exerts a gravitational pull—it is initially merely a kind of spiritual center of force; it forms solely through this spiritual center of force attracting all harmful astral currents and developing them around itself. We will hear in the coming hours why it displays a tail and a nucleus precisely under the influence of this attraction of harmful astral matter. It draws more and more toward itself as it passes through the planetary system. As it moves on to the other side, it carries this along until it emerges from the realm of the planetary system, then it casts it out into outer space. Then the center of force forms again at the other pole, without needing three-dimensional space, once more taking in the harmful substances and casting them out to the other side. Thus we must regard the life of a comet as something that continuously acts as a purifying force within the planetary system, much like a thunderstorm. As the comet passes through the planetary system, it attempts to remove from the system the harmful elements within it that have been caused by the harmful astral emanations of the beings. Here, however, we have in comet life something for which we cannot initially provide an analogy in human beings themselves, such as the physical body and the etheric body. The physical body of the planetary system is the totality of the planets; the etheric body is that which, radiating from the fixed star, flows through the planetary system; but for the physically walking human being, it is not the case that he drags his corpse along with him. The planetary system drags its corpse along with it. On the other hand, it has the mechanism to separate out the evil astral through its comets.

[ 20 ] If we now study what is present in the comet only according to maya, but which is active within it as forces, then it is indeed the case that we find it extremely difficult to make sense of it based on what we have learned in the course of these lectures. I have described to you how one ascends to the Thrones, for example, that one actually has only the means of studying the human will. Then, if one undertakes this study of the will using occult methods, one can rise up to the Thrones. None of this can be found in comets at all—nothing of the Spirits of Wisdom, nothing of the Thrones. When we look at the comet itself, we find nothing at all that could be reached in any other way than by applying those methods which I have cited in recent days as occult methods. Such methods, then, which proceed from the premise that we are observing a human being who is not merely a thinking, feeling, and willing human being, but who can give us a special impression. We have described this impression as something we gain when we allow a person who has decades of rich life experience behind them to act upon us directly with their wisdom—as the essence of that life experience—so that this wisdom achieves more than can be achieved through reasons of a logical or merely rational nature. What is truly convincing about wisdom derived from human experience, perceived through the occult gaze, is that the spiritual can indeed be seen through it; this is what first gives the occult gaze a mental image of the cherubim. And when we train this occult gaze on what is immediately convincing—which now possesses the very unspoken wisdom and power of such a person, through which he brings what he has gained as life experience right into the gaze—then we can gain an understanding of the impression we must have of the sphere of the Seraphim. But the impression we can thus have does not yet lead us to the contemplation of the spiritual behind the comets. All of this is of no use for the occult study of comets. Only [those two means mentioned], which lead to the mental image of the nature of the cherubim and seraphim, can give us insight into the comets. The sphere of the comets extends to the sphere of the cherubim [and seraphim]; we must therefore first know what the nature of the seraphim and cherubim consists of in order to understand what meaning the substance and motion of the comets have.

[ 21 ] Evolution within comets is thus dependent on the beings of the higher hierarchies, all the way down to the cherubim. The evolution within a fixed star, from the beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Wisdom—the development of the planet itself, apart from the human beings who inhabit it—depends on the forces emanating from the beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Form. And that which acts upon the Moon depends on the forces emanating from the higher hierarchies down to the sphere of the Archangels. Thus we have described the life of a planetary system from various angles and can build upon this foundation in the coming evenings. However, we must bear in mind that it is precisely in such a matter that we see, in the most eminent sense, how one cannot make do with mere formulaic definitions. How often is it said that every microcosm corresponds to a macrocosm! One can call the human being a microcosm, a solar system in miniature. But if one wishes to speak of a correspondence, one must not stop at these abstract statements; rather, one must delve into the concrete relationship to the extent that one knows: throughout the world, such formulaic descriptions have only an approximate value. And when we begin to describe the microcosmic human being from the bottom up, starting with the physical body, as a being standing directly before us, we must, in the case of the planetary system, begin our description with the physical body itself; and within the physical system we then also find the substances of the cometary bodies, which are the outward expression of the purifying astral storms within the planetary system.