The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The realities of the macrocosm are the consonants of various feelings ¹

The enclosing, which is open to one side: b

One must learn to feel how the different vowels that are in the human being enclose themselves in the external. - Learning to feel the vocalization of one's own inner self and adapting it in various ways to the outer world.

Vowels

The vowels provide everything we need to know about human beings. They provide the inner key to the macrocosm.

The giving - bestowing - warming

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i - striving for the divinity
ei - holy fear of the deity
a - sublimity of the deity
ä - somewhat less sublime
o - embracing the deity
ö - fear of embracing

Transcript of the opening ceremony for the fourth degree ¹

Text according to Rudolf Steiner's original manuscript;
from “Grand Master: Give me the sign”
according to the original manuscript by Marie Steiner.
Note sheet archive number 6970/71

IV. Degree

Question: How is this high chapter prepared?

Answer: By seeing that all doors are carefully closed and that neither seculars nor apprentices, journeymen nor Johannite masters are present.

Order: This is to be carried out.

Michael: With the most respectful greeting, I bring word that the chapter is fully covered.

Grand Master: As everything is ready, the chapter is opened.

Dialogue

Grand Master: Points with his sword in the four directions

Michael: The Grand Master has opened the chapter by invoking the 4.

Grand Master: Write the 4

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Grand Master: Give me the sign.

Michael: (Right thumb on forehead, right hand up, face towards the sky)

Grand Master: Give me the holy word.

Michael: Adonai

Grand Master: Give me the password.

Michael: Cavaret

Grand Master: What do you understand as a Knight of the High 4th Degree?

Michael: To strip the cassia branch.

Grand Master:What does this mean?

Michael: To dissolve the coarse matter into the finest parts.

Grand Master: What is the one column to you now?

Michael: The sun.

Grand Master: What is the other column to you?

Michael: The moon.

Grand Master: Why is this?

Michael: Because the sun and moon together form the Cassia branch, i.e. they divide the fine matter into coarse matter.

Grand Master: What is your salvation now?

Michael: To obey the high masters of pre-humanity.

Grand Master: What are you therefore?

Michael: Frater latae observatiae.

• 1. Original manuscript does not exist. Text from a handwritten copy by Berta Reebstein, Marie Steiner's secretary, in a notebook containing only copies of Rudolf Steiner's original texts.
• 1. Nothing exists of the admission ritual.

Text based on the original manuscript by Marie Steiner
Note sheet Archive number 6971/72

Royal Arch 5th degree

Grand Master: My venerable brothers, may our soul be filled with what the 6th day of creation has done to the 5th. Your duty?

Michael: To see if the doors are closed on all sides, the high chapter covered, no profane, no Johannesmaurer and no Wartemaurer are present.

Grand Master: Fulfill your duty.

Michael (does so): I announce to the honorable Grand Master that the high chapter can work in the deepest secret, under full cover.

Grand Master: What is the goal of our work?

Michael: In the 4

Grand Master: What are the 4?

Michael: Learn to be silent and you will acquire power. Give up power and you will acquire might. Give up might and you will acquire will. Give up will and you will acquire knowledge.

Grand Master: Where do you arrive at through these 4?

Michael: To the realization of the 7

Grand Master: Draw the 7

Michael: (draws)

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Grand Master: Where do you see the 7 realized?

Michael: In the 4

Grandmaster: Name the 4

Michael: The astral, the animal, the vegetable, the mineral.

Grandmaster: What binds the 4?

Michael: The lost word binds the 4

Grand Master: How do you know the lost word? Michael: Under the sign

Grand Master: Draw it.

Michael:

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Grand Master: Give the chapter sign

Michael: (gives it)

Grand Master: What is the grip?

Michael: Into the four.

Grand Master: The sacred word?

Michael: I am that I am. Yahweh.

Grand Master: The chapter password?

Michael: Ressurrectus.

Grand Master: What is your assignment?

Michael: To form the mercurial soul in pure salt through the purifying sulfur fire.

Handwritten note by Rudolf Steiner
Note sheet archive number 6974

Where do you come from?

From the lodge of St. John.

What happens in the lodge of St. John?

A temple of virtue is built there and prisons for vices are dug there.

What do you bring from there?

Welfare, progress, and goodwill for all mankind.

What do you intend to do here?

To conquer my passions, subjugate my will and make new progress.

Take your place, my B., and be welcome in this place, where the rays of your light are consciously received.

Individual texts by Rudolf Steiner in the handwriting of Marie Steiner-von Sivers

Wisdom should have guided you while you were building this temple, which is an earthly image of the spiritual life stream. This wisdom is now a water of light to guide you, as your soul unfolds the seeds of wisdom.

Beauty should adorn your work while you were building this temple, which is an image of self-limiting form-creating: this beauty is now a releasing salt for you, as your soul dissolves the covers of your spirit seed.

Strength should have carried out your work as long as you were building this temple, which is an image of the creative powers of existence: the fire of creation, to which the ashes of your body will return, is this strength in the future, as your spirit unites with the world spirits to create the great temple of being.

Brothers of the past, your wisdom penetrated the waters of the elemental kingdom and gave our sister an earthly shell so that she could reveal in the world what her soul had accepted under your wise guidance in prehistoric times.

Brothers of the present, our sister sought to come into your wise guidance so that your thoughts of God might be revealed in her part.

Brothers of the future, you will incorporate our sister's soul into your plan of construction, so that she may continue to flow in your strength, in the body of your great soul.

And you, sister, who have joined us in our striving for the vision of the heights of eternal light, your powers that flow into another form of being, let them flow into our work, work with us in the sanctuary of spiritual life: but we are inseparable in our souls from yours.

One, united, unity.

Prepared by silence, it is spoken with the mantle of that which has been received from above.

To make himself the bearer of wisdom, the$* [Rosicrucian] Mason vows to his God in the soul of his spirit. He beholds a temple of this God in the human form of his being. He vows to make himself the builder of this temple. He will think nothing that might be shameful to wisdom. The watchword floats before his eyes:

My thoughts shall seek thee everywhere, divine spirit.

The Mason [Rosicrucian] will make himself the servant of Beauty; he pledges himself to Beauty, because only in her bosom can the life of God flourish in his soul. The Mason [Rosicrucian] avoids an appearance that contradicts reality; he seeks true embodiment in the appearance of reality. His breathing in his breathing the watchword:

My speech shall reveal you, divine soul.

The + [Rosicrucian] Mason wants to make fortitude his covering; he praises fortitude because only through its fire can the God in his heart mature. The Mason seeks to flee from languor, which only hinders all progress; he seeks fortitude, which, with a sharp, two-edged sword of fire, prepares the way for all advancement. The watchword beats in his heart:

My heartbeat shall confirm you, divine will.

I

The earth's soil bears me;
The earth's air envelops me;
Around me I see the rocks of the mountains;
Around me the plant cover of the earth blossoms;
In the animal kingdom there is feeling,
Which, as in a thousand individual forms,
my own being's abundance.
I feel the power to shape myself ever higher,
only this noble striving makes a human being.

II

He is born of the earth's soil.
He is animated by the earth's air.
He is related to the rocks of the mountains,
His existence is interwoven with the plant cover,
The realm of the animals carries his spirit power;
But as if in a harmonious miracle
Earth, rocks, life are joined in him.
The earth's soil will sink beneath him.
The circle of the air will be the bearer of death.
The mountains' rocks will fall,
The plants will wither,
The animals' life will be stunned.
But he will bear the fruit of being earth
To create new worlds in a distant time.
To feel this goal's eternal value
Creates wisdom in every thought,
Receive beauty in every breath of life,
Strengthen fortitude in every beat of the blood.

We, wise M.d.O. [Masters of the East], present ourselves before you in spirit with purified desire, that the center of the heart may be silent in the expression of the outer self and burn with the fire of a new inner self. Let the fundamental fires germinate in us, melting and uniting the elements of the temple, which shall be a worthy dwelling for your divine being. ¹

The old temple will give birth to the new.

The three may create a new chariot from our signs.

The three may make Audhumla fertile.²

The following spoke, sitting amidst the stars of wisdom:

The time will come when man's intelligence and sensuality will become desolate and formless. And the power of the flesh will be barren and the daughter of the brain will be lame. And what has been founded among men by thinking and feeling will dry up like the sea dries up in scorching heat. But the revelation of the stars of wisdom will flourish. Mine is what you have kept as silver, what you have kept as gold – so says He who sits in the midst of the stars of wisdom.

The revelation of the new temple will shine forth more brightly than the first, and the I will have found itself in the I.

The initiate at the gates: M.M. Remember that you must find your way in fields where you have never been:

West = Ahriman: He wants to be you.
South = Lucifer: He wants to be you.
East = gold. A

Hand over your sources

1. 3. 7. 12.

Water

In nomine Elohim et per spiritum aquarum viventium, sis mihi in signum lucis et sacramentum voluntaris.

Smoke

Per serpentum aneum sub quo cadunt serpentes ignei, sis mihi.

Hauch

Per firmamentum et spiritum vocis, sis mihi.

Erde

In sale terrae et per virtutem vitae aeternae, sis mihi.

Sylphs

Spirit of light, spirit of wisdom, whose breath determines the form of all things – reach through to us.

Undines

King of the sea, who holds the keys of heaven, we call upon you – –

Salamander

Immortal, eternal, uncreated father of the world

Invisible king, lead us to clarity.

Handwritten note by Rudolf Steiner
from notebook Archive number 611

Green the Earth Mother rises
With the bright colors of flowers
The spirit of the sun will cover up
What springs from the soil in a living way.

Dress is what springs from the earth
Coat is what the spirit of the sun creates
It holds the soul within it alive
The soul is permeated by the spirit with power.

Spirit you become sisters, you brothers
Look only when you hear,
What to tell your being innermost
Has the word of the wise of the East.

Take the word of the spirit.
Those who have served him from the beginning
will send you their strength
through the wisdom, the beauty and strength.

• 1. “Chariot” may refer to Ezekiel's vision of the divine throne chariot, “Merkabah”, with which a special secret doctrine was associated in Jewish mysticism.
• 2. Audhumla = in Norse mythology, the cow that arose from the primeval ocean; see lecture Berlin, October 7, 1907.

according to the records of the participants

If you approach me with a true yearning for knowledge,
I will be with you.
I am the germ and the source of your visible world,
I am the sum of the light in which you live spiritually,
I am the ruler of space,
I am the creator of the cycles of time,
Fire, air, light, water and earth obey me.
Feel me as the immaterial origin of all material

And because I am without a husband on earth, call me “Maja”

Second step:
I am Isis
I am the daughter of Saturn
I am the sister of Osiris
I am the disciple of Hermes
The god Mercury
I am the mother of Horus
Who was born
With his head under Sirius.

From a lecture in Berlin, January 2, 1906

If you want to understand and delve into today's culture, you will find that it falls into three areas: the area of wisdom, the area of beauty and the area of strength. These three words contain the full scope of spiritual culture. Hence they are also called the three columns of human culture. They are the same as the three Kings in Goethe's “Fairytale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily”: the Golden, the Silver and the Bronze King. This is why Freemasonry is called the “Royal Art”. Today these cultural areas are separated from each other. Wisdom is essentially contained in what we call science; beauty is essentially incarnate in what we call art; and what, in Masonic terms, is called strength is contained in the structured, organized social coexistence of people in the state. The Mason unites all of this as the relationship of the will to these three elements: wisdom, beauty, strength.

(...) When those who really understand something about it talk about these ideals, they are talking about something very specific; something so specific that it relates to the course of events in the coming centuries in the same way that the idea of a master builder who is building a factory relates to that factory when it is built.

From a lecture in Bremen, April 9, 1906

Freemasonry is everything that is done with the help of wisdom, beauty and strength. This refers to the proper construction of the temple of the earth, not just the inner man. We build on the inside and on the outside. Above all, the mason endeavors to bring himself to the point where he is a worthy co-worker in the construction of man (and the earth). The meaning of life on earth is that we transform our planet, rework it. More and more, human labor is intervening in our earth.

What will the earth become? A structure that man will complete. And it is the duty of every human being to contribute to this structure. Three forces must be built into the temple, otherwise chaos will result. The columns on which this temple rests are wisdom, beauty and strength.

Wisdom, when he ennobles his spirit; beauty, when he ennobles his mind; strength, when he ennobles his will.

Therefore, these three columns are considered the foundation of all work.

From a teaching in Hanover, Christmas 1911

Wisdom, Beauty, Strength are actually present only in the spiritual world; down here, only their reflection is to be found. Whoever utters the words Wisdom, Beauty, Strength should be mindful that he is thereby uttering a creed. “I believe in an astral world,” he says when he utters the word ‘wisdom’; ‘I believe in a lower Devachan’ when he utters the word ‘beauty’; ‘I believe in an upper Devachan’ when he utters the word ‘strength’. The reflection of wisdom down here is truth, that of beauty down here is piety, and that of strength down here is virtue.

Instruction lesson in Hanover, Christmas 1911, notes in a different hand.

In all mystery centers, the disciple spoke these words as his creed: wisdom, beauty, strength.

From a teaching session in Munich, December 12, 1906

With our prayer “Brothers of the Past...” we show that we are connecting with the work of the Brothers of the Past, the Brothers of the Present and the Brothers of the Future, the Mahatmas.

From an instructional lesson in Hanover, Christmas 1911

We should know and feel within the walls of our temple that with these symbols surrounding us, the forces of the wise masters of the East are flowing in upon us. When we look up to those who have guided the whole evolution of humanity from the very beginning of the world, through the evolution of Saturn, Sun, Moon, to the evolution of the earth, to our present time, we turn in prayer, seeking help for our present evolution, to those we call “Brothers of the Past”. And so we pray: “Brothers of the past...”. When we look up to those who are currently guiding us spiritually, we pray: “Brothers of the present...”. And those who will be the guides of humanity in the future, we address as “Brothers of the future...”.

From the instruction session in Hanover, December 31, 1911

The wise masters of the East are beings who belong to the three higher worlds and who work in the past, present and future, as it were, and whom we imagine to be above us when we say our prayers. From the instruction session in Munich, September 5, 1912

The first prayer distinguishes us from all other such endeavors that rely on documents or on a traditional wisdom. We do not refer to anything of the sort; we only tie in with the work that has been done, with what has actually been achieved.

In the near future, among other things that will be undertaken against us, our occult movement will also be tried to be discredited and vilified, so we should know this, to which we are joining. In the spiritual realm, there is a community like ours, but it has only as much justification as there are souls who profess it as the truth. And anyone who does not like something about it does not need to be part of it. We do not claim to be an order, a Rosicrucian movement or anything of the kind, but our aim is to represent the truth in such a way that we do not claim wisdom as our own, but we do want to appropriate the work that has flowed from it as wisdom.

Wisdom is there. There was an ancient store of wisdom belonging to humanity, as shown in the “Dwellers in the Threshold” by the Grand Master [1st picture]. And how one has to relate to it, that is, how one advances in the occult life, is shown to us by Maria in the second scene with Thomasius. It would be more convenient to give a prescription for all, but it had to be shown in our Western movement how persons of the special kind of a Thomasius, Strader, Capesius and a Maria go the initiation way.

“Compasses and Rule” means: We adopt your customs.

Such prayers contain in their words everything we need, as do the “Mysteries Dramas”. Every word is there in its place and full of occult meaning. Nothing, nothing is set and said for a reason other than its spiritual meaning and power, as it is.

The opponents of the spiritual, such as Haeckel, carry the spiritual deeply hidden within themselves and their rage and anger is actually directed against themselves. Because they cannot access their subconscious soul life in life, they show themselves quite differently towards the spiritual after death and are most easily quoted, for example, in spiritualistic séances.

Nietzsche is very interesting in this respect. He had a hard time letting go of his material part. That is why he presented such a strange sight to the seer, even in his illness: the man Nietzsche, this strange personality, lying on the sofa and the aura around him.¹ The split of the ego is expressed in such personalities: while the consciousness is materialistic, the subconscious is spiritual.

“Brothers of the Future”: We don't have a name either, because Lucifer is the inspiration for every external foundation of an association or society.

From a lecture in Bremen, April 9, 1906

To be an apprentice means to make up for what our brothers have achieved in the distant past; to be a journeyman means to be allowed to live with the older brothers of humanity; to be a master means to be allowed to work on the building of the temple.

From a lecture in Berlin, January 29, 1906.

As I have often said, it was not by chance that the Theosophical Society was founded in the last third of the 19th century. The way in which it seeks the spiritual differs significantly from other endeavors that also strive to obtain proof of the immortality of man. There is a great diversity in the search for the eternal as it is found in the Theosophical Society and the search for the eternal in other spiritual currents. In truth, the theosophical movement is nothing more than the popular expression of the secret fraternities of the past millennia that have secretly embraced the world. I have already mentioned that the most outstanding and greatest of these brotherhoods in Europe was founded in the 14th century as the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. This Rosicrucian Brotherhood is actually the source and the starting point for all the other brotherhoods that have preserved European culture. In these brotherhoods, occult wisdom was cultivated in strict secrecy. If I were to characterize for you what the people united in these various brotherhoods wanted to achieve, I would have to tell you that the high and exalted teachings and work of wisdom cultivated in these occult brotherhoods, of which the Rosicrucian Brotherhood was the most outstanding, brought people to the point where they became aware of their own eternal essence. They brought man to the point where he found the connection with the higher world, with the worlds that lie above us, and looked to the guidance of our older brothers, to the guidance of those who live among us and have attained a level that you will all attain at a later time. We call them the older brothers because, ahead of the general development, they have reached this high point earlier: thus the certainty of the eternal essence of the being, the awakening of it, so that man can see the eternal as the ordinary man sees the world of the senses. To achieve this, one must emulate the older brothers who live among us everywhere. These elder brothers or masters, the great guides of humanity, have always been the supreme directors and supreme directors of the occult sublime wisdom through which man becomes aware of his eternal essence.

• 1. Refers to Rudolf Steiner's impression when he was able to visit the sick Nietzsche. See “My Life”, GA 28.

“Learn to be silent...”

Instruction lesson Berlin, June 26, 1906 ¹

In Freemasonry, meetings are divided into those in which work is carried out with the full performance of the ritual, and those that deal with instruction, which underlies the entire structure of Freemasonry and teaches about things that every occultist should write deep into their soul as the center of the occult being.

Most of the time, people have completely false mental images about how to penetrate (enter) the occult world. There is indeed extensive literature about it, but nothing has ever been revealed (published) about the really deep occult things; you won't find any of that in it. The most important things have never been published. Therefore, dissatisfaction will usually arise after reading such books.

The actual intimacies have been presented as signs. They are only of value to those who know how to bring them to life from within. Most people make poor use of their apprenticeship in occultism because they believe that one can penetrate the occult world through external magic.

There are times when it is especially dangerous to enter the occult world through external magic. This was the case in the Atlantean period, in the fourth sub-race, the Ur-Turanians. This is where actual black magic developed. That is why the priests had to keep part of the wisdom secret. The other epoch is our present time. We are the fifth sub-race in the Aryan [post-Atlantic] epoch. Today, all external means are more likely to bring people down. Therefore, it is necessary that today a number of people become familiar with the intimate paths that lead to the spiritual world.

If a person is to become aware of the right means to enter the spiritual world, he must first know the obstacles. He must know four principles in order to avoid the obstacles and enter the spiritual world.

The first principle is:

What you have spoken with your words, over that you have lost power in your deepest soul.

Therefore, the best way to lose power is to talk a lot. That is why in the Brotherhoods in the past there was no talk at all of occult powers. Those who talk about it a lot lose some of the power they seek. Hence the power of silence. When man prattles, he must think twice.

The brotherhoods have today surrendered the part of the power that lies in the teachings of Theosophy. Why can certain things be communicated today? Before 1879 this would not have been possible; but at that time something was decided that made it possible.² Before 1879, it would have meant that the occult brotherhoods would have fallen apart altogether, if nothing else had happened. They did fall apart for the part that was communicated. They must have something in the background that they are not yet communicating, something new and higher.

Form a mental image of the reservoir of strength you are accumulating through the things you keep to yourself. That is why, when you do communicate, it must be a kind of resignation, a sacrifice; because however much a person communicates, he is sawing off the branch on which he is sitting. The mood must be far, far removed from any fanaticism or need to communicate. As long as you have this need, it means a weakening of your reservoir of strength. Anyone who acts as a propagandist agitator misses the whole goal that he sets for himself.

This is how it is with the theosophical teachings, which – although they are so necessary because without them culture could not continue, because culture needs them – are therefore also so dangerous when they are publicly proclaimed in meetings and so on, because maturity and immaturity sit together there. But this danger must be there; you cannot advance civilization without it claiming victims. But we must exercise caution, not put demons into people's ears and not dampen every sentence so that it does not become a fiery force.

Occultists exist today and have always existed in the world. If someone wanted to come to them earlier, it was always as if by chance. But of course there is no such thing as coincidence. But people also traveled for weeks to see and question one of them. That was a completely different relationship than today, when the occult teachers go to the people or travel to them.

It was part of his power to know: What you express with words, you have lost power. It is about making talking about these things a sacrificial service; but then the power grows. Nothing is better for the occultist than getting used to keeping silent a lot. Chatting at tea-time and in the evening, voluptuously indulging in talking, causes demons to commit fornication on the astral plane. A clairvoyant can see this, and from a high point of view this is much worse than committing fornication here on the physical plane. Language has become a means of destroying human progress. If you consider what is read merely for the purpose of satisfying oneself - these countless products of modern poets and poetesses (poetians) - you can see what destructive forces are in the world. Today, the greatest progress would be achieved by reading and printing less.

The second principle is that you kill the will through the power you have. Suppose someone comes forward today with a significant intention. He comes from a lonely corner of the world, has no connection to anyone, and tries to accomplish a deed in a foreign arena. He has no power at all, but his will is the most powerful. In a sphere of power, the original will is paralyzed because it is quickly dulled (even before). From an occult point of view, the one who has the most power in the outer world has the most paralysis in his inner will. That is why an occultist prefers to go around with a three-knot rope rather than be a king. No one who has attained powerlessness would exchange with someone who has a great empire to command. For if he were to do anything other than what is beneficial for that empire, he would be doing nonsense. He who has a great fortune must administer it; he is restricted in regard to his will. Whatever power he has damages his will.

A fine example of what can be achieved in this way is provided by the Englishman Oliphant.³ He was a very, very rich man and threw away everything he owned; gave it to charitable foundations, etc. and moved to America poor, where he earned his bread with the labor of his hands. When he had saved up a little, he and his wife moved to Mount Carmel and built themselves a hut. There he began dictating to his wife, and she wrote down the most wonderful things that one can read –⁴ the spiritual power that flowed to him from the spiritual world. Then his wife died. Now he tried to write by himself. But he could only do so by retiring to the hut he had shared with his wife.

Here a strange spiritual act was produced, which occurred as a result of the surrender of worldly power. One loses will through external power, and the less power one has, the more will one gain.

The third principle is: the more one wills, the more one loses of inner life. The will kills the life. As much as one wills, so much inner life dies away, so that everything we want is at the same time an obstacle to our inner life, to our spiritual development. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the attitude of limiting oneself in one's will to what the world demands of us; not to will out of inner urge. In occult life, one advances when one's volition is limited to the most necessary things. You will have more of nothing than when you consciously suppress the volition, for no other reason than because you can suppress the volition. But we must learn not to shirk our duties when we suppress a volition.

The fourth principle is that the inner life, through feeling and sensing, kills the thought. - If you easily feel great pain and great joy, the more you develop this inner life, the more you kill the purity of thought. Those who want to think objectively must properly exclude the inner life. Every outflow of the inner life kills the purity of thought.

If you want to have thoughts in the purely spiritual, you must kill the inner life. If you want to have life, you must kill the will. If you want to have the power of will, you must kill power.

He who wants to have power must kill speech. In order to have clairvoyant thoughts, we must, like a blessed God, hover above pleasure and pain. To regulate the will, we must discard power, and to regulate power accordingly, we must learn to be silent.

The first occult training for the Freemason is to consult with himself privately on how to fulfill the four sentences:

First: Learn to be silent in order to be powerful.

Second: Learn to want by renouncing power.

Third: Learn to feel by relinquishing your will.

Fourth: Learn to think by relinquishing your feelings.

You have to reflect on these sentences and on the possibilities in your own life for realizing these things.

These sentences are part of the understanding of the pentagram:

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The five points correspond occultly to certain things, so that they signify what a person will become, either by observing these principles or through development. This pentagram will be as much of a key to the occult world as it is used.

No one needs to think about the figure if they develop in the sense of the four sentences. When a person has grasped what is in the four sentences, then it becomes a hieroglyph and means as much as a (real) key to the spiritual world.

Once you have begun to learn silence, a second hieroglyph that you begin to understand is the hexagram.

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• 1. Dr. Rudolf Steiner has been constantly traveling since the beginning of January, this could have been the first instruction lesson. It is not known whether the ritual also took place at that time. The insertions in parentheses are variants from the various text templates.
• 2. In three different text templates, it says “1879”; in another, “1875”. The correct date is probably 1879, because although 1875 is the year the Theosophical Society was founded, it is more likely that 1875 refers to the event in the spiritual world: the fall of the spirits of darkness in 1879. See “The Spiritual Background of the External World. The Overthrow of the Spirits of Darkness,
• 3. Laurence Oliphant, 1829-1888. English diplomat, writer, journalist. Biography by Margaret Oliphant: W. Oliphant “Memoir of the life of Laurence Oliphants, London 1891.
• 4. The two works “Sympneumata” (1885) and “Scientific Religion” (1888) were published. See also lecture London, August 24, 1924, in GA 240.

(see p. 181)

An explanation of this from instruction lessons has not been handed down; however, Rudolf Steiner explained in his lecture Dornach, 26 November 1916, where this occult tradition comes from.

People today know very little about the past. Above all, people do not know why certain things have been handed down. At best, they still know that they have been handed down, but why they have been handed down is something that people today hardly know. For example, it is handed down - and this can be read today in all kinds of esoteric books, especially in Masonic books - that there were mysteries in ancient times, that the mysteries were, so to speak, a secret institution, and that in the mysteries, and this is already connected with the word, there were secrets that were really secrets in the external sense. That is to say, those who had found access to the mysteries were handed down certain things which they were obliged to communicate only to those who were with them in these mysteries. This rule is so pronounced that it is considered one of the gravest crimes if someone utters a mystery secret before an uninitiated ear; but it is equally one of the gravest crimes for an uninitiated person to listen to a mystery secret. And this view, which was practiced in the mysteries, was strictly adhered to when the mysteries were in their original sense. Why was that? Why did this happen?

I have emphasized it to you many times: Humanity has changed in the course of the evolution of the Earth, and an important turning point in this evolution was at the time when the Christ went through the Mystery of Golgotha through the Mystery of Golgotha. If one wants to cite one of the most essential features of this evolution, among others that we have already mentioned, then one must say: If we go back beyond the Greco-Latin period, especially if we go beyond the 4th century BC to the 5th, 6th, 7th centuries - we can even stay in the Greco-Latin period, but we would find even more if we went beyond that to the Egyptian-Chaldean or even the Persian period - we find everywhere that that what was spoken by man had a completely different meaning for other people than it had later, for example, as early as the 7th or 8th century after the Mystery of Golgotha. The word that one spoke to another had a completely different meaning in the time when the old atavistic properties of the soul were still present, which even led to atavistic clairvoyance, than it had later, when it was today. Then the word had, if I may say so, a kind of suggestive value through its own inner power, because there was much of inherited divine spiritual power in the word. When man spoke, so to speak, the angel from the higher hierarchies always spoke through his word.

From this you can form the mental image that the communications in those ancient times that took place through words were quite different from today. We have no way of speaking with words, even if we know all these secrets, as was spoken in ancient times, because we have to speak through what language has become of the words. We have conventional signs in words. Today we can no longer go to a person and, with the same power with which one could still speak in the 3rd, 4th, 5th century BC, with the words “Your angel loves you”, send a gentle shiver through the soul that had healing power. You can't do that anymore today, the words have lost their old suggestive value, their power. In ancient times, human community power flowed from soul to soul as people spoke to each other. Just as we breathe the same air when we are together in a room, so in ancient times a spiritual power of community lived in what people spoke to each other. This has been lost in the progressive evolution of humanity. The word has become increasingly de-divined. If you bear this in mind, in your mind's eye, then you will also be able to say that there could be very definite words and word combinations, word formulas, which had a greater effect than other words that are spoken in general. And such word formulas, which had an effect far beyond the ordinary, were handed down in the mysteries. Now you can understand that they could not be revealed, because the fact that a person knew these formulas gave him great power over other people, which must not be abused. It is an absolutely real truth that when the old Hebrew temple priest pronounced what in ordinary life was only called the “word” , but which had a certain sound composition, then, when he pronounced it in the right way - because in those ancient times it was the case that the power lay in that sound composition - it actually happened to the people to whom he spoke that another world was around them, spiritually, but this spirituality was real.

And so you can understand that it was not only criminal to speak the mystery formulas to the one to whom it was not allowed, since one thereby exercised an authority over him that was unauthorized, but that it was also frowned upon to listen, because one exposed oneself to the danger of placing oneself completely in the power of the other. Things are not as abstract as certain people today would have us believe. They are very real and very concrete. And times have changed, and we must listen to these changing times. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, words no longer have this meaning, for you realize that real freedom could not have arisen among men if words had retained this meaning; for men would always have been only the result, as it were, of language in relation to the soul. Words had to lose this inner power. But another power entered into the evolution of the earth, which, if it found the right relationship to humanity, could gradually replace in man what formerly came from the words. Ancient men learned to think from their words, and in ancient times there were no thoughts other than those that came from words. But the power of thought could only come from the words when the words were as I have described them. This power was no longer present in the period that followed. But then came the Being who, when thoughts unite with Him, could give them this power again, the Being who could say: “I am the Word” - and that is the Christ. Men must only find the way to make the Christ alive in their soul.

From a teaching session in Munich, December 12, 1906

Through the process of combustion, through the precipitation of ash, the spirit came to earth. Through the precipitation of salt, wisdom came to earth. Both must be washed again by the waters of life.

Instruction lesson Berlin, February 1908, no date given

It is important that we learn to understand the formulas used in the lodge better and better, so that we can follow the ceremonies in which they are used with more understanding.

The ashes, salt and water have a deep meaning. In the early Atlantean period, the air was filled with water and the sun's rays could only be seen indistinctly through the dense fog. In this mist, outside of the physical body, we lived, the spirits that have since moved into the human body. But back then we were outside and guided these bodies [from the outside].

Everything hard and solid on earth has crystallized out of this water atmosphere. At that time, the water was not as dense as it is now, and the air was denser. But gradually the water sank to the surface of the earth, leaving the atmosphere behind as air, while the water became denser. This is symbolized by the salt in its dissolved state.

Salt is wisdom; Ruach Hochmael emerged from it.

In the beginning there were no bones in the human body. But as the atmosphere gradually crystallized, the segregated salt formed the bones where there had previously been only magnetic currents.

Death is quite correctly represented by a skeleton with a scythe. For the bones represent the relatively permanent part of the human body, the part from which the body for the next incarnation will be formed. They represent the future, while the soft parts represent the past, that which fades away from life. The bones, with their blood and lymph, represent the future, because the self gains a firm foothold where the blood cells are formed.

At the beginning of the terrestrial period, the Earth was filled with nothing but human beings. At that time, man appeared first. As he developed further, some remained behind to form the animal kingdom. Among these, some were unable to develop further and formed the plant kingdom. And finally, some remained from the plant kingdom to form the minerals, as can be seen in the formation of coal. These remainders are produced by crystallization. To develop further, one must keep one's tools liquid (mobile) so that the dense, accumulating substances (the coagulating substances) can be excreted.

This is presumably a transcription by Rudolf Steiner, but there is no original for it. The text is based on a handwritten template with the note “F.M.”

Man is born of the Godhead. Sublime spiritual entities were active in his construction, cosmic forces were at work, and so he was built out of the cosmos, he emerged from the cosmos.

The first state of evolution, in which the influence of those cosmic forces can be indicated, was that which is called the ancient Saturn state. Then these forces began to work in space and in time, so that ancient Saturn came into being in space and the evolution of ancient Saturn took place in time. At that time there was no solar system with planets, there was only a body of warmth, surrounded by the twelve signs of the zodiac, which poured their forces into this body of warmth, as if from the circumference into a common center. From this center other forces counteracted them, but the forces acting into it were stronger, and thus the tendency towards the centripetal arose in this development. When the present-day minerals on our earth are observed from the spiritual point of view, the same effect can be found in them, only that here one has to do with solid earthly matter. Coming from different sides, far away from the world, spiritual forces have an effect on a common point in space, and the stone or mineral arises in this center. From this point, forces come to meet this effect, but the incoming forces are strongest. Thus, through the influence of the twelve constellations from the surrounding area on a point in space, the first embodiment of the present earth as a ball of heat, as the old Saturn, arose at that time. Because these forces were superior to those acting towards the center, further condensation and a kind of fragmentation occurred. During the further development, several points formed in the one center, and so finally the whole planet consisted of nothing but such points of force, which were formed by the action of cosmic forces or spiritual beings in the cosmos. In these centers themselves spiritual beings were again active, they animated them and formed them so that they could become the basis for what later became man. Then man was already endowed with the powers which, continuing to work in the future, could give him the physical body that he now inhabits as a self-aware earthly human being. Then he also received the disposition for what he, as a spiritual being, will later develop through his own efforts. The germ for life in the physical and in the spiritual was laid on old Saturn; a physical and a spiritual center was predisposed for the human being. When this development had progressed to a certain point, the spiritual forces withdrew their effect, a kind of planetary night, a state of rest, occurred, and when the next day arrived, the earth emerged in its new embodiment as the old sun.

The process of evolution continued. Taking up the preceding Saturn condition, everything repeated itself under different conditions, and then something new was added. The centers that had arisen on the old Saturn emerged again in the old sun condition. Due to the still-operating centripetal forces, the old sun was more compressed as a heavenly body than the old Saturn. It had become more condensed and was also less extended in space. As a physical center it did not need to pour out its forces into space; it could gather itself more and keep something for itself as its own inner strength of its nature. This it could reveal in such a way that it could send something towards the influence of the zodiac that came out of itself in the light that it radiated into its surroundings. It was precisely through the condensation in relation to the physical that the possibility arose to give something of oneself that worked spiritually. It was the same with the individual centers on the old sun. Through their own power they could radiate something of themselves, it became possible to spread their being into the surroundings, which can be described as growth in the light. In our present-day development on earth, a similar force is at work in the plant kingdom, only that it takes place in dense earthly matter. Just as today's plants grow out of their seeds towards the sunlight, so on the old sun there arose a growth, a spreading out and a coming forth into the light from the centers into the environment. Not only did the forces of the twelve constellations act on the old sun from the surrounding area, but it itself sent something in return to these forces in the radiating light. And out of it, in the form of a germ, grew those planets that we know today under different conditions in our physical solar system. Just as the seven colors can reveal themselves out of the white light through a refraction of rays, so too, in those days, these planets were forming in the sun itself as radiant points of light.

In turn, spiritual beings were active at the centers and formed them in such a way that they became the basis for what man today knows as his life body or etheric body. Man was also given the basis for what he will later acquire as the spirit of life. The principle of growth and expansion was developed in both the physical and spiritual centers of the human being during the ancient solar evolution, because just as the etheric body provides the possibility of growth for the physical body, so the life spirit is what can be called the environment, the surroundings of the spiritual center of the spiritual man, in which he reveals himself.

The centripetal force that was active in the Saturn development continued to operate in the old solar state. This resulted in condensation, so that the ball of heat had become a ball of gas. Through this force, the living beings also divided and became different from each other. Through the centrifugal force, however, the sun radiated and the living beings were also able to step out of their particular form and grow.

After this development had been going on for some time, there was another period of rest, during which the cosmic forces withdrew their activity. Then the earth emerged from the cosmic night in its new embodiment as the old moon, and what had existed in the two previous stages of development was repeated under different conditions. The solidification, the contraction of the world body and of the individual centers or bodies of the living beings continued, and thus a stronger manifestation of inner forces became possible. The centripetal and the centrifugal forces both worked and sought to come to a settlement. This created powerful vibrations. On the one hand, the effect of the centripetal force was evident in the compaction of the old moon and in the individual centers, which became more and more separated from their environment. On the other hand, the centrifugal force found expression in the possibility of revealing more and more spiritual forces from the centers into the environment. These two forces worked together in such a way that they led to a crisis during the evolution of the old moon. A kind of split occurred in the world body. One part of the old moon, in which the centrifugal forces exerted their influence in particular, separated from the other part, in which the centripetal forces remained active in particular. This resulted in one cosmic body sending its forces outwards in particular and revealing itself in its environment, radiating its spiritual power as light, as the sun, and another cosmic body that was subjected to further condensation and on which the further development of those living beings took place that later became earth humans, as the old moon.

Through this contraction, the bodies of the living beings became more and more dense and more dependent on themselves, and the possibility arose for stronger inner forces to reveal themselves. This enabled the living beings to resonate with what was acting on them from the outside, so that they could respond in a certain way. A sound then arose that emerged from the beings' inner selves and was a repetition of the sound that came to them from their environment. The old moon had become a watery ball due to further compression and the bodies of the living beings had also compressed. From the sun, light radiated continuously to the moon, and those forces that strove for spiritualization and refinement of matter were contained in it. In the finer part of the old moon, which had separated out as the sun, spiritual [forces] had gone along with it, leaving the coarser part behind. From the outside, this spiritual essence acted on the part striving for condensation, radiating light and life into it. The coarser part revolved around this source of light as the old moon. It was the same with the individual centers on the old moon. During the separation, the part that was to become more spiritual and in particular developed the centrifugal force within itself went with the sun, and the part that was to become more dense and developed the centripetal force within itself remained with the old moon and condensed into a watery state. The bodies of the living creatures were on the old moon, while the spiritual that animated them was outside these bodies on the sun, radiating its light from there into these bodies. In the animal kingdom, as it is revealed today in the evolution of the earth, something can be found that corresponds to this effect, only it is adapted to the earth conditions. In the animal, the actual spiritual that animates the animal's physical body cannot be found in the animal itself. There is a spiritual center outside of the animal forms, from which life is radiated into the animals. On today's Earth it is the case that a whole animal species is animated by a common spiritual essence, in such a way that one can think of this spiritual essence as a center and the animal species as a periphery that surrounds this point and receives life from it. Thus the old moon orbited its sun and was animated from this spiritual center. Through the fact that these spiritual powers had separated from the moon and worked in from the outside, as the moon revolved around the sun, movement arose during the development of the moon and this also asserted itself for the individual centers. Spiritual beings in turn formed these in such a way that they became capable of being, in potential, that which man today knows as his astral body. In the human astral body, the sensations and feelings that are stimulated in him by the environment are in constant motion. With these feelings and perceptions, he answers the sound that comes to him from the outside world. During the development of the moon, the spiritual link was also established in him that makes spiritual understanding possible, resonating in spirit with world wisdom, so that the human being feels connected to it. Just as man lets the current of surging sensations flow through his astral body, holds it within himself and sends something in return, so that he can consciously react to it, so the light of world wisdom flows into his spiritual self, and it is possible for him to absorb this light within himself and consciously reflect it back. Through the fact that the old moon had split as a world body, so that there were two world bodies influencing each other, movement came into being and with it conscious feeling. The influences went from one world body to the other. The effects of the sun on the moon were felt as forces coming from outside, and so it was with the moon's effects, which followed the sun. Where the sun's forces met the moon's forces, a conscious experience was evoked. A kind of congestion occurred, and a boundary arose where the incoming force met the force coming to meet it. For every living being on the moon there was a limit to the field in which it could consciously experience something; there the possibility ceased to reveal its powers further outwards, and it met the incoming forces with its own power. The living beings that later became human beings on earth had consciousness during the early development of the moon; they did not yet have self-consciousness, because they were still completely absorbed in their environment. They had no experiences of their own and could only let what was revealed to them from the outside world resonate within them.

When the development of the moon had reached a certain degree of maturity, the spiritual powers that had brought it about withdrew. The powers of the sun and the moon neutralized each other, and the sun and the moon gradually reunited and entered into a state of rest. Then the earth emerged from this planetary night as a new world body. At first the earlier developmental stages were repeated under new conditions. The earth went through a period when, in physical terms, it was a body of heat like the old Saturn was back then. The individual centers gradually formed again under the effect of the centripetal force. Then came a time when the Earth became a ball of gas and the centrifugal force exerted influence, as it did at that time on the old Sun. The centers began to radiate again; that was the solar condition on Earth. After that, there was a repetition of the moon condition on earth. Then the sun separated from the other part of the world body, leaving behind the earth, in which the moon forces had remained. Those forces that strove for spiritualization had gone with the sun. From there they radiated light and life into the world body, which now condensed further. The planets also went with the sun, and only the lunar forces remained connected to the earth. In the individual centers, it was also the case that a part striving for spiritualization had gone with the sun and from there radiated its power, while the coarser part remained on earth. A state then occurred in which what had taken place on the old moon was repeated. The earth and the bodies of the living beings became more and more dense. The centripetal forces were predominant. But then a new phase occurred, which arose from the fact that in this earth development not only the old moon had remained, as it was during the old moon development, but that a new force, the actual earth force, had been added. This earth power worked in such a way that it revealed itself as a connecting power between the sun and moon forces, which it could bring into harmony and balance. When the condensation continued, because only the lunar forces were still connected to the earth, this earth force brought about a kind of balance by separating from the lunar forces. With these forces, the earth left the moon behind and remained so for itself between the two forces of the sun and the moon, the impulses striving for spiritualization and those for condensation. It is influenced by both, carries both within itself, and maintains its own equilibrium through its own power. A similar power can be demonstrated in the I of the present-day human being, for just as the earth is the mediator between the forces of the sun and the moon, so the I in man is the connecting link between the spiritual and the material, through which both can unite in him. The earth is also placed in space in such a way that the moon, with its freezing influence, and the sun, from which the spiritual light flows to it, move around it. As if enclosed in a shell, the earth is surrounded by the moon's forces; the sun's forces come to it from a more distant center, far above this shell. In the same way, the human ego is embedded in its sheaths, but from outside the spiritual light radiates to it from the realms of the cosmos.

In the two forces that interacted during the development of the moon, a third force had become active, which revealed itself by interacting with the other two in a perpendicular direction. This caused a new movement in general, which can be called proper motion. In the evolution of the earth, the physical expression of this can be found in the rotation of the earth around its own axis. On the old moon, the two forces, where they met, created a kind of consciousness through the accumulation. Now, through their meeting with this third force, a double congestion arose and thus the general consciousness was limited and closed off, so that it became dependent on itself. This allows it to deepen into self-awareness, in that it can grasp itself, so that the germ of ego consciousness is laid. The same forces were at work on the bodies of living beings, and each of these bodies then became more dependent on itself. They acquired a movement of their own, like the earth had, and it was precisely through this movement that further solidification occurred. The bodies became more self-contained, so that an inner life of their own became possible within these bodies. The further condensation of the bodies was no longer caused merely by the forces of the moon, as it had been before, but by their own motion, by the forces of the earth itself. These earthly forces were the sum total of all that had gone before in the three earlier stages of development and had transformed itself into the fourth, the actual state of the earth.

Again, it was spiritual entities that made this self-awareness possible for man by working during the evolution of the earth in such a way that they could give him the disposition for self-awareness, so that man could learn to say “I” to himself. Man himself inhabited the physical center (or body) on earth, and under the guidance of the higher beings, it was gradually developed into the physical human body as it appears today. The inner power, which was the predisposition for self-awareness, could only come to fruition in a physical body that was independent and separate from the environment. The physical human body gradually developed in this way; but the predisposition for the ego was already imprinted on the human being earlier. Just as the sphere of heat of the old Saturn condensed to become a ball of gas as the old sun, but then was able to radiate its own spiritual power as light into the universe, and how then in the old moon development further condensation occurred to the watery, on the other hand also the revelation of the more inner forces became possible in the sounding and in the movement, so in the earth development occurred a further condensation up to the earthy state and thereby was possible a further revelation of inner forces, which showed themselves as life, inner own life in the earthy. On ancient Saturn everything was contained in the dark ocean of heat; on the ancient Sun everything radiated in the light; on the ancient Moon everything vibrated with sound; and on the Earth everything lives its own inner life.

When the repetition of the earlier planetary developmental states occurred, the earth was initially in a fiery state; man lived in the element of fire and his physical body also consisted of this element. At that time, man mainly developed his will and through this he was able to influence that element. Even then, the disposition for self-awareness was imprinted on him. Later he walked the earth in the element of air, and his body was also in a gaseous state. And there came a time when he lived in watery vapor, and his body was also suited to this element of water. At that time he mainly developed feelings and was thus able to influence the elements. During this time, the human ego did not yet live in the physical body. It was outside of this body, although it was connected to it. It was only in the period called the post-Atlantean period that the physical body was further condensed into the actual earthly element and it became possible for the human ego to dwell in the physical body. Only then did man actually live on earth. Then he was able to develop thinking and thereby influence the earthly itself.

Thus man has developed into what he is today. He is born of the Godhead, he is woven into the great web of the world, and all the powers work together so that he may be built out of the great cosmos. For his sake the whole solar system was formed, it was transformed into the four phases that we call embodiments of the earth: as old Saturn, old sun, old moon and as the earth itself. Numerous beings had to sacrifice themselves so that he could become. Man sees some of these beings around him embodied in the lower natural kingdoms on earth, others he feels as forces working within him. There had to be beings that, through the three previous embodiments of the earth and on the earth itself, still repeated the Saturn level; there had to be other beings that, during the development of the earth, repeated the sun level, and others that repeated the moon level, so that they could live and work in the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms on earth. Thus there are beings that work within the human being as they did on the old moon, the old sun and the old Saturn. Just as little as man could live and be physically on earth without the three lower natural realms, he can develop as a self-aware being without these retarded forces or beings within him. Man perceives the effect of those beings that remained on the lunar level as inhibiting forces in his astral body, which express themselves in desires and affects that are of a lower nature and that also operate in the animal kingdom. The beings that remained on the solar level operate in his etheric body as inhibiting forces that bind him to habits and acquired ways of thinking. This effect contains something of the plant-like nature. For just as the plant, in its growth, always puts forth new leaves, always repeating the same process until, through the astral body, a change is brought about in the flower, so the habits and adopted ways of thinking, in a continuous repetition, continue to have an effect in man, and something new must also be brought about there through the forces of the astral body, through feelings and sensations. The beings that remained at the Saturn level and work within the human being pour their forces into the physical body as inhibiting forces, causing separation from the environment and a feeling of standing for and on one's own. This causes the person to feel like a personal center and to be stimulated to want, think and feel only for himself, using his environment as an end to this. There is a similarity here with the power that works in the mineral kingdom towards the centre, where the physical mineral is then formed through solidification, for this power also creates a solidification and enclosure in man, by hurling him back on himself. Just as these forces once worked on the old Saturn, the old sun and the old moon, they now work within man and he carries them within him as inhibiting and at the same time promoting forces, as the earth also carries them within itself.

When man in the post-Atlantean era begins to live on earth in his physical body with his sense of self, then from that point on until our time he goes through different cultural periods and in each of these cultural periods he undergoes a certain development. Thus, in the first culture, the ancient Indian culture, the etheric body is particularly worked on, in the second, the ancient Persian culture, the sentient or astral body, in the third, the Egyptian-Chaldean culture, the sentient soul, and in the fourth, the Greek-Latin culture, the intellectual soul of man. During this fourth cultural period, when man had sunk deepest into matter, so that his view of the spiritual world was completely closed, something very special occurred that must be described as the greatest, most important event in the evolution of the earth.

When the sun separated from the earth and the moon, the forces striving for spiritualization went with it and radiated light and life into the earth from there. But something was taken from the earth that was initially connected to it. The evolution of the earth could proceed to a certain point without these forces and precisely because these radiated light and life into it from outside. It was the same with the beings that lived on earth as human beings. They were able to develop their own inner life to a certain degree, but they too had lost a spiritual element when the sun separated. When man had developed to become what he could become as an earthly human being, when he had built up his physical body with the help of the higher beings so that he could become a temple for a divine spiritual being, then God also descended and inhabited this temple. The spiritual powers of the Sun united with the Earth again and through this, mankind was also given the opportunity for further development in the spirit. Numerous divine spiritual beings had sacrificed themselves so that man could come into being and develop; many cosmic powers had been built up in him. Now the time had come when the greatest sacrifice was to be made for humanity, when the highest spiritual being, God Himself, who reflected His spiritual life in the powers of the sun, descended to Earth to live in a human body and let His powers flow into the Earth. Then the powers of the sun were given to Earth and a spiritual imprint was made on everything that lived on Earth. From being a self-conscious earthly human being, the human being could now rise to become a self-aware spiritual being. His mortal ego became an immortal core that lives in the spiritual sunlight.

Something similar happens in the development of the individual and of all humanity as a whole as in the development of the earth. After the physical birth, the human being goes through a birth of his ether body and his astral body, only then is he independent of his environment and can he further develop the I within himself. He then develops his sentient soul, his mind soul, in which the I is particularly expressed, and his consciousness soul, in which the I rises above itself to develop the spirit self. Just at the time when humanity was developing the mind soul, in the Greco-Latin cultural period, that link in which the I can particularly express itself, the I of humanity receives a new spiritual impulse as God descends to earth and lives in the midst of humanity. Only then could humanity rise to the higher spiritual life. Mankind on earth was able to rise above itself, and the human ego was given the opportunity to develop into a divine ego.

Just as the individual human being is first born in relation to his physical body, later in relation to its etheric body and astral body, and only then does the I come into its own in him, so the earth was first born out of the cosmos in relation to the physical as old Saturn, then ethereally as old Sun, then astral as old Moon, and only in the state of the earth could the development of the I take place. Thus it can be thought of: ancient Saturn as an expression of the birth of the cosmic human being, the macrocosm on the physical plane; the evolution of the sun as the period during which the etheric body is formed in the macrocosm; the evolution of the moon as the formation of the astral body; and the earth as the developmental period of the mighty, powerful world-I. In the midst of this development, the cosmic higher I descends from spiritual spheres and connects with the further development of the earth. The spirit of the macrocosm descends into the world I.

In this way, cosmic development is mirrored in man and finds its expression in him. It is only on earth that he is born out of the cosmos as a self-aware being, and it is part of his further development that he learn to understand the spiritual impulse given to him, so that he may relive within himself what the world spirit has exemplified to humanity on earth.

Like a blossom opening on the plant of the human race, a human individuality opened itself to the spiritual sunlight, long before these solar forces had united with the earth again. Thus it knew what a great event in the evolution of the earth was about to take place and how it was to be brought about through a mediator who, having grown out of humanity, would surrender his whole being to the sunlight so that it could take complete hold of him. He was to sacrifice his own nature so that the exalted being of the sun might reveal itself in him on earth. As a seed, that individuality held this knowledge within itself. And when the time had come, a human being grew out of humanity, towards the spirit of the sun, like a living flower. It was able to absorb the spiritual powers of the sun by sacrificing its three bodily veils to the great spirit, so that it could descend and live in a human body on earth. Just as a plant begins to die after fertilization, so this body was dedicated to death when this event took place. And when the blood flowed from the wounds of this body on Golgotha, the seed of that flower sank into the earth as a new impulse for spiritual life, which was to develop further in humanity. Thus this impulse was placed in every human being like a spiritual germ, which continues to unfold within him when the human soul is stimulated to allow a flower to grow out of itself through new sensations and feelings, which can be fertilized by the spiritual sunlight. The same process takes place spiritually in the soul as occurs in the physical plant form when, in a kind of sense of shame, the plant withdraws into itself and begins to wither. In the same way, the human soul, when the light of the spirit has descended upon it, feels a deep sense of shame at its own imperfection, and this feeling causes it to turn inward. Once man has felt this spiritual light in his soul, it shines into his inner being and he learns to see himself as he really is. Then he takes the path he would otherwise have to take when he leaves his physical body at death. He descends into these veils, as a personal human being he begins to die. Man dies as an individual personality and gradually lives into the great cosmic being. Thus he can say: “In Christ I die”. With the new spiritual impulse, the human being first descends into his astral body. There, those beings who work as beings remaining on the lunar level come to meet him. They show themselves in all feelings, impulses and sensations that are of a lower nature. They are one step below the development of the I, in that they belong to the development of the moon. Therefore, they are not imbued with the conscious power of the ego and are of an animalistic nature. Everything that works in the human astral body as subconscious, unbridled feelings and sensations, finds there a world that presents itself to him as an external world. By consciously confronting his own inner world, he acquires the power to overcome these beings, to release them from his inner being and gradually transform them. Deeper still, man descends into his inner being, into the etheric body. There he finds a world that he has formed through his way of thinking in relation to what he has acquired from his environment in terms of traditions and habits. Beings that remained on the stage of the sun are active in the etheric body; they hinder his development in terms of conscious, free and independent thinking. These too will gradually be released and transformed by the spiritual impulse that he has received, to become beings of light and wisdom. If the human being then descends further into his physical body, he finds a whole world of forces at work in his will, as if he were a being left behind on the level of Saturn. They solidify his will in relation to the personal and direct it towards the personal center. He can also redeem these beings through the light of the spirit, which flows into his inner being from a center that lies outside his personality and with which he nevertheless feels intimately connected. Thus, the human being in his bodily sheaths initially experiences himself as the being to which he has developed so far. A new center has emerged for him, from which he can observe himself. He knows that the evolution of the three bodily sheaths into which he has had to descend belongs to earlier evolutionary states of the earth, and that he must therefore find in his soul the power that is to be developed in particular during the evolution of the earth and has been deposited in the soul. It is this power that makes him a self-conscious ego-being, so that he can consciously descend into himself. The plant seed gradually develops into the plant form and matures into an independent being within this form. The human being passes through the gate of death with his body still alive, by making himself independent of his bodily coverings. Then he finds within himself the spiritual germ that was placed in his soul through the Christ impulse. The Christ light shines out from his own being, and just as the ripe seed sinks into the earth after the plant has died, so this spiritual germ falls out of the narrow personality and sinks into the great light of the world. Then the light that has united itself with the earth since the event at Golgotha will shine out of the earth towards man. Then he can say to himself: In Christ I die, but reborn I will come to a fuller existence. And he feels and experiences within himself the meaning of the words: He who will lose his life for my sake shall keep it.

Just as man is born out of the macrocosm as a microcosm, as a self-aware I-being, he in turn goes back the way by gradually living himself back into the macrocosm with his I-consciousness. The spiritual powers have gradually withdrawn from man, after they had brought him all their offerings, so that he may now find his own way to spiritual ascent, so that he may consciously and voluntarily re-enter the spiritual realm.

Man first experiences these spiritual beings by feeling a close connection with the great Earth Mother, from whom he was born as an individual human being, but to whom he belongs and with whom he was much more intimately connected during his earlier stages of development. He experiences these states as the evolution of the old Saturn, the old sun and the old moon. Man descends into his own inner being and experiences the beings there that work in his three sheaths: in his astral body, etheric body and physical body. Then he finds the actual center of his own being, and the light of Christ radiates towards him. Then it also enters those stages of the evolution of the earth in which the three covers, the astral body, the etheric body and the physical body of the earth, were formed and experiences the spiritual beings that are connected with this evolution and pour their powers into it. Then the human soul progresses further and experiences the spiritual power that has sunk into the earth during its evolution as the light of Christ.

The entire cosmic evolution, in which man is interwoven, presents itself as a mighty tableau. It all takes place around him, this entire evolution lives and moves within him. He feels like a focal point where the beings and forces that are active in that evolution meet. The forces flow in and out of him; he himself is the product of those forces. In these effects he finds a firm center, like an inner center around which everything is grouped, and this center is the Christ-being, the center of macrocosmic and microcosmic development. Like a new center, from which everything flows out, to which everything flows, the source of all life, of all development, radiates towards him as the divine spirit, which stands behind all things, which worked before the things were. And just as he feels embedded in earthly evolution as an earthly man, so he recognizes himself as a spiritual being in this divine source of all life. In the soul lives the power of Christ, in the self-conscious spiritual core lives the power of the I. Beyond the veils of the body lives the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of all things, as a higher power of the I, which is the true, imperishable center of all being.

When man recognizes himself as a spiritual being in this All-Spirit, he can feel the meaning of the words from the Rosicrucian saying: “In the Holy Spirit I shall be reborn,” for as a new being he stands face to face with his earlier self, a being that must first acquire the qualities and abilities it needs in this spiritual life, just as a child must learn to use its bodily organs in the physical world. And again, this spiritual being must experience within itself the three spiritual powers that reveal themselves in the cosmic evolution as feeling, thinking, and willing, as love, wisdom, and power. Just as the child first learns to stand and then to walk, so must man learn to find direction and path in the spiritual world. This can only be acquired through feeling, by lovingly confronting everything. Then he must learn to recognize the truth by learning to understand the world wisdom that resounds in him, by allowing the sounds from the spiritual world to resound within him and intuiting their meaning, just as a child learns to understand language. Then he gradually learns to recognize true life in the spirit by experiencing within himself a center from which his own impulses of will and life emanate, so that he can reveal himself in speech and in his being. Therefore, Christ Jesus speaks the words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” No one can penetrate to the true spiritual source of all being, to the Father, if he has not developed these three powers in his spirit and combines them in the right way.

The development of man is represented in the symbol that belongs to the deeply significant Rosicrucian motto, in the black cross with the red roses. Man feels this symbol as something living, in which live and weave the spiritual forces that have built it up just as he is born out of the Godhead. But then he knows that further development of his soul is possible through the exertion of his own powers. He knows that not only must his blood become pure like the red sap of the roses, but that the black cross must also be transformed by purifying his nature of the veil and growing beyond the merely personal when he surrenders himself to something infinitely greater. Then he dies in Christ, and before his soul the dark, black cross is transformed into a luminous, radiant cross. The red roses expand into an infinite circle as the soul becomes more and more at home in the macrocosm until it perceives itself as this circle. In the all-embracing macrocosm, the human being then experiences himself in a new existence.

Then, in a mysterious way, the colors of the symbolum change, the roses turn green, the cross turns white. The soul can only sense the full significance by feeling the power that streams towards it. As if from higher spiritual spheres, the soul beholds and recognizes this holy symbol. It appears strict and powerful, as an invitation to constant work, so that the great ideal may one day be attained, which every single person can realize when they are reborn in the Holy Spirit.