True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation
GA 243
18 August 1924, Torquay
7. Knowledge of the World of Stars. Differentiation of the Historical Epochs of Mankind and their Spiritual Background
In the last lecture we saw how man learns to command his different life-periods and to review them with spiritual vision. He thus attains to Inspiration through which he can raise his consciousness step by step to full communion with the world of stars. This world must be understood, of course, as an expression, a revelation, of purely spiritual beings and purely spiritual facts.
In order to open the doors to the spiritual world and to undertake investigations into that world, strenuous efforts must be made to develop the necessary states of consciousness and the necessary psychic condition. We should not harbour the illusion that we can achieve spiritual insight through the instrument of normal consciousness.
A few specific examples will serve to illustrate my point. Before indicating the potential sources of error in spiritual investigations, I should like to make the following introductory remarks.
When a person undertakes serious spiritual training which unlocks the doors to the spiritual world and enables him to perceive—and if I may use the expression—to hold converse with the spiritual world, he realizes that the historical evolution of mankind shows wide differentiations, notable differences of spiritual background.
Our present epoch which we may call the Michael epoch for reasons which I shall indicate later, begins in the last third of the nineteenth century, in the eighteen-seventies approximately. This epoch was preceded by an epoch that lasted for three or four centuries. To those with spiritual knowledge this earlier epoch was totally different in character. This epoch, in its turn, was preceded by another, again of an entirely different nature. When, therefore, with Initiation-knowledge we look back into the past, we find that particular epochs evoke totally different impressions. I have no wish to describe these impressions in the abstract; I should like to illustrate them by concrete examples.
In the course of these lectures I have spoken of personalities who played their various rôles in the evolution of humanity. I have mentioned, for example, Brunetto Latini, the famous teacher of Dante, the teachers of the School of Chartres, Bernardus Silvestris, Alanus ab Insulis and Joachim of Fiore. And I could speak of hundreds of other personalities of the ninth to the twelfth centuries and even of the thirteenth century. Each of these personalities was characteristic of his epoch.
When a person who wishes to investigate the history of mankind from the standpoint of Spiritual Science studies, for example, the epoch of Dante or Giotto, i.e. the pre-Renaissance epoch, he feels that it is imperative to consort in the spiritual world with human beings, with discarnate human souls; he must meet face to face, metaphorically speaking, the human souls living between death and rebirth. In Initiation-knowledge we have a definite feeling that our spiritual relationship to an individuality such as Brunetto Latini must be as personal as our relationship to our fellowmen in the physical world. I have tried to suggest this in the descriptions I have already given. Therefore in speaking of Joachim of Fiore and Brunetto Latini I depicted this epoch in such a way that it was evident that I felt the need to give my characterization as far as possible a personal touch.
In the following epoch which extends to the last third of the nineteenth century, the situation is quite different. In this epoch there is much less need for the Initiate to enter personally or individually into relationship with the discarnate souls we wish to contact. We would prefer to see them in their total environment; we do not feel the need to approach them directly, but rather to make contact with them in some way through earthly knowledge, through ordinary consciousness.
You will forgive me if, at this point, I introduce something from direct personal experience. In this case, the personal experience is entirely objective. The epoch preceding our own was the age of Goethe and for decades I was engaged in the study of his works. I particularly wanted to approach Goethe in the first place through his scientific writings and through natural science in general. Only in later years did the need arise to have direct contact with him as a spiritual being in the spiritual world. But it was first necessary to experience him after his death in his total relationship to the Cosmos as a stellar being, so to speak, not as an individual personality. On the other hand, when we wish to make spiritual contact with a personality such as Brunetto Latini, or with those who were concerned with the study of nature in that epoch, we feel an immediate need to exchange ideas and opinions with them personally, in intimate spiritual communion.
This is a very important distinction and is connected with the fact that the inner spiritual character of the two epochs is totally different. Today we are living in an age when man, indeed the whole of humanity, has a unique opportunity of apprehending spiritual truths directly, an age when Initiation Science becomes common property. This epoch which has only just begun must not be permitted to run its course without a spiritual recognition on the part of the cultured classes of the major facts which are accessible to them, not mundane, physico-sensible facts, but spiritual facts. From now on our epoch must energetically pursue a spiritual science that is directly associated with the spiritual world, otherwise mankind will not be able to fulfil its appointed task. We must enter more and more into a spiritual epoch.
In the preceding epoch other forces exercised a predominant influence in human evolution. And when we speak from the standpoint of genuine stellar knowledge we are able to say: in the epoch upon which we entered in the seventies of last century, it is above all the spiritual forces emanating from the Sun which must exercise a major influence in everything in the psychic and physical life, in science, religion and art. In our epoch the influence and activity of the Sun forces must become progressively more widespread.
For those with real knowledge the Sun is not the globe of gas described by modern physics, but an aggregate of spiritual beings. And the most important spiritual beings, who radiate the spiritual, as the sunlight radiates physically and etherically, are grouped round a Being who, in accordance with ancient Christian-Pagan or Christian-Judaic terminology, may be designated as the Michael being. Michael works from the Sun. The spiritual influences from the Sun can also be called the influences of Michael and his hosts.
In the epoch preceding our own it was not the Sun forces, but the Moon forces which were the driving forces behind man's life, activity and search for knowledge. The Moon forces were the driving forces behind the epoch which ended in the eighteen-seventies after lasting for three or four centuries.
In this epoch the leading beings who influenced the evolution of Earth and man were grouped round a Being called Gabriel, to adopt the ancient terminology. We could equally well choose another name—the terminology is of minor importance—but it would be best to keep to the name Gabriel, in accordance with the Christian-Judaic tradition.
Thus, in the way I have indicated, we are made aware of the spiritual activity in man that is derived from the world of stars. If, through Initiation-knowledge, we ascertain what works in man from birth to the change of teeth, we gain insight into the activities of the Moon in the Cosmos, in other words, through the inspired retrospective survey of the first years of childhood, we acquire knowledge of the Gabriel epoch when the Moon influences are particularly active.
On the other hand, in order to perceive the peculiar characteristics of an epoch such as our own, we must be more mature, have reached the forties and be able to look back upon the formative forces within us between our twentieth and fortieth years, or more precisely, between the ages of twenty-one and forty-two. Consequently, in the epoch preceding our own it was the very young children who played a decisive rôle in the cosmic direction of the world. The forces of the Gabriel epoch were already foreshadowed in the impulses operative in early childhood. In our epoch it is the men in their twenties or thirties who are destined to receive the impulses from the Sun forces; it is the adults who have a vitally important part to play in the cosmic guidance of the whole world.
These facts are the practical consequence of direct spiritual perception which I described to you the day before yesterday. They are not empty theories, but fruits of actual perception. You will realize, therefore, that for an understanding of the Gabriel epoch which preceded the present Michael age there was no particular need to encounter personally the discarnate souls of that epoch. One felt like a little child face to face with a grown-up, because one had to confront these souls with the inspired perception of the earliest years of childhood.
It is quite different when we are investigating the preceding epoch, the epoch of Alanus ab Insulis, Bernardus Silvestris, Joachim of Fiore, John of Hanville and Brunetto Latini. This age was dominated by forces which man acquires when he reviews in retrospect what is working within him in the period between the change of teeth and puberty. These are the Mercury forces. He experiences something of extraordinary significance when, starting from this life-period, he develops the corresponding organs for perception of the spiritual. Between the time of the change of teeth and puberty man is a child who is eager to learn, and when he perceives with the organ of this life-period, he experiences once again the child's enthusiasm. Hence he wishes to encounter personally those who belong to this epoch. And he does so with the knowledge born of Initiation. He would like to confront a personality such as Brunetto Latini just as a child of ten or twelve confronts his superior, his teacher or instructor.
When man possesses true Initiation-knowledge he is not unconscious of things of the phenomenal world. He is both an adult and a child eager for knowledge. He confronts Brunetto Latini on a footing of equality, yet with an intense eagerness to learn from him.
The Initiation-knowledge of the age back from the fifteenth to the eleventh century takes its particular colouring from this relationship. It is an age in which the main impulses for the Earth and humanity are given by Mercury.
The Being round whom everything revolved, the Being of special significance in this age, was known under the ancient name of Raphael. Raphael is Mercury in the age that preceded the Renaissance, the age of Dante and Giotto. We feel we would like to know personally precisely those who are little known to history, those whose names are not recorded.
When we are familiar with the teachings of Spiritual Science this epoch evokes in us a strange response. First, we are annoyed that the text-books have so little to say about Brunetto Latini or men such as Alanus ab Insulis; we should like to be given more historical facts. Then, as we extend our horizon, we are glad and thankful that orthodox history is silent. For the documentation of external history is only fragmentary. Imagine how our epoch would appear in the eyes of posterity if newspaper articles on the subsidiary branches of historical knowledge were held to be the sole valid testimony. We can only be thankful that we are not disturbed by the limited information given in encyclopaedias about these personalities. And with all the means at the disposal of the Anthroposophical Society today, we try to make spiritual contact with these men and report all that can be ascertained about them from the standpoint of Spiritual Science.
In this context it is most important to be in touch with those personalities who were associated with nature knowledge in the Raphael epoch. A deeper knowledge of nature, a deeper understanding of medicine can be communicated through many a personality who, to clairvoyant perception, emerges out of the spiritual twilight of this age (from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries) and can inform us of the current conceptions of matter and of the current ideas of man's relationship to the whole Cosmos. When we look into this age with spiritual vision, we meet with many personalities who are unknown because their names have not been handed down to posterity, yet these personalities exist in reality. Many of these personalities appear before us and we say: there stands “Paracelsus major,” but we have no record of his name, whilst “Paracelsus minor” lived in a later age, in the Gabriel epoch, and had reminiscences of the nature wisdom of Paracelsus major, though no longer in the pure, sublime and spiritual form of Paracelsus major.
Then “Jacob Boehme minor” appears before us in the later Gabriel epoch. And again we say: This personality proclaimed sublime truths which he learned from various traditional teachings and which gave stimulus to his inspiration. When “Jacob Boehme major” who is not known to posterity and whose name is only mentioned occasionally, like those of Alanus ab Insulis and Brunetto Latini, appears before us, then for the first time we really understand “Jacob Boehme minor.” The Pre-Renaissance epoch, at the close of which the famous figures of Dante and Brunetto Latini, and the School of Chartres, stand out like solitary luminaries, whilst Scotus Erigena appears like some erratic boulder in their midst—this epoch contains something that can provide powerful spiritual stimulus. External, medieval history is shrouded in darkness, but this darkness conceals the presence of powerful personalities who can illumine the epoch of which I have just spoken.
When we enter into the Raphael epoch, from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries, [See note, below] then the figures of a Dante, a Giotto and especially those whose names are unknown to posterity, as well as the others I have mentioned, appear to stand out in bold relief. They make an immediate human impression upon us. Raphael himself, who was never incarnated in a physical body, remains more in the background, and other spiritual beings who permanently inhabit the spiritual world are less sharply defined in this epoch. It is the human beings, the deceased in particular, who stand out in bold relief.
[In a note book of Rudolf Steiner, under the date of 18th August, 1924 (“Morning lecture, Torquay”) the following entry was made in connection with the Archangel epochs:
]
1879 - 1510 Gabriel Moon 1510 - 1190 Samael Mars 1190 - 850 Raphael Mercury 850 - 500 Zachariel Jupiter 500 - 150 Anael Venus 150 - 200 Oriphiel Saturn
In the following Gabriel epoch we have the impression that even figures such as Goethe, Spencer, Lord Byron and Voltaire are leading a shadowy existence in the spiritual world. Through spiritual perception, on the other hand, we become aware of beings of signal grandeur who leave an impression of the superhuman, rather than the human. They exist today and the Moon sphere is their permanent abode, as the Earth is ours between birth and death. These impressive figures attract our attention, whilst the human souls recede more into the background. We learn from these figures that they were once united to the Earth as we human beings are today. Whilst human beings live in their physical bodies, these Moon beings formerly lived on Earth in subtle, ethereal bodies. And we realize that we are in the presence of beings who, in primordial times, were associated with humanity and were the spiritual Teachers of mankind on Earth. When their tasks on Earth were fulfilled, they withdrew to the Moon sphere and are no longer associated with the Earth today.
You know from my book Occult Science, that the Moon was once a cosmic body united with the Earth and later split off from the Earth. These beings accompanied the Moon after its separation and later became inhabitants of the Moon sphere. At the stage of knowledge, therefore, which enables us to be in touch with the dead immediately after their death, we enter a world where, because we still retain the earlier knowledge of normal consciousness, we are surrounded by the men whom we recognize today in normal waking consciousness to have been physical men on Earth; then, when we enter into this other consciousness, we learn to realize more and more that we are in the presence of spiritual beings who belong to the Moon sphere even as we belong to the Earth. They are omnipresent and take an interest in human affairs, but not from the physical point of view of men today.
Among these beings who were once the great Teachers of mankind and who no longer dwell on Earth, but—if we may use the expression—are inhabitants of the Moon sphere, are to be found beings of surpassing grandeur and of the highest spiritual development, filled with inner, spiritual majesty. Very much can be learnt from them concerning the mysteries of the Cosmos. Their knowledge far transcends the knowledge within reach of ordinary consciousness. But they cannot express this knowledge in abstract thoughts. When we draw near to them, we are met with the full tide of song; they express everything through poetry and artistic images. In their own way they delight and enchant us with sublime harmonies unknown to Homer and the ancient Indian epics. But deep wisdom lies in all that these beings conjure up before us.
There are however less perfect beings amongst them. Just as on Earth there are pleasant or unpleasant characters, so amongst these other beings can be found those who have not attained the majesty and perfection of their companions. None the less, they have reached a certain stage of perfection because they became their pupils and disciples and so were able to leave the Earth sphere to live and continue working in the Moon sphere. When, to use a trivial expression, we contact these beings, we are immediately aware that they have a burning interest in earthly affairs, but their interest is of a wholly different kind.
You must not imagine these beings to be unsympathetic, rather uninviting figures. Although, compared with their companions, they are imperfect, they far transcend the level of distinction, cleverness and insight that contemporary man can attain with normal consciousness. At all times they share the habits of their companions; but they have different habits and tendencies from those of the ordinary man today.
I should now like to enter into the details of a matter of some importance. When we enter into relationship with such beings, we naturally feel the need to exchange opinions, to confer with them about one thing or another—these expressions are, of necessity, somewhat trivial. Let us assume, to take a concrete example, we are conferring with these beings about writing, the written works of men. One man, we will suppose, has simply written down his name, the other has written his signature or monogram.
When we discuss these questions with these beings, they reply: you men are interested in what is of least importance—in the primary meaning of a word, in what “blacksmith” or “coiffeur,” for example, signify. It is far more interesting to observe the particular movements of the writer as these words are written down, how everyone writes differently—rapidly or laboriously, skilfully or clumsily, mechanically or artistically.—These beings pay close attention to man's particular behaviour-pattern when he is writing. This is what interests them.
And in the spiritual world of which I am now speaking, these beings also have their adherents—various kinds of spiritual entities who no longer live on Earth, and who rank sometimes below, sometimes above man. They give us no guidance on terminology or nomenclature, but advise on the pattern and form of writing which mankind has developed since these beings were on Earth. Writing, in our sense of the term, did not exist when these beings were on Earth.
In their intercourse with mankind they observed how writing gradually evolved. They were interested in the dexterous movements of the fingers and noted how the dexterity of the fingers was supplemented later on by the addition of a quill pen and later a fountain pen. They had little interest in what was committed to paper; they were wholly engrossed in the movements entailed.
An additional factor must now be taken into account—existing emanations still surviving from the Earth have been largely overlooked by mankind. They assume many forms: first of all, if I include amongst them what I have just described, the movements emanating from men. It is the movements emanating from the human being which can be discussed with these beings.
Now in the first place, this is something that does not lead to the real sphere of these beings, for at the time they lived on Earth writing did not yet exist. These beings are wildly ironical when they comment on the limited capacity of man today to understand his fluid emanations. These entities were very much aware of them, whilst modern man ignores them. Thus, m the epoch when these beings were on Earth the fluid emanations, the fluid emanations from the skin, were of vital importance. One learned to recognize one's fellow-man through his exhalations; this was later ignored.
The third thing to which these beings are specially receptive, is skin expiration, the aeriform element that emanates from man. All these emanations, as we shall learn later, may assume a semi-spiritual character. These beings are particularly receptive to these emanations that proceed from man—the solid element in writing, the watery element in skin evaporation, the aeriform element in skin expiration. One must remember that man breathes perpetually through his skin.
Fourthly, these beings are receptive to warmth emanations. All these things in so far as they exist on Earth have special significance for these Moon beings. Man is judged by the configuration of his movements in writing and by the particular nature of his emanations.
The next emanation is the ever-present light emanation. In every individual, not only the aura, but also the physical and etheric bodies radiate light. Under ordinary conditions these radiations are so dim as to be invisible, but their existence has recently been demonstrated by Moriz Benedikt in a specially constructed dark room. He showed that the physical body is surrounded by a subtle aura of red, yellow and blue light emanations which vary at different places round the body. Moriz Benedikt tells us how he demonstrated the coloured aura. He showed the left side of the body under normal conditions of light and the other side under conditions that revealed the aura. Everything depends upon establishing the proper experimental conditions.
The sixth emanation is the emanation of the chemical forces and is found only in rare and exceptional cases on Earth today. It is of course always present, but operates only in the rare cases when black magic is practised. When men become conscious of their chemical emanations and exploit them; black magic is being practised on Earth.
The seventh kind of emanation is the direct spiritual life emanation or vital radiation. The use of chemical emanations today invariably degenerates into black magic which is odious and evil. Whilst black magic is a force to be reckoned with, the life emanations are no less important. These Moon beings of whom I am speaking, can, for their part, always rely upon and work with the life emanations and use them for good. They are not black magicians, for black magicians are those who under certain conditions succumb to evil and perpetrate evil on Earth. But the Moon beings can only rely upon the life emanations at Full Moon, when they can dwell in the Sun's reflected light and are subject to its influences. We must learn to make creative use of what we receive from the spiritual world. The task of our age is to find living ideas, to develop living concepts, perceptions and feelings and not to invoke dead theories. And these are directly inspired by the beings who are united with the Being whom we call Michael.
In the previous Gabriel epoch mankind was more attracted to the material world. Men were unwilling to seek contact with the beings who, under certain circumstances, are closely related to man, because these beings were concerned with something rather alien to that epoch, namely, the occult emanations that proceed from human beings.
Adjoining the physical world that we inhabit between birth and death is a spiritual world, where we are in touch with the dead in the manner already described. But this world has many other aspects, amongst them the virtue of those forces that live in the emanations of man. In a certain sense this is a highly dangerous region of the Cosmos, and as I have often mentioned in these lectures, we must have psychic and spiritual balance and control in order to ensure that all that proceeds from these Moon beings may become a force for good and not for evil.
Indeed, all the forces and impulses of the present epoch must hasten to turn to account the life emanations on Earth. But it is so fatally easy to fall victim to that which lies between this life emanation and all the other emanations we should be only too happy to possess—to fall victim to black magic. Men would so much like to make visible what is expressed in movements—I shall speak of this later—what is present in the fluid emanation, in the light emanation. All this is related to a certain extent to the forces for good and can only make for goodness, because the Michael age is dawning amongst men. Between all this lies black magic that must be resisted if we are to pursue the right methods of spiritual investigation.
- Movements emanating from men.
- Skin emanations of the fluid element.
- Skin emanations of the air element.
- Warmth emanation.
- Light emanation.
- Emanation of chemical forces (black magic).
- Life emanation.
Now when this intercourse takes place in the spiritual world between human beings on Earth and the Moon beings—and it is continually taking place in the realm of the subconscious—then the interest which certain Moon beings develop in the movements of writing and drawing, and which is revealed clairvoyantly, may also find an echo in certain elementary beings of the spiritual world. Elementary beings are of a lower order than Moon beings. They never incarnate on Earth, but live in the adjacent world as spiritual-etheric beings. Their interest in the world of man may have the following consequence.—From observation we are aware that the thoughts which a human being communicates through writing react upon his whole being. They first present in his Ego, are then transmitted to the astral body which executes its movements exactly as the Ego determines. Next they work into the etheric body and down into the physical body. Certain elementary beings observe these effects and long to react in the same way. This is not possible, because the laws obtaining in their world are different from those of the world in which writing is practised. Writing is the prerogative of the physical world of man on Earth.
But the following situation can arise. Certain types of people, when they write or think or even feel, are firmly anchored in their etheric body; the whole etheric body is involved in the process, which then impresses itself strongly in the physical body. In the case of these types of people the Ego is suppressed and their astral, etheric and physical bodies produce a facsimile of writing and drawing. These types are mediums.
Because their Ego is suppressed such mediums take up into themselves these malleable elementary beings of the spiritual world who have learned the movements of writing from the Moon beings. Then these mediums proceed to execute the movements of writing, not in full Ego-consciousness, but under the influence of the elementary beings that control them. Mediumistic writing and drawing and the usual mediumistic phenomena are brought about through the emanations of the medium in a state of diminished consciousness. These emanations are utilized by the control.
The second kind of emanation can be used by certain beings who, under the influence of the Moon beings, readily assimilate the artistic talents of man. These beings also enter into those human beings who have damped down their surface consciousness and who have a certain artistic impetus in their etheric and astral bodies which can be canalized into the emanations. Under certain conditions it is highly interesting to observe how this type of human being can become possessed by elementary-spiritual beings and how these emanations are invaded by seemingly phantom forms that are in part a composite of man's perception of his life experiences which has slipped down into his etheric and astral bodies and which appears in the emanations; and in part, communications from the world inhabited solely by the elementary beings who have entered into him.
Now similar results were obtained from the experiments of Schrenk-Notzing. The subjects of his experiments were certain mediumistic types, negative psychics, who, in a state of diminished consciousness, when the Ego had been suppressed, were ideal material for elementary beings by virtue of their fluid skin emanations. There is an interesting book on the subject by Schrenk-Notzing. Some condemned it as fraudulent, others gave it high praise. It is not surprising that the latter regarded his findings as extraordinary; for it is extraordinary that, when experiments are made with a medium, ectoplasm issues from a certain part of the body, a form that embodies a spiritual element not to be found on Earth. In many cases there is found associated with the form a picture which the medium recently saw in an illustrated paper. Something streams out of the medium. It is the skin emanation. And into this there streams something wholly spiritual; but associated with this was something that the medium recently saw in an illustrated paper or comic journal, for example, a portrait of Poincaré.
It need not surprise us that people are amazed at such things. But we are indeed most surprised that fashionable people, people of good taste, and even ladies, who would be most unwilling to speak about skin exudations or to discuss psychic materialisations, nevertheless feel an inordinate desire to watch the medium who materializes these ectoplasmic forms out of nothing but ordinary sweat.
The phenomena in Schrenk-Notzing's experiments are simply exudations which materialize through the skin emanations an ectoplasmic form that is activated by the elementary beings.
In the same way the skin emanations, i.e. the air formations issuing from the medium, can be stimulated by certain elementary beings. But these skin emanations are so closely associated with the particular human form and man impresses his own human form so strongly upon them, that for the most part these beings cannot do much more than create a phantom of the man himself. We then witness those phenomena where the phantom issues from the medium.
It is not so easy to produce warmth and light emanations from the human being so that the medium manifests something, i.e. the visible phantom, that can be acted upon by these elementary beings under the influence of Moon beings. Certain preliminary steps must first be undertaken.
As I have already indicated, natural science has recently developed a technique which can demonstrate in a dark room certain light radiations and warmth emanations. In this respect the experiments of Moriz Benedikt are most illuminating. But it has always been the case, and it is still true today, that only those can utilize effectively warmth and light emanations who undertake the preliminary steps which not only involve manipulating the physical world through black magic, but also include the production of hallucinogenic effects by means of special incense-burning and aromas, and the preparation of specific concoctions, and so forth. This is the origin of all those magical practices which are fully described in the old books of magic.
The purpose of these magical ceremonies is to evoke the forces inherent in the light and warmth emanations of man. In the writings of Eliphas Levi and also in those of Encausse who wrote under the name of Papus you can find highly questionable and dangerous instructions on this subject but we cannot afford to ignore them since we must speak about the objective aspect, the true nature, of these things.
All these things lead directly to black magic which makes use of the spiritual concealed within the earthly element. What is this spiritual element? You will find in my book Occult Science—an Outline that at one time the Moon was united with the Earth. Many forces belonging to the Moon were left behind on Earth and are now diffused through minerals, plants and animals. And these Moon forces are still to be found there. When therefore, we, as terrestrial beings, make use of Moon forces which do not normally belong to minerals, plants, animals and man, we trespass into the realm where we meet with elementary beings who have learned much from the Moon beings, but in a way that is foreign to our world. The black magician, therefore, employs Moon forces that still exist on Earth. But because he works in this way he contacts elementary beings who, as it were, watch—as one watches a game of halma or chess—the right and proper relationships between human beings and Moon beings and so learn to draw very near to the physical world, to peer into the physical world or even to set foot in it. But the normal human being in whom all this remains in the subconscious has no contact with these beings. The black magician, however, who works with the Moon forces, who has captured them in his retorts and crucibles is caught in a vortex of those elementary beings.
Even an honest and upright man can learn from these black magicians. In Faust, Part I, Goethe portrayed a condition where man is the centre of whirling forces, a condition that is dangerously near to black magic. By exploiting these forces man enters into the region where entities in the service of the Moon beings are ready to associate with human beings. Thus centres of black magic arise where Moon forces cooperate with spirits who have entered directly into their service, a service that makes for evil. And because many activities of this kind have been practised in recent centuries, a dangerous atmosphere has been created in the Earth. This dangerous atmosphere is undeniably there and is transfused with multitudinous forces that are born of a union of human activities with Moon elements and of dynamic Moon forces with elementary beings in the service of illicit Moon forces. It is this region that is actively opposed to all that is destined to proceed from the Sun region in the Michael age. And this must be taken into special consideration in relation to the life emanation in the sphere of the soul and spirit.
From this point we will pursue our enquiries further tomorrow.
- Emanations from human beings-mediumistic power
- Skin emanations of the fluid element-materialization
- Skin emanation-manifestation of the phantom
- Warmth emanation
- Light emanation
- Emanation of chemical forces (black magic)
- Life emanation
Michael—Sun
Gabriel—Moon
Raphael—Mercury
Sternenerkenntnis
Die geistigen Hintergründe des geschichtlichen Werdens der Menschheit und seine Differenzierungen
Wir haben gesehen, wie der Mensch dadurch, daß er seine verschiedenen Lebensalter in geistiger Schau überblickt und beherrscht, zur Inspiration kommt, durch die er in der Lage ist, sein Bewußtsein stufenweise hinaufzuheben bis zu demjenigen, was ihm die Sternenwelt sagen kann, die Sternenwelt, die dann natürlich als ein Ausdruck, eine Offenbarung rein geistiger Wesenheiten und rein geistiger Tatsachen aufgefaßt werden muß.
Nun handelt es sich also darum, für die Wege in die geistige Welt hinein, für Forschungen über die geistige Welt die entsprechenden Bewußtseinszustände, die entsprechenden Seelenverfassungen wirklich anzustreben, und nicht in den Irrtum zu verfallen, mit dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein die geistige Welt erreichen zu wollen. Ich möchte Ihnen das heute an besonderen Beispielen, oder besser gesagt Fällen, darlegen. Ich möchte Ihnen zeigen, wo die Möglichkeiten von Abirrungen in der geistigen Forschung liegen können. Da möchte ich zunächst einmal das Folgende voranstellen.
Wenn der Mensch wirklich in die geistige Arbeit hineinkommt, durch die er die geistige Welt sich erschließen kann, durch die er die geistige Welt schauen und - wenn ich den Ausdruck gebrauchen darf mit ihr verkehren kann, dann nimmt er namentlich im geschichtlichen Werden der Menschheit, hinter dem er die geistigen Hintergründe sucht, große Differenzierungen, große Unterschiede wahr. Zum Beispiel gibt es da das Zeitalter, das dem unsrigen unmittelbar vorangeht. Unser Zeitalter, das wir, ich habe das schon angedeutet, das MichaelZeitalter nennen können - ich werde die Gründe dafür noch weiter in den Vorträgen angeben -, beginnt mit dem letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts, etwa in den siebziger Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Diesem Zeitalter geht aber ein anderes voran, das drei bis vier Jahrhunderte gedauert hat und das ganz anderer Natur war für denjenigen, der die geistige Welt erforscht hat. Und wiederum diesem Zeitalter geht ein anderes voran, das wieder ganz anderer Wesenheit ist und so weiter. Man schaut also mit der Initiationserkenntnis in Vergangenheiten zurück und findet immer für gewisse Zeitalter eine ganz andere Art von Eindrücken. Ich möchte das nicht bloß im Abstrakten schildern, sondern ich möchte es im Konkreten vor Ihre Seele hinstellen.
Ich habe Ihnen im Verlauf dieser Vorträge von Persönlichkeiten gesprochen, die in irgendeiner Weise innerhalb der Menschheitsentwickelung gelebt haben. Ich habe Ihnen zum Beispiel von Brunetto Latini, dem großen Lehrer Dantes, gesprochen. Ich habe Ihnen von den Lehrern der Schule von Chartres, von Bernardus Silvestris, von Alanus ab Insulis, von Joachim de Fiore gesprochen, und ich könnte Ihnen von hunderterlei anderen Persönlichkeiten des 9., 10., 11., 12., auch noch des 13. Jahrhunderts sprechen, und da haben wir mit solchen Persönlichkeiten ein ganz bestimmtes Zeitalter bezeichnet.
Wenn derjenige, der das geschichtliche Leben der Menschheit im geisteswissenschaftlichen Sinne erforschen will, an dieses Zeitalter, also sagen wir, an das Dante-Zeitalter herantritt, an das Giotto-Zeitalter herantritt, an dasjenige Zeitalter also, in dem sich die Renaissance vorgebildet, präpariert hat, dann hat er den Eindruck, er müsse in der geistigen Welt unbedingt mit Menschen verkehren, das heißt mit entkörperten Menschenseelen; er müsse gewissermaßen auch Aug in Auge, natürlich vergleichsweise gesprochen, den Menschenseelen, wie sie leben zwischen ihrem letzten Tode und ihrer nächsten Geburt, entgegentreten. So hat man mit der Initiationserkenntnis das entschiedene Gefühl, man möchte mit einer solchen Individualität, wie die des Brunetto Latini ist, sagen wir, geistig so verkehren als Mensch, wie man hier innerhalb der physischen Welt mit Menschen verkehrt. Ich habe auch versucht, in meine Darstellungen das einfließen zu lassen. Deshalb stellte ich dieses Zeitalter, wenn ich von Joachim de Fiore, von Brunetto Latini sprach, so dar, daß man merken konnte, da ist ein Bedürfnis vorhanden, möglichst persönlich, möchte ich sagen, die Schilderung zu geben. Ich sprach vom «auf die Schulter klopfen» und dergleichen.
Es ist ganz anders dann in dem folgenden Zeitalter, in dem Zeitalter, das nach diesem beginnt und bis in das letzte Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts hinein reicht. Für dieses Zeitalter hat man mit der Initiationserkenntnis viel weniger das Bedürfnis, mit den entkörperten Seelen, die dafür in Betracht kommen, persönlich, sozusagen individuell in Beziehung zu treten. Man möchte sie viel lieber in ihrer ganzen Umgebung schauen, und man möchte gar nicht direkt an sie herantreten, sondern irgendwie von der Erdenerkenntnis aus, von der Erkenntnis des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins aus den Zugang zu ihnen gewinnen.
Verzeihen Sie, wenn ich hier etwas, was ganz objektiv ist, aus der unmittelbaren persönlichen Erfahrung heraus erzähle, aber diese persönliche Erfahrung ist eben in diesem Falle ganz objektiv. Sehen Sie, ich kann gerade darüber sprechen, weil in diesem Zeitalter, das dem unsrigen vorangegangen ist, Goethe gelebt hat, mit dem ich mich ja jahrzehntelang beschäftigt habe. Ich habe das entschiedene Bedürfnis gehabt, zunächst an Goethe heranzutreten, indem ich von seinen naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften und von der Naturwissenschaft überhaupt mir den Weg zu ihm gebahnt habe. Erst verhältnismäßig spät ist das Bedürfnis entstanden, ihn unmittelbar auch als geistige Individualität in der geistigen Welt gegenüber zu haben. Das war nicht das erste. Das erste war, ihn sozusagen als Sternenmenschen nach seinem Tode im ganzen Weltenzusammenhang, im kosmischen Zusammenhang zu haben, nicht persönlich-individuell.
Wenn man so jemanden dagegen wie den Brunetto Latini, oder namentlich diejenigen Menschen, die sich mit der Naturerkenntnis in diesem selben Zeitalter beschäftigt haben, in dem der Brunetto Latini gelebt hat, in der geistigen Welt aufsuchen will, dann hat man unmittelbar das Bedürfnis, mit ihnen Meinungen, Anschauungen austauschen zu können in ganz persönlichem Seelenverkehre. Das ist eben ein bedeutsamer Unterschied. Und dieser Unterschied hängt damit zusammen, daß die Zeitalter in ihrer inneren geistigen Struktur durchaus voneinander verschieden sind. Heute leben wir in einem Zeitalter, in dem es dem Menschen, der ganzen Menschheit besonders vorgesetzt ist, geistige Tatsachen unmittelbar als geistige Tatsachen zu ergreifen; das heißt, die Initiationswissenschaft, die hineinschaut in das geistige Leben, unmittelbar äußerlich als Menschenerkenntnis zu verbreiten. Dieses Zeitalter, das ja eben erst angefangen hat, darf nicht ablaufen, ohne daß in rein geistiger Weise diejenigen, die man gebildete Menschen nennt, die hauptsächlichsten zu erreichenden geistigen Tatsachen, also nicht die irdischen, nicht die physisch-sinnlichen Tatsachen, sondern diese geistigen Tatsachen wirklich erkennen. Es muß also von jetzt ab für dieses Zeitalter ein energisches Vertreten von einer unmittelbar in die geistige Welt hineinleuchtenden Geisteswissenschaft vorhanden sein, sonst würde die Menschheit auf Erden ihre Aufgabe in dem ihr vorgesetzten Sinne gar nicht erreichen können. Wir müssen in ein spirituelles Zeitalter immer mehr und mehr einlaufen.
Dem ging ein Zeitalter voran, in dem ganz andere Kräfte in der Menschheitsentwickelung herrschend waren. Und wenn wir von dem Gesichtspunkte aus sprechen, den ich im letzten Vortrage angeschlagen habe, von dem Gesichtspunkt wirklicher, echter Sternenerkenntnis, dann kommen wir dazu, zu sagen: In dem Zeitalter, in das wir als Menschen eingetreten sind in den siebziger Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts, in diesem Zeitalter sind es vorzugsweise die von der Sonne kommenden spirituellen Kräfte, die in allem, im physischen Leben der Menschen, im seelischen Leben der Menschen, im wissenschaftlichen Leben, im künstlerischen Leben, im religiösen Leben herrschend werden müssen. Was der Welt die Sonne zu sagen hat, was in der Welt die Sonne zu tun hat, das muß in unserem Zeitalter immer weiter und weiter um sich greifen.
Nun, Sonne ist für denjenigen, der wirklich erkennt, nicht der physische Gasball, als den ihn die heutige Physik beschreibt, sondern eine Summe von geistigen Wesen. Und die hauptsächlichsten geistigen Wesenheiten, die von der Sonne aus sozusagen das Geistige, das Spirituelle ausstrahlen, wie physisch das Sonnenlicht oder ätherisch das Sonnenlicht strahlt, die gruppieren sich alle um ein gewisses Wesen, das wir nach einer alten christlich-heidnischen, christlich-jüdischen Benennung könnten wir auch sagen, als das Michael-Wesen bezeichnen können. Michael wirkt aus der Sonne. Und das, was geistig die Sonne der Welt zu geben hat, kann man auch dasjenige nennen, was Michael mit den Seinigen der Welt zu geben hat.
Dem ging eben das andere Zeitalter voran, das ich in der angedeuteten Weise geschildert habe. Da waren es nicht die Sonnenkräfte, welche Menschenleben, Menschenwissen, Menschentun impulsierten, sondern da waren es die Mondenkräfte. Sie hatten für das Zeitalter, das in den siebziger Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts endete und drei bis vier Jahrhunderte vorher dauerte, sie hatten für dieses Zeitalter alles zu impulsieren.
Und wiederum gruppierten sich die maßgebenden Wesenheiten, die da auf die Erden- und Menschheitsentwickelung ihren großen Einfluß hatten, um ein Wesen, das, wiederum mit einer alten Bezeichnung, Gabriel genannt werden kann. Wir könnten ja ebensoguteine Bezeichnung erfinden, aber da ja einmal die Bezeichnungen da sind - auf die Terminologie kommt es nicht an -, so kann man sie beibehalten. Man kann also nach der christlich-jüdischen Sitte diese Wesenheit mit dem Namen Gabriel bezeichnen. Man lernt ja auf die Art, wie ich es Ihnen gesagt habe, diese geistige Wirksamkeit aus den Sternenwelten, die im Menschen ist, kennen. Lernt man mit der Initiationswissenschaft dasjenige kennen, was im Menschen wirkt von seiner Geburt bis zum Zahnwechsel, dann lernt man alles dasjenige erkennen, was Mondenwirkungen im Weltenall sind. Das heißt, man lernt durch diese Rückschau, durch diese inspirierte Rückschau auf das erste Kindesalter des Menschen so etwas besonders kennen wie das GabrielZeitalter, in dem der Mond besonders wirksam ist.
Dagegen muß man schon etwas reifer werden, muß in die Vierzigerjahre kommen und zurückschauen können auf dasjenige, was im Menschen wirkt zwischen dem zwanzigsten und vierzigsten oder genauer gesagt zwischen dem einundzwanzigsten und zweiundvierzigsten Lebensjahre, um die besondere Eigentümlichkeit eines solchen Zeitalters wahrzunehmen, wie das unsrige es ist. So daß in dem Zeitalter, das dem unsrigen vorangegangen ist, gewissermaßen für die kosmische Weltenlenkung die Kinder das Allerwichtigste waren, die Säuglinge, die ganz jungen Kinder. Dahinein wurden die Kräfte, die das Zeitalter haben sollte, impulsiert. Für unser Zeitalter sind es die Menschen, die die Zwanziger-, die Dreißigerjahre erreicht haben, die von den Sonnenkräften aus die Impulse erhalten sollen. In unserer Zeit werden besonders die erwachsenen Menschen wichtig für die kosmische Führung der ganzen Welt.
Das ist etwas, was sich als praktisches Resultat unmittelbar aus einer solchen realen Anschauung, wie ich sie vorgestern geschildert habe, auch wiederum in realen Anschauungen ergibt. Es sind nicht Theorien, die ich erzähle, es ist eben etwas, was sich aus der realen Anschauung ergibt. Sie können daher auch begreifen, daß man für die Erkenntnis desjenigen Zeitalters, das als das Gabriel-Zeitalter unserem Michael-Zeitalter vorangegangen ist, nicht das besondere Bedürfnis hat, persönlich den Menschenseelen, die entkörpert sind, gegenüberzustehen. Man fühlt sich dann wie ein kleines Kind nämlich, das einem Erwachsenen gegenübersteht, weil man ihnen gegenübertreten muß mit der inspirierten Anschauung des allerersten Kindesalters.
Dagegen wird es ganz anders, wenn man nun nach dem vorangehenden Zeitalter sucht, nach dem Zeitalter, in dem Alanus ab Insulis, Bernardus Silvestris, Joachim de Fiore, Johannes von Auville, Brunetto Latini gelebt haben. Dieses Zeitalter war beherrscht von denjenigen Kräften, auf die man kommt, wenn man auf dasjenige hinblickt, was in dem Menschen wirkt in dem Lebensalter, welches zwischen dem Zahnwechsel und der Geschlechtsreife liegt. Da wirken insbesondere die Merkurkräfte, wie ich Ihnen im letzten Vortrage ausgeführt habe. Das ist tatsächlich etwas ganz außerordentlich, ich möchte sagen, Großartiges, in was man da hineinkommt, wenn man, von diesem Lebensalter des Menschen ausgehend, sich sozusagen die Organe in diesem Lebensalter bildet, um das Geistige wahrzunehmen. Denn zwischen dem Zahnwechsel und der Geschlechtsreife ist man so recht lernbegieriges Kind. Das wird man wiederum, indem man von da ausgeht. Man möchte daher auch ganz persönlich den Menschen dieses Zeitalters gegenüberstehen. Man tut es dann auch mit der Initiationserkenntnis. Man möchte so einem Brunetto Latini gegenüberstehen, wie ein zehn-, zwölfjähriges Kind einem, der mehr weiß, einem Erziehenden, einem Lehrenden. Und doch wiederum, mit der wirklichen Initiationswissenschaft wird man ja nicht unbewußt in bezug auf diejenigen Dinge, die man draußen in der physischen Welt hat. Man ist doch ein erwachsener Mensch und zugleich ein neugieriges, wißbegieriges Kind. Man steht gleich und gleich dem Brunetto Latini gegenüber, und doch wiederum mit einer ungeheuren Wißbegierde.
Das gibt gerade für dieses Zeitalter, das zurückgeht vom 15. ins 9. Jahrhundert, die besondere Färbung für die Initiationserkenntnis; da kommen wir zurück in ein Zeitalter, wo also Merkur die hauptsächlichsten Impulskräfte liefert für Erde und Menschheit. Und das Wesen, um das sich da alles gruppiert, das Wesen, das in dieser Zeit besonders wichtig war, das kann wiederum mit einem alten Namen als Raphael bezeichnet werden: Raphael in diesem Zeitalter, das der Renaissance vorangegangen ist, in diesem Dante-, Giotto-Zeitalter. Man möchte sagen, man möchte gerade die Leute, die in der Geschichte so ein wenig verborgen sind, die in der äußeren Geschichte nicht herausgekommen sind, persönlich kennenlernen.
Man hat eigentlich, auch wenn man in die Geisteswissenschaft hineinkommt, diesem Zeitalter gegenüber ein merkwürdiges Gefühl. Erst ärgert man sich, daß in den Handbüchern so wenig steht über einen Brunetto Latini, über einen Alanus ab Insulis und so weiter; man möchte da etwas wissen, das man äußerlich erwerben kann. Dann aber rückt man etwas vor und ist sehr froh, ist sehr dankbar, daß die äußere Geschichte da schweigt. Denn die äußere Geschichte notiert ja doch nur einen Fetzen als Dokument. Denken Sie nur einmal, was von unserer Zeit auf die Nachwelt wird kommen müssen, wenn die Zeitungsnotizen vor den historischen Hilfswissenschaften einmal alle als gültige oder ungültige Zeugnisse gelten sollen! Man ist dann dankbar, daß man nicht gestört wird durch dasjenige, was im Konversationslexikon steht über diese Persönlichkeiten. Und man versucht dann, diesen Menschen auf geistige Weise gegenüberzustehen, mit all den Mitteln, die es im heutigen Zeitalter gibt innerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, dasjenige zu sagen, was über diese Menschen geisteswissenschaftlich erkundet werden kann.
Und da ist es insbesondere von großer Bedeutung, denjenigen gegenüberzutreten, die in der damaligen Zeit - Raphael-Zeit - mit der Naturerkenntnis in Verbindung standen. Tiefere Naturerkenntnis, medizinische Erkenntnis können durch manche Persönlichkeit vermittelt werden, die, ich möchte sagen, aus dem grauen Geistesdunkel dieser Zeit vom 9. bis 14., 15. Jahrhundert heraustritt für das geistige Schauen, die einführen kann in die Art und Weise, wie man dazumal über die Stoffe dachte, wie man über den ganzen Weltenzusammenhang mit dem Menschen dachte. Und wenn man dann da hineinkommt, und manche Persönlichkeit kennenlernt, deren Name nicht genannt werden kann aus dem Grunde, weil der Name nicht auf die Nachwelt gekommen ist - aber die Persönlichkeiten sind ja da -, wenn man in dieses Zeitalter geistig hineinschaut, dann stehen manche von diesen Persönlichkeiten so da, daß man sagt: Da steht «Paracelsus maior», nur ist er nicht genannt worden, während «Paracelsus minor» später, in dem Gabriel-Zeitalter gelebt hat, und noch Reminiszenzen, noch Nachklänge gehabt hat an den «Paracelsus maior», aber nicht mehr in jener unverfälschten, großartigen Weise, geistigen Weise, in der sie bei dem «Paracelsus maior» war.
Oder auch der Jakob Böhme. Der «Jakob Böhme minor; tritt dann vor uns auf in dem späteren Gabriel-Zeitalter. Wiederum sagt man sich: Der hat ja da Großartiges erkundet, ist aus mancherlei Berichten darauf gekommen, hat die eigene Inspiration angeregt. - Aber wenn einem der «Jakob Böhme maior», der nicht auf die Nachwelt gekommen ist, so aus den Namen nur sporadisch auftaucht, wie Alanus ab Insulis oder Brunetto Latini, wenn da der «Jakob Böhme maior» auftritt, dann versteht man erst richtig den «Jakob Böhme minor». Und so muß man schon sagen: In diesem Vor-Renaissancezeitalter, aus dessen Ende die großen Gestalten Dante und Brunetto Latini aufleuchten, dann die Lehrer von Chartres aufleuchten, wo wie ein, ich möchte sagen, erratischer Block darinnen steht der Scotus Erigena, in diesem Zeitalter liegt etwas, was ungeheuer spirituell anregend sein kann. — Die äußere mittelalterliche Geschichte ist finster; aber hinter dieser Finsternis liegt ein gewaltiges Licht gerade für diejenige Zeit, von der ich jetzt gesprochen habe.
Mondenwesenheiten
Wenn man betrachtend in dieses Raphael-Zeitalter eindringt, vom 9. bis zum 14., 15. Jahrhundert, dann hat man allerdings den Eindruck, daß die Gestalten, die darinnen sind, so ein Dante noch, Giotto, aber namentlich auch solche, die nicht äußerlich geschichtlich der Nachwelt überliefert sind, daß alle die anderen Gestalten, die ich Ihnen genannt habe, sehr stark hervortreten. Man bekommt einen unmittelbaren menschlichen Eindruck von ihnen. Raphael selber als Gestalt, die niemals in einem physischen Leib verkörpert war, inkarniert war, bleibt mehr im Hintergrunde, und andere geistige Wesenheiten, die ständig der geistigen Welt angehören, wenigstens heute ständig der geistigen Welt angehören, treten auch weniger stark hervor. Gerade die Menschen, die verstorbenen Menschen, die treten für dieses Zeitalter dem spirituell beobachtenden Blick außerordentlich stark gegenständlich gegenüber.
Im folgenden Zeitalter, in diesem Gabriel-Zeitalter hat man den Eindruck, daß selbst Gestalten wie Goethe, Spencer, Lord Byron, Voltaire nur so schattenhaft in der geistigen Welt sich benehmen, sich verhalten. Dagegen treten da mit großer imponierender Intensität Wesenheiten auf, die nicht den Eindruck des Menschlichen, sondern eigentlich schon des Übermenschlichen machen, Wesenheiten, an denen man mit spiritueller Erkenntnis gewahr wird, sie leben heute — wie wir Menschen auf der Erde zwischen Geburt und Tod -, sie leben heute in der Mondensphäre ständig. Sie sind die Bewohner der Mondensphäre. Imponierende Gestalten, die heute die ständigen Bewohner der Mondensphäre sind, die treten einem vor allen Dingen entgegen, und die menschlichen Seelen treten mehr in den Hintergrund. An diesen Gestalten erfährt man, daß sie aber einmal so mit der Erde verbunden waren, wie heute die Menschen verbunden sind. Nur gehen die Menschen in physischen Leibern herum; diese Wesenheiten haben sich einstmals in feinen, mehr ätherischen Leibern auf der Erde bewegt. Und man lernt erkennen, daß man da durchaus Wesen begegnet, die einmal auf der Erde waren, die einmal auf Erden in uralten Zeiten mit der Menschheit verbunden waren, die übersinnliche Lehrer der Menschheit waren, Wesenheiten, die dann, nachdem sie ihre Aufgabe auf der Erde erfüllt hatten, nach dem Monde gezogen sind, in die Mondensphäre eingetreten sind, nicht mehr heute mit der Erde verbunden sind.
Wir wissen ja — Sie können das nachlesen in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß», die als «Occult Science» ins Englische übersetzt ist —, daß der Mond selber als Weltenkörper einmal mit der Erde verbunden war, sich dann von der Erde getrennt hat. Dieser Trennung des Mondes sind diese Wesenheiten nachgefolgt. Sie sind später selber Bewohner der Mondensphäre geworden, nachdem sie Bewohner der Erdensphäre waren. So daß man mit jener Stufe der Erkenntnis, von der ich in diesen Tagen gesprochen habe, mit der man den Toten folgen kann unmittelbar nach dem Tode und in den Jahren nach dem Tode, mit dieser Erkenntnis in eine Welt eintritt, in der um einen herum, weil man ja noch die frühere Erkenntnis des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins hat, natürlich die Menschen leben, die man heute als physische Menschen auch physisch kennenlernt im wachen Tagesleben. Dann lernt man aber erkennen, immer mitten unter diesen Menschen, wenn man in das andere Bewußtsein eintritt, Geistgestalten, die eigentlich, so wie wir zur Erde, heute zum Monde gehören, die überall da sind, die sich überall auch für menschliche Angelegenheiten interessieren, nur auf eine etwas andere Weise wie die Menschen heute auf physische Weise.
Unter diesen Wesenheiten, die einstmals die großen Lehrer der Menschheit waren, die heute die Erde nicht mehr bewohnen, sondern — wenn wir so es aussprechen dürfen, cum grano salis — den Mond bewohnen, unter diesen Wesenheiten sind solche, die, ich möchte sagen, mit einer großen Erhabenheit auftreten, die die Vollendetsten derselben sind, die Besonnensten, die von innerlicher geistiger Größe Durchdrungenen. Von ihnen ist sehr viel zu lernen in bezug auf die Geheimnisse des Kosmos. Sie haben ein Wissen, das weit über das dem Menschen mit dem heutigen Bewußtsein mögliche Wissen hinausgeht. Aber sie können dieses Wissen nicht ausdrücken in abstrakten Gedanken. Ich möchte sagen, sie dichten einen an, wenn man in ihre Nähe kommt, sie drücken alles in poetischen Formen, in künstlerischen Bildern aus; sie zaubern vor einen hin in ihrer Art Großartigeres, als Homer geschrieben hat, als die alten indischen Dichtungen enthalten, die der Welt bekanntgeworden sind. Aber es ist eine tiefe Weisheit in dem enthalten, was diese Wesen vor einen hinzaubern.
Nun sind aber unter diesen Wesen auch unvollkommenere. Wie es ja auf Erden auch Menschen gibt, die sozusagen sympathische Zeitgenossen und solche, die unsympathische Zeitgenossen sind, so gibt es auch unter diesen Wesenheiten schon solche, die nicht die Größe und Vollkommenheit ihrer Genossen erreicht haben, aber dennoch bis zu einem Punkte gekommen sind, schon dadurch, daß sie Schüler, auch wohl die Diener der anderen waren, die schon dazu gekommen sind, die Erde verlassen zu können, in der Mondensphäre zu leben, weiterzuwirken. Bei diesen Wesenheiten fällt einem sogleich auf — wenn ich mich trivial ausdrücken darf -, wenn man ihre Bekanntschaft macht, sie haben ein brennendes Interesse für irdische Angelegenheiten, aber sie interessieren sich dafür auf ganz andere Art.
Sie müssen sich unter ihnen, unter diesen Wesen, nicht gleich unsympathische, schreckliche Gestalten vorstellen. Sie sind durchaus, trotzdem sie unvollkommen sind gegenüber ihren Zeitgenossen, weit über das Maß desjenigen hinaus, was an Vornehmheit, an Gescheitheit, an Einsicht der heutige Erdenmensch erreichen kann mit dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein. Aber sie haben durchaus eben die Gewohnheiten ihrer Genossen, andere Gewohnheiten, andere Neigungen, als heute ein gewöhnlicher Erdenbewohner hat.
Ich möchte da im einzelnen auf etwas Besonderes hinweisen. Man hat natürlich, wenn man einmal mit solchen Wesen in Zusammenhang tritt, das Bedürfnis, sozusagen - man muß sich in diesen Dingen immer etwas trivial ausdrücken - sich mit ihnen auszusprechen, sich zu beraten mit ihnen über das eine und andere. Nun, nehmen wir einmal an, man berate sich mit solchen Wesen - ich will einen Gegenstand herausgreifen — über die menschliche Schrift, über dasjenige, was Menschen geschrieben haben. Also sagen wir, der eine Mensch hat meinetwillen bloß seinen Namen geschrieben, der andere Mensch hat seinen Namen geschrieben, also Namenszüge.
Nun, wenn man sich mit diesen Wesenheiten berät darüber, was da eigentlich vorliegt, dann sagen sie: Ach, ihr Menschen, ihr interessiert euch ja für das Alleruninteressanteste. Ihr interessiert euch für dasjenige, wovon Ihr sagt, daß es das Wort bedeutet. Wenn da «Schmied» steht, interessiert ihr euch dafür, daß das «Schmied» heißt; oder wenn da «Coiffeur» steht, dann interessiert ihr euch dafür, daß da «Coiffeur» steht. Daß das eine Wort «Coiffeur» bedeutet, das ist ja das Alleruninteressanteste. Viel interessanter ist es, zuzuschauen, wie ein Mensch, der das aufschreibt, seine Bewegungen dabei macht, wie der eine Mensch so schreibt, der andere Mensch anders, der eine schnell, der andere langsam, der eine geschickt, der andere ungeschickt, der eine automatisch, der andere malend. - Auch diese besondere Art, wie der Mensch sich verhält, wenn er schreibt, auf diese Art machen sie besonders aufmerksam. Die interessiert sie.
Und sie haben ja auch in der geistigen Welt, von der ich hier spreche, nun wiederum ihren Geistanhang; allerlei geistige Wesen, die auch nicht auf Erden sind, die niedriger sind als Erdenwesen, auch höher zuweilen, aber die nicht auf der Erde sind. Die leiten sie nicht an, sinnhaft das Irdische auszudrücken, sondern sie leiten sie an, die Schreibbewegungen zu machen, dasjenige, was sich die Menschen da an Schreibbewegungen nach der Zeit angeeignet haben, wo sie selber auf der Erde waren. Als diese Wesen auf Erden waren, die da Mondbewohner wurden, da gab es ja noch nicht ein Schreiben in unserem Sinne.
Nun haben sie immer beobachtet im Verkehr mit den Menschen, wie das Schreiben entsteht, und haben sich für dasjenige interessiert, was sie dazumal auch schon interessieren konnte, daß die Menschen mit ihren Fingern allerlei geschickte Bewegungen machen; das interessierte sie auch schon dazumal. Daß das übergeht, indem die Fingergeschicklichkeit unterstützt wird, in ein Rohr, von dem etwas herabfließt, oder ein Rohr, aus dem etwas herausfließt, das kam erst später dazu. Dafür interessierten sie sich weniger, was auf das Papier kommt. Dagegen für die Bewegungen, die gemacht werden, ganz außerordentlich.
Aber nun kam dazu, was da war von der Erde, und was geblieben ist, aber von dem Menschen dann weniger bemerkt worden war. Und da ist mancherlei, sehen Sie; da ist also erstens, wenn ich das gleich dazu zähle, was ich eben auseinandergesetzt habe, dasjenige, was der Mensch an Bewegungen ausstrahlt. Also, vom Menschen ausgestrahlte Bewegungen, das ist es, was da mit diesen Wesenheiten ganz besonders verhandelt werden kann.
Nun ist das aber zunächst etwas, was noch nicht auf das eigentliche Gebiet dieser Wesenheiten leitet, denn es war eben zu ihrer Erdenzeit noch nicht da. Dagegen liegt schon etwas — im guten, nicht im schlechten Sinne - Menschenverachtendes darinnen, wenn sie von den geringen Anlagen der gegenwärtigen Menschen sprechen für die Erkenntnis dessen, was von dem Menschen an Ausdünstung, an Ausstrahlung des Flüssigen zustandekommt. Dafür haben sie ein ganz besonderes Verständnis; das beachtet der gegenwärtige Mensch nicht. Also Ausstrahlungen des Flüssigen, Hautausstrahlungen des Flüssigen, das ist es, was in dem Zeitalter dieser Wesenheiten ganz besonders wichtig und wesentlich war. Man lernte den Menschen erkennen an dem, was man später nicht beachtete, an dem, was er um sich herum dunstend verbreitete.
Das dritte, wofür diese Wesenheiten besonders empfänglich sind, ist die Hautausatmung, also das Luftförmige, das der Mensch aus sich herausstrahlt. Für alle diese Ausstrahlungen der physischen Natur, die aber, wie wir in den nächsten Betrachtungen hören werden, durchaus einen halb geistigen Charakter gewinnen können, für alle diese Ausstrahlungen des Menschen, im Festen im Schreiben, im Flüssigen in der Hautausdünstung, im Luftförmigen in der Hautausatmung — der Mensch atmet ja durch die Haut auch fortwährend aus -, sind diese Wesenheiten besonders empfängliich.
Dann viertens in der Wärmeausstrahlung. Alle diese Dinge, insofern sie auf Erden vorhanden sind, sind diesen Mondenwesen noch von ganz besonderer Wichtigkeit, und sie beurteilen den Menschen eben nach der Konfiguration seiner Bewegungen im Schreiben, nach der besonderen Art seiner Ausstrahlungen.
Dazu kommt dann noch fünftens die Lichtausstrahlung, die durchaus auch vorhanden ist. Jeder Mensch ist nicht nur in seiner Aura, sondern auch in bezug auf den physischen Organismus und den Ätherorganismus leuchtend, lichtausstrahlend. Und diese Lichtausstrahlung, die so schwach ist, daß sie unter gewöhnlichen Verhältnissen nicht gesehen werden kann, die aber zum Beispiel heute schon von Naturforschern wie Moriz Benedikt in besonders hergerichteter Dunkelkammer sichtbar gemacht wird, diese Lichtausstrahlung, die dann in roten, gelben, blauen Strahlungen und Glimmungen um den menschlichen Organismus herum ist, die ist beim Menschen an verschiedenen Stellen verschieden. Sie können von dem Naturforscher Moriz Benedikt lernen, wie er diese gefärbte Lichtausstrahlung in der Dunkelkammer sichtbar gemacht hat, so daß man die eine Seite, die linke Seite in Farbe leuchten, in gelb-orangem Licht sehen kann, die andere Seite wieder in blauem Lichte sehen kann. Da handelt es sich nur darum, daß die physikalische Anordnung in entsprechender Weise getroffen wird.
Dann gibt es eine sechste Ausstrahlung, das ist die Ausstrahlung chemischer Krafte. Die ist tatsächlich in umfassendem Maße heute nur in seltenen Fällen vorhanden auf der Erde. Das heißt, sie ist schon immer vorhanden, aber ich meine, sie kommt nur in seltenen Fällen in Betracht, spielt in seltenen Fällen eine Rolle, und zwar in den Fällen, wo die schwarze Magie angewendet wird. Wenn also Menschen sich ihrer chemischen Ausstrahlungen bewußt werden und diese anwenden, dann kommt auf Erden die schwarze Magie zustande.
Eine siebente Art von Ausstrahlung ist direkt die unmittelbare geistige Lebensausstrahlung. Ebenso wie die schwarze Magie, in der fast immer die chemischen Ausstrahlungen entarten in unserer Zeit, ebenso wie die schwarze Magie etwas Verwerfliches, Böses ist, ebenso bedeutend ist die Ausstrahlung des Lebens. Denn diese Mondenwesen, von denen ich da spreche, die können ihrerseits, in gutem Sinne aber, denn sie sind keine schwarzen Magier — schwarze Magier sind unter Umständen diejenigen, die auf Erden das tun und in das Böse verfallen -, diese Mondenwesen können immer mit den Kräften, die in dieser chemischen Ausstrahlung liegen, rechnen und arbeiten. Aber nur dann, wenn Vollmond ist, wenn der Mond von der Sonne beschienen wird und sie sich in das Gebiet des Sonnenscheins begeben können, dann können sie unter der Einwirkung des Sonnenlichtes mit den Lebensausstrahlungen rechnen.
Und diese Lebensausstrahlungen, sehen Sie, das sind diejenigen, die nun im Gegensatze zu allem Verwerflichen gerade als etwas Gutes in unser Zeitalter hereinkommen müssen; denn mit all den Impulsen, welche im Michael-Zeitalter gegeben werden sollen, soll nach und nach diese Beherrschung der Lebensausstrahlung, der vitalen Ausstrahlung verbunden sein.
Das soll hauptsächlich gelernt werden, nicht tot zu wirken mit dem, was aus der geistigen Welt kommt, sondern unmittelbar lebendig zu wirken mit dem, was aus der geistigen Welt kommt. Lebendige Ideen, lebendige Begriffe, lebendige Anschauungen, lebendige Empfindungen, nicht tote Theorien zu finden, das ist die Aufgabe des Zeitalters. Das kommt unmittelbar von den Gestalten, die mit dem Wesen, das wir als Michael bezeichnen, vereinigt sind.
Dagegen hat man sich mehr, ich möchte sagen, an das Irdische gewendet im abgelaufenen Gabriel-Zeitalter. Man wollte nicht gleich hinein zu den Wesenheiten, die da sind, unter Umständen dem Menschen sehr nahestehen, weil diese [Wesenheiten] sich für etwas interessierten, wofür sozusagen das Zeitalter weniger veranlagt sein sollte. Sie interessierten sich für alle diese okkulten Strahlungen, die aus dem Menschen hervorkommen.
An unsere Welt, wie wir sie als physische Welt zwischen Geburt und Tod haben, stößt ja sogleich eine andere, geistige Welt an, in der wir, so wie ich es beschrieben habe, die Toten finden. Aber in dieser Welt ist ja vieles andere darinnen. Und unter dem, was da darinnen ist, ist eben die Wirksamkeit von solchen Kräften, wie sie in den Strahlungen, den Ausstrahlungen der Menschen leben. Das ist in gewissem Sinne ein höchst gefährliches Weltengebiet, in das man da hineinkommt. Und man muß in diesen Tagen die öfter erwähnte auch seelisch-geistige Haltung haben, damit man das, was von diesen Mondenwesen kommt, von denen ich gesprochen habe, in gutem und nicht in bösem Sinne lenke.
Denn, sehen Sie, es ist ja so, daß alle Kräfte, alle Impulse der gegenwärtigen Epoche dem zueilen müssen, auf Erden die Vitalstrahlung zu verwenden. Aber ungeheuer naheliegend ist es, daß man da in dasjenige hineinkommt, was zwischen dieser Vitalstrahlung und allen anderen Strahlungen, die man so gerne haben möchte, liegt: die schwarze Magie. Die Menschen möchten so gerne sichtbar machen, was in den Bewegungen zum Ausdruck kommt - wir werden davon zu sprechen haben -, sichtbar machen dasjenige, was in der Ausdünstung vorhanden ist und so weiter, was in der Lichtausstrahlung vorhanden ist. Das alles ist in einem gewissen Sinne verwandt mit etwas Gutem, mit dem, was eigentlich nur gut sein kann, weil das Michael-Zeitalter unter den Menschen anbricht.
Aber zwischen alldem liegt die schwarze Magie, die abgehalten werden muß, wenn die guten, die richtigen Wege der übersinnlichen Forschung, und nicht die bösen, falschen Wege der übersinnlichen Forschung eingeschlagen werden sollen.
(Auf der Tafel:)
1. Vom Menschen ausgestrahlte Bewegungen
2. Hautausstrahlungen des Flüssigen
3. Hautausstrahlungen des Luftförmigen
4. Wärmeausstrahlung
5. Lichtausstrahlung
6. Chemische Kräfteausstrahlung (schwarze Magie)
7. Vitalstrahlung.
Mediale Naturen und ihre Ausstrahlungen
Sehen Sie, wenn nun in der geistigen Welt dieser Verkehr stattfindet zwischen den Menschen hier auf der Erde und den Mondenwesen — und im Unterbewußten findet er ja fortwährend statt —, dann ist es eben möglich, daß bei dieser Entwickelung des Interesses, welches gewisse Mondenwesen an den Bewegungen haben, die die Menschen beim Schreiben, beim Zeichnen auch ausführen, daß an diesem Interesse, das sich ja an diesen Mondenwesen geistig offenbart, wiederum ihrerseits Interesse haben gewisse Elementarwesen der geistigen Welt. Elementarwesen, die tiefer stehen als die Mondenwesen, die auch niemals auf Erden sich inkarnieren, die aber in der angrenzenden Welt, von der ich gesprochen habe, eben doch leben, als geistig-ätherische Wesen leben. Wenn die sich wiederum interessieren für alles das, was da vorgeht, dann kann folgendes vorkommen. Wenn der Mensch hier auf der Erde beobachtet wird, so sieht man ja eben, daß seine Gedanken, die er dann, sagen wir, durch die Schrift mitteilt, auf seine ganze Menschenwesenheit wirken. Sie sind zunächst im Ich vorhanden, aber sie wirken hinunter in den astralischen Leib, der seine Bewegungen im Sinne dieser Bewegungen ausführt, die wir beim Schreiben machen vom Ich aus. Sie wirken in den ätherischen Leib. Und sie wirken bis in den physischen Leib hinunter. Diese Wirkungen in den physischen Leib hinein, die beobachten nun gewisse Wesenheiten elementarischer Art und bekommen sozusagen auch die Sehnsucht, sich ebenso zu bewegen. Das können sie aber nicht, weil andere Gesetze in ihrer Welt herrschen, als in der Welt, in der geschrieben wird. Geschrieben wird ja nur in der physischen Welt der Menschen hier auf der Erde.
Aber folgendes ist möglich. Es gibt gewisse Menschen, die, wenn sie schreiben oder auch denken, selbst fühlen, ganz tief in ihrem ätherischen Leib darinnenstecken. Alles in ihrem ätherischen Leib geht mit, drückt sich dann auch stark in dem physischen Leibe aus. Und bei diesen Menschen kommt es dann vor, daß sie das, was in ihrem Ich ist, ganz unterdrücken, und eine Nachahmung des Schreibens, des Zeichnens, in ihrem astralischen, ätherischen, physischen Leibe auflebt. Das sind die Medien. Solche Medien können dann, weil ihr Ich unterdrückt ist, in sich aufnehmen diese gelehrigen Elementarwesen aus der geistigen Welt, die sozusagen die Bewegungen des Schreibens von den Mondenwesen gelernt haben. Und es kommen dann solche Medien in eine Tätigkeit hinein, in der sie nicht Schreibbewegungen machen im Sinne ihres Ich, im Sinne ihres vollen Bewußtseins, sondern im Sinne des Elementarwesens, das in ihnen sitzt. Dadurch kommt alles das, was mediales Schreiben, mediales Zeichnen ist, durch die vom Menschen ausgestrahlten Bewegungen bei herabgedämpftem Bewußtsein zustande: alles gewöhnlich Mediale. Da werden also die ausgestrahlten Bewegungen benutzt.
Von gewissen Wesenheiten, die unter dem Einfluß der Mondenwesenheiten besonders sich das Künstlerische aneignen, das in den Seelen der Menschen lebt, können die Ausstrahlungen der zweiten Art benutzt werden. Auch diese Wesenheiten gehen in solche Menschen hinein, die das Oberbewußtsein heruntergedämpft haben, und die ein gewisses künstlerisches Moment in ihrem ätherischen Leib haben, in ihrem astralischen Leib haben und dadurch es hineinleiten in die Ausstrahlungen. Da ist es unter Umständen recht interessant, wie dann solch ein Menschenwesen gewissermaßen besessen sein kann von elementar-geistigen Wesenheiten, und in seine Ausstrahlungen hineinbekommt so etwas wie plastisch existierende Träume, Zusammensetzungen zum Teil von dem, was das Menschenwesen selber im Leben wahrnimmt, weil das heruntergerutscht ist in den Äther- und astralischen Leib und in den Ausstrahlungen erscheint; zum Teil von Kundgebungen aus der Welt, in der nur die Elementarwesen sind, die in das Menschenwesen hineingekrochen sind.
Sehen Sie, solche Ergebnisse hat der experimentierende SchrenckNotzing bekommen. Er hatte gewisse mediale Naturen zur Verfügung, die ganz besonders, wenn das Bewußtsein heruntergerutscht war, also das Ich ausgeschaltet war, für die elementarischen Wesen behandelbar waren durch ihre Hautausstrahlungen flüssiger Natur. Es gibt ein interessantes Buch von Schrenck-Notzing. Die einen halten es ganz für Schwindel, die anderen sind entzückt davon. Bei denen, die entzückt darüber sind, braucht man nicht davon überrascht zu sein, daß sie die Dinge als etwas Wunderbares hinnehmen. Es ist ja etwas Wunderbares. Es ist etwas Wunderbares, wenn da ein Medium vorhanden ist, mit dem experimentiert wird, und dann an einer bestimmten Stelle eine plastische Gestalt aus dem Körper herausgeht, welche etwas Geistiges hat, das nicht auf Erden vorhanden ist. Aber auch da ist bei manchem der Fälle hineingemischt ein Bild, das das Medium zuletzt in einer illustrierten Zeitung gesehen hat. So also strahlt aus dem Medium irgend etwas aus. Es ist die Hautausdünstung. In die strahlt hinein irgendwo etwas, sagen wir, ganz Geistiges; aber daneben etwas, was dieses Medium zuletzt in einer illustrierten Zeitung gesehen hat, sagen wir zum Beispiel eine Gestalt Poincar&s, so wie er in Zeitungen erschienen ist, vielleicht in einem Witzblatt.
Man braucht nicht darüber frappiert zu sein, daß die Menschen das erstaunlich finden. Aber man kann nämlich sehr davon frappiert sein, wie fashionable, mit den guten Sitten durchaus vertraute Persönlichkeiten, selbst Damen, nicht reden möchten von den Hautausdünstungen und in jeder Weise dasjenige umschreiben, was in dieser Weise an dem Menschen zutage tritt, wie sie aber lechzen danach, das Medium anzuschauen, das diese plastischen Gestaltungen in nichts anderem zeigt als in den ganz gewöhnlichen Hautausdünstungen.
Die Dinge, meine sehr verehrten Anwesenden, die Schrenck-Notzing experimentiert hat, die werden - so ist es nun einmal -geschwitzt. Und in dasjenige, was geschwitzt wird, geht eben das hinein, was an plastischer Wesenheit, angeregt durch diese Elementarwesen, in den Hautausstrahlungen zum Ausdruck kommen kann. Ebenso kann durch gewisse elementare Wesenheiten die Hautausatmung, also die Luft, die herauskommt, dann angeregt werden. Sie ist aber so verbunden mit der eigenen menschlichen Gestalt, der Mensch legt so stark die eigene menschliche Gestalt in diese Hautausatmung hinein, daß diese Wesenheiten zumeist nicht viel mehr vermögen, als ein Phantom des Menschen selber herauszuleiten. Dann entstehen jene Manifestationen, jene Phänomene, wo eben das Phantom aus dem Menschen heraustritt. Es ist also die Erscheinung des Phantoms. Hier haben wir bei «Zweitens» die mediale Plastik. Hier haben wir die Erscheinung des Phantoms bei «Drittens».
Nicht so leicht ist nun Wärme- und Lichtausstrahlung aus dem Menschen herauszubringen, so daß darinnen irgend etwas zum Vorschein kommt von dem, was anregen solche Elementarwesen unter dem Einfluß von Mondenwesen. Da muß man schon gewisse Vorbereitungen machen.
Nun, heute ist selbst die Naturwissenschaft, wie ich Ihnen gesagt habe, so weit, daß sie gewisse Lichtausstrahlungen, die verbunden sind mit Wärmeausstrahlungen, in der physikalischen Dunkelkammer zur Anschauung bringt. Und gerade die Experimente von Moriz Benedikt in dieser Beziehung sind ja außerordentlich interessant. Aber die Möglichkeit, so richtig mit diesen Ausstrahlungen, mit Wärme- und Lichtausstrahlungen zu arbeiten, haben eigentlich immer nur diejenigen Menschen gehabt und haben sie noch heute, die Vorbereitungen machen, in denen eben nicht nur die gewöhnlichen Machinationen der physischen Welt sich ausdrücken, sondern welche Vorbereitungen machen mit besonderen Räucherungen, mit der Entwickelung besonderer Dämpfe, auch mit der Entwickelung besonderer Gerüche, mit dem Mischen von besonderen Stoffen und so weiter, wodurch dann all jene magischen Vorgänge entstehen, von denen ja reichlich in einer älteren magischen Literatur die Rede ist.
Alle diese magischen Vorbereitungen haben den Zweck, es dazu zu bringen, daß diese Kräfte, die in den Wärme- und Lichtausstrahlungen des Menschen liegen, zur Geltung kommen. Und Sie können ja recht bedenkliche und recht gefährliche Anleitungen dazu lesen in den Schriften von Eliphas Levi, auch in denjenigen von Encausse, der unter dem Namen Papus geschrieben hat. Da finden Sie bedenkliche und durchaus gefährliche Anleitungen zu solchen Dingen. Aber wir haben hier über das Objektive dieser Dinge, über das Wesen dieser Dinge zu sprechen und müssen sie daher berühren.
Alle diese Dinge führen dann hin zur direkten schwarzen Magie, wo mit dem im Irdischen verborgenen Geistigen gearbeitet wird. Mit welchem Geistigen? Nun, ich habe Ihnen gesagt, und Sie können das in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft» nachlesen, daß einmal der Mond mit der Erde verbunden war. Aber zahlreiche Kräfte hat der Mond nicht mit sich hinausgenommen, nicht alle, die zu ihm gehören. Es sind viele zurückgeblieben in der Erde und durchsetzen nun Mineralien, Pflanzen und Tiere. Die sind heute noch da, diese Mondenkräfte. Wenn man also mit Mondenkräften auf der Erde hier arbeitet, Kräften, die eigentlich nicht zu den normalen Mineral-, Pflanzen-, Tier- und Menschenkräften gehören, dann kann man mit diesen Mondenkräften auf ungehörige Art direkt in das Gebiet hineinkommen, in dem man mit den Wesenheiten zusammenkommt, die als Elementarwesen manches von den Mondenwesen lernen, aber auf eine Art lernen, wie ich es Ihnen angedeutet habe, die nicht in unsere Welt gehört. Und so arbeitet der schwarze Magier auf der einen Seite mit den Mondenkräften, die noch hier auf Erden sind. Aber dadurch, daß er so arbeitet, kommt er in Zusammenhang mit Elementarkräften, die direkt, man möchte sagen, indem sie kiebitzen, zuschauen wie beim Halma oder Schachspiel, indem sie kiebitzen bei dem, was auf rechte Weise vorgeht zwischen den Menschen und den Mondenwesen, lernen, der physischen Welt möglichst nahezukommen; die gucken entweder herein oder betreten diese physische Welt auch. Aber der gewöhnliche Mensch, bei dem das alles im Unterbewußstsein bleibt, hat mit ihnen nichts zu tun. Der schwarze Magier, der mit den Mondenkräften arbeitet, der in seinen Retorten, in seinen Tiegeln und Räucherungen überall die Mondenkräfte besitzt, der wird umschwirrt von diesen Kräften.
Von diesen Schwarzmagiern kann dann auch wohl ein guter Mensch manches lernen. Goethe hat das Umschwirrtwerden, das schon ganz bedenklich angrenzt an schwarze Magie, in seinem «Faust» im ersten Teil dargestellt. Da kommt der Mensch durch die Benützung dieser Mondenkräfte in die Region, wo Wesenheiten, die in den Dienst der Mondenkräfte eingetreten sind, zum Verkehr mit Menschen bereit sind. Und da entstehen dann die Zentren schwarzer Magie, wo die Magier mit Mondenkräften zusammenarbeiten, mit Geistern, die direkt sich in den Dienst, aber in einen bösen Dienst der Mondenkräfte gestellt haben. Es ist auch dadurch, daß mancherlei gerade im Laufe der letzten Jahrhunderte nach dieser Richtung gearbeitet worden ist, in der Erde eine bedenkliche Atmosphäre geschaffen worden. Und diese bedenkliche Atmosphäre ist da. Es schwirren und weben viele solche Kräfte herum, die aus einer Verbindung von menschlicher Tätigkeit mit Mondeningredienzien und Mondendynamik mit Elementarwesenheiten hervorgehen, die im Dienste ungehöriger Mondenkräfte stehen. Diese bedenkliche Atmosphäre, die ist da. Und das ist die Region, die gerade stark nun dem entgegenarbeitet, was aus der Sonnenregion kommen soll im Zeitalter des Michael, und was die Vitalstrahlung im reinen Seelisch-Geistigen ganz besonders berücksichtigen soll. Da anknüpfend, wollen wir dann morgen weiterreden.
(An die Tafel wurde geschrieben:)
1. Vom Menschen ausgestrahlte Bewegungen, Mediales
2. Hautausstrahlungen des Flüssigen, Mediale Plastik
3. Hautausstrahlungen, Erscheinen des Phantoms
4. Wärmeausstrahlung
5. Lichtausstrahlung
6. Chemische Kräfteausstrahlung (Schwarze Magie)
7. Vitalstrahlung.
Cognition of the Stars
The spiritual background of the historical development of humanity and its differentiations
We have seen how man, by surveying and mastering his various ages in spiritual vision, comes to inspiration, through which he is able to raise his consciousness step by step up to that which the starry world can tell him, the starry world, which must then of course be understood as an expression, a revelation of purely spiritual entities and purely spiritual facts.
Now it is therefore a matter of really striving for the corresponding states of consciousness, the corresponding soul constitutions for the ways into the spiritual world, for researches about the spiritual world, and not to fall into the error of wanting to reach the spiritual world with the ordinary consciousness. I would like to explain this to you today using specific examples, or rather cases. I would like to show you where the possibilities of aberrations in spiritual research can lie. I would like to start by saying the following.
When man really gets into spiritual work, through which he can open up the spiritual world for himself, through which he can see the spiritual world and - if I may use the expression - communicate with it, then he perceives great differentiations, great differences, especially in the historical development of mankind, behind which he seeks the spiritual background. For example, there is the age that immediately precedes ours. Our age, which, as I have already indicated, we can call the Michael Age - I will give the reasons for this further on in the lectures - begins in the last third of the 19th century, around the seventies of the last century. However, this age was preceded by another that lasted three to four centuries and was of a completely different nature for those who explored the spiritual world. And this age, in turn, is preceded by another that is of a completely different nature and so on. So you look back into the past with the knowledge of initiation and always find a completely different kind of impression for certain ages. I do not want to describe this merely in the abstract, but I would like to place it before your soul in concrete terms.
In the course of these lectures I have spoken to you about personalities who have lived in some way within the development of humanity. I have spoken to you, for example, of Brunetto Latini, the great teacher of Dante. I have spoken to you of the teachers of the School of Chartres, of Bernardus Silvestris, of Alanus ab Insulis, of Joachim de Fiore, and I could speak to you of hundreds of other personalities of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, even the 13th century, and there we have designated a very specific age with such personalities.
When someone who wants to research the historical life of mankind in the spiritual-scientific sense approaches this age, let us say the age of Dante, the age of Giotto, the age in which the Renaissance was formed, prepared, then he has the impression that he must necessarily deal with people in the spiritual world, that is, with disembodied human souls; He must also, so to speak, meet human souls eye to eye, comparatively speaking of course, as they live between their last death and their next birth. Thus, with the initiatory realization, one has the definite feeling that one would like to deal with such an individuality as that of Brunetto Latini, let us say, spiritually as a human being, just as one deals with human beings here within the physical world. I have also tried to incorporate this into my depictions. Therefore, when I spoke of Joachim de Fiore, of Brunetto Latini, I portrayed this age in such a way that one could realize that there was a need to give the most personal, I would say, description possible. I spoke of “patting on the back” and the like.
It is quite different in the following age, in the age that begins after this one and extends into the last third of the 19th century. For this age, with the initiatory realization, there is much less need to enter into a personal, so to speak individual relationship with the disembodied souls who come into consideration. One would much rather see them in their whole environment, and one does not want to approach them directly, but somehow gain access to them from the knowledge of the earth, from the knowledge of the ordinary consciousness.
Pardon me if I tell you something here that is quite objective, based on direct personal experience, but this personal experience is quite objective in this case. You see, I can talk about it precisely because Goethe lived in this age, which preceded ours, and I have been studying him for decades. I had a decided need to approach Goethe first by paving the way to him from his scientific writings and from natural science in general. It was only relatively late that I felt the need to approach him directly as a spiritual individuality in the spiritual world. That was not the first thing. The first was to have him, so to speak, as a star man after his death in the whole world context, in the cosmic context, not personally-individually.
On the other hand, if you want to visit someone like Brunetto Latini in the spiritual world, or in particular those people who were concerned with the knowledge of nature in the same age in which Brunetto Latini lived, then you immediately have the need to be able to exchange opinions and views with them in a very personal soul communication. That is a significant difference. And this difference is connected with the fact that the ages are quite different from each other in their inner spiritual structure. Today we live in an age in which it is particularly incumbent upon man, upon all mankind, to grasp spiritual facts directly as spiritual facts; that is, to spread the science of initiation, which looks into the spiritual life, directly outwardly as human knowledge. This age, which has only just begun, must not pass without those who are called educated men really recognizing in a purely spiritual way the most important spiritual facts to be attained, that is, not the earthly, not the physical-sensual facts, but these spiritual facts. From now on, therefore, there must be an energetic advocacy of spiritual science shining directly into the spiritual world for this age, otherwise humanity on earth would not be able to achieve its task in the sense set before it. We must enter a spiritual age more and more.
This was preceded by an age in which completely different forces prevailed in the development of humanity. And if we speak from the point of view I touched on in the last lecture, from the point of view of real, genuine knowledge of the stars, then we come to say: In the age we entered as human beings in the seventies of the last century, in this age it is preferably the spiritual forces coming from the sun that must become dominant in everything, in the physical life of human beings, in the spiritual life of human beings, in scientific life, in artistic life, in religious life. What the sun has to say to the world, what the sun has to do in the world, must spread further and further in our age.
Now, for those who truly recognize, the sun is not the physical ball of gas that today's physics describes it as, but a sum of spiritual beings. And the main spiritual beings that radiate from the sun, so to speak, the spiritual, the spiritual, just as sunlight radiates physically or sunlight radiates etherically, are all grouped around a certain being that we could also call the Michael being according to an old Christian-pagan, Christian-Jewish name. Michael works from the sun. And that which the sun has to give to the world spiritually can also be called that which Michael has to give to the world with his own.
This was preceded by the other age, which I have described in the way I have indicated. There it was not the solar forces that stimulated human life, human knowledge and human activity, but the lunar forces. They had to stimulate everything for the age that ended in the seventies of the last century and lasted three to four centuries before that.
And again the authoritative beings, who had their great influence on the development of earth and mankind, grouped themselves around a being who, again with an old designation, can be called Gabriel. We could just as well invent a designation, but since the designations are there - the terminology is not important - they can be retained. According to Christian-Jewish custom, this being can be called Gabriel. In the way I have told you, one gets to know this spiritual activity from the starry worlds that is in man. If one learns with the science of initiation to know that which works in man from his birth to the change of teeth, then one learns to recognize all that which are lunar effects in the universe. That is, through this retrospection, through this inspired retrospection of the first childhood of man, one learns to know something special like the Gabriel age, in which the moon is particularly effective.
On the other hand, one must become somewhat more mature, must reach the forties and be able to look back on that which works in man between the twentieth and fortieth, or more precisely between the twenty-first and forty-second year of life, in order to perceive the special peculiarity of such an age as ours is. So that in the age which preceded ours, the children were, so to speak, the most important thing for the cosmic guidance of the world, the infants, the very young children. The powers that the age was to have were impulsed into them. For our age, it is the people who have reached their twenties and thirties who are to receive the impulses from the solar forces. In our time, adults in particular are becoming important for the cosmic guidance of the whole world.
This is something that arises as a practical result directly from such a real view as I described the day before yesterday, again in real views. It is not theories that I am telling you, it is something that arises from real perception. You can therefore also understand that for the realization of the age that preceded our Michael age as the Gabriel age, one does not have the special need to personally face the human souls that are disembodied. One then feels like a small child facing an adult, because one has to face them with the inspired view of the very first child age.
However, it becomes quite different when you look for the previous age, the age in which Alanus ab Insulis, Bernardus Silvestris, Joachim de Fiore, John of Auville and Brunetto Latini lived. This age was dominated by those forces that one comes across when one looks at what is at work in the human being at the age between the change of teeth and sexual maturity. The forces of Mercury in particular are at work here, as I explained in my last lecture. It is indeed something quite extraordinary, I would like to say magnificent, what one enters into when, starting from this age of the human being, one forms, so to speak, the organs at this age in order to perceive the spiritual. Because between the change of teeth and sexual maturity, you are a child who is eager to learn. You become that again by starting from there. This is why you want to face the people of this age in a very personal way. You do this with the knowledge of initiation. You want to face a Brunetto Latini like a ten-, twelve-year-old child faces someone who knows more, an educator, a teacher. And yet again, with the real science of initiation one does not become unconscious of the things one has outside in the physical world. One is after all an adult human being and at the same time a curious, inquisitive child. One stands equal and equal to Brunetto Latini, and yet again with a tremendous thirst for knowledge.
This is what gives this age, which goes back from the 15th to the 9th century, its special coloring for initiatory knowledge; we are returning to an age where Mercury provides the main impulsive forces for the earth and humanity. And the being around whom everything is grouped, the being who was particularly important at this time, can again be described by an old name as Raphael: Raphael in this age that preceded the Renaissance, in this age of Dante, of Giotto. One would like to say that one would like to get to know personally the people who are so somewhat hidden in history, who have not emerged in external history.
Even when you get into the humanities, you actually have a strange feeling about this age. At first one is annoyed that there is so little in the handbooks about a Brunetto Latini, about an Alanus ab Insulis and so on; one would like to know something that one can acquire externally. But then you move forward a little and are very glad, very grateful that the external history is silent. For external history only records a fragment as a document. Just think what will have to come down to posterity from our time if the newspaper notes are all to be considered valid or invalid testimonies before the auxiliary historical sciences! One is then grateful that one is not disturbed by what is written about these personalities in the dictionary of conversation. And one then tries to face these people in a spiritual way, with all the means that exist in the present age within the Anthroposophical Society, to say what can be explored spiritually and scientifically about these people.
And here it is particularly important to confront those who were in contact with the knowledge of nature at that time - Raphael's time. Deeper knowledge of nature, medical knowledge, can be imparted by some personalities who, I would like to say, emerge from the gray spiritual darkness of this time from the 9th to 14th, 15th century for spiritual vision, who can introduce us to the way people thought about the substances at that time, how they thought about the whole world context with man. And when one then enters there and gets to know some personalities whose name cannot be mentioned for the reason that the name has not come down to posterity - but the personalities are there - when one looks spiritually into this age, then some of these personalities stand there in such a way that one says: There is “Paracelsus major”, only he has not been named, whereas “Paracelsus minor” lived later, in the Gabriel age, and still had reminiscences, still had echoes of “Paracelsus major”, but no longer in that unadulterated, magnificent way, spiritual way, in which it was with “Paracelsus major”.
Or even the Jakob Böhme. The “Jakob Böhme minor” then appears before us in the later Gabriel age. Again, one says to oneself: he has explored great things, has come to them from various reports, has stimulated one's own inspiration. - But when the “Jakob Böhme maior”, who did not come to posterity, appears only sporadically from the names, such as Alanus ab Insulis or Brunetto Latini, when the “Jakob Böhme maior” appears, then one really understands the “Jakob Böhme minor”. And so it must be said: in this pre-Renaissance age, from the end of which the great figures of Dante and Brunetto Latini emerge, then the teachers of Chartres shine forth, where the Scotus Erigena stands like an, I would like to say, erratic block, there is something in this age that can be tremendously spiritually stimulating. - The outer medieval history is dark; but behind this darkness lies a tremendous light for the very time of which I have now spoken.
Moon entities
If one penetrates into this Raphael age, from the 9th to the 14th, 15th century, then one certainly has the impression that the figures who are in it, such as Dante, Giotto, but especially also those who have not been handed down to posterity through external history, that all the other figures I have mentioned to you emerge very strongly. You get an immediate human impression of them. Raphael himself as a figure who was never embodied in a physical body, was incarnated, remains more in the background, and other spiritual beings who constantly belong to the spiritual world, at least today constantly belong to the spiritual world, also emerge less strongly. It is precisely the people, the deceased people, who for this age appear to the spiritually observing gaze in an extraordinarily objective way.
In the following age, in this Gabriel age, one has the impression that even figures such as Goethe, Spencer, Lord Byron, Voltaire only behave and conduct themselves in such a shadowy way in the spiritual world. On the other hand, beings appear there with great impressive intensity who do not give the impression of being human, but actually already of being superhuman, beings in whom one realizes with spiritual insight that they live today - like us human beings on earth between birth and death - they live today in the lunar sphere constantly. They are the inhabitants of the lunar sphere. Impressive figures, who are the permanent inhabitants of the lunar sphere today, confront you above all, and the human souls recede more into the background. In these figures one learns that they were once connected with the earth in the same way as people are connected today. Only people walk around in physical bodies; these beings once moved about on earth in fine, more ethereal bodies. And one learns to recognize that one definitely encounters beings there who were once on earth, who were once connected with humanity on earth in ancient times, who were supersensible teachers of humanity, beings who then, after they had fulfilled their task on earth, moved to the moon, entered the lunar sphere, are no longer connected with the earth today.
We know - you can read this in my “Secret Science in Outline”, which is translated into English as “Occult Science” - that the moon itself was once connected to the earth as a world body, but then separated from the earth. These beings followed this separation of the moon. They themselves later became inhabitants of the lunar sphere after having been inhabitants of the earth sphere. So that with that stage of cognition of which I have spoken in these days, with which one can follow the dead immediately after death and in the years after death, with this cognition one enters a world in which, because one still has the earlier cognition of ordinary consciousness, there naturally live around one the people whom one today also gets to know physically as physical people in waking day life. But then one learns to recognize, always in the midst of these people, when one enters the other consciousness, spirit beings who actually belong, as we do to the earth, today to the moon, who are everywhere, who are everywhere also interested in human affairs, only in a somewhat different way than people today in a physical way.
Among these beings who were once the great teachers of mankind, who today no longer inhabit the earth but - if we may say so, cum grano salis - inhabit the moon, among these beings are those who, I would like to say, appear with a great sublimity, who are the most perfect of them, the most level-headed, those who are imbued with inner spiritual greatness. There is much to learn from them concerning the secrets of the cosmos. They have a knowledge that goes far beyond the knowledge possible to man with today's consciousness. But they cannot express this knowledge in abstract thoughts. I would like to say that when you come close to them, they inspire you, they express everything in poetic forms, in artistic images; in their way they conjure up before you something more magnificent than Homer wrote, than the ancient Indian poems that have become known to the world contain. But there is a deep wisdom in what these beings conjure up before us.
Now there are also more imperfect beings among these beings. Just as there are also people on earth who are, so to speak, sympathetic contemporaries and those who are unsympathetic contemporaries, so there are also among these beings those who have not reached the greatness and perfection of their comrades, but have nevertheless come to a point, already by the fact that they were disciples, also probably the servants of others, who have already come to be able to leave the earth, to live in the sphere of the moon, to continue to work. With these beings one notices immediately - if I may express myself trivially - when one makes their acquaintance, they have a burning interest in earthly matters, but they are interested in them in a completely different way.
You need not imagine them, these beings, to be unsympathetic, horrible creatures. Although they are imperfect compared to their contemporaries, they are far beyond the level of nobility, intelligence and insight that today's earthly man can achieve with his ordinary consciousness. But they certainly have the habits of their comrades, other habits, other inclinations than an ordinary inhabitant of earth has today.
I would like to point out something in particular. Once you come into contact with such beings, you naturally feel the need - you always have to express yourself somewhat trivially in these matters - to talk to them, to consult with them about one thing or another. Now, let us assume that one consults with such beings - I will pick out one object - about human writing, about what people have written. Let us say, for my sake, that one person has merely written his name, the other person has written his name, i.e. name features.
Now, if you consult with these beings about what is actually there, then they say: Oh, you humans, you are interested in the most uninteresting things. You are interested in what you say the word means. If it says “blacksmith”, you are interested in the fact that it means “blacksmith”; or if it says ‘hairdresser’, you are interested in the fact that it says “hairdresser”. The fact that one word means “hairdresser” is the least interesting thing. It is much more interesting to watch how a person who is writing this down makes his movements, how one person writes like this, another person writes differently, one fast, another slow, one skillful, another clumsy, one automatic, another painting. - They also pay particular attention to this special way in which people behave when they write. They are interested in it.
And in the spiritual world, of which I speak here, they also have their spiritual connection; all kinds of spiritual beings, who are also not on earth, who are lower than earth beings, also higher at times, but who are not on earth. They do not guide them to express the earthly in a sensual way, but they guide them to make the writing movements, that which men have acquired in writing movements after the time when they themselves were on earth. When these beings were on earth, who became inhabitants of the moon, there was not yet any writing in our sense.
Now they have always observed in their dealings with people how writing develops and have become interested in that which could already interest them at that time, that people make all kinds of skillful movements with their fingers; that also interested them at that time. The fact that this is transformed, by supporting the dexterity of the fingers, into a pipe from which something flows down, or a pipe from which something flows out, only came later. They were less interested in what was put on the paper. But they were extremely interested in the movements that were made.
But then came what was there from the earth, and what remained, but was then less noticed by man. And there are many things, you see; firstly, if I include what I have just described, there are the movements emitted by man. So, movements emitted by man, that is what can be negotiated with these entities in particular.
Now this is first of all something that does not yet lead to the actual area of these beings, because it was not yet there at their time on earth. On the other hand, there is already something - in a good, not in a bad sense - contemptuous of human beings in it when they speak of the poor dispositions of present-day human beings for the recognition of what comes from the human being in terms of vaporization, in terms of the radiation of the fluid. They have a very special understanding of this; present-day man pays no attention to it. So emanations of the liquid, skin emanations of the liquid, that is what was particularly important and essential in the age of these beings. One learned to recognize man by that which was later ignored, by that which he spread around him in a haze.
The third thing that these beings are particularly receptive to is skin exhalation, i.e. the air that a person radiates from himself. These beings are particularly receptive to all these emanations of physical nature, which, however, as we will hear in the next considerations, can certainly acquire a semi-spiritual character, to all these emanations of man, in the solid in writing, in the liquid in skin exhalation, in the airy in skin exhalation - man also exhales continuously through the skin - these beings are particularly receptive.
Fourthly, in the radiation of heat. All these things, insofar as they are present on earth, are still of very special importance to these lunar beings, and they judge the human being according to the configuration of his movements in writing, according to the particular nature of his radiations.
Then, fifthly, there is the light emanation, which is also present. Every human being is luminous, radiating light, not only in his aura, but also in relation to the physical organism and the etheric organism. And this light radiation, which is so weak that it cannot be seen under normal conditions, but which is already being made visible today by natural scientists such as Moriz Benedikt in specially prepared darkrooms, this light radiation, which is then in red, yellow, blue radiations and glows around the human organism, is different in different places in the human being. You can learn from the natural scientist Moriz Benedikt how he made this colored light radiation visible in the darkroom, so that you can see one side, the left side glowing in color, in yellow-orange light, and the other side again in blue light. It is only a matter of the physical arrangement being made in the appropriate way.
Then there is a sixth radiation, that is the radiation of chemical forces. This is actually only present on earth today in rare cases. That is to say, it has always been present, but I think it only comes into consideration in rare cases, plays a role in rare cases, namely in cases where black magic is used. So when people become aware of their chemical emanations and use them, then black magic comes into being on earth.
A seventh type of emanation is directly the immediate spiritual life emanation. Just as black magic, in which the chemical emanations almost always degenerate in our time, just as black magic is something reprehensible and evil, the emanation of life is just as important. For these lunar beings I am talking about can, for their part, but in a good sense, because they are not black magicians - black magicians are under certain circumstances those who do this on earth and fall into evil - these lunar beings can always count on and work with the forces that lie in this chemical radiation. But only then, when the moon is full, when the moon is illuminated by the sun and they can move into the area of sunlight, can they reckon with the emanations of life under the influence of sunlight.
And these radiations of life, you see, are those which, in contrast to all that is reprehensible, must now come into our age precisely as something good; for with all the impulses which are to be given in the Michael Age, this mastery of the radiations of life, of the vital radiations, is to be gradually connected.
This is mainly to be learned, not to work dead with what comes from the spiritual world, but to work directly alive with what comes from the spiritual world. The task of the age is to find living ideas, living concepts, living views, living sensations, not dead theories. This comes directly from the figures that are united with the being we call Michael.
In contrast, people turned more, I would say, to the earthly in the past Gabriel Age. They did not want to go straight to the beings who are there, who may be very close to human beings, because these [beings] were interested in something for which the age should be less predisposed, so to speak. They were interested in all these occult radiations that emanate from the human being.
Our world, as we have it as a physical world between birth and death, is immediately adjoined by another, spiritual world, in which we find the dead, as I have described. But there is much else in this world. And among what is there is the effectiveness of such forces as live in the radiations, the emanations of human beings. In a certain sense, this is a highly dangerous area of the world into which one enters. And in these days one must also have the often-mentioned mental and spiritual attitude, so that one directs what comes from these moon beings, of which I have spoken, in a good and not in an evil sense.
For, you see, it is the case that all forces, all impulses of the present epoch must rush towards using the vital radiation on earth. But it is tremendously obvious that we are entering into that which lies between this vital radiation and all the other radiations that we would so like to have: black magic. People would like so much to make visible what is expressed in the movements - we will have to talk about this - to make visible what is present in the exhalation and so on, what is present in the light radiation. In a certain sense, all this is related to something good, to what can only be good, because the Michael Age is dawning among human beings.
But between all this lies the black magic which must be kept out if the good, the right paths of psychic research are to be taken, and not the evil, wrong paths of psychic research.
(On the blackboard:)
1. movements radiated by man
.
2. skin emanations of the liquid
3. skin emanations of the aerial
4. heat radiation
5. radiation of light
6. emanation of chemical forces (black magic)
7. vital radiation
Medium natures and their emanations
You see, when now in the spiritual world this communication takes place between men here on earth and the moon beings - and in the subconscious it takes place continuously - then it is just possible that with this development of interest, which certain moon beings have in the movements, which men also carry out when writing, when drawing, that in turn certain elementary beings of the spiritual world have an interest in this interest, which indeed reveals itself spiritually in these moon beings. Elemental beings who are lower than the lunar beings, who also never incarnate on earth, but who nevertheless live in the neighboring world of which I have spoken, live as spiritual-etheric beings. If they in turn are interested in everything that goes on there, then the following can happen. When man is observed here on earth, we see that his thoughts, which he then communicates, let us say, through the Scriptures, have an effect on his whole human being. They are initially present in the ego, but they work down into the astral body, which carries out its movements in the sense of the movements we make from the ego when we write. They have an effect in the etheric body. And they work down into the physical body. These effects in the physical body are now observed by certain beings of an elemental nature and they also have the desire, so to speak, to move in the same way. But they cannot do this because other laws prevail in their world than in the world in which writing takes place. Writing only takes place in the physical world of people here on earth.
But the following is possible. There are certain people who, when they write or think, even feel, are very deep inside their etheric body. Everything in their etheric body is also expressed strongly in their physical body. And with these people it happens that they completely suppress what is in their ego, and an imitation of writing, of drawing, comes to life in their astral, etheric, physical body. These are the mediums. Such mediums can then, because their ego is suppressed, take into themselves these learned elemental beings from the spiritual world who have, so to speak, learned the movements of writing from the lunar beings. And such mediums then enter into an activity in which they do not make writing movements in the sense of their ego, in the sense of their full consciousness, but in the sense of the elemental being that sits within them. Thus everything that is mediumistic writing, mediumistic drawing, comes about through the movements emitted by the human being with a dimmed consciousness: everything that is usually mediumistic. So the emitted movements are used.
The emanations of the second kind can be used by certain beings who, under the influence of the lunar beings, especially appropriate the artistic that lives in the souls of men. These entities also enter into people who have dampened down their superconsciousness and who have a certain artistic moment in their etheric body, in their astral body, and thus channel it into the emanations. Under certain circumstances it is quite interesting how such a human being can then be possessed, so to speak, by elemental-spiritual entities, and receive into his emanations something like vividly existing dreams, compositions partly of what the human being himself perceives in life, because this has slipped down into the etheric and astral body and appears in the emanations; partly of manifestations from the world in which there are only the elemental beings that have crawled into the human being.
You see, the experimenting Schrenck-Notzing got such results. He had certain mediumistic natures at his disposal which, especially when the consciousness had slipped down, i.e. when the ego was switched off, were treatable for the elemental beings through their skin emanations of a liquid nature. There is an interesting book by Schrenck-Notzing. Some consider it a complete hoax, others are delighted by it. Those who are enchanted by it need not be surprised that they accept it as something wonderful. After all, it is something wonderful. It is something wonderful when there is a medium with which experiments are carried out, and then at a certain point a plastic form emerges from the body, which has something spiritual that is not present on earth. But in some cases there is also an image mixed in that the medium last saw in an illustrated newspaper. So something radiates from the medium. It is the skin vapor. Something, let's say, quite spiritual radiates into it somewhere; but next to it something that this medium last saw in an illustrated newspaper, let's say, for example, a figure of Poincaré as he appeared in newspapers, perhaps in a funny paper.
There's no need to be amazed that people find this astonishing. But one can be very much struck by the way in which fashionable people, even ladies, who are quite familiar with good manners, do not like to talk about the skin vapors and describe in every way what appears in this way on the human being, but how they long to look at the medium that shows these plastic figures in nothing other than the quite ordinary skin vapors.
The things, ladies and gentlemen, that Schrenck-Notzing experimented with are - that's the way it is - sweated. And into that which is sweated enters the plastic essence which, stimulated by these elemental beings, can be expressed in the skin emanations. In the same way, certain elemental beings can stimulate the exhalation of the skin, i.e. the air that comes out. But it is so connected with the human form, the human being puts his own human form so strongly into this skin exhalation, that these entities are usually not able to do much more than lead out a phantom of the human being himself. Then those manifestations, those phenomena arise where the phantom emerges from the human being. So it is the appearance of the phantom. Here in “Secondly” we have the medial sculpture. Here we have the appearance of the phantom in “Third”.
It is not so easy to bring heat and light radiation out of the human being so that something of that which stimulates such elemental beings under the influence of lunar beings comes to light. Certain preparations have to be made for this.
Now, today even natural science, as I have told you, is so far that it brings certain light emanations, which are connected with heat emanations, to view in the physical darkroom. And Moriz Benedikt's experiments in this regard are extraordinarily interesting. But the possibility of working so properly with these emanations, with heat and light emanations, has actually only ever been available to those people who make preparations in which not only the ordinary machinations of the physical world are expressed, but who make preparations with special incenses, with the development of special vapors, also with the development of special odors, with the mixing of special substances and so on, whereby all those magical processes are created, which are abundantly mentioned in older magical literature.
All these magical preparations have the purpose of making it possible for these powers, which lie in the heat and light emanations of the human being, to come into effect. And you can read quite alarming and quite dangerous instructions for this in the writings of Eliphas Levi, also in those of Encausse, who wrote under the name of Papus. There you will find dubious and quite dangerous instructions on such things. But we have to talk here about the objectivity of these things, about the essence of these things, and must therefore touch on them.
All these things then lead to direct black magic, where the spiritual hidden in the earthly is worked with. With which spiritual? Well, I have told you, and you can read this in my “Secret Science”, that the moon was once connected with the earth. But the moon did not take many forces out with it, not all those that belong to it. Many have remained in the earth and now permeate minerals, plants and animals. They are still there today, these lunar forces. So if you work with lunar forces here on earth, forces that do not actually belong to the normal mineral, plant, animal and human forces, then you can use these lunar forces in an inappropriate way to enter directly into the area in which you come together with the beings who, as elemental beings, learn many things from the lunar beings, but learn them in a way, as I have indicated to you, that does not belong in our world. And so, on the one hand, the black magician works with the lunar forces that are still here on earth. But by working in this way, he comes into contact with elemental forces which directly, one might say by peering, watching as in a game of checkers or chess, by peering at what goes on in the right way between human beings and the lunar beings, learn to come as close as possible to the physical world; they either peer in or enter this physical world as well. But the ordinary human being, for whom all this remains in the subconscious, has nothing to do with them. The black magician who works with the lunar forces, who possesses the lunar forces everywhere in his retorts, in his crucibles and incenses, is surrounded by these forces.
A good person can learn a lot from these black magicians. Goethe portrayed this being swirled around, which borders quite alarmingly on black magic, in the first part of his “Faust”. Through the use of these lunar forces, man enters the region where beings who have entered into the service of the lunar forces are ready to communicate with human beings. And this is where the centers of black magic arise, where the magicians work together with lunar forces, with spirits who have placed themselves directly in the service, but in an evil service, of the lunar forces. The fact that many things have been done in this direction over the last few centuries has also created an alarming atmosphere on earth. And this precarious atmosphere is there. There are many such forces buzzing and weaving around, which arise from a combination of human activity with lunar energies and lunar dynamics with elemental beings who are in the service of improper lunar forces. This alarming atmosphere is there. And this is the region that is now working strongly against what is to come from the solar region in the age of Michael, and what the vital radiation in the pure soul-spiritual is to take into particular consideration. Following on from this, we will continue our discussion tomorrow.
(Written on the blackboard:)
1. movements radiated by the human being, mediumistic
2. skin emanations of the fluid, medial sculpture
3. skin emanations, appearance of the phantom
4. heat radiation
5. light emanation
6. chemical emanation of forces (black magic)
7. vital radiation