FOUNDATIONS AT THE

PERIPHERY:
RUDOLF STEINERS OBSERVATIONS ON STAR KNOWLEDGE
AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH

Volume II
1916 To 1925

PARTIALLY-PROOFED DRAFT

R.S.W.Bobbette
2000

487 East Line Rd., R.R.#2 Gore Bay, Ont. P0P 1H0
705-282-3398
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................5
1916..................................................................................................................................................................6
13 June 1916.................................................................................................................................................6
20 June 1916.................................................................................................................................................7
18 July 1916.................................................................................................................................................7
30 July 1916.................................................................................................................................................8
12 Aug. 1916................................................................................................................................................8
13 Aug. 1916................................................................................................................................................8
28 Aug. 1916................................................................................................................................................8
17 Sept. 1916................................................................................................................................................8
1 Oct. 1916...................................................................................................................................................9
21 Dec. 1916.................................................................................................................................................9
24 Dec. 1916...............................................................................................................................................10
1917................................................................................................................................................................10
17 Apr. 1917...............................................................................................................................................10
19 Apr. 1917...............................................................................................................................................10
15 Jan. 1917................................................................................................................................................10
21 Jan. 1917................................................................................................................................................10
28 Jan. 1917................................................................................................................................................11
13 Feb. 1917...............................................................................................................................................11
13 Mar. 1917...............................................................................................................................................12
24 April 1917..............................................................................................................................................13
18 Sept. 1917..............................................................................................................................................14
30 Sept. 1917..............................................................................................................................................14
7 Oct. 1917.................................................................................................................................................14
21 Oct. 1917...............................................................................................................................................15
26 Oct. 1917...............................................................................................................................................16
16 Nov. 1917..............................................................................................................................................17
25 Nov, 1917..............................................................................................................................................19
1918................................................................................................................................................................20
5 Jan. 1918..................................................................................................................................................20
6 Jan. 1918..................................................................................................................................................21
8 Jan. 1918..................................................................................................................................................21
11 Jan. 1918................................................................................................................................................23
13 Jan 1918.................................................................................................................................................23
26 Mar. 1918...............................................................................................................................................23
12 Oct. 1918...............................................................................................................................................24
19 Oct. 1918...............................................................................................................................................24
20 Oct. 1918...............................................................................................................................................24
2 Nov. 1918................................................................................................................................................24
1919................................................................................................................................................................25
1 Nov, 1919................................................................................................................................................25
4 Nov. 1919................................................................................................................................................25
9 Nov, 1919................................................................................................................................................25
1920................................................................................................................................................................26
22 Mar. 1920...............................................................................................................................................26
26 Mar. 1920...............................................................................................................................................26
27 Mar. 1920...............................................................................................................................................28
29 Mar. 1920...............................................................................................................................................30
31 Mar. 1920...............................................................................................................................................30
 4 Apr. 1920.................................................................................................................................................31
7 Apr. 1920.................................................................................................................................................31
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16 Apr. 1920...............................................................................................................................................34
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18 Apr. 1920...............................................................................................................................................37
23 Apr. 1920...............................................................................................................................................38
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25 Apr. 1920...............................................................................................................................................38
1 May 1920.................................................................................................................................................38
2 May 1920.................................................................................................................................................39
8 May 1920.................................................................................................................................................40
9 May 1920.................................................................................................................................................41
25 July 1920...............................................................................................................................................41
10 Dec. 1920...............................................................................................................................................41
18 Dec. 1920...............................................................................................................................................42
1921................................................................................................................................................................43
1 Jan. 1921..................................................................................................................................................43
2 Jan. 1921..................................................................................................................................................44
3 Jan. 1921..................................................................................................................................................46
4 Jan. 1921..................................................................................................................................................48
5 Jan. 1921..................................................................................................................................................50
6 Jan. 1921..................................................................................................................................................50
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10 Jan. 1921................................................................................................................................................54
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18 Jan. 1921................................................................................................................................................67
15 Apr. 1921...............................................................................................................................................69
5 May 1921.................................................................................................................................................70
7 May 1921.................................................................................................................................................74
8 May 1921.................................................................................................................................................74
13 May 1921...............................................................................................................................................75
18 June 1921...............................................................................................................................................75
19 June 1921...............................................................................................................................................76
24 June 1921...............................................................................................................................................77
July, 1921....................................................................................................................................................80
1 July 1921.................................................................................................................................................80
3 July 1921.................................................................................................................................................81
24 Sept 1921...............................................................................................................................................81
7 Oct.1921..................................................................................................................................................82
24 Nov. 1921..............................................................................................................................................83
27 Nov. 1921..............................................................................................................................................84
1922................................................................................................................................................................84
8 Jan. 1922..................................................................................................................................................84
17 Feb. 1922...............................................................................................................................................84
14 Apr. 1922...............................................................................................................................................85
 6 May 1922.................................................................................................................................................85
26 May 1922...............................................................................................................................................86
2 Aug. 1922................................................................................................................................................87
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22 Aug. 1922..............................................................................................................................................88
30 Aug. 1922..............................................................................................................................................88
23 Sept. 1922..............................................................................................................................................89
27 Sept. 1922..............................................................................................................................................91
30 Sept. 1922..............................................................................................................................................91
12 Nov. 1922..............................................................................................................................................92
18 Nov. 1921..............................................................................................................................................92
19 Nov. 1922..............................................................................................................................................93
26 Nov. 1922..............................................................................................................................................94
2 Dec. 1922.................................................................................................................................................95
3 Dec. 1922.................................................................................................................................................95
26 Dec. 1922...............................................................................................................................................96
1923................................................................................................................................................................96
6 Jan. 1923..................................................................................................................................................96
30 Jan. 1923................................................................................................................................................96
3 Feb. 1923.................................................................................................................................................96
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10 Feb. 1923...............................................................................................................................................97
31 Mar. 1923...............................................................................................................................................98
27 July 1923...............................................................................................................................................99
20 Aug. 1923............................................................................................................................................103
25 Aug. 1923............................................................................................................................................104
28 Aug. 1923............................................................................................................................................104
29 Aug. 1923............................................................................................................................................104
30 Aug. 1923............................................................................................................................................105
15 Sept. 1923............................................................................................................................................105
5 Oct. 1923...............................................................................................................................................106
13 Oct. 1923.............................................................................................................................................106
20 Oct. 1923.............................................................................................................................................107
21 Oct. 1923.............................................................................................................................................108
26 Oct. 1923.............................................................................................................................................109
2 Nov. 1923...............................................................................................................................................110
4 Nov, 1923...............................................................................................................................................110
9 Nov, 1923...............................................................................................................................................111
10 Nov. 1923.............................................................................................................................................111
1 Dec, 1923...............................................................................................................................................112
5 Dec. 1923...............................................................................................................................................113
24 Dec. 1923.............................................................................................................................................113
1924..............................................................................................................................................................113
5 Jan. 1924................................................................................................................................................113
17 Jan. 1924..............................................................................................................................................113
11 Jan. 1924..............................................................................................................................................114
12 Jan. 1924..............................................................................................................................................115
13 Jan 1924...............................................................................................................................................115
20 Jan. 1924..............................................................................................................................................115
25 Jan. 1924..............................................................................................................................................116
27 Jan. 1924..............................................................................................................................................116
28 Jan. 1924..............................................................................................................................................117
9 Feb. 1924...............................................................................................................................................117
13 Feb. 1924.............................................................................................................................................118
30 Mar. 1924.............................................................................................................................................119
20 Apr. 1924.............................................................................................................................................119
 11 May 1924.............................................................................................................................................120
16 May 1924.............................................................................................................................................120
18 May 1924.............................................................................................................................................121
23 May 1924.............................................................................................................................................122
24 May 1924.............................................................................................................................................122
29 May 1924.............................................................................................................................................122
30 May 1924.............................................................................................................................................123
1 June 1924...............................................................................................................................................123
7 June 1924...............................................................................................................................................125
10 June 1924.............................................................................................................................................126
11 June 1924.............................................................................................................................................130
14 June 1924.............................................................................................................................................131
15 June 1924.............................................................................................................................................135
16 June 1921.............................................................................................................................................135
1 July 1924...............................................................................................................................................135
5 July 1924...............................................................................................................................................136
6 July 1924...............................................................................................................................................136
7 July 1924...............................................................................................................................................136
13 July 1924.............................................................................................................................................137
8 Aug. 1924..............................................................................................................................................137
9 Aug. 1924..............................................................................................................................................137
12 Aug. 1924............................................................................................................................................139
13 Aug. 1924............................................................................................................................................139
16 Aug. 1921............................................................................................................................................139
21 Aug. 1924............................................................................................................................................140
22 Aug. 1924............................................................................................................................................140
24 Aug. 1924............................................................................................................................................141
27 Aug. 1924............................................................................................................................................141
9 Sept. 1924..............................................................................................................................................141
11 Sept. 1924............................................................................................................................................142
13 Sept. 1924............................................................................................................................................143
15 Sept. 1924............................................................................................................................................144
17 Sept. 1924............................................................................................................................................144
18 Sept. 1924............................................................................................................................................144
2 Nov. 1924..............................................................................................................................................145
28 Dec. 1924.............................................................................................................................................145
1925..............................................................................................................................................................145
4 Jan. 1925................................................................................................................................................145
11 Jan. 1925..............................................................................................................................................146
25 Jan. 1925..............................................................................................................................................146
22 Mar. 1925.............................................................................................................................................147
Sept. 1925.................................................................................................................................................147
References to Rudolf Steiners Star-Knowledge..........................................................................................147
Steiner lectures & books researched, but with indirect, redundant or no astrological references:...............151
INTRODUCTION
This is an incomplete, partially proofed draft of vol. II of Foundations at the Periphery. I am presenting
it because it is not at all clear when, or if, it will ever be completed. Vol. I gives essential information for
anyone wishing to work with this text, and readers should read the introduction and qualifications given in
that work if they have not already done so. Vol. I represents a survey of 808 of the approximately 1,085
lectures by Dr. Steiner up to 1915, available in English at the time of writing, and I consider this a
percentage appropriate to represent his point of view. The text that follows does not supply the same
percentage survey, and I have about another 30 lectures in hand, with pertinent passages that are not
included here.

A statistically significant collection of topically pertinent observations is the only sure antidote
to the poison of lies about Steiner and his work spread by so-called authorities, both within
Anthroposophy and outside of it.

1916

13 June 1916
The nerve substance is, so to speak, designed for life in the heavens, in the extraterrestrial realm, but
because it is in our organism and has thus entered the earthly sphere, it dies. This is very strange,
isnt it? We have this nerve substance in us that is alive in the realm of the cosmos but dead in the
realm of the earth. If we were to take some of this nerve substance up beyond the reach of earthly
influences, we would have a wonderful, living, luminous substance. Of course, as soon as we
returned to our earthly sphere, it would revert again to the still, lifeless condition in which it now
rests within us. Our nerve substance, then, is alive in the cosmos and dead on earth.
"In fact, as far as its material composition is concerned, the nerve substance we have in us is an
extraterrestrial element. All this can be very clearly expressed in a symbol. As you remember, I
once lectured here on anthroposophy in a more specific sense and listed the human senses.
Usually people distinguish only five senses, hut we counted twelve then. Human beings have twelve senses
if everything that can really be called a sense is taken into account. Ultimately, our senses are
nothing but points of departure from which are nerves extend into us.
"So, we really have twelve senses. And from these twelve senses nerves extend into us like little trees. This
is because the nervous system that belongs to our outer senses is the expression of the passage of
the sun through the twelve constellations of the zodiac, which is symbolized in the relation of our
entire nervous system to each of the twelve senses. This shows that we carry in us, in the spatial
relationship of our total nervous system to the twelve senses, what really exists out there in the
cosmos in the suns passage through the constellations of the zodiac.
"When you look at that part of our nervous system located deep inside us in the spinal cord, you will find
the nerve fibres extending through the ring-like vertebrae of the spine. These rings in fact
correspond to the months, to the orbit of the moon around the earth. Thus, the passage of each
nerve fibre through the opening of the vertebrae in the spine corresponds to each day of the month
another cosmic relationship! The orbit of the moon around the earth is really symbolized in the
relationship of our inner nerves to the spinal cord. Our nerve substance is entirely built up out of
the heavens, out of the cosmos. We can understand this marvelous organization of the nerve
substance within us only when we see in its tree-like arrangement an image of the whole starry
 firmament. And the forces that flow outside from star to star and express themselves in the
movement of the heavenly bodies, those same forces actually flow in our nervous system, which
is, however, dead in us. This connection between the organization of the cosmos and the structure
of our nervous system, like many other things, reveals that the whole universe is manifest in us.
Insofar as our nervous system is built for the heavens, it is alive in the heavens, in the cosmos, but
it is dead in us because it has entered the earthly sphere.
"Our blood substance is quite different because it belongs entirely to the earth. Due to the inner
composition of the blood, the processes taking place in it would really have to be completely
earthly processes. The peculiar thing about them, however, is that they are not living processes. As
you know, the mineral realm, the lifeless kingdom, developed during evolution on the earth. And
the nature of our blood corresponds to this lifeless kingdom. Although our blood lives as long as it
is in us, it is not destined for life by its earthly nature. Strangely enough, our blood is alive only
because it is connected to the cosmic element in us. Our nervous system is actually destined for
life in the cosmos beyond the earth but is dead inside us; our blood, on the other hand, is meant to
be dead in us and receives its life from outside. In a sense, the nervous system yields its life to the
blood. Thus, the nervous system is dead while the blood is alive, comparatively speaking. Our
blood is by its very nature dead on earth and has only a borrowed life, a cosmic life forced upon it.
Life itself is not at all of our earth. That is why the nervous system must take death upon itself in
order to become earthly, and why the blood has to become living to enable us as beings of earthly
substance to turn to the world beyond the earth." (68, pp.30-32)

20 June 1916
"In the macrocosm the sun moves through twelve signs of the zodiac in the course of a year, and the human
I lives here on the physical plane in the twelve senses. Things are certainly rather different out
there in the macrocosm, especially in regard to their sequence in time. The sun moves from Aries
through Taurus, and so on, and back again through Pisces to Aries as it makes its yearly course
through the twelve signs of the zodiac. Everything we have in us, even everything we experience
in our soul, is related to the outer world through our twelve senses. These are the senses of touch,
life, movement, balance, smell, taste, sight, warmth, hearing, speech, thinking and the sense of the
I.
"Our inner life moves through this circle of the twelve senses just as the sun moves through the circle of the
twelve signs of the zodiac. But we can take this external analogy even further. In the course of a
year, the sun has to move through all the signs of the zodiac from Aries to Libra; it moves through
the upper signs during the day/and through the lower ones at night. The sun's passage through
these lower signs is hidden from outer light. It is the same with the life of our soul and the twelve
senses. Half of the twelve are day senses, just as half of the signs of the zodiac are day signs; the
others are night senses.
"You see, our sense of touch pushes us into the night life of our soul, so to speak, for with our sense of
touch, one of our coarser senses, we bump into the world around us. The sense of touch is barely
connected with the day life of our soul, that is, with the really conscious life of the soul. You can
see for yourself that this is true when you consider how easily we can restore the impressions of
our other senses in our memory and how difficult it is to remember the impressions of the sense of
touch. Just try it and you'll see how difficult it is to remember, for example, the feel of a piece of
fabric you touched a few years ago. Indeed you'll find you have little need or desire to remember
it. The impression sinks down in the same way as the light fades into twilight when the sun
descends into the sign of Libra at night, into the region of the night signs. And thus other senses
are also completely hidden from our waking, conscious soul life.
"As for the sense of life, conventional psychological studies hardly mention it at all. They usually list only
five senses, the day senses or senses of waking consciousness. But that need not concern us
further. The sense of life enables us to feel our life in us, but only when that life has been
disturbed, when it is sick, when something causes us pain or hurts us. Then the sense of life tells
us we are hurting here or there. When we are healthy, we are not aware of the life in us; it sinks
into the depths, just as there is no light when the sun is in the sign of Scorpio or in any other night
sign. (68, pp.49-51)
"Now picture the rising sun, the emergence of the light, the setting sun. This is the macrocosmic picture of
our microcosmic inner life. Though it does not move in a circle, our inner life nevertheless
proceeds through the twelve signs of the zodiac of the soul, that is, through the twelve senses.
Every time we perceive the I of someone else, we are on the day side of our soul-sun. When we
turn inward into ourselves and perceive our inner balance and our movements, we are on the night
side of our inner life.
"Now you will not think it so improbable when I tell you that in the time between death and rebirth the
senses that have sunk deeply into our soul's night side will be of special importance for us because
they will then be spiritualized. At the same time, the senses that have risen to the day side of our
inner life will sink down deeper after death. Just as the sun rises, so does our soul rise, figuratively
speaking, between the sense of taste and the sense of sight, and in death it sets again.. (68, pg.55)

18 July 1916
"I also spoke about the twelve senses and connected them with the twelve forces corresponding to the
twelve signs of the zodiac. We said that microcosmically we bear within us the macrocosm with its
forces working into us primarily from the twelve signs of the zodiac. Each of these forces is
different: the forces of Aries differ from those of Taurus, which in turn differ from those of
Gemini, and so on. Similarly, our eyes perceive different things than out ears. The twelve senses
thus correspond to the twelve signs of the zodiac, but there is more to it than that.
"We know that the rudiments of our sense organs were developed already on old Saturn, then evolved
further during the old Sun and the old Moon periods up to the time of our earth. During our earth
period, we have become self-enclosed beings with completely developed sense organs. In the
Moon, Sun, and Saturn periods, human beings were much more open to the great cosmos, and the
forces of the twelve signs of the zodiac affected the essential core of the human being. While the
rudiments of our sense organs were being formed, they were affected by the forces of the zodiac.
Thus, when we speak of the connection between the senses and the signs of the zodiac, we mean
more than a mere correspondence. We seek those forces that have built our sense organs into us.
We do not speak superficially of some vague kind of correspondence between the ego-sense and
Aries or between the other senses and this or that sign of the zodiac." (68, pp.138-139)

30 July 1916
[Relationship of the old Hebraic Jubilee Year to the orbit of (astronomical) Mercury, Jupiter and
Uranus as an example of social ordering to prepare souls for spiritual cosmic facts.]
Then we consider yet another planet, one not known to the ancient Hebrews. They were, however, aware
of its sphere, which they thought of as being beyond the planets; they thought of it as the crystal
sphere that formed the vault of the heavens. Much later it was discovered that one could speak of
Uranus as being there. But we can consider Uranus, even though it was discovered much later. The
only difference is that the ancient Hebrews thought of a sphere in the place where Uranus was
later located (105, pp.18-23, precis by RSWB)

12 Aug. 1916
[Relationship of 12 senses to Zodiac and 7 life-precesses to planets, in a general way]. (106, pp.87-94,
precis by RSWB)

13 Aug. 1916
There is a whole world that can be perceived through Imagination, through imaginative knowledge.
This world that is accessible to imagination is reflected from beyond the constellations of the
zodiac into the senses of the human organism. To picture this, imagine that Sun, Venus, Mercury
and Moon are reflections of what exists beyond the limits of the zodiac: they have spiritual
counterparts that exist there and the astronomical bodies we can observe within the bounds of the
zodiac are only reflections of those counterparts.
And then there is yet another supersensible region. It is beyond the limits of the human senses and
perceptible only through the faculty of Inspiration. This is the world of Inspiration, The processes
of breathing, warming and nourishing are a reflection of this world, just as Saturn, Jupiter and
Mars are reflections of their spiritual counterparts from beyond the limits of the zodiac. Moreover
 there is a profound relationship between what is out there in the cosmos and what, as lower nature,
is present in man. These spiritual counterparts of the life processes actually exist And this is
how we should mark out the boundaries of the human senses and life processes. (105, pp.99-100)

28 Aug. 1916
[Examples of the metamorphosis of the 12 zodiac-parts of the human body to the 12 zodiac-senses
from incarnation to incarnation] (106, pp.177-179, precis by RSWB)

17 Sept. 1916
"The fourth post-Atlantean age extends both backwards and forwards from its central point in 333 A.D. It
ended about 1413 A.D. and it began about 747 B.C. These are, of course, approximate dates. I
have just told you that the disappointment of Lucifer and Ahriman in the forms the Greek and
Roman civilizations had assumed, has led them to make still stronger efforts in our fifth post-
Atlantean age. Their efforts are already at work in the human forces that have been active from the
fifteenth century. It does not matter whether something occurs a few decades earlier of later. In
outer physical reality, which takes on the form of the 'great illusion', things are sometimes
misplaced." (32,pp.23-24)

"The entire aim in the work of the luciferic and ahrimanic powers in the fifth post-atlantean age, concerning
both the perception of the primal phenomenon and the development of free imaginations, is to
hinder these forces from arising in man. The luciferic and ahrimanic powers are working in this
fifth post-Atlantean age to disturb these forces in the human soul, to employ them to a wrong end,
thus bringing men's souls out of the earth sphere to establish a new sphere of their own. Many
things must work together to disturb the right, quiet and slow unfolding of these forces. Note well
that I say the quiet and slow unfolding because the entire period of 2,160 years, starting in 1413
A.D., should be used for the gradual unfoldment of the forces I have named, that is, free
imaginations and the gradual development of working with primal phenomena. At intervals - by
fits and starts, as it were, - the luciferic and ahrimanic powers throw the whole weight of their
opposition against this right evolution. When we bear in mind that everything is prepared for by
the world beyond the earth long before it happens, we shall then not be surprised to find
preparations being made to bring the strongest forces of opposition against the normal evolution of
humanity." (32, pp.28-29)

1 Oct. 1916
"But spiritually, things are otherwise. You see, to an observer able to behold the spiritual, the following is
presented, for example. He comes upon a certain movement of the sun; it takes this course.
(lemniscate) Seen from a certain point of view, it is the sun's course; but when I draw this line here
and bring the sun back again, the point does not fall exactly on the earlier point; it lies somewhat
above it. This is a real movement of the sun that can be perceived spiritually.
"But the earth, too, makes certain movements in the course of a year. Observed spiritually, it describes this
orbit. (intercepting lemniscate)
"You must picture it in three dimensions. If you picture the orbit of the sun lying in a plane, then the orbit of
the earth lies in this plane - seen, that is, from the side. If here is the orbit of the sun drawn as a
line the earth orbit is so: (intercepting)
"But, as you see from this, there is a point in the cosmos, where the sun and the earth are both together, but
not at the same time. When the sun is there on its path, or rather has left this point by a quarter of
its path, the earth begins its movement at the point that the sun has left. After a certain time we
are, in fact, on the spot in cosmic space where the sun was. Together with the earth, we actually
pass in space through the spot where the sun has been. We sail through it. We not only sail through
it, however, because the sun leaves behind results of its activity in the space it has traversed, so
that the earth enters into the imprints left behind by the sun and crosses them - really crosses them.
Space has living content, spiritual content, and the earth enters and crosses, sails through, what the
sun has called forth.
"There is a similar relationship with other planets, too. At certain times we are approximately at the places
where Mercury was, etc. The planets carry out quite complicated movements in universal space,
and they enter into the imprints of each other." (32, pp.145-147)
"...twice in the year we are where the sun has been operative in space. The first time it is as if the sun
descended below the earth's path, and the second, as if the sun ascended and the earth's path was
underneath." (32,pg.149)

21 Dec. 1916
"Everything that comes into the world calls forth a Luciferic and an Ahrimanic counter part. The event
which as experienced by the Ingaevones - was part of the regular, ordained evolution of mankind
was connected with the time of the first full moon after the vernal equinox. But owing to the
precession of the equinox, what had remained from the olden days as a dream experience was
transferred to a later date and therefor became Ahrimanic. When the experience that had arisen in
ancient times in the true Hera cult was advanced about four weeks, it became Ahrimanic. This
meant that the union of the woman with the spiritual world was sought in an irregular way - at the
wrong time. Here lies the explanation of the institution of the Walpurgis Night - between the 30th
April and the Ist May. It is nothing but an Ahrimanic transposition of time. Luciferic transposition
of time goes backward; Ahrimanic transposition of time runs in the opposite direction, being
connected with the precession of the equinox." (18, pg.65)(slightly different translation, 59,
pg.178)

24 Dec. 1916
"With the consciousness of the fifth post-Atlantean period we stand in isolation on the earth. In a delirious
consciousness, cosmic effects are drawn into the soul. And these, of course, have to be utilized in
an appropriate way. Let us take an actual case.
"Someone who today wants to work on others, on those whose consciousness is delirious, with the purpose
of achieving a particular end, can do the following: He can remember when something similar
existed in an earlier age when the starry constellations were also similar. Now since everything
goes in waves in the world, so that a particular wave returns to the surface after a certain time, in
order to achieve certain effects he can make use of an event which under similar cosmic conditions
is like a copy of an earlier event. Let us assume that someone wants to achieve something by
influencing others in their delirious consciousness, by carrying out certain procedures involving
certain facts. He goes back in history and recalls something which happened at an earlier date
under a similar starry constellation.
Assume someone wants to bring something about on a day in the spring of a particular year. Having
established that it is Whitsuntide, he goes back through time until he finds an event that is similar
to the one he wants to bring about. And it must fall in a year when the date of Whitsuntide fell
approximately on similar days of the month. Then the starry constellation will also be roughly the
same. By utilizing all this it will then be possible to work on those in a delirious state of
consciousness. (59, pg.197)

1917
17 Apr. 1917
Constantine therefore embarked upon the ambitious plan to found Constantinople, and the work was
completed in A.D.326. He intended that the foundation of the city should coincide with this
turning-point in world history. He therefore chose to lay the foundation stone at the moment when
the sun stood in the sign of the Archer and the Crab ruled the hour. He followed closely the
indications of the cosmic signs (70, pp.138-139)

19 Apr. 1917
Concepts cannot provide a total picture of reality. Scientific concepts are valid for the period of time
 between 6000-7000B.C. and A.D.6000-7000, but not beyond that time. (70, pg.152)

15 Jan. 1917
"This ecclesiastical element of cultus and hierarchy, which was a transformation of ancient Rome into the
Roman Catholicism which streamed into Europe, is one of the impulses which continue to work
like retarded impulses throughout the whole fifth post-Atlantean period, but especially in its first
third. You could. I might add, work out how long this is going to last. You know that one post-
Atlantean period lasts approximately 2,160 years. One third of this is 720 years. So starting with
the year 1415, this takes the main period to the year 2135." (60, pg.114)

21 Jan. 1917
"Investigations are often made - unfortunately not always with the necessary respect and dignity, but out of
egoistic reasons - into the starry constellation prevailing at birth. Much less selfish and much more
beautiful would be a horoscope, a planetary horoscope made for the moment of death. This is most
revealing for the whole soul of the human being, for the entry into death at a particular moment is
most revealing in connection with karma.
"Those who decide to conduct such investigations - the rules are the same as those applied to the birth
horoscope - will make all kinds of interesting discoveries, especially if they have known the
people for whom they do this fairly well in life. For several days the dead person bears within
himself, in the etheric body he has not yet discarded, an echoing vibration of what comes from the
planetary constellation." (60, pg.157)

28 Jan. 1917
"You know that the position of the sun on the ecliptic at the spring equinox moves forward in the Zodiac.
You know that this point has been designated, ever since mankind began to think, according to its
position in the Zodiac. So from about the eighth century before the Mystery of Golgotha until
about the fifteenth century after the Mystery of Golgotha, the sun at the spring equinox rose in the
sign of the Ram, though not always at exactly the same spot. During this time the sun traversed the
sign of the Ram. Since then, the sun at the spring equinox has been rising in the sign of the Fishes.
Note, please, that astronomy takes no account of the constellations, so you will find that calendars
still say that the sun rises in the constellation of the Ram at the beginning of spring, which is in
fact not the case. Astronomy has stuck to the earlier cycle. It simply divides the Zodiac into twelve
equal parts, each of which is named after one of the signs. You know from your calendar what the
situation is." [relationship of Platonic Year to human breathing, waking-sleeping, and life-
span rhythms] (60. pp.188-194, precis by RSWB)(Slightly different translation, 59, pg.178)

13 Feb. 1917
"Yet ordinary scientific reflection might teach a man, even today, that he and his life are part of the whole
cosmic ordering in which he as organism is placed. Let us take a simple example, which only
needs a very simple reckoning. We all know that in the Spring, on the 21st March, the sun rises at
a definite point in the heavens. This we call the Vernal Point. We know too that this Vernal Point is
not the same each year, but that it progresses. We know that now the sun rises in Pisces. Up to the
fifteenth century it rose in Aries (Astronomy continues to say 'in Aries' which is not correct, but
this remark does not apply at the moment). Thus the Vernal Point progresses; the sun rises a little
further on in the Zodiac every spring, and it is easy to see that in a given time it will have moved
through the whole Zodiac; the place of sunrise will have moved through the whole Zodiac. Now
the approximate time required for the Sun in its journey through the Zodiac is: 25,920 years. Thus,
taking the Vernal Point of any given year, it will be further on the year following, and the year
after will have progressed again. When 25,920 years have gone by, the Vernal Point will be back
again at its original place. Thus 25,920 years is an exceptionally important space of time in our
Solar System; the sun has accomplished what I might call a cosmic step when at the vernal ascent
it returns to the same point. Now Plato, the great Greek philosopher, called these 25,920 years a
cosmic year - the great Platonic Cosmic year. Now if one has not gone into all this deeply, what I
am about to say will seem only remarkable; - it is indeed remarkable; but at the same time full of
profound significance.
"In his normal state a man draws eighteen breaths a minute. This varies, because he breathes rather quickly
 in childhood and more slowly in old age - but of a normal man it is correct to say: he draws
eighteen breaths a minute. It is easy to reckon that 18 times 60 make 1,080, which is the number
of breaths to the hour: multiply this by 24 the number of hours in the day - and you get 25,920
breaths in the day. Thus you see, my dear friends, that the same number regulates the human day
as regards a man's breathing as regulates the passage of the Vernal Point through the great cosmic
year.
"This is a sign which shows that we are not just talking in a general, vague, dimly-mystical way when we
say that the microcosm is an image of the Macrocosm, but that man is really governed in an
important activity, upon which each moment of his life depends, by the same number and measure
as the course of the sun, in which course he is himself placed.
"Now let us take something else. - The patriarchal age, as it is called, is seventy human years. Of course
seventy years is not a hard-and -fast rule for the duration of a man's life; a man may live much
longer; for man is a free being and sometimes goes beyond such limitations. We will however
keep to this, and say that the normal life of man is seventy or seventy-one years, - and let us see
how many days these contain. Well now, we have 365.25 days in a year; - to begin with we will
multiply this number by 70, and we get 25,567.5; then we multiply by 71 and we get 25,932.75
days. This proves that between the ages of 70 and 71 years comes the point of time when a man's
life includes exactly 25,920 days - that is, the patriarchal age. Thus we have defined a human day
by saying it contains 25,920 breaths; and we define the period of a man's life by saying that it
reckons 25,920 days.
"Now let us investigate something else - which is not so difficult now. We shall easily see that, if we divide
the 25,920 years which the sun's vernal point requires to pass through the Zodiac, by 365.25, the
result is something like 70 or 71. That means that if we consider the Platonic year as one great
year and divide till we bring out a day, we find the proportion of a day to a Platonic year. What is
that? It is the course of a human life. A man's life is to a Platonic year as a human day to a man 's
life." (69, pp.16-17)

13 Mar. 1917
"Now, in these olden times, when, as we know, there was a certain atavistic clairvoyance in man, he was
then more in harmony with the great course of the world-order, with respect to this rhythm. In
olden times people slept all night, and were awake all day. For this reason the whole circle of
man's experience was different from what it is now. But man has had in a sense to be lifted out of
this parallel with the Macrocosm, and being thus torn away he has been compelled to stimulate an
inner independent life of his own. It cannot be said that the main point was, that as in those days
man slept at night he did not then observe the stars; for he did observe them, notwithstanding the
fables of external science with respect to worship of the stars. The essential thing was that man
was then differently organised into the whole world-order; for while the sun was on the other side
of the earth and consequently did not exercise its immediate activity on the part of the earth on
which he lived, a man was then able in his ego and astral bodies - which were outside his physical
and etheric bodies to devote himself to the stars. He thus observed not merely the physical stars,
but perceived the Spiritual part of the physical stars. He did not actually see the physical stars with
external eyes; but he saw the Spiritual part of the physical stars. Hence we must not look upon
what is related of the ancient star-worship, as though the ancients looked up to the stars and then
made all sorts of beautiful symbols and images. It is very easy to say, according to modern
science: In those olden times the imagination was very active; men imagined gods behind Saturn,
Sun and Moon; they pictured animal forms in the signs of the Zodiac. But it is only the
imagination of the learned scientists that works this way, inventing such ideas! True it is, however,
that in the state of consciousness of the egos and astral bodies of the ancients, this did seem to
them to be as we have described, so that they really saw and perceived those things. In this way
man had direct vision of the spirit which is the soul of the universe; he lived with it. In reality it is
only as regards our physical and etheric body that we are suited for the earth; the ego and the astral
body in their present condition are suited to the spirit that ensouls the universe, in the manner
described. We may say that they belong to that region of the universe; but man must develop so far
as really to be able to experience the innermost being of his ego and astral body, and to have
experiences within them. For this purpose the external experience which was present in olden
times, had to disappear for a while, it had to be blurred. The consciousness of communication with
 the stars had to recede; it had to be dimmed, so that the inner being of man could become powerful
enough to enable him, at a definite time in the future, to learn to so strengthen it that he may be
able to find the spirit, as spirit. Just as the ancients were united every night, when asleep, with the
spirit of the stellar-world, so was man once connected with that spirit in the course of every year;
but as time went on, in the course of the year he came in touch with a Higher Spirit of the world of
the stars, and also in a sense with what went on in that world. While asleep at night the forms of
the stars in their calm repose worked upon him; in the course of the year he was affected by the
changes connected with the sun's course through the year; connected, as one might say, through
the sun's course with the destiny of the earth for the year, caused by her passage through the
seasons, and especially through the summer and winter." (69, pp.60-61)

"The animal spine - and in this respect the exceptions prove the rule - the animal spine is parallel to the
surface of the earth, its direction is out into the universe. The human spine is directed towards the
earth. For this reason man is quite different from the animal, above and below. The 'above and
below' in man determine his whole being. In the animal the spine is directed to the infinite
distances of the Macrocosm; in man the upper part of the head, the brain, and man himself are
inserted into the whole Macrocosm. This is of enormous significance. This brings about what
establishes a relation between the Spiritual and bodily in man, and through this his Spiritual and
bodily parts are made subject to the conditions of above and below. This 'above and below'
characterises what we may call 'the going out of the ego and astral body during sleep'. For man
with his physical body and etheric body is really inserted into and forms part of the earth while he
is awake. During the night time he, with his ego and astral body, is in a certain sense, inserted into
that which is above.
"Now we may ask: well, how is it then with other opposites to be found in the Macrocosm? There is also
the opposite which in man can be described as 'before and behind In respect to these, too, man is
inserted in a different way into the whole universe than is the animal or indeed the plant. Man is
inserted in such a way that he corresponds both before and behind to the course of the sun. This
'before and behind' is the direction which corresponds to the rhythm in which man takes part in
living and dying. Just as man expresses in a sense a living relation of the 'above and below' in his
sleeping and waking, so in his living and dying does he also express the relation of 'before and
behind'. This 'before and behind' is in correspondence with the course of the sun; so that for man,
'before' signifies towards the east and ' behind' towards the west. East and west form the second
direction of space, that direction of which we really speak when we say that the human soul
forsakes the human body not in sleep, but at death. For the soul on leaving the body goes towards
the east. This is only still to be found in those traditions in which, when a man dies it is said: he
has 'entered the eternal east'
"Now, the ancients rightly considered Saturn as the most distant planet from our solar system; it is the
furthest away. From the standpoint of materialistic astronomy it is quite justifiable to add Uranus
and Neptune to our system; but they have a different origin and do not belong to the solar system;
so that we may speak of Saturn as the outermost planet of our system. Now let us consider this. If
Saturn forms the boundary of the solar system, we may say that in its circuit round the sun, it
travels round the outermost boundaries of the solar system. When Saturn travels round the sun and
returns to his starting point from which he started, he describes the extreme limits of the solar
system. When he has traveled round the sun and returned to his starting point, he then occupies the
same relation to the sun as he did at first. Now Saturn, (as may be said, according to the
Copernican Cosmic System) takes from twenty-nine to thirty years to complete his course, which
is thus of about that duration. Here then, in the circuit of Saturn round the sun, which is not yet
understood to-day - (the facts are really quite different, but the Copernican Cosmic System has not
yet gone far enough to understand these) in the course of Saturn we have a connection, extending
to the furthest limits of the solar system, with the course of a human life, which is thus an image of
the Saturnian circuit in so far as the life-course of man leads to the meeting with the Father. That
also leads us out into the Macrocosm. In this way, my dear friends, I think I have shown you that
the innermost being of man can only be understood when considered in its connection to the
supra-earthly. The supra-earthly, being Spiritual, is organised into that which in a sense turns
towards us visibly. But that which it manifests visibly is also merely an expression of the Spiritual.
The raising of man above materialism will only take place when knowledge has progressed far
 enough to raise itself above the mere comprehension of earthly connections, and ascends once
more to grasp the world of the stars and the sun." (69, pp.65-69)

24 April 1917
"Now if we ask what man learned from these Mysteries - from the Mithras Mysteries which were already
decadent and from the Eleusinian Mysteries that had reached their high point towards the fourth
century B.C. - if we ask what benefit man derived from these Mysteries, then the answer is found
in the well-known injunction of the Delphic oracle: 'Know thyself'. Initiation was directed to the
attainment of self-knowledge along two different paths: first, self-knowledge through being thrust
inwards so that the astral and etheric bodies were 'condensed', so to speak, and through the impact
of the psychic on the physical, man realized: 'Now you perceive yourself for what you are; you
have attained self-awareness.' Such was the legacy of the Mithras Mysteries. In the Eleusinian
Mysteries, on the other hand, he attained to self-knowledge by means of various rites which
cannot be described in detail here. The soul thus came into contact with the secret power of the
Sun, with solar impulses irradiating the Earth, with the forces of the Moon impulse streaming into
the Earth, with the forces of stellar impulses and the impulses of the individual elemental forces -
the warmth, air and fire forces and so on. The external elements streamed through man's soul
(which had been withdrawn from the body) and in this encounter with the external forces he
attained self-knowledge. Those who were aware of the real meaning of the Mystery teachings
knew that man could attain to all kinds of psychic experiences outside the body, but he was unable
to grasp concretely the idea of the ego. Outside the Mysteries the idea of the ego was a purely
abstract concept at that time. Man could experience other aspects of the psychic and spiritual life,
but the ego had to be nurtured through Mystery training and needed a powerful stimulus. This was
the aim of the Mysteries and was known to the initiates." (70, pp.167-168)

18 Sept. 1917
[Time span of Graeco-Latin epoch] (33, pp.122 & 139, precis RSWB))

30 Sept. 1917
In ancient Indian times, development in soul and spirit continued to be dependent on physical
development until well into the 50s. People went on developing the way a child develops, and this
only came to an end when they were old men and women. This is the reason why people looked
up with such humility to their old people.
During the time of ancient Persia, people were no longer able to develop to such a high level but only into
their 40s and early 50s, and in Egyptian and Chaldean times only into their 40s. In Greaco-Latin
times, this kind of development went only as far as the thirty-fifth year. Then came a time you
will remember, the Graeco-Latin age began in the eighth century before the Mystery of Golgotha
when human beings were only capable of developing up to their thirty-third year. That was the
time when the Mystery of Golgotha took place. The age of humanity then matched the age at
which Christ went through the Mystery of Golgotha. (92, pg.37)

7 Oct. 1917
We may say that during the Atlantean age both the earth and humanity had reached their midpoint. Up to
then everything was growth and development. In some respect this has not been the case since the
Atlantean age. It certainly is no longer the case where the earth is concerned. When we walk on
the soil today I have mentioned this on a number of occasions we are walking on something
which is crumbling away; it is no longer something that is growing, as it was in early times.
Before and until the middle of the Atlantean age the earth was much more of a growing, sprouting
organism. It then started to develop cracks and fissures, we might say; and it was only then that the
rocks of today, with their cracks and fissures, developed.
This, however, is also true for all physical creatures which inhabit the earth. They are on the downward
curve of evolution and have been so, essentially, from the middle of the Atlantean age. Evolution
does, however, go in waves and it is possible to say that the fourth post-Atlantean period, the
Greek and Roman civilization, was a kind of recapitulation of what existed in the Atlantean age.
Up until the time of ancient Greece, therefore, it was not so clearly evident that humanity was on
the downward curve of evolution. It was a feature of ancient Greece that the inner life was still in
 complete harmony with physical development I have spoken of this before. That harmony was,
of course, greatest in the middle of the Atlantean age, but it was recapitulated in ancient Greece.
This changed with the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean age. Stranger as it may seem to you, it is
nevertheless true to say: We really are no longer in this world to take care of our own organization.
We do still incarnate, but no longer in order to take care of our organization. This organization
evolved until the middle of the Atlantean age, or until ancient Greek times. Then, human bodies
were as perfect as they can be during time spent on earth. It will bot be until the Jupiter epoch that
humanity achieves a higher level of physical perfection. Now, we are really here to be part of a
downward curve of evolution, to incarnate in order to learn and experience all manner of things by
the very fact that we are in bodies which are dying, increasingly crumbling and withering away. I
am using fairly radical terms. The fact is, however, that anything we inwardly develop and
inwardly are, will no longer become part of the outer physical body to the same extent as it did in
the past. The consequence of this will be all kinds of changes in development. (92,pp.73-75)

If this were not the case, and people had to depend entirely on being like the ancient Greeks, the prospects
for the further development of humanity would be dire indeed. Strange as it may seem,
conscientious occult research aiming to penetrate the laws of human evolution reveals a truth
which may well cause dismay at first sight. It shows that in a time not all that far ahead, possibly
as early as the seventh millenium, all women will be infertile on earth. The withering and
crumbling of human bodies will go so far that this will happen. Just think if the relationships that
can only come into their own between the inner life and the physical body were to continue
unchanged, people would no longer find anything to do on earth. The fact is that women will no
longer be able to have children, even before earth has gone through all its stages. Human beings
will therefore have to find a different way of relating to earthly existence. The final stages of earth
evolution will make it necessary for them to do without physical bodies and yet be present on
earth. Existence holds more mysteries than people would like to think when they base themselves
on the primitive ideas of modern science.
As earth evolution progresses, human beings will be less and less able to develop their souls parallel with
their bodies. Why, then, should it not be possible for an individual to incarnate in a body, the
whole constitution of which destines it for evil? The individual can still be good inside such a
body, for the connection with the physical has become less close. This, then, is another awkward
truth, but a truth which we must make our own.
Looking at the way people appear on the outside today we get one image. Looking at the way they do not
immediately appear on the outside we get another image. Today the two images are no longer in
complete agreement, and they will agree less and less as time goes on. It is really necessary for
people today not to rely entirely on outer appearances if they want to form an idea; they have to
base their ideas on the things which influence human beings out of the spirit.
In future, ideas like these will be particularly vital in everything connected with politics, the social
sciences, and so on, and especially in the sphere of education. Ideas coming from the natural and
not from the spiritual world can no longer adequately meet human needs. (92, pp.78-79)

In some respects, philistinism is the opposite of a true understanding of human nature, for philistines
always like to stick to the norm. Anything which does not fit in with this is considered abnormal.
But this will not help us to understand the world around us and, above all, other human beings.
I am not saying anything derogatory about empty heads; they will stay empty as part of evolution. In
reality, however, nothing stays empty in this world. The heads are merely empty of something that
was destined to fill them at another time. Nothing is ever completely empty.
With the human soul withdrawing more and more from the body, the body is increasingly in danger of
being filled with something else. And if human beings are not prepared to take up impulses which
can only come from spiritual knowledge, the body will be filled with demonic powers. Humanity
is facing a destiny where the body may be filled with ahrimanic demonic powers. So we have to
add to what I said yesterday about future development: there will be people in future who are Tom,
Dick and Harry in ordinary life, but their bodies will be empty to such an extent that a powerful
ahrimanic spirit can live in them. One will be meeting ahrimanic demons. Human beings will not
be what they appear to be. The individual person will be deep down inside, and outwardly one will
get a totally different picture.
This shows the complexity of life to come. The institutions and ideas, especially the social ideas people
have today, are abstract and crude; they are clumsy in the face of the complexities that are lying
ahead. And because people are not able to have ideas or concepts about the true nature of things,
they are sliding more and more deeply into chaos the events of the war make this quite clear.
Chaos is arising because reality has changed; reality is becoming fuller and richer than anything
people are able to think or create in their heads. (92, pp.83-84)

21 Oct. 1917
Consider the Earth. The Moon moves around it; let us say this is the orbit of the Moon. The Earth is, of
course, anything but the abstract mineral entity imagined by modern mineralogists, geologists and
physicists. It is very much alive, and we can observe many forms of existence in connection with
the Earth. For the moment, let us merely consider the currents which move around the Earth all the
time. They move around it in all kind of directions. They are etheric and spiritual by nature and
have a real, substantial effect. Something is always present in these currents.
It is good to consider the source and origin of these currents. We shall be going into more detail as time
goes on; for today I merely want to make some preliminary statements. If you read my Occult
Science you will find that in very early times the Earth and Sun were one. Our present-day Earth
has been eliminated from the Sun. These currents are remnants from the life of the Sun; Sun life is
still present in the Earth.
Yet the Moon, too, was one with the Earth in the past. And the Moon which orbits the Earth today also has
currents within it. These currents are remnants from a later time, from Moon evolution.
We thus have two kinds of currents and we may call them Sun currents and Moon currents. They take
quite a different course, and they are a living reality. Let us assume a creature walking this Earth in
a certain way has Sun currents passing through it, these pass through easily. Let us assume another
creature is constructed in a different way, so that the Sun currents pass through it coming from one
side and Moon currents from the other. Sun currents are not limited to specific places and actually
pass through everything; they can therefore pass through this creature in one direction. Thus there
can be creatures on Earth who have only the Sun current passing through them in one direction,
and there may be others who have the Sun current pass through them in one direction and the
Moon current in another.
Animals are creatures which can only have the Sun current going through them. Imagine a four-legged
animal: as it walks, its backbone is essentially parallel to the Earths surface. The Sun current,
which has now become an Earth current, can continually pass through this backbone. This
creature, then, is related to the Earth.
It is different with human beings. In the living human body only the head has the position held by animals.
Think of a line drawn from the back of the head to the forehead it is the direction of the animals
backbone, and the same Sun current passes through the head. The human backbone, on the other
hand, is lifted out of the currents which run parallel to the Earth, including the Sun current which
has become Earth current. Being lifted out, human beings are in a position (this does, of course,
depend a great deal on the geographical latitude and so on, but it is also what makes people
different from each other) where under certain conditions the Moon current goes through them; no
through the head, however, but through the backbone. The difference between animals and
humans is tremendous. The cosmic current which passes through the animal backbone passes
through the human head; the old Moon current, which does not relate to anything in the animal,
passes through the human backbone. The human backbone even reflects its relationship to the
Moon current in its composition, for human beings have approximately as many vertebrae as there
are days in a month, between 28 and 31 vertebrae. The reason why the figure is only approximate
will be considered at a later time. The whole life of the human backbone, and indeed the human
breast, is intimately bound up with the life of the Moon.
This is a basic reflection on the relationship between the human being and the whole universe. For just as
the currents passing through the human backbone are part of the current which relates to the life of
the Moon, so other currents in the human being relate to the other planets in our solar system. All
these things are utterly real. In modern science they have been completely abandoned, and no one
ever venture to consider these relationships. (92, pp.167-170)
26 Oct. 1917
Thus we have two streams: the protector of everything to do with the blood relationship, which is the
stream of light; it is opposed by the stream of darkness as the protector of everything which
wants to abandon the bonds of blood relationship and help people to be free of the bonds of family
and heredity. All this does not, of course, come to an abrupt halt any more than it does in the
natural world, and in 1413, the year when the break occurred which marks the boundary between
the fourth and fifth post-Atlantean ages, the old ways did not stop immediately
Thus there was a break in evolution in about 747 before the Mystery of Golgotha; another one came in
1413 after the Mystery of Golgotha, and the break which is particularly important to us, in 1879.
(92, pg.184)

Physical science has torn human beings away from the earth in the physical sense with Copernicanism,
and soul awareness must also be torn away from the earth. The earth has become a small body in
space; but initially this was only in terms of space. Through Copernicanism human beings were
shifted out into the cosmos, as it were, though in entirely abstract terms. This must continue, but it
should not be applied to physical life in the wrong way. The physical will take its own course.
Take America, for instance, though not the population native to its soil for centuries. As you know,
a new population consisting entirely of Europeans has arrived there in recent times. Careful
observation shows that physical life continues to be bound to the soil. The Americans who are
Europeans transplanted to America are gradually acquiring traits which recall the old Indian
population this has not yet progressed very far, but it is true nevertheless. The arms are a
different length from what they were in Europe because these people have been transplanted to
America. The physical human being does adapt to the soil. It even goes so far that there is now a
considerable difference in physical form between Americans who live in the West and those who
live in the East. This is adaptation to the soil. If the soul were to go along with this physical
process the American Indian culture would be revived in time, though in a European form. This
sounds paradoxical, but it is true. In future, humanity cannot be bound to the soil; the soul has to
become independent. All over the world people may then assume the physical characteristics
given by the soil, and the bodies of Europeans may become indianized when they go to America,
but in their souls human beings will tear themselves away from the physical and earthly element
and be citizens of the worlds of the spirit. And in those worlds there are no races or nations, but
relationships of a different kind. (92, pg.192)

16 Nov. 1917
"A different physical view of the world prevailed in pre-Copernican times, a view that may he called
erroneous today. This view believed that the physical structure of the world, that the earth, stands
still, the sun moving around the earth, the stars moving around the earth, and that beyond the
starry heavens there is a spiritual sphere inhabited by spiritual beings. With this view of the
structure of the world the human being could still pass through the portal of death without being
held back after death in the earthly sphere. This world view did not yet result in human beings
becoming destructive in the earthly sphere after passing through the portal of death.
"Only with the abrupt entry of Copernicanism, with its picture that the whole world spread out in space is
also subject to the laws of space, with its picture that the earth circles around the sun, only with
such pictures arising in the Copernican view is the human being chained to physical-sensible
existence and prevented from rising appropriately into the spiritual world after death.
"Today one must also know the other side of the coin of this Copernican world view, now that centuries
have passed during which the human soul has been confronted again and again with the
magnificent advance of this view. One side is as justifiable as the other. The Copernican view is
still valued today as a mark of sophistication. It has really become a philistine sophistication to
regard the Copernican world view as the only teaching that can save souls. People still consider
the other view to be foolish today, the view that through the Copernican world view the human
being is chained to the earth after death unless he makes for himself a spiritual conception, as can
be offered by spiritual science today. Nevertheless it is true. You already know from the Bible that
many a thing that is foolishness to man is wisdom for the gods.
"When the human being passes through the portal of death, his consciousness alters. It would be erroneous
to believe that the human loses consciousness after death. This curious idea is even spread around
 in some circles that call themselves 'theosophical'. It is nonsense. On the contrary, consciousness
becomes much more powerful, more intensive, but it is of a different kind. Even regarding the
ordinary conceptions of the physical world it must be said that the conscious conceptions after
death are something different." (71, pp.44-45)

"You could say that supersensible concepts are more and more driven out of the sense world by the advance
of natural science. Thus human beings would gradually be entirely shut off from the spiritual
world if they received no supersensible, spiritual concepts. They would condemn themselves after
death to being united with the mere physical earth, to being united also with what the physical
earth will become.
"The physical earth will become a corpse in the future, however, and the human being will face the terrible
prospect of condemning himself, as soul, to inhabit a corpse unless he resolves to learn about the
spiritual world, to take root in the spiritual world." (71, pg.47)

"The earth, which is known only as a skeletal system, is a living organism. As a living organism it works
upon the beings who walk around on it, including human beings themselves. And just as the
human being is differentiated within regarding the distribution of his bodily organs, so the earth is
also differentiated regarding what it develops out of its living nature, by which it influences the
people who walk around on it. When you think, you are not exerting your right index finger or
your left big toe ; you think with your head. You know perfectly well that you do not think with
your right big toe; you think with your head. Thus things are distributed in the living organism,
which is differentiated. Our earth is differentiated in the same way. The same things do not at all
stream out everywhere from the earth onto its inhabitants. In the different regions of the earth,
something entirely different streams forth. There are different forces, among them magnetism and
electricity, but also forces that enter more into the realm of the living. All these forces come up out
of the earth and influence people in the most varied ways at different points on the earth. They
influence the human being in various ways according to the geographical formation.
"This is a very important fact. What the human being is initially as body, soul, and spirit has really very
little direct relation to these forces that work up out of the earth. But the double about which I
have spoken chooses to be related to these forces that stream up out of the earth. And indirectly, by
way of mediation, the human being as body, soul, and spirit stands in relation to the earth, and to
that which rays out at various points. This is due to the fact that his double cherishes the most
intimate relationship to what streams forth there. There beings that take possession of the human
being as Ahrimanic- Mephistophelian beings a short time before he is born have quite highly
developed tastes.
"This has become so infinitely important only in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch and will become especially
important to human beings in the very near future. For this reason spiritual science must now
spread, and this is now especially important because the present time calls upon the human being
to reach an understanding of these things in a conscious way in order to find a relationship to these
things. The human being must become strong in this epoch in order to adapt his existence to these
beings.
"This epoch began in the fifteenth century, our present period beginning in 1413. The fourth post-Atlantean
period, the Greco-Latin, began in 747 B.C. and lasted until 1413." (71, pp.59-61)

"The earth is really something that must be called 'living being'. In accordance with geographical
differentiations, the most varied forces stream up out of the various territories. Therefor people
must not be separated according to territory but must receive from one another what is good and
great in each territory and what can be produced just there. Hence a spiritual scientific world view
is intent upon creating something that can really be accepted by all nations in all regions. For
people must advance in the mutual exchange of their spiritual treasures. This is the important
point.
"On the other hand, there very easily arises from individual territories the endeavor to increase power and
power and power. And the great danger emerging from the one-sided way in which the evolution
of modern humanity is advancing can be judged from concrete, from truly concrete conditions,
only when one knows that the earth is an organism, when one knows what is actually occurring
from the various points of the earth. In Eastern Europe there is relatively little inclination purely
 toward what streams out of the earth. The Russians, for example, are fervently connected through
the soil, but they receive quite special forces out of the soil, forces that do not come from the
earth. The secret of the Russian geography consists of the fact that the Russian receives from the
earth the light that is first imparted to the earth and then reflected back again from the earth. The
Russian actually takes from the earth what streams toward it from outer regions. The Russian
loves his earth, but he loves it because to him it is a mirror of the heavens. Because of this the
Russian, even though he is so territorially minded, has something in this territorial inclination that
is extraordinarily cosmopolitan - although today this remains at a childlike stage - because the
earth, moving through space, comes into relation to every possible part of the earth's environment.
And when a person receives into his soul, not what streams upward from below in the earth but
what streams downward from above and then upward again, then it is different from receiving
streams directly from the earth, which in a certain kinship with human nature. But what the
Russian loves in his earth, with which he permeates himself, gives him many weaknesses, but
above all it gives him a certain ability to conquer that double nature of which I have spoken
previously. Therefor he will be called upon to offer the most important impulses to the epoch in
which this double nature must finally be subdued, in the sixth post-Atlantean epoch
"A certain portion of the earth's surface shows the closest kinship to these forces. If a person goes to this
place, he enters their realm; as soon as he goes elsewhere, he is again outside their realm. For
these forces are geographic; they are not ethnographic, not national, but purely geographic forces.
There is a region where the force streaming up from below has the most influence on the double,
and where, because with the outstreaming forces it enters most into kinship with the double, it is
again imparted to the earth. This is the region of the earth where most of the mountain ranges run,
not crosswise, from east to west, but where the ranges primarily run, from north to south (for this
is also connected with these forces) where one is in the vicinity of the magnetic North Pole. This is
the region where above all the kinship is developed with the Mephistophelian-Ahrimanic nature
through outer conditions. And through this kinship much is brought about in the continuing
evolution of the earth." (71, pp.65- 67)

25 Nov, 1917
"Just as it is now of special importance for the regular professor of biology possibly to have a much
enlarged microscope, possibly to use much more exact laboratory methods, so in the future, when
science has become spiritualized, what will matter will be whether one carries out a certain
process in the morning, evening, or at noon, or whether one allows what one did in the morning to
be somehow further influenced by active forces of the evening, or whether the cosmic influence
from morning until evening is excluded, paralyzed. In the future such processes will prove
themselves to be necessary; they also will take place. Naturally much water will run over the dam
until the materialistically oriented university chairs, laboratories, and so on, are handed over to the
spiritual scientists, but this exchange must take place if humanity is not to come completely into
decadence. This laboratory work will have to be replaced by work in which, for example when it
is a matter of the good that is to be attained in the future - certain processes take place in the
morning and are interrupted during the day; the cosmic stream passes through them again in the
evening, and this is preserved rythmically until it is morning again. The processes are conducted in
such a manner that certain cosmic workings are always interrupted during the day, and the cosmic
processes of morning and evening are studied. To achieve this, manifold arrangements will be
necessary.
"It will be the task of the good, healing science to find certain cosmic forces that, through the working
together of two cosmic streams, are able to arise on the earth. These two cosmic streams will be
those of Pisces and Virgo. It will be most important to discover the mystery of how what works
out of the cosmos in the direction of Pisces as a force of the sun combines with what works in the
direction of Virgo. The good will be that one will discover how, from the two directions of the
cosmos, morning and evening forces can be placed at the service of humanity: on the one side
from the direction of Pisces and on the other side from the direction of Virgo.
"Those who seek to achieve everything through the dualism of polarity, through positive and negative
forces, will not concern themselves with these forces. The spiritual mysteries that allow the
spirituality to stream forth from the cosmos - with the help of the twofold forces of magnetism,
from the positive and the negative - emerge in the universe from Gemini; these are the forces of
 midday. It was known already in antiquity that this had something to do with the cosmos, and it is
known even today by exoteric scientists that, behind Gemini in the Zodiac, positive and negative
magnetism are hidden in some way. An attempt will be made to paralyze what is to be won
through the revelation of the duality in the cosmos, to paralyze it in a materialistic, egotistical way
through the forces that stream toward humanity especially from Gemini and can be put completely
at the service of the double. With other brotherhoods, which above all wish to bypass the Mystery
of Golgotha, it is a matter of exploiting the twofold nature of the human being. This twofold
nature of the human being, which has entered the fifth post-Atlantean period just as man did,
contains the human being but also, within the human being, the lower animal nature. Man is to a
certain extent really a centaur; he contains his lower, bestial animal nature. His humanity is
somehow mounted upon this astral beast. Through this cooperation of the twofold nature within
the human being there is also a dualism of forces. It is this dualism of forces that will be used
more by the egotistical brotherhoods of the Eastern, Indian stream in order also to mislead Eastern
Europe, which has the task of preparing the sixth post-Atlantean period. For this, forces from
Sagittarius are put to use.
"The question standing before humanity is whether to master for itself the forces of the cosmos in a doubly
wrong way or simply to master them in the right way. This will give a great renewal to astrology,
which was atavistic in its ancient form and would not be able to continue in this form. There will
be a struggle among the knowledgeable ones in the cosmos. Some will bring about the use of the
morning and evening forces, as I indicated; in the West, the midday forces will be preferable,
excluding the morning and evening processes; and in the East the midnight processes will be used.
Substances will no longer be prepared according to forces of chemical attraction and repulsion; it
will be known that different sub- stances will be produced depending upon whether they are
prepared with morning and evening processes or with midday and midnight processes. It will be
known that such substances work in a totally different way upon the threefoldness of God, virtue
and immortality - gold, health and prolonging life. From the cooperation of what comes from
Pisces and Virgo one will not be able to bring about anything harmful. Through this one will
achieve what in a certain sense loosens the mechanism of life from the human being but will in no
way found any form of rulership and power of one group over another. The cosmic forces that are
called forth in this direction will beget strange machines but ones that will relieve the human being
from work, because they will have within them a certain force of intelligence. A cosmically
oriented spiritual science will have to concern itself so that all the great temptations that will
emanate from these mechanized beasts, which man creates himself, will not exert a harmful
influence upon the human being." (17, pp.195-200)

"One must be able above all to reflect today about the significance of constellations in something that is at
work and the significance of individual strength, because behind individual strength often lies
something completely different from what lies behind the mere constellation. Think for a moment
upon the problem, 'How much would Woodrow Wilson's brain be worth if this brain were not
sitting in the Presidential chair of the United States?' Assume that this brain were in a different
constellation: there it would show its individual strength! It all depends upon the constellation.
(17, pg.203)

1918
5 Jan. 1918
"And just as we could point to a quite definite heavenly constellation, which the Magi of the East knew as
the constellation in which the new cosmic age was to approach (we have pointed out in the
Christmas lectures that by a certain constellation of the 'Virgin' the Magi of the East knew that
they were to bring their offerings to the new World-Savior) so too have those whose thoughts
centred on the Osiris myth looked back to quite definite star-constellations. They said: Osiris was
slain. They meant to say: the old life in the Imagination vanished when the setting sun in autumn
stood in seventeen degrees of Scorpio and in the opposite point of the heavens the full moon rose
in Taurus or in the Pleiades." (34, pg.18)
"Just as it depends on the sun, on the ordinary rising and setting of the sun, that I can perceive and think, so
does it depend on greater, more extended star constellations which appear after centuries, after
millenia, what man develops in perceiving and thinking of the kind I have described. And as in
those old times people connected the ordinary perception and thinking with the day, with sunrise
and sunset - indeed as people do today though they don't think so and even believe they go by the
clock - so they connected matters concerning more comprehensive cosmic mysteries with the
other star-constellations, with the other events in the heavens." (34, pg.22)

"A former age could speak of 'nations', when one pictured 'Nations' in such a way that one nation had its
guardian spirit in Orion, another in another star, and one knew that one 's life was ruled from the
star-constellations. One then appealed, as it were, to the ordering in the heavens. Today when there
is no longer such ordering in the heavens, there is the appeal to the merely national, the
Chauvinistic appeal to the merely national, that is to say, an asserting of an impulse, psyche-sexual
in the most pronounced sense, a backward luciferic impulse." (34, pg.27)

"Humanity had to go through the period of abstractions. We know that today we are no longer in the sign
of Aries, in which the Sun stood at the beginning of Spring when the transition took place from
the old Imaginative time, of which echoes still linger, to the age of abstractions. We have entered
the age of Pisces. A special characteristic of this age is that man receives the force for abstract
ideas out of the macrocosm. But in the meantime man does not know how he is to unite the
abstract ideas again with reality. They must be united again with reality." (34, pg.31)

6 Jan. 1918
"This remembrance was thenceforward to be preserved and all sorts of secrets surrounded it. The time in
which Typhon had slain Osiris was indicated to be the time in the November days of autumn when
the sun sets in the seventeenth degree of Scorpio, and opposite in Taurus the moon appears in the
Pleiades as full moon." (34, pg.36)

8 Jan. 1918
"Now when the time of the flooding of Atlantis, the submergence of Atlantis, which separates our post-
Atlantean culture from the Atlantean culture, had passed by, the first post-Atlantean culture-epoch
arose. This was a time which received its macrocosmic influence in such a way that the force
which flowed through earthly life was the one which corresponds to the rising of the sun at the
vernal equinox in the sign of Cancer. We can actually call it the 'Cancer-civilization - if the
expression is not misunderstood.
"Cancer, the Crab, corresponds in man to the thorax. So that, speaking macrocosmically one can
characterize this first, ancient Indian culture by saying that it took its course while the vernal
equinox of the sun was in Cancer. If one would characterize it microcosmically one can say: it
took its course when man for his knowledge, perception and view of the world stood under the
influence of those forces which are connected with what comes to expression in the Crab, in the
envelopment of his chest, in his chest-cuirass. If man can develop the forces that have an intimate
relationship to his thorax, if, as regards the forces of his thorax he is sensitive to all that goes on in
nature and in human life, then it is as if he came into direct touch with the outer world, with all
that approaches him as elemental world. If we only take the relation of man to man - in this we
touch upon what underlay the original Indian culture - in that early time a man who met another
felt through the sensitivity of the thorax, as it were, what was the nature of the other. As he
breathed the air in his neighborhood, he learned to know him. A human being could be
sympathetic, antipathetic through his breathing. The thorax moved differently when the person
was sympathetic or antipathetic. And the thorax was sensitive enough to be aware of its own
movements.
"A man breathed differently when he beheld the sun, when he beheld the dawn, the spring, the autumn, and
he formed his concepts accordingly.
"In a special way every such Zodiacal constellation is related to a particular planet, is to be regarded as
belonging to it. Cancer is to be regarded as belonging particularly to the moon. Since the forces of
the moon work in quite a special way when it stands in Cancer, one says: the moon has its home,
 its house, in Cancer, its forces are there, and there they come to development very particularly.
"Now just as in the human being the thorax corresponds to Cancer, so does the sexual sphere correspond to
the planetary moon.
"Then the sun entered the sign of Gemini, the Twins, at the Vernal Equinox. And then as long as the vernal
equinox continued to be in Gemini, we have to do with the second post-Atlantean culture-epoch,
the original Persian. A relation with the macrocosmic Gemini is shown microcosmically in all that
concerns man's symmetry, especially the symmetric relationship of the right hand and the left.
There are of course other instances of our being symmetrical, for instance we see things only
singly, with our two eyes.
"The fact of being symmetrical connects man more with what lies distant from the earth, with what is not
terrestrial, but celestial, cosmic. Hence in this second post-Atlantean age the close connection with
the direct elemental surroundings of earth withdraws, there appears the Zarathustra culture. This
Zarathustra culture turned towards the cosmos and what is to be found there of the Gemini nature -
on the one hand to the light-nature, on the other hand to the darkness-nature; the Twins-nature, this
is connected with the forces which man expresses through his symmetry.
"Just as the Moon has its house in Cancer, so has Mercury its house in Gemini. And just as in the first post-
Atlantean epoch the force of the sex-sphere helped man, as it were, to reach that intimate relation
with the surrounding world of which we have spoken, so in this second post-Atlantean epoch help
was given from the Mercury-sphere, the sphere connected with the forces of the lower body. On
the one hand man's forces pass away from the earth into the outer universe, but in this, as it were,
man is helped by something still much tinged with atavistic forces, namely, by what is connected
with the forces of his vascular, his digestive system. Man has not really a digestive system just for
digesting, it is as the same time an instrument of knowledge. These things have only been
forgotten.
"Then came the third; this was the age when the sun at the Vernal Equinox entered Taurus, the Bull. The
forces which descend from the universe when the Sun at the Spring Equinox stands in Taurus are
connected microcosmically in man with all that concerns the region of the larynx, the forces of the
larynx. The feeling of relationship between the word and object, particularly the things out in the
universe, was an especially strong one in the third post-Atlantean time. Today in the age of
abstractions one cannot form much of an idea of the intimate relation of what men knew of the
cosmos through his larynx.
"Again, the force which corresponds to Taurus was assisted through Venus, which has its house in the Bull.
This corresponds in the microcosm, in man, to forces which lie between the regions of the heart
and the stomach.
"Then came the Graeco-Latin time, the fourth post-Atlantean epoch. The sun entered Aries, the Ram, at the
Vernal Equinox. This corresponds to the head-region in man, the region of the brow, the upper
head, the actual head-region. The time began in which man mainly sought to grasp the world
through understanding and this relationship to the world brought him thoughts. Head-knowing is
quite different from the earlier forms of knowing. In this epoch head-knowledge came to especial
prominence. But in spite of the fact that the human head is a true copy of the macrocosm,
precisely because in a physical sense it is this true copy, in a spiritual sense it is really of very little
value. And when man depends upon his head, he can really arrive at nothing else than a Thought-
Culture. And so the Graeco-Latin time, which as we have seen from other aspects laid special
stress on the head, and brought man thus into a special relation with the universe, gradually
evolved into an actual Head- and Thought-Civilization which ran its course and came to its end.
So that from the 15th century onwards, as I pointed out yesterday, people no longer knew how to
connect thinking with reality.
"It was full of significance for this age that Mars has its house in Aries. The forces of Mars are those again,
but in a different way, that are connected with man's head-nature. So that Mars, who at the same
time gives man aggressive forces, particularly offered support to all that he developed as a relation
to the surrounding world through his head nature. In the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, which
begins in the 8th century B.C. and ends in the 15th century A.D., those conditions were developed
which one can describe as a Mars-culture, a warlike culture. Wars nowadays are behind the times.
Although they may be more terrible than formerly, yet they are stragglers, out of date.
"But think of the great revolution that now comes with the 15th century when the Aries-culture passes over
to the Pisces (the Fishes) Culture. What the Pisces forces have become in the macrocosm are the
 forces in man connected with the feet. There is a transition from head to feet; the swing-over is an
immense one. But the whole human culture - human forces too - made a complete revolution.
What man had formerly received from the heavens, he now received from the earth. This is what
is shown to us from the celestial constellations as the great swing-over that had been accomplished
for man. And this connected with the beginning of the material, the materialistic age. Thoughts
lose their power, thoughts easily become empty phrase in these times.
"But now consider something else that is remarkable. As Venus has her house in Taurus, Mars his house in
Aries, so in Pisces Jupiter has his house. And Jupiter is connected with the development of the
human brow, forehead. Man can become great with this earth-culture in this fifth post-Atlantean
epoch, precisely because in an independent human manner he can ennoble and grasp through the
forces of his head that which was brought to him from the opposite side in earlier post-Atlantean
periods. Hence Jupiter has to perform the same service to man in the fifth epoch as Mars had to
perform in the fourth.
"Those who have read the constellations of the stars have also always known that certain help comes from
particular planets for the various sections of the path of the sun. With a certain justification to each
of these constellations - Moon-Cancer, Mercury-Gemini, Venus-Taurus, Mars-Aries, Jupiter-Pisces
- have been assigned three decanates, as they are called. These three decanates represent those
planets which have the mission, during a particular constellation, of very especially intervening in
destiny, while the others are less active. Thus the decanates of the first post-Atlantean age, the
Cancer-age, are Venus, Mercury, Moon; the decanates during the Gemini-age: Jupiter, Mars, Sun;
the decanates during the Taurus-age: Mercury, Moon, Saturn; the decanates during the Aries-age:
Mars, Sun, Venus. And the decanates during our age, the Pisces epoch, are very characteristically
those forces which serve us most, according to the celestial-clock: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars. Mars -
here not in the same service as he had when he was in his house, when he went through Aries, but
Mars now as representative of human strength. But in the outer planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars you
see what is connected with the human head, the human countenance, the human word-formation.
This epoch is therefor the one containing the greatest spiritual possibilities. In no age was it
granted to men to do so much wrong as in this, since in none could one sin more deeply against
the inner mission of the time. For if one lives with the age, then through the Jupiter force one
transforms the force coming from the earth into a spiritually free humanity. And at one's disposal
are the best, the finest powers of man which he develops between birth and death: the Saturn-
Jupiter-and Mars-forces." (34 pp.51-57)

11 Jan. 1918
"During the 2,160 years that followed the great Atlantean catastrophe mankind can be said to have been
capable of development in a way quite different from what was possible later.
"We know that at our present time we are capable of development up to a certain age independently of our
own action; we are capable of development through our nature, our physical forces. We have
stated that in the first epoch after the great Atlantean catastrophe man remained capable of
development for a much longer time. He remained so into the fifth decade of his life, and he
always knew that the process of growing older was connected with a transformation of the soul
and spirit nature. If today we wish to have a development of the soul and spirit nature after our
twenties, we must seek for this development by our power of will." (34, pp.63-64)

(Examples of adult 7-year life periods, 34, pp.66-67)

13 Jan 1918
"Twelve epochs ago the sun was in the same position. So that towards the end of the Lemurian age there
were conditions similar to ours.
This similarity contains, however, an important difference. You see, what we acquire today of inner force
of spirit and head-experience, as we have described it in these studies, was also experienced by the
Lemurian human being of that time, though in a quite different manner. What could enter into him
out of the universe, really entered right in. So that the Lemurian man received practically the same
wisdom as the man of today gains through his head, but it streamed into him out of the universe,
and only in this sense was it different. His head was still open, his head was still susceptible to the
conditions of the cosmos. Hence powers of clairvoyance existed in ancient times. Man did not
 explain things to himself logically, he did not learn them, but he beheld them, since they entered
his head out of the cosmos, whereas today they can do so no longer. For what comes ceases in
relatively early youth." (34, pp.112-113)

[747 B.C. as beginning of Graeco-Latin epoch], 35, pg.77, precis by RSWB)

26 Mar. 1918
"We might now ask: What divides our souls from others in the time between death and rebirth? Well: as
with our ego and astral body between birth and death we belong to a physical and etheric body, so
after death, until rebirth, we are part of quite definite starry structures, in no way the same; each
one of us belongs to quite a distinct starry structure. From out of this instinct we speak of 'man's
star' This structure taking its physical projection first, is peripherically globular, but we can divide
it in many ways. The regions overlap each other, but each belongs to another. Expressed
spiritually, we might say that each belongs to a different rank of Archangels and Angels. Just as
people here are drawn together through their souls, so between death and rebirth, each belongs to a
particularly starry structure, to a particular rank of Angels and Archangels; their souls all meet
together there The reason this is so, but only apparently (for we must not now go further into this
mystery) is because on earth each one has his own physical body. I say 'apparently' and you will
wonder; but it is surprising when investigated how each has his own starry structure and how these
overlap. Let us think of a particular group of Angels and Archangels. In the life between death and
rebirth, thousands of Angels and Archangels belong to one soul; imagine only one of all these
thousands, taken away and replaced by another, and we have the region of the next soul.
"In this diagram two souls have, with one exception, which they have from another realm the same stars;
but no two souls have absolutely similar starry structures. Thus men are individualised between
death and rebirth, by having each his special starry structure. From this we see upon what the
separation of souls between death and rebirth is based. In the physical world, as we know, this
division is effected by the physical body. All that comes into the soul of man between death and
rebirth stands, as regards the relation between his astral body and ego, in a similar way in regard to
a starry structure, as here the soul and ego stand with regard to the physical body. Thus the
question as to haw this severance comes about is also answered as above. (72, pg.69)

12 Oct. 1918
Directly we get free from what is merely spectrelike, ghostlike, in natural phenomena, we meet the
spiritual. In other words, all searching for so-called solid matter is really rather nonsensical. If man
will only give up looking for anything coarsely material as the basis of nature and this he will do
before the fourth millenium he will come to something quite different; he will discover rhythms,
rhythmical orderings, everywhere in nature. These rhythmical orderings are there, but as a rule
modern materialistic science makes fun of them. We have given artistic expression to them in our
seven pillars, and so on, in the whole configuration of our Building. This rhythmical order is there
in the whole of nature. In the plants one leaf follows another in rhythmical growth; the petals of
the blossoms are ordered rhythmically, everything is rhythmically ordered. Fever takes a
rhythmical course in sickness; the whole of life is rhythmical. The discerning of natures rhythms
that will be true nature science. (73, pg.100)

19 Oct. 1918
Considered as a symptom, the French Revolution is extraordinarily interesting. It presents in the form of
slogans applied haphazardly and indiscriminately to the whole human being what must gradually
be developed in the course of the epoch of the Consciousness Soul, from 1413 to the year 3573,
with all the spiritual resources at mans disposal. The task of this epoch is to achieve fraternity on
the physical plane, liberty on the psychic plane and equality on the spiritual plane. (74, pp.49-50)

20 Oct. 1918
"But bacilli, as such, are of course in no way connected with disease. In phenomena of this kind we must
realize that just as behind the symptoms of history we are dealing with psychic and spiritual
experiences, so too behind somatic symptoms we are dealing with experiences of a cosmological
order. In other cases the situation of course will be different! What is especially important here is
 the rhythmic course of cosmic events, and it is this that we must study. We must ask ourselves: In
what constellation were we living when, in the nineties, the present influenza epidemic appeared
in its benign form? In what cosmic constellation are we living in the present time? By virtue of
what cosmic rhythms does the influenza epidemic of the nineties appear in a more acute form
today? Just as we must look for rhythm behind a series of historical symptoms, so we must look
for a rhythm behind the appearance of certain epidemics." (74, pg.89)

2 Nov. 1918
[Fifth post-Atlantean epoch began 1413], (74, pg.184, precis by RSWB)

"In the evolution of post-Atlantean humanity I emphasized one thing in particular, namely that mankind of
the post-Atlantean epoch matures progressively at an ever earlier age. In the first post-Atlantean
epoch, that of ancient India, men remained capable of developing physically up to the age of fifty;
in the ancient Persian epoch development ceased at an earlier age, and in the Egypto-Chaldean
epoch at an even earlier age. In the Graeco-Latin epoch development was only possible up to the
age of thirty-five and in our own epoch, as a consequence of natural development, men cease to
develop beyond the age of twenty-eight. Any further development must be derived from spiritual
impulses. Then, in the sixth post-Atlantean epoch, mankind will be unable to develop after the age
of twenty-one - and so on. With the passage of time, therefor, mankind matures physically at an
ever earlier age." (74,pg.185)

1919

1 Nov, 1919
As you know, we distinguish the present epoch from other epochs, reckoning that it began in the middle of
the fifteenth century A.D. We speak of it as the Fifth Post-Atlantean epoch, distinguishing it from
the previous epoch which began in the eighth century B.C. and is called the Graeco-Latin epoch
after the people responsible for its culture. It was preceded by the Egypto-Chaldean civilisation.
"When we come to consider the Egypto-Chaldean epoch we find that the records of ordinary history break
down. Even with the help of accessible Egyptian and Chaldean lore, external evidence does not
carry us very far back in the history of humanity. But it is not possible for us to grasp what is of
importance for the present time unless we understand the intrinsic characteristics of that Third
Post-Atlantean epoch of culture.
"You are certainly aware that in the ordinary history of that ancient time, all culture in the then known
world goes by the name of Paganism.
"If this ancient Paganism is rightly understood, it will be found to contain sublime, deeply penetrating
wisdom, but no moral impulses for human action. These impulses were not really essential to man,
for unlike what now passes as human knowledge, human insight, this old Pagan wisdom gave him
the feeling of being membered into the whole cosmos. A man moving about the earth not only felt
himself composed of the substances and forces present around him in earthly life, in the mineral,
plant and animal kingdoms, but he felt that the forces operating, for example, in the movements of
the stars and the sun were playing into him. This feeling of being a member of the whole cosmos
was not a mere abstraction, for from the Mysteries he received directives based on the laws of the
stars for his actions and whole conduct of life. This ancient star-wisdom was in no way akin to the
arithmetical astrology sometimes considered valuable today, but it was a wisdom voiced by the
Initiates in such away that impulses for individual action and conduct went forth from the
Mysteries." (36, pp.7-9)

4 Nov. 1919
"This is something we must bear particularly in mind. - The human being living on earth within the old
 Pagan world felt himself membered into the whole cosmos. He felt how the forces at work in the
movements of the stars extended into his own actions, or, better said, into the forces taking effect
in his actions. What later passed for astrology, and does so still, is but a reflection - and a very
misleading one at that - of the ancient wisdom gleaned from contemplation of the stars in their
courses and then used as the basis for precepts governing human action." (36, pg.34)

9 Nov, 1919
"You look up to the stars, saying that something is streaming from them that can be perceived by man's
sense-organs here on earth. - But what you behold when you gaze at the stars is not of the same
nature as what you perceive on the earth in the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms. In reality it
proceeds from beings of intelligence and will whose life is bound up with those stars. The effects
appear to be physical because the stars are at a distance. They are not in reality physical at all.
What we see is in reality the working of will and intelligence which at a distance appears as light."
(36, pg.73)
"According to modern preconceptions there is something inexorable in the play of nature, indeed pleasantly
inexorable for materialistic thinkers. They imagine that the earth's course would be exactly the
same were no human beings in existence; that whether they behave decently or not makes no
fundamental difference or really alters anything. But that is not the case! The all essential causes
of what happens on the earth do not lie outside man; they lie within mankind. And if earthly
consciousness is to expand to cosmic consciousness, humanity must realise that the earth - not
over short but over long stretches of time - is made in its own likeness, in the likeness of humanity
itself. There is no better means of lulling man to sleep than to impress upon him that be has no
share in the course g taken by earth existence. This narrows down human responsibility to the
single individual, the single personality.
"The destiny of our physical earth-planet in another two thousand years will not depend upon the present
constitution of our mineral world, but upon what we do and allow to be done. With world-
consciousness, human responsibility widens to world-responsibility.
"Nature does not, in truth, counteract our freedom, for as human beings we ourselves fashion the nature
immediately surrounding us. It is only in its partial manifestations that nature counteracts our
freedom.
"Naturally, in reference to the single, individual human being, we must speak of contributory causes only,
for in all these things, as I have said, it is a matter of the collective interworking of men on earth.
No one should, for that reason, exclude himself as an individual, for each of us has his share in
what is brought about by humanity as a whole and then comes to expression in what constitutes
the body for the whole of earthly humanity in its onflowing life (36, pp.76-79)

1920
22 Mar. 1920
Here something occurs which does not receive due attention in the Natural Science of today, for mankind
has a strong tendency to abstractions. They say, for example, that from a source of light for
example, the sun the light radiates in all directions, and finally disappears into infinity. But this
is not rues. No such form of activity vanishes into infinite space, but it extends within a certain
limited orb and then rebounds elastically, returning to its source, although the quality of this return
is often different from its centrifugal quality. In Nature there are only rhythmical processes, there
are none which continue into infinity. They revert rhythmically upon themselves. That is not only
the case in quantitative dispersion, but also in qualitative. If you subdivide any substance, it has at
first distinctive qualities. These qualities do not decrease and diminish ad infinitum; at a certain
point, they are reversed and become their opposites. (75, pp.35-36)

26 Mar. 1920
Observe the growth of the plant as it raises upwards out of the earth. You must take note of the spiral
sequence in the actual formation of the leaves and of the flower. You might say that the formative
 forces follow a spiral course around the central stalk. This spiral course cannot be explained by
internal forces of tension in the plant. No; its origin is to be sought in the influence that works
from the extra-telluric sphere, and chiefly in the influence of the suns apparent path through the
heavens. (Let us say apparent, for the respective motions of earth and sun can only be taken
relatively.) There are indeed points of view better than the mathematics of Galileo, from which to
study the paths of the heavenly bodies; they trace themselves in the sequence of formative
processes in the plant. For what the stars do is faithfully copied in the plant.
It would be quite mistaken, however, to reckon only with the vertical upward impulse in plants, that
depends upon the sun. If the suns action were the sole operating force, it would take complete
possession, so to speak, and the plant would be drawn upwards into the infinite. The solar force is,
however, counteracted to some degree by that of the outer planets, in their spiral courses. For
planets, as a matter of fact, do not move in an ellipse; their orbits are spiral. It is time today that
the whole Copernican system was re-examined and superceded by another. The so-called outer
planets are Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. (Uranus and Neptune are only members of the solar system
in the astronomical sense, they do not really belong to it by origin; they are foreign bodies that
have become attracted and attached to our system. They are guests, invited to our planetary
system, and we are right to omit them.) The forces of the superior planets deflect the plant's
upward tendency, so as to bank up the formative forces which would otherwise manifest in the
spiral of the leaves alone, and to cause the formation of flower and seed. So if you consider the
plant's upward development, from the region of formation of the foliage, you must ascribe it to the
combined action of the Sun's influence and that of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
"There are not only these two elements in co-operation. Marshalled against them are the influences from
the Moon and the so-called inferior planets, Mercury and Venus. The Moon, Mercury and Venus
cause the earthward, downward tendency in the plant, which manifests itself most
characteristically in the formation of the root. Thus all that seems essentially earthy is really a joint
product of the action of the Moon and that of the inferior planets. So I would say that the plant
expresses and bears the imprint of the whole planetary system. Until we know this, and learn to
know how to recognise the planetary manifestations in man as well, we cannot thoroughly
understand the relationship between the plant structure and the human structure.
"Now consider the fact that plants with a prevailing tendency towards root-formation leave much more ash
when they are burnt than is left by plants that tend towards the formation of blossoms or even by
mistletoe and tree-plants. This difference is caused by the greater influence of the inner heavenly
bodies, Moon, Mercury and Venus, on plants with great root development. And if you search in
their ashes, iron, manganese and silicon will be found, all of them substances with direct remedial
qualities, as is shown when any part of the plant is used.
"But if plants of the opposite type are exposed to the action of fire, there is but little ash: And in these
different results of the process of Incineration, we have something I would describe as an external
document of the plant's relation to the whole cosmic order, and not to forces ruling on earth alone.
"Now consider the plant world more closely. In the case of annual plants, growth stops abruptly at a certain
season of the year with the formation of seed. As we have seen, seed formation is mainly governed
by extra-terrestrial forces. But its course is interrupted and it is given over to the earth again. It
must, as it were, continue at a lower stage in the new year, what had reached a higher stage in the
old year. The course of plant life and growth is a remarkable one. Take the earth's surface; the
plant emerges from the soil, reaching out to its fullest extent towards the extra-terrestrial spheres.
But then when it has developed extra-terrestrially is sown again in the soil, and the cycle begins
anew. Thus every year the heavenly forces sink into the ground, mingle with the forces of the
earth, and again complete their course. Year by year the seed of the flower is returned again to the
root region, to complete the rhythmic cycle to which all plant life is subject.
"This rhythmic cycle is proof that what we term the flora of earth is in truth a manifestation of the whole
earth's interaction with the extra-terrestrial cosmos. This interaction, therefore, is not restricted to
the form of our planet, but extends to its internal chemistry and its whole system of organic life.
Just as what is earthly in the mechanism in the form is overcome by the cosmic forces, so also is
the terrestrial chemistry in plants overcome by the forces outside the earth; and when this
overcoming has reached a certain point, the process must return again to earth and display earthly
chemistry. From these facts it is not a far-fetched conclusion that the specific chemistry of the
earth is revealed in the ashes; it is represented in the refuse, the dross of the living sphere. This
 dross and ash is subject to gravity, whereas the upward urge and growth of the plant is a continual
conquest of gravity, and of other earth-bound forces, so that we may properly speak of a polar
opposition between gravity and light. Light is that which continually overcomes gravity. And the
plant is, so to speak, set into the tension of this combat between light and weight, between that
which strives towards ashes and that which strives towards fire. And in this polar contrast between
what becomes ashes and what is revealed in flame, is the opposition of ponderable and
imponderable elements. There we have revealed the cosmic place and role of plant life." (75,
pp.83-85)

"In plants, it is not forces bound to atoms and molecules that we have to consider, but those that affect the
earth by their impact from without, and permeate its substances. Not those tiny demons, the
molecules and atoms, but the cosmic forces, shape the internal and external structure of matter. Let
us take an example. Suppose that a planet in extra-terrestrial space is in an especially favourable
position for working on a certain portion of our sphere. Assume Saturn to be the planet in question
and that Saturn can best exercise its full influence when the direction of other planetary influences
strike the earth as far away as possible from its own, and do not mingle with nor deflect them; i.e.,
when the Sun, Mars, and other bodies are not in or near a line Saturn to the earth. Then the
Saturnian force impinges directly on our planet. And if conditions are favourable in the portion of
earth directly under Saturns influence, that unmixed and undeflected Saturnian influence causes a
structure to be formed there, differing from that due to Mars under similar conditions.
Earths substances are the combined result of forces from the stars. In the case cited as illustration, the
effect of such action is shown in the production of lead. This is why we must associate certain
substances in the earth - especially metals with certain planetary positions in the extra-terrestrial
universe. What the ancient wisdom of mankind offers us, can only be truly understood when it is
discovered afresh. It is impossible for anyone accustomed to think in modern chemical and
physical terms to read the ancient writings. This is shown by the following example. In a history
of alchemy an extremely clever Norwegian scholar described a process, which, as he quite truly
remarks, is mere nonsense according to modern chemical concepts, for it gives no result. It is a
process concerned with lead. But he failed to see that this process explained the process of seed
formation! He referred the statements to a laboratory experiment, which, of course, made
nonsense. He did not realise that the terminology of archaic terminology must be transferred, so to
speak, to another plane, and that many of its expressions must be read in a wholly different sense.
Therefor he made nonsense of the passage. His opinion was, of course, both right and wrong. Thus
we cannot but assume a relationship between terrestrial substances and the forces impinging on
the earth from the surrounding world.
The study of metals in particular, on the lines indicated, leads to concrete relationships, so that we must
ascribe their formations as follows. Lead results from the unimpeded action of Saturn, tin from
that of Jupiter, iron from Mars, copper from Venus, and what is now termed quicksilver from
Mercury. Similarly we must recognise a relationship between everything of the nature of silver, all
that is silvery I use the term with intention and the unimpeded action of the Moon. It is
pleasantly amusing to read in contemporary books that the reason why the ancient world
associated silver with the Moon, was because of the Moons silvery radiance merely because of
this external appearance! Anyone who is aware how careful and minute were the studies made of
old as to the properties of the various metals along their own lines, naturally will not fall into
such an error. Moreover, the conception I have given leaves, as you will perceive, ample room for
other substances than the six most distinctive metals (lead, tin, iron, copper, quicksilver and silver)
to come into being through the combination of planetary forces. This joint action of planetary
forces means that various other planetary influences combine with the typical ones which we
indicated. In this manner, the less representative metals originate. And in any case, earth's wealth
of metals is the result of forces acting on the earth from without. Here is the link between the
workings of metals and the formation of plants. If you summarise the agencies contained in lead,
tin and iron, you have everything connected with flower and seed formation in plants; inasmuch as
these processes take place extra-terrestrially above the surface of the earth. And all that is of the
nature of copper, silver or mercury, must be related to everything connected with the formation of
plant roots.
"As on the one side, the mercurial element acts as an equalising agent, you will certainly look for a
 corresponding equilibrium on the other side. The mercurial element is the balancing factor
between the telluric and that which is to some degree supra-telluric. But our whole universe is
permeated with spirit. Thus another polarity arises. The terrestrial and extra-terrestrial poles
represent the polar opposite of gravity and light. This offers only one possibility - the existence of
a state of balance between the terrestrial and extra-terrestrial elements. But there is another state of
equilibrium between that which permeates all matter equally, whether it be terrestrial or extra-
terrestrial, and matter itself; an equilibrium between the spiritual and the material, whether the
latter be ponderable or imponderable. At every point of the material world, the balance must be
held between it and the spiritual, and equally so in the universe. For us, the first and nearest
agency that holds the balance in the universe, is the Sun itself. The Sun holds the balance between
the spiritual in the universe and the material in the universe. Thus the Sun has a twofold aspect; as
a heavenly -body it establishes order in the planetary system, but at the same time it maintains
order among the forces that permeate the material system. Just as we are able to link the individual
planets with the metals I have already described, so can we also establish the relationship of the
Sun to gold. The ancients actually prized gold, not for its material value, but on account of its
relationship with the sun, and with the balance between spirit and matter." (75, pp.90-92)

27 Mar. 1920
"In visualising the general health of any individual, we must bear in mind that man lives in two life-epochs,
which are in some respects polarised. In youth he is under other influences than he is later on. The
dominant influences in youth are those of the outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, and in later
life the inner planets, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, to give them the titles already mentioned.
But the earliest and most conspicuous influence of all is that of the Moon." (75, pg.98)

"Now, if you bring together all that was said yesterday as to human dependence on the extra-telluric and
telluric forces, and what I added today about human development extending into time, you will be
able to form a conclusion that may be of help in the investigation with which we are now
concerned. You will be able to postulate that certain forces are continually in action on man. These
forces (if we consider the physical and etheric bodies) are extra-telluric as well as telluric, which
work against them. They may be subdivided into: those of the outer planets, Saturn, Jupiter and
Mars; and those of the inner planets, Venus, Mercury and the Moon. These latter forces, as a
matter of fact, change into telluric influences. The interaction of Earth and Moon is complex and
deceptive in certain ways, and easily misinterpreted. Man is apt to think: there is the moon, above,
whence its influence must descend. But this view is incomplete. The moon is not merely the
earth's satellite circling around her; the same force that dwells within the moon and works upon
the earth, is also contained within the earth itself. The earth has its own lunar principle working
outwards from within. Physical manifestations such as the tides and many allied phenomena are
not essentially telluric, but lunar; nevertheless they are not directly due to lunar influence (as
recent theories claim) , but to the lunar principle in the earth itself. There is an apparent
correspondence between these effects and the moon, but there is, at least generally, no immediate
connection in time. So when we trace the influence of the inner planets, we must look for their
counter-image in the earth itself, so that the physical effect, the effect upon the physical, comes via
the earth. And on the other hand, to the outer planets must be ascribed effects in the realm of soul
and spirit.
We may define the moons action thus: it throws, as it were, certain formative forces down to the earth,
and they manifest themselves in the human activities, especially those of creative fantasy and
imagination. The lunar influence on the imaginative and creative powers of the soul is immense.
These things should be studied; they are, of course, not adequately investigated and recorded in
this age of materialism. But that they exist, is irrefutable. The moon affects directly the soul and
spirit, promoting creative imagination. The moon's counterpart, the lunar influence on all organic
life, starts from the earth, and from there acts on the human organisation. This (twofold) action
must be taken into account. The same rule holds good for the inner planets, which lie beyond the
moon.
"Thus man is affected in the most diverse ways, by telluric forces - call them terrestrial if you so prefer -
and by extra-telluric forces. If we wish to study these forces, we must look at the result of their co-
operation in the whole human entity. They cannot be traced in any isolated part of man and least of
 all in the cell please note especially, in the cell least of all. For what is the cell? It is the element
that obstinately maintains its separate existence, its own separate life and growth, contrary to the
whole of human life and growth. Picture to yourselves, on the one hand, man built up in his whole
frame by the telluric and extra-telluric forces, and on the other hand, the cell as that element which
intervenes in the operation of these forces, upsets their ground-plan and conception, and even
destroys their working by developing its own urge towards independent life. Actually we wage
ceaseless war in our organism against the life of the cell. And the most impossible of conceptions
has just arisen in that Cellular Pathology and Cellular Physiology which find cells as the source
and basis of everything, and regard the human organism as an aggregate of cells. Whereas, in
truth, man is a whole in relationship with the cosmos, and has to wage perpetual war against the
independent life and growth of the cells.
"This should be an elementary piece of knowledge familiar to all; everything on our earth that is globular in
form, whether within or external the human frame, is the result of two forces, one urging towards
life, the other drawing life away.
"If we examine the concept of the mercurial in ancient medicine we learn that it was held that the mercurial
has been deprived of life but retains the globular form. This means that the mercurial element must
be visualised as tending obstinately to the condition of a living drop of matter, i.e., to a cell, but is
prevented by the planetary action of Mercury from being more than a corpse of a cell - that is to
say, the typical quicksilver globule. Here is the condition midway between the saline and the
phosphoric; and here is also a glimpse of the very intricate road we must follow in order to
understand the living working of planetary forces in the earth's substances. Were it not for the
planet Mercury, every drop of quicksilver would be a living thing. And all the parts of the human
frame which tend most definitely to the cellular principle - that is, the region specified above -
need more than any other to receive the proper influence of the planet Mercury. This means that
the region below the heart and above the organs of evacuation, depends very much on the
preservation of a certain inherent tendency to maintain the cellular process, without letting it get so
out of hand that it is quite overwhelmed by life forces. That is, it depends on making the cellular
process remain under the devitalising life-paralysing Mercury condition; otherwise the activity of
the organs under discussion would at once tend to become exuberant." (75, pp.103-106)

29 Mar. 1920
"True, the connections of the whole universe are present in man: man is related to Saturn, Jupiter, etc.; but
the relations are concealed in the depths of our organisation. At the risk of offending current
modes of thought, I would suggest that the astronomical affiliations form the most deeply
unconscious region in man, they are transmuted into the most se secluded of his organic
processes." (75,pg.121)

"Behind the meteorological sphere, as it were behind a screen, there is hidden the astronomical domain in
the external world as well as in the interior of man. The distinctions here are follows: the
meteorological sphere within us comprises that which appertains to lungs, liver, bladder and heart;
in the external world, it comprises the solid earth and the realms of air, water and warmth. Behind
and beyond this region, lie the formative processes in the plant and mineral kingdoms; and to these
formative processes, which are so closely akin to the extra-telluric, i.e., the astronomical domain,
there is a polar opposite in man, viz., the organs situated more deeply within our bodies than the
four systems of organs mentioned above." (75, pp.125-126)
31 Mar. 1920
"Here, then, is the earth, surrounded by air, and over or outside the atmosphere is something different again.
The outer layer beyond the atmosphere is first of all what may be described as a sort of warmth
mantle round the earth. If we could ascend straight from the earth through the atmosphere, we
should enter a sphere of very different warmth conditions, surprisingly different from what we
know on the earth's surface. At a certain distance from the earth in space, the contents of this
warmth sphere perform much the same office as the atmosphere itself within and below that zone.
What of the region beyond? Here we represent the extra-telluric warmth sphere, and here the
atmosphere; and beyond, the polar complement of the atmosphere, a region wherein conditions are
the complete opposite of those within the atmosphere. In that region, in a state of - if I may coin a
word - de-aeration, where the very existence of air is annulled, is the source of what shoots up
 through de-aeration and is sent towards us as light.
"It is a grave error to suppose that our light on earth comes from the sun. That is only a somewhat fatal
fantasy on the part of physicists and astronomers. Our light on earth comes from this outer zone.
There it springs up, there it is generated, there it grows as plants grow in the soil of the earth. And
so we are entitled to say: if man has the power to generate original light of his own, it is due to the
power he has reserved to his own formative process, to execute something that is done - apart
from him - only in this upper and outer region; he bears the source of an extra-telluric activity
within himself. This cosmic source of power operates on the whole of plant life as well as upon
mankind; but it affects the vegetable world from outside, whereas man holds something within,
which links him with this upper sphere.
"Now let us ask ourselves; suppose we approach the earth more closely than the atmospheric envelope ; do
we then penetrate again into man, by that way? Yes: for as we approach the earth out of the
atmosphere, we come to all that is fluid, to the watery element, and we may correctly envisage a
fluid zone beneath the zone of air. The fluid zone also has its counterpart, which lies beyond the
light-generating stratum. There again, all conditions are the polar opposites of those obtaining in
the watery belt round the earth; and there, too, forces spring to life and operate on the earth, as
light is born in and operates from the zone immediately below. These are the chemical forces
working down into the earth, and it is an absurdity to seek for the chemical effects observed on
earth, in the various substances themselves. You will seek them there in vain. They come down to
meet the earth from these regions outside. "But again man bears within him something analogous
to this extra-telluric region. If I may so express it man contains a 'chemicator'.
"He has within him something of the celestial sphere that contains the source of chemical action. And this
function is highly localised in us, in the liver. I ask you to study the remarkable scope of the
functional activity of the liver. On the one hand, it exercises what I might call a form of suction,
determining the composition of the blood; and on the other hand, by means of the secretion of the
gall, it regulates the process leading to blood formation. Consider these manifold activities; and
you will have to recognise something which, if carefully studied, leads to a proper chemical
science. For the external chemistry of outer science is not to be found on earth; it is a reflection
only of the extra-human 'chemical sphere' above. But there is a means of studying this extra-
telluric sphere in all the wonderful workings of the human liver.
"Let us pass downwards through the watery zone round the earth, and come to the actual earth formation, to
what we might term the solidification. (We should not have any hesitation today in referring to
earth, water, air and fire if the terms linked in association had not become unfashionable and
unpopular, as having been used by ignorant folk of old! But among ourselves, surely, we are at
liberty to refer to these things.) This solid structure of the earth has also its counterpart in the
cosmos; and this is the realm of vitalisation, the source of all life formation. The vital forces come
to us from a further distance even than the chemical, and within the extra-human earth that is in
the 'earthly sphere' proper - they are completely killed.
"Moreover, our earth would come to exuberant growth and would form ebullient living outgrowths of
carcinomatous nature, if this hypertrophy were not checked by the workings of the extra-telluric
Mercury (the planet) which develops the mercurial process." (75, pp.150-152)

4 Apr. 1920
What really happens if a blackbird devours a spider? The spider is in its whole organisation very much
interwoven with certain cosmic interactions outside the earth; the creatures bodily structure, the
shape of its limbs and characteristic markings are due to this involvement in extra-telluric
processes, so that - if I may so express the facts - the spider has much planetary life: yes, extra-
telluric planetary life the garden spider bears within him. Now the blackbird has not attained such
a degree of kinship and sharing of planetary experience; but has removed its share more to the
interior of its organism. When the bird swallows the spider, the internal planetary forces begin to
stir. These planetary forces which still have the urge towards assuming shape tend to permeate the
body of the bird which has to struggle against them. For from the moment of devouring the spider,
the blackbird in its inner tendencies becomes a replica of extra-telluric life. Therefor the bird has
recourse to the appropriate medicinal plant, which has become similar to the terrestrial sphere, as
contrasted with the planetary in two respects; both by its growing upwards from the soil and by its
retention of a substance which it cannot wholly work up under the planetary influence but stores
 up as a poison. The bird seeks help from the henbane. And why? Because in the very moment that
the poison begins to work, the working calls into activity the defensive and protective instinct; the
instinctive awareness of injury passes over into the instinct of defence." (75, pp.193-194)

7 Apr. 1920
"So too must those diseases which can appear as epidemics be studied according to their primary causes. To
take an example: in all persons with a dispssition to disturbance and damage of the head and breast
rhythms, which find their crudest expression in the respiratory rhythm, there is a tendency to be
much affected by certain atmospheric and extra-telluric conditions. Others again, in whom the
respiratory system is congenitally sound, are able to resist such influences. Of course we must
make allowances for additional influences, and other factors of a complicated kind, but this brief
and bare outline may make the principle understood. Let us suppose a winter season, in which
there is a powerful influence on the solar activity and note please, not the operation of light, but
the solar action --- through the outer planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. A constellation of that
description in the winter operates quite differently from the unimpeded action of the Sun, when
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are at a greater distance. In such a winter the atmospheric conditions will
differ from the norm; and there will be a remarkable influence (on persons constitutionally so
disposed) upon the rhythmical activity between chest and head, of which the most conspicuous is
the act of breathing itself. We may state, however, that such cosmic conditions considerably
strengthen the inclination to make this rhythm regular in people who have been born from sound
conditions, and who are inwardly robust - though their external appearance may be very slight and
delicate. In the case of such persons the respiratory rhythm is very well regulated and so also is the
whole rhythm between chest and head. But on persons with an irregularity of this rhythm, the
external influences referred to work very strongly to disturb still more the already disturbed
rhythm. Thus everyone with this disposition and resident in those parts of the earth under the
special influence of the constellation in question, become liable to the complaints grouped as
influenza and grippe." (75, pp.235-236)

8 Apr. 1920
"We can only interpret the lessons so graphically presented by that substance, on the supposition that the
forces present in nature are working throughout, are in fact ubiquitous; and that if certain
substances show their operation to a marked degree, it is because the forces are especially
concentrated in these substances. What operates in antimony is present throughout nature; the
antimonising power - if we may coin the term - is everywhere. It also has a regulative action in
man, so that in normal conditions human beings draw the antimonising force from the extra-
telluric sphere. That is to say, mankind draws from the cosmos what in concentrated form is
manifested as antimony. In normal conditions man does not have recourse to the antimonising
force as present on earth and in its specific concentrated form, but turns towards the external,
extra-telluric antimonial force. So we must obviously ask: What is the extra-telluric form of this
antimonising force?
"Speaking in terms of the planets, it is the co-operation of Mercury, Venus and the Moon. If these three do
not operate separately but together their action is not specifically of the nature of mercury, copper
or silver; but is comparable with the action of antimony in the earth. And of course this can be and
must be investigated, by observing and registering the effects of such constellations upon man -
constellations, that is to say, in which the three forces of Moon, Mercury and Venus neutralise
each other, through the aspects of opposition or square. If all three- are in such an aspect of
neutralisation, there is the precise interaction which in the case of antimony is laid hold of by n the
earth. In all the antimony in and on the earth, the same force is exerted from our planet itself, as is
exerted by these three planetary bodies upon the earth.
"Here it is necessary to warn against a mistake. The constitution of the earth is such as to make it erroneous
to refer piecemeal, so to speak, to such substances as antimony. All the antimony on the earth is a
unity in the earth's structure, just as all the earths stores of silver or of gold are unities. If you
remove separate clumps of antimony from the earth, you are simply extracting or amputating a
part of that antimonial body which is incorporated into the earth." (75, pp.246-247)

9 Apr. 1920
"Man experiences three dimensional space. In the course of life he experiences first the vertical dimension.
As a child he crawls, and then he raises himself upright and experiences thereby the vertical
dimension. It would not be possible for man to speak of the vertical dimension if he did not
experience it. To think that he could find anything in the Universe other than he finds in himself
would be an illusion. Man finds this vertical dimension only by experiencing it himself. By
stretching out our hands and arms at right angles to the vertical we obtain the second dimension.
In what we experience when breathing or speaking, in the inhaling and exhaling of the air, or in
what we experience when we eat, when the food in the body moves from front to back, we
experience the third dimension. Only because man experiences these three dimensions within him
does he project them into external space. Man can find absolutely nothing in the Universe unless
he finds it first in himself. The strange thing is that in this age of abstractions which began in the
middle of the fifteenth century, Man has made these three dimensions homogeneous. That is, he
has simply left out of his thought the concrete distinction between them. If he were to give his real
human experience, he would say: My perpendicular line, my operative line, my extensive or
extending line. He would have to assume a difference in quality between the three spacial
dimensions.
"Consider for a moment the following. We shall readily perceive that our symmetry has something to do
with our thinking. This plane passing through the nose and through the whole body, is the plane of
symmetry, and is that of which one can become conscious as having to do with all the
discriminating that goes on within us, all the thinking and judging that discriminates and divides.
"We can then turn to another plane which would pass through the heart and divide man back from front. In
front, man is physiognomically organised, behind he is an expression of his organic being. This
physiognomical-psychic structure is divided off by a plane which stands at right angles to the first.
As our right and left man are divided by a plane, so too are our front and back man. We need only
stretch out our arms, our hands, directing the physiognomical part of the hand (in contrast to the
merely organic part) forwards and the organic part of the hands backwards, and then imagine a
plane through the principal lines which thus arise, and we obtain the plane I mean.
"In like manner we can place a third plane which would mark off all that is contained in head and
countenance from what is organised below into body and limbs. Thus we should obtain a third
plane which again is at right angles to the other two.
"One can acquire a feeling for these three planes. How the feeling for the first is obtained has already been
shown; it is to be felt as the plane of discriminative Thinking. The second plane, which divides
man into front and back (anterior and posterior) would be precisely that whereby man is shown to
be Man, for this plane cannot be delineated in the same way in the animal. The symmetry plane
can be drawn in the animal but not .the vertical plane. This second (vertical) plane would be
connected with everything pertaining to human Will. The third, the horizontal, would be connected
with everything pertaining to human Feeling.
"If however, we learn to describe Thinking, Feeling and Willing concretely in these three planes, and to
place ourselves thus in space as psychic-spiritual beings, with our Thinking, Feeling and Willing -
then just as we learn to apply to Astronomy the three dimensions of space as found in man, so do
we learn to apply to Astronomy the threefold division of man as a being of soul and spirit. And it
becomes possible if we have here Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and lastly Earth,
then it becomes possible, if we look at the Sun, to observe it in its outer manifestation as
something separating, as a dividing element. We must think of a plane passing through the Sun,
and we shall no longer regard what is above the plane and what is below as merely dimensional,
but must regard the plane as a dividing plane and distinguish the planets as being above or below.
So too I shall no longer say of Mars and Mercury that the one is at such a distance and the other at
such a distance from the Sun, but I shall know that if I regard the Sun as dividing partition, Mars
being above must be of one nature and Mercury being below of another.
"I shall now be able to place a similar plane perpendicularly through the Sun. Thus the movements of
Jupiter, let us say, or of Mars, will be such that at one time it will stand on the right of this plane
and then go across it and stand on the left. If I simply proceed abstractly, according to dimensions,
I shall find it is sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left, and such and such a number of
miles. But if I study cosmic space concretely, as I must my own being as man, it is not a matter of
indifference whether a planet is at one time on the left and at another time on the right, but I say
there is the same kind of difference whether it is on the right or left as there is between a left and
 right organ. It is not sufficient to say that the liver is so many centimetres to the right of the
symmetrical axis, the stomach so many centimetres to the left, for the two are dissimilar in
formation because the one is a right organ and the other a left. Here it is so, that Jupiter, according
as he is on the right or the left, to the eye appears different.
"In the same way I make a third plane, and must again form a judgement in accordance with that. And if I
extend my knowledge of Man to the Universe, I shall be obliged, as I connected the one plane
with human Thinking, and the second plane with human Feeling, to consider the third plane as
connected with human Will." (37, pp.14-19)

10 Apr. 1920
"An observer sees the Sun in this direction. The Earth progresses, but exactly in a line behind the Sun.
When the Earth is here, the observer now sees the Sun in another direction. The Sun advances still
further, the Earth following, and once again the observer sees the Sun in the other direction. That
is to say, he sees the Sun at one time on the right, and another time on the left, owing to the way in
which the Earth follows the Sun.
"This has been interpreted as demonstrating that the Sun stands still and the Earth revolves around it. In
reality it is not so; the Earth moves along behind the Sun." (37, pg.33)

11 Apr. 1920
"We cannot conceive of any other plane in celestial space as being of like value with the Zodiac, any more
than we could conceive the plane which divides us in two and creates our symmetry, as being
placed at random just anywhere. We then perceive the Zodiac as something through which a plane
may be described. We shall then have one plane before us in Cosmic space, precisely as we
imagined the three planes sketched in Man. That is certainly a plane of which we can say that it is
fixed there for us. We see the Sun run its course through the zodiac; we relate all the phenomena
of the heavens to this plane. And we have here an analogy of an extra-human kind for what we
must perceive and experience as planes in Man himself. Now when we draw the Symmetry plane
in Man, and have on one side of the Symmetry-axis the liver organised in one way, and on the
other side the stomach organised in a different way, we cannot think of such a fact without feeling
at the same time some inner concrete relation; we cannot imagine mere lines of space lying there,
but what is in the space must manifest definite forces of activity; it will not be a matter of
indifference whether something is on the right or on the left. In the same way we must imagine
that in the organisation of the Universe it is a matter of consequence whether a thing is above or
below the Zodiac. We shall begin to think of Cosmic space - as we see it here, sown with stars -
we shall begin to think of it as having form. Now just as we can think of this plane... so we can
also think of another at right angles to it. Let us think of a plane extending from the constellation
Leo to that of Aquarius on the other side.{on a reversed zodiac} Then we can go further and
imagine a third plane at right angles ~ again to this one, running from Taurus to Scorpio. We have
now three planes at right angles to one another in Cosmic space.
"If we think of the plane we have denoted as that of Will - the plane namely that separates us behind and
before - we have the plane of the Zodiac itself.
"If we think of the plane running from Taurus to Scorpio {on a "reversed" Zodiac}, we have the plane of
Thinking; that is, our Thought plane would be co-ordinated to this plane. And the third plane
would be that of Feeling. Thus we have divided Cosmic space by means of three planes, just as we
divided Man in our first lecture. (37, pp.38-39)

16 Apr. 1920
"We shall now have to consider a correspondence that is found to exist, an absolute correspondence, in
respect of Number. I have already often drawn your attention to this correspondence between Man
and the world in which he evolves. I have pointed to the fact that Man, in his rhythm of breathing -
18 per minute - manifests something that is in remarkable accord with other processes of the
Universe. We make 18 respirations per minute, which gives when calculated for the day, 25,920
respirations. And we arrive at the same number when we calculate how many days are contained
in a normal life term of 72 years. That also gives about 25,920 days; so that something may be
said to exhale our astral body and ego, on falling asleep and inhale them again upon waking -
always in conformity with the same number rythm.
"And again, when we consider how the Sun moves - whether apparently or really, does not matter -
advancing a little each year in what we call the precession of the equinoxes, when we consider the
number of years it takes the Sun to make this journey round the whole Zodiac, once more we get
25,920 years - the Platonic year.
"There are, however, other very important correspondences. For example, consider the following. Take the
18 respirations per minute, making 1,080 per hour and in 24 hours 25,920 respirations; that is,
we must multiply: 18x60x24 in order to arrive at 25,920.
"Taking this as the cycle of the precession of the equinoxes, and dividing it by 60 and again by 24, we
would naturally get 18 years. And what do these 18 years really mean? Consider - these 25,920
respirations correspond to a human day of 24 hours; in other words, this 24 hour day is the day of
the microcosm. 18 respirations may serve as the unit of rythm.
"And now take the complete circle described by the precession of the equinoxes, and call it, not a Platonic
year, but a great Day of the Heavens, a Macrocosmic day. How long would one respiration on this
scale have to occupy to correspond with the human respiration? Its duration would have to be 18
years - a respiration made by the Being corresponding to the Macrocosm.

"You are aware that the Earth's axis lies obliquely upon the Ecliptic, and that the Astronomers speak of an
oscillation of the Earth's axis around this point and they call this 'Nutation' The axis completes
one revolution around this point in just about 18 years (it is really 18 years, 7 months, but we need
not consider the fraction, although it is quite possible to calculate this too with exactitude). But
with these 18 years something else is intimately connected. For it is not merely on the fact of
'Nutation' - this 'trembling', this rotation of the Earth's axis in a double cone around the Earth's
centre, and the period of 18 years for its completion - it is not only on this fact that we have to fix
our minds, but we find that simultaneously with it another process takes place. The Moon appears
each year in a different position because, like the Sun, she ascends and descends from the ecliptic,
proceeding in a kind of oscillating motion again and again towards the Equator ecliptic. And every
18 years she appears once more in the same position she occupied 18 years before. You see there
is a connection between this Nutation and the path of the Moon. Nutation in truth indicates
nothing but the Moon's path. It is the projection of the motion of the Moon. This takes place just as
many times in the macrocosmic year as the 18 human respirations during the microcosmic day of
24 hours." (37, pp.52-54)

"Only when we can perceive from facts such as the Moon's motion and nutation of the Earth's axis that
another world extends into this one - only then are we on the right path.
"He who can faithfully observe what is contained within his own self will find the following. These things
must gradually be brought to the attention of humanity. There are many among you, who have
already passed the 18 years and about 7 months period in age. That was an important period.
Others will have passed twice that number of years 37 years and 2 months - again an important
time. After that we have a third very momentous period 18 years and 7 months later, at the age of
55 years and 9 months. The nights passed through during these periods are the most important
nights in the life of the individual It is here where the Macrocosm completes its 18 respirations,
completes one minute - and Man as it were, opens a window facing quite another world.
"It must not be thought that the world composing our every-day environment is merely permeated in an
abstract way by the astral world; rather should we say, it breathes in the astral world, and we can
observe the astral in this breathing process through the Moon's motion or nutation.
"Here we step over into the other side, the other aspect of three-dimensional space - we pass from pressure
to suction. That which immediately surrounds us in this world, that of which we are constituted as
physical man and ether man, is both pressing and sucking or absorbing. We are a combination of
both; whereas the Sun possesses the power of suction only, being nothing but ether, nothing but
suction. It is the undulating wave of pressure and suction, ponderable matter and ether, that forms
in its alternation a living organism. And the living organism continually breathes in the astral; and
breathing expresses itself through the Moon's motion or nutation. And here we begin to divine a
second member or principle of the world's construction; the one member - pressure and suction,
physical and etheric; the other, the second - astral. The astral is neither physical nor etheric but is
continually inhaled and exhaled; and the nutation demonstrates this process.
"Now a certain astronomical fact was observed even in the most ancient times. Briefly, the facts are that if
 we notice the path of a fixed star and notice the point where the Sun stands over it, we find that at
the end of 72 years the star occupies the same position on the 30th December, while the Sun only
reaches that point again on the 31st December. The Sun has lost a day. After a lapse of 25,920
years this loss is so great, that the Sun has described a complete revolution and once again is back
upon the place we noted. We see therefor that in 72 years the Sun is one day behind the fixed stars.
Now these 72 years are approximately the normal life period of Man, and they are composed of
25,920 days.
"Thus when we multiply 72 years by 360, and consider the human span of life as one day, we have the
human life as one day of the Macrocosm. Man is breathed out, as it were, from the Macrocosm;
his life is one day in the macrocosmic year.
"And now through what present-day astronomy calls 'precession', we have something we may again call a
transition, a transition this time to a state of deep sleep, a transition to still another, a third world.
We have thus three worlds, interpenetrating one another, inter-related; but we must not attempt
simply to combine these worlds from the point of view of causality. Three worlds, a three-fold
world, as Man is a three-fold being; one, the world of sense surrounding us, the world we
perceive; a second world whose presence is indicated by the motions of the Moon; and a third
which makes itself known to us by the path of the Sun. This third world indeed remains about as
unknown to us as the world of our own Will is unknown to our ordinary consciousness." (37,
pp.56-60)

17 Apr. 1920
"There simply does not exist such a thing as mathematics calls Space; but everywhere are lines of force,
and these are not equal, they vary, they are differentiated. Man will not admit this as long as he
lives merely in the world of the senses; but as soon as he ascends to the Imaginative life of the
soul, he no longer experiences the directions in space as the same when facing Aries or Cancer, but
feels their influence upon him as greatly differentiated.
"So when we are dealing with these various sections of space there is no sameness, for we must realise that
each of these directions exerts a different influence upon us. (37, pg.68)

"Taking the case of an inhabitant of our own part of the globe, we can see that at any given time he has
facing him one half of the Zodiacal signs, while the other half is obscured by the Earth.
"Let us say, from the direction of the Sign Cancer proceeds a certain kind of influence. This would be
opposed by an influence from Capricorn, but the latter is taken away, is intercepted. Consequently
I have in me the influence of Cancer and opposed to it the intercepted Capricornian influence; the
influence of Cancer is thereby in a sense left in me, put into my hands , as it were. Of course that
which is absent cannot act upon me in the same way as that which is present; but I gain a certain
influence as regards the Sign that acts upon me by reason of the opposition to its intercepted
antithesis.
"Above us we have the Signs Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, etc., and below Libra, Virgo and so on, but you will
have to conceive the whole as an organisation, with yourself harnessed into it. And as you
progress, on account of the Earth's revolution, from sign to sign, you are being carried through all
these direct influences in turn. But is Man conscious of these varying influences, while yet on the
physical plane? No, he is not; we have seen that the physical world takes him away from them.
But the moment he withdraws with his astral body and Ego from his physical and etheric bodies,
he finds himself within these forces; they act directly and strongly upon him. These extra-earthly,
heavenly influences then make onset upon that part of Man which is no longer connected with the
physical and etheric; they act upon it as powerfully as food upon the physical body.
"Man as a child is always more or less asleep, therefor the child is much more receptive to celestial
influences than the man. As he grows up he works his way further and further into earthly
conditions. During childhood, all that is within the skin is still plastic and in a state of formation.
The formative powers become less and less active with the years, until, at a considerably later
point in life, they become very small indeed. This shows that the inner physical formation-process
stands in a certain relation to the movements and configurations of the outer celestial Universe.
But the part of our being which, as far as consciousness is concerned, remains in a continual state
of sleep - such as our heart-activity, our digestive processes, etc.; in fact, all the inner physical
processes all this part of our being remains under the influences of the super-physical during the
 whole of our life." (37, pp.70-72)

"Thus we can study man from four different points of view: Complete Form, in so far as this is built up
from within outwards; Internal Motion, Organic Activity and Metabolism. If we study the
complete form, which is entirely constructed by inner forces, we find that it has the least
connection of all with the Earthly. We only begin to gain an understanding of the connection when
we relate the complete form of Man to the Zodiac. The inner motion, the circulation of the blood,
lymph, etc., can only be conceived in their reality, when related to our planetary system. And when
we come to the activity of the organs, we are already approaching the terrestrial.
"I gave you the example of the lungs, which, in respect to their internal construction, are formed by
extraterrestrial forces, but where they come into relation with oxygen, are in relation with the
air. Other human organs come into relation with water, others again with heat, etc. Therefor, in
studying the activity of the organs, we come into contact with the Elemental world with fire,
water, air. Only when our observations are centred upon actual assimilation, or metabolism, do we
approach the relation of Man with the Earth itself.
"In this way we can discover Man' s relation to the Universe that surrounds him:
Zodiac (I) Complete form
World of the Planets (2) Internal Motions
World of the Elements (3) Activity of the Organs
Earth (4) Metabolism" (37, pp.77-78)

18 Apr. 1920
"Thus, in the building process of the organs we have a yearly course. But this course stands in similar
relation to the forces of inner movement in Man as the varied conditions of the year's activity -
Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter - do to the planets. ...by studying certain relationships in
Man during the actual building process of the organs, and seeing them in connection with the
forces of inner movement, you can find everywhere analogies of that which takes place in the
quarterly changes in the Seasons, as seen in their relationship to the forces of planetary motion.
The movement of the Sun too must be thought of as similarly inserted into the movements of the
Planets.
"What really is the process which we observe in the daily movement of metabolism? Just consider the
relation between the two moments of time - going to sleep and awaking. If you do this with an
unprejudiced mind, you will arrive at an unequivocal view of this matter. When you go to sleep,
you are, as it were, at the zero of your being; the condition of sleep is not merely one of rest, it is
the antithetical condition of the waking state. When you awake, you are, from the standpoint of
your life, really in the same relation to yourself and your environment as you are at the moment of
going to sleep. The one is the equivalent of the other, the only difference being that of direction.
Awaking means passing from sleep to the waking state; falling asleep is the reverse. Apart from
direction they are absolutely alike. Therefor if we could indicate the movements of metabolism by
a line, then it cannot be a straight line or a circle, for they would not contain the points of awaking
and falling asleep. We must find a line which actually depicts the movements of metabolism, so as
to contain these points, and the only one - search as long as you like is the lemniscate.
"Whither does all this lead? If we have grasped the fact that the motion of the daily metabolism
corresponds to the motion of the Earth, we can no longer, with the Earth here, attribute to any one
point a circular motion. On the contrary, we must form the conception that the Earth in actual fact
proceeds along her path in such a way as to produce a line like that of a lemniscate. The motion is
not a simple revolution, but a more complicated movement; each point of the terrestrial surface
describes a lemniscate, which is also the line described by the metabolic process.
"Now all this will certainly make it clear that we can certainly speak of a daily motion of the Earth around
her axis, but by no means of a yearly motion of the Earth around the Sun. For the Earth follows
the Sun, describing the same path.
"Were the Earth revolving round the Sun, we should of course expect her axis, which owing to its inertia
remains parallel, to point in the direction of different fixed stars during this revolution. But it does
 not! If the Earth revolved round the Sun, the axis could not indicate the direction of the Pole-star,
for the point indicated would itself have to revolve round the Pole-star;...It is in a spiral, screw-like
path that the Earth follows the Sun, boring her way, as it were, into cosmic space." (37, pp.85-90)

"Finally we must think over the following. It is clear that in Man the metabolic forces are still, in a certain
respect, connected with the rhythm of his daily life. The forces of form have solidified. Now
consider the animal instead of Man. Here we shall find a much more complete dependence upon
the Macrocosm. Man has grown out of or beyond this dependence. The ancient wisdom therefor
spoke of the Zodiac or Animal Circle, not of the Man circle, as corresponding to the forces of
formation. The forces of form manifest themselves in the animal kingdom in a great variety of
forms, while in Man they manifest essentially in one form covering the whole human race; but
they are the forces of the animal kingdom, and as we evolve beyond them and become Man, we
must go out beyond the Zodiac. Beyond the Zodiac lies that upon which we, as human beings, are
dependent in a higher sense than we are upon all that exists within the zodiac, that is within the
circle of the fixed stars. Beyond the Zodiac Is that which corresponds to our Ego.
"Here we have the principle upon which we have gained our freedom. Within the Zodiac we cannot sin, any
more than can the animals; we begin to sin as soon as we carry our action beyond the Zodiac. This
happens when we do that which makes us free from our connection with the Universal forces of
formation, when we enter into relationship with regions exterior to the Zodiac or region of fixed
stars. And this is the essential content of the human Ego.
"Within the Zodiac we are unable to evolve our moral nature; but in so far as we evolve it, we record it into
the Macrocosm beyond the Zodiac." (37, pp.92-93)

23 Apr. 1920
"Let us say, today you have eaten your usual number of meals in the proper sequence. Your organism
demands a repetition of them tomorrow. Not so the head. This acts according to another measure
of time; it must wait seven days before the food taken into the rest of the organism has proceeded
far enough to enable the head to assimilate it. In the head organisation, a repetition takes place
after a period of seven days, of what has been accomplished seven days before in the organism.
All this the ancients knew intuitively and expressed it by saying: a week is necessary to transmute
what is physical and bodily into soul and spirit. (37, pg.105)

24 Apr. 1920
"The truth is, that the minutest molecule is acted upon by the whole starry heavens. Suppose here is a
planet, here another, here another and so on. Then there are the fixed stars, which transmit their
forces into the molecule. All these lines of force intersect each other in various ways. The planets
also transmit their forces in the same way, and we come to realise that the molecule is nothing but
a focus of macrocosmic forces. Out there in the Macrocosm we have to behold the structure of the
molecule that is only reflected in the molecule. Instead of passing into the infinitely little, we must
turn our gaze outwards to the infinitely great, for it is there we have to look for the reality of what
lives in the little." (37, pg.111)

25 Apr. 1920
"The nature of our lower man turns one side away, as it were, and only the other side is turned towards us.
It is exactly the same with the Moon. She revolves round the Earth, and is altogether a most
courteous lady, who never turns her back upon us, but shows us always the same side. Nobody has
ever seen her back. On account of this we never receive anything from the Moon that may be
termed her own, but always a reflected light. In this fact we have an absolute inner parallel
between the Moon-nature and the whole inner being of man.
"So if we feel in the right way this necessity or tendency in man's nature, we can also feel the real
relationship between the hands and arms, which belong to the upper portion of the limb-man, and
the middle-man or rythmic-man, who has as his spiritual counterpart, the feeling nature. Quite
naturally we try to support our speech, which is often in danger of becoming too abstract, by
gestures of our arms and hands. We endeavor to project our emotional nature into our speech. This
was understood and felt by the Ancients when they connected the combination of speech and arm-
movement with the sphere of Mars. This planet is not so intimately connected with the Earth as is
 the Moon, nor is that which underlies the foundation of speech and the arm-organisation so
intimately connected with the earthly man as is that which underlies the abdominal and leg-
organisation. In a certain sense we can say: what in its activity corresponds to the lower limbs,
works very strongly upon the unconscious man. What corresponds to the arms and hands,
however, works very powerfully upon the semiconscious man." (37, pp.125-127)

1 May 1920
"What is of moment is to study the conclusions of Spiritual Science, not to satisfy a curiosity for
clairvoyance." (37, pg.144)

"Thus in regard to the alternating condition of day and night, we can say: we sleep, and on awaking come to
the same place where we fell asleep; but in regard to human evolution, we shall have to say: we
press forwards a little. We progress in another direction.
"Hence we may not draw the line quite as a lemniscate; but in such a way that we come out a little further
on, and so attain a progressive lemniscate. Thus when we observe the alternating conditions of
waking and sleeping, and continue with our evolution, we obtain a spiral. This spiral is ultimately
connected with our evolution, and our evolution again is connected with the whole cosmic system.
Therefor we must seek this same line as the basis of the movements of the Universe." (37, pg.146)

2 May 1920
"Thus we have the direct fact that when we look up to the Cosmos, we have to say: A year - that is for the
Cosmos sleeping and waking; and if our Earth is the head of the Cosmos, it expresses in winter the
waking of the Cosmos, and in summer its sleeping. Let us consider Saturn with his 30-year period,
the apparent time of his revolution around the Sun; how can we express his 30 years in the
language of the Cosmos according to which its daily revolution is a year? If a year is the daily
revolution of the Cosmos, then the so-called period of Saturn's revolution is approximately 30
days, a cosmic month, a cosmic four weeks. Thus we may say that if we regard Saturn as the
outermost planet (the other two, Uranus and Neptune, regarded today as of equal standing with
Saturn, are really fugitives that have wandered in), then we must say that Saturn bounds our
Cosmos; and, in his apparent slowness, in his limping behind the Earth, we behold the life of the
Cosmos in 4 weeks or a month, as compared to the life it displays in the course of the year, which
for the Cosmos is like a falling asleep and awaking.
"Mercury separates itself from the movement of the whole by its quicker revolution. It is, as it were, an
enclosed member; so too is the movement of Venus. They incorporate our planetary system into
the Cosmos in a different way than do Jupiter and Saturn. Our planetary system is spiritualised
through Venus and Mercury, more intimately adapted to the spiritual Powers than happens through
Jupiter and Saturn.
"Here, while we live, we are brought into connection with a super-sensible world through Venus and
Mercury. We might say: When we are incorporated by birth into the physical world, we are carried
into it by Saturn and Jupiter; while we live from birth to death, Venus and Mercury work within
us and prepare us to carry our supersensible part back again through death into the super-sensible
world. In fact, Mercury and Venus have just as much share in our immortality after death as
Jupiter and Saturn have in our life before death.
"Now let us suppose that Saturn pursues his movement also in a like curve (lemniscate) - only, of course,
his path is different through cosmic space - with the 30 times less rapid movement than the Earth;
if we picture these two curves, we must realise that each Cosmic body which follows such a path
(lemniscate) is obviously moved in this path by forces, but each one by forces of a different kind.
"To the modern materialistic view of the Cosmos, Saturn is observed merely as a body moving about in
cosmic space; and the same with the other planets. This is not the case; for if we take Saturn, the
outermost planet of our Universe, we must represent him as the leader of our planetary system in
cosmic space. He directs our system in space. He is the body for the outermost force which leads
us round in the lemniscate in cosmic space. He is the driver and the horse at the same time. Saturn
is thus the force in the outermost periphery. Were he alone to work, we should continually move in
 a lemniscate. But there are other forces in our planetary system which show a more intimate
adjustment to the spiritual world - the forces that we find in Mercury and Venus. Through these
forces our path is continually raised. Thus, when we look upon the path from above, we have the
lemniscate, but when we look at it from the other side, we obtain lines which are continually rising
upwards; there is a progression. The progression corresponds in man to the fact that during sleep
what we have taken into us, though it may not pass over at once into consciousness, is elaborated;
during sleep we work upon it. It is principally during sleep that we work on what we have
absorbed through our life, our training and education. During sleep Mercury and Venus
communicate that to us. They are our most important night-planets, as Jupiter and Saturn are our
most important day-planets. Hence the old instinctive atavistic wisdom was right in connecting
Jupiter and Saturn with the formation of the human head, Mercury and Venus with the formation
of the human trunk, with the rest of the organism.
Planets such as Mercury and Venus, however, have relation to the extra-spatial, the supersensible, the
spiritual, to that which does not originally belong in space, but has, as it were, come into it. Thus if
we have the paths of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and in the same space, draw in also the paths of
Mercury and Venus, you will get at most a projection of the Mercury or of the Venus orbit, but in
no sense the orbits themselves. If we employ the three-dimensional space to sketch in the orbits of
Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, we come at most to a boundary, where we get something like a path of
the Sun. But if we wish to draw the others, we can no longer do so in the three-dimensional space,
we cannot draw the path of Venus and that of Saturn in the same space.
But men such as Pythagoras, for instance, still knew so much of the ancient wisdom that they could say:
We dwell on the Earth, we belong through the Earth to a cosmic system, to which Jupiter and
Saturn also belong; but if we remain in these three dimensions, then we shall not belong in the
same way to Venus and Mercury. We cannot belong to the latter two directly, as we do to Saturn
and Jupiter, there must be a counter-Earth which is in another space with Venus and Mercury.
Hence ancient astronomers spoke of the Earth and the counter-Earth. Of course the modern
materialist would say: Counter-Earth? I see nothing of that! He is like a man who weighs a man,
having first charged him to think nothing, and weighs him again when he has charged him to think
a specially clever thought, and then says: I have weighed him, but I have not found the weight of
his thought. (37, pp.151-156)

8 May 1920
[Graeco-Latin epoch 747B.C. 1413 A.D.] (37, pg.162, precis by RSWB)

We know that according to the view of ordinary astronomy, the Moon moves round the Earth. (In reality
she does not do this as generally described; she too describes a lemniscate; but for the moment we
will disregard this.) The Moon moves round the Earth. While so doing she also revolves around
herself. I have already mentioned this. She is a polite lady and always turns the same side to us,
her back is always turned away from the Earth. Not however quite exactly; we can only say that
virtually, speaking generally, she always turns the same side to the Earth. A seventh part of the
Moon indeed goes round the edge, as it were, so that really it is not quite always the front of the
Moon that is turned towards us, for after a time a seventh part comes forward from the back, and
another seventh part retires. This is compensated for by further movements; the whole seventh
does not quite go over, it returns; and the Moon reels, as she goes round the Earth - she actually
reels. I will only mention this here; in any elementary astronomy book you can look up further
details. Could we transport ourselves to a far-distant spot in Cosmic space, which according to the
calculations of astronomy would be only a far-distant star, this rotation of the Moon on its own
axis would from there take somewhat more than 27 days. If however, we transport ourselves to the
Sun, we see that the movements of the Sun and Moon are not uniform, they move with dissimilar
velocities; this rotation of the Moon seen from the Sun is not the same as seen from a distant star,
but takes rather more than 29 days. Thus we may say that the stellar day of the Moon is 27 days
and its solar day 29 days.
"This of course is connected with all the intervolving which takes place in the Universe. As we know, the
Sun rises at a different vernal point every Spring, moving round the whole ecliptic, the whole
Zodiac in 25,920 years. These reciprocal movements bring it about that the stellar day of the Moon
is considerably shorter than its solar day.
"That shows us that we have to do with two movements in Cosmic space, which indeed go together but do
not point back to the same origin. Thus in the Cosmos we have two currents, two movements, one
in which the Sun takes part, and another, the Moon; and they are of such nature that we may say:
If we start from the Moon-stream, we find the Sun-stream intervening in it, just as the Christ-event
intervenes in the continuous stream of evolution, as though coming from a foreign world. To the
Moon-world the Sun-world is a foreign world, from a certain point of view.
"Now let us consider this subject from yet a third standpoint.
"Approximately from two and a half to three days, though sometimes after only one and a half or two days,
but never without having slept upon it, what we have experienced in our intercourse with the
world is imprinted by the astral upon the etheric body. There we have the same as we have in
history, the same too as we have in the Cosmos Moon and Sun, Heathendom and Christendom;
and now, etheric and astral. Always a differentiation in time. Thus we find this interaction of two
streams appearing in our ordinary life, two streams which come together and give a common
resultant for life, but yet cannot be grasped so simply a to permit the causes and effects of the one
stream coinciding with the causes and effects of the other.
"The consequence is that we cannot have a single Astronomy but need different Astronomies, one of the
Sun, another of the Moon. If we have two clocks, one is always a little slower than the other, then
the latter will always be in advance; but we should never be able to assume that what happens on
the one has its cause on the other. That would be impossible. So too, although there is a certain
conformity to law in the one being always the same amount behind the other, the two streams of
which we have been speaking have nothing to do with one another; they only work together as I
look at them together. Solar astronomy has nothing to do with lunar astronomy. The two only work
conjointly in our Universe." (37, pp.165-169)
9 May 1920
"We have observed the various relations of Man to the world around him, we will now establish the relation
of his solid substance to the Earth. This connection exists; the watery element in Man has,
however, primarily no connection with the Earth but with the planetary Universe outside, and
especially with the Moon. Precisely as the Moon, not directly but indirectly, has a relation to the
ebb and flow of the tides, to certain configurations of the fluid part of the Earth, so too it has a
connection with what takes place in the fluid part of the human organism. I described yesterday
that we have on the one side the astronomy that applies to the Sun and also to the Earth. We
ourselves are part of that astronomy, for we are organised into it as organisms containing solid
substances. Lunar astronomy however, is different. We are organised into lunar astronomy in so
far as it is connected with our fluid constituents.
"This has a still greater significance which is, that what we call our Ego has primarily a direct influence on
our solid man, and that what we call our astral body has an indirect influence on our fluid man - so
that what works from the soul and spirit upon our organisation, comes, through our bodily nature,
also into connection with all the forces of the Cosmos." (37,pp.174-175)

"It is not without consequence however, for it is much less evil when a lie is consciously accepted, than
when it takes shape unconsciously, and degrades Man and drags him down. For if we consider a
lie as it appears in a man' s consciousness, every time he falls asleep it leaves his physical and
etheric bodies with his consciousness, and lives on in spaceless, timeless being, in the eternal
being, while Man is in dreamless sleep. There is prepared all which can result from the lie in the
future; that is, everything is made ready to correct it, if it is in the consciousness. But if it is in the
unconscious, it remains with the physical and etheric bodies lying in bed. When Man is not
occupying these bodies, it then belongs to the Cosmos, and not to the earthly Cosmos alone, but to
the whole Cosmos; there it works for the destruction of the Cosmos; above all, for the destruction
of the whole of humanity, for this destruction begins in humanity itself." (37, pp.179-180)

25 July 1920
"Materialism on the other hand produces the very things we ought to know about in the present time,
though they are of course presented in a materialistic way, in materialistic interpretation. If we
wish to share in the work that brings progress in cultural and intellectual life we must know what
materialistic anatomy, materialistic physiology, materialistic biology and the sociology of the
present age have brought to light. We must be fully informed about these things and out of this
 very knowledge gain the power to transform materialistic knowledge, the materialistic way of
thinking, into spiritual knowledge. It is therefor of definite value in the present time to give full
consideration to what materialism has to offer.
"We can only deal properly with the world we perceive through the senses if we treat it as a phenomenon,
as a form of manifestation. We must not allow our fantasy to create some kind of physical reality,
in spite of the view of nature that is generally taken today, a view that is following the wrong path.
The 'physical' phenomena we come across therefor are definitely not material phenomena, are not
the reality of matter. They are mere phenomena; they come and go out of another reality that we
cannot comprehend unless we are able to conceive of it in the spirit. That is the feeling we must
evolve - not to look for matter in the outer world." (38, pp.74-75)

10 Dec. 1920
There are people who imagine a solar system with comets in it. They say: The comet appears, traverses
a huge ellipse, and after a long time returns. In the case of many comets that is not true. It is like
this: comets appear, go out, disintegrate there, cease to be, but form themselves again on the other
side and return again, describe in fact lines which do not return at all. Why? Because comets leave
space and return at quite another place. This is certainly possible in the Cosmos, that comets
somehow disintegrate out of space and return again at a totally different place. (114, pg. 102)

18 Dec. 1920
"Until the year 1827 the Copernican conception of the universe which was elaborated by Kepler and then
diluted into theory by Newton, was tabooed by the Roman Catholic Church. No orthodox Catholic
was allowed to believe in it. Since that year the prohibition has been lifted; and the Copernican
view of the universe has taken root so strongly in the general consciousness that anyone who does
not base his own world-view upon it is regarded as a fool.
"What is this Copernican picture of the universe? It is in reality a picture built up purely on the basis of
mathematical principles, mathematical-mechanical principles. The rudiments of it began, very
gradually, to be unfolded in Greece, where, however, echoes of earlier thought - for example in the
Ptolemaic view of the universe - still persisted. And in the course of time this developed into the
Copernican system that is taught nowadays to every child.
"We can look back from this world-conception to ancient times when man's picture of the universe was
very different. All that has remained of it are those traditions which in the form in which they exist
today - in astrology and the like - are sheer dilettantism. That is what has remained of ancient
astronomy, and it has also remained, ossified and paralyzed, in the symbols of certain secret
societies, Masonic societies and the like. There is usually entire ignorance of the fact that these
things are relies of an ancient astronomy. This ancient astronomy was quite different from that of
today, for it was based, not upon mathematical principles but upon ancient clairvoyant vision.
"Entirely false ideas prevail today of how an earlier humanity acquired its astronomical-astrological
knowledge. This was acquired through an instinctive clairvoyant vision of the universe. The
earliest Post-Atlantean peoples saw the heavenly bodies as spirit-forms, spirit-entities, whereas
man today regards them merely as physical structures. When the ancient peoples spoke of the
celestial bodies, of the planets or of the fixed stars, they were speaking of spiritual beings. Today,
the sun is pictured as a globe of burning gas which radiates light into the universe. But for the men
of ancient times the sun was a living Being and they regarded the sun which their eyes beheld
simply as the outward manifestation of this Spirit-Being at the place where the sun stands in the
universe; and it was the same in regard to the other heavenly bodies - they were seen as Spirit-
Beings. We must think of an age which came to an end long before the time of the Mystery of
Golgotha, when the sun out yonder in the universe and everything in the stars was conceived of as
living spirit-reality, living Being. Then came an intermediary period when men no longer had this
vision, when they regarded the planets, at any rate, as physical, but still thought of them as
pervaded by living souls. In times when it was no longer known how the physical passes over by
stages into what is of the soul, how what is of the soul passes over by stages into the physical, how
in reality the two are united, men postulated physical existence on the one side and soul-existence
on the other. They thought of the correspondences between these two realms just as most
 psychologists today - if they admit the existence of a soul at all - still think, namely that the soul
and the physical nature of man are identical. This, of course, leads thought to absurdity; or there is
the so-called 'psyche-physical parallelism', which again is nothing else than a stupid way of
formulating something that is not understood.
"Then came the age when the heavenly bodies were regarded as physical structures, circling or stationary,
attracting or repelling one another in accordance with mathematical laws. To be sure, in every
epoch there existed a knowledge - in earlier times a more instinctive knowledge of how things
are in reality. But in the present age this instinctive knowledge no longer suffices; what in earlier
times was known instinctively must now be acquired by conscious effort. And if we enquire how
those who were able to view the universe in its totality - that is to say, in its physical, psychical
and spiritual aspects - if we enquire how these men pictured the sun, we must say: They pictured it
first and foremost as a Spirit -Being. Those who were initiated conceived of this Spirit-Being as
the source of the moral. In my Philosophy of Spiritual Activity I have said that 'moral intuitions'
are drawn from this source - but drawn from it in the earthly world, for the moral intuitions shine
forth from Man, from what can live in him as enthusiasm for the moral.
"Think of how greatly our responsibility is increased when we realize: If here on the earth there were no
soul capable of being fired with enthusiasm for true and genuine morality, for the spiritual moral
order in general, nothing could be contributed towards the progress of our world, towards a new
creation; our world would he led towards its death.
"This force of light that is on the earth rays out into the universe. This is, to begin with, imperceptible to
ordinary vision; we do not perceive how the moral impulses in man ray out from the earth into the
universe. If a grievous age were to dawn over the earth, an age when millions and millions of men
would perish through lack of spirituality - spirituality conceived here as including the moral,
which indeed it does - if there were only a dozen men filled with moral enthusiasm, the earth
would still ray out a spiritual, sun-like force! This force rays out only to a certain distance. At this
point it mirrors itself, as it were, in itself, so that here there arises the reflection of what radiates
from man. And in every epoch the initiates regarded this reflection as the sun. For as I have so
often said, there is nothing physical here. Where ordinary astronomy speaks of the existence of an
incandescent globe of gas, there is merely the reflection of a spiritual reality in physical
appearance.
You see, therefore, how great is the distance separating the Copernican view of the world, and even the
old astrology, from what was the inmost secret of Initiation." (76, pp.40-45)

1921
1 Jan. 1921
What happens in the cell is to be conceived, my dear friends, in the following way, - though to be sure, it
is still a rather abstract way. There is the cell. For the moment let us consider it in its most usual
form, namely the spherical form. This spherical form is partially determined by the thin fluid
substance, and enclosed within it is the delicate framework. But what is this spherical form? The
thin fluid mass is as yet left entirely to itself and therefore behaves according to the impulses it
receives from its surroundings. What does it do? Well, my friends, it mirrors the universe around
it! It takes on the form of the sphere because it mirrors in miniature the whole cosmos, which we
indeed also picture to ourselves ideally as a sphere. Every cell in its spherical form is no less than
an image of the form of the whole universe. And the framework inside, every line of form, is
conditioned by its relationship to the structure of the whole cosmos. To express myself abstractly
to begin with, think of the sphere of the universe with its imaginary boundary. In it, you have here
a planet, and there a planet. They work in such a way as to exert an influence upon one another in
the direction of the line that joins them. Here let us say diagrammatically, of course a cell is
formed; its outline mirrors the sphere. Here, within its framework it has a solid part which is due
to the working of the one planet on the other. And suppose that here there were another
constellation of planets, working upon each other along the line joining them. And here again there
might be yet another planet, this one having no counterpart; it throws the whole construction,
 which might have otherwise been rectangular, out of shape, and the structure takes on a somewhat
different form. And so you have in the whole formation of the framework of the cell a reflection of
the relationships existing in the planetary system, - altogether in the whole starry system. You can
enter quite concretely into the formation of the cell and you will reach an understanding of this
concrete form only if you see in the cell an image of the whole cosmos.
And now take the female ovum, and picture to yourselves that this ovum has brought the cosmic force to a
certain inner balance. They have taken on form in the framework of the cell, and are in a certain
way at rest within it, supported by the female organism as a whole. Then comes the influence of
the male sex-cell. This has not brought the macrocosmic forces to rest, but works in the sense of a
very specialised force. It is as though the male sex-cell works precisely along this line of force
upon the female ovum which has come to a condition of rest. This specialised activity results in a
breaking-up of the condition of rest. The cell, which is an image of the whole cosmos, is thereby
caused to relinquish its microcosmic form once more to a changing play of forces. At first, in the
female ovum, the macrocosm comes to rest in a peaceful image. Then through the male sex-cell
the female is torn out of this state of rest, and is drawn again into a region of specialised activity
and brought into movement. Previously it had drawn itself together in the resting form of the
image of the cosmos, but the form is drawn into movement again by the male forces which are, so
to speak, images of movement. Through them the female forces, which are images of the form of
the cosmos and have come to rest, are brought out of this state of rest and balance.
Here we may have some idea, from the aspect of Astronomy, of the forming and shaping of something
which is minute and cellular. Embryology cannot be studied at all without Astronomy, for what
Embryology has to show is only the other pole of what is seen in Astronomy. We must, in a way,
follow the starry heavens on the one hand, seeing how they reveal successive stages, and we must
then follow the process of development of a fructified cell. The two belong together, for the one is
only the image of the other. If you understand nothing of Astronomy, you will never understand
the forces which are at work in Embryology, and if you understand nothing of Embryology, you
will never understand the meaning of the activities with which Astronomy has to deal. (117, pp.
I.16-I.19)

2 Jan. 1921
Now I need only point to a saying of Goethes, uttered out of a certain feeling a feeling knowledge I
might call it but indicating something of extraordinary significance. Goethe says there: People
think of natural phenomena so entirely apart from man that they are tending ever more and more
to disregard the human being in their study of the phenomena of nature. He, on the contrary,
believed that natural phenomena only reveal their true meaning if they are regarded in full
connection with man with the whole organisation of man. In saying this, Goethe pointed to a
method of research that is well-nigh anathematized nowadays. People today seek an objective
understanding of Nature through research that is completely separated from the human being .
This is particularly noticeable in such a science as Astronomy, where no account is taken at all of
the human being. On the contrary, people are proud that the apparently objective facts have
shown that man is only a grain of dust upon the Earth which has somehow been fused into a
planet, moving first round the Sun and then, in some way or other, moving with the Sun in space.
They are proud that one need pay no attention to this grain of dust which wanders about on
Earth, - that one need only pay attention to what is external to the human being in considering the
great celestial phenomena.
Now the question is, whether any real results are to be obtained by such a method.

From what source, then, can we gain a real perception of the celestial phenomena? This question must
occupy us above all else. Can we gain any knowledge at all of celestial phenomena merely
through the mathematics which we apply to them? The course of development of human
knowledge can disclose if one does not take up the proud position of thinking how wonderfully
advanced we are today and how all that went before was childish the course of human
development can teach us how the prevailing points of view can change.
From certain aspects one can have great reverence for the celestial observations carried out, for instance,
by the ancient Chaldeans. The ancient Chaldeans made very exact observations concerning the
connection of human time-reckoning with the he4eavenly phenomena. They had a highly
 developed Calendar-Science. Much that appears to us to-day as self-evident really dates back to
the Chaldeans. Yet the Chaldeans were satisfied with a mathematical picture of the Heavens which
portrayed the Earth more or less as a flat disc, with the hollow hemisphere of the heavenly vault
arched above, the fixed stars fastened to it, and the planets moving over it. (Among the planets
they also included the Sun.) They made their calculations with this picture in the background.
Their calculations for the most part were correct, in spite of being based upon a picture which the
science of today can only describe as a fundamental error, as something childish.
Science, or more correctly, the scientific tendency and direction, then went on evolving. There was a stage
when men pictured that the Earth stood still, but that Venus and Mercury moved round the Sun.
The Sun formed the central point, as it were, for the motions of Venus and Mercury while the other
planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn moved round the Earth, not round the Sun; and again, the
fixed-star Heavens moved round the Earth. Thereafter, men progressed to making Mars, Jupiter
and Saturn also revolve around the Sun, but the Earth was still supposed to stand still, while the
Sun with its encircling planets as well as the starry Heavens revolved round the Earth. This was
still the fundamental view of Tycho Brahe, whereas his contemporary Copernicus established the
other concept, namely, that the Sun was to be regarded as standing still and that the Earth was to
be reckoned among the planets revolving round the Sun. Following hard one upon the other in the
time of Copernicus were the two points of view, one which existed in ancient Egypt, of the
stationary Earth with the other planets encircling the Sun, still represented by Tycho Brahe; the
other, the Copernican concept, which broke radically with the idea of the centre of coordinates
being in the centre of the Earth, and transferred it to the centre of the Sun.
What was actually the problem of Copernicus? His problem was, how to reduce to simple lines and curves
these complicated apparent motions of the planets, - for so they appear as observed from the Earth.
When the planets are observed from the Earth, their movements can only be described as a variety
of looped lines So, when taking the Earth as the centre of co-ordinates it is necessary to base the
planetary movements on all sorts of complicated curves. Copernicus said, in effect: As an
experiment, I will place the centre of the whole co-ordinate system in the centre of the Sun. Then
the complicated planetary curves are reduced to simple circular movements or as was stated later,
to ellipses. The whole thing was purely the construction of a world-system which aimed at being
able to represent the paths of the planets in the simplest possible curves.
Now to-day we have a very remarkable fact my dear friends. This Copernican system, when employed
purely mathematically, supplies the necessary calculations concerning the observed phenomena as
well as and no better than any of the earlier ones. The eclipses of the Sun and Moon can be
calculated with the ancient Chaldean system, with the Egyptian, with the Tychonian and with the
Copernican. The outer occurrences in the Heavens, in so far as they relate to mechanics or
mathematics, can thus be foretold. One system is as well suited as another. It is only that the
simplest thought-pictures arise with the Copernican system. But the strange thing is that in
practical Astronomy, calculations are not made with the Copernican system. Curiously enough, in
practical Astronomy, - to obtain what is needed for the calendar, - the system of Tycho Brahe is
used! This shows how little that is really fundamental, how little of the essential nature of things,
comes into question when the Universe is thus pictured in purely mathematical curves or in terms
of mechanical forces.
Now there is another very remarkable fact which I will only indicate today, so that we shall understand the
aim of these lectures. Copernicus in his deliberations bases his cosmic system upon three axioms.
The first is that the Earth rotates on its own North-South axis in 24 hours. The second principle on
which Copernicus bases his picture of the Heavens is that the Earth moves round the Sun. In its
revolution round the Sun the Earth itself, of course, also revolves in a certain way. This rotation,
however, does not occur round the North-South axis of the Earth, which always points to the
North Pole, but round the axis of the Ecliptic, which, as we know, is at an angle with the Earths
own axis. Therefore the Earth goes through a rotation during a 24-hour day round its own N.S.
Axis, and then, inasmuch as it performs approximately 365 such rotations in the year, there is
added another rotation, an annual rotation , if we disregard the revolution round the Sun. The
Earth, then, if it always rotates thus, and then again revolves round the Sun, behaves like the Moon
as it rotates round the Earth, always turning the same side towards us. The Earth does this too,
inasmuch as it revolves round the Sun, but not on the same axis as the one on which it rotates for
the daily revolution. It revolves through this yearly day on another axis; this is an added
 movement, besides the one taking place in the 24-hour day.
Copernicus third principle is that not only does such a revolution of the Earth take place round the North-
South axis, and a second round the axis of the Ecliptic, but that there is yet a third revolution
which appears as a retrograde movement of the North-South axis round the axis of the Ecliptic.
Thereby, in a certain sense, the revolution round the axis of the Ecliptic is cancelled out. By reason
of this third revolution the Earths axis continuously points to the North celestial Pole (the Pole-
Star). Whereas, by virtue of revolving round the Sun, the Earths axis would have to describe a
circle, or an ellipse, round the pole of the Ecliptic, its own revolution, which takes the opposite
direction (every time the Earth proceeds a little further its axis rotates backwards), causes it to
point continuously to the North Pole. Copernicus adopted this third principle, namely: The
continued pointing of the Earths axis to the Pole comes about because, by a rotation of its own a
kind of inclination it cancels out the other revolution. This latter therefore has no effect in the
course of the year, for it is constantly being annulled.
In modern Astronomy, founded as it is on the Copernican system, it has come about that the first two
axioms as accepted and the third is ignored. This third axiom is lightly brushed aside by saying
that the stars are so far away that the Earth-axis, remaining parallel to itself, always points
practically to the same spot. Thus it is assumed that the North-South axis of the Earth, in its
revolution, remains always parallel to itself. This was not assumed by Copernicus; on the contrary,
he assumed a perpetual revolving of the Earths axis. Modern Astronomy is therefore not really
based on the Copernican system, but accepts the first two axioms because they are convenient and
discards the third, thus becoming lost in the prevarication that it is not necessary to suppose that
the Earths axis itself must move in order to keep pointing to the same spot in the Heavens, but
that the place itself is so far away that even if the axis does move parallel to itself it will still point
to the same spot. Anyone can see that this is a prevarication. To-day therefore we have a
Copernican system from which the most important element has actually been discarded.

As time went on it became no longer possible to hold to the starting-point of the Copernican theory,
namely that the Sun stands still. A movement is now attributed to the Sun, which is said to move
forward with the whole ellipse, perpetually creating new ellipses, so to speak. It became necessary
to introduce the Suns own movement, and this was done simply by adding something new to the
picture they had before. A mathematical description is thus obtained which is admittedly
convenient, but few questions are asked as to its possibility or its reality. It is only from the
apparent movement of the stars that the Earths movement is deduced from this method. As we
shall presently see, it is of great significance whether or no one assumes a movement which
indeed must be assumed namely the aforesaid inclination of the Earths axis, perpetually
annulling the annual rotation. Resultant movements, after all, are obtained by adding up the
several movements. If one is left out, the whole is no longer true. Thus the whole theory that the
Earth moves round the Sun in an ellipse comes into question.
You see, purely from these historical facts, that burning questions exist in Astronomy to-day, though it is
seemingly a most exact science because it is mathematical. The question arises: Why do we live in
such uncertainty with regard to a real astronomical science? We must then ask further, turning the
question in another direction: Can we reach any real certainty through a purely mathematical
approach? Only think that in considering a thing mathematically we lift the observation out of the
sphere of external reality. Mathematics is something that ascends from our inner being; in
mathematics we lift ourselves out of external reality. It must therefore be understood from the
outset that if we approach an external reality with a method of investigation that lifts itself out of
reality, we can, in all probability, only arrive at something relative. (117, pp.II.2-II.9)

Going to the root of things, we find that in the life around the Poles there is a very strong working-in of
the Sun-forces upon man. In those regions the Earth tends to withdraw from the life of the Sun;
she does not let her activity shoot upward from below into the vegetation. But the human being is
exposed in these parts to the true Sun-life (you must not only look for the Sun-life in mere
warmth). That this is so, the vegetation itself bears witness.
We have, then, a preponderance of solar influence in the Polar zones. What kind of life predominates in
the Tropics? There it is the tellurian, the Earth-life. This shoots up into the vegetation, making it
rich and luxuriant. This also robs man of a balanced development of his capacities, but the causes
 in the North and in the Tropics come from different directions. In Polar regions the sunlight
represses man' inner development. In the Tropics, what shoots up from the Earth represses his
inner powers. We thus see a certain polarity, the polarity shown in the preponderance of the Sun-
life around the Poles, and of the tellurian life in the tropical regions in the neighbourhood of the
Equator. (117, pg.II.12)

3 Jan. 1921
Of all that belongs in this way to the Earth, let us first take the plant kingdom. We will approach it in order
then to find the transition to what meets us in man. Whereas the mineral kingdom to a certain
extent carries on an independent Earth existence and is only related to the Cosmos outside the
Earth in such a way as is shown, for example, in the changing of water into ice in winter, the plant
kingdom retains a much greater inner connection with the cosmic surroundings of the Earth with
all that enters the Earth from the Cosmos. Through the plant-world the life of the Earth as it were
opens itself to the Universe. In geographical regions where in a given season an intensive
interaction is taking place between Earth and Sun, the plant world opens and expands its life,
thereby revealing that there is now an active interplay between the Earth and the Cosmos. We must
pay heed to a phenomenon like this, for it will lead us into the realm of Astronomy not only
quantitatively but qualitatively. We must be able to derive our ideas from such a thing as this, even
as the astronomers of our time derive their ideas from angles, parallaxes and so on.
Then we shall say to ourselves, for example The plant-life, covering a given region of the Earth, is a
kind of sense-organ, sensitive to all that is revealed towards the Earth out of the Cosmos. At
seasons when the interplay is more intense between a portion of the Earths surface and the
Universe, it is as though a human being were opening his eyes to the outer world to receive sense-
impressions. And when the interplay is less intense between the Earth and the Cosmos, the
consequent decline and inward closure of the vegetative life is like a closing of the eyes to the
Cosmos. It is more than a mere comparison to say that through its vegetation a given territory
opens its eyes to the Universe in spring and summer and shuts its eyes in autumn and winter. And
as by opening and closing of our eyes we do in a way converse with the outer world, so too is it a
kind of information or revelation from the Universe which the Earth receives by the opening and
closing of its eyes through the life of plants.
And to describe it a little more precisely, we may consider the vegetation of a given region of the Earth
when exposed, as it were, so to speak, to the most vivid interplay with the solar life, and we may
then turn our attention to the state of vegetation in this region when it is not thus exposed. The
winter, I need hardly say, does not interrupt the vegetative life of the Earth. It goes without saying
that the vegetative life continues through the winter. But it expresses itself in quite another way
than when exposed to the intensive working of the Suns rays or, shall we say, of the Cosmos.
Under the influence of the solar life, the vegetative life of the Earth shoots outward into form. The
leaves unfold and grow more complex; flowers develop. But then this is followed by the closing of
the eyes to the Universe, if we may call it so, the vegetative life goes back into itself into the
seed. Withdrawing from the outer world, it no longer shoots into outward form; it concentrates, if I
may out it so, into a point; it becomes centred in itself.
We may describe this contrast truly as a law of Nature. The inter-play between the earthly and the solar
life reveals itself in the Earths vegetation. Under the solar influence the vegetative life shoots
outward into form, under the influence of the earthly life it closes up into a point it becomes seed
or germ. In all this there is a quality of expansion and contraction or gathering into a centre. Here
we begin to approach the relationships of space itself in a direct qualitative aspect. This is the very
thing which we must practice in the development of our ideas, if we would attain to really fruitful
notions and perceptions in this sphere. (117, pg.III.4)

If we have a man before us and see him move a hand or arm, we do not merely calculate the mechanics of
the movement; we recognise it as the outer revelation of an inner life of soul and spirit. We
understand as an expressive gesture something that can, after all, also be looked on from a purely
spatial, mathematical point of view. The further back one goes in the history of mans approach to
Astronomy, the more one finds men conscious that the pictures they conceived of the path of the
Sun or of the stars were no mere passive pictures of indifferent events, but that these pictures were
gestures of life and being. It is quite easy to discern in olden times this feeling of the gesture-like
 nature of the movements of the heavenly bodies. When my hand moves through the air, I shall not
merely calculate its path, but in this path I see an expression of the soul. So did the earlier observer
see in the path of the Moon an expression of a life of soul. In all the movements of the heavenly
bodies he saw an expression of a soul-nature. He pictured it somewhat in this way:- If I could hold
an umbrella here so that only my hand were seen, my hand would make an inexplicable
movement, for I am there behind the umbrella but only my hand is to be seen. Somewhat in this
way, the men of ancient times pictured that the movement of the Moon up in the sky was but the
outer expression a sort of terminal limb and that the really active being stood behind it. So
too in earlier times men did not speak of isolated heavenly bodies as of the planets; they spoke of
planetary spheres. They spoke of the several spheres, belonging to the heavenly bodies. Thus they
distinguished the Moon-sphere, the Mercury-sphere, the Venus-sphere, the Sun-sphere, the Mars-
sphere, the Saturn-sphere, and then the Eighth sphere the Heaven of Fixed Stars. They
distinguished these eight spheres and saw in them something which expressed itself in outer
gestures, so that a certain sphere expressed itself by lighting up now here, now there, and so on.
The reality, for instance, was the sphere of the Moon. The Moon itself was not a separate entity, -
only the gesture. Where the Moon appeared, the Moon-sphere was making a definite gesture. I am
relating this to show you the living nature of the old conceptions.
Kepler still retained in his whole consciousness a feeling for this universal life in space. Only on this
account was he able to draw up his three famous laws. For modern Astronomy the three famous
Laws of Kepler are purely of a quantitative nature, to be regarded simply from the aspect of spatial
and temporal concepts. For a man who still worked out of such a life of ideas as Kepler did, this
was not the case. Let us now call to mind these Laws of Kepler. They are:
The First Law: The Planets move in ellipses round the central body, which is situated in
one of the foci of the ellipse.
The Second Law: The radius- vector of a Planet describes equal sectors, equal areas, in
equal periods of time.
The Third Law: The squares of the periods of revolution of the different Planets are
proportional to the cube of the major semi-axes.
Now as we said, to the modern, purely quantitative view these laws too are purely quantitative. To anyone
like Kepler, the very expression elliptical and the corresponding curve signified a greater
livingness than the circle. When saying anything moves elliptically, it is more alive than when it
moves in a circle, for it must use an inner impulse in order continually to alter the radius. When
something simply moves in a circle it need do nothing to alter the radius. A more intensive inner
life must be employed if the radius-vector is continually altered. The simple statement: The
Planets move in ellipses round the central body, and the central body is not in the mid-point but in
one of the foci of the ellipse., implied an element of greater livingness than when something
moves in a perfect circle.
Further: The radius-vector describes equal sectors in equal periods of time. We have here the transition
from the line to the surface, to the plane. Please notice this! Inasmuch as at first only the ellipse is
described, we remain in the line the curve. When we are directed to the path that the radius-
vector describes, we are led to the surface the area. A more intensive condition in the planetary
movement is disclosed. When the planet rolls along if I may so express myself it is not only
expressing something within itself, but draws its tail after it, as it were. The whole area which the
radius-vector describes belongs to it spiritually. Moreover, in equal periods of time equal areas are
described. Special attention is thus drawn to the quality, the inherent character of the movements
of the planets.
The third Law above all relates to the life that plays its part between the various planets. This Law
assumes a more complicated form: The squares of the periods of revolution of the Planets are in
proportion to the cubes of the semi-major axes (or of the mean distance from the central body).
This Law, you see, contains a great deal if one still understands it in Keplers living way. Newton
then killed the law. You need only write Keplers Law thus differently and you can say: The
forces of attraction are inversely proportional to the squares of the distances. Here you have the
Newtonian Law of Gravity deduced from the Law of Kepler. The force of gravity between the
planets, the celestial bodies, is in inverse proportion to the squares of their distances apart. It is
nothing else than the killing of Keplers Third Law. In principle that is what it is. (117, pp.III.12-
III.15)
4 Jan. 1921
Here then, to begin with, is a concept which we must examine. The planets have eccentric orbits, - they
describe ellipses. This is something with which we can begin. The planets have eccentric orbits
and describe ellipses, in one focus of which is the Sun. They describe the ellipses in accordance
with the law that the radius vectors describe equal areas in equal periods of time.
A second essential for us to hold to is the idea that each planet has its own orbital plane. Although the
planets carry out their revolutions in the neighbourhood of each other, so to speak, yet for each
planet there is the distinct plane of its orbit, more or less inclined to the plane of the Suns equator.
These are two very significant mental pictures, to be found from the facts of observation. And yet, in the
very forming of them we must take note of something in the real world-picture which, as it were,
rebels against them. For instance, if we are trying to understand our solar system in its totality, and
only base it on our picture of the planets moving in eccentric orbits, the orbital planes being
inclined at varying degrees to the plane of the solar equator, we shall be in difficulties if we also
take into account the movements of the comets. The moment we turn our attention to the cometary
movements, the picture no longer suffices. The outcome will be better understood from the
historical facts than from any theoretical explanations.
Upon these two thought pictures, - that the orbital planes of the planets lie in the proximity of the plane of
the Suns equator and that the orbits are eccentric ellipses, - Kant, Laplace and their successors
built up the nebular hypothesis. Follow what emerges from this. At a pinch, and indeed only at a
pinch, it is a way of imagining the origin of the solar system. But the astronomical system thus
constructed contains no satisfactory explanation of the part played by the cometary bodies. They
always fall out of the theory. This discordance of the comets with the theories which were formed,
as described, in the course of scientific history, proves that the cometary life somehow rebels
against a concept formed, not from the whole but only from a part of the whole. We must be clear
too, that the paths of the comets frequently coincide with those of other bodies which also play
into our system and present a riddle precisely through their association with the comets. These are
the meteoric swarms, whose paths very frequently perhaps even always coincide with the
cometary paths. Here, my dear friends, taking into account the totality of our system, we are led to
say : A sum of ideas has gradually been formed from the study of our planetary system as a whole,
- ideas with which we cannot do justice to the seemingly irregular and almost arbitrary paths of the
comets and meteoric swarms. They simply refuse to be included in the more abstract pictures that
have been reached. I should have to give you long historical descriptions to show in detail how
many difficulties have arisen in connection with the concrete facts, when the investigators or
rather, thinkers approached the comets and meteoric swarms with their astronomical theories.

The planets, then, move in ellipses. But these ellipses vary; they are sometimes more circular, sometimes
more elliptical. We find this if we return to reality with the ellipse idea. In the course of time the
ellipse becomes more bulging, more like a circle, and then again more like an ellipse. So I by no
means include the whole reality if I merely say, the planets move in ellipses. I must modify the
concept and say: The planets move in paths which continually struggle against becoming a circle
or remaining one and the same ellipse. If I were now to draw the elliptic line, to be true to the
reality I should have to make it of india-rubber, or form it flexibly in some way, continually
altering it within itself. For if I had formed the ellipse which is there in one revolution of the
planet, it would not do for the next revolution, and still less for the following one. It is not true that
when I pass from reality to the rigid concept I still remain within the real. That is the one thing.
The other is: We have said that the planes of the planetary orbits are inclined to the plane of the Suns
equator. Where the planets cross the point of intersection of their orbits (with the Ecliptic) in an
upward or downward direction, they are said to form Nodes. The lines, joining the two nodes, are
variable. So too are the inclinations of the planes to one-another, so that even these inclinations, if
we try to express them in a single concept, bring us to a rigid concept which we must immediately
modify in face of reality. For if an orbit is inclined at one time in one way, and at another time in
another way, the concept we deduce in the first instance must afterwards be modified. To be sure,
once such a point has been reached, we can take an easy line and say that there are disturbances
and that the reality is only grasped approximately with our concepts.
It is easy to agree that this mutability of the eccentric orbits, and of the mutual inclination of the planes of
 the orbits, must somehow or other be connected with the life of the whole planetary system, or
shall we say, with its continuing activity. That is quite evident. Starting from this, one might again
try to form the concept, saying: Well now, I will bring such mobility into my thoughts that I
picture the ellipses continually bulging out and contracting, the planes of the orbits ascending,
descending and rotating, and then from this starting-point I will build up a world-system according
to reality. Good. But if you think the idea through to the end, then precisely as the outcome of such
logical thought, the result is a planetary system which cannot possibly go on existing. Through the
summation of the disturbances which arise especially through the variability of the Nodes, the
planetary system would move towards its own ultimate death and rigidity. Here there comes in
what philosophers have pointed out again and again. While such a system can be thought out, in
reality it would have had ample time to reach the ultimate finale. There is no reason why it should
not. The infinite possibility would have been fulfilled; rigidity would long ago have set in.
We enter here into a realm where thought apparently comes to a standstill. Precisely by following thinking
through to the very last, I arrive at a world-system which is still and rigid. But that is not reality.
Now, however, we come to something else, to which we must pay special attention. In pursuing these
things further you can find the theory of it in the work of Laplace; I will only relate the
phenomena one finds that the reason why the system has not actually reached rigidity under the
influence of the disturbances the variability of the Nodes, etc. is that the ratio of the periods of
revolution of the planets are not commensurable. They are incommensurable quantities, numbers
with decimals to an infinite number of places. Thus we must say: If we compare the periods of
revolution of the planets in the sense of Keplers third law, the ratio of these periods cannot be
given in integers, nor in finite fractions, but only in incommensurable numbers. Modern
Astronomy is clear on this. It is to the incommensurability of the ratios between the periods of
revolution of the several planets (in Keplers third law) that the planetary system owes its
continued mobility, Otherwise, it must long ago have come to a standstill. (117, pp.IV.6-IV.11)

What does this mean? It means that we apply the most secure of our sciences, Mathematics, to the
celestial phenomena, and in the last resort the celestial phenomena do not submit; the moment
comes when they elude us. Precisely where they are about to reach their very life, they slip away
into the incommensurable realm. Here then, our grasp of reality comes to an end at a certain point
and passes over into chaos.
We cannot say without more ado, what this reality, which we are trying to follow mathematically, actually
does when it slides away into the incommensurable. Undoubtedly this is related to its power of
continued life. To enter the full astronomical reality we must take leave of what we are able to
master mathematically. The calculation plainly shows this; the very history of science shows it.
(117, pg.IV.13)

In that I form certain concepts, I am therefore only forming guiding lines with which to penetrate reality,
and I must keep the way open in my mind for penetrating other facts with other concepts.
Therefore I only regard the four basic laws of number in the right way if I see them as something
which gives me a certain direction, - something which helps me regulate my approach to reality. I
shall go wrong if I take Mathematics as constituting reality, for then in certain fields reality will
simply contradict me. Such a contradiction is the one I spoke of, where incommensurability enters
in, in the study of celestial phenomena. (117, pg.IV.19)

5 Jan. 1921
And now we may put the question from the mere general aspect of the theory of human knowledge: -
How and to what extent are we really connected with the starry Heavens? In the first place we see
them. But you will have a vivid feeling by this time of the uncertainties which assail us when we
begin to think about the starry Heavens. Not only have the men of different ages felt convinced of
the truth of the most diverse astronomical world-systems. As we saw yesterday, we have to face
the fact that we cannot contain the totality of the starry heavens in the mathematical and
mechanical forms of thought in which we feel most secure.
Not only must we admit that we cannot trust to mere sensory appearances as regards the Heavens, but we
must recognize that when we take our start from what we see and then work upon it with the life
of thought, which, as we saw, belongs more to the inner man, we cannot really get at this world of
 stars. It is the truth, it is no mere comparison to say: The starry Heavens only present themselves
to us in their totality a relative totality, of course through sense perception. Taking our start
from sense-perception, when we as man try to go farther inward, to understand the starry Heavens,
we feel somewhat foreign to them. We get a strong feeling of our inadequacy. And yet we feel that
something intelligible must be there in the phenomena which we behold.
Outside us, then, is the ordered Cosmos; it only presents itself to our senses. It most certainly does not at
once reveal itself to our intellectual understanding. We have this ordered Cosmos on the one hand;
with it, we cannot enter into man. We try to lead on from outer sense-perception of the Cosmos
towards the inner man the life of thought and ideation and find we cannot enter. We must
admit: Astronomy will not quite go into our head. This is not said in the least metaphorically. It is
a demonstrable fact in the theory of knowledge. Astronomy will not go into the human head; it
simply will not fit there. (117, pg. V.11)

6 Jan. 1921
We see therefore how the inner evolution of mankind undergoes modifications hand in hand with changing
terrestrial conditions changing conditions, that is to say, on the Earths surface. Only those who
take a very short-term view of mankinds evolution upon Earth will imagine that the scientific
ideas we entertain today have any absolute validity that we have at last got through to the
scientific truth so to speak. To anyone who looks more deeply into these changes and
metamorphoses inherent to the cultural evolution of mankind, it will be clear that the
metamorphoses go on and that the areas of the Earth which are today enjoying certain forms of
culture and spiritual life will at some future time inevitably be laid waste, they will be desolate
once more. From the past length of time you can reckon out how long ahead it will be till a new
glacial age overtakes our present civilization. Moreover assuming that we can find some
connection between the celestial phenomena and these facts of earthly evolution the successive
Ice ages and the mid-point between them this will lead on to a further insight. That which takes
place on Earth in the most highly sublimated realms of cultural life in the life of thought and
knowledge will be related now not only to these changing conditions on Earth itself, but to
conditions in the outer Cosmos. Purely empirical reflection shows that man is what he is by virtue
of conditions on the planet Earth and in the Universe beyond.
Once more then taking the facts empirically as is usual in Science, only with a somewhat wider range, our
vision is extended until we recognize such a relationship as we have just been describing. Now in
a sense, even in present time we can perceive how the quality and trend of human spiritual life is
brought about by the relation between the Earth and the celestial bodies. In an earlier lecture it was
pointed out how different the spiritual configuration of mankind tended to be in Equatorial and
Polar regions. Investigating this more closely, the different relation of the Earth to the Sun proves
to be the determining factor. It makes man in the Polar regions less free of his bodily nature. Man
in the Polar regions is less able to lift himself out of the bodily organism, to get free use and
manipulation of his life of soul. (As to the different mutual relations of Earth and Sun, there will
be more in it than that, as we shall find in due course, but to begin with we can take our start from
the conventional notions.)
We need only picture to ourselves how differently the men of Polar regions are taken hold of by something
which in ourselves keeps more in the background. We of the temperate zone have the quick
alternation of day and night. Think how long this alternation becomes as you approach the Polar
zone. It is as though the day were to lengthen out into a year. I told you of what works in the little
child, deep in the bodily nature from year to year, from birth to the change of teeth, and of how the
independent working of the life of soul, given up as it is to the quicker rhythm of the day,
gradually frees and detaches itself from this more bodily working. This is not possible to the same
extent in Polar regions. It is the yearly rhythm which will there tend to make itself felt. The
emphasis is more on the bodily side. The human being will not wrest himself free to the same
extent from what works within the body.
Think now of the scanty relics that have been preserved from the civilization of very early times, - that
have survived the Ice Age. Then you will see that there were times in which a kind of
Polarization (giving the word its proper meaning in this context) extended right across the
present temperate zone, so that conditions were prevailing here not unlike those in the present
Polar regions. You can use this comparison for what was working in the Ice Age. You can truly
 say: What is now pressed back towards the North Pole, extended then over a considerable part of
the Earth. (Please keep this free of present-day explanations and ideas, for otherwise the pure
phenomenon will be obscured. Take only the pure phenomenon as such.)
Conditions on the Earth today are such that we have the three types: the human beings of the Tropical, the
Temperate and the Polar zones respectively. Of course they influence each other, so that in outer
reality the phenomenon does not appear quite so purely. Nevertheless, what you have here in a
spatial form, - you find it again in time as you go backward. Going back in time, we come to a
North Pole, as it were, in time, - in the history of civilization. Going forward, we come to the
Pole again. Remembering that the Polar influence on man is connected with the mutual relations
between Earth and Sun, we must conceive that the change which has taken place since the last Ice
Age the de-polarization, so to speak is connected with a changed relation between earth and
Sun. Something must have happened as regards the mutual relation between Earth and Sun. What
was it then? The facts themselves suggest the question. What is the source of this in the celestial
spaces?
Consider it more nearly. Of course these things will be different in the Northern and Southern
hemispheres, but the facts relate. We shall at most have to extend our picture, adapting it to the
real facts. We can only take our start from the empirically given data. What is revealed then, if we
approach the phenomena without preconceived ideas? The Earth and the events on Earth appear as
an expression of cosmic happenings cosmic happenings which manifest themselves in certain
rythms. Something that shewed itself about the tenth millenium before the origin of Christianity,
will shew itself again about the eleventh millenium after. What is in between, will also in a sense
be repeated. What we here have between the two Ice Ages will have undoubtedly have been there
before in former cycles. It is a rhythm: our attention is drawn to a rythmic process.
And now look out into the celestial phenomena. To emphasize one fact especially, which I have often
pointed to in my lectures, you have the following. (I will only characterize it roughly) You know
that the vernal point where the Sun rises in spring-time gradually moves through the Ecliptic.
Today the vernal point is in the constellation of Pisces; before, it was in Aries; still earlier, in
Taurus, - that was the time of the cult of the Bull among the Egyptians and Chaldeans. Still earlier,
it was in the constellation of Gemini, and then in Cancer; in Leo. This already brings us very near
the last Ice Age. Thinking it through to a conclusion, we know that the vernal point goes all the
way round the Ecliptic, and that the time it takes is called the Platonic Year the great Cosmic
Year, lasting approximately 25, 920 years.
A whole number of processes are comprised in these 25, 920 years, involving among other things this
rythmic alternation on the Earth: Ice Age, intermediate period, Ice Age, intermediate period, and
so on. At the time we spoke of, when there was a deep stirring of spiritual life in mankind, the
vernal point was entering the constellation of Pisces. In the Graeco-Latin Age it had been in the
sign of Aries, previous to that in Taurus, and so on. We get back to Leo or Virgo, more or less,
during the time when glacial conditions prevailed over the greater part of Europe and in America
too. Looking into the future, there will be another Ice Age in these regions when the vernal point
reaches the constellation of Scorpio. This rhythm is contained within what takes its course in 25,
920 years. Although admittedly of vast extent, it is a true rhythm none the less. (117, pp.VI.9-
VI.13)

7 Jan. 1921
Expose the animal form to the direct influence of the Sun and you get the head. Expose the animal to those
rays of the Sun which have first gone through the Earth and you get the opposite pole to the head.
Study the skull, so as to recognize in it the direct outcome of the influences of the Sun. Study the
forms, the whole morphology of the opposite pole, so as to recognize the working of the Suns
rays before which the Earth is interposed the indirect rays of the Sun. Thus the morphology of
the animal itself draws our attention to a certain interrelation between Earth and Sun. For a true
knowledge of the mutual relations of Earth and Sun we must create the requisite conditions, not by
the mere visual appearance (even though the eye may be armed with telescopes), but by
perceiving also how the animal is formed how the whole animal form comes into being.
Now think again of how the Human spine is displaced through a right angle in relation to the animal. All
the effects which we have been describing will undergo further modification where man is
concerned. The influence of the Sun will therefore be different in man than in the animal. The way
 it works in man will be like a resultant. That is to say, if we symbolize the horizontal line
whether it represent the direct or the indirect influences of the Sun by this length, we shall have
to say: here is a vertical line; this also will be acting. And we shall only get what really works in
man by forming the resultant of the two.
Suppose in other words that we are led to relate animal formation quite fundamentally to some form of
cosmic movement say, a rotation of the Sun about the Earth, or a rotation of the Earth about its
own axis. If then this movement underlies animal formation, we shall be led inevitably to attribute
to the earth or to the Sun yet another movement, related to the forming of man himself, - a
movement which, for its ultimate effect, unites to a resultant with the first. From what emerges in
man and in the animal we must derive the basis for a true recognition of the mutual movement s
among the heavenly bodies.
The study of Astronomy will thus be lifted right out of its present limited domain, where one merely takes
the outward visual appearance, even if calling in the aid of telescopes, mathematical calculations
and mechanics. It will be lifted into what finds expression in this most sensitive of instruments, the
living body. The forming forces working in the animal, and then again in man, are a clear
indication of the real movements in celestial space. (117, pp.VII.15-VII.16)

8 Jan. 1921
The whole way we are organized in this respect, implanted in us in a far distant past, is to this day more or
less independent of the life of the outer senses. Day by day we undergo an inner rhythm, our
powers of mental imagery alternately lighting up and growing more dim; it is a daily ebb and flow.
We only fail to notice it, since it is far less intense than that other periodicity which runs parallel to
the lunar phases. Nevertheless, in our head organization to this day we have an alternation
between a brighter and a dimmer kind of life. We carry in our head a rhythmic life. We are at one
time more and at another less inclined to meet our sense-perceptions actively from within. It is a
24-hour rhythmic alternation. It would be interesting to observe it might even be recorded
graphically how human beings vary as regards this inner period of the head, the forces of
ideation and mental imagery alternating between brighter and more lively and then again dimmer
and more sleepy times. (117, pg.VIII.6)

For we may truly say: the perennial wrests itself away from its dependence on the Suns yearly course. It
emancipates itself from the yearly course of the Sun, in that it forms the trunk, receiving into its
own Nature becoming able, as it were, to do for itself what otherwise could only come about
through the working of the whole cosmic environment.
Do we not see here prefigured in the plant world, what I was just describing with regard to man in pre-
glacial times? For in those times, as I was showing, the inner rhythm of mans ideation his life in
mental pictures developed by relation to the surrounding world. What then lived in the mutual
relation between man and the surrounding world has since become a feature of his own inner life.
There is an indication of the same kind of change in the plant kingdom, in that the annual is
changed to a perennial. This is indeed a universal tendency in evolution: the living entities are on
the way to emancipation from their original connections with the surrounding world. (117,
pp.VIII.9-VIII.10)

So for the comets; by spectroscopic investigation and by comparison with the corresponding results for the
planets, the idea arose that the phenomena might be explained electromagnetically. Such ideas will
at most lead to analogies, which may no doubt have some connection with reality, but which will
certainly not satisfy us if we are looking into it more deeply.
Yet as I said, leaving this aside, there was one thing which emerged quite inevitably when the phenomena
of comets were studied in more detail. While for the rest of the planetary system they always
speak of gravitational forces, the peculiar position of the comets tail in relation to the Sun
inevitably drove the scientists to speak of forces of repulsion from the Sun forces, as it were, of
recoil. The terminology is not the main point; it will of course vary with the prevailing fashion.
The point is that science was here obliged to look for something in addition to and indeed
opposite to gravity.
In effect, with the comets something different enters our planetary system, - something which in its nature
is in a way opposite to the inner structure of the planetary system as such. Hence it is
understandable that for long ages the riddle of the comets gave rise to manifold superstitions. Men
had a feeling that, in the courses of the planets, laws of nature, inherently belonging to our
planetary system, find expression, while with the comets something contrary comes in. Here
something disparate and diverse makes its way into our planetary system. Thus they inclined to
see the planetary phenomena as an embodiment of the normal laws of Nature, and to regard the
cometary apparitions as something contrary to these normal laws. There were times though not
the most ancient times when comets were associated, as it were, with moral forces flying
through the Universe, - scourges for sinful man.
Today we rightly look on that as superstition. Yet even Hegel could not quite escape associating the
comets with something not quite explicable or only half explicable by ordinary means. The 19th
century, of course, no longer believed the comets to appear like judges to chastise mankind. Yet in
the early 19th century they had statistics purporting to connect them with good and bad vintage
years. These too occur somewhat irregularly; their sequence does not seem to follow regular laws
of Nature. And even Hegel did not quite escape this conclusion. He thought it plausible that the
appearance or non-appearance of comets should have to do with the good and bad vintage years.
The standpoint of the people of today at least, of those who share the normal scientific outlook is that
our planetary system has nothing to fear from the comets. Yet the phenomena which they evoke
within this planetary system somehow have little inner connection with it. Like cosmic vagrants
they seem to come from very distant regions into the near neighbourhood of our sun. Here they
call forth certain phenomena, indicating forces of repulsion from the Sun. The phenomena appear,
wax and wane, and vanish.
There was a man who had a certain fund of wisdom whereby he contemplated the Universe not only with
his intellect but with his whole human being. He still had some intuitive perception of the
phenomena of the Heavens. I refer to Kepler. He was the author of a strange saying about the
comets a saying which gives food for thought to anyone who is at all sensitive to Keplers way
of thought and mood of soul. We spoke of his three Laws -a work of genius, when one considers
the ideas and the data which were accessible in his time. Kepler arrived at his Laws out of a
feeling for the inner harmony of the planetary system. For him it was no mere dry calculation; it
was a feeling of harmony. He felt his three planetary Laws as a last quantitative expression of
something qualitative the harmony pervading the whole planetary system. And out of this same
feeling he made a statement about the comets, the deep significance of which one feels if one is
able to enter into such things at all. Kepler said: In the great Universe even the Universe into
which we look by night there are as many comets as there are fishes in the ocean. We only see
very, very few among them, while all the rest remain invisible either because they are too small or
for some other reason. Even external research has tended to confirm Keplers saying. The comets
seen were recorded even in olden time and it is possible to compare their number. Since the
invention of the telescope ever so many more have been seen than before. Also when looking out
into the starry Heavens under different conditions of illumination that is to say making provision
for extreme darkness a larger number of comets are recorded than otherwise. Even empirical
research therefore comes near to what Kepler exclaimed, inspired as he was by a deep feeling for
Nature.
Now if one speaks at all of a connection between the Cosmos and what happens on the Earth, it is surely
not right to dwell one-sidedly on the relation to our Earth of the other planets of our system and to
omit the heavenly bodies which come and go as the comets do. It is especially one-sided since we
must now admit that the comets give rise to phenomena indicating the presence of quite other
forces forces opposite in kind to those which we usually attribute to the coherence of the
planetary system. The comets do in fact bear something into our system and if we follow it up we
must admit that this too is of great significance. Something in some way opposite in nature to the
force which holds it together comes with the comets into our planetary system. (117, pp.VIII.14-
VIII.17)

10 Jan. 1921
In this way the possibility would be reached of creating a form of mathematics capable of dealing with
realities; and it is essential for this to happen, if we would find explanations particularly in the
 realm of astronomical phenomena. In regard to the external world, we have before us what takes
place between the surface of the Earth-body and ourselves. When, however, we contemplate the
celestial phenomena say, a loop of Venus trivially speaking we also have before us something
which takes place between us and some other thing; yet the reality confronting us in this case is in
fact like the realm beyond the sphere in its relation to what is within the central point. Whenever
we look to the phenomena of the heavens, we must recognise that we cannot study them simply
according to the laws of centric forces, but that we must regard them in the light of laws which are
related to the laws of centric forces as is the sphere to the radius.
If, then, we would reach any interpretation at all of the celestial phenomena, we must not arrange the
calculations in such a way that they are a picture of the kind of calculations used in mechanics in
the development of the laws of centric forces; but we must formulate the calculation, and also the
geometrical forms involved, so that they relate to mechanics as sphere relates to radius. It will then
become apparent (and we will speak about this next time) what we need: In the first place, the
manner of thinking of mechanics and phoronomy, which has essentially to do with centric forces;
and secondly, in addition to this system, another, which has to do with rotating movements, with
shearing movements and deforming movements. Only then, when we apply the meta-mechanical,
meta-phoronomical system for the rotating, shearing and deforming movements, just as we now
apply the familiar system of mechanics and phoronomy to the centric forces and centric
phenomena of movement, only then shall we arrive at an explanation of the celestial phenomena,
taking our start from what lies empirically before us. (117, pp.X.12-X.13)

11 Jan. 1921
What then do we see as to the movement of the fixed stars, so-called? We must consider longer periods of
time, since in short periods the Heaven of fixed stars presents practically the same picture year by
year. Only when taking longer epochs do we find that it no longer presents the same uniform
picture, but that the whole configuration changes. We can envisage it by taking one example; what
we shall find in one region of the Heavens would be found in other regions too. Take then this
constellation, which you know so well, the Great Bear, or Plough in the northern sky. Today it
looks like this. Acquaint yourselves with the minute displacements of the so-called fixed stars
which have been ascertained, and which agree with what is shewn by very ancient star-maps,
although the latter are not always reliable. Sum up the minute displacements and calculate what
the constellation will have looked like very long ago, and you get this appearance. You see, the
fixed stars, so-called, have gone through considerable displacements. About 50,000 years ago, if
we may reckon it from the minute changes observed, the constellation will have looked like this. If
we continue to sum up the ascertainable displacements for the future, - assuming, as we surely
may do, that they will continue at least approximately in the same direction, - we may conclude
that 50,000 years from now the constellation will have this appearance.
Just as this constellation changes in the course of years for we have only chosen it as an example so do
the others. Thus when we make our drawings, of the Zodiac for instance in its present form, we
must be clear that the form of it changes in the course of time if we may thus include time in our
calculations and in interpreting them.
We must therefore regard the celestial sphere as undergoing changes within itself, ever changing its
configuration, - changing the aspect of the starry Heavens which we behold in the fixed stars, -
though the perpetual change is scarcely perceptible in the shorter periods. Naturally, our
observations here cannot go very far, nor can we do very much by way of interpretation, though as
some of you will know, modern experiments enable us to ascertain even those movements of the
stars which are along the line of sight, - towards us or away from us. Yet it remains very difficult
to interpret the ever-changing aspect of the starry heavens. In the further course we shall be asking
what human value and significance is to seek in the interpretation.
Having considered the movements of the fixed stars, let us now ask after the movements of the planetary
stars. The movement of the planetary stars as we behold it is indeed complicated. The movement
we observe is such that if we follow the path of a planet, in so far as it is visible, we see it moving
in a curve of peculiar shape different for the different planets and different too for the same
planet at different times. From this we have to take our start.
Take for example the planet Mercury. Precisely when it is nearest to us, its path is of peculiar form. In a
certain direction it seems to move across the Heavens. Studying it daily when it is visible, we see
 it moving thus; but then it turns and makes a loop, and then goes on as I am showing. It makes one
such loop in a so-called synodical period of revolution. This then we may describe as the
movement of mercury to begin with at least, so far as observation is concerned. The rest of the
path is simple, only at certain places do the loops occur.
Passing to Venus we have a similar phenomenon, though somewhat different in shape and form. Venus
moves onward thus, then turns and then moves on, thus. Here as a rule there is only one loop in
the course of a year, and, once again, when the planet as we conclude from other astronomical
data is nearest to us. Now to Mars: Mars has a similar path, only flatter. We may draw it
somewhat like this. In this case, you see, the loop is more compressed, but the appearance is still
that of a loop, - distinctly so. Often however the path (both of this and other planets) is so formed
that the loop is completely dissolved, flattened away until it is no more. The path is loop-like,
though not an actual loop. We will pass by the planetoids, interesting though they are, and look at
Jupiter and Saturn. We find them too describing loops or loop-like paths. They again do it when
nearest the Earth and only once a year. As a general rule they make a single loop each year.
We have then to consider certain movements on the part of the fixed stars, and the movements of the
planets. The movements of the fixed stars occupy gigantic periods, judged by our standards of
time. The movements of the planets comprise a year or fractions of a year and reveal from time to
time strange deviations from their ordinary path, loop-lines of movement, in effect. The question
now is, what are we to make of these two kinds of movement? It is a very big question. Only the
following reflection can lead towards any kind of interpretation of the loop-movements.
In all our human observation the fact is that we are very differently related to our own conditions and to
those things which are not our own, - which take place apart from us, outside us, so to speak. You
need only recall how it is with objects: The enormous difference between your relation to any
object of the so-called outer world and to an object inside yourself, which you, so to speak, are
sharing-in with your own inner experience. If you have any object before you, you see it, you
observe it. What you yourself are living in your liver, your heart, even your sense-organs to
begin with you cannot observe. There is the same contrast, though not quite so strongly marked,
with regard to the conditions in which we are living in the outer world. If we ourselves are in
movement and if it is possible for us to remain unconscious of how we bring about the movement,
then we may well be unaware of our own movement and therefore leave it out of account in
judging outer movements. That is to say, though we ourselves are in movement, we leave this out;
we deem ourselves at rest and envisage only the outer movement.
It is on this reflection, in the main, that the interpretation of movements amid the celestial phenomena
have been based. You are aware, it has been argued: Man, at a certain point on Earth, shares of
course in the spatial movement of his earthly habitation (e.g. the circling movement of his latitude)
but knows it not and hence regards, what he sees happening in the Universe outside him, as a real
movement in the opposite direction. The argument has been abundantly made use of! The question
now is: How might this principle be modified if we take into account that in mans organization
we have a true polarity? Namely, as metabolic man we are organised (if I may so express it)
radially, whilst in our head-man we are oriented spherically. If it were then a fundamental feature
of our own state of movement that we relate ourselves differently to the Radius and to the
encompassing Sphere, this fact would somehow make itself felt in what appears to us in the outer
Universe. (117, pp.XI.3-XI.7)

Take now the presence of the loop-making tendency in the human body and compare it with what
confronts us, admittedly in a more irrational form, in the forms of movement of the planets. You
will then realise: The apparent movements of the planets, as we are wont to call them, in a most
striking way inscribe, in forms of Movement in the Heavens, what in the human body is a Form as
such a characteristic, fundamental figure. Therefore, to say the least, we must in some way
correlate this basic form in the human body and these phenomena in the Heavens. And we shall
now be able to say: Behold the loop. It always appears when the planet is relatively near the Earth,
- therefore when we, being on the Earth, are in a special relation to the planet. Consider the
position of the Earth in its yearly course and our position on the Earth. (We must refer it back to
our own formative period, the embryo-period of our life, needless to say). Consider in effect how
we are alternately between a position relative to the planet wherein we turn our head towards the
planetary loop and a position where we take leave of the loop and at length turn our head away
 from it. We in our process of formation are thus related to the planet: We are exposed at one time
to the planets loop and at another to the remainder of its path. We can therefore relate, what lies
nearer to our head, to the loop, and what belongs more to the remainder of our body, to the
planetary path outside the loop.
Take in addition what I said before. I said, with regard to the morphological relation of the tubular or long
bone to the skull-bone: Try how you would have to draw it. Here, through the long bone, is the
radius; then as you pass to the skull-bone you will have to turn, like this. Project this turn, in
relation also to the Earths movement, outward into the Heavens. It is the loop and the rest of the
planets path! If we develop a feeling for morphology in the higher sense, we can do no other than
assign the human form and figure to the planetary system.
And now the movement of the fixed stars themselves: - The movements of the fixed stars will naturally be
less concerned with the several movements of individual human beings. Think on the other hand
of the whole evolution of mankind on Earth. Bear in mind all we have said in these days of the
relation of the great Sphere to the human head-formation. You cannot but divine that there will be
some relation between the metamorphoses of aspect of the starry Heavens, and of the evolution of
mankind in soul and spirit. Here is the vault of the great Sphere above us. It reveals only that part
of the movements which would correspond to the loop among the planets (nay more, as it would
seem, only to part of the loop). In the movements of the fixed stars, the rest of the path is omitted.
Our attention is drawn to this great differentiation: the planets must somehow correspond to the
whole man; the fixed stars only to what forms the head of man. Now we begin to get some
guidance, how to interpret the loop.
We human beings are in some way with the Earth. We are at some point on Earth and we move with it. We
cannot but refer, what appears to us in projection on the vault of heaven, to the movements we
ourselves are making with the Earth. For, as we move with the Earth (we must project this
backward, once more, backward in time to the embryo-period of our life), - as we move with the
Earth, what we have in us comes into being, formed as indeed it is by the very forces of
movement. In the movements we see up yonder in their seeming forms and pictures, we have to
recognise the cosmic movements we ourselves are making in the years course. We realise it as we
approach the true aspect of the loop-curve. (Downward of course we always see the loop still
open. In the immediate aspect, it does not close at all. Looking at this alone, we should never get a
complete path. We only get the complete path when contemplating the entire revolution.)
I am relating this rather quickly. You must reflect on it in detail and try to see the different things together.
The more minutely and scrupulously you do so, the more you will find what the planetary
movements are; to begin with, images images of movements you yourself accomplish, with the
Earth, in the years course. (We shall see in time, how a synthesis arises from the different
planetary movements.)
If then we see the human being as a whole and his projection to the Cosmos, we are led to recognise that
the true form of movement of the Earth in the years course will be the loop-curve or Lemniscate.
We shall have to study it more closely during the next few days, but at this stage we are already
led to conceive the path of the Earth itself as a loop-curve quite apart from its relation to the Sun
or any other factor. What is projected then, for our perception, - the planetary paths with the loops
they make, - we must regard as the projection by the planets of the loop-path of the Earth onto the
vault of Heaven, if we may formulate thus simply a very complicated set of facts. As to why, when
a planet draws near the loop, we have to leave the rest of the path open during a relatively short
period of time, - the reason lies in the fact that under certain conditions the projection of a closed
curve may appear open. For example, if you were to make a Lemniscate, say of a flexible rod, and
project the shadow of it onto a plane, you could easily make it so that the projection of the lower
part appeared divergent and unclosed, whilst the upper part was closed; so the entire projection
would become not unlike a planetary path. (117, pp.XI.11-XI.14)

12 Jan. 1921
Answering to this, in cosmic space, in the movement of celestial bodies, we also find a peculiar
configuration, - configuration of movements. In yesterdays lecture, we recognised in the planetary
loops the very same principle outside us which is the principle of form within us. Let us now
follow this loop-forming principle in greater detail. Is it not interesting that Mercury and Venus
make their loops when the planets are in inferior conjunction, i.e., when they are roughly between
 the Earth and the Sun? In other words, their loop occurs when what the Sun is for man so to
express it is enhanced by Venus and Mercury. As against this, look for the loops of Mars, Jupiter
and Saturn. These loops we find occurring when the planets are in opposition to the Sun. This
contrast too, of oppositions and conjunctions, will in some way correspond to a contrast in the
building forces of man. For Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, because their loops appear in opposition, the
loops as loops will be most active and influential. Thinking along these lines, we shall indeed
relate the loop-formation of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars to that in man which is little influenced by
the Sun; for it takes place, once more, when the planet is in opposition. Whilst, inasmuch as Venus
and Mercury form their loops when in conjunction, their loop-formation must in some way be
related to what is brought about, amid the formative principles of man, by the Sun -or by what
underlies the Sun. We shall therefore conceive the Suns influence to be in some sense reinforced
by Venus and Mercury, while it withdraws, as it were, in face of the superior planets, so-called.
The latter, precisely during loop-formation, bring to expression something that bears directly, not
indirectly, upon man.
If we pursue this line of thought and bear in mind that there is the contrast between Radius and Sphere,
then we need but recall the form that comes to manifestation in these movements, and we shall
say: In Mars, Jupiter and Saturn the essential phase must be when they are forming their loops,
that is to say, when, in a manner of speaking, the sphere-forming process comes into evidence.
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (not to speak of further planets) will show their influence upon that
element in man which is assigned to the sphere-forming process, namely the human head. In
contrast to this they are indeed the polar opposite the movements of Venus and Mercury will
somehow find expression in what in man too is the opposite pole, opposite to the forming of the
head, i.e., what abandons parallelism with the spherical formation and becomes parallel to the
radial. Where the one part of the lemniscate becomes minute and the other grows into the limbs,
into a purely radial development, we have to look for the relation to Venus and Mercury. This in
turn will lead us on to say: In the superior planets, which make their loop when in opposition, it is
the loop that matters; they develop their intensity while they form the loop. Whilst in the inferior
planets Venus and Mercury it is essential that they wield their influence by virtue of what is
not the loop, - i.e., in contrast to the loop, by the remainder of the planets path. Think of a
lemniscate like this, say in the case of Venus. You will understand it if you imagine this part ever
less in evidence, the farther you go downward. That is to say, whilst in the path of Venus it closes,
in its effects it no longer does so, but, as it were, runs out into parabolic branches, answering
precisely to what happens in the human limb, where the vertebra form fades away and loses
character (to put it briefly, omitting details). This loop of the lemniscate is represented by the
paths fading away, not being fully maintained; it only indicates the direction but cannot hold it.
So, where it closes in the path of Venus in the Heavens, in mans formation it falls asunder. Thus,
to sum up, the building principle of the human form, howsoever modified, is based on this: the
metamorphosis emerges between head and limbs the limbs with the metabolism which belongs
to them and in the great Universe this answers to the contrast between those planets that form
their loops in conjunction and those that form them in opposition to the Sun. Between the two is
then the Sun itself.
Now, my dear friends, something quite definite results from this. Namely, we see that also with respect to
the qualitative effects we have just referred to, we have to recognise in the Suns path, even as to
its form, something midway between what we find in the forms of movement of the superior and
inferior planets respectively. We must therefore assign, what find expression in the path and
movement of the Sun, to all that in man which is midway between the forming of the head and the
metabolism. In other words, we must attribute to the rhythmic system some relation to the path of
the Sun. We therefore have to imagine a certain contrast between the paths of the superior and of
the inferior planets; and in the Suns path a quality midway between the two.
There is now a very evident and significant fact, regarding both the Suns path and the Moons. Follow the
movements of the two heavenly bodies; neither of them makes any loop. They have no loop.
Somehow therefore we must contrast the relation to man, and to Earth nature generally, of Sun and
Moon on the one hand and of the loop-forming planetary paths on the other. The planetary paths
with their characteristic loops quite evidently correspond to what makes vortices and vertebrae, to
what is lemniscatory in man.
Look simply at the human form and figure and think of its relation to the Earth; we can do no other than
 connect what is radial in human form and stature with the path of the Sun, even as we connect
what is lemniscatory in form with the typical planetary path.
You see what emerges when we are able to relate to the starry Heavens the entire human being, not only
the human organ of cognition. This in effect emerges: In the vertical axis of man we must in some
way seek answers to the Suns path, whilst in all that is lemniscatory in arrangement we have to
seek what answers to the planetary paths, - lemniscatory as they are too, though in a variable form.
Important truths will follow from this. We must conceive, once more, that through his vertical axis
man is related to the Suns path. How then shall we think of the other path which also shows no
loops, namely the Moon? Quite naturally you need only look with open mind at the
corresponding forms on Earth we shall be led to the line of which we spoke some days ago, the
line that runs along the spine of the animal. There we must seek what answers to the Moons path.
And in this very fact the correspondence of the human spinal axis the Suns path and of the
animal spinal axis to the Moons we shall have to look for the essential morphological difference
between man and animal.
Precisely therefore when we are wanting to discover what is essential in the difference of man and animal,
we cannot stay on Earth. A mere comparative morphology will not avail us, for we must first
assign what we there find to the entire Universe. Hence too we shall derive some indication of
what must be the relative position of the Suns path and the Moons shall we say, what is their
mutual situation, to begin with, in perspective (for here again we must express it with great
caution). They must be so situated that the one path is approximately perpendicular to the other.
The human vertical therefore or, had we better say, what answers to the main line and direction of the
spine in man is related to the Suns path. The rational morphology we are pursuing makes this
coordination evident. Mindful of this, we must surely relate the Suns path itself to what in some
way coincides with the Earths radius. Admittedly, the Earth may move in such a way that many of
her radii in turn coincide with the Suns path. The relation indicated will need defining more
precisely in coming lectures. Yet this at least gives us a notion of it: the direction of the Suns path
must be radial in relation to the surface of the Earth. We have no other alternative. In no event can
the earth be revolving round the Sun. What has been calculated quite properly and
conscientiously, of course to be the revolution of the Earth around the Sun must therefore be a
resultant of some other kind of movements. To this conclusion we are driven.
This then must be the essence of the matter; the earthly and solar orbit in some way coincide, and the
Earth somehow follows the Sun, making it possible as the Earth rotates for the Earths radii to fall
into the solar path, or at the very least to be in a certain relation to it.
Now you may very naturally retort that all this is inconsistent with the accepted Astronomy. But it is not
so, - it really isnt! As you are well aware, to explain all the phenomena, Astronomy today must
have recourse not only to the primary notion of a stationary Sun supposed to be at the focus of an
ellipse along which the Earth is moving but to a further movement, a movement of the Sun itself
towards a certain constellation. If you imagine the direction of this movement and other relevant
factors, then from the several movements of Sun and Earth, you may well be able to deduce a
resultant path for the Earth, no longer coincident with the ellipse in which the Earth is said to be
going round the Sun, but of a different form which need not be at all like the supposed ellipse.
(117, pp.XII.3-XII.9)

13 Jan. 1921
Taking these words to be a true description of the spatial world-conception of Aristarchus of Samos, you
will admit: Between his spatial picture of the Universe and ours, developed since the time of
Copernicus, there is no difference at all. Aristarchus lived in the third century before the Christian
era. We must therefore assume that among those who like Aristarchus himself were leaders of
cultural and spiritual life in a certain region at that time, fundamentally the same spatial
conception of the world held good as in the Astronomy of today. Is it not all the more remarkable
that in the prevailing consciousness of men who pondered on such things at all, this world-
conception heliocentric, as we may call it, - thereafter vanished and was supplanted by that of
Ptolemy? Till, with the rise of the new epoch of civilisation, known to us as the Fifth post-
Atlantean, the heliocentric idea comes forth again, which we have found prevailing among such
men as Aristarchus in the 3rd century B.C.! (For you will readily believe that what held good for
Aristarchus, held good for many people of his time.) Moreover if you are able to study the
 evolution of mankinds spiritual outlook though it is difficult to prove by outer documents you
will find this heliocentric conception of the world the more widely recognized by those who
counted in such matters, the farther you go back from Aristarchus into more distant times. Go back
to the Epoch we are wont to call the Third post-Atlantean, and it is true to say that among those
who were the recognized authorities the heliocentric conception prevailed during that Epoch. The
same conception prevailed which Plutarch says was held by Aristarchus of Samos. Plutarch
moreover describes in such terms that we can scarcely distinguish it from that of our own times.
This is the noteworthy fact. The heliocentric conception of the World is there in human thought, the
Ptolemaic system supplants it, and in the Fifth post-Atlantean Epoch it is re-conquered. In all
essentials we may aver that the Ptolemaic system held good for the Fourth post-Atlantean Epoch
and for that alone.
What is the essence of the Ptolemaic cosmic system? The essence of it is that Ptolemy and his followers
go back again to the idea of an Earth at rest, with the fixed-star Heavens moving around the Earth;
likewise the Sun moving around the Earth. For the movements of the planets, the apparent forms
of which we have been studying, he propounds peculiar mathematical formulae. In the main, he
thinks this way: Let this be the Earth. Around it he conceives the Heaven of fixed stars. Then he
imagines the Sun to be moving in an eccentric circle round the Earth. The planets also move in
circles. But he does not imagine them to move like the Sun in one circle only. No; he assumes a
point moving in this eccentric circle which he calls the Deferent, and he makes this point in its
turn the centre of another circle. Upon this other circle he lets the planets move, so that the true
path of the planets movement arises from the interplay of movements along the one circle and the
other. Take Venus for example. Says Ptolemy: around this circle another circle is rotating; the
centre of the latter circle moves along the former. The actual path of Venus would then be, as we
should say, a resultant of the two movements. Such is the planets movement round the earth; to
comprehend it we must assume two circles: the large one, called the deferent, and the small one,
known as the epicyclic circle. Movements of this kind he attributes to Saturn, Jupiter, Mars,
Venus and Mercury, only not to the Sun. The Moon he conceives to move in another small circle, -
an epicyclic circle of its own.
These assumptions were due to the Ptolemaic astronomers having calculated with great care the positions
in the Heavens at which the planets were at given times. They computed the circling movements
so as to understand the fact that the planets were at given places at given times. It is astonishing
how accurate were the calculations of Ptolemy and his followers, - relatively speaking at least.
Draw the path of any planet Mars, for instance from modern astronomical data. Compare this
apparent path, so-called, of Mars, drawn as observed today, with the path derived from Ptolemys
theory of deferent and epicyclic circles. The two curves hardly differ. The difference, relatively
trifling, is only due to the still more accurate results of modern observation. In point of accuracy
these ancients were not far behind us That they assumed this queer system of planetary
movements, which seems so complicated, was not due therefore to any faulty observation. Of
course the Copernican system is simpler, - that will occur to everyone. There is the Sun in the
midst, with the planets moving in circles or ellipses round it. Simple, is it not? Whereas the other
is very complicated: a circular path superimposed upon another circle, and an eccentric one to
boot.
The Ptolemaic system was adhered to with a certain tenacity throughout the Fourth post-Atlantean epoch,
and we should ask ourselves this question: wherein lies the essential difference in the way of
thinking about cosmic space and the contents of cosmic space, such as we find it in the Ptolemaic
school on the one hand and in Aristarchus and those who thought like him on the other? What is
the real difference between these ways of thinking about the cosmic system? It is difficult to
describe popularly, for many things seem outwardly alike, whilst inwardly they can be very
different. Reading Plutarchs description of Aristarchus system, we shall say: This heliocentric
system is fundamentally no different from the Copernican. Yet if we enter more deeply into the
spirit of the Aristarchian world-picture, we find it different. Aristarchus too, no doubt, follows the
outer phenomena with mathematical lines. In mathematical lines he represents to himself the
movements of the heavenly bodies. The Copernicans do likewise. Between the two there
intervenes this other system the strange one of the Ptolemaic school. Here it cannot be said that
the forming of mathematical pictures coincides in the same way with what is observed. The
difference in this is all-important. In the Ptolemaic school, the mathematical imagination does not
 directly rest upon the sequence of observed points in space. It is rather like this: In order
ultimately to do justice to them, it goes right away from the observed phenomena and works quite
differently, not merely putting the observed results together. Yet in the end it is found that if one
does admit the mathematical thought-pictures of the Ptolemaic school, one thereby comprehends
what is observed.
Suppose a man of today were to make a model of the planetary system. Somewhere he would attach the
Sun, then he would draw wires to represent the orbits of the planets; he would really think of them
as representing the true orbits. In purely mathematical lines he would comprise the loci of the
planets paths. Ptolemy would not have done so. He would have had to construct his model
somewhat in this fashion. Here would have been a pivot, fixed to it a rod, leading to the rim of a
rotating wheel, and upon this again another wheel rotating. Such would be Ptolemys model. The
model he makes, the mathematical picture living in his thought, is not in the least like what is
outwardly seen. For Ptolemy the Mathematical picture is quite detached from what is seen
externally. And now, in the Copernican system we return to the former method, simply uniting by
mathematical lines the several places, empirically observed, of the planet. These mathematical
lines correspond to what was there in Aristarchus system. Yet is it really the same?
Bearing in mind the original premises of the Copernican system and the kind of reasoning by which it is
maintained, I think you will admit: It is just like the way we relate ourselves, mathematically, to
empirical reality in general. You may confirm it from his works. Copernicus began by constructing
his planetary system ideally, much in the same way as we construct a triangle ideally and then find
it realized in empirical reality outside us. He took his start from a kind of a priori mathematical
reasoning and then applied it to the empirically given facts.
What then is at the bottom of this complicated Ptolemaic system, to make it so complicated?.
Or is there something in it after all in this construction of of cycles and epicycles related to a real
content of some kind? I put the question to you: Is it only fantasy, only a thing thought-out, or
does this thought-out system after all contain some indication that it relates to a reality? We can
only decide the question by entering into it in greater detail.
It is like this. Suppose that with the Ptolemaic system taking your start from Ptolemaic theories you
follow the movements, or, as we should say, the apparent movements of the Sun, and of Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn: to begin with you will have angular movements of a certain
magnitude each time. You can therefore compare the movements indicated by the successive
positions of these heavenly bodies in the sky. The Sun has no epicyclic movement. The epicyclic
daily movement of the Sun is therefore zero. For Mercury on the other hand we must put down a
number, representing his daily movement along his epicyclic circle, which we shall then compare
with that of the other planets. Let us call the epicyclic daily movements: x1 for Mercury, x2 for
Venus, x3 for Mars, x4 for Jupiter, x5 for Saturn.
Now take the movements Ptolemy attributes to the centres of the epicycles along their deferent circles. Let
the daily movement be y for the Sun. It is then remarkable that if we seek the corresponding value
for Mercury we get precisely the same figure. The movement of the centre of Mercurys epicycle
equals the movement of the Sun. We must write y again, and so for Venus. This then holds good of
Mercury and Venus. The centres of their epicycles move along paths which correspond exactly to
the Suns path, - run parallel to it. For Mars, Jupiter and Saturn on the other hand the movements
of the centres of the epicycles are diverse, - shall we say: - x for Mars, x for Jupiter, x for
Saturn. Yet the remarkable fact is that by taking the corresponding sums, namely x3 + x, x4 + x,
x5 + x, - adding the movements along the several epicycles to the movements of the centres of
these epicycles, - I get the same magnitude for all three planets. Nay more, it is the identical
number y which we obtained just now for the movement of the Sun and of the centres of the
epicycles of Mercury and Venus.
A noteworthy regularity, you see. This regularity will lead us to attribute a different cosmic significance to
the centres of the epicycles of Venus and Mercury, the planets near the Sun as they are called, and
of Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, etc., called distant from the Sun. For the distant planets, the centre of the
epicycle has not the same cosmic meaning. Something is there, by virtue of which the whole
meaning of the planets course is different than for the planets near the Sun.
The fact was well known in the Ptolemaic school and helped determine the whole idea the peculiar
construction of cycles and epicycles in the mind, detached from the empirically given facts. This
very fact obliged them, as they saw it, to propound their system, and is implicit in it. The human
 being of today would scarcely recognize it there; he listens more or less obtusely when told how
they set up their cycles and epicycles. To their way of thinking on the other hand the thought was
palpable and eloquent. If Mercury and Venus have the same values as Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, yet
in another realm, we cannot treat the matter so simply, with an indifferent circling motion or the
like. A planet, in effect, is of significance not only within the space it occupies but outside it. We
have not merely to stare at it, fixing its place in the Heavens and in relation to other celestial
bodies; we must go out of it to the centre of the epicycle. The centre of its epicycle behaves in
space even as the Sun does. Once more, translated into modern forms of speech, the Ptolemaists
said: For Mercury and Venus the centres of the epicycles so far as movement is concerned
behave in cosmic space as the Sun itself behaves. Not so the other planets Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn. They claim another right. In effect, only when we add their epicyclic movements and their
movements along the deferent, only then do they grow like the Sun in movement. They therefore
are differently related to the Sun.
This difference of behaviour in relation to the Sun was what they really built on in the Ptolemaic system.
This among others was an essential reason for its development. Their aim was not merely to join
the empirically given places in the Heavens by mathematical lines, building it all into a system of
thought in this way. They were at pains to build a thought-system on another basis, and what is
more, a piece of true knowledge underlay their efforts; it is undeniable if we go into it
historically. (117, pp.XIII.1-XIII.9)

14 Jan. 1921
A man who still lived thus perceivingly amid the Ptolemaic system did not say: There is the Moon up
yonder. No, he did not; the people of today only attribute that idea to him, nor does it do the
system justice. If he had simply said, Up yonder is the Moon, he would have been relating the
phenomenon merely to his eye, his sense of sight. This he did not do, for he related the
phenomenon to his whole human being, and in so doing the following was his idea: - Here I am
standing on the Earth. Now, even as I am on the Earth, so too am I in the Moon, - for the Moon is
here. This is the Earth, whilst the whole of that is the Moon, far greater than the Earth. The
diameter (or semi-diameter) of the Moon is as great as what we now call the distance of the Moon
(I must not say, of the Moons centre) from the centre of the Earth. So large is the Moon, in the
original meaning of the Ptolemaic system. Elsewhere invisible, this cosmic body at one end of it
develops a certain process by virtue of which a tiny fragment of it becomes visible. The rest is
invisible, and moreover of such a substance that one can live in it and be permeated by it. Only at
this one end of it does it grow visible. Moreover, in relation to the Earth the entire sphere is
turning. (Incidentally it is not a perfect sphere, but a spheroid or ellipsoid-of-rotation) The whole
of it is turning, and with it turns the tiny fragment that is visible, i.e. the visible Moon. The visible
Moon is only part of the full reality of it.

It was from inner perceptions such as these that the Ptolemaic system of the Universe was made. These
perceptions we can henceforth regain if we begin by looking at it all in the proper light; we can re-
conquer the faculty whereby the whole Moon is experienced. We must admit however, it is
understandable that those who take their start from the current idea of the Moon find it hard to
see any inner relation between this Moon and the life inside them. Nay, it is surely better for
them to reject the statement that there are influences from the Moon affecting man, than to indulge
in so many fantastic and unfounded notions.
All this is changed if in a genuine way we come again to the idea that we are always living in the Moon,
so that what truly deserves the name of Moon is in reality a realm of force, a complex of forces
that pervades us all the time. Then it will no longer be a cause of blank astonishment that this
complex of forces should help form both man and beast, That forces working in and permeating us
should have to do with the forming and configuration of our body, is intelligible. Such then are the
ideas we must regain. We have to realize that what is visible in the heavens is no more than a
fragmentary manifestation of cosmic space, which in reality is ever filled with substance. Develop
this idea: you live immersed in substance substance manifold, inter-related. Then you will get a
feeling of how very real a thing it is. The accepted astronomical outlook of our time has replaced
this real by something merely thought-out, namely by gravitation as we call it,
Imagine now: Here is the Earth-sphere, - the solid sphere of Earth. And now the Lunar sphere: I must
imagine this, of course, of very different consistency and kind of substance. And now I can go
further. The space that is permeated by these two spheres, I can imagine it permeated by a third
sphere and a fourth. Thus in one way or another I imagine it to be permeated by a third sphere. It
might for instance be the Sun-sphere, - qualitatively different from the Moon-sphere.
I then say, - I, man, am permeated by the Sun and by the Moon-sphere. Moreover naturally there is a
constant interplay between them. Permeating each other as they do, they are in mutual relation.
Some element of form and figure in the human body is then an outcome of the mutual relation.
Now you will recognise how rational it is to see the two things together: on the one hand, these
different cosmic substantialities permeating the living body; and on the other hand the organic
form, in which you can well imagine that they find expression. Form and formation of the body is
then the outcome of this permeation. And what we see in the heavens the movement of the
heavenly bodies is like the visible sign. Certain conditions prevailing, the boundaries of the
several spheres become visible to us in phenomena of movement.
What I have now put before you is essential for the regaining of more real conceptions of the inner
structure of our cosmic system. Now you can make something of the idea that the human
organisation is related to the structure of the cosmic system. You never gain a clear notion of it if
you conceive the heavenly bodies as being far away yonder in space. You do gain a clear notion,
the moment you see it as it really is. Though, I admit, it gets a little uncanny to feel yourself
permeated by so many spheres, - just a little confusing!
And there is worse to come, for the mathematician at least. In effect, we are also permeated by the Earth-
sphere itself, in a wider sense. For the Earth belongs not only the solid ball on which we stand but
all the volume of water; also the air, - this is a sphere in which we know ourselves to be immersed.
Only the air is still very coarse, compared to the effects of heavenly phenomena. (117, pp.XIV.4-
XIV.8)

Man really owes it to the counteracting of the Sunlight via the Moon, - owes it to this that his organisation
is withheld from becoming animal. The influence of the Sun-light is weakened in its very own
quality (for it is Sun-light in either case), in that the Sun places its own counterpart over against
itself, namely the Moon and the Moons influence. Were it not for the Sun meeting and countering
itself in the Moonlightinfluences, the tendency that is in us would give us animal form and
figure. But the Suns influence reflected from the Moon counteracts it. The forming process is held
in check, the negative of it is working; the human form and figure is the outcome.
Now, let us follow up the plant and the plant-formative process. That the Sun is working in the plant, is
palpably evident. Let us imagine the Suns effect in the plant not to be able to unfold during a
certain time. During the Winter, in fact, the springing and sprouting life in the plant cannot unfold.
Nay, you can even see the difference in the unfolding of the plant by day and night. Now think of
this effect in oft-repeated rhythm, repeated endless times, - what have we then? We have the
influence of the Sun and the influence of the Earth itself; the latter when the Sun cannot work
directly but is hidden by the Earth. At one time the Sun is working, at another it is not the Sun but
the Earth, for the Sun is working from below and the Earth is in the way. We have the rhythmic
alternation: Sun-influence predominant, Earth-influence predominant in turn. Plant-nature
therefore is alternately exposed to the Sun, and then withdrawn, figuratively speaking, into the
Earth drawn by the earthly, as it were, into itself. This is quite different from what we had
before. For in this cases the Sun-quality, working in the plant, is potently enhanced. The solar
quality is actually enhanced by the earthly, and this enhancement finds expression in that the plant
gradually falls into mineralization. (117, pp.XIV.12-XIV.13)

15 Jan. 1921
Speaking of the Cassini curve, we showed that it has three essential forms. One, not unlike an ellipse. The
second was the Lemniscate. The third form is such that while in the idea of it and also
analytically it is a single entity, to look at it is not. It has two branches, yet the two branches are
one curve. To draw the line, we should somehow have to go out of space, coming back into space
again when we draw the second branch. Conceptually, our hand would be drawing a continuous
line when drawing the two regions which look separate. We cannot draw the line continuously
within ordinary space, and yet conceptually what is here above and what is here below is a single
 line. Now as I also mentioned, the same curve can be thought of in another way. You can ask what
will be the path of a point which when illuminated from a fixed point A appears with constant
intensity of illumination, seen from another fixed point B. Answer: a Cassini curve. A curve of
Cassini will be the locus of all points through which a point must run, if when illumined from a
fixed point A it is seen ever with the same intensity of light from another fixed point B.
Now it will not be hard for you to imagine that if something shines from A to C and thence by reflection
from C to B, the intensity of light will be the same as if reflected from D instead. But it gets rather
more difficult to imagine when you come to the Lemniscate. The ordinary geometrical
constructions, by the laws of reflection and so on, will not be quite so easy to carry through. And it
gets still more difficult to imagine with the two-branched curve, that the same intensity of light
should always be observed from the point B, inside the one branch of the curve, when the original
point-source of light is in A. You would have to imagine (as you pass from one branch to the
other) that the ray of light goes out of space and then shines into space again. You are up against
the same difficulty as before, when you were simply asked to draw the two branches as one with
a single sweep of the hand through space. (117, pp.XV.6-XV.7)

What I now mean is this: The reason why I only have two dimensions is not that I never had a third. The
reason is, I had the third and it vanished. The two dimensions are an outcome of the coming-into-
being and vanishing-again of the third. I now have a space, which, though it outwardly shows only
two dimensions, must inwardly be conceived as having two third dimensions, one positive and the
other negative. The negative dimension springs from a source that can no longer be there in my
three-dimensional space at all. Nor must I think of it as a fourth dimension in the conventional
sense. No, I must think of it as being, to the third dimension, as positive to negative. (117,
pg.XV.10)

If you use polar coordinates for example, then for the loop of Venus you may take the origin of your
coordinate system in three-dimensional space. Here you can do so. But you will not come to terms
with reality if you adopt the same principal when examining the curve of Mars. In this case you
must start from the ideal premiss that the origins of any system of polar coordinates will be outside
three-dimensional space. You are obliged to take the coordinates in this way. In the former case
you may start from the pole of the coordinate system, taking coordinates in the normal way. But if
you do this for the one planetary curve say for the path of Venus with its loop you will do
equal justice to the paths of Jupiter or Mars with their loops, only by saying to yourself: This time
I will not presuppose a polar-coordinate system with an origin such that I always have to add a
piece to get the polar coordinates. No, I will take as origin of my polar-coordinate system the
encompassing sphere, i.e. what is there behind it, indeterminately far. Then I get such coordinates
as these, where in each case, instead of adding, I must leave so much out. The curve I then obtain
has something like a centre, but the centre is in the infinite sphere.
It might prove necessary then, for more profound research into the paths of the planets, that we make use
of this idea, In constituting the paths of the inner planets we must indeed attribute to these paths
some centre or other within ordinary space. But if we want to think of centres for the path of
Jupiter, the path of Mars and so on, we must go right outside this ordinary space.
In fine, we have to overcome space; we must transcend it. There is no help for it. If you are conscientious
in your efforts to comprehend the phenomena, the mere ideas of three-dimensional space will not
suffice you. You must envisage the interplay of two kinds of space. One of them, with the ordinary
three dimensions, may be conceived as issuing radially from a central point. The other, which is all
the time annulling and extinguishing the first, may not be thought of as issuing from a point at all.
It must be thought of as issuing from the encompassing Sphere that is, the Sphere infinitely far
away. While in the former the point is of zero area, in the latter its area is that of a spherical
surface of infinite dimensions. We must distinguish two kinds of point: a point of zero area which
it turns outward, and a point of infinite spherical area which it turns inward. Geometrically it may
suffice to conceive the notion of a point abstractly. In the realm of reality it will not. We shall not
do justice to reality with the mere notion of an abstract point. In every instance we must ask
whether the point we are conceiving has its curvature turned inward or outwards; its field of
influence will be according to this. (117, pp.XV.14-XV-16)
16 Jan. 1921
The question now is, with regard to outer movements: How, with our human cognition, do we apprehend
that element of movement which takes its course purely within the Sphere, and how do we
apprehend that element which takes its course along the Radius?
A beginning has been made in Science as you know, even experimentally, in respect of these two kinds of
spatial movement. The movements of a heavenly body upon the Sphere can of course be seen and
traced visually. Spectrum analysis however also enable us to detect those movements that are
along the Radius. When heavenly bodies come nearer to or go away from us along the line of
sight, spectrum analysis enables us to recognise the fact. Interesting results have for example been
arrived at with double stars that move around each other. The movement was only recognizable by
tackling the problem with the help of Dopplers principle, - that is the experimental method to
which I am referring. (117, pg. XVI.4)

In the embryo the forming and development of man does indeed take place in harmony with cosmic
forces. What afterwards remains is only what is carried forward, so to speak. Implanted in the
whole human organization during embryonal life, it then persists. We cannot say it is inherited in
the customary sense, for in fact nothing is inherited, but we must think of some such process,
where entities derived from an earlier period of development stay on.
We must now look for an answer to the question: Is there still anything in the ordinary life we lead after
birth after full consciousness has been attained is there still any hint of our connection with
cosmic forces? Let us consider the human alternation of waking and sleeping. Even the civilized
man of today still has to let this alternation happen. In its main periodicity, if he would stay in
good health, it still has to follow the natural alternation of day and nigh. (117, pg.XVI.5)

This is the thing we have to look for altogether, in scientific method: Not to define phenomena by means
of abstract concepts, but to define phenomena by means of other phenomena. Of course it
presupposes that we do really understand the phenomena in question, for only then can we define
them by one-another. This is the characteristic of anthroposophical scientific endeavour. It seeks to
reach a true Phenomenalism, - to explain phenomena by phenomena instead of making abstract
concepts to explain them. Nor does it want a mere blunt description of phenomena, leaving them
just as they are in the chance distributions of empirical fact and circumstance, where they may
long be standing side by side without explaining one-another. (117, XVI. Pg.XVI.13)

I will here draw attention to one such limit, which, though not felt to be insurmountable by our
contemporaries, will in fact only be surmounted when fresh kinds of experiments are made. I
mean the problem of the constitution of the Sun. Careful and conscientious observations have of
course been made by all the scientific methods hitherto available, and with this outcome; First
they distinguish the innermost part of the Sun; what it is, is quite unclear to them. They call it the
solar nucleus, but none can tell us what it is; the methods of research do not reach thus far. To say
this is no unfriendly criticism; everyone admits it. They then suppose the Suns nucleus to be
surrounded by the so-called photo-sphere, the atmosphere, the chromosphere and the corona. From
the photosphere outward they begin to have definite ideas about it. Thus they are able to form
some idea about the atmosphere, the chromosphere. Suppose for instance that they are trying to
imagine how Sun-spots arise. Incidentally, this strange phenomenon does not happen quite at
random; it shows a certain rhythm, with maxima and minima in periods of about eleven years.

17 Jan. 1921
We have been led to realize that Earth and Sun must be thought of as moving in a certain sense in the
identical orbit and yet again in a way opposite to one another. You will get a more substantial idea
of what this means if you recall what was said yesterday. The constitution of the Sun, I said, - with
the Suns nucleus and then the photosphere, atmosphere, chromosphere and corona - can be
imagined in no other way than this: While on Earth craters are formed by outward thrusts or
movements, and we think therefore of processes that work from within outward (fundamentally
the same is even true of the tides), in the Sun on the contrary we have to go from without inward.
The Sun releases its streams and currents from the surrounding periphery inward to the interior, to
the solar nucleus.
We have to look for a curve which makes it possible for us to imagine the movements of Sun and Earth
taking their course in one and the same path and yet in some sense contrariwise. The curve can be
determined, unambiguously. If you envisage all the relevant geometrical positions which are to be
found in this way, the curve, I shall say again, will be uniquely determined. You must imagine it
like this - a rotating lemniscate which at the same time moves through space, resulting in a
lemniscatory screw or spiral. Imagine the Earth to be at some point on this curve and the Sun at
another, with the Earth following Sun in movement. So then you have the movement of the Earth
up here, the Sun down here. They go past each other. Taking all the valid criteria into account, this
is the only way to conceive the underlying movements both of the Earth and the Sun. There is no
other alternative than to imagine it arising on this basis: Earth and Sun are moving, following one
another, along a lemniscatory spiral; what is projected into space arises out of this. Here is the line
of sight. You are projecting the Sun in this position; thereafter, you may assume, the Sun has gone
up here. You get the apparent positions, including all the relevant and necessary factors, simply as
the resulting projection when Earth and Sun move past each other along this line. But I repeat, you
must include the manifold corrections, - the Bessel equations and so on, - if you expect your
calculation to come true. You must include in the geometrical loci all that is really given. So too
you must take into account what I mentioned before, how the Astronomy of today uses three Suns
in its calculations: the real Sun, the Dynamical Mean Sun and the Astronomical Mean Sun. Two of
them are of courses imaginary; only the real Sun is actually there. For our determination of Time
however, we reckon first with the Dynamical Mean Sun which coincides with the true Sun at
perigee and apogee and no-where else. And then we have the third Sun which only coincides with
the other at the equinoxes. You need only correct, according to all this, the accepted notion of the
Suns apparent path. Take all this together and work it out, then you will certainly get this result, -
in full agreement with what we also found by observing Mans relation to the Cosmos.
Work out the calculation as indicated and you will find that it fits as follows. We have to draw the path of
the Earth with the Earth tending, in a sense, towards the place where the Sun has been. We thus get
the one half of the lemniscate - Earth, Sun, Earth, Sun. When this has gone round, then it goes on.
They move past each other, as you see. Thus we obtain the true path of Earth and Sun if we
alternately imagine the Earth to be at the place where we are wont to put the Sun, and the Sun at
the place where we are wont to put the Earth. The fact is, we do not get the true relation of
movement as between Earth and Sun if we assume either the one or the other to be at rest. We
must imagine both to be in movement, whereby the one follows the other, yet at the same time
they go past each other. So we then have to picture it seen in perspective, the Sun is alternately in
the muddle point of our planetary system and then the Earth is where we normally conceive the
Sun to be. They change places, taking turns as it were. But it is complicated, for in the meantime
the planets too, needless to say, have changed their situation, which brings in no little
complication. However, if I take this, to begin with, to be a true perspective, I shall draw it thus
(Sun in the middle point). Then as it were I get the other valid order by drawing the ideal sequence
of the planets with the Earth here (Earth in the centre) and then Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn. You see, we are in a way misled by the perspectives, to the establishment of an
extremely simple system, whereas in fact it is by no means simple. It is as though, with respect to
the planets, Earth and Sun were taking turns, alternately being in the centre of the system.
I confess it is not at all easy for me to be telling you these things, which at the present stage might still be
thought fantastic. We cannot now bring all the mathematical paraphernalia to bear on them, but I
assure you they can be calculated in all detail. The desire was for me to explain the relations of
Astronomy to other branches of Science; hence at the end of these lectures I must try to give a
resume as clear and as complete as possible.
Tracing the path of Earth and Sun (Now, once again, apart from the planetary system as a whole) we have
then to imagine a Lemniscate in which the Earth is following the Sun. Incidentally, you may also
see in this a possibility of giving meaning to the idea of Gravitation. The one draws the other after
it; that is the underlying principle. Think of it in this way, and you will no longer need the
somewhat questionable duality of gravitational and tangential forces, for they are here reduced to a
single force. Think it through thoroughly and you will find it so. You must admit, it is a rather
problematical feature of the Newtonian conception. We are to think of the Sun in the centre and
the Planets around it endowed, one and all, with a kind of shove in the tangential direction,
without presupposing which the Newtonian system would break down.
It is a system of Lemniscates in determined order and relation. Such are the paths of the planets; such also
is the path of Earth and Sun. Now you will easily harmonize what I have here presented in
diagrammatic outline, with the fact that we see the loops of Venus and Mercury in conjunction and
those of Jupiter, Mars and Saturn in opposition. In our perspective, it is the necessary outcome.
Above all, you will recognize once more what the connection is between the planets and the
human being. You need but look at this picture and you will say to yourselves: what you have
here, in Mercury and Venus, is near in direction to the path of Earth and Sun. It is in the cosmic
neighbourhood, so to speak, of the path of Earth and Sun. It is therefore in this relation: It has to
do with the radial line fundamentally, the connecting line of Earth and Sun. As against this, the
other paths those of the outer or upper planets work more by virtue of their lateral or spherical
direction. In their effects, they more approach what is peripherical in movement. We may then also
formulate it thus: What we behold in Venus and Mercury is far more akin to what is living as a
cosmic reality in us ourselves. Whilst, what we see in the paths of the superior planets is more akin
to the fixed-star Heavens in general. Here too we reach a kind of qualitative valuation of what is
taking place in the Cosmos. Of course the lines I have been drawing are only meant
diagrammatically. It should really be put in this way: An inferior planet has a path, making a
lemniscate-loop-curve the centre of which is the Earth-and Sun path itself. A superior planet, on
the other hand, embraces the Earth-and-Sun path in its own lemniscate-loop. Such is the essence
of the matter; the thing itself is so complicated that the mental pictures we can form can scarcely
be more than diagrammatic.
You see from this however, my dear Friends, - unwelcome as the news may be to some, - we need to get
away from a principle that crept into the explanations of Nature with the beginning of modern
time. I mean the overriding principle of simplicity. It grew to be the accepted tendency: The
simple explanation is the right one! Even today one is severely censured if one puts forward what
is not simple enough. Yet Nature is not simple. On the contrary, it would be true to say: Nature
the real World is that which, looking simple, proves on examination to be complex. What
appears simple on the surface, is as a rule only the outward glory, only the outward semblance of
it. (117, pp.XVII.4-XVII.11)

Here too, in the evolution of mankind the natural aspect and the ethical have in a certain way fallen
asunder. The ethical has been cultivated in Astrology; the natural in an Astronomy bereft of
spiritual values. There is no need for me to insist that Astrology as pursued today is scientifically
unacceptable. I need not prove to you that this is an aberration on the one side. Yet on the other
side our astronomical world-system, as we call it, also involves an aberration. All these
perspective lines or if you will, projective lines that are conventionally drawn to represent our
solar system, are not to be conceived as realities at all.(117, XVII.13-XVII.14)

18 Jan. 1921
Whilst on the surface of the Earth and eruption or the like will naturally be interpreted as tending up and
outward, a process on the Sun a Sun-spot for example must be interpreted rather as rending
from without inward. Continuing this line of thought: Just as we have to imagine that if we went
through and beneath the surface of the Earth we should get into dense matter, so shall we have to
imagine that if we moved from outside the Sun towards the Suns interior we should come into an
ever more attenuated state of matter. And we may truly say: Look at the Earth and the whole way
it is placed into the Universe. It manifests as so much ponderable matter in the Universe. Not so
the Sun. Here we shall only come near the truth if we imagine that as we go from the
circumference towards the interior we get ever more remote from ponderable matter and ever
more and more into the imponderable. We have precisely the opposite behaviour as we draw near
the middle point. The Sun must be conceived as a hollowing-out, shall we say, of cosmic matter, a
hollow space, a hollow sphere, - a sphere enveloped by matter, - in contrast to the Earth where we
have denser matter enveloped by more attenuated. As to the earth, we think of air around it. Air is
outside and denser matter inside. For the Sun it is the opposite; as we go inward we go from
relatively denser matter into more attenuated and at long last into the very negation of matter.
Whoever takes the phenomena with open mind and puts them together will be obliged to
recognize that this is so. The Sun is not only a more attenuated heavenly body, of a materiality less
 dense than earthly matter, but if we call the Earths materiality positive, then in the Sun in the
Suns interior we shall have negative matter in a certain sense. We only do justice to the
phenomena if we conceive that there is negative matter in the inner space of the Sun.
Now, my dear friends, as compared with the positive matter negative matter is suctional. Positive matter
exerts pressure, negative suction. And now if you conceive of the Sun as a collection of suctional
force, you need no further explanation of Gravitation. This is the explanation. Now think of it as I
explained yesterday. Now think of it as I explained it yesterday. The movement of Earth and Sun is
such that the Earth follows the Sun in the same path, in the same direction. Here then you have the
cosmic relation between Sun and Earth. The Sun as a gathering of suctional forces goes on in
front, and by this suctional force the Earth is drawn after, moving through cosmic space in the
same course and in the same direction in which the Sun thrusts forward. (117, pp.XVIII.1-
XVIII.3)

During these lectures we have recalled the fact that in comparing the periods of revolution of the planets
incommensurable magnitudes emerge. For if they were commensurable, the planetary paths would
presently come into such relation to one another that the whole system would rigidify. Our
planetary system does indeed also contain this tendency to become rigid and dead.
We can express what confronts us in the planetary system by means of certain curves and arithmetical
formulae. Yet as we saw, these curves and formulae are never in full agreement with reality. We
must therefore admit that if we try to contain the phenomena of the Heavens in succinct formulae
or geometrical figures the phenomena elude us. Time and again they elude us. This then is true: -
look outward on the one hand and behold the given picture of the celestial phenomena. Look on
the other hand at what we are able to make of it by dint of calculation. We never do contrive a
formula that coincides entirely with the phenomena. We may devise such a drawing as I was
sketching yesterday the system of lemniscates. We can do so indeed. Even this system however,
- we only understand it rightly if we admit the following. Suppose I managed to draw this
lemniscatory system in a precise and finished form; it would at most be true of the present time.
Even a time comparatively near our own the time I indicated when speaking if the coming ice-
age would require me to modify the system not a little. The constants of the curves must
themselves be taken as variable. The very constants themselves would therefore be curves of some
complexity by virtue of their variations.
Yet in the very fact of saying this, I am giving voice to an important reality. Namely a planetary system
has this essential feature: It tends in both directions, - on the one hand towards rigidity and on the
other hand to the forming of ever-mobile Lemniscates. In the solar system or planetary system
there is this contrast between the tendency to become rigid and the tendency to be ever variable,
ever escaping from its established form.
If we now follow up this very contrast, not in the way of speculation but in the actual seeing and
contemplating of the phenomena, we shall be led to recognize that what we call a comet, a
cometary body, is not a body at all in the same sense that a planet is.
Truth is that in studying the cometary phenomena we get into difficulties if we conceive the cometary
body too in the same way as we are wont to think of a planetary body. The planetary body you
may represent as though it were a self-contained body moving on in space. You will not go much
against the facts in so conceiving it. Not so a cometary body. Again and again you will find
yourself in contradiction to the phenomena if you conceive it after the same pattern as the
planetary body. You will never understand the cometary body, in the way it moves or seems to
move through cosmic space, if you regard it as you are accustomed to regard the planetary
bodies.
See what becomes of it on the other hand if you regard it as I shall now describe. Take all the empirical
facts that are available and try to thread them on this line of thought. Imagine that in this direction
towards the Sun, as we may say the comet comes into being at every moment. It is for ever
coming into existence in this direction. It pushes forward its cometary nucleus, or what appears as
such. Behind, it melts away again. In this way it thrusts forward for ever coming into being on
the one hand, passing away again upon the other. It is not a body in the same sense as a planet is, -
not at all. It is perpetually coming into being and passing away again -renewed in front, accruing
all the time in this direction; losing the old in its tail. It pushes forward like a mere effulgence, a
mere phenomena of light; but please, I do not say that that is all it is.
And now remember what we were saying a few days ago. There is not merely the Moon up there and the
Earth here, but every planet has a certain sphere, and what we see is only a point at the periphery
of the said sphere. The true Moon is the sphere, bounded by the lunar orbit. We, with the Earth, are
in the Lunar Sphere. So also, in a certain sense, are we in the Solar Sphere and the spheres of all
the planets. The planets are not merely what is out there, moving in lemniscates, - what is at
yonder point or yonder at any given moment. The visible point is only a specialized part of the
whole; it is, as I was saying, like the area of germination in the germinal vesicle of the human
embryo.
If you remember this, then you will say to yourselves: Here now I have the earth and the Sun. In fact, two
spheres are interpenetrating and thrusting into each other, - spheres which are really due to
materialities of opposite tendency and kind. The one comes from the centre of the Sun, towards
which negative matter is tending; the other from the centre of the Earth, from which positive
matter is raying out. Positive and negative materialities are interpenetrating here. Naturally, the
interpenetration will not everywhere be homogeneous. Imagine how, in this mutual penetration,
the different densities will impinge on one other. Then, in the penetration of the one substantiality
by the other, you have the requisite conditions for such phenomena as comets to arise. Comets are
ever-nascent phenomena, perpetually coming into being, passing away again; and if we draw our
ideal picture of a planetary system, say the Copernican picture, with the Sun here and Uranus and
Saturn here, we have not to imagine that the comet is arriving there from some great distance and
then making its departure. Out there outside the system we need not imagine it to exist at all. It
is not there to begin with, but becomes; then, at the perihelion, changes the gesture of its form,
which is in fact ever-becoming, ever-nascent. Out there it melts away again and is no more. The
comet comes into being and passes away; that is its very nature. Hence it can sometimes have
apparent paths that are not closed at all parabolic paths or hyperbolic, - for there is nothing
moving round such as would have to move in a closed path. All that there is comes into being, and
may well do so in a parabolic direction and then vanish and be no more.
Altogether, we must look upon the comet as a fleeting thing. In relation to Sun and Earth, it is a
phenomenon of compensation between ponderable and imponderable matter, - a meeting of the
two kinds of matter, which do not immediately balance-out as when light extends in air. For in the
latter instance too, there is a meeting of the ponderable and the imponderable; there however they
spread continuously, homogeneously as it were, - do not impinge on one another. Take for
example air, with light of a certain intensity passing through it. The light spreads homogeneously;
but if so be it the light does not adapt itself to the air quickly enough, a kind of inner friction will
ensue between the ponderable and imponderable matter; only I beg you not to understand this in a
mechanical sense but as an inward process. Follow the comet in its movement. It is mutual friction
of ponderable and imponderable matter that moves through space. It comes into being at every
moment and passes away again. (117, pp.XVIII.7-XVIII.12)

15 Apr. 1921
"If we look into the sphere of wisdom, we find preserved there a teaching from earlier times. In a certain
sense, however, it had already begun to be replaced by what we today call the heliocentric world
system - I have spoken of this in earlier lectures here. Nevertheless, - it still remained from former
astronomical teachings, and might be designated as a form of astronomy, but now not from the
standpoint of physical cosmological observation. In very ancient times, people arrived at this
astronomy - let us call it etheric in contrast to our physical astronomy in the following way:
People of old were still fully aware of the fact that human beings by nature belong not only to the
earth but also to the cosmic surroundings of the earth, the planetary system. Ancient wisdom had
quite concrete views concerning this etheric astronomy. It taught that if we turn our attention to
what makes up the organization of the upper part of the human being - and here I make use of
expressions that are familiar to us today insofar as we view the etheric body of man, the human
being stands in interaction with Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. People thus considered certain reciprocal
effects between the upper part of the human etheric body and Saturn, Jupiter and Mars.
Furthermore, people found that the part of the human being that is of a more astral nature has a
sort of interrelationship with Venus, Mercury and the Moon. The forces that then lead man into his
earthly existence and that bring it about that a physical body is fitted into this etheric body, these
are the forces of the earth. Those forces, on the other hand, that cause the human being to have a
 certain perspective reading beyond his earthly life, are the forces of the sun.
Thus it was said in those ancient times that the human being comes out of unknown spiritual worlds he
passes through in prenatal life but that it is not as if he merely entered into terrestrial life. Rather,
he enters from extraplanetary worlds into planetary life. The planetary life receives him as I have
described it, relating him to the sun, moon, earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The
orbit of Saturn was considered to be the approximate sphere the human being enters with his
etheric body out of extraplanetary into planetary life. Everything that is etheric in the human being
was definitely related to this planetary life. Only insofar as the etheric body then expresses itself
in the physical body, only to that extent was the physical body related to the Earth. Insofar as the
human being in turn raises himself with his ego beyond the etheric and astral body, the ancients
related this to the sun.
"Thus, one had a form of etheric astronomy. It was certainly still possible for this etheric astronomy not
merely to look upon the physical destinies of the human being in the way physical astronomy
does. Instead, since people viewed the etheric body, which in turn stands in a more intimate
relationship to the spiritual aspect of the human being, in an interplay with the same forces of the
planetary system, the following possibility existed. Since the forces of destiny can express
themselves out of the planetary system by way of the etheric body, it was possible to speak of the
human constitution and to include in the latter the forces of destiny.
In this teaching of antiquity, this etheric astronomy, which was continued even after people already had
developed the heliocentric system as a kind of esoteric science, a last wisdom teaching had
emerged from ancient instinctive wisdom investigations and had been retained as a tradition.
People spoke of the influence of heaven in no other way but by saying, Indeed, these influences of
heaven exist; they bear not only the affairs of nature but also the forces of human destiny. Thus,
there certainly existed a connection between what we might call a teaching of nature, namely
cosmology, and what passed over later into all that people now consider as astrology, something
that in ancient times had a much more exact character and was based on direct observation.
"It was thought that when the human being has entered the planetary sphere on his way to a new birth and
has been received by it insofar as his etheric body is concerned, he subsequently enters the earth.
He is received by the earth. Yet, even here, people did not merely think of the solid earth. Rather,
they thought of the earth with its elements. Apart from the fact that the human being is received by
the planetary sphere - whereby he would be a super-earthly being, whereby he would be what he is
only as a soul - it was said that like a child he is received by the elements of the earth, by fire or
warmth, by air, water, and the solid earth. All of these elements were considered the actual earth.
Consequently, it was thought, the human beings' etheric body is so tinged by these external
elements, so saturated that now the temperaments originate in it. Thus, the temperaments were
pictured as closely tied to the etheric body, hence to the life organization of the human being.
Therefor, in what is actually physical in man - or, at least, in what manifests through the physical
body - this ancient teaching also saw something spiritual.

The direction taken by medicine runs parallel to the transition from the ancient etheric astronomy to
modern physical astronomy. The medical teaching of Hippocrates still corresponds essentially to
etheric astronomy, and, actually, the accomplishments of this medical conception concerned with
the intermingling of fluids in man remained well into the fourth century A. D. in an exact manner,
not only in tradition as it was later. Just as this ancient astronomy was subsequently obscured after
the fourth century and physical astronomy took the place of the old etheric astronomy in the
fifteenth century, so, too, pathology and the whole view of medicine was then based on the
teachings of the solid element, of what is bounded and expressed by sharp contours in the human
organism. This is in essence one side of humanity's evolution in the inorganic age.'(39, pp.54-58)

5 May 1921
We simply take earthly life today as the basis of our ideas and concepts and construe a view of the whole
universe in accordance with conditions on earth. The resulting picture of the universe is then not
much else than the transference of earthly conditions to extraterrestrial ones. Thus, by means of
the tremendous achievements of modern science, through spectral analysis and other methods, a
view of the sun was developed that is really modeled entirely upon earthly conditions. A
conception is formed of what a luminous body of gas might look like. This conception is then
 transferred to what meets our eye as the sun in the cosmos. We must once again learn to use the
materials of spiritual science to arrive at a conception of the sun. The physicist believes that the
sun would present itself to him as a luminous sphere of gas if he were able to travel out into space.
Yet, despite the fact that it reflects the cosmic light to us in its own way in the way it receives it,
the sun is a spiritual entity through and through. (39, pg.238)

By bringing together all the references found here and there in anthroposophical literature, we shall be
able, first of all, to comprehend once more the sun's connection with the ego. Sun and moon are in
a certain respect total opposites. Complete polarity exists between hem. When we study the sun
by means of spiritual science, we find that the sun sends down to us everything that fashions us
into bearers of our ego. We owe to the rays of the sun what in fact bestows on us the human form
and, in the latter, molds us into an image of the ego. What works in the human form from within
even as early as the embryonic stage are influences from the sun. It is true, however, that we must
bring these sun forces into connection with the moon's forces that have opposite effects. The moon
forces become evident, above all as the inner influence in the lower, metabolic nature of man.
What develops in the metabolic processes from within are the moon's forces, positioning
themselves within the human organism and radiating outward from the centre.
"This does not contradict the fact that these moon forces also play a part, for instance, in forming the
human countenance. They shape the face because the effects that proceed from the centre, from
the lower, metabolic system, exert an attracting power, as it were, from outside on the
development of the human face. The moon forces have a differentiating effect on this development
due to adding their influence to that of the sun's forces while counteracting the latter from within
the human being. For this reason, the organism connected with human reproduction depends on
the moon forces, which bestow the form. On the other hand, the result of procreation depends on
the sun forces. With their whole being human beings are placed into the polarity between sun
forces and moon forces.
In seeking the moon forces within the inner human organism, we have to distinguish them in the metabolic
process from the forces originating within this process itself. The moon forces play into the
metabolism but the latter possesses its own forces. These are the earth forces. The forces contained
in food substances, in vegetables and other foods, work in the human being by virtue of their own
nature. Here, they are active as earth forces. Metabolism is primarily a result of the earth's forces,
but elements of the moon's forces work into them. If the human being possessed only the
metabolic process with its forces, if only the substances of his foods would unfold their forces in
his body after having been consumed, then he would have nothing but chaotic play of all kinds of
forces. The fact that these forces continuously work to renew the human being from within does
not depend at all on the earth; it is due to the moon that is added to the earth. The human being is
shaped from within outwards by the moon, from without inwards by the sun. Inasmuch as the
sun's rays are received through the eye into the human head organization, they also have an inward
effect; nevertheless, they still work from outside in.
It is possible to say that it is the sun that firmly places the human being as a personality, as an individual,
upon the earth. It is the moon that conjured human beings in their multitude, in their whole
evolution, on the earth.
When we study the forces coming from foodstuffs, we find, to begin with, that they are active in the
physical body, and, in the manner I described earlier, are then taken hold of by the astral body
containing the sun and moon influences. But in between the physical and astral bodies we find
something else that is active in the etheric body. It, too, is not derived from the earth but from the
whole surrounding cosmos. The forces active in foodstuffs come from the earth. Those streaming
into the human being from all corners of the universe are the etheric forces. They also take hold of
the foodstuffs, but in a much more uniform manner, and transform them in such a way that they
become inwardly capable of life. In addition, the etheric forces turn these foodstuffs into
something that can inwardly experience the etheric element as such, namely light and warmth.
Thus, we can say that because of his physical body the human being is part of the earth, because of
his etheric body he is related to the whole surrounding sphere, and because of his astral body man
is connected above all with the effects of moon and sun.

Now, these effects of moon and sun in the astral body are in turn modified. They are modified to the extent
 that a powerful difference exists between the effects upon the upper human organization and those
of the lower human organism.
Let us refer today to the part of the human being that is permeated by the bloodstream flowing upwards
toward the head as 'upper human organization'; let us refer to what lies below the heart as 'lower
human organism'. In viewing the human being thus, we have, first of all, the upper part including
his head and whatever is organically connected with it. Its formation is dependent mainly on the
sun's effects and also develops first during embryonic life. Already in the embryo, the sun's effects
work on this organization in a quite special way, but these effects then continue after birth when
the human being is present physically in the life between birth and death. Roughly speaking, what
lies in this part of the human organism above the heart - a more detailed description would have
to trace the blood circulation above the heart - is then modified in regard to the astral influences by
Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.
When a person cannot sleep well, for example, when his astral body does not properly emerge from the
etheric and physical bodies, when it does not correctly reenter them upon awakening, or in some
other way does not fit itself properly into the physical body, then this is an effect, but an irregular
one, of the Saturn forces. Saturn is chiefly that celestial body that, by way of the human head,
brings about a correct relationship of the astral body to the human physical and etheric bodies. By
means of this, on the other hand, it is Saturn forces that produce the connection between the astral
body and ego because of Saturn's relation to the sun. This relationship of Saturn to the sun's effect
is expressed in regard to space and time in the fact that Saturn completes its orbit around the sun in
a period of thirty years.
In the human being this relationship of Saturn to the sun comes to expression in the ego achieving an
appropriate relationship to the astral body, and above all, in the proper incorporation of the astral
body into the whole human organization. Even in Egypto-Chaldean times, going back to the third
and fourth millenium prior to the Mystery of Golgotha, we would find that among the teachers, the
gages in the mysteries, every individual was judged according to how he had determined his
relationship to Saturn by the date of his birth. For these wise men knew quite well that depending
on whether a person was born during one or another of Saturn's celestial positions, he was one
who could use his astral body in the physical body in a more efficient or less efficient manner. The
progress of mankind's evolution, however, is denoted precisely by the fact that in our age, which
as you know began in the fifteenth century, we are freeing ourselves of the influences affecting us
there.
My dear friends, do not misunderstand this. It does not mean that Saturn is not active in us today. It works
in us just as it did in antiquity; the point is that we have to free ourselves from it. And do you
know what this freeing ourselves in the proper way from the Saturn influences consists? You free
yourself most poorly from the Saturn influences if you follow the shadowy intellect of the present
time. In doing so you actually permit the Saturn effects to run riot within yourself, to shoot hither
and thither, and actually to turn you into what is nowadays called a nervous person. A nervous
condition in a person is caused mainly by the fact that the astral body does not fit properly into the
whole physical configuration. The nervousness of our age is due to this. Human beings must be
induced to strive for real perception, for Imagination. For if they remain with abstract conception,
they will become more and more nervous, for they are actually growing out of the Saturn activity,
which is nevertheless within them, shooting back and forth, pulling the astral body out of the
nerves, thus making people nervous. In a cosmic sense, the nervousness of our age has to be
recognized as an effect of Saturn.
'Just as Saturn is chiefly involved with the upper part of the whole astral body inasmuch as the latter is
connected with the whole organism through the nervous system, so Jupiter is active in thinking.
'Human thinking, after all, is also based in a certain way on a partial activity of the astral body. I should say,
a smaller part of the astral body is active in thinking than in sustaining the whole human being. It
is Jupiter's effect that works in our astral body and, above all, strengthens our thinking. The effect
of Jupiter deals mainly with the astral permeation and organization of the human brain.
Now, Saturn's effects actually extend over the whole of adult life after the first three decades of our life.
For our whole life and health depend on how we develop in our astral body during the periods of
growth, and in fact, they only cease after age thirty. That is why Saturn requires thirty years to
circle around the sun. This completely fits the human being. The thinking that develops in us has
to do with the first twelve years of life. After all, what orbits out there in space is not without a
 connection to the human being.
Just as Jupiter has to do with thinking, so Mars has to do with speech. Mars separates a still smaller part of
the astral body from its incorporation into the remaining human organization than the one that
comes into play in regard to thinking. And it depends on the Mars effects within us that the forces
can unfold that then pour into speech. The small revolution of Mars also has a bearing on this: A
human being acquires the first sounds of speech within a time span that corresponds roughly to
half the Martian orbit around the sun.
Ascending and descending development! We see how this whole development is linked with the forces of
Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars insofar as it is tied to the region of the human head.
We have thus considered the outer planets' activity in the human astral body. Whereas the sun is connected
more with the ego, these three cosmic bodies, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, have to do with the
development of what is tied to the astral body, namely, speech, thinking, and the whole conduct of
the human soul in the human organism.
Besides the sun, which has to do with the actual ego, we also have in addition those planets called the
inner planets. They are the ones that are closer to earth than to the sun, having their place between
earth and sun, whereas, seen from the earth, the other planets, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, are on the
other side of the sun. When we focus on these inner planets, we likewise arrive at a consideration
of the connections between their forces and the human being. To begin with, we shall consider
Mercury.
Similar to the moon, Mercury has its target points more in the inner being of man, working from outside
only on the human countenance. In the part lying below the region of the heart, its forces are
effective by taking hold inwardly of the human organization and, in turn, streaming forth from
there. Mercury's chief task is to bring the astral body's activity into all breathing and circulation
processes of the human being. Mercury is the intercessor between the astral body and the rhythmic
processes in man. Due to this, similar to the moon forces, the Mercury forces also intervene in the
whole human metabolism, but only insofar as the metabolism is subject to rhythm, reacting upon
rhythmic activity.
Then there is Venus. Venus is active especially in the human etheric body, in what works out of the cosmos
in the human etheric body and its activities.
Finally we have the moon, which we have already mentioned. It is the element in the human being that is
the polar opposite of the sun forces. From within, it leads substances into the realm of life and
therefor is also connected with reproduction. In the fullest sense, the moon stimulates inner
reproduction as well as the procreative process of reproduction.

Saturn upper part of the whole astral body

Jupiter thinking
Mars speech
Sun ego
Mercury leading the astral elements into the rhythmic activity of the human being
Venus activity of the human ether body
Moon stimulator of reproduction.

Now take into consideration that due to the fact that the human being is integrated into the cosmos in this
manner, it makes a difference whether a person stands at a given spot on the earth, and Jupiter, for
instance, shines down upon him from the sky, or whether he is in a location where Jupiter is
covered by the earth. In the first case, Jupiter's effects are direct ones; in the second case, the earth
is placed in between. This results in a significant difference.
We have said that Jupiter is connected with thinking. Let us assume a person receives the direct Jupiter
influence during the period when his physical organ of thinking is in the stage of major
development after birth. His brain will be formed into a quite special organ of thinking; the person
receives a certain predisposition to thinking. Assume that a person spends these years in a place
where Jupiter is on the opposite side of the earth, the latter thus hindering Jupiter's influences.
Such a person's brain is less developed into an organ for thinking. If, on the other hand, the earth
with its substances and forces is active in a person and everything proceeding from them is
transformed, say, by the moon influences, which, in a certain sense, are always present, such a
person turns into a dull dreamer, one who is barely aware. Between these two possibilities we find
 any number of variations.
Today, in the age of the consciousness soul, the human being must free himself increasingly from what is
becoming evident to you here. It is a matter, however, of freeing oneself from these forces in the
proper manner, of actually doing something I have indicated in regard to the Saturn effects,
namely of trying to turn once again from the mere shadowy, intellectual developing of thoughts to
a pictorial, concrete one. What is developed out of spiritual science in the way I described it in
'Knowledge of the Higher Worlds' is also a guideline for human beings to become independent in
the right way from the cosmic forces that are nevertheless active in them.
It depends on the starry constellations how a human being finds his way into earth life as he allows
himself to be born. Yet, he has to equip himself with forces that make him independent in the right
way from this starry constellation." (39, pp.240-252)

7 May 1921
We have here something which has its analogy in the Cosmos. We have in the Cosmos the contrast of the
signs of the Zodiac, which are quiescent images, and that which differentiates the Cosmos in the
Planets. It is only a comparison, but one which is founded on fact. We may say that we have in
black, white, green and peach-colour something whose effect is static; even when it is in
movement; something of the fixed stars. And in red, yellow and blue we have something
essentially in motion, something planetary (114, pp.44-45)

8 May 1921
Now a plant does not wear only this green at least generally for you are aware how a plant in the
course of its metamorphosis merges into other colours, as a plant has yellow, blue or red flowers,
and as a green fruit take for example, a melon, merges into yellow. A superficial observation
shows you what is at work there when a plant takes on a colour other than green when this
happens you can easily prove it the sun is essential to the circumstances connected with the
growth of these other colours direct sunlight. Just consider how plants, if they cannot hold their
flowers to the sunlight, in fact hide themselves, curl up, etc. And we shall find a connection, -
superficially a connection, - between the absence of green colour in certain plant parts and the sun.
The sun metamorphoses, one might say, the green. It brings the green to another condition. If we
bring the manifold colouring of vegetation into relation with a heavenly body as already said, in
a superficial study we shall not find it difficult to consult the statements of Occult Science, and
to ask: What has it, from its observations, to say concerning possible other relationships of
coloured plant-life to the stars?
And here we have to ask ourselves the question: what kind of starry phenomenon is of the greatest effect
on earth? What heavenly body is there whose influence would be contrary to the suns, and could
produce that in plant-nature which sunlight as it were metamorphoses, destroys, changes to other
colours? What is there that can produce the green in the vegetable world?
We arrive at that particular heavenly body which represents the polaric opposite of the sun, namely the
moon. And Spiritual Science can establish the connection between the green of plants and this
moon-nature. (I will only just mention the subject today) as well as one can establish the
connection of the rest of plant-life, with the sun. This it does by pointing to the properties of
moonlight as opposed to sunlight, and above all, by pointing out how moon-light influences sun-
darkness, If we consider vegetation, we get an interplay of lunar and solar influences. But at the
same time we get an explanation why green becomes an image, and why green in plants is not
luminous like the other colours. The other colours in plants are lustrous. They have a shiny
character. Just look with proper understanding at the colour of flowers; they shine at one. Compare
it with the green. It is fixed to the plant. You see in it nothing else but a copy of what you
perceive in the Cosmos. Sunlight shines; moonlight is the pictorial image of sunlight. Thus you
find again the image of light, colour as the image of light, in the green of plants.
But if we regard the colour of plants in such a way that we know that cosmic forces play a part, that we
have in the colour-formation of plants a conjunction of solar and lunar forces, we then have the
first element by which we can understand how colour is attached to an object, at any rate primarily
to a vegetable object, how it becomes an embodied colour. It becomes an embodied colour
 because it is not the lustre which works on it cosmically, but already the image as such. In the
plant we have to deal with that green which becomes an image because at one time in the
evolution of the earth the moon was separated from this earth. In this separation we must see the
real origins of the green in the vegetable world. Because of it the plant can no longer be exposed
to the equivalent of lunar forces on the earth, but receives its image-character direct from the
Cosmos. (114, pp.51-53)

If you follow what I have explained in my Occult Science concerning the earths development, you will
find that those universal bodies which surround the earth and belong to its planetary system, were,
as you know, in connection with the whole terrestrial planet; they were torn away just as the moon
was. Of course that in itself is connected with the sun. But, generally speaking, if we look simply
at the earth, we can regard this as an exodus. Observe that the internal colouring of inanimate
objects is connected with this departure of the other planets. Solids become coloured, because the
earth is freed from those forces which she had while the other planets were tied to her, and they
effect her from out of the Cosmos, and thereby evoke the inner force of the Cosmos in the
coloured mineral bodies. This is, in fact, exactly what the minerals get from the forces which are
no more there, but now shed their influence from out of the Cosmos. We see it is a much more
hidden, occult matter than with the plants green. But here we have something which just because
it is hidden, goes much deeper into its nature and therefore includes not only living vegetation but
also the lifeless mineral. We cannot explain the colouration of inanimate things in any way if we
do not know that this is connected with what the terrestrial bodies have retained as inner forces
since the other planets have been removed from the earth.
For instance, we explain the reddish colour in some mineral or other by means of the earths connection
with some planet, for example, with Mars or Mercury; a mineral yellow, by means of the earths
connection with Jupiter or Venus, and so on.
The surface of the earth admits of an easier terrestrial explanation than that which lies under it, which
requires an extra-terrestrial explanation. And thus the mineral component parts of our earth flash
out at us in those colours which they have retained from the elements which have left the earth for
the planets. And these colours remain under the influence of the corresponding planets of the
cosmic environment. (114, pp.60-62)

13 May 1921
Now you know that one day the moon will reunite with the earth. The point in time when this reunion of
moon and earth will occur is placed by astronomers and geologists who live in abstractions, many,
many thousands of years in the future; that, however, is an illusion. In reality, we are not so very
far away from that point in time. As you know, humanity is becoming younger and younger. It is
becoming more and more the case that the development of body and soul only continues up to a
certain point in life. At the time of the death of Christ when the event of Golgotha took place,
mankind in general was capable of physical and soul development until age thirty-three. Today,
people are able to develop only until age twenty-seven. In the fourth millenium A.D., a time will
come when human beings will be capable of development only until age twenty-one. Again, in the
seventh millenium, a time will come when their bodily nature will be capable of development only
until the fourteenth year of life. Then, women will cease to be fertile; an entirely different form of
living on earth will come about. That will be the time when the moon will again approach the
earth and will be incorporated into it. (39, pp.258-259)

18 June 1921
The Greeks felt themselves as living beings within the world, felt themselves belonging to the earthly
beings. But then they said: As far as the plants are concerned I can see the beginning of the
interaction of earth, air, fire and water. The etheric then extends upward with its effects. It is now
met by the cosmos, by the effects of the stars, initially by the effects of the planets, on fire, air and
water. Without the planets, I would have an etheric body, the plants would exist. But I would not,
for example, be able to develop the front part of my brain without the forces of Saturn, working
from without. I would not have a larynx without the Mars forces, working from without. I would
not have a heart without the sun forces raying in from without.
These thoughts prompted the further reflection: Forces are raying in from without. The etheric is raying
 outward. But the forces that constitute me are raying in from indefinite cosmic distances forces
that are modified through the influence of distances forces that are modified through the
influence of the planets, forces extending inward from beyond the plant world. The Greek felt: I
could not have the front part of my brain, could not have a larynx, heart, or stomach without
Saturn, Mars, the sun, or Mercury. Through their organs, the Greeks felt themselves as much a part
of the wide cosmos as they felt themselves part of the earth, air, fire and water in the etheric body.
And they saw the cosmic forces whirling through each other in earth, air, fire and water in a way
that allowed the heart, the lungs, and the other organs to develop.
The Greeks felt themselves to be physical products not just of the earth but of the whole cosmos. Here I
am, they could say, standing beside a plant. But cosmic forces are active in me. These forces also
affect the plants, but merely from without. They cannot enter the plants, cannot produce organs in
them. But they penetrate me and produce in me everything I share with the animals. In regard to
my organizing the effects of the cosmos, I can reach as far as the zodiac. There I have exhausted
the sphere in which I can observe everything that extends into my animal nature and into the
animals around me. I see the animals in their characteristic forms I see a lion, for example. In the
lion I can see a definite interaction between the planets and the fixed stars, which allows me to
understand why a lion has this particular shape and these particular features. The same applies to
the other animals. Learning to understand the nature of the animals around me, I learn to
understand the astral body. I also experience the astral body within myself, just as I experience the
etheric what is in the plants within myself. Together with the animals of the earth, I am not
merely a creature of earth but a member of the cosmos, of that which pulsates through the cosmos
as a result of the existence of the stars.
Such a perception of the world can indeed permeate a human being, permeate ones feelings, so that one
may say: Certainly, I can see objects formed according to mineral laws. But these do not include
me. Neither am I a part of the plant world. And I am certainly not part of the animal world. I
cannot live on the earth merely through the forces rising from the earth. Feeling oneself within the
whole of the universe essentially constituted the element in which the Greeks used to live, albeit
yet instinctively.
The ego was then sought outside the circle of the zodiac, in a sphere that was pure spirit, for which a
physical correlate could not be found except in its outer picture, the sun. This is the idea of the sun
held by the people of still earlier times; it had become somewhat decadent during the Greek
cultural period.
Our physicists and astronomers imagine the sun as a huge gaseous ball some twenty million miles away in
the universe. This huge gaseous stove without walls radiates light and warmth in all directions.
It is the only explanation, the sole idea for us if we wish to be experts and not naive dilettantes.
Indeed it is only an expert, a specialist, who could hold such a view. You will get closer to the
truth by imagining the following. Imagine yourself surrounded by light. Light is everywhere. But
nowhere is there an object that reflects this light. The light will then not be reflected to you; the
light-filled space will be dark. You will not see anything; you will be surrounded by total darkness.
Were there nothing but light, we would experience total darkness. Light only returns to us if it is
caught by something; otherwise we cannot see it. In a light-filled room is total darkness.
A better age than ours certainly entertained this idea. Its people knew that the sun was not a gigantic gas
stove, that there was not merely an empty space up there, but less than space, a negative space.
Our physicists would get the surprise of their lives if they were to travel to the sun. They would
not find the imagined gas ball, would perceive nothing, not even space, but merely left-out space,
and energy or force that absorbs space. This force exists. Space is everywhere. We just have to be
able to imagine the less-than-space. In the meantime, we at least know that less-than-no-money
means debts.
Space has its boundaries, and negative space collects the light, which cannot pass through the negative
emptiness, but is rayed back. Thus the sun becomes visible. Light is everywhere. What we see as
the sun is only an entity that rays back, an apparatus that reflects the light. The origin of this light
is, according to the Greeks, beyond the region of the Zodiac. The light enters from cosmic
distances and not from perceptible space. But it is collected, made visible, through the sun.
This, so the Greeks said, is connected with the development of the ego, whose origin is in the regions
higher than the planets. The sun is connected with the ego by virtue of the fact that the sun is less
than space, emptier than space at the place of the sun all matter ceases to be and spirituality can
 enter. It was because the Greeks understood the spiritual nature of the sun that they felt themselves
so very much related to it. (116, pp.112-115)

19 June 1921
Reproductive cells are produced in human beings, in animals, and in plants by virtue of the fact that the
terrestrial effects, the mineral activities, are through a laborious process destroyed, ruined. This
process allows the organism to become receptive to the work of the cosmos. Cosmic forces can
now work into the organism from every direction. These cosmic forces are initially influenced by
the reproductive cells of the other sex, adding the astral to the etheric. We may say that as the
mineral elements demineralize themselves, the possibility arises for the cosmic laws to enter on
this detour through the chaotic conditions of the albumen, whereas ordinarily in the mineral world
we find the terrestrial influencing the terrestrial. (116, pg.123)

24 June 1921
We therefore can say that with our spiritual being we are to some extent independent of the outer world;
with our soul being we are part of the rhythm of the world; and with our bodily being we are part
of the rest of the world as though we were not also soul and spirit. We must consider this
distinction carefully, for we do not attain an understanding of the higher being of man if we do not
look at this threefold relationship of the hum an being to his entire environment. Now, let us look
for a moment at mans environment. In mans environment (I am now summarizing what we have
considered over the course of many months from different viewpoints) we first have all that is
ruled by natural laws. Picture the whole universe ruled by natural laws and, included in these
natural laws, the totality of this visible, sense-perceptible world.
Simple consideration shows that we are dealing here only with the actual earthly world. Only foolhardy
and unjustified hypotheses of physicists can maintain that the same natural laws we observe on the
earth around us are also applicable to the extraterrestrial cosmos. [Example of sun as non-
physical and comprising negative space.]
I only present this as an example in order for you to see that earthly lawfulness simply cannot be applied
to the extraterrestrial cosmos. We must think of totally different relationships in the extraterrestrial
cosmos from those we have learned to know in our environment on the earth. We must say that we
are surrounded by lawfulness within earthly existence and into this lawfulness is included the
world of substances that is initially accessible to us Now picture earthly existence All you need to
do is to picture the processes in the mineral world; place them before your soul, and you have that
which, in so far as you see it, is completely encompassed by this lawfulness of earthly existence.
Therefore we can say that the mineral world is encompassed by this lawfulness; yet something
else is also encompassed by it. When we walk around, or even when we are carried around, in
short when we act as objects in the physical world, we live in the same lawfulness as the mineral
world. In relation to earthly lawfulness it is immaterial whether we carry a stone around, whether
it is moved, or whether a human being is carried around or moves himself: regarding this
lawfulness, it is the same thing one way or the other. You need only consider that the only thing
that come into consideration regarding earthly lawfulness is a change in location of man's body,
which he may, however, bring about himself. This is connected with other things. If you study
only earthly lawfulness, what happens within the skin of man or what takes place in his soul can
be quite irrelevant. Only the change in location within earthly space need be considered.
We thus can see that in addition to the mineral world there is the human being who has been moved (that
is, outwardly moved). The only relationship of the outer world to man, in so far as that world is
earthly and confronts our senses, is the relationship to the human being moved outwardly. If we
seek any other relationship to man, we must at once refer to something else, and then we come to
our extraterrestrial environment, for example, when we study the environment of the moon, that is,
whatever emanates from the moon. It is a fact that many people are still aware of something of the
effect of the moon on the earth, e.g., the connection of the phases of the moon with the quantity of
rainfall. Learned people of our time consider this a superstition.
[Repeat of Fechner-Schleiden rainbarrel episode.]
Now, the influence of the forces of other planetary bodies is less perceptible to our modern scientific
consciousness. However, if one were to study more closely - as is to happen now in our scientific-
physiological institute in Stuttgart - the line of growth followed on the stem by the leaves of
 plants, for example, one would find how each line is related to the movements of the planets, how
these lines are, as it were, miniature pictures of the planetary movements. One thus would find that
many things on the surface of the earth are comprehensible only when one knows the
extraterrestrial and does not merely identify the extraterrestrial with the earthly, that is to say,
when one presupposes that a lawfulness exists that is cosmic and not earthly.
We can therefore say that we have a second lawfulness within cosmic existence. Only when one begins to
study these cosmic influences - and it is possible to do so quite empirically - will one have a true
botany. Our plant world does not grow up out of the earth in the way conceived by a materialistic
botany; rather it is pulled out by cosmic forces. What is pulled out in this way by cosmic forces in
the process of growth is then permeated by the mineral forces that have saturated this cosmic plant
structure so that it becomes visible to the senses. We thus can say firstly that the plant world is
included in this cosmic lawfulness. Secondly, all that pertains to the inner movement of man - that
is, a definitely physical movement but within man - is included in this cosmic lawfulness (this is
not as easy to establish as in the case of the plant world because it achieves a certain independence
from the rhythm of the outer processes: nevertheless, it imitates this rhythm inwardly). The
outwardly moved human being, therefore, is included in the earthly lawfulness, but when you look
upon your digestion, upon the movement of the nourishing substances in the digestive organs,
when you look beyond merely the rhythm to the actual movement of the blood through the blood
vessels - and there are many other things that move inwardly in man - you have a picture of what
moves inside of the human being regardless of whether he is standing still or walking about This
cannot be integrated into the earthly lawfulness without further consideration but rather must be
integrated into the cosmic lawfulness in the same way as are the forms and also the movements of
the plants; in a human being however, these forms and movements proceed much more slowly
than they do in the plants. We therefore can say that the inner movements of man are also included
in the cosmic lawfulness.
Now you could consider taking the cosmos into undefined distances; somehow in this way everything has
an influence upon the life that develops on the earths surface. Yet if these were the only two
lawfulnesses that existed - that is, the earthly and cosmic lawfulnesses, in the way I have presented
them to you - then nothing would exist on the earth but the mineral and plant kingdoms, for the
human being, of course, would not be able to exist there. If the human being were present, he
could move outwardly and the inner movements could take place, but this of course would not yet
make up a human being Neither would animals be able to be present on the earth under such
conditions; in reality, only minerals and plants could exist. Cosmic lawfulness and cosmic content
of being must be penetrated and permeated by something that is no longer a part of space, by
something concerning which we cannot speak of space at all.
Naturally, everything that is included in the cosmic and earthly lawfulness must be thought of as existing
in space; now, however, we must speak of something that cannot be thought of as existing in space
although it permeates the whole of cosmic lawfulness. Just imagine how in the human being the
movements, that is his inner movements, are connected with his rhythm. To begin with, all that we
call the movement of the nourishing substances within us merge into the movement of the blood.
However, this movement doesnt take place in such a way that the blood simply flows through the
veins as nutritive juice. Not only does the blood itself move rhythmically, but beyond that this
rhythm has a definite relationship to the breathing rhythm through the consumption of oxygen by
the blood. We have within us this dual rhythm. I pointed out once how the inner soul lawfulness is
based upon the 4:1 ratio of the blood rhythm to the breathing rhythm in such a way that meter and
verse measure are actually dependent upon it.
We thus see that what takes place as inner movement is related to rhythm,. and rhythm, as we have said, is
related to the soul life of the human being. In a similar way we must bring what we have in the
movement of the stars into a relationship to the world soul. We therefore can speak of a third
lawfulness within the world soul in which is encompassed: 1) the animal world, and 2) all the
rhythmic processes related to the bodily human being. These rhythmic processes within man have
a relationship to the whole world rhythm. We have already spoken about this, but I would like to
bring it up again in relation to our further considerations here. You know that the human being
takes approximately eighteen breaths a minute. Multiply that by sixty and you have the number of
breaths per hour; multiply that total by twenty-four and you have the total for one day,
approximately 25,920 breaths for the average human being in the course of a day. This number of
 breaths per day thus forms the day/night rhythm in the human being. We also know that the spring
equinox moves through the constellations bit by bit each year, so that the point at which the sun
rises in spring moves forward in the heavens. The length of time that it takes the sun to arrive
again at its original point is 25,920 years. This is the rhythm of our universe, then, and our own
breathing rhythm over twenty-four hours is a miniature picture of it. Hence, with our rhythm we
are woven into the world rhythm, with our soul into the lawfulness of the world soul.
Now, there is a fourth lawfulness that lies at the basis of the entire universe as well as of the three
previously mentioned lawfulnesses, namely, that within which we feel included when we become
conscious of ourselves as spiritual human beings. In this process of becoming conscious of
ourselves as spiritual human beings, we achieve clarity about these facts. At first we may not
comprehend this or that about the world and, in fact, because of todays intellectualism, which has
become a universal cultural force, very little indeed is comprehended. At a certain stage in our
human evolution, we initially comprehend very little with our spirit. It is inherent, however, in the
self-recognition of the spirit that it says to itself that as it evolves no boundaries can be imposed on
its evolution. The spirit must be able to develop into the universe through knowing, feeling, and
willing. By bearing the spirit within us, then, we must relate ourselves to a fourth lawfulness
within the world spirit.
1) Lawfulness within earthly existence; a) The mineral world; b) The externally moved human being.
2) Lawfulness within cosmic existence; a) The plant world; b) The inner movements of the human being.
3) Lawfulness within the world soul; a) The animal world; b) The rhythmic processes.
4) Lawfulness within the world spirit; a) The human being; b) The nerve-sense processes.
Only now do we arrive at the real human being encompassed therein, for a human being could not really
have existed merely within the other three lawfulnesses. Only now do we find the human being,
but specifically that part of him that is his nerve-sense apparatus, all of what is, to begin with, the
physical bearer of the spiritual life, the nerve-sense processes. When we look at the human being
we consider first the entire human being in whom the head is the main bearer of the nerve-sense
organs; then we consider the head itself. A human being is human, so to speak, by virtue of the fact
that he has a head; the head is the most human part of man. In the human being as a whole and in
the head, we already encounter the human being twice.
Now, when we consider what I have just described as a summary of what we have discussed in the last
few weeks, it gives us to begin with a picture of the human beings connection with his
environment; not merely a spatial environment, however, for the spatial world is related only to
the first two lawfulnesses; we also have to do with the world that is nonspatial, which is related to
the third and fourth lawfulnesses. It has become increasingly difficult for the contemporary human
being to conceive that something could exist not within space or that sometimes it is not
meaningful to speak in terms of space even when speaking of realities. Without such a conception,
however, one can never rise to a spiritual science. If one wishes to remain within the confines of
space, one cannot arrive at spiritual entities.

This Greek would continue - you can see that I do not choose an Oriental from an ancient cultural period
but a knowledgeable Greek - What you say about your seventy-two elements with their syntheses
and analyses is all very nice, but to what do you believe it is related? It is all related merely to the
physical human being once he has died and lies in the grave! There his substances, his entire
physical body, undergo the processes that you learn to recognize in your physics and chemistry.
What it is possible for you to learn within the structural relationships of your seventy-odd
elements is not related at all to the living human being. You know nothing of the living human
being because you know nothing of water, air and fire. It is necessary first to know something
about water, air and fire in order then to know something about the living human being. With what
is encompassed by your chemistry you know only what happens to man when he is dead and lying
in the grave, the processes undergone by the corpse. That is all you come to know by means of
your seventy-odd elements.
If the ancient Greek went any further than this discussion he would not be a great success with our
contemporary scholar, though he could go to the trouble of clarifying his views the following way:
Your seventy-two elements are all what we consider earth. We may simply be regarding a general
quality, but even if you analyze it further, you arrive merely at a more specific knowledge, and a
more specific knowledge will not enable you to penetrate into the depths. If you acknowledged
 what we designate as water, however, you would have an element in which, as soon as it is
weaving and living, earthly conditions are no longer active alone; water, in its entire activity, is
subject to cosmic conditions.
The ancient Greeks understanding of water was not limited merely to its physical characteristics but
extended to everything that influences the earth as lawfulness from the cosmos, in which the
movement of the water substance is encompassed. Within this movement of water substance lives
the plant element. In distinguishing whatever is in the living and weaving water element from
everything earthly, the ancient Greek saw in this living-weaving element the whole lawfulness of
the life of vegetation, which is encompassed by this watery element. We thus can place this watery
element schematically somewhere on the earth, but in such a way that it is determined from out of
the cosmos. Then we can picture the mineral element, the actual earthly element, sprouting from
below upward in a variety of ways, permeating the plants, infiltrating them, as it were, with
earthly elements.
What the ancient Greek thought about the watery element, however, was something essentially new, and it
was for him a quite definite perception. The Greek did not view this conceptually; rather, he saw it
in pictures, in imaginations. Of course we must go back to Platonic times (for Aristotle corrupted
this way of viewing), even to pre-Platonic times, in order to find how the truly knowing Greek saw
in imagination what lives in the watery element and actually bears the vegetation, how he related
everything to the cosmos.

The Greek was not conceiving of the physical water; rather, what lay at the basis of his conception was
what he grasped in his imagination and brought into living connection with the human being. (63,
pp.3-17)

July, 1921
[The cover of this booklet shows the following sense-
Zodiac correspondences, on Steiner's usual 'reversed'
zodiac; however, these are not even mentioned, let alone
elaborated, in the text:
Leo Life
Virgo Movement
Libra Equilibrium
Scorpio Smell
Sagittarius Taste
Capricorn Vision
Aquarius Warmth
Pisces Hearing
Aries Speech
Taurus Thinking
Gemini Ego
Cancer Touch; 40, front cover]

1 July 1921
If we regard the various forms of outer nature - let us remain at first in the mineral world - we find the
most manifold forms. We speak of them as crystal forms. We also find other forms in nature,
however, and we find that a certain configuration, an inner configuration, arises when, let us say,
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur are combined. We know that when carbon and
oxygen combine and form carbon dioxide, a gas of a certain density arises. When carbon
combines with nitrogen, cyanuric acid arises, and so on. Substances are formed that a chemist can
always trace; they do not always appear in an outer crystallization, but they have an inner
configuration. In modern times this inner configuration has even been designated by the well-
known structural formulae in chemistry.
Something has always been taken for granted in this, namely that the molecules, as they are called,
become more and more complicated the more we ascend from mineral, inorganic substance to
organic substance. We say that the organic molecule, the cellular molecule, consists of carbon,
oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulfur. It is said that they are connected in some way but in a very
 complicated way. One of the ideals of natural science is to discover how these individual atoms in
the complicated organic molecules are connected. Nevertheless, science admits that it will still be
some time before we shall discover how one atom is connected with another within organic
substance, within the living molecule. The mystery here, however, is this, that the more organic a
substance is, the less one atom will be chemically connected with another, for the substances are
whirled about chaotically, and even ordinary protein molecules, for instance in the nerve substance
or in the blood substance, are in reality inwardly amorphous forms; they are not complicated
molecules but inorganic matter inwardly torn asunder, inorganic matter that has rid itself of the
crystallization forces, the forces that hold molecules together and connect the atoms with one
another. This is already the case in the ordinary molecules of the organs, and it is most of all the
case in the embryonic molecules, in the protein of the germ.
If I draw the organism here, and here the germ - and therefore the beginning of the embryo - the germ is
the most chaotic of all as far as the conglomeration of material substance is concerned. This germ
is something that has emancipated itself from all forces of crystallization, from all the chemical
forces of the mineral kingdom, and so on. Absolute chaos has arisen in this one spot, which is held
together by the rest of the organism. Because of the fact that here this chaotic protein has
appeared, there is the possibility for the forces of the entire universe to act upon this protein, so
that this protein is in fact a copy of the forces of the entire universe. Precisely those forces that
then become formative forces for the etheric body and for the astral body are present in the female
egg cell, without fertilization yet having taken place. Through fertilization, this formation also
acquires the physical body and the I, the sheath of the I, and therefore that which constitutes the
formation of the I. This arises through fertilization, and this here is a pure cosmic picture, is a
picture from the cosmos, because the protein emancipates itself from all earthly forces and thus
can be determined by what is extraterrestrial. In the female egg cell, earthly substance is in fact
subject to cosmic forces. The cosmic forces create their own image in the female egg cell. This is
even true to the extent that in certain formations of the egg, in the case of certain classes of
animals - birds, for instance - something very important can be seen in the form of the egg itself.
This cannot be perceived of, of course, in the higher animals or in the human being, but in the
formation of the hens egg, you can find this image of the cosmos. The egg is nothing other than a
true image of the cosmos. The cosmic forces work on this protein, which has emancipated itself
from the earthly. The egg is absolutely a copy of the cosmos, and philosophers should not
speculate on the three dimensions of space, for if we only rightly knew where and how to look, we
could find presented everywhere clarification of the riddles of the world. The hens egg is a
simple, visible proof that one axis of the world is longer than the other two. The borders of the
hens egg, the eggshell, are a true picture of our space. It will indeed be necessary - this is a
digression for mathematicians - for our mathematicians to study the relationship between
Lubatscheffskis geometry, for instance, or Reimanns definition of space, and the hens egg, the
formation of the hens egg. A great deal can be learned through this. Problems must be tackled
concretely.
You see, by placing before our souls this determinable protein, we discover the influence of the cosmos
upon it, and we can also describe in detail how the cosmos acts upon it. Indeed, it is true that we
cannot as yet go very far in this direction, for if human beings were able to see how such things
can be extended, such a science would be misused in the most terrible way, particularly in the
present time, when the moral level of the civilized population of the earth is extraordinarily low.
(63, pp.40-43)

3 July 1921
It is a matter, then. Of returning to the vision and not merely recalling it, for a real seeing is a real occult
experience and cannot become recollection; one can come to it again only in an indirect way. One
can say to oneself that before the vision appeared one had gone through this or that in ordinary
consciousness. This can be recalled, and one must call this stage back to the point when the vision
appeared. One returns to this point. The vision cannot appear directly; rather one must retrace the
path, as it were. This is not taken into account by many people, who believe that a vision can be
recalled in the ordinary sense.
One must therefore undermine memory in a certain respect in occult development. This is absolutely
necessary and cannot be prevented. It therefore must be said that one who strives for an occult
 development must above all be certain that in ordinary life he is a reasonable person, that is, he
has no false mystical tendencies but has a healthy intellect and a sound memory. He who in
ordinary life already has a tendency to wallow in unclarity and sentimentality is not fit to undergo
an occult development. One absolutely must have the ability to recall the events of the day in full
clarity before one can risk pressing forward to visions for which there is no such recollection.
(63, pp.72-73)

24 Sept 1921
Out in the cosmos we have the crumbling away of matter in the moon, and in the sun we have a perpetual
coming into being, forever new and fresh. Seen spiritually, seen through spiritual vision - when we
get beyond ordinary sense perception and reach the point where Imagination is active - we can see
in the moon a continuous process: it is continuously splintering and scattering itself abroad. There,
where the moon is situated, its matter splinters and disperses like dust into the world. The matter
of the moon is perpetually being gathered from its environment and then splintered and scattered.
If one looks at the moon in the consciousness of Imagination, one sees a continuous convergence
of matter in the place where the moon is; it gathers there, and then it splinters and is scattered like
dust into the world. The moon is actually seen like this: first a circle, then a smaller, narrower
circle, becoming ever narrower until the circle becomes the moon itself. Then it dissolves,
splinters; it is strewn out over the entire world. In the moon, matter cannot tolerate a center. Matter
concentrates toward the center of the moon but cannot tolerate it; it stops short there and disperses
like cosmic dust. It is only to ordinary, sensory vision that the moon appears peaceful. It is not
peaceful. It is continuously gathering together and scattering it.
When we come to the sun, we find it is all quite different. Already in Imagination we are able to see how
matter does not splinter in this way at all; true, it does approach the center, but then it begins to
receive life in the rays of the sun that stream out from the centre. It does not splinter and disperse;
it becomes living and spreads out life from the center in every direction. Together with this life it
develops astrality. In the moon there is no astrality; there the astrality is destroyed. In the sun,
astrality unites itself with all that streams forth. The sun is in truth something that is permeated
with inner life, where the center is not only tolerated but has a fructifying influence. In the center
of the sun lives the cosmic fructifying activity. In the contrast between sun and moon we thus see a
cosmic manifestation of two opposite processes: in the moon matter is thrown back into chaos,
while in the sun it is perpetually unfolding, springing and welling up with renewed life.
When we dive down into our inner being, we look into our inner chaos, into our own moon nature. That is
the inner moon. Matter is destroyed there, as in the outer world it is destroyed only where the
moon is. Then, however, the radiance of the sun penetrates our senses; the sun's radiance enters
our inner moon nature. The matter inwardly dissolving there into dust is renewed by the suns
radiance. Here, in the inner being of man, matter is continuously falling under the moon influence,
and just as continuously man absorbs through his senses the radiance of the sun. Such is the
relationship in which we stand to the cosmos, and so one must have the capacity to perceive these
two opposite activities in the cosmos : the moon nature directed toward splintering and scattering,
and the quickening, life-giving radiance of the sun.
Through both these experiences one comes to behold, in what is splintering and crumbling to dust, the
world of the father God, which had to be there until such time as the world changed into the world
of God the Son, which basically has its physical source in what is sun-like in the world. What is of
the moon nature and the sun nature relate to one another as Father God to Son God. (77. pp.33-
35)

7 Oct.1921
"In the time of the Midnight Hour of Existence we live In the human being who is forming himself in
accordance with the plant-like. When we come into the region of the archai we live in what forms
the organs of the human being, in the sense of animal forces. I have said that just as between birth
and death we are dependent on what works on us from the earth, so we are dependent, in that we
are outside in the universe, on what is beyond the earthly - it is no longer a question of space, but
naturally we can only present this in spatial terms. The moment we pass through the archai, we
can express the laws that work in us in the sense of the universe - in the same way as during our
life here in an earthly community we test the laws of the earth by the laws of modern physics - we
 can express these laws by relating ourselves to Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Lee, Virgo, Libra,
and so on.
By relating the positions of the sun to these stars, to the heaven of the fixed stars in general, in the
constellations of the sun with this heaven of fixed stars we have the laws that prevail in the realm
of the will of the archai. This will that prevails there, which permeates these laws, is the will of the
archai.
If we were to look outside for natural laws corresponding to our natural laws, as natural laws
correspond to us here on earth during earthly existence, we would have to look to these
constellations of the stars. We remain a long time in the kingdom where we are dependent on
the star constellations - though not more dependent than we are dependent here on earth on
natural laws where our will works also, which is something higher than the laws of nature.
There too we may not speak of the cosmos in the sense of a cosmic law that works with
mechanical necessity. What we find in the constellations of the stars, however, is the
expression, as it were, the image, of these laws that work upon us there. s formerly, when we
were in the kingdom of the archangeloi, the laws of the plant-like world worked upon us, so
now there work upon us the laws holding good in the animal realms.
When these things are found again through spiritual science, one comes upon the tremendously significant
fact that the people of ancient times who used to acquire knowledge from certain dreamlike
visions of the universe, which were then lost, that these people really showed a touch of atavistic
genius, one could say, in naming this picture circle, which represented for them the heaven of the
fixed stars, the Zodiac. I can only think that our new science of the spirit, which shows us these
things again, is led from a completely different basis to an understanding of what was once
grasped in a dimly sensed knowledge. It is tremendously moving when one finds the teaching
about the Zodiac and its influence on the human being preserved from ancient times and when one
then - quite apart from what has been preserved - with the means at the disposal of present-day
spiritual science, comes once more to connect knowledge with the constellations of the sun, with
the zodiacal signs, in other words, with the heaven of the fixed stars.
It is this that links the more recent science of the spirit so closely to the wisdom of the ancients. Between
our time, when we wish to make spiritual science our quest, and this period when the wisdom of
the ancients held sway, we have an age that was indeed necessary for the striving after human
freedom; this age basically, however, was an age of darkness.
"We thus come into the realm of the archai and receive and incorporate into us that which is our animal
nature. What is our animal nature? Our animal nature is above all what gives us our organs, which
even in number are very similar to the organs of the higher animals. Before we approach birth,
however, we are stripped - if I may so express it - of the realm of the Zodiac and enter the realm of
the planets - Saturn, Jupiter, and so on. In entering the realm of the planets, and thus in coming
nearer to the earth, nearer to the point of time when we take on the boundaries of our human form,
what is incorporated into us out of cosmic law as the animal nature is given its direction, if I may
express it in this way. Before we sink down into the planetary system, and therefore into the forces
of the planetary system, our vertebral column, for example, has not taken on a direction away from
the earth, which would raise the head aloft. We are more subject to the directional forces
governing the posture of the animal. Everything, for example, that designs the hands as the organ
of our soul element, not only as an organ for grasping or walking what makes of them organs
that can act freely out of the impulses of the soul element, all this we owe to the planetary
influence. All that helps us to be truly human, right into the lower stages of our animal
organization, we have by virtue of the constellations of the moon with the rest of the planets. (77,
pp.99-102)

24 Nov. 1921
The changing position of the Sun in the Zodiacal constellations through the various epochs has been taken
as an indication of the different forces which pour down to man from the world of the fixed stars.
Even our mechanistic astronomy to-day speaks of the fact that the sun rises in a particular
constellation at the vernal equinox, that in the course of the coming centuries it will pass through
others, that during the day it passes through certain constellations and during the night through
others. [Sun forces are modified by influences from regions represented by the constellation
Aries, for example. These forces work peculiarly on the human head, such that a certain
 faculty of self-observation, self-knowledge and consciousness of our Ego can unfold.
During the Greek epoch the sun stood in Aries at the vernal equinox. Old symbols show the Aries
Ram looking backwards, indicating it contemplates its own being.] Forces of the head
develop essentially through the forces of Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer, whereas the forces of
the chest-structure are subject to those of the four middle constellations Leo, Virgo, Libra,
Scorpio. [Head forces work in from above downward; zodiacal chest-organisation forces
work essentially laterally.]
The other four constellations lie beneath the Earth; their forces work through the Earth from below
upwards. They work upon the limb-structure, and in such a way that the spherical form cannot be
maintained. [Hunter implied Sagittarius; Shepherd implied Capricorn; Agriculture-
husbandman implied Aquarius; Mariner implied Pisces.] (88, pp.263-267, precis by RSWB)

The dying part (of man) which, however, determines the existence of consciousness is subject, in the
main, to the forces working down upon the Earth from the outer planets; Saturn, Jupiter, Mars.
[Venus, Mercury, Moon work chiefly into his metabolic and limb system]. The Sun stands in
the middle associated with the rhythmic system. [Human form leads to the fixed stars; Human
life leads to the planetary spheres.] (88, pp. 268-269, precis by RSWB)

27 Nov. 1921
We have seen that in the light of anthroposophical knowledge man has to be seen in relation to the whole
universe, and have first of all considered the form and configuration of the human being. We find
that it is related to the fixed stars, or rather the zodiac as their representative. We have seen that
forces come from those constellations when they connect with powers of the Sun, and that the
shape of the human head and the organs connected with it relates to the upper constellations in the
zodiac Ram, Bull, Twins, Cancer. The organization of the human chest is connected with the
middle constellations Lion, Virgin, Scales and Scorpion, and the principles that lead to the
development of the human metabolism with the lower constellations Archer, Goat, Waterman
and Fishes. We are thus able to say that the fixed stars for the zodiacal constellations merely
serve as representatives of fixed star influences on the human being have an effect on the
configuration and form of the human being.
The planetary sphere influences the levels of human life. It has to be understood that we have different
levels of life in us. We would not be able to think, our head would not be the organ of thought, if
life were as active in the head as it is in the metabolic organs, for instance.
The different levels of life depend on the planetary sphere. Compared to the fixed stars, which influence
human beings with their physical forces, the planetary sphere acts through its etheric powers,
which means its influences are more subtle. It is a fact that the human physical body has its form
and configuration from the fixed stars, not from something on Earth, and its levels of life from the
planetary sphere. (111, pp.73-74)

1922
8 Jan. 1922
Our astronomy and astrophysics show us the mechanics of the universe. The ancient Indian people had a
universe of picture images populated with divine, spiritual beings. There was as yet no question, in
the present sense, of any external, merely mechanical rules governing the relationships between
heavenly bodies or their relative movements. When those people looked up to the starry heavens
they saw in the external constellations and movements of the stars only something perfectly
familiar to them in their picture consciousness.
The constellations and movements of the stars were no more than written characters, indeed pale written
characters. If they had copied down these characters on paper, they would have felt them to be no
more than a written description of reality. (90, pg.23)

In ancient Persian times there existed this homogeneous shape made up of cosmic beings and this was felt
 to be the light that flooded through the universe, the primordial light, the primeval aura, Ahura
Mazda. But now people retreated even further from this vision and began in a certain way to pay
more attention to the movements of the stars and of the starry constellations. They now sensed less
in regard to the divine, spiritual beings who existed in the background and more in regard to the
written characters. From this arose something which we find in two different forms in the
Chaldean wisdom and the Egyptian wisdom, something which comprised knowledge about the
constellations and the movements of the stars. (90, pg.25)

17 Feb. 1922
As I have frequently suggested, the human brain with its remarkable convolutions is a kind of copy of the
starry heavens, of the universe. This brain structure made up of cells is indeed a copy of the starry
heavens. While living before birth in the cosmos the human being encompasses with his
spirituality the whole of the starry world. But now he fears it. He withdraws into the earthly image
of the starry heavens, an image in the human brain.
Now we come to the choice made by mans spirit and soul. For now the soul chooses which brain in the
process of being formed most closely resembles the starry constellation in which it stood before
descending into the earthly realm. Naturally, the brain of one embryo depicts the starry heavens
differently from that of another embryo. And the soul feels attracted towards the brain which has
the most similarity with the starry constellations in which it existed before descending to earth.
(90, pp.84-85)

14 Apr. 1922
While someone who is working out of ordinary science can speak from memory, the scientist of the spirit
has to repeat the steps that once led him to the experience or discovery of which he is speaking.
The whole process must be generated over again, as a fresh, original experience. This is the sense
in which the conditions of spiritual experience are different from those of ordinary consciousness
in ordinary life.
In order to find our bearings in the spiritual worlds and see truly what is there for us to see, we need a
further inner trait in our character, a quality I should like to term presence of mind. In ordinary
life this is the trait we need when faced with a situation that requires us to make an immediate
decision without hesitation. Many exercises in presence of mind are necessary if we want to learn
how to observe the supersensible world. Without such presence of mind we should not be quick
enough to grasp the experience; we would only have caught up with it once it had flashed by.
When we have reached the stage of being able to think without our brain we must be capable of
immensely speedy reactions in intense alertness. (142, pg.18)

Through Inspired Perception we also learn to know what is spiritual in the outer world. Look for example
at the sun. To ordinary science it is a finite body in space. This finite body, however, is merely one
part of the suns whole being, just as the physical body is one part of the whole human being. In
the case of the human being we say that the spirit and soul live within the body. With the sun it is
different. Here we have to say that the supersensible, spiritual part of the sun is outside it, filling
the whole of space with the sun quality. When we look at the sun with our physical senses we see
a physical concentration of the sun quality that exists everywhere, in minerals, plants and animals,
as well as ourselves. But with Inspired Perception we get to know the sun quality itself in plants,
animals and man; and we get to know it in every part of ourselves, our lungs, heart, liver, brain
and so on.
In this way we discover the spiritual quality not only of the sun but of all external creation. The moon, like
the sun, is not limited by the sharply defined outlines of what is physically seen. The moon we see
is only the physical concentration, whereas the moon quality fills the whole of space. Although
such things are regarded as superstitions nowadays, they are in fact as scientifically precise as any
other knowledge once we have learnt to understand them properly. We see the physical aspects of
plants, animals and man as belonging to the physical universe, but Inspired Perception shows us
their inner nature. The same goes for every hand, lung, liver and so on. In each of them the sun
quality and the moon quality live on, the sun quality in all that sprouts, grows and flourishes, and
the moon quality in the degeneration and decrease that is also necessary for us. Life would be
impossible for us without both the sun quality and the moon quality.
Similarly we begin to recognize what it means to be ill in the outer world. An organ falls ill when there is
too much sun quality or too much moon quality in it. It is the forces of the universe that make
human beings fall ill. Having learnt to recognize how sun qualities and moon qualities live in
plants, animals and minerals, we discover how we can find counter-forces and also individual
natural forces that point us towards medicines for specific internal illness. (142, pp.19-20)

6 May 1922
The sun penetrates our eyes, and it is thanks to the sun that we see the flower and form a mental picture of
it. Everywhere we see objects because of the sun. It is easy enough to recognize that insofar as we
see objects illuminated it is the sun which, via the eyes and brain, is the mediator of the external
physical knowledge we gain of these objects. However, it is not only through our eyes that the sun
mediates knowledge of the external world. There is a deep element of truth in the words heard in
'Faust': 'The sun-orb sings in emulation mid brother spheres his ancient round.' This cosmic
harmony is indeed present and insofar as it manifests in our atmosphere it is also ultimately a
reflection of the sun. Thus, sound, too, comes in a certain roundabout way from the sun.
Everything that is perceptible in the external physical world comes from the sun: warmth, sound,
everything, only not as directly as light.
We are, in reality, within the sun. We are within the external physical-etheric aspect of the sun in all that
which we externally perceive because of the sun's presence, and our senses' inner connection with
what the sun enables us to perceive. (4l, pg.59)

What is it that separates us from the realm in which we live between death and rebirth? There is only one
answer: the sun. As human beings we are born into the physical world. Before conception - that is,
before we came down - we had no connection with the external physical sun, only with the
spiritual world behind the sun. We then descended into the physical world, where the sun shines
everywhere. And here we take into our thoughts - that is we form mental pictures of what the
sun makes physically visible. The physical sun prevents us from seeing the spiritual. And when,
after falling asleep, we are out there among the physical objects which the sun made visible, then
we are too weak to see beyond the sun's domain. And we see nothing within its domain because
during earthly life we are adapted to our physical body but not to beholding the beings that
surround us in the external world - elemental beings and spirits of the higher hierarchies.
Our physical body places us alone, isolated, as it were, at a particular spot on earth. The physical body is
adapted to the external sun and prevents us from uniting our soul with the cosmos. Our isolation is
due to our organism. In reality, man lives within the sun's radiance. Viewed purely externally we
know that sunlight mingles with moonlight. Externally, the sun illumines the moon: on moonlit
nights the moon reflects the sunlight. When the sun's light comes from the moon there is a kind of
shadowing or dimming of light. This has an effect on everything coming into the world under the
influence of the moon.
From the moon comes more than the silvery light which, when reflected by objects, gives them such hazy
outlines compared with their sharp contours in daylight. The moon is active in all reproductive and
hereditary forces.
If man were under the influence of the sun only, he could still be man on earth but could not bring forth
another human being. If sunlight alone were always present the earth would be in a state of
permanence, of duration. No being would perish, no new one arise. Neither heredity nor
propagation would exist. One can say that the sun is the primordial force on earth. It expels soul
life from the head and makes everything into pictures. In the ordinary life of soul we become real
human individuals only through our instincts and emotions. In our higher soul life we attain reality
when through the heart we behold the spirit, and when we come outside the sun's domain. In order
to prevent the primordial sun force from being all powerful and enduring, and in order to prevent
plants, animals and also man from permanence, but enabling them to die away after bringing forth
new life, there is intermingled, in the course of world evolution, the moon element with that of the
sun. Thus, the moon element, too, is incorporated into man.
When a new human being enters the world, moon forces are always active. The sun forces then do not
merely reach the surface but enter right into man's inner being and exclude him from a certain
sphere. Thus, we have, on the one hand, the mighty sun power and, on the other, excluded from it,
a certain aspect of our external evolution because there the moon element enters. (41, pp.61-64)
26 May 1922
It is of extraordinary significance that we, in our descent into earthly life, draw together forces from the
universal ether and thus take with us, in our ether body, a kind of image of the cosmos. If one
could extract the ether body of man, at the moment when he is uniting himself with the physical
body, we should have a sphere which is far more beautiful than any formed by mechanical means
a sphere containing stars, zodiac, sun and moon.
These configurations of the ether body remain during development, while the human being grows together
more and more with his physical body. Though they fade a little they remain. Indeed they remain
right into the seventh year, until the change of teeth. In the ether body of a little child this cosmic
sphere is always recognisable. (41, pp.92-93)

The etheric body, as it forms and develops itself in the human being, is a universe in itself - a universe,
one might say, in a picture form. As its circumference it manifests something in the nature of stars,
and in its lower portion something that appears more or less as an image of the earth. It even has in
it a kind of image of the sun nature and the moon nature.
This is of great significance. On our descent into the earthly world, when we draw to ourselves the forces
of the universal ether, we actually take into us in our etheric body a kind of image of the cosmos.
If we could extricate the etheric body of a man at the moment when he is uniting with the
physical, we should have a sphere - far more beautiful then has ever been wrought by mechanical
means - a sphere complete with stars and zodiac and sun and moos.
These configurations of the etheric body remain during the embryonic time, while the human being
coalesces more and more with his physical body. They begin to fade away a little, but they remain.
Indeed they remain right on into the seventh year - that is, until the change of teeth. In the etheric
body of the little child, this cosmic sphere is quite recognizable. But with the seventh year - with
the change of teeth - these forms that we behold in the etheric body begin to ray out, in a manner
of speaking. Previously they were more star-like; now they begin to be like rays. The stars
dissolve away in the human ether body; but as they do so they become rays, rays with a tendency
to come together inwardly.
All this goes on gradually throughout the period of life between the change of teeth and puberty. At
puberty the process is so far advanced that these rays, having grown together here in the center,
form as it were a distinct structure - a distinct etheric structure of their own. The stars have faded
out, while the structure that has gathered in the center becomes especially living. And in the midst
of this central etheric structure, at the time of puberty, the physical heart, with its blood vessels, is
suspended.
So we have this strange phenomenon of the star-ether-body drawing inwards. As etheric body it is, of
course, undifferentiated at the periphery of the organism - very little can be distinguished in there.
On the other hand, during the time from the change of teeth until puberty, it is intensely radiant,
raying from without inwards. Then it gathers itself together, and there, clearly suspended within
it , is the physical heart.
You must not suppose that until then man has no etheric heart. Certain he has one, but he obtains it
differently from the way in which he acquires the etheric heart that will now be his. For the
gathered radiance that arises at the time of puberty becomes the true etheric heart of man. The
etheric heart he has before this time is one that he received as a heritage through the inherent
forces of the embryo. When a man gets his etheric body, and with tit makes his way into the
physical organism, a kind of etheric heart - a substitute etheric heart, so to speak - is drawn
together by the forces of the physical body. He keeps this etheric heart during his childhood years,
but then it gradually decays. (This may not be a very beautiful expression, but it meets the case
exactly.) The first etheric heart slowly decays, and in its stead, as it were constantly replacing that
which falls out in the etheric process of decay, there comes the new, the real, etheric heart. This
etheric heart is a concentration of the whole cosmic sphere we brought with us as an ether form, a
faithful image of the cosmos, when we proceeded through conception and birth into this earthly
life. (143, pp.4-6)
2 Aug. 1922
Well, gentlemen, what was it that pulled the mountains up? The cosmic forces that work out there did. We
can say that there are certain forces of a cosmic nature that pulled up these mountains. In some
places the forces were strong and developed mountains; in other places there were weaker forces
coming in out of the universe that did not produce mountains. In this latter area the earth crust was
not pulled up so strongly in primeval times. And the people born on those parts of the earth crust
less affected by these cosmic forces use more vowels. Persons horn in areas more strongly
influenced by the cosmic forces use more consonants. We see now that the differences between
languages are connected with the forces of the entire universe.
Now how can we support such a claim? Well, gentlemen, what we have claimed here must be considered
in the same way we look at clocks to check the time. We look at the clock to see if we must start
working or if it is time to leave. But we never say, 'Now this is too much! This awful minute hand
is a terrible fellow who whips me on to work.' We wouldn't dream of saying that. All the clock
does is tell us when we have to go to work, and so we cannot blame it for having to work, can we?
In this case, the clock is completely innocent.
Similarly, we can look up to the sun and say that when we stand here at a certain moment, the sun is
between us and the constellation Aries. That is the direction where these strong cosmic forces
work from. It is not Aries itself, of course. This constellation merely indicates the direction where
the strong forces come from. If a person is standing in a different place at that same time, he or she
is affected as follows: When the sun has moved to that place, it is in Virgo, let us say. The forces
coming from this direction are weaker. Instead of going through the entire process now, I can
therefore say that when someone is born in an area where at a certain time, let's say at his birth, the
sun is in Aries, that person will tend to use more consonants. However, when someone is born
with the sun in Virgo, he will tend to use more vowels.
You see, I can read the entire zodiac like a clock from which I can see what happens on earth. But I must
always keep in mind that it is not the constellations that cause these events; they are only
indicators. From this you can see that the zodiac can us a lot, even about the reasons why the
languages on the earth differ.(78, pp.13-14)

9 Aug. 1922
When we are asleep, the cosmos wants to create all kinds of forms of the mineral, inanimate realm in us,
and when we look at things, then shapes want to develop in us that are just like our surroundings.
Thus, when we sleep, we copy the cosmos, where everything is arranged the same way it is in
crystals. Crystals look the way they do because the cosmic forces are arranged in just the same
way as the crystals. Some of these forces move in one direction, and others in a different one, so
that crystals are shaped by the entire universe. This process wants to take place in us, too. When
we look at the world around us, the shapes of our immediate environment tend to form themselves
inside us as well. We must constantly prevent them from solidifying: we must constantly dissolve
them. (78, pg.17)

22 Aug. 1922
The nearer we approach a new earthly life, the more does this Universe which is Man contract for us.
Majestic it is indeed, notably in the middle period between death and a new birth. But now we
grow increasingly aware of how this Universe, with all its erstwhile majesty and greatness, is
shrinking and contracting. The planets which we bear within us - planets in their weaving
movement - become what then pulsates and surges through the human ether-body. The fixed stars
of the zodiac become what forms our life of nerves and senses. All this is shrinking, to become a
body - spiritual to begin with, and then ethereal. And not until it has grown quite tiny, is it received
into the mother's womb, there to be clothed with earthly matter. (42, pg.32)

30 Aug. 1922
I do not mean to imply that man's astral body assumes every night the vastness of the Cosmos. That would
be an exaggeration. It is nevertheless a fact that every night man grows out into the Cosmos. Just
as here on Earth we are connected with the plants, with the minerals, with air, so are we connected
in the night with the movements of the planets, and with the constellations of the fixed stars.
Coming now to describe rather more in detail how we take our way after falling asleep, we find we can
 distinguish different spheres through which we pass. First comes the sphere where the I and the
astral body that is to say, the soul of man as it finds itself in sleep - feel united with the
movements of the world of the planets. When we wake up in the morning and slip into our
physical body, we have in us, as we know, our lungs, our heart, our liver, our brain. In the first
sphere with which we come into contact after falling asleep and it will also be again the last sphere
we enter before awaking - we have in us the forces of the movements of the planets. This does not
mean of course that we receive into us every night the entire planetary movements; we carry
within us a little picture, as it were, wherein the movements of the planets are reproduced. And
this picture is different for each single human being.
Perhaps you will say: But how does this concern me, if I cannot perceive it! True, you do not see it with
your eyes, nor hear it with your ears. But no sooner have you passed over into the condition of
sleep than the part of your astral body which belongs in waking life to your heart, becomes for you
an eye, - becomes, in very fact, what we may call a heart-eye: and with this heart-eye you 'see'
what is now taking place. For present-day mankind, the perception is a very dim one. (42, pp.48-
49)

And now man comes into the next sphere. This does not mean, he leaves the first: no, for the heart-
perception it is still there. This next sphere, which is a much more complicated one, is perceived
by another part of the astral body, the part which belongs in waking life to the solar plexus, and to
the whole limb organisation of man. The part of the astral body that permeates the solar plexus and
the arms and the legs is now the organ of perception, and with the aid of this organ man begins to
feel the forces of his astral body that come from the Signs of the Zodiac. These are of two kinds
the forces that reach him from the Zodiac direct, and the forces that have first to pass through the
Earth. For it makes a great difference whether a particular sign is above or below the Earth.
Every night it is thus given to man, - that is to say, to the part of him that goes out of the body - to come
into relationship with the whole Cosmos: first, with the planetary movements, and then with the
constellations of the fixed stars. In this latter experience which may come half an hour after
falling asleep, or rather later, but with many people comes quite soon man feels himself within
all twelve constellations of the Zodiac. And the experiences he encounters with these
constellations are exceedingly complicated.
In our time it is exceedingly difficult for man to attain with his Sun-eye to any degree of clarity in regard
to this complicated twelvefold experience of the night. He needs to do so, even if by day-time he
has forgotten all about it: but he hardly can unless he has received, with the understanding of the
heart, knowledge of the Christ and of all that the Christ willed to become for the Earth in that He
passed through the Mystery of Golgotha. For, as in the sphere of the planetary movements, here
again a feeling of anxiety comes over man. He feels: What if I lose myself in the multitude of the
stars, and in the manifold happenings that take place among them! But if he is then able to look
back upon thoughts and feelings and impulses of will that he has directed in waking life to the
Christ, then Christ becomes for him a Guide, bringing order into the bewildering events of this
sphere.
That this should he so, that we should have in the time of sleep the Christ for our Guide, is a matter of the
very greatest importance for us. For, the moment we enter this sphere and begin to have all around
us the living interplay of constellations of the Zodiac and movements of the planets, - at this
moment we encounter also our Karma. Yes, it is indeed so, every human being has sight of his
Karma - in sleep. All that is left of the perception in waking life, is a kind of faint echo vibrating in
the feelings. (42, pp.51-53)

23 Sept. 1922
Yet, the fact remains that the moan is connected with all aspects of human life. Let me mention a detail
here that strongly indicates that the moon is indeed connected with life. Nowadays we are often
reminded of things people in earlier times used to know. For example, remember what I told you
about the Roman Head of Janus with its two faces; that will give you an idea that people used to
know more than we do now. They were not more 'intelligent', but they certainly knew more.
Nowadays, when all previous knowledge is buried under our 'intelligence', we say, for example,
that the unborn child is carried in the womb for 9 months. Well, medicine has not only preserved
Latin words, but also some of the old concepts. Although modern doctors do not want to have
 anything to do with the concepts of the past, some of these ideas are still around. One of them is
that the unborn child is carried in the womb for ten months. How can this be, gentlemen? Well,
you can figure it out for yourselves: One moon month is approximately 28 days. Ten times 28 is
280 days. You obtain about the same number, namely 270 days, if you multiply a calendar month
of 30 days by nine. In other words, the nine months we have today are equivalent to ten lunar
months. Both cover about the same period of time. In the past, the gestation period of the fetus in
the womb was calculated in lunar months.
Why was this so, gentlemen? It was like that because people then still knew that the development of the
unborn child was connected with the moon. They simply knew, and we can rediscover through
anthroposophical research, that only because of the moon can the fetus develop as a living being.
But the moon affects only the females of the human and the animal kingdoms, because their constitution
makes them susceptible to it. The moon no longer affects the earth, no longer produces eggs there;
true enough. And yet, if we study this matter carefully, we find that there is more involved than a
delicate stimulus to our imagination and an activation of our growth forces when we go for a walk
in moonlight. The moon has such a strong vivifying influence on the bodies of women and female
animals, that it alone bestows growth forces upon their children or young ones.
However, the moon does not enable the earth itself to grow, because too much of our planet is already
dead. If it was once possible for the earth to be fertilized, it must then have been much more alive
than today. Now remember what I said earlier: whatever exists within us becomes harmful when
we take it in from the outside. The moon now shining upon the earth can no longer produce life.
Why? Because its light comes from the outside. This is as if the air we had just exhaled tried to get
hack into our bodies: it could not sustain life within us or enliven us. In our time the moon cannot
work any longer on the earth itself: it can affect only the bodies of human beings and animals,
because they are protected.
But where must the moon once have been in order to make the earth itself a living being? The moon
could not have done that while being outside the earth. It must have been inside it! Just as carbon
dioxide cannot keep us alive when it is outside our bodies, but must develop in a living way within
us, so the light of the moon must have at some time been inside the earth, not outside.
Therefore, you must imagine, gentlemen, that at the time of these giant oysters the moon was not separate
from the earth, but dissolved in its thickish soup. It had no clear boundaries and just formed a
sphere or slightly thicker material than the rest. 'Thus it made the earth as a whole into an egg. The
moon, which in our time affects only our imagination and the bodies of women and female
animals, was at one point part of the earth.
That means that at some time it must have moved away. You see, gentlemen, here we reach a
tremendously important moment in the development of the earth.: The moon, which in our time is
always outside the earth, used to be inside it. Then the earth expelled it, and now the two are
separate.
When we study the body of the earth, we discover something remarkable. First of all we find that it
consists of water in which continents or land masses 'float' just as these gigantic animals once
swam in the liquid earth. Europe, Asia and Africa 'float' in water as these huge creatures once
floated in the earth soup. When we study the forms of the various land masses, we see that they
look different from each other. We also notice from the hollowing out of the earth in various places
and from the receding continents that the moon separated from the earth in the area now called the
Pacific. The moon was once inside the earth and then was expelled. It hardened only after it was
outside the earth.
Let us return to the old earth condition when it still contained the moon. Then the secretions of the moon
gave the earth the function of mother, while the sun produced the fatherly' substances in
constantly creating those lumps of slime and surrounding them with a thick coat of horn. These
floating lumps of slime constantly fertilized what was underneath them in the earth soup, which
was kept alive by the moon. The earth, then, was a huge egg, fertilized continuously by the
influences of the sun.
Well, gentlemen, if this situation had continued it would have led to a very uncomfortable condition. The
moon would have been cast out: the earth would have become infertile, and everything would
have died after all. What happened instead? True, the moon was expelled, and the earth dies. But
some of the old fertilizing qualities were preserved within the bodies of female humans and
animals. Before this expulsion of the moon, there was no birth as we know it now. Just as you take
 some of the old yeast and put it in the dough if you want to make a new loaf of bread, so some of
the old moon substance remained in the female bodies so that they could be fertilized. The egg
thus fertilized is merely a reproduction of the ancient earth egg. It is no wonder that pregnancy, the
length of time the unborn child is carried in the womb, is calculated on the basis of the moon
phases: after all, the moon is still involved in reproduction. If you are a baron's son, you must live
within the terms of the legacy your father left behind. The same is true for the fertilized egg, which
actually derives from the ancient moon soup. It must still live by the moon's terms, because it has
inherited its substance from the moon.
In previous times people generally knew more about these things. I will tell you why this was so. People
used to know about these matters and said that the sun had masculine qualities. It does actually
create the masculine gender of beings. This is revealed in a way in the Latin language, where sol,
the sun, is masculine, while luna, the moon, is feminine. Sol, the sun quality, fertilizes luna, the
feminine element. (78, pp.l37-l4l)

27 Sept. 1922
Remember I told you that when a being or substance is outside the earth, it has a destructive effect; it is
either poisonous like carbon dioxide in our earlier example, or it produces scales and hardness like
the sun. However, in winter the sun does not work on us from the outside. It works from inside the
earth where its forces are stored. There it regenerates also the reproductive forces, which in our
time also come from the sun, not from direct radiation, but from what is reflected by the earth
during winter.
Insects like aphids live close to the soil and have only very thin skins. In spring, they can easily absorb
what the earth reflects. Thus their reproductive forces are always quickly replenished. This applies
even more to the vorticellae, because they live in water, which store the sun forces more
intensively and helps produce 110 trillion offspring at the right time of the year. In other words,
when the vorticellae have absorbed a sufficient amount of sun forces from the water, they are
capable of extremely fast reproduction. In our time, the earth provides its creatures with
procreative energy by storing the sun forces inside it throughout the winter.
You see, the sun has the ability to make plants pretty when its rays reach them from the outside. Flowers
in the fields, for instance, receive their beautiful colors from the rays of the sun, shining on them
from above. However, just as the sun dries up and compacts part of the oyster into the shell, so it
would eventually dry up and destroy the plants.
You can see this effect of the sun everywhere on the earth, especially in the hot regions near the equator.
There you will come upon birds of marvelous colors flying around. They are pretty because of the
sun in the sky. Their feathers are all beautifully colored, yet completely devoid of life forces. More
than anywhere else, the life forces have withered away in the feathers.
The same thing holds true for plants. While they grow out of the soil, they overflow with vitality, which
gradually fades away. Finally, they must gather up all of their remaining energy and focus it on the
seeds. You see, the sun produces beautiful leaves, and colorful blossoms, but in the process it
destroys the plants. The pretty blossoms do not contain any reproductive energy whatever.
What do plants do when they put their seeds into the earth7 They do not simply cuddle into the sun-
warmed soil, but extend their growth forces to the leaves; they extend them upward. These green
portions are developed by sun forces, by warmth, light, and so forth. This is how the sun forces the
plants get from their seeds move upward. The sun forces reaching the plants from the outside,
however, will destroy them in the process of creating very beautiful blossoms. The seeds have
their vitality from last year's sun warmth, which was stored in them all winter long. The seeds do
not come from this year's sun: that is an illusion. This year's sun creates the beautiful blossoms.
But the seeds contain last year's forces, which were poured into the earth and which sustain the
entire growth of the plant.
This would not be quite so easy for animals, which depend more on the sun's warmth reaching them from
the outside, from the earth, and renewing them. This is because animals do not absorb the sun
forces as directly as plants do: the latter, as we have seen, also bear in their bodies and their seed
the sun's warmth from the previous summer, warmth that had been stored in the earth. (78,
pp.152-156)

30 Sept. 1922
Julius Robert Mayer, however, asked this question. He found that every year a certain number of celestial
bodies that are like comets fly into the sun. You see, those are the food the sun takes in. Even to
this day, when we look up to the sun, we can see that the sun has a healthy appetite: it consumes a
large number of comets every year. Just as we eat and thus develop energy, the sun eats comets, so
to speak, and thus develops warmth.
Now, gentlemen, when comets have shattered and fallen down, we find their hard iron cores. But these are
only the parts of the comet that fall down. We humans also have iron in our blood. If a person
were broken to pieces somewhere like a comet, and only the iron of his body fell down, people
would probably say, There is something up there that lit up for a time and evidently consists of
iron. Since comets disintegrate into meteorites, which consist of iron, people say that the comets-
themselves are made of iron. But this is the same nonsense as believing that human beings consist
of iron just because they have iron in their blood and a small lump of iron would be all that's left
after they disintegrate.
So, we find meteorites: they are the remains of shattered comets. But the comets themselves are something
quite different: they are alive! The sun, too, is alive, has a stomach, and not only consumes
comets, but eats exactly like we do. (78, pp.172-173)

12 Nov. 1922
Now this moral essence of the cosmic ether is present only in the neighbourhood of stars and planets. But
in between the stars, the moral element is driven out of the ether by the action of the sunlight.
Note that I say the sunlight, not the Sun, which is a cosmic body within which is contained the
very source and origin of the moral ether: but when the Sun shines, then by means of its light it
drives away the moral essence of the ether. And so it comes about that when we look out through
our eyes on to the world, we see flowers, we see springs and brooks, we see the whole face of
Nature, but without any moral element discernable within it; the sunlight has killed out the moral
element. And when we fall asleep and leave our physical and etheric bodies, then we take with us
what we have acquired in this way during the waking hours on Earth by beholding Nature; but
strange as it may sound, we leave behind us our religious feeling and our moral feeling, we leave
them behind with the physical and with the ether-body, and our soul and spirit live as an a-moral
being during the time of sleep." (42, pg.73)

If the soul desires to be a woman, it will approach the Earth at the time of Full Moon. When we, looking
from the Earth, see the Moon full, the soul that is approaching from the spiritual world will see it
dark. Now what the soul sees is, of course, the spiritual aspect of the Moon. Seeing it dark, the
soul sees it 'peopled', as it were, with certain beings. And these beings it is who will prepare the
soul, so that, when it comes on Earth, it shall be attracted to a female body. On the other hand,
when we, looking from the Earth, see New Moon - which means, we cannot see it at all - then the
soul that is descending and sees the Moon from the other side, will see it lit up, will see the light
that rays forth from it out into cosmic space, - that is, of course, the spiritual light. In this case, the
soul can become a man.
And now, in addition to passing through the sphere of the Moon, the soul has also to go, for example,
through the spheres of Mercury and Venus
A human soul may be descending, for instance, at a time when Venus is right on the other side of the
Earth, and the soul may thus be able to disregard the Venus sphere. Such a soul will thus have no
great connection with his family. Or the soul may, on the other hand, go past Venus, and it can do
so in a variety of ways. It will then elect to take the path through the Venus sphere that guides it to
some particular family.
The same kind of thing may happen in regard to the Mercury sphere. The sphere of Mercury leads the soul
to find its way to a particular folk or people. When the region inhabited by this people is receiving
the rays of Mercury, then the soul, coming from the other side and approaching the dark side of
Mercury, will be helped to find its way to this people. (12, pp.8O-81)

18 Nov. 1921
What kind of a person is a medium? A medium is a someone who lets the spirit speak out of the physical
body, lets it write by means of the physical hands or manifest by some other physical agency. The
very fact that mediums speak or write while their ordinary consciousness is dimmed indicates that
 the human body is not wholly physical, that a spiritual force issues from it, but of a mechanical,
inferior kind. A medium desires not only to experience the spiritual in the body but strives to bring
the spiritual to physical manifestation; and the spiritual force that is present in the body does
indeed become articulate when the medium speaks or writes. The peculiarity about mediumistic
people is, as you perhaps know, that they become extremely talkative, they love to talk and to
write at tremendous length; but all these manifestations of the spiritual through the body contain a
great deal that ordinary logic will regard as highly questionable. These mediums are themselves
proof that it is not right for modern human beings to fall back on ancient methods of establishing
connection with the divine, spiritual world but that they must seek an altogether different way.
This different way of approach to the spiritual world is what spiritual science is seeking, and I would like
to speak about this different approach for a particular reason. Those who take modern science
seriously and accept its findings as truly great achievements of modern civilization will find, as
they try to approach the spiritual world through anthroposophical spiritual science, that it is
extraordinarily difficult to move their speech organs at all in order to speak about their
experiences, let alone entertain thoughts about them or write them down in a mediumistic way.
When meditation and concentration leads to an awareness of the spirit within, one initially prefers
to keep silent.
Whereas a medium becomes talkative and allows his own organs of speech to articulate spiritual things, a
person who is a conscientious, scientifically educated individual would prefer to remain silent
when seized by the spirit. Such a person would rather not talk about the subtle and delicate
experiences of which his soul becomes aware. He even prefers to forbid thoughts from intruding,
because thoughts have been associated with earthly, physical things. He prefers not to let thoughts
stream into his soul because he is too anxious in case half-consciously he might apply to spiritual
realities thoughts that are connected with outer, physical things; he is afraid that when thoughts are
applied to spiritual reality, this spiritual reality will not merely slip away but that it will be
profaned, distorted. Least of all will he take to writing, for he knows that in olden times, when the
gods were worshipped in ceremonial rites that did make use of the human body, writing was not
used. Writing first entered human civilization when intellect and r4easoning faculties came to be
directed to the material world of the senses; it goes very much against the grain for someone in the
process of gaining awareness of spiritual reality. So when someone begins to become aware of the
reality of the spiritual world, he still s his thoughts and, even more than that, he refrains from
speaking and abstains from writing down anything to do with the divine.
I have said before that it is permissible for me to speak of these things because I have experienced them
myself along the path of development which led from ordinary science to a comprehension and
actual perception of the spiritual worlds and of the Mystery of Golgotha through these spiritual
worlds. But you will understand that someone approaching the Mystery of Golgotha through this
modern, anthroposophical spiritual science will encounter difficulties. The Mystery of Golgotha as
it reveals itself in the course of human history must be conceived in all its stupendous majesty and
glory. You have to learn to comprehend the historical fact of the God passing through the death on
Golgotha by means of the human being Jesus of Nazareth. You must learn to contemplate this
greatest of all historical events in an entirely sense-free picture. But having achieved this it is then
exceedingly difficult, as I have just described, to bring oneself to express this event in thoughts, let
alone present it in words or even in writing, (142, pp.79-81)

19 Nov. 1922
Getting beyond the Saturn sphere, we enter into what was named the Zodiac, in ancient world-
conceptions. Though it was meant to typify the fixed-star heavens as a whole - the Spirit-land, in
other words - in the sum-total of the stars which constitute the Zodiac we have a comprehensive
picture of the path which man must undergo, to build from the entire Cosmos, with the help of the
Beings of the Hierarchies, the Spirit-seed of his physical body for the next incarnation.
In its entirety, once more, you have to build the spiritual seed of your next physical body. From the
ingredients of the whole Universe you build it. When for example you are living in and with those
spiritual Beings who have their physical reflection in the constellation of Aries, the Ram, you will
work with the Hierarchies of Aries in forming your future head, which is indeed a Universe in
itself. No matter how contracted here in the physical body, in your head you carry the entire
Cosmos - the Cosmos seen from the aspect of Aries. And while, upon the scene of Aries, you ale at
 work with the Hierarchy of that constellation, meanwhile the planets are shining: as they shine
physically down on to the Earth, so do they shine spiritually to the other side. Say for example that
you have worked your way from Aries to the next constellation Taurus, the Bull. While working
with the Hierarchies in Taurus, you elaborate the region of your larynx in its connection with the
lungs. Mars in the meantime, from the planetary spheres, shines up into the sphere of Taurus, and
in the movements of Mars there is expressed all that you did with your organs of speech, rightly or
wrongly, while you were on the Earth. Every untruth which a man uttered shines at him spiritually
from the planet Mars while he is working through the Taurus sphere. You may imagine therefor,
what is the nature of the 'memory' we retain there of our own deeds. We find it after death, written
into the Universe - nay, as the very Logos, speaking from the Universe towards the other side of
world-existence.
Thus for the region of the speech-organs we have to work at our future body, hindered or helped according
as we lied or told the truth. And so it is, to take another example, when we are going through the
constellation of Leo. It is the Sun now that sheds spiritual light on all the imperfections of our
heart - more or less deep or superficial as we may have been in our feelings and in our sympathies
and antipathies, belonging as these do to our temperament and blood-circulation while on Earth.
So while we work and build at our future body, the language of the Planets, sounding into the
cosmic spaces, utters forth the whole of our preceding life. It is so in deed and truth, strange as it
may seem from an earthly standpoint.

26 Nov. 1922
The forces of Saturn not only shine inwards into the planetary world of the Earth, hut also outwards into
the cosmic expanse. There, of course, they are something altogether different from the tiny,
insignificant, bluish rays of Saturn that can be visible to us here on Earth. There they are spiritual
rays, radiating out into the Universe - even ceasing to be spatial; they radiate into a sphere beyond
space. They appear to us in such a way that between death and rebirth we look back in gratitude to
the outermost planet of our earthly planetary system (for Uranus and Neptune are not actual Earth
planets: they were added at a later stage). And to the spiritual rays which it radiates out into the
Cosmos we owe the fact that we are now divested of earthly gravity, divested of the physical
forces of speech, divested of the physical forces of thought. Regarded from a spiritual standpoint it
consists, in Moon-forces.
The spiritual Moon-forces keep us on the Earth. The spiritual Saturn-forces enable us to live in the wide
expanse of the Universe. You must not picture that from one side Saturn radiates towards the Earth
and from another out into the Universe. It is not so. The physical Saturn appears like a hollow in
this sphere of the cosmic Saturn which radiates, spiritually, into cosmic space. And from a certain
point of time onwards after death, what thus radiates outwards hides everything earthly from us -
hides it all with light.
As long as man is related to the sphere of the Saturn-forces - and saturn is helped by Jupiter and Mars
which have special functions to perform...- as long, therefor, as man is under the influence of
Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, he is a being who does not strive to walk or speak or think in the earthly
sense, but to find his orientation among spiritual Beings, to experience the Logos resounding
within him, to have the Cosmic Thoughts lighting up within him. and with these inner aims and
intentions the spirit-seed of the physical organism is, in very truth, dispatched to the Earth.
The Mercury, Venus, and Moon-spheres transform the cosmic predisposition for spiritual orientation,
experience of the Logos and lighting up of the Cosmic Thoughts inwardly, into the rudimental
faculties of walking, speaking, and thinking. And the actual change is effected by the Sun, that is
to say, the spiritual Sun.
Saturn, Jupiter and Mars - this must be said despite the horror it will cause the physicists - Saturn, Jupiter
and Mars contain, as well as their other forces, forces of moral orientation. It is only when man
transforms the heavenly faculties that have been characterized into walking, speaking and thinking
that he loses the moral elements." (13, pp.10-13)

Out in the Universe - although we have firs to pass through intermediate cosmic space - we experience
the cosmic rhythm inasmuch as we are then living in the cosmic ether, permeated as it is with the
moral element. Thus there are two different rhythms: human and cosmic. In truth they are both
human rhythms, for the cosmic rhythm is the human rhythm between death and a new birth.
The rhythm proper to mankind gives us the faculty between birth and death to speak human words, to
master human language. Cosmic rhythm enables us between death and a new birth to let the
Cosmic Word resound within us. The Earth endows us with the gift of speech. The Universe, the
spiritual Universe, gives us the Logos.
Between them - if I may put it so - is the boundary at which the cosmic rhythm breaks in that is coming
too near the Earth: between them is that which, in certain circumstances, may also bring the
human breathing-rhythm into disorder. Between them, in effect, are all the phenomena pertaining
to meteorology. If on the Earth there were no blizzards, storms, wind, cloud formations, if the air
did not contain, in addition to oxygen and nitrogen for our breathing, these meteorological
phenomena which are always there, however clear the air may appear to be - then we should look
out into the Universe and be aware of a different rhythm - actually the counterpart of our breathing
rhythm, only transformed into infinite grandeur. Between the two spheres of the World-Order lie
the chaotic phenomena of wind and weather, separating the cosmic rhythm and the human
breathing rhythm from each other.
Man on Earth is subject to gravity. He co-ordinates his gait, every movement of his hands with this force
of gravity. Out in the Universe the forces are altogether different. Orientation there is in all
directions; the lines of force run from Being to Being of the Hierarchies. What is between the two?
Now just as meteorological phenomena lie between the two rhythms, so between the force of gravity and
the opposite heavenly force of orientation there lie the volcanic forces, the forces which manifest
in earthquakes. These are irregular forces. (43, pp.15-16)

2 Dec. 1922
When man moves away from the earth after death, he gradually begins to see the planets as well as the
fixed stars from behind, as it were. He no longer sees these points or surfaces of light that are seen
from the earth; Instead, he sees the corresponding spiritual beings. Everywhere he sees a world of
spiritual beings. Where he looks back at Saturn, Sun, Moon, Aries, or Taurus, he sees from the
other side spiritual beings. Actually, this seeing is also a hearing: and just as one can say that one
sees Moon, Venus, Aries, or Taurus from the other side, from behind, so one can say that one hears
the beings who have their dwelling places in these heavenly bodies resound into cosmic space.
Picture this whole structure - it sounds as if I speak figuratively, but it is not so, this is a reality; imagine
yourself out there in the cosmos: the planetary world further away, the Zodiac with its twelve
constellations nearer to you. From all these heavenly bodies it sings to you in speaking, speaks in
singing, and your perception is actually a hearing of this speaking-singing. singing-speaking.
When you look toward the constellation of Aries you have a soul-consonant impression. Perhaps
you behold Saturn behind Aries: now you hear a soul-vowel. In this soul-vowel element, which
radiates from Saturn into cosmic space, there lives the soul-spiritual consonant element of Aries or
Taurus. You therefor have the planetary sphere that sings in vowels into cosmic space, and you
have the fixed stars that ensoul this song of the planetary sphere with consonant elements. Vividly
picture the most serene sphere of the fixed stars and behind it the wandering planets. As a
wandering planet passes a constellation of fixed stars, not just one tone but a whole world of tones
resounds, and another tone world sounds forth as the planet moves from Aries to Taurus. Each
planet, however, causes a constellation to resound differently. You have in the fixed stars a
wonderful cosmic instrument, and the players of this instrument of the Zodiac and the fixed stars
are the gods of the planets beyond. (6, pp.42-43)

3 Dec. 1922
Anyone who speaks of mans connection with the world of the stars is probably always liable to be
accused of leaning towards the superficial form of Astrology that is so widely pursued nowadays.
But if what is said on this subject is rightly understood, the immense difference will at once be
apparent between what is meant here and the amateurish representations of ancient astrological
traditions that are so common today. (43, pg.33)

Just as the Jehovah-Moon-God has Venus and Mercury-beings as helpers, so Saturn has Jupiter and Mars-
beings as helpers in bearing man into the Cosmos and into spiritual worlds. These influences and
the influences connected with the Moon-beings work upon man in exactly the opposite way.
The influences of Moon, Venus, and Mercury upon us are predominant until our 17th or 18th years. Then
 later on, when we have passed our 2Oth or 21st year, an influence from Mars, Jupiter and saturn
becomes particularly active; only in later years does this come to the point of leading us out of
earthly existence into the spiritual world. The inner constitution of man is, in fact, dependent on
this transition, as one might say, from the inner planets to the outer planets. Until our 17th or 18th
years, we are dependent, for instance, on the major blood-circulation which affects the whole
body. Later in life we are dependent upon the minor blood-circulation. (43, pg.43)

26 Dec. 1922
Modern man inserts his system of coordinates into the universe and keeps himself out of it. Earlier, men
sensed a blood experience with each geometrical figure. Modern man feels no blood experience;
he loses the relationship to his own heart, where the blood experiences are centered. Is it
imaginable that in the seventh or eighth century, when the soul still felt movement as a
mathematical experience and blood as a mystical experience, anybody would have founded a
Copernican astronomy with a system of coordinates simply inserted into the universe and totally
divorced from man? No, this became possible only when a specific soul constitution arose in
evolution. And after that something else became possible as well. The inward blood awareness
was lost. Now the time had come to discover the movements of the blood externally through
physiology and anatomy. Hence you have this change in evolution: on one hand Copernican
astronomy, on the other hand the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey, a
contemporary of Bacon and Hobbes. A world view gained by abstract mathematics cannot produce
anything like the ancient Ptolemaic theory, which was essentially bound up with man and the
living mathematics he experienced within himself. (108, pg.41)

1923

6 Jan. 1923
The tasks are at hand. They are outlined in all directions. Just as the simple heart can receive the
observations that are scattered everywhere in our lectures or lecture cycles, and that give spiritual
sustenance, so too the need is to take up on every hand the hints that can lead us to the much-
needed progress in the several domains of science. (108, pg.128)

30 Jan. 1923
I thus deliberately expose myself to the danger that a series of facts I am presenting can be quite variously
interpreted. For my interest is solely in communicating facts, and anybody who wants to look into
the matter will find that the only time I express a judgement is when something needs to be
corrected or refuted.
This has to be the case. A world view such as that based on anthroposophy must always be keenly
conscious of the time context to which it belongs. We are now living in the age of consciousness
soul development, a condition of soul wherein the all-important thing is for individuals to draw
their own conclusions and learn to give facts an unprejudiced hearing, so that they can then make
fully conscious judgements. The style of my presentations springs from an awareness that man has
entered upon the development of the consciousness soul. This accounts, as I said, for the varying
conclusions that can he drawn from my words. I try to present the facts as clearly as possible. But
there is never a question of 'should' or 'shouldn't'. Anthroposophy is there to communicate the
truth, not propagandize. In the age of the consciousness soul, anyone really acquainted with the
facts of any case can confidently be left free to form his own judgements. It is essential to an
anthroposophical view of things to be really clear on this point. (15, pg.23)

3 Feb. 1923
Let us look at an area of the natural sciences where we can see particularly clearly what I will be talking
about, namely, astronomy. Under the influence of Copernicus, astronomy has simply become
 cosmic mechanics, a kind of description of the world machinery. Prior to this, people still believed
that spiritual beings were embodied in the stars. Medieval scholasticism spoke of the spiritual
being of the stars, of the intelligences inhabiting the stars and being embodied in them, and so on.
The idea that everything out there is merely matter, empty of thought, and that human beings alone
have thoughts about it all has come only rather recently. In earlier times, people used to form
pictures that were connected with what they believed about stars and constellations. They saw
them as imbued with inner life. Back then, people related to the world not through pure thinking,
they were connected with it through something of a living soul nature. People then gradually
developed pure thinking. (113, pg.22)

9 Feb. 1923
[Review of change from ancient to modern astronomy]
In ancient times, people believed that spiritual life on earth was closely connected with that of the whole
universe. To them, the creative forces in the spiritual beings of the stars were connected with the
soul-spiritual and physical development of human beings on the earth. For example, in the rays of
light coming to earth from Saturn, they saw the forces stream down that influence human beings
and give them the capacity to remember. They knew Jupiter was connected with spiritual beings of
higher hierarchies who worked upon human beings, enabling them to develop their power of
imagination. Concerning Mars, people believed that the forces of the spiritual beings of that planet
endowed them with the power of reason. This is how people in earlier epochs of our evolution
looked at the starry sky; to them the starry sky was the origin of what they perceived in themselves
in body, soul and spirit. They felt connected with beings of higher hierarchies, who were
outwardly visible in the stars. [Further discussion of pre-Copernican to Copernican view]
(113, pp.41-45)

10 Feb. 1923
[Further on pre- to post-Copernican knowledge]
We do not have heavenly wisdom. We do not study copper by looking at Venus or lead by looking at Saturn. We
also do not study primeval human beings by looking at the sign of Aquarius, and we do not understand
what moves from the animal nature of the lion to certain inner impulses of human nature by studying the
sign of Leo. We no longer draw anything down from the heavens to help us explain earthly things; instead,
we turn our gaze solely on the vast number of details all over the earth. (113, pp.63-65)

What did people in ancient times find when they looked into their depths? They found luciferic forces at
the heart of human nature. When modern people penetrate deeply enough into their own being,
they find Christ. That is the other side of the change from ancient to modern times. Since
intellectualism and the consciousness of freedom came down from the heavens to the earth and
since Christ united Himself with humanity on earth, human beings can find Christ in the depths of
their own being if they penetrate deeply enough. In contrast, when people on ancient times
penetrated deeply into themselves, they found luciferic spirits.
We will then realize that while people looked to the constellations of the stars in ancient times to
understand human destiny, we must now look to the human being. (113, pp.66-67)

[Description of Copernican system]

Now, the ancient doctors maintained that man not only lives and depends on the earth but is also
dependent on the entire universe.
So these doctors began to observe the stars and found in those times when these typhoid-like illnesses took
a good course, the planet Venus always stood in such a position that it was blocked by the earth.
When Venus was not blocked, however, the typhoid patient was subject to Venus's light in addition
to sunlight. Then the prognosis was bad; the head became dizzy, and the typhoid could not be
cured.
They made observations of a kind no longer made today, which were based on an ancient instinct and
functioned just as scientifically. So they concluded that in the earth there is copper. This copper is
related to the force emanating from Venus. This is seen in the special effect it has on this illness.
They made other observations as well. Take, for example, the case of a patient with problems of vision, a
disturbance in the eyes. People can get ailments of the eyes in which vision can become blurred:
 the pupils can contract. One can have any number of eye ailments. Now, the ancients again
experimented and discovered that when the earth blocks Jupiter, eye problems improve more than
if Jupiter shines directly on the earth. They explored further and asked what it is that is in the earth
that counteracts Jupiter, and they found that it was tin, particularly when tin was extracted from
plants.
Gradually, based on the effects on the human being, they thus discovered the correspondence between the
planets and the metals contained in the earth. They found that Venus is connected with copper,
Jupiter with tin, and Saturn with lead. They also found that cases of bone diseases, which can also
appear in lead poisoning, have something to do with the rays of saturn; so, for Saturn, they
discovered the effects of lead.
For Mars, which has something to do with ailments of the blood, it was easier to find the corresponding
metal, iron. Therefor, Mars = iron. For the moon, which stands in a completely different relation
since it orbits the earth, they discovered something similar, namely, silver: moon = silver. (44,
pp.l5l-156)

Observations then showed that syphilitic patients improve when Mercury is blocked by the earth. So it
was discovered that quicksilver, or mercury, is related to the planet Mercury. In this way the
metals were gradually assigned to the planets:
Mercury quicksilver, or mercury
Venus copper
Jupiter tin
Saturn lead
Mars iron
Moon silver (41, pg.158)

31 Mar. 1923
These initiates said something like the following: 'In the ancient days, when our places of initiation stood
within the Chaldean and Egyptian cultures, when a wish arose to know what that Being who
represents the lofty Sun-Being had to say to earthly humanity, an idea of his message was formed,
not by looking at the sunlight directly in all its spirituality, but rather by observing the way in
which the sunlight was rayed back from the Moon'. And when the gaze was turned toward the
Moon, they saw - with the help of clairvoyant vision - along with the flooding moonlight the
manifestation of the Spirit of the Universe. And the meaning of this manifestation was realized in
a more external way when they regarded the constellation of the Moon in relation to the planets
and the fixed stars.
In this way the position of the stars, especially in relation to the down-streaming moonlight, was observed
during the night hours in the Chaldean, and still more in the Egyptian mysteries. Just as a man
now reads the meaning of letters on a sheet of paper, in those times meaning was read in the
relation of Aries, or Taurus, of Venus, or of the Sun itself, to the streaming moonlight. From the
way in which the constellations and the stars stood in relation to one another, especially from the
way they were oriented with the moonlight, there was read what the heavens had to say to the
Earth. All this was put into words. And according to the meaning of what was thus put into words,
the ancient initiates sought what that Being Who was later called Christ had to say to earthly man.
They sought to interpret what was conveyed by the stars in their relation to the Moon and apply it
to the earthly life.
But now as the Mystery of Golgotha drew near, the whole nature of the Mysteries passed through what I
might call a great soul-spiritual metamorphosis. Then the oldest initiates said to their pupils: 'A
time is at hand when the stellar constellations must no longer be related to the flooding moonlight.
The universe will speak differently to earthly man in the future. The light of the Sun must be
observed directly. The spiritual gaze of the knower must turn away from the revelations of the
Moon and toward the revelations of the Sun'.
The teachings of the Mysteries made a profound impression upon those men who at the time of the
Mystery of Golgotha still ranked as initiates of the old order. And it was from this point of view
that these initiates formed their judgment of the Mystery of Golgotha. But at the same time they
said, Some Earth event must enter in, which can bring about this transition from a lunar to a solar
 orientation.' It was in this way that the cosmic significance of the birth of Jesus dawned on them.
(46, pp.4-5)

27 July 1923
When we speak of the Moon as a physical body in the heavens, its physical nature is only the external, the
most external, revelation of the Spiritual behind it. To those who have knowledge of both its outer
and inner nature the moon in our universe presents itself to begin with as a gathering of spiritual
beings living in great seclusion. Outwardly, the Moon acts as a mirror of the universe: the fact that
it reflects the light of the Sun is evident to the most superficial observation. So we can say: What
comes from the Moon is the light of the Sun which has shone upon it and is then reflected. First
and foremost, then, the Moon is a mirror of the Sun's light. Now, as you all know, we see what is
outside or in front of the a mirror but we do not see what is behind it.
The Moon is not the mirror of the Sun's light only, for it reflects everything that radiates upon it - the
radiations if the solar light being, of course, by far the strongest. All the heavenly bodies in the
universe send their rays and the Moon - as a mirror of the universe - then radiates them back in
every direction.
It can he said, therefore, that the universe is before us in a twofold aspect. It reveals itself in the
environment of the Earth and is radiated back by the Moon. The Sun's rays work with tremendous
power in themselves and also in their reflection from the Moon. But every other radiation in
cosmic space is also reflected by the Moon. There is the manifested universe and there is also its
reflection from the Moon.
Anyone capable of observing the mirror-pictures thrown back by the Moon in all directions would have
the whole universe before him in reflection. Only that which is within the Moon - that and that
alone remains, if I may so express it, the Moon's secret: it remains hidden, just as what is behind a
mirror remains hidden. what is behind the outer surface of the Moon, is significant above all in its
spiritual aspect.
The spiritual Beings peopling this innermost sphere of the Moon are Beings who shut themselves off in
strict seclusion from the rest of the universe. They live in their Moon 'fortress'. And only someone
who, by developing certain qualities connected with the human heart, succeeds in relating himself
to the Sun's light in such a way that he does not see the reflection from the Moon - only for such a
man does the Moon become as it were inwardly transparent and he can penetrate into this Moon
fortress of the universe. He then makes the significant discovery that through the utterances,
through the teachings, of those Beings who have withdrawn into seclusion in this Moon fortress,
certain secrets can be revealed that were once in the possession of the most advanced spirits on the
Earth but have long since been lost.
The farther we go back in the evolution of the Earth, the less do we find the abstract truths that are the
pride of present-day humanity. More and more we find pictures, truths expressed in pictures. We
can wrestle our way through the deeply significant truths still preserved as a last echo of oriental
wisdom in the Vedas and the Vedanta philosophy: we press on to the primal revelations hidden
behind the myths and sagas, and we realise with wonder and awe that a glorious wisdom was once
possessed by men who received it without intellectual effort as grace from the spiritual worlds.
And finally we come to all that was once taught to primeval humanity on Earth by the Beings who
have now withdrawn into the Moon fortress in the universe, after leaving the Earth together with
the Moon. A certain memory was preserved of what these Beings had once revealed to the peoples
of a remote past - to men whose nature was quite different from human nature as it is today.
If we succeed in fathoming this mystery - I will call it the Moon-mystery of the universe - we realise that
these Beings who have now entrenched themselves in the Moon fortress were once the great
Teachers of earthly humanity: but all consciousness of the realities of spirit and soul hidden in this
fortress has been lost. What is still transmitted to the Earth from the heavens represents only what
the outer surface, the walls, as it were, of the Moon fortress radiate back from the rest of the
universe.
This Moon-mystery was one of the deepest secrets in the ancient Mysteries, for it is the primal wisdom
 that the Moon enshrines within itself. What the Moon is able to reflect from the whole universe
forms the sum-total of the forces which sustain the animal world of the Earth, especially the forces
that are connected with the sexual nature of animals: these forces also sustain the animal element
in man and are connected with his sexual nature in its physical aspect. So the lower nature of man
is a product of what radiates from the Moon. While the highest wisdom once possessed by the
Earth lies concealed within the Moon fortress.
In this way one comes gradually to a knowledge of the individuality of the Moon, to knowledge of what
the Moon is in reality, whereas all other knowledge is only like information we could glean about
a human being from a pasteboard image of him displayed in some exhibition. Such an image
would tell us nothing whatever about the man's individuality. Equally it is not possible for a
science that refuses to approach towards initiation to know anything about the individuality of the
Moon.
We turn now to Saturn. In earlier times Saturn was regarded as the outermost planet of our system, Uranus
and Neptune having been added much later. We will leave them out of consideration now and
think of Saturn as a kind of antithesis to the Moon.
The nature of Saturn is such that he receives many diverse impulses from the universe but allows none of
them to stream back - at all events not to the Earth. Saturn too, of course, is irradiated by the Sun,
but what he reflects of the solar rays has no significance for earthly life. Saturn is an entirely self-
engrossed heavenly body in our planetary system, raying his own being into the universe. When
we contemplate Saturn, he tells us always what he is. Whereas the Moon - contemplated in its
external aspect - tells about everything else in the universe. Saturn tells us nothing at all about the
impulses he receives from the universe. He speaks only of himself, tells us only what he himself
is. And what he is reveals itself gradually as a kind of memory of the planetary system.
Saturn presents himself to us as the heavenly individuality who has steadfastly participated in whatever
has come to pass in our planetary system and has faithfully preserved it in his cosmic memory. He
is silent about the cosmic Present. He receives the things of the cosmic Present into himself and
works upon them in his life of spirit and soul. True, the hosts of Beings indwelling Saturn lend
their attention to the outer universe, but mutely and silently they receive the happenings in the
universe into the realm of soul, and they speak only of past cosmic events. That is why Saturn is
like a kaleidoscopic memory of our planetary system. As a faithful informant concerning what has
come to pass in the planetary system, he holds its secrets of this kind within himself.
Whereas in endeavouring to fathom the mysteries of the universe we should turn to the Moon in vain,
whereas we must win the confidence of the Moon Beings if we are the learn anything from them
about cosmic mysteries, this is not necessary with Saturn. With Saturn, all that is necessary is to be
open to receive the spiritual. And then, to the eyes of spirit and soul, Saturn becomes a living
historian of the planetary system. Nor does he withhold the stories he can tell of what has come to
pass in the planetary system. In this respect Saturn is the exact opposite of the Moon. Saturn
speaks unceasingly of the past of the planetary system with such inner warmth and zest that
intimate acquaintance with what he says can be dangerous. For the devotion with which he tells of
past happenings in the universe arouses in us an overwhelming love for the cosmic past. Saturn is
the constant tempter of those who listen to his secrets; he tempts them to give little heed to earthly
affairs of today and to immerse themselves in what the Earth once was. Above all, Saturn speaks
graphically about what the Earth was before it became Earth, and for this reason he is the planet
who makes the past unendingly dear to us. Those who have a particular inclination towards Saturn
in earthly existence are people who like to be gazing always into the past, who are opposed to
progress, who ever and again want to bring back the past. These indications give some idea of the
individuality, the individual character, of Saturn.
Jupiter is a planet with a different character. Jupiter is the Thinker in our planetary system, and thinking is
the activity cultivated by all the Beings in his cosmic domain. Creative thoughts received from the
universe radiate to us from Jupiter. Jupiter contains, in the form of thoughts, all the formative
forces for the different orders of cosmic Beings. Whereas Saturn tells of the past, Jupiter gives a
living portrayal of what is connected with him in the cosmic present. But what Jupiter reveals to
the eye of spirit must he grasped with thoughtful intelligence. If a man does not himself make
efforts to develop his capacities of thinking, he cannot, even if he is clairvoyant, approach the
mysteries of Jupiter, for they are revealed in the form of thoughts and can be approached only
through a genuine activity if thinking. Jupiter is the Thinker in our universe.
When efforts to bring clarity of thought to bear upon some weighty problem of existence are unsuccessful
because of physical, etheric, and especially astral hindrances, the Jupiter Beings come to the help
of mankind. A man who has tried hard to apply cleat thinking to some problem but cannot get to
the root of it, will find, if he is patient and works inwardly at it, that the Jupiter powers will
actually help him during the night. And many a one who has found a better solution for some
problem during the night, as though out of dream, than during the previous day would have to
admit, if he knew the truth, that it is the Jupiter powers who imbue human thinking with mobility
and vigour.
Saturn, then, is the preserver of the Memory of our universe: Jupiter is the Thinker in our universe. To
Jupiter man owes all the impulses he is able to receive from the spiritual present in the universe.
To Saturn he owes all the impulses of soul and spirit he can receive from the cosmic past.
It was out of a certain intuition that such great veneration was paid to Jupiter in the days of ancient
Greece, when the human spirit lived so intensely in the present.
A stimulus to the whole devel6pment of the human being is given also through the part played by Jupiter
in the cycle of the year. You all know that as far as his apparent movement is concerned, Saturn
moves slowly, very slowly, round his orbit, taking some 30 years. Jupiter moves faster, taking
about 12 years. Because of this quicker movement Jupiter is able to bring satisfaction to man's
need for wisdom. And when, at the cosmic hour of destiny in the life of a human being, a certain
relationship is established between Jupiter and saturn, there flash into human destiny those
wonderful moments of illumination when many things concerning the past are revealed through
thinking.
If we look in history for occasions in the time of the Renaissance - particularly during its last period -
when there was a great renewal of ancient impulses, we shall find that this was directly connected
with a certain relationship between Jupiter and Saturn.
But, as already said, Jupiter is in a certain respect impenetrable and his revelations remain in the
unconscious if a man does not bring to them clear and active light-filled thoughts of his own. And
that is why in ancient times, when active thinking was still at a very early stage of development,
the progress of humanity was in truth always dependent upon the relation between Jupiter and
Saturn. When Jupiter and Saturn together formed a certain constellation, many things were
revealed to our ancestors in those days. Modern man has to depend more upon receiving the
memory of Saturn and the Wisdom of Jupiter separately in the course of his spiritual development.
We now come to Mars. It is difficult to find appropriate expressions for these things, but Mars may be
called the great 'Talker' in the planetary system. Unlike Jupiter, who withholds his wisdom in the
form of thoughts, Mars is constantly blurting out to the souls in his sphere whatever in the cosmos
is accessible to him - which is not everything. Mars is the most talkative planet in our system, and
he is particularly active when human beings talk in sleep or in dream. Mars has a great longing to
be always talking, and whenever some quality in human nature enables him to make a man
loquacious, he stimulates this tendency.
Mars does little thinking. He has few thinkers, but many talkers, in his sphere. The Mars Spirits are always
on the watch for what arises here or there in the universe and then they talk about it with great zest
and fervour. Mars is the planetary individuality who in the course of the evolution of humanity
instigates human beings in manifold ways to make statements about the mysteries of the cosmos.
Mars has his good and his less good sides - he has his Genius and his Demon. His Genius works in
such a way that men receive from the universe the impulses for speech: the influence of his
Demon results in speech being misused in many and various ways. In a certain sense Mars may be
called the Agitator in our universe. He is always out to persuade, whereas Jupiter wants only to
convince.
The planet Venus is again different. In a certain way - how shall I put it? - Venus wards off the universe.
She is difficult to approach: she does not want to know anything about the universe. Her attitude is
that if she were to expose herself to the external universe, she would lose her virginal nature. She
is deeply shocked when any impression from the external universe attempts to approach her. She
has no desire for the universe and rejects every would-be partner. It is very difficult to express
these things, because the circumstances and conditions have to be described in terms of earthly
language. On the other hand, Venus is highly responsive to everything that comes from the Earth.
The Earth is, so to speak, her lover. Whereas the Moon reflects the whole universe, Venus reflects
nothing at all of the universe, wants to know nothing of it. But she lovingly reflects whatever
 comes from the Earth. If with the eyes of soul we are able to glimpse the mysteries of Venus, the
whole Earth with its secrets of the life of soul is there before us once again.
The truth is that human beings on Earth can do nothing in the secrecy of their souls without it being
reflected back again by Venus. Venus gazes deeply into the hearts of human beings, for that is
what interests her, that is what she will allow to approach her. Thus the most intimate experiences
of earthly life are reflected again from Venus, in a mysterious and wonderful way. In the
reflections she transforms everything, just as a dream transforms the happenings of physical
existence. Venus transforms the occurrences of earthly life into dream-pictures. In reality,
therefore, the whole sphere of Venus is a world of dream. The secrets of men in their earthly
existence are transformed by Venus into dream-pictures of infinite diversity. She has a very great
deal to do with poets, although they are not aware of it.
I said before that Venus wards off the rest of the universe. She does not, however, repel everything in the
same way. In her heart, Venus repels what approaches her from the universe but not what comes
from the Earth. As I said before, she declines every would-be suitor, but for all that she listens
attentively to the utterances of Mars. She transforms and illumines her dreamlike experiences of
earthly things with what is communicated to her from the universe through Mars.
All these things have their physical side as well. Impulses go out from these sources into what is done and
what comes into existence in the world. Venus receives into herself everything that comes from the
Earth and she listens always to Mars - but without any desire that he shall be aware of having her
attention. And from this process - only of course the Sun is there to regulate it - spring the forces
which underlie the organs connected with the formation of human speech.
If we want to understand the impulses of the universe connected with the formation of human speech, we
must turn our gaze to this strange life that weaves between Venus and Mars. When destiny wills it,
the relationship of Venus to Mars is therefore a factor of great significance in the development of
the speech or language of a people. A language is deepened, imbued with the quality of soul,
when, for example, Venus is square to Mars. On the other hand a language tends to become
superficial, poor in qualities of soul, when Venus and Mars are in conjunction, and this in turn has
an influence upon the people or nation concerned. Such are the impulses which originate in the
universe and then work into the earthly world.
We come next to Mercury. In contrast to the other planets, Mercury is not interested in things of a
physical, material nature as such, but in whatever is capable of co-ordination. Mercury is the
domain of the Masters of co-ordinative thinking: Jupiter, the habitation of the Masters of wisdom-
filled thinking.
When a human being comes down from pre-earthly life into earthly existence, it is the Moon impulse that
provide the forces for his physical existence. Venus provides for the basic qualities of heart and
temperament. But Mercury provides for capacities of intellect and reason, especially of intellect.
The Masters of the forces of co-ordinative knowledge and mental activity have their habitation in
Mercury.
There is a remarkable connection between these planets and the life and being of man. The Moon, which
enshrines the Beings living in strict seclusion, and reflects only what is first radiated to it from the
universe, builds and fashions the outer form, the body of man. It is therefore by the Moon that the
forces of heredity are incorporated into his bodily constitution. The Moon is the cosmic citadel of
those spiritual Beings who, in complete seclusion muse upon what is transmitted in the stream of
heredity flowing from generation to generation by way of the physical.
It is because the Moon Beings remain so firmly entrenched in their fortress that modern scientists know
nothing essential about heredity. From a deeper insight, and in terms of cosmic language, it could
be said that when at the present time heredity is discussed in one or another domain of science,
the latter is 'Moon-forsaken' and 'Mars-bewitched'. For science speaks under the influence of the
demonic Mars-forces and has not even begun to approach the real mysteries of heredity.
Venus and Mercury bring into the human being the karmic element that is connected more with the life of
soul and spirit and comes to expression in his qualities of heart and in his temperament. On the
other hand, Mars, and especially Jupiter and Saturn when a man has a right relationship with them,
act as liberating factors. They wrest man away from what is determined by destiny and make him
into a free being.
Biblical words in a somewhat changed form might be used as follows. Saturn, the faithful custodian of
cosmic memory, said: Let us make man free in the realm of his own memory. Thereupon the
 influence of Saturn was forced into the unconscious: man's memory became his own possession
and therewith he acquired the sure foundation of his personal freedom.
The inner will-impulse contained in acts of free thinking is due to grace vouchsafed by Jupiter. It would be
in Jupiter's power to rule over and control all the thoughts of men. He is the one in whom we find
the thoughts of the whole universe if we are capable of gaining access to them. But Jupiter too has
withdrawn, leaving men to think as free beings.
The element of freedom of speech is due to the fact that Mars too has been gracious. Because Mars was
obliged as it were to acquiesce in the resolution made by the other outer planets and could not
exercise any greater coercion, man is free, in a certain respect, in the realm of speech too - not
entirely, hut in a certain respect free.
From another point of view therefore, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn may also be called the liberating planets.
On the other hand, Venus, Mercury and the Moon may be called the destiny-determining planets.
In the midst of all these deeds and impulses of the planetary individualities stands the Sun, creating
harmony between the liberating and the destiny-determining planets. The Sun is the individuality
in whom the element of necessity in destiny and the element of human freedom interweave in a
most wonderful way. And no-one can understand what is contained in the flaming brilliance of the
Sun unless he is able to behold this interweaving life of destiny and freedom in the light which
spreads out into the universe and concentrates again in the solar warmth.
Nor can we grasp anything essential about the nature of the Sun as long as we take in only what the
physicists know of it. We can grasp the nature of the Sun only when we know something of its
nature of spirit and soul. In that realm it is the power which imbues with warmth the element of
necessity in destiny, resolves destiny into freedom in its flame, and if freedom is misused,
condenses it once more into its own active substance. The Sun is as it were the flame in which
freedom becomes a luminous reality in the universe: and at the same time the Sun is the substance
in which, as condensed ashes, misused freedom is moulded into destiny - until destiny itself can
become luminous and pass over into the flame of freedom. (79, pp.21-2B)

20 Aug. 1923
In the old initiation-knowledge, thousands of years ago, the very opposite prevailed. The wise men of the
Mysteries, the leaders in those centres which were school, church, and art-school at the same time,
had around them people who knew nothing of nature in the Copernican sense, but in their soul and
spirit had an instinctive, intimate experience of the cosmos, expressed in their myths and legends,
which in the ordinary civilization of today are no longer understood. About this too we shall have
more to say. The experience that men had in those early days was instinctive; an experience of
soul and spirit. It filled their waking hours with the dreamlike pictures of imagination; and from
these pictures came the legends, the myths, the sayings of the gods, which made up their life. A
man looked out into the world, experiencing his dreamy imaginations; and at other times he lived
in the being of nature. He saw the rainbows, the clouds, the stars, and the sun making its speedy
way across the heavens; he saw the rivers, the hills arising; he saw the minerals, plants, animals.
For primeval man, everything he saw through his senses was a great riddle. For at the time of which I am
speaking, some thousands of years before the Mystery of Golgotha there were both earlier and
later times when civilization was different a man had an inward feeling of being blessed when
dreamlike imaginations came to him. The external world of the senses, where all that he perceived
of rainbow, clouds, the moving sun, and the minerals, plants, animals, was what the eye could see,
while in the starry world he saw only what the pre-Copernican, Ptolemaic system recorded. This
external world presented itself to people generally in a way that led them to say: With my soul I
am living in a divine-spiritual world, but there outside is a nature forsaken by the gods. When with
my senses I look at a spring of water, I see nothing spiritual there; I see nothing spiritual in the
rainbow, in the minerals, plants, animals, or in the physical bodies of men Nature appeared to
these people as a whole world that had fallen away from divine spirituality.
These wise men of the old Mysteries, who were at the same time priests, teachers, and artists, made clear
to their pupils through everything contained in their Mysteries yet to be described that even in
this fallen world, in its rising springs, in the blossoming trees and flowers, in the crystal-forming
minerals, in rainbow and drifting clouds and journeying sun there live those divine-spiritual
powers which were experienced instinctively in the dreamlike imaginations of men. They showed
these people how to reconcile the god-forsaken world with the divine world perceived through
 their imaginations. Through the Mysteries they gave them a consoling knowledge which enabled
them once more to look on nature as filled with the divine.
Hence we learn from what is told of those past ages told even of the Grecian age that knowledge now
taught to the youngest children in schools, that the sun stands still and the Earth circles around it,
for instance, is the kind of knowledge which in the old Mysteries was preserved as occult. What
with us is knowledge for everyone was for that age occult knowledge; and explanations of nature
were an occult science. (91,pp.31-33)

25 Aug. 1923
The somnambulist type lives in the moon-forces, the Jacob Boehme type in the sun-forces: but there is a
third type that lives in the relations of heat and cold constantly present in space in the vicinity of
the earth; in the wider environment of the earth. Man in his normal life is accustomed to be ruled
by the temperature: but there is a certain fine inner sensibility which is less dependent on the
effects of external heat and cold, yet is more sensitive, very sensitive indeed, to the effects of the
concealed heat and cold which pass through cosmic space.
These hidden conditions of heat and cold in cosmic space come, not from the Moon, nor yet from the Sun:
they come principally from a star which in reality shines but mildly in cosmic space: they come
from Saturn. The peculiarly modest radiance of Saturn in the planetary cosmic space around our
earth, yields those hidden forces by which Swedenborg, at a definite period of his life, was
permeated.
By means of these, he became specially sensitive to the void, in contradistinction to the fullness
everywhere around us in the world of sense. (8O, pp.L21-126)

28 Aug. 1923
The Mercury-beings bring it about that we do not simply travel round the Moon in a cycle, but advance
further and draw near another existence directly after death. The force of progression of these
Mercury-beings is partly responsible for this. These beings are rather stronger than the Venus-
beings and life is carried forward by them, and banked up and driven back on itself and in a sense
rendered fuller by the Venus-beings. Thus, man's journey through the soul-world runs a course in
which he feels himself absorbed into the activity of Moon, Mercury and Venus.
We must now form a clear picture of this existence. Here on earth we say: I, as human being, have a head:
that is principally set in motion by what one might call the brain-centre, the pineal gland and the
like. This is the principal organ in the centre of the head. I, as man, have, in the middle of my
body, the heart: I, as man, have in the mobile organism of the metabolic system, that which
belongs to the whole of the kidney system.
Now in the Soul-world after death, one cannot say: I, as man consist of head, chest with heart, and limbs
with metabolic system. There would be no sense in that. After death we say: I, as man, consist of
what comes from the spirits of the Moon. This saying corresponds to what we say on earth: I have
a head; hut after death in the Soul-World we must say: I have that which comes to me from the
spirits of the Moon. Here on earth we say: I have a heart within my breast, which is the expression
of all my respiratory and circulatory system. Again this kind of speech only has a meaning on
earth, far of course the heart is abandoned. After death we must say: I bear within me the forces of
Venus: that after death, is the correspondence. And, whereas here on earth we say: I have a limb
and metabolic system with all the organs pertaining thereto, particularly the kidneys; after death
we must correspondingly say: In me live the forces coming from the Mercury-beings. Here on
earth we say: I, as man, consist of head, breast and limbs; after death we say: I, as man, am Moon,
Venus and Mercury. (80, pp.171-175)

29 Aug. 1923
If we reckon up what this amounts to, we come to the following result. We must begin with what was
originally destined for man by the decision of the Cosmos: that his Moon-time should last as long
as one-third of his earth-time. If we add the longer sleeping time of early childhood to the later
periods of a man's sleep during his earth-life, we find they amount to a total of about thirty years
which is approximately the time he requires to complete his first cycle, the Moon-cycle. Each of
the following cycles will take twelve times longer: so that we get 360 years for each cycle. Then if
we follow man further and further in his Cosmic travelling, we find he accomplishes three cycles;
 he does not get as far as Saturn, but it was originally intended that he should complete these three.
We may therefore say: Man travels through cycle one, cycle two, cycle three, and must then pass
back again through these three cycles. He accomplishes three cycles in his outward journey and
three on the return route into his next earth-life. That makes six cycles. Thus we can sum up the
time that the Cosmic council originally intended man to take, over his journeying, as 2,160 years
(I still have to explain that he does not always do this, for things have changed a great deal for
modern man: but that was more or less the allotted time), "2.160 years; what does this signify?
You need only remember that every year the vernal point of the sun occupies a different place in
the Zodiac: it progresses. It has so progressed during the last centuries, that while it was originally
in Aries, it progressed a little further and still a little further in Aries and then passed into Pisces,
and in about 25,900 years, almost 26.000 years, the Sun will have completed the whole cycle of
the Zodiac. Now 2,160 years is one twelfth of this period. In 2,160 years the Sun has progressed
from one Zodiacal sign into the next. Thus it was originally intended that a man should return to
the earth when the Sun has progressed from one sign of the Zodiac to the next. (80, pp.l88-189)

30 Aug. 1923
This, however, prevents things from being precisely fulfilled in accordance with the scheme I described
yesterday. I said that 2,160 years ought really to pass between every two incarnations: but man is
far from absorbing all he should from earth-life during his earth-existence. Hence in reality, even
at the present time, the intervals between death and a new birth are of quite a different length and
indeed do not last 2,160 years for anyone, but are substantially shorter.
Persons wholly given up to earth-life, who have something criminal in their nature, have amassed but few
possibilities of setting sail on the ocean of stellar life: they return very soon to earth-life, having
spent but a short time between death and their new birth. Others again must bring to greater
perfection the spirit and soul-nature they developed in earth-life, and require longer time to refine
it. We may therefore say, that in particular, men of animal tendencies, who are easy prey to their
desires and passions, soon come hack: while those who undergo a normal spiritual development,
return later. Others there may be who, having a deeper insight into the needs of the present age,
and looking with deep and Spiritual vision into the Cosmos, create in themselves the impulse,
even while in earth-life, - being ready to make the sacrifice - to return as soon as they are able to
work again at the evolution of the Earth. It is possible by developing love for the Spirit while still
in earth-life, to pass much more rapidly through the three to six transitions I described yesterday,
through the Mars, Jupiter and Saturn beings.
A man who passes through the gates of death equipped with lower impulses, shrinks back in fear from
completing the cycles, that is, in particular, hurled back from the region of the planetoids. (80.
pp.215-216)

15 Sept. 1923
Now when the Sun's rays fall on to the Earth, they are not merely reflected from flowers and stars.
Farmers know this better than the city dweller does, for during the winter they use the Sun's
warmth which has penetrated into the Earth. At that time of the year we have within the Earth
what has streamed into it during the summer. Not only the Sun's warmth but other forces stream
into the Earth. Yet from the point of view of which I am speaking this was the less important fact;
the more important was that the activities of the Moon could also penetrate below the surface of
the Earth to a certain extent. It was a pleasant idea of those days, not just a poetical idea but, in a
way, a super-poetical one - though of course not held in any logical conception as we should today,
but as a picture - when men thought of the light of the Sun streaming down to Earth in the light of
the full Moon and penetrating a certain distance into the Earth, then being reflected not just from
the Earth's surface but from its interior, after the light had been absorbed by the Earth.
The silver ebb and flow of the moonlight were experienced by man as the rhythmic play of its rays. It was
not only a beautiful picture; the priests of the Mysteries knew something definite about this
flowing moonlight. They knew that man is subject to gravitation as he lives on the Earth: that
gravity holds him to the surface of the Earth, and thus the Earth draws his being to itself, as it
were. The forces of the Moon were known to work against this force of gravity. They are in
general weaker than the vigorous forces of the Earth's gravity, hut they work against those forces.
It was known that man is not just a clod held fast by the Earth's gravity but that he is rather in a
 sort of balance, drawn to the Earth by gravity and away from it by the forces of the Moon, and that
for him as earthly man it is the Earth which holds the upper hand. But as regards his head-activity,
the effective influence on it is the negative gravity that draws him Thus though man might not be
able to fly, at least he could raise his spirit into the starry spaces. By means of this Initiation,
through these Moon activities, humanity in those days learnt from their Mystery-priests the effect
on earthly man of his starry environment.
This was the astrological Initiation, so much abused nowadays, which was specially prevalent among the
people of ancient Chaldea. By its path men could learn not only of the activity of the Moon, but of
that of the Sun, Mars, Saturn, and so forth. (47,pp.38-40)

5 Oct. 1923
Then, when spring comes, the earth breathes out, as it were, its elemental being. The elemental spirits rise
up as though from a tomb and ascend into the atmosphere. During winter they conformed to the
inner order of the earth, but now, as spring advances and especially when summer comes on, they
open themselves to the order which is imposed upon them by the stars and the movements of the
stars. When high summer has come, then out there in the periphery of the earth life surges among
the elemental beings who had spent the winter in quiet and silence under the earths mantle of
snow. In the swirling and whirling of their dance they are governed by the reciprocal laws of
planetary movement, by the pattern of the fixed stars and so on. When autumn comes, they turn
towards the earth. As they approach the earth, they become subject more and more to the laws of
earth, so that in winter they may be breathed in again by the earth, once more to rest in quietude.
(48, pg.12)

And when in high summer, from a particular constellation, meteors fall in great showers of cosmic iron,
then this cosmic iron, which carries an especially powerful healing force, is the weapon which the
gods bring to bear against Ahriman, as dragon-like he tries to coil round the shining forms of men.
The force which falls on the earth in the meteoric iron is indeed a cosmic force whereby the higher
gods endeavor to gain a victory over the Ahrimanic powers, when autumn comes on. And this
majestic display in cosmic space, when the August meteor showers stream down into the human
being shining in the astral light, has its counterpart so gentle and apparently so small - in a
change that occurs in the human blood. This human blood, which is in truth not so material as
present-day science imagines, but is permeated throughout by impulses of soul and spirit, is rayed
through by the force which is carried as iron into the blood and wages war there on anxiety, fear
and hate. The processes set going in every blood-corpusle when the force of iron shoots into it are
the same, on a minute human scale, as those which take place when meteors fall in a shining
stream through the air. This permeation of human blood by the anxiety-dispelling force of iron
drives fear and anxiety out of the blood.
And so, as the gods with their meteors wage war on the spirit who would like to spread fear over all the
earth through his coiling serpent-form, and cause iron to irradiate this fear-filled atmosphere,
which is at its peak when autumn approaches or when summer wanes so the same process occurs
inwardly in man, when his blood is permeated with iron. We can understand these things only if on
the one hand we understand their inner spiritual significance, and on the other we recognise how
the sulphur-process and the iron-processes in man are connected with corresponding events in the
cosmos. (48, pp.17-18)

13 Oct. 1923
Now place the complete picture before yourselves. First, the summer picture at the time of St. John: up
above, the grave warning countenance of Uriel with his judicial look, his warning mien and
gesture - and, drawing near to men and permeating them, the mild and loving gaze of Gabriel,
Gabriel with his gesture of blessing. So during summer we have the working together of Uriel in
the cosmos, Gabriel on the human side.
If we pass on to autumn, we have not the commanding, hut rather the guiding look of Michael. For seen in
the right light, Michael's gaze is like a pointer, as though wishing not to look inwards, but
outwards into the world. His gaze is positive, active. And his sword forged out of cosmic iron is
held so that at the same time he indicates to men their way. That is the picture up above.
Below, in autumn, is Raphael, with deeply thoughtful gaze, who brings to mankind the healing forces
 which he has first - one might say - kindled in the cosmos. Raphael, with deep wisdom in his gaze,
leaning on the staff of Mercury, supported by the inner forces of the Earth. Thus we have the
working together of Michael in the cosmos, Raphael on Earth.
Now we go on to winter. Gabriel is then the cosmic Angel; Gabriel up above, with his mild and loving
look and his gesture of benediction, weaving his garment of snow in the clouds of winter. And
below, Uriel, with his grave judgment and warning, at man's side: the positions are reversed.
And as we come round again to spring, up above we find Raphael, with his deeply thoughtful gaze: with
his staff of Mercury which now in the airy heights has become something like a fiery serpent, a
serpent of shining fire, no longer resting on the Earth, but as though held forth, using the forces of
the air, mingling and combining fire, water, and earth, so as to transmute them into healing forces,
working and weaving in the cosmos.
And below, quite specially visible, is Michael, coming to meet mankind, with his positive gaze: showing
the way into the world and glad to draw the eyes of men in the same direction, as he stands close
to mankind, the complement of Raphael, in spring. (48, pp.79-80)

20 Oct. 1923
Let us first turn our gaze to the regions about which we said yesterday that when the animal derives its
particular forces from them, they really cause the whole animal to become head organization.
There we see how the bird awes its very nature to the sue-irradiated atmosphere. This sun-
irradiated atmosphere is a necessity, for the bird receives from it everything, we might say, that it
is able to receive on account of the fact that it owes the most important part of its existence to this
atmosphere. And I told you yesterday that it is on this that the actual formation of the plumage
depends. The essential nature of the animal lies in its external features, as it were. What the
outside world makes of it is embodied in its plumage. But when the influence of the sun-irradiated
air is not impressed on the creature from without, as in the case of the eagle, but is activated
within, as in the case of the human nervous system, then thoughts arise - momentary thoughts, as I
said, thoughts of the immediate present.
When we thus turn our gaze, weighed down by all that results from such contemplation, upwards to the
heights it is to the tranquil atmosphere and not to the streaming sunlight that our attention is
drawn. We must not, however, think of the Sun in isolation. The Sun maintains its power through
the fact that it comes into connection with the different regions of the universe. Human perception
of these connections has resulted in relating the Sun's activities with what is known as the Zodiac,
so that when the sunlight reaches the earth from Lee, from Libra or from Scorpio, this always
means something different. It also means something different for the earth if the Sun's light is
strengthened or weakened by the other planets of our planetary system. And here different
relationships arise in regard to the different planets; the relationships to the 'outer planets' - Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn - are different from those to the 'inner planets' - Mercury, Venus and Moon.
If we now consider the organization of the eagle, it is most important first of all to observe how far the
Sun forces are modified, strengthened or weakened by their interaction with Saturn, Jupiter and
Mars. It is not for nothing that legend speaks of the eagle as the bird of Jupiter. In general Jupiter
is considered the representative of the outer planets. And if we were to draw a diagram illustrating
what is meant here, we would have to draw the sphere which Saturn has in the cosmos, and also
those of Jupiter and Mars.
Let us draw this, so that we may actually see it, in a diagram: the Saturn sphere, the Jupiter sphere, the
Mars sphere: we then show the transition to the Sun sphere, giving us in the outermost part of our
planetary system the interaction of Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.
And when we see the eagle circling in the air we do in fact utter a reality when we say: The forces that
stream through the air from the Sun in such a way that they are composed of the interaction of the
Sun with Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are the forces that live in the whole configuration, in the
essential nature of the eagle. But at the same time they live in the form that has arisen as the
human head. And when we place man in the universe in accordance with his true reality - on earth
he is only, so to speak, a miniature of himself - we must place him in the eagle sphere as regards
his head.
We must, therefore, think of the human being in regard to his head as belonging to the eagle sphere: this is
the aspect of the human being that is connected with the forces in the upper sphere. 'The lion is the
representative of the animals which are in the real sense Sun animals, in which the Sun unfolds its
 own special force. The lion prospers best when the planets above the Sun and the planets below
the Sun are in a constellation where they exert the least influence on the sun itself. Then those
special characteristics appear which I described to you yesterday, namely that the forces of the sun
itself, penetrating the air, produce in the lion a breathing system of just such a kind that its rhythm
is in perfect balance with the rhythm of the circulation, not in a numerical sense but as regards its
dynamics. In the lion this balances itself out in a wonderfully beautiful way. The lion regulates its
circulation through the breathing, and the circulation continually stimulates the stream of the
breath. I told you that this can be seen in the form, in the very shape of the lion's mouth. In this
form the wonderful relationship between the rhythm of the blood and the rhythm of the breath is
actually expressed. One can see this, too, in the remarkable gaze of the lion, resting in itself, and
yet looking boldly outwards.
But what lives in the lion's gaze lives also in the organization of the human chest and heart, in the
rhythmical organization which connects with the other elements of human nature - the metabolic
system and the head system.
And if we picture the special Sun activity we must put the human being into the diagram in such a way
that we place his heart and lungs in the region of this Sun activity. It is here, in this sphere, that we
have the lion nature in man.
When we turn to the inner planets nearer the earth, we have first the Mercury sphere. This has to do in
particular with the finer parts of the metabolic system or organism of man, the region where
foodstuffs are transformed into the lymph-like substance and then taken over into circulation of
the blood.
Progressing further we come into the region of Venus activity. This is connected with the somewhat
coarser parts of man's metabolic system, to that part of the human organism which works primarily
from the stomach on the foodstuffs which have been taken in. We next come to the sphere of the
Moon. (I am drawing this in the sequence customary today in astronomy: I could also draw it
differently.) There we enter the region where the influence is on the metabolic processes which are
connected with the Moon.
In this way we have placed man in the entire universe. By turning our minds to the cosmic activities which
the Sun carries out in conjunction with Mercury, Venus and Moon, we come into the region
containing the forces which are taken up by the order of animals represented for us by the cow, in
the sense which I spoke of yesterday. There we have what the Sun cannot do by itself alone, but
what the Sun can only do when its own forces are conducted to the earth by means of the planets
which are nearest to the earth. When these forces are all at work, when they do not only stream
through the air, hut penetrate the earth's surface in various ways, then they work upwards from the
earth's depths. And what thus works from the depths belongs to the sphere which we see embodied
outwardly in the organism of the cow. (81, pp.28-31)

21 Oct. 1923
You see, it was not for nothing that the ancients called the zodiac 'the circle of animal figures'. The zodiac
is twelvefold; it divides its totality into twelve separate parts. The forces which come out of the
cosmos from the zodiac take on form and shape in the animals. But the other animals do not
conform to the zodiacal proportion so exactly. The cow has a twelfth part of her body weight in
the weight of her blood. With the cow the blood weight is a twelfth part of the body weight: with
the donkey it is only a twenty-third part and with the dog a tenth part. All the other animals have a
different proportion. In the case of man the blood is one thirteenth of the body weight.
You see, the cow aims to express the whole of animal nature in terms of weight, to bring something
cosmic to expression in the most thorough way possible. A fact I have mentioned repeatedly
during these days - namely that one sees from the astral body of the cow that it actually brings a
higher principle to realization in physical matter - this comes to expression in the fact that the cow
maintains the division into twelve in her own inner ration of weights. There you have the cosmic
principle in the cow. Everything to do with the cow is of such a nature that the forces of the earth
are worked into spiritual substance. In the cow, earth heaviness is obliged to distribute itself
according to zodiacal proportion. Earth heaviness must accommodate itself to allow a twelfth part
of itself to fall away into egoity. Everything that the cow possesses by way of spiritual substance
forces it to enter into earthly conditions.
Thus the cow lying in the meadow is in actual fact spiritual substance that takes up earthly matter, absorbs
 it and makes it similar to itself.
When the cow dies the spiritual substance which it bears within it can be taken up with the earth together
with the earthly matter to benefit the life of the whole earth. And man is right when he feels in
regard to the cow: You are the true beast of sacrifice, for essentially you continually give to the
earth what it needs, without which it could not continue to exist and would harden and dry up. You
continually give spiritual substance to the earth and renew the inner mobility, the inner living
quality of the earth.
When you behold on the one hand a meadow with its cattle, and on the other hand the eagle in flight, then
you have a remarkable contrast: The eagle which, when it dies, takes away into the expanse of the
spirit land the earth matter that has become spiritualized and therefore useless to the earth; and the
cow which, when it dies, gives heavenly matter to the earth for its renewal. The eagle takes from
the earth what the earth can no longer use, what must return to spirit land. The cow carries into the
earth what the earth continually needs as forces of renewal from spirit land. (81, pp.52-53)

26 Oct. 1923
And now we can say: When we contemplate the present-day earth, we have within it the inner Moon,
which produces solid element, and this is essentially anchored in the earth's magnetism. It is due to
the inner Moon that solid matter exists and has weight. It is after all the forces of weight that make
fluid into solid. We have next the actual earth realm, the watery element which ways - as ground
water for instance, but also in the water which is present in rising vapours, in the rain that comes
down, and so on. And further we have in the surrounding atmosphere what is of the nature of air.
Moreover all this is permeated by the element of fire, the remains of old Saturn. Even in our
present-day earth we are able to point to things that there above are Sun-Saturn or Saturn-Sun. We
look up and actually find our air imbued with what is Saturn activity, what is Sun activity, and in
the course of time has evolved into the actual atmosphere of the earth, though this in itself is only
an after effect of the Sun metamorphosis. Broadly speaking this is what we find when we direct
our gaze upwards.
When we direct our gaze downwards, it is more a question of what arose from the last two
metamorphoses. We have the heavy, solid element, or better expressed, the working of the forces
of weight, the process of solidification; we have the fluid element, we have the Moon-Earth. These
two parts of Earth existence can be strictly differentiated from each other.
The forces active in the nature of the butterfly must be sought above, in Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. And
when we go more into the detail of this wonderful development of the butterfly - I have already
described it in connection with the human being as what may be called the cosmic embodiment of
memory - when we go more into detail, we find in the first place the fluttering butterfly
shimmering with light, borne above the earth on the air.
The butterfly never deposits its eggs where they cannot remain in some way or other in connection with
the Sun. Consequently one expresses oneself badly when one says that the butterfly lays its eggs in
the sphere of the earth. This it does not do at all. It lays its eggs in the sphere of the Sun. The
butterfly never descends as far down as the earth. Wherever the Sun is present in what is earthly,
there the butterfly seeks out the place to deposit its eggs so that they remain entirely under the
influence of the Sun. In no way do they come under the influence of the earth.
Then: as you know, a caterpillar emerges from this butterfly s egg. It remains under the influence of the
Sun but now comes under another influence as well. The caterpillar would be unable to crawl did
it not also come under another influence. And this is the influence of Mars.
If you can picture the earth with Mars circling around it, the Mars currents are everywhere in the upper
region and also remain there. It is not a question of Mars itself being anywhere in particular, but
we have the whole Mars sphere, and the caterpillar as it crawls along, does so in the sense of the
Mars sphere. Then the caterpillar becomes a chrysalis and builds a cocoon around itself. I
described to you how the caterpillar is given up to the Sun in this, and the threads are spun in the
direction of the line of light. The caterpillar is exposed to the light, follows the rays of light, spins,
stops when it is dark, and then goes on spinning. The whole cocoon is actually cosmic sunlight,
sunlight which is interwoven with matter. Thus when you have the cocoon of a silkworm, for
example - which is used to make our silk garments - what is present in the silk is actually sunlight,
into which is spun the substance of the silkworm. Out of its own body the silkworm spins its
matter in the direction of the Sun's rays, and in this way creates the cocoon around itself. But that
 this may happen it needs the intervention of the Jupiter activity. The Suns rays have to be
modified through Jupiter activity.
Then, as you know, the butterfly emerges from the cocoon, from the chrysalis - the butterfly which is
borne on the light and radiant with light. It leaves the dark chamber into which it light could only
enter as it did into the cromlechs, in the way I described to you in the case of the cromlechs of the
ancient Druids. There the Sun comes under the influence of Saturn, and it is only in conjunction
with Saturn that it can send its light into the air in such a way that the butterfly can shine in the
radiance of its many and varied colours. (81, pp.62-651

2 Nov. 1923
We can even indicate the way in which these root spirits receive their ideas. we see a plant sprouting out
of the earth. The plant comes, as I shall presently show, in connection with the extra-terrestrial
universe; and, particul3rly at certain seasons of the year, spiritual currents flow from above, from
the flower and the fruit of the plant down into the root, streaming into the earth. And just as we
turn our eyes towards the light and see, so do the root spirits turn their faculty of perception to
what trickles downwards from above, through the plant into the earth. What trickles down towards
the root spirits is something which the light has sent into the flowers, which the heat of the sun has
sent into the plants, which the air has produced in the leaves, which the distant stars have brought
about in creating the plant form. The plant gathers the secrets of the universe, seeds them into the
ground, and the gnomes take these secrets into themselves from what trickles down spiritually to
them through the plants. And because the gnomes, particularly from autumn on and through the
winter, in their wanderings through ore and rock, bear with them what has trickled down to them
spiritually through the plants, they are the beings within the earth which carry the ideas of the
whole universe as they stream and wander through the earth. (8l, pg.l03)

4 Nov, 1923
At full moon the gnomes are ill at ease. moonlight does not suit them, and at that time they thrust the
whole feeling of their existence outwards. They circumscribe themselves, as it were, with a
spiritual skin. At full moon they push the feeling of their existence towards the boundary of their
body, and in full moonlight, if one has imaginative perception for such things, they really appear
like little shining, mail-clad knights. They are clad in a kind of spiritual armour, and this it is
which pushes outwards in their skin to arm them against the moonlight which makes them feel so
uncomfortable. But when the time of new moon approaches the gnomes become positively
transparent, wonderful to see, inwardly irradiated with a glittering play of colours. One sees within
them, as it were, the processes of a whole world. It is as though one were to look into the human
brain, not as an anatomist investigating cell tissues, but as one who perceives inside the brain the
shimmering and sparkling of the thoughts. That is how these transparent little folk, the gnomes,
appear to one, as though the play of thoughts is revealed within them. It is just at new moon that
the gnomes are so particularly interesting, for each of them bears a whole world within himself;
and one can say that within this world there actually lies the mystery of the moon.
If one unveils this moon mystery, one comes upon remarkable discoveries, for one reaches the conclusion
that at the present time the moon is continually approaching nearer - naturally you must not take
this in a crude way, as though the moon were moving towards the earth at a fast pace - but each
year the moon is actually slightly nearer to the earth. One recognizes this from the ever more
vigorous play of the moon's forces in the world of the gnomes during the time of the new moon.
And to this coming nearer of the moon the attentiveness of these goblins is quite specially
directed: for it is in producing results from the way in which the moon affects them that they see
their chief mission in the universe. They await with intense expectation the point in time when the
moon will again unite with the earth; and they assemble all their forces in order to be armed in
readiness for the time when the moon will have united with the earth, for they will then use the
moon substance gradually to disperse the earth, as far as its outer substance is concerned, into the
universe. The substance must pass away.
Because they hold this task in view these goblins or gnomes feel themselves to be of quite special
importance, for they gather together the most varied experiences from the whole of earth
existence, and they hold themselves in readiness, when all earthly substance will have been
dispersed into the universe - after the transition to the Jupiter evolution - to preserve what is good
 in the earth structure in order to incorporate this in Jupiter as a kind of bony skeleton. (81,
pp.130-131)

9 Nov, 1923
In regard to all this, however, you must bear in mind that the human being is a whole and that world
evolution is a whole. When today we draw attention to the old Saturn evolution in the way I did in
my 'Occult Science', we mean the period of evolution that aeons and aeons ago preceded Sun,
Moon and Earth evolution. But this is only one Saturn evolution, the one that went as far as Earth.
Whilst the earth is evolving, Saturn evolution also takes place. This new Saturn evolution is
included in the Earth evolution: it is, so to speak, the most recent Saturn evolution. The one that
only went as far as Earth evolution is the oldest. The Saturn evolution which was part of the old
Sun is more recent, and the one that was part of the Moon still more recent. And the Saturn that
today imbues the earth and is above all responsible for certain aspects of its warmth organization,
this Saturn is the most recent of all. We, with our human nature, are part of this Saturn evolution.
(8l, pg.l48)

You can, if you wish, work this out for yourselves. Recall how I told you that on average man draws
eighteen breaths a minute. Here we find a remarkably regular agreement with the cosmos, for the
number of breaths man draws in a day corresponds to the circulatory rhythm of its course through
the solar year. The spring equinox of the sun traverses the entire zodiac in 25,920 years. In middle
life, man draws an average 25,920 breaths a day. The pulse beats are four times as many. The
other, more inwardly concentrated circulation is influenced by the metabolism. The breathing
cycle reflects man's communication with the outside world, his reciprocal relationship with it. This
breathing rhythm must continually restrain the circulatory rhythm, so that it remains in its
proportion of one to four, otherwise man would come into a quite irregular rhythm in his
circulation and not the figure of 103,680. Nothing in the cosmos corresponds to this, and man is
severing all connection with the cosmos in this respect. His metabolism is tearing him away from
the cosmos and estranging him from it. His breathing rhythm is continually pulling him back into
the cosmos. This division and the way the breathing rhythm controls the circulatory rhythm
represents the primal healing process that is continually at work in man. In a certain delicate way,
every medical treatment must be designed to assist the breathing process (which in a way
continues into all parts of the body) so that it can control the circulatory process and bring it back
into agreement with the general relationships in the cosmos.
And now try to gain an idea of what may be studied in regard to that cosmic body which, as the spiritual
object most deserving of study, is situated at the outer boundary of our planetary system. In the
centre of this body we find the forces which, if you think of them as concentrated on earth, are the
illness-inducing forces, and around this same body circulate the forces that bring about healing.
Anyone sensitive to such things will see circulating health in the rings of Saturn; there it is
displayed in a way that cannot he perceived in what is more immediately around the earth because
we are inside the earth. A Saturn ring is more than what astronomers say it is. It is circulating
health, and the inner part of Saturn is the disease-inducing element seen in its purest concentration.
Looking at Saturn, which is situated at the outermost boundary of our planetary system, we see the process
at work which we continually hear within ourselves through our metabolism and through our
circulatory organism. But we also find, when we look at all this, that our spiritual gaze is directed
further to the worlds of the second and the first hierarchy: in the second hierarchy to Kyriotetes.
Exusiai and Dynamis, in the first hierarchy to Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones. If with our
spiritual eyes we are attentive to Saturn and its ring, we shall he guided to these higher hierarchies,
as they survey with satisfaction the disease-inducing and health-restoring processes. (81, pp.153-
156)

10 Nov. 1923
Thus, if you would gain an idea of how mineral substance is utilized in man, you must say the following:
There is the mineral substance: this mineral substance enters into man. Within man, passing
through the fluid state, and so on, it is transformed into warmth ether. Now it is warmth ether. This
warmth ether has a strong disposition to absorb into itself what radiates inwards, streams inwards,
as forces from world spaces. Thus it takes into itself the forces of the universe. And these forces of
 the universe now become the spiritual forces which here imbue warmth-etherized earthly matter
with spirit. And only then, with the help of this warmth-etherized earthly substance, does there
enter into the body what the body needs to take shape and form.
So you see if, in the old sense, we designate heat or warmth as fire we can say: What man absorbs in the
way of mineral substance is taken up to the level where it becomes of the nature of fire in him. and
what is of the nature of fire has the disposition to take up into itself the influences of the higher
hierarchies: and then this fire streams back again into all man's internal regions, and resolidifies to
provide the material basis for the individual organs. Nothing that human beings take into
themselves remains as it is: nothing remains earthly. Everything and specifically everything that
comes from the mineral kingdom, is so far transformed that it can take into itself the spiritual and
cosmic: it then resolidifies into the earthly condition with the help of this. (81, pg.165)

1 Dec, 1923
The earth has its origin in the spiritual. That is the result of true vision, and I think it is a beautiful idea to
be able to say: If you penetrate into the interior of the earth, and let the hard metals tell you what
they remember they will relate the following: 'We were once spread out in cosmic space in such a
way that we were not physical substance at all, but in the spirit we were essence of colour,
weaving in the cosmos, arising and vanishing.' The memory of the metals of the earth takes us
back to that condition where the metals were cosmic colours, a kind of spectrum, which then
gradually differentiated itself and then became physical.
This is the point at which what I may call the merely theoretical impression communicated by the metallic
element of the earth passed over into the moral impression. For each metal tells us at the same
time: 'I originate from the expanses of space and from earth-forms. I arise out of the heavenly
kingdom. I am here drawn down and enchanted into the earth. But I await my redemption, for I
shall once again fill the universe with my being.' When in this way we learn to understand the
speech of the metals, then gold tells us of the Sun, lead tells us of Saturn, copper tells us of Venus.
And then these metals say to us: 'Once upon a time we extended far out, copper to Venus, lead to
Saturn. To-day we are enchanted here. But when the earth shall have so fulfilled her task that man
shall have attained what only on the earth he can attain we shall extend out yonder again. We have
been enchanted in this way so that man on earth might become a free being. When freedom has
been purchased fur man, then our disenchantment too can begin.'
This disenchantment has already begun. We have only to understand it. We must understand how the
earth, together with man, will develop further into the future. (82, pg.50)

What does it actually mean when it rains at the beginning of May' It means this. You know that on March
23, the Sun enters the Sign of the Fishes. I have told you before that the spring equinox is now in
the Sign of the Fishes. The Sun remains in this Sign till April 20, then it passes into the Sign of the
Ram. Thus the rays of the Sun come at the beginning of May from an entirely different earner of
the Universe than at other times.
Suppose now that it is fine weather in the beginning of May - on the third of May - what does this signify?
It signifies that on the third of May the Sun has a powerful influence on all that is earthly.
Whatever happens on the earth is under the influence of the Sun when the weather is fine.
What then does it mean when it rains on May the third - that is in the beginning of May? It means that the
earth has the strongest forces, and hinders the influences of the Sun. This is immensely significant
for the whole of the plant kingdom, for when the rays of the Sun come from the direction of the
Ram, they can so work that their whole power is directed to the plants. Then the flowers can
develop the sweet substance which is present in honey. Then the bees can make honey.
When, however, the earth has the greater power, when it rains at this season, the flowers cannot develop
in the rays of the Sun which come from the Ram, but must await later events, or maybe even he
altogether interrupted in what they have already developed. Then the flowers do not mature the
nectar rightly and the bees find none.
A matter such as this only becomes comprehensible when we know that everything that happens on this
earth is, as I have repeatedly told you, under the influence of the Cosmos, of all that is outside and
beyond the earth. Rain means that the influences of the Sun are chased away. Fair weather means
that the Sun forces can unfold in all their power. The question here is not that the power of the Sun
comes only in a general way, from where we look up to it, but that it comes definitely from that
 part of the heavens where the Ram is. The forces of the Sun differ according to the particular
corner of the heavens from which they come. This is not due to the Sun alone, but because as the
Sun shines down upon the earth, behind it, in this instance, in the Cosmos stands the constellation
of the Ram. What the Ram gives, the Sun first absorbs and then pours it forth again in its rays.
Thus, it is quite different if the Sun sends its rays to the earth at the beginning of May, or at the
end of May. In the beginning of May the full force of the Ram is working: by the end of the month
the Sun is already in the Sign of the Bull. These forces of the Bull cannot work with the same
strength on the plants, they tend to harden and dry up the plant, and this means above all that the
plant is no longer able to mature the forces for honey-production. (49, pp.37-38)

5 Dec. 1923
You see, gentlemen, today these things are never dealt with scientifically. But one can treat them
scientifically. On the whole colony of bees, as such, there is as I told you, an influence. The bee,
and above all the Queen is, in a certain sense, a Sun creature, and thus all that the Sun experiences
in that it passes through the Zodiac, has the greater influence. But the bees naturally depend on the
plants, and here indeed, the sowing, the scattering of the seed, can be very much affected by the
passage of the moon through a zodiacal sign; this concerns the preparatory substances the bees are
able to find in the plants.
These things are by no means fanciful, but as a rule they are represented quite superficially: they should be
much more deeply studied. (49, pg.47)

24 Dec. 1923
If we investigate the ancient languages in respect of their finer content, we find everywhere that for the
action which we describe by saying: I walk, the ancient Oriental would have said: Mars impels
me, Mars is active in me. Going forward was felt as a Mars impulse in the legs.
Grasping hold of something, feeling and touching with the hands, was expressed by saying: Venus is
works in me. Pointing out something to another person was expressed by saying: Mercury works
in me. Even when a rude person called someones attention by giving him a push or a kick, the
action would be described by saying: Mercury was working in that person. Sitting down was a
Jupiter activity, and lying down, whether for rest or from sheer laziness, was expressed by saying:
I give myself over to the impulses of Saturn. (112, pp.13-14)

1924
5 Jan. 1924
This was not by any means fully clear to Raimon Lull; with him it was all more of an intuitive divining.
He did however come so far as to follow the inner attitude or gesture of the human being out into
the cosmos, and then say, for example: If you look in the direction of the constellation of the Lion
(Leo) and then in the direction of the Balance (Libra), the connection between the two lines of
vision will give you A. Or again, say you turn your eye in the direction of Saturn. Saturn stops
your line of vision, comes in the way. And if Saturn stands in front, for example, of the Ram
(Aries), you have, as it were. To go round the Ram with Saturn. Then you receive from out of the
Cosmos the feeling of O. (103, pg.36)

17 Jan. 1924
Take very small animals of the kind one may find. Some very small animals consist altogether only of a
soft, slimy mass. This soft. Slimy mass can extend something like a threadlike feeler from its mass
if there is a little grain somewhere near. An arm is produced out of the mass. It can be taken back
again. But, you see, such creatures secrete shells of lime or silica, so that they are surrounded by
shells of lime or silica. Well, you cannot see very much when you observe such small animals. But
there are creatures that are more developed, and with them you can observe more. There are
creatures that also consist of a slimy mass, but inside is something that looks like small rays if you
look a bit more closely; and they also have a shell around them, and the shell has spines.
Everything that later develops into coral looks like this.
Take such a creature, which has a shell with spines and inside in its soft mass such ray-like structures.
What is it? If you really go into it, you find that those rays inside are not brought about by the
earth but by the sphere around the earth, by the stars. This soft mass is brought about by something
that comes from the heavens, and the hard mass, or the mass with spines, is brought about by
something from the inner earth. How does such a thing come into existence? Well, gentlemen, if
you want to know how it comes into existence, you must see it like this. Here is a little bit - I am
drawing it much larger - of such a small slimy animal. Through an influence that comes from a
faraway star, a little bit of such a ray develops inside. As it develops, the influence from the star is
causing quite a bit of pressure on the rest of the mass here. This then pushes even more strongly
against the wall here. A bulge forms on the inside of the shell there, because of the increased
pressure, and a spine is created in the surrounding mass of lime or silica. So that the spine is
brought about from outside, from the earth, the ray, however, from inside, but due to the influence
of the star. Can you understand this?
The structure that develops here inside is the beginning of a nerve mass; the structure that develops out
there is the beginning of a bone mass. We thus see, looking at these lower animals, that nerves
develop under the influence of the outer world circumference, which is beyond the earth.
Everything that is bony or shell-like by nature - the lower animals only have bone on the outside -
develops under the influence of the earth. (145, pp.8-10)

11 Jan. 1924
In his writings, Agrippa of Nettesheim assigns to each single planet what he calls the Intelligence of the
planet. This points to traditions which were extent from older times and were even in his day still
something more than traditions. To look up to a planet in the way that became customary in the
later Astronomy and is still customary today, would have been quite impossible to a man like
Agrippa of Nettesheim. For him, the external planet, nay every single star, was no more than a
sign, an announcement, so to say, of the presence of spiritual Beings, to whom man could look up
with the eye of soul, when he turned his gaze in the direction of the star. And Agrippa of
Nettesheim knew that the Beings who are united with single stars are Beings who rule the inner
existence of that star or planet, rule also its movements in the Universe, hold sway indeed over its
whole activity. And he called such Beings the Intelligence of the star.
And Agrippa knew how, at the same time, hindering Beings are at work there, Beings who undermine the
good deeds of the star, working both from the star and also into it. These Beings he called the
Demon of the star. An together with this knowledge went an understanding of the Earth; that saw
in the Earth too a heavenly body having its Intelligence and its Demon. This understanding for star
Intelligence and star Demonology, with all its implications, has been completely lost. (103, pp.
55-56)

Those, however, who have knowledge of such things are aware of how in the fifteenth to sixteenth
century, and even later, there existed a Rosicrucian school, isolated, scarcely known to the world,
where again and again a few pupils were educated, and where above all, care was taken that one
thing should not be forgotten but be preserved as a holy tradition. I will give it to you now in
narrative form.
Let us say, a new pupil arrived one day at some such lonely spot to receive preparation. The first thing to
be set before him was the so-called Ptolemaic system in its true form, as it had been handed down
from olden times; not in the trivial way it is explained nowadays as something that has long ago
been supplanted, but in an altogether different way. The pupil was shown how the Earth really and
truly bears within herself the forces that are needed to determine her path through the Universe. So
that to have a correct picture of the World, it has to be drawn in the old Ptolemaic sense: the Earth
in the centre of the Universe, and the other stars controlled and directed in their corresponding
revolutions by the Earth. And the pupil was told: If one really studies to find what are the best
forces in the Earth, then one can arrive at no other conception of the World than this. In actual fact,
however, it is not so. It is not so on account of mans sin. Through mans sin, the Earth has gone
over, in an unauthorised, unjustifiable manner, into the kingdom of the Sun; the Sun has become
the regent and ruler of earthly activities. And so, over against a World-System given by the Gods
with the Earth in the centre, has now been set another World-System that has the Sun in the centre,
and the Earth revolving round the Sun - the system, that is, of Copernicus. And then the pupil was
 taught that here a mistake, a Cosmic mistake, has been brought about by human sin. This was the
knowledge entrusted to the pupil and he had to engrave it deeply in his heart and soul. Men have
overthrown the old World-System, the teacher would say, and set another in its place; and they do
not know that this other is the outcome of their own guilt, is really nothing other than the
expression - the revelation - of human guilt, while all the time they are imagining it to be the right
and correct view of the Cosmos. And what has happened in recent times? - the teacher would go
on to say. Science has suffered a downfall through the guilt of man. Science has become a science
of the Demonic.
About the end of the eighteenth century such communications became impossible, but until that time there
were always at least a few pupils here and there, who received in some lonely Rosicrusian School
their spiritual nourishment, receiving it with feeling, receiving it as a knowledge of the heart.
Even such a man, for example, as the great philosopher Liebniz, was lead by his own thought and
deliberation to try to find somewhere a place of learning where one could arrive at a correct
conception of the relationship between the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems. He was not able to
discover any such place. (103, pp.62-63)

12 Jan. 1924
[Discussion of vertebrae-Moon relationships and optic nerve - Moon relationships. Discussion of
primary nerve-strand/Sun relationships and olfactory nerve/Sun relationships. Microcosm of
eye-nose points to two-petaled Lotus-flower. (103, pp.75-79, precis by RSWB)

13 Jan 1924
Remember what I said just now, that in the ancient Persian period men had the solid earth as a resistance
so as to behold what they had inscribed into the astral light. What is thus received into the astral
light - all that for which the solid earth is the resistance - rays out, but only as far as the sphere of
the Moon. Further it cannot go. Thence it rays back again. Thus it remains, so to speak, with the
Earth. Man beholds the secrets reflected by virtue of the earth; they remain, because of the
presence of the lunar sphere.
Now let us look at the Egypto-Chaldean epoch. Here it is the water on the Earth that reflects. What is thus
reflected goes out as far as the Saturn sphere. And now it is Saturn that presses, and so makes it
possible for man to hold on Earth what he beholds in spirit. And if we go into the Graeco-Latin
period - extending as it does right into the twelfth or thirteenth century - we find the visions
inscribed into the astral light by virtue of the air. This time what is inscribed goes right to the
boundary of the cosmic sphere before it returns. It is now much more fleeting: yet it is still such
that man can remain united with his visions. The Initiates of all these epochs could say to
themselves every time: Such spiritual vision as we have had - through the resistance of earth or
water or air - remains, it is there. But coming into modern times, when only the element of the
warmth-ether was left to offer resistance, we find that the element of warmth-ether carries all that
is written into it out into cosmic realms, right out of space into the spiritual worlds. It is no longer
there!
The Copernican cosmology, for example, was taught in Rosicrucian schools; but in special states of
consciousness the ideas contained in it came back in the form I have explained to you. It was the
Rosicrucians, above all, who realised that that which man receives in modern knowledge must
first be carried forth, so to speak, must first be offered to the Gods, that the Gods may translate it
into their own language and give it back again to men. (103, pp.87-89)

20 Jan. 1924
Now, you can look at the vernal point of the zodiac, where the sun rises every spring. This point is not
stationary; it is advancing. In the Egyptian period, for example, it was in the constellation of
Taurus. It has advanced through Taurus and Aries, and is today in the constellation of Pisces; and it
is still advancing. It moves in a circle and will return after a certain time. Though this point where
the sun rises in spring describes a complete circle in 25,920 years, the sun describes this circle
every day. It rises and sets, thereby describing the same path as the vernal point. Let us
contemplate, on the one hand, the long epoch of 25,920 years, which is the time taken by the
vernal point to complete its path; and on the other hand, the short period of twenty-four hours in
which the sun rises, sets and rises again at the same point. The sun describes the same circle.
 (107, pg.29)

25 Jan. 1924
The fact is that modern science knows very little indeed about the heavenly bodies - actually only what
can be determined by calculation and observed by means of instruments. But an inhabitant of the
Earth knows that beings of his own rank and beings of other kingdoms share his dwelling-place;
and those whose knowledge is derived from the inner, spiritual destinies of earthly humanity, will
be able to reach a deeper understanding of the significance of the other heavenly bodies, for
example, of the Sun and the Moon.
It is accepted by orthodox science, at any rate by its most important representatives, that the physical
Moon once separated from the Earth and, if I may put it so, chose its own position in cosmic
space.
But Spiritual Science discloses that not only did the physical Moon separate from the Earth but that certain
Beings went with it, Beings who once inhabited the Earth together with men.
Intellectual thinking takes place, after all, through the instrumentality of the physical body, and these
Beings had no physical body. This accounts for the fact that they conveyed their primordial
wisdom to mankind in an essentially poetic, artistic form.
These Beings did not remain with the Earth; the majority of them to-day actually inhabit the Moon in the
heavens. When we come down from the spiritual worlds into earthly existence, we pass through
the Moon sphere, through the Moon existence. Once upon a time, when these Moon Beings were
on the Earth, they had a profound effect upon mankind, and it is still so to-day, inasmuch as they
impress into the descending Ego and astral body what is then carried over into the physical body
on Earth. (100, pp.9-12)

The Sun stand in the heavens personifying the future, whereas the Moon personifies the past. The Sun is
the other gate into the spiritual world, the gate leading to the future. Just as we are impelled into
earthly existence by the Moon Beings and Moon forces, so, through death, we are impelled out of
it by the Sun forces. These Sun forces are connected with that part of our nature of which we are
not yet master, which the gods have given us so that we may not wilt in earthly life but reach out
beyond our own limitations. And so Moon and Sun are in truth the two gates in the universe into
the spiritual life. The Moon is inhabited by Beings with whom we were once connected in the way
I have indicated. The Sun is inhabited by Beings with whom - with the exception of the Christ -
we shall be united only in our future cosmic existence. The Christ will lead us to those who were
once His companions on the Sun. But this, as far as man is concerned, belongs to the future.
A man with a strong vein of melancholy in his temperament is strongly influenced by the Moon. Similarly,
a man with a markedly sanguine vein in his temperament is strongly influenced by the Sun. A man
in whom the quality of Sun and Moon are in balance and neutralised, will be a phlegmatic type.
(100, pg.15)

The physical is involved in a perpetual stream from within outwards; it is being cast off all the time.
Although this is a known fact it is not always remembered. It is a fact in the Cosmos too. Although
mineral substances last essentially longer in that form than the configuration of substance in living
bodies, yet even the purely physical part of mineral substances is transient. As I have said, the
Moon in the sky today is in its physical composition no longer the same Moon which shone upon
Caesar or Alcibiades or the Emperor Augustus, for its substance has changed, just as the substance
of a mans physical body has changed. What endures out there in the Cosmos is the spiritual
element, just as in the case of a human being what endures from birth to death is the spiritual
entity, not the physical substance. (100, pg.17)

27 Jan. 1924
Man believes today that his destiny, his karma, is here on the earth, and does not look to the stars for its
indications. It is for Anthroposophy to grasp mans part in the supersensible world. All that
surrounds him, however, really belongs in the first place to his physical, or at most his etheric
body. However far we look into the starry worlds we see the stars by their light. Now light, and all
that we perceive in the world by light, is an etheric phenomenon Thus, no matter how far we look
into the universe, we do not get beyond the etheric by merely turning our gaze this way or that.
There are, however, two gates which lead from the physical and etheric worlds to the supersensible. One is
the moon, the other the sun. We only understand the sun and moon aright when we realise that
they are gates to the supersensible world, and have very much to do with what man experiences as
his destiny on earth. (107, pg.40)

The moon points to our past, the sun to our future. We look up to the two luminaries, that of the day and
that of the night, and observe the relationship between them, for they send us the same light. Then
we look into ourselves and observe all that is woven into our destiny through past experiences
undergone as men; in this we see our inner moon-existence. And in all that continually approaches
us in the present and determines our destiny, in all that works on from the present into the future
we see the sun-element. (107, pg.45)

28 Jan. 1924
But the Universe we perceive through our senses is related to our physical body only, not to our astral
body or Ego. The only exceptions are two celestial bodies: the Sun and the Moon. The Sun and the
Moon are the abodes of spiritual Beings just as the Earth is the abode of man. The other celestial
bodies are also peopled by spiritual Beings but during his life between birth and death man is
related to them in an indirect way only. (100, pg.49)

[Details of influence of Moon-Beings and Sun-Beings.] (100, pp.50-56, precis by RSWB)

9 Feb. 1924
I am going to prove to you that this is so. You see, I once told you that human and animal reproduction are
connected with the heavens. I told you that this is not only because the egg, the embryo in the
mothers body develops only in this maternal body but also because influences are coming from
the universe, and it is exactly because of these influences from the cosmos that the egg develops
its roundness. As we look out and around and see the movement in the universe, so this small egg
is an image of the universe, for these influences come from all sides. It means that heaven is active
on earth wherever reproduction is active. (145, pg.72)

Knowing this we have to say that fish are a special case, for they do not really ever come on land. They
can at most gasp a little on land, but they cannot live on land, they have to live in the sea. Because
of this fish have their own special arrangements. They do not reach the places where the earth
opens up to cosmic events. Fish therefore find it very difficult to develop their senses and
especially their reproductive organs. For it is due to cosmic space that these can be internal. Fish
must therefore carefully utilize the little light and warmth that enters into the sea from the universe
if they are to be able to reproduce and to have sense organs. But what I am saying concerns not so
much fresh water fish - fresh water is open to the universe - but sea fish. Sea fish always show that
they are ready to utilize everything that still reaches the salt water from the universe to enable
them to reproduce.

We may say that where the earth is salty it acts with earth forces. It acts on the organs that have been
developed out of earth principles. Our own muscles are developed out of earth principles when we
move in the field of gravity. Gravity is the earth principle. The earth influences everything that is
muscular, and everything that is bony. The earth gives us its salt and we get strong bones, strong
muscles. But we can do nothing for our sense and reproductive organs with this salt coming from
the earth. They would wither in the process. They must always come under the influence of forces
from beyond this earth, influences from heaven.
If you understand the migration of salmon you also have an idea of the migration of birds. It all has to do
with the fact that birds must also go south in order to find the right temperature conditions on
earth; there they, too, develop muscle. They need to go to the purer air of the North to have the
influences that come from the heavens; there they develop their reproductive organs. These
animals need the whole earth. Only the mammals, being higher animals, and human beings have
become more independent of the earth, have emancipated more from the earth, getting more
independent in their whole organization.
The situation is that people are more physical on the left and more etheric on the right. And that is also
 how it is with speech. Right-handed people need more nutrition in the left side of the brain than in
the right side. And all kinds of things in us are arranged in such a way that we contain more of the
earth forces on the left and more of the etheric powers of heaven on the right.

Now there are some fish that are organized in a very strange way. These fish are organized in such a way
that they are greatly inclined towards the earth forces, while all other fish really snap up
everything they can that enters into the water by way of light and air. Our halibut is all for the
earth, it is! Now what can we expect from these fish? We can expect that they also show outwardly
in their lives that they are for the earth. And they do. They lie so much on one side that it turns
pale, white. And they lie so much on that one side that the head turns round and the eyes come to
be on the other side. A flatfish therefore looks like this from underneath. It is quite flat and white.
And on the other side, seen from above, the eyes are both on the one side. The head has turned
round, because the fish is always lying on the left side, as it were. The left side becomes the
nutrient side, is pale and white. The other side takes its colour from the sky and so on, turning
bluish, brownish, and the eyes actually turn away from the nutrient side, with the head turning
round.
But something may happen also with human beings. It could certainly be that you find a person with a
strange disease, for he sees slightly better with the right eye, or one eye altogether, than with the
other. If this is not something he was born with, and we ask questions, we usually find that this
person lies on the other side to sleep. The earth forces influence the side one lies on frequently; the
eye grows a bit weaker, has weaker vision. The effect is not as powerful as in the halibut, but there
is a bit of it. The eye which faces outwards towards the heavens, being turned away from the earth,
grows a little stronger.
And the earth itself, what does it do? Well, gentlemen, if we had only salty oceans, the earth would long
since have perished, being unable to maintain itself. It does not only have salty sea water but also
fresh water, and the fresh water receives powers of procreation from the heavens. The salty sea
cannot draw from cosmic space the element that always refreshes the earth. If you go to a spring
and see the trickle of marvelously pure water, you will note the lovely smell of freshness all
around it. That freshness around the spring also refreshes the whole living earth. There the earth
opens up to cosmic space as though through eyes and sense organs. (145, pp.74-81)

We may say, therefore, that we need light for the organs in our human body that contain the freshwater
currents, as it were; we need the principle that plants give us when they move towards the light.
For our muscles, for our bones, for the part of us that should be salty, we need salt and the solid
parts in our foods. And the balance between them must be right. The one or the other must get into
us in the right measure.
That is also how it is with the earth, gentlemen. But however far you may have traveled, you will never
yet have seen that the earth cooked something for itself! But it feeds itself nevertheless, with
substances exchanged all the time, for the earth principle is all the time rising up in mists and
vapours. And you know that the rain water that comes down is distilled, that it is pure water, with
nothing in it. But the earth feeds itself in a subtle way out of cosmic space. The earth itself feeds
on the subtle forms of matter that are present everywhere in the universe. (145, pp.85-86)

13 Feb. 1924
Take animals with hairy pelts, for instance. Now you can imagine that a pelt is useful to prevent the
animals being cold in winter, and so on. And yes, it is useful for this. But for those hairs to develop
in the skin the animal must be exposed to very strong sun influences. The hair develops in no other
way but that the animal is exposed to powerful sun influences.
Now you might say: Yes, but the hairs develop not only in the places that are reached by the suns rays.
But it is true, nevertheless. It even goes so far that the human embryo is hairy in the early stages
when it is carried in the mothers womb. There you may say: It is not exposed to the sun. The
embryo later loses that hair. Why is that so? It is so because the mother takes in the suns influence
and this is active inside her. Hair is very closely connected with the suns influence.
Take the lion, for example. Lions - and the males have that huge mane - are very much exposed to the sun.
This also gives them chest organs that grow particularly strong under the suns influence. The
intestine is quite short, and the lungs are tremendously developed. The lion differs in this way
 from our ruminants, in whom the organs of the lower body, intestines, stomach, and so on, are
more developed. The way in which an animal has hair, feathers, and so on, thus related above all
to the suns influence.
Yet again, if the suns influence on a life form is very great then this life form allows the sun to think
within it, to will in it - it does not become independent. Human beings are independent because
they do not have this outer protection but are more or less exposed to their earthly environment. It
is indeed interesting to note that animals are less dependent on the earth than humans are. Animals
are largely created from outside the earth. I have provided evidence of this for you everywhere.
But human beings are emancipated from these outside natural influences. And this is because they
have an unprotected skin, as it were, in all directions, and must find their own protection. (145,
pp. 90-91)

30 Mar. 1924
The sun is negative space. And just because of this, the Sun is the abode of the Beings who rank
immediately above man: Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. The way in which these Beings approach
the Initiate reveals to him - not in detail but in broad outline - what kind of karma is about to take
shape; in this case it is not old karma but karma that is coming to him for the first time. He
perceives that these Beings who are connected with the Sun have to do with the future, just as the
Moon Beings have to do with the past. (99, pg.23)

In the life between death and a new birth man must work, to begin with, in the direction leading from the
Earth towards the zodiacal constellation of Leo. This stream which flows from the Earth towards
the constellation of Leo teems with forces and it is along this direction that the human being must
work in order that when the time comes he may project the germinal beginnings of the heart - a
vessel in which cosmic forces are contained. Then, having passed through this region in the far
spaces of the Universe, man comes to regions nearer the Earth; he passes into the Sun-sphere.
Here again forces are at work which bring the heart to a further stage of development. And then
man enters the region where he is already in contact with what may be called the Earth-warmth.
Out yonder in cosmic space there is no Earth-warmth, but something altogether different. In the
region of the Earth-warmth the preparation of the human heart reaches the third stage. The forces
streaming in the direction of Leo out of which the human heart is fashioned are purely moral and
religious forces. When man is passing through the Sun-region, these moral forces are taken hold of
by the etheric forces. And it is not until man comes still nearer to the Earth, to the warmth, that the
final stages of preparation are reached; it is then that the forces which shape the physical seed for
the being of soul-and-spirit who is descending, begin to be active.
Each organ is produced and shaped by cosmic forces; it is a product of these cosmic forces. In very truth
man bears the stars of heaven within him.
The liver, on the other hand, forms in the near neighbourhood of the Earth; the liver has only little direct
connection with the cosmic expanse. Viewed from the Cosmos, man is akin to the Earth in respect
of the lungs and liver; in respect of the heart he is a cosmic being. (99, pp.26-29)

20 Apr. 1924
During the last two thousand years or more, human beings have been developing in such a way that they
no longer notice a certain discontinuity in their earthly development, and indeed, the break is
really hardly noticeable. Something that takes place in human beings around the thirtieth year
today remains largely in the subconscious or the unconscious. However, this was not the case
among people who lived eight or nine thousand years before Christ. At that time a persons
development was continuous up until about the thirtieth year, when a profound metamorphosis set
in, which I shall be quite direct in describing. Although what I have to say might sound somewhat
strange, it nevertheless fits the relevant facts.
In those ancient times the following could happen. Let us say that before turning thirty, a man had made
the acquaintance of someone much younger, say three or four years younger, who would therefore
experience the thirtieth-year metamorphosis much later than the former. Suppose now that the two
men had not seen each other for some time and were then reunited. It could happen, and in todays
words this sounds indeed strange, that if the younger person were to address the older one, the
latter might not recognize him. The metamorphosis would have completely transformed his
 memory.

The sun forces influence on the human being is entirely different from that of the moon forces. The
average person nowadays cannot even begin to conceive of the effect that the forces spiritually
connected with the sun have upon him.
Julian the Apostate, the last of the pagan Caesars, acquired some knowledge of the sun forces in the
dwindling Mysteries, and was murdered on his expedition to Persia because he wanted to make it
official again. That is how strong the powers that wanted to exterminate such knowledge in the
early Christian centuries were. It is therefore not surprising that no knowledge of such matters has
survived.
While the moon forces determine the human being, permeate us with an inner necessity so that we must
act according to our instincts, our temperament, our emotions, in a word, our whole physical and
etheric nature, the spiritual sun forces free us from this. They dissolve, so to speak, the forces of
compulsion, and it is really through their agency that we become free.
In ancient times the influence of the moon and that of the sun were sharply divided. Around the age of
thirty people simply became sun people, that is, free, whereas up until then they had been moon
people, or unfree. Nowadays these two overlap; even in childhood the sun forces act along with
the moon forces, and the moon forces continue to work on us in later years. Thus in our time
necessity and freedom intermingle.
As has been said, however, this was not always the case. In the prehistoric times of which we have been
speaking, the effects of the moon and the sun upon human life were sharply separated. It was
considered pathological when someone failed to experience the metamorphosis, the new
beginning in his thirtieth year. By the same token, people spoke of having been born not once, but
twice. As humanity began to develop in such a way that the second or solar birth (the first was
called the lunar birth) became less noticeable, certain facts, including exercises and cult rituals,
began to be applied to initiates in the Mysteries. In this way the initiates experienced something
that the rest of mankind no longer did. They were now twice-born.

For completeness sake I should briefly mention that ancient people also looked to the forces of Saturn, in
which they saw all that sustains us when we pass through the portal of death, that is, when we
experience the third earthly metamorphosis: Physical birth Moon
Second birth Sun
Third birth - physical death Saturn

After death the human being is maintained by the Saturn forces that reign at what was in ancient times
considered to be the outer limit of our planetary system. These forces support us and carry us out
into the spiritual world; they maintain our beings integrity when the third metamorphosis occurs.
This was unquestionably the view of ancient times. (146, pp.18-22)

11 May 1924
When human beings cling too strongly to earthly things it may be difficult for them to find their bearings
in the sphere of the Moon Beings. Something happens then which I will describe in the following
way. Picture to yourselves the earth here, the moon there. - Now the active moon-influences which
are, in reality, reflected sun-influences, penetrate just so far into the earth At this point they
cease. The moon influences do not penetrate very deeply into the earth, actually only as far as the
roots of the plants spread in the soil. The sun-influences penetrate deeply into the earth, the moon-
influences only as far as the level of the roots of plants a shallow layer.
The moon-influences, rising up like mist from this shallow layer, may cause human beings who have to
pass after death into the Moon sphere - the soul world - but are unable to understand the Moon
Beings, to be trapped by this shallow stratum of moon-influences and they can actually be seen by
sensible-supersensible perception wandering about as ghosts, as spectral shades. (96, pp.150-151)

16 May 1924
But now think of the utterly different character of our relationship to the world of stars. Influences of the
world of stars cannot be said to have the same instinctive basis as the influences of the kingdoms
of nature. The starry worlds fill man with wonder, he can be moved and inspired by them. But just
 think to what an extent his life of soul is involved in everything that concerns the world of stars,
how his life of soul is affected. Take the nearest heavenly body that is related to man - the moon.
That the moon has an influence upon mans life of phantasy and imagination is common
knowledge. And even those people who repudiate everything else in respect of influence of the
celestial bodies upon the human being will not deny that the magic of moonlight - to use a
romantic phrase - has an effect upon phantasy.
But it is impossible to imagine that even this crudest and most obvious influence of the world of stars
could take effect if man had no life of soul. Without the life of soul there could be no such
relationship as exists between man and his earthly environment, where in truth nothing essential
depends upon whether he admires or does not admire, shall we say, a cabbage - it is simply to be
eaten - or upon what he knows of it6s effect upon his organs; what he has to do is to eat it! In this
case, knowledge is merely an accessory. But if the spiritual life is excluded we cannot conceive
that any influence could be exercised upon man by the world of the stars - let alone the world
lying still further beyond: the world of the Hierarchies, of the higher spiritual Beings. (96,
pp.154)

But for all that, as we follow the paths which lead us after death in a certain sense past the planets, and
come, first of all, into the domain of the Moon Beings, we are also in the realm of the Angels.
Thus while we are living together with the primeval Teachers of humanity who have now become
Moon-dwellers, we are living, too, with the Angels.
Then, as our path leads further, we enter the sphere which in all spiritual science that has ever existed, is
known as the sphere of Mercury. None of the Beings in this region were ever on the earth. Here
live only Beings who were never earth-dwellers. When we pass into the sphere of Mercury
between death and a new birth, we come into the realm of the Archangels. And when subsequently
we pass into the sphere of Venus we come into the realm of the Archai.
In passing through these realms of the Third Hierarchy we approach what is in reality the spiritual sphere
of the Sun. And the spiritual Sun-sphere is truly, in the most sublime sense, the dwelling-place of
those beings who in the ranks of the higher Hierarchies are named Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes.
Thus it is the second Hierarchy which, in reality, is the soul, the spirit, of the Sun-existence. We
enter this sphere and spend in it the greater part of the time between death and a new birth.
Now these Beings can of a truth be understood only when we remember that their existence is entirely
remote from what makes us into earth-men and holds us within the bounds of natural law. In the
realm of true Sun-existence there are no natural laws as we know them on earth. In the realm of
spiritual Sun-activity, spiritual laws - including, for example, the laws of will - and natural laws,
are one. In that realm, natural laws do not in any way run counter to spiritual laws, for natural law
and spiritual law are completely at one. (96, pp.155-156)

(1) A part of man that has passed through the realm of Sun-existence appears on earth; It is the part of man
that is dependent on the workings of the head; Predisposition to health.
(2) A part of man that has not passed through the Sun-existence appears on earth; It is the part of man that
is connected with the life of procreation; Predisposition to illness. (96, pg.165)

18 May 1924
Now the forces which the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai need in order to guide and direct human life up
to the 21st year, stream to them from the spiritual radiations of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. When
physical science comes to describe the cosmos, it is extremely nave. From Saturn, Jupiter and
Mars radiate forces of which the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai have the very deepest
understanding.
When man is passing through the life between death and a new birth, he enters, first of all, into the Moon-
sphere, where he comes into contact with Beings who were once on earth and who are stern judges
of the good and evil he brings with him. For the time being he must leave behind in the Moon-
sphere the evil that is part of him. He cannot bear it into the Sun-sphere.
Then he passes through the Sun-sphere and still farther out into the cosmos. The forces of Mars, Jupiter
and Saturn begin to work upon him. He passes through the whole of life between death and a new
birth, and only on the path of return, when he has come again into the Moon-sphere, do Angeloi,
Archangeloi and Archai approach him, saying, as it were: We have learned from Saturn, Jupiter
 and Mars that thou art crippled. _ I have said that the evil must be left behind, but this means that
man leaves something of himself behind. He enters as a cripple into the Sun-sphere as well as into
the regions beyond. And there the gaze of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars falls upon him.
When a man returns again, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars have in the intervening time communicated to the
Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai what they beheld and experienced when he passed before them
with all his imperfections. The Beings of the Third Hierarchy weave this into him, so that there is
inscribed into his being what he has to do in compensation. In these first three epochs of life when
Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai work upon the human being with particular strength, the
demands of karma are inscribed into the nerves-and-senses system, into the head system. (96,
pp.175-177)

23 May 1924
The first aspect of mans existence is the aspect of death - it is the earthly aspect; the second aspect leads
us out into cosmic space, into which, as earthly man, we otherwise gaze without any
understanding; this is the aspect of the vanishing of mans life. The third aspect presents the
boundary of visible space: this is the aspect of the stars. But the stars do not appear as they do to
physical sight. For physical sight the stars are points of radiance at the boundaries of the space in
the direction towards which we are looking. If we have acquired the faculty of Intuitive
knowledge, the stars are the revealers of cosmic Beings, spiritual Beings. And with Intuition we
behold in the spiritual Universe, instead of the physical star, colonies of spiritual Beings at the
places where we conceive the physical stars to be situated. (99, pg.73)

24 May 1924
[Details of spiritual influences on mans soul after death, as it passes through Moon, Mercury and
Venus spheres.] (99, pp.79-83)

[Summary of 7 year life-period relationships to planets.] (99, pg.85, precis by RSWB)

What is the nature of the Sun according to modern physicists? An incandescent globe of gas, where
burning gases diffuse light and heat. For the eyes of spirit this is a thoroughly childish conception!
The truth is that if the physicists could organise an expedition to the Sun, they would be astonished
to find everything entirely different from what they imagined. There are no cosmic gases there;
human beings would not be consumed by flames if they could travel to the Sun. But if they came
into the Sun-region they would be torn asunder - destroyed in that way. What, then, is the Sun, in
reality?
In the Cosmos, space can even be empty of itself, so that at some points there is no space. In soda-water
there are little bubbles, less dense than the water. In the same way, when you look out into space,
you may see nothing; but where the Sun is, there is even less than space. Suppose that here is the
empty space of the Universe, and that in this empty space there is nothing, not even space, so that
if you went there you would be sucked up and disappear. There is nothing there at all, nothing
physical, not even space. It is the site of all that is spiritual. This is the nature of the Sun-existence
about which the physicists would be so astonished. Only at the edge of this empty space is there
something that begins to be as the physicists suppose. In the corona of the Sun there are
incandescent gases, but within this empty space there is nothing physical, not even space! It is all
purely spiritual. Within this sphere there are Beings of three ranks: Exusiai, Dynamis and
Kyriotetes. (99, pp.87-88)

29 May 1924
Now the influences exercised directly by the Hierarchies during the various periods of mans life
interweave, as it were, with the influences which play, as reflections, into these periods of life
from the Spiritual Beings of the planetary spheres. As we look at the outer, physical radiance of
the planets, we know that each of these heavenly bodies is but the sign that in the direction where
we behold it there is a colony of spiritual Beings in the cosmos. [There follows detailed
discussion of clairvoyant access to planetary spheres after specified ages: Moon-7 years old;
Mercury-14; Venus-21; Sun-42; Jupiter-56; Saturn-63.] (96, pg.85, precis by RSWB)
30 May 1924
This can be understood only when it is connected with another fact. I have told you that the many stars in
the heavens are but the outer signs of colonies of gods. Where thee stars sparkle in the heavens
there are, in reality, colonies of spiritual Beings. But you must not imagine that these gods have
their consciousness only in Venus, or only in the Sun, or in Mercury, or in Sirius. They have their
main habitation, the focal point of their existence in these several spheres, and this is true of all
spiritual Beings of the cosmos who have anything to do with the earth. But it is impossible to say
of their existence in the cosmos that they have their dwelling-place only in Mars, only in Venus,
and so forth. Paradoxical as it will seem, I am nevertheless obliged to say that the Divine Beings
who belong to the earth and who people Mars, Venus, Jupiter or another of the planets - also the
Sun - would be blind if they inhabited only one of these spheres. - They would lack a certain
faculty for perceiving what is happening in the cosmos. But this, my dear friends, will lead you to
ask: Where, then, is the eye of the gods, where is their organ of perception? This organ of
perception is provided by the Moon, our neighbour in the cosmos - in addition to all its other
functions. All the Divine Beings belonging to the Sun, to Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
have their eye in the Moon are at the same time in the Moon.
The Moon was once part of the earth, and separated from the earth only in the course of time. Before the
separation of the Moon, therefore, the eye of the gods was bound up with the earth; the gods
beheld the cosmos from the earth. Hence at that time the great primeval Teachers too were able to
impart their wisdom to mankind. For in that they were living on the earth, and the Moon was still
within the earth, they could gaze into the cosmos with the eye of the gods. When the Moon
departed, remembrance of this vision of the gods remained with them for a time; thus they could
behold in remembrance, what was now seen with the eye of man, and could communicate this to
the gods. But the primeval Teachers themselves had then to make their way to the Moon, where
they are to this day, and to found a colony there in order to be able to see with the eye of the gods.
And now we have the reason why freedom, free spiritual activity, can be unfolded in earthly life. As long
as the Moon was connected with the earth, as long as the primeval Teachers taught men out of
their store of remembrance, and as long as this teaching was preserved in the mysteries - actually
until the 14th century A.D. - all wisdom consisted in what had been seen with the eye of the gods.
Only since the period I indicated to you, only since the year 1413, has it become utterly impossible
for the earth to see with the eye of the gods. So that with the development of the Consciousness
Soul, freedom begins to be within the reach of men. (96, pp.202-203)

1 June 1924
[Details of soul influences of passage through Moon, Mercury, Venus and Sun spheres.] (100, pp.104-
108, precis by RSWB)

[Age-periods and planetary relationships] (100, pp.112-113, precis by RSWB)

In regard to the etheric body of man, we find spread out in the Cosmos the universal Ether. The etheric
body of man has a definite human shape, definite forms of movement within it, and so on. These,
it is true, are different in the cosmic Ether. Nevertheless the cosmic Ether is fundamentally of like
nature with what we find in the human etheric body. In the same way we can speak of a similarity
between what is found in the human astral body and a certain astral principle that works through
all things and all beings out in the farspread Universe.
Here we come to something of extraordinary importance, something which in its true nature is quite
foreign to the human being of today. We have, first, the Earth: and on the Earth we have Man, with
his etheric body. Then in the Earth's environment we have the cosmic Ether - the cosmic Ether
which is of the same nature as the etheric in man. In man we also have the astral body. In the
cosmic environment too there is Astrality.
In itself, of course, the Ether too is imperceptible for our physical senses. If I may put it so, when you are
looking at a small fragment of Ether, you see nothing with your physical senses, you simply see
through it. The Ether is like an empty nothingness to you. But when you regard the etheric
environment as a totality, you behold the blue sky, of which we also say that it is not really there
but that you are gazing into empty space. Now the reason why you see the blue of the sky is that
you are actually perceiving the end of the Ether. Thus you behold the Ether as the blue of the
 heavens. The perception of the blue sky is really and truly a perception of the Ether.
But now, there is also present the astral element of the Cosmos. In the blue sky the Ether peers through, as
it were, into the realms of sense. Where then does the Astrality in the Cosmos peer through into
the realms of perceptibility? The answer, my dear friends, is this.
Every star that we see glittering in the heavens is in reality a gate of entry for the Astral. Wherever the
stars are twinkling and glittering in towards us, there glitters and shines the Astral. Look at the
starry heavens in their manifold variety: in one part the stars are gathered into heaps and clusters,
in another they are scattered far apart. In all this wonderful configuration of radiant light, the
invisible and supersensible astral body of the Cosmos makes itself visible to us.
It is the astral body of the Universe which is perpetually wielding its influences - like the gently stroking
fingers - on the etheric organism of the Cosmos. The etheric Cosmos is organised for very long
duration; it is for this reason that a star has its quality of fixity, representing a perpetual influence
on the cosmic Ether by the astral Universe.
In this way, an immense, unfathomable life, yet, at the same time, a soul-life, a real and actual life of the
soul, is brought into the Cosmos. Think how dead the Cosmos appears to us when we look into the
far spaces and see nothing but burning gaseous bodies. Think how living it all becomes when we
know that the stars are an expression of the love with which the astral Cosmos works upon the
etheric Cosmos - for this is to express it with perfect truth.
We ourselves in our own astral body have feelings of delight and comfort in the most varied ways. In like
manner in the Cosmos, through the cosmic astral body, we have the varied configuration of the
starry heavens. No wonder that an ancient science, instinctively clairvoyant, describes this third
member of our human organism as the "astral" or "starry" body, seeing that it is of like nature with
that which reveals itself to us in the stars. (l8, pp.307-310)

The physical science of today expects to find everything which is on the Earth existing also in the
Universe. But the physical organisation itself is not to he found in the Universe at all. Man has in
the first place his physical organisation: then in addition he has the etheric and the astral. The
Universe on the other hand begins with the Etheric. Out there in the Cosmos the Physical is
nowhere to be found. The Physical exists only on the Earth, and it is hut empty fancy and
imagination to speak of anything physical in the far Universe. In the Universe there is the Etheric
and the Astral. There is also a third element within the Universe which we have yet to speak about
in this present lecture, for the Cosmos too is threefold. But the threefoldness of the Cosmos,
apart from the Earth, is different from the threefoldness of the Cosmos in which we include the
Earth.
I want you to realise how our conception of the Universe changes, in comparison with the ordinary
present-day conception, when we really enter into all that has come before our souls this evening.
There in the Universe we have the Sun, with all that there appears to us to be immediately
connected with it - all that is contained in the blue of the heavens, in the world of the stars. At
another point in the Universe we have the Earth with humanity. When we look up from the Earth
to the Sun, we are at the same time looking into the flow of Time.
Now from this there follows something of great significance. Man only looks up into the Sun in the right
way (even if it be but in his mind) when, as he gazes upward, he forgets Space and considers Time
alone. For in truth, the Sun does not only radiate light, it radiates Space itself, and when we are
looking into the Sun we are looking out of Space into the world of Time. The Sun is the unique
star that it is because when we gaze into the Sun we are looking out of Space. And from that
world, outside of Space, Christ came to men.
We can now say: On the Earth man has his three bodies, the physical, the etheric and the astral. The
Etheric and Astral are also found out there in the Cosmos, but the Physical is only to be found on
the Earth. Out in the Cosmos there is no Physical.
Yet the Cosmos too is threefold, for what the Cosmos lacks at the lowest level, it adds above. In the
Cosmos the Etheric is the lowest: on the Earth the Physical is the lowest. On Earth the Astral is the
highest: in the Cosmos the highest is that of which man has today only the beginnings - that out of
which his Spirit-Self will one day be woven. We may therefor say: In the Cosmos there is, as the
third, the highest element, the Spirit-Selfhood.
Physical science speaks of a movement of the Sun: and it can do so, for within the spatial picture of the
Cosmos which surrounds us, we perceive by certain phenomena that the Sun is in movement. But
 that is only an image of the true Sun-movement, - an image cast into Space. If we are speaking of
the real Sun it is nonsense to say that the Sun moves in Space: for Space itself is being radiated out
by the Sun. The Sun not only radiates the light: the Sun creates the Space itself. And the
movement of the Sun is only a spatial movement within this created Space. Outside of Space it is a
movement in Time. What seems apparent to us - namely, that the Sun is speeding on towards the
constellation of Hercules - is only a spatial image of the Time-evolution of the Sun-Being. (18,
pp.313-318)

7 June 1924
[Details of soul influences of passage through the Moon sphere after death] (101, pp.14-20, precis by
RSWB)

Anyone, of course, to whom we say that human life is a microcosm and imitates the macrocosm, is at
liberty to reply, That is nonsense! If we declare that certain illnesses show a seven day's fever
period, one may object: Why then, when certain outer phenomena appear, does not the too make
its appearance and run parallel, and cease with the external phenomena? It is true that the fever
does not; but, though its temporal beginning and ending does not coincide with the outer
phenomena, it still maintains their inner rhythm. This emancipation from the Cosmos is almost
complete for human life; for animal life less so; plant life, on the other hand, is still to a degree
immersed in the general life of Nature including the outer earthly world.
Hence we shall never understand plant life unless we bear in mind that everything which happens on the
Earth is but a reflection of what is taking place in the Cosmos. For man this fact is only masked
because he has emancipated himself; he only bears the inner rhythms in himself. To the plant
world, however, it applies in the highest degree. That is what I should like to point out in this
introductory lecture.
The Earth is surrounded in the heavenly spaces, first by the Moon and then by the other planets of our
planetary system. In an old instinctive science wherein the Sun was reckoned among the planets,
they had this sequence: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Without astronomical
explanations I will now speak of this planetary life, and of that in the planetary life which is
connected with the earthly world.
Everything that lives in the silicious nature contains forces which come not from the Earth but from the
socalled distant planets, the planets beyond the Sun - Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. That which
proceeds from these distant planets influences the life of plants via the silicious and kindred
substances into the plant and also into the animal life of the Earth. On the other hand, from all that
is represented by the planets near the Earth - Moon, Mercury and Venus - forces work via
limestone and kindred substances. Thus we may say, for every tilled field: therein are working the
silicious and the limestone natures: in the former, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars: and in the latter,
Moon, Venus and Mercury.
Everything connected with the inner force of reproduction and growth - everything that contributes to the
sequence of generation after generation in the plants works through these forces which come down
from the Cosmos to the Earth: from Moon, Venus and Mercury, via the limestone nature. Suppose
we were merely considering what emerges in plants such as we do not eat - plants that simply
renew themselves again and again. We look at them as though only the cosmic influences from the
forces of Venus, Mercury and Moon interest us. For these are the forces involved in all that
reproduces itself in the plant-nature of the Earth.
On the other hand, when plants become foodstuffs to a large extent - when they evolve in such a way that
the substances in them become foodstuffs for animal and man then Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn,
working .via the silicious nature, are concerned in the process. The silicious nature opens the
plant-being to the wide spaces of the Universe and awakens the senses of the plant-being in such a
way as to receive from all quarters of the Universe the forces which are moulded by these distant
planets. Whenever this occurs, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are playing their part. From the sphere of
the Moon, Venus and Mercury, on the other hand, is received all that which makes the plant
capable of reproduction.
Water, in effect, is eminently suited to prepare the ways within the earthly domain for those forces which
come, for instance, from the Moon. Water brings about the distribution of the lunar forces in the
earthly realm. Let us therefor assume that there have just been rainy days and that these are
 followed by a full Moon. In deed and in truth, with the forces that come from the Moon on days of
a full Moon, something colossal is taking place on Earth. These forces spring up and shoot into all
the growth of plants, but they are unable to do so unless rainy days have gone before.
For in certain plants, what the full Moon has to do will thrive intensely after rainy days and will take place
but feebly and sparingly after days of sunshine.
The warmth brings out and makes effective precisely those forces which can work through the silicious
nature, namely, the forces that proceed from Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. These forces must be
regarded in quite a different way than the forces from the Moon. For we must not forget that
Saturn takes thirty years to revolve round the Sun, whereas the Moon with its phases takes only 30
or 28 days. Saturn is only visible for fifteen years. It must therefor be connected with the growth
of plants in quite a different way, albeit, I need hardly say, it is not only working when it shines
down upon the Earth; it is also effective when its rays have to pass upward through the Earth.
Saturn goes slowly round, in thirty years. Let us draw it thus: here is the course of Saturn. Sometimes it
shines directly on to a spot of the Earth. But it can also work through the Earth upon this portion
of the Earth's surface. In either case the intensity with which the Saturn-forces are able to
approach the plant life of the Earth is dependent on the warmth-conditions of the air. When the air
is cold, they cannot approach: when the air is warm, they can.
And where do we see the working of these forces in the plants life? We see it, not so much where annual
plants arise, coming and going in a season and only leaving seeds behind. We see what Saturn
does with the help of the warmth-forces of our Earth, whenever the perennial plants arise. The
effects of these forces, which pass into the plant-nature via the warmth, are visible to us in the rind
and bark of trees, and in what makes the plants, perennial. This is due to the simple fact that the
annual life of the plant - its limitation to a short length of life - is connected to those planets whose
period of revolution is short. That, on the other hand, which frees itself from the transitory nature -
that which surrounds the trees with bark and rind, and makes them permanent - is connected with
the planetary forces which work via the forces of warmth and cold and have a long period of
revolution, as in the case of Saturn: thirty years; or Jupiter: twelve years.
If someone wishes to plant an oak, it is of no little importance whether or no ha has a good knowledge of
the periods of Mars; for an oak, rightly planted in the proper Mars-period, will thrive differently
from one that is planted in the Earth thoughtlessly, just when it happens to suit.
Or, if you wish to plant coniferous forests, where Saturn-forces play so great a part, the result will be
different if you plant the forest in a so-called ascending period of Saturn, or in some other Saturn
period. One who understands can tell precisely, from the things that will grow or will not grow,
whether or no they have been planted with an understanding of the connections of these forces.
Assume for instance that we take, as firewood, wood that is derived from trees which were planted in the
Earth without understanding of the cosmic rhythms. It will not provide the same health-giving
warmth as firewood from trees that were planted intelligently. (50, pp.22-27)

10 June 1924
And now, to localise these influences, I beg you to observe the following. The activities above the Earth
are immediately dependent on Moon, Mercury and Venus supplementing and modifying the
influence of the Sun. The so-called planets near the Earth extend their influences to all that is
above the Earths surface. On the other hand, the distant planets - those that revolve outside the
circuit of the Sun - work upon all that is beneath the Earths surface, assisting those influences
which the Sun exercises from below the Earth. Thus, so far as plant-growth is concerned, we must
look for the influences of the distant heavens below, and of the Earth's immediate cosmic
environment above the Earth's surface.
Once more: all that works inward from the far spaces of the Cosmos to influence the growth of plants,
works not directly - not by direct radiation - but in this way: It is first received by the Earth, and
the Earth then rays it upward again. Thus, the influences that rise upward from the earthly soil -
beneficial or harmful for the growth of plants - are in reality cosmic influences rayed back again.
The direct radiation from the Cosmos works in the air and water above the earth's surface, where it
is stored up. It then operates from there. Now these relationships determine how the earthly soil,
according to its constitution, works upon the growth of plants. (We shall take plant growth to
begin with, and afterwards extend it to the animals.)
Consider the earthly soil. To begin with, we have those influences that depend on the farthest distances of
 the Cosmos - the farthest that come into account for earthly processes. These effects are found in
what is commonly called sand and rock and stone. Sand and rock - substances impermeable to
water, which, in the common phrase, 'contain no foodstuffs' - are in reality no less important than
any other factors. They are most important for the unfolding of the growth-processes, and they
depend throughout on the influences of the most distant cosmic forces. And above all - improbable
as it appears at first sight - it is through the sand, with its silicious content, that there comes into
the Earth what we may call the life-ethereal and the chemically influential elements of the soil.
These influences then take effect as they ray upward again from the Earth.
The way the soil itself grows inwardly alive and develops its own chemical processes, depends above all
on the composition of the sandy portion of the soil. What the plant-roots experience in the soil
depends in no small measure on the extent to which the cosmic life and cosmic chemistry are
seized and held by means of the stones and the rock, which may well be at a considerable depth
beneath the surface. Therefor, wherever we are studying plant-growth, we should be clear in the
first place as to the geological foundation out of which it arises. For those plants in which the root-
nature as such is important, we should never forget that a silicious ground - even if it be only
present in the depths below - is indispensible.
But that is not all. All that is thus connected, by way of silicon, with the root-nature, must also be able to
be led upward through the plant. It must flow upward. There must be constant interaction between
what is drawn in from the Cosmos by the silicon, and what takes place - forgive me! - in the 'belly'
up above: for by the latter process the 'head' beneath must be supplied with what it needs. The
'head' is supplied out of the Cosmos, but it must also be in mutual interaction with what is going
on in the 'belly', above the Earth's surface. In a word, that which pours down from the Cosmos and
is caught up beneath the surface must be able to pour upward again. And for this purpose is the
clayey substance in the soil. Everything in the nature of clay is in reality a means of transport, for
the influences of cosmic entities within the soil, to carry then upward again from below.
But this upstreaming of the cosmic influences is not all. There is also the other process which I may call
the terrestrial or earthly - the process which on in the 'belly' and which depends on a kind of
external 'digestion'. For plant-growth, in effect, all that goes on through summer and winter in the
air above the Earth is essentially a kind of digestion. All that is thus taking place through a kind of
digestive process, must in its turn be drawn downward into the soil. Thus a true mutual interaction
will arise with all the forces and fine homeopathic substances which are engendered by the water
and air above the Earth. All this is drawn down into the soil by the greater or lesser limestone
content of the soil. The limestone content of the soil itself, and the distribution of limestone
substances in homeopathic dilution immediately above the soil - all this is there to carry into the
soil the immediate terrestrial process.
In due time there will be a science of these things - not the mere scientific jargon of today - and it will then
be possible to give exact indications. It will be known, for instance, that there is a very great
difference between the warmth that is above the Earth's surface - that is to say, the warmth that is
in the domain of the Sun, Venus, Mercury and Moon - and that warmth which makes itself felt
within the Earth: which is under the influence of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. For the plant, we may
describe the one kind as leaf-and-flower warmth, and the other as root warmth. These two
warmths are essentially different, and in this sense, we may well call the warmth above the Earth
dead, and that beneath the Earth's surface living
The mineral substances must emancipate themselves from what is working immediately above the surface
of the Earth, if they wish to be exposed to the most distant Cosmic forces. And in our cosmic age
they can most easily do so - they can most easily emancipate themselves from the Earth's
immediate neighbourhood and come under the influence of the most distant cosmic forces down
inside the Earth - in the time between the 15th January and the 15th February; in this winter
season. The time will come when such things are recognised as exact indications. This is the
season when the strongest formative-forces of crystallisation, the strongest forces of form, can be
developed for the mineral substances within the Earth. It is in the middle of winter. The interior of
the Earth then has the property of being least dependent on itself - on its own mineral masses; it
comes under the influence of the crystal-forming forces that are there in the wide spaces of the
Cosmos. (50, pp.30-33)

When the earthly protein is built up, the molecular structure is indeed raised to the highest complexity. But
 a new organism could never arise out of this complexity. The organism does not arise out of the
seed in that way at all. That which develops out of the seed, out of the mother-plant or mother-
animal, does not by any means simply continue its existence in that which afterwards arises as the
descendent plant or animal. That is not true, The truth is rather this: -
When the complexity of structure has been enhanced to the highest degree, it all disintegrates again, and
eventually, where we first had the highest complexity attained within the Earth-domain, we now
have a tiny realm of chaos. It all disintegrates, as we might say, into cosmic dust. Then, when the
seed - having been raised to the highest complexity - has fallen asunder into cosmic dust and the
tiny realm of chaos is there, then the entire surrounding Universe begins to work and stamps itself
upon the seed, thus building up out of the tiny chaos that which can only be built in it by forces
pouring in from the great Universe from all sides. So in the seed we get an image of the Universe.
In every seed formation, the earthly process of organisation is carried to the very end - to the point of
chaos. Time and again, in the chaos of the seed the new organism is built up again out of the whole
Universe. The parent organism has to play this part: through its affinity to a particular cosmic
situation, it tends to bring the seed into that situation whereby the forces work from the right
cosmic directions, so that a Dandelion brings forth, not a barberry, but a dandelion in its turn.
That which is imaged in the single plant, is always the image of some cosmic constellation. Ever and
again, it is built out of the Cosmos. Therefor, if ever we want to make the forces of the Cosmos
effective in our earthly realm, we must drive the earthly as far as possible into a to a state of chaos.
For plant growth, Nature herself will see to it to some extent, that this is done. However, since
every new organism is built out of the Cosmos, it is also necessary for us to preserve the cosmic
process in the organism long enough - that is, until the seed-forming process occurs once more.
Say we plant the seed of some plant in the Earth. Here in this seed we have the stamp or impress of the
whole Cosmos - from one cosmic aspect or another. The constellation takes effect in the seed:
thereby it receives its special form. Now, the moment it is planted in the Earth-realm, the external
forces of the Earth influence it very strongly, and it is permeated every moment with a longing to
deny the cosmic process - that is to say, to grow hypertrophied, to grow out in all manner of
directions. For that which is working above the Earth does not really want to preserve this form.
To some extent all life that has not yet reached the state of chaos rejects the cosmic influences. If such life
is also made use of in the plant's growth, the effect is to hold fast in the plant what is essentially
earthly. The cosmic process works only in the stream which passes upward once more into seed
formation; while on the other hand the earthly process works in the unfolding of leaf, blossom and
so on, and the cosmic only radiates its influences into all this.
We can see this directly. Look at the green plant leaves. The green leaves, in their form and thickness and
in their greeness too, carry an earthly element, but they would not he green unless the cosmic force
of the Sun were also living in them. And even more so when you come to the coloured flower:
therein are living not only the cosmic forces of the Sun, but also the supplementary forces which
the Sun-forces receive from the distant planets - Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. In this way we must
look at all plant growth. Then, when we contemplate the rose, in its red colour we shall see the
forces of Mars. Or when we look at the yellow sunflower - it is not quite rightly called, it is called
so on account of its form: as to its yellowness it should be named the Jupiter-flower. For the force
of Jupiter, supplementing the cosmic force of the Sun, brings forth the white or yellow colour in
the flowers. And when we approach the chickory (Cichorium intybus), we shall divine in the
bluish colour the influence of Saturn, supplementing that of the Sun. But that which thus shines
out in the colouring of the flower works as a force most strongly in the root. For the forces that
live and abound in the distant planets are working, as we have seen, down there below within the
earthly soil.
It is so indeed. We must say to ourselves: Suppose we pull a plant out of the Earth. Down below we have
the root. In the root there is the cosmic nature, whereas in the flower most of all there is the
earthly, the cosmic being only present in the delicate quality of the colouring and shading. If on
the other hand the earthly nature is to live strongly in the root, then it must shoot into form.
Therefor the cosmic roots are those that are more or less single in form. Whereas in highly
ramified roots we have a working of the earthly nature downward into the soil, just as in colour
we have a working-upward of the cosmic nature into the flower.
The Sun-quality is in the midst between the two. The Sun-nature lives most of all in the green leaf, in the
mutual interplay between the flower and the root and all that is between them. The Sun-quality is
 really that which is related, as a 'diaphragm' (for so we called it in this picture) with the surface of
the earth. The cosmic is associated with the interior of the Earth and works upward into the upper
parts of the plant. The earthly, which is localised above the surface of the earth, works downward,
being carried down into the plant with the help of the limestone element.
Assume that by some means we cause the cosmic to be strongly retained - held up within the plant itself.
Then it will not reveal itself to any great extent. It will not shoot out into blossom but will express
itself in a stalk-like nature. Where, now, according to the indications we have given, does the
cosmic nature live in the plant? It lives in the silicious element.
Look at the equisetum plant. It has this peculiarity: it draws the cosmic nature to itself: it permeates itself
with the silicious nature. It contains no less than 90% of silicic acid. In equisetum the cosmic is
present, so to speak, in very great excess, yet in such a way that it does not go upward and reveal
itself in the flower but betrays its presence in the growth of the lower parts.
What do we need to consider? How must we look at a plant when we desire the cosmic forces not to shoot
upward into the blossoming and fruiting processes but to remain below? Suppose we want the
stem and leaf-formation to be held back in the root. What must we then do? We must put such a
plant into a sandy soil, for in silicious soil the cosmic is held back: it is actually 'caught'. Take the
potato, for example. With the potato this end must be attained. The blossoming process must be
kept below. For the potato is a stem and leaf-formation down in the region of the root. The potato
is not a root, it is a stem-formation held back. We must therefor bring it into a sandy soil.
Otherwise we shall not succeed in having the cosmic force retained in the potato.
This, therefore, is the ABC for our judgment of plant-growth. We must always be able to say, what in the
plant is cosmic, and what is terrestrial or earthly. How can we adapt the soil of the earth, by its
special consistency, as it were to densify the cosmic and thereby hold it back more in the root and
leaf? Or again, how can we thin it out so that it is drawn upward in a dilute condition, right up into
the flowers, giving them colour - or into the fruit-forming process, permeating the fruit with a fine
and delicate taste? For if you have apricots or plums with a fine taste - this taste, -just like the
colour of the flowers, is the cosmic quality which has been carried upward, right into the fruit. In
the apple you are eating Jupiter, in the plum you are actually eating Saturn.
...the man of today may know - though this knowledge too is very scanty - he may know how air behaves
in the interior of the Earth. But he knows practically nothing of how light behaves in the interior of
the Earth. He does not know that the silicious - that is, the cosmic - stone or rock or sand receives
the light into the Earth and makes it effective there. Whereas that which stands nearer to the
earthly-living nature, namely the humus, does not receive it: it does not make the light effective in
the Earth. It therefor gives rise to a 'light-less' working.
The animal organism lives in the whole complex of Nature's household. In form and colour and
configuration, and in the structure and consistency of its substance from the front to the hinder
parts, it is related to these influences. From the snout towards the heart, the Saturn, Jupiter and
Mars influences are at work: in the heart itself the Sun, and behind the heart, towards the tail, the
Venus, Mercury and Moon influences. In this respect, those who are interested in these matters
should develop their knowledge above all by earning to read the form. To be able to do this is of
very great importance.
Go to a museum and look at the skeleton of any mammal, and go there with the consciousness that in the
form and configuration of the head there is working above all the radiation of the Sun, the direct
radiant influence of the Sun as it pours into the mouth. For reasons we shall yet discuss, the animal
exposes itself to the Sun in a specific way. A lion exposes itself to the Sun differently from a horse.
The forming of the head and that which immediately follows the head, depends on the way the
animal is exposed to the Sun. Thus in the fore part of the animal we have the direct Sun radiation,
and as a consequence the forming and development of the head.
Now you will remember, the sunlight enters the sphere of the Earth in another way also. It is thrown back
by the Moon. We have not only to do with the direct sunlight; we have also to do with the sunlight
thrown hack by the Moon. This sunlight thrown back by the Moon is quite ineffective when it
shines on to the head of an animal. There it has no influence. (What I am now saying applies
especially, however, to the embryo life). The light that is rayed back from the Moon develops its
highest influence when it falls on the hinder parts of the animal. Look at the skeleton-formation of
the hinder parts; observe its peculiar relation to the head-formation. Cultivate a sense of form to
perceive this contrast - the attachment of the thighs, the forming of the outgoing parts of the
 digestive tract, in contrast to that which is formed as the opposite pole, from the head inward.
There, in the fore and hinder parts of the animal, you have the true contrast of Sun and Moon.
Moreover you will find that the Sun-influence goes as far as the heart and stops short just before the heart.
For the head and the blood-forming process, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are at work. Then, from the
heart backward, the Moon influence is supported by the Mercury and Venus forces. If therefor you
turn the animal in this way and stand it on its head, with the head stuck into the Earth and the
hinder parts upward - you have the position which the 'agricultural individuality' has invisibly.
(50, pp.35-41)

11 June 1924
To know the full significance of protein it will not suffice us to enumerate as its main ingredients
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon. We must include another substance, of the profoundest
importance for protein, and that is sulphur. Sulphur in protein is the very element which acts as
mediator between the Spiritual that is spread throughout the Universe - the formative power of the
Spiritual - and the physical.
Truly we may say, whoever would trace the tracks which the Spiritual marks out in the material world,
must follow the activity of sulphur. Though this activity appears less obvious than that of other
substances, nevertheless it is of great importance: for it is along the paths of sulphur that the
Spiritual works into the physical domain of Nature. Sulphur is actually the carrier of the Spiritual.
Hence the ancient name, 'sulphur' which is closely akin to the name 'phosphorous'. The name is
due to the fact that in olden time they recognised in the out-spreading, sun-filled light, the
Spiritual itself as it spreads far and wide. Therefor they named 'light-bearers' these substances -
like sulphur and phosphorous - which have to do with the working of light into matter. (50,
pp.42-43)

At this point I think you will have a true idea, of the necessity of nitrogen for the life of plants. The plant
as it stands before us in the soil has only a physical and an ether-body: unlike the animal it has not
an astral body within it. Nevertheless, outside it the astral must he there on all hands. The plant
would never blossom if the astral did not touch it from outside. Though it does not absorb it (as
man and animals do) nevertheless, the plant must be touched by the astral from outside. The astral
is everywhere, and nitrogen itself - the bearer of the astral - is everywhere, moving about as a
corpse in the air. But the moment it comes into the Earth, it is alive again. Just as the oxygen does,
so too the nitrogen becomes alive: nay more it becomes sentient and sensitive inside the Earth.
Strange as it may sound to the materialist madcaps of today, nitrogen not only becomes alive but
sensitive inside the Earth: and this is of the greatest importance for agriculture. Nitrogen becomes
the bearer of that mysterious sensitiveness which is poured out over the whole life of the Earth.
It is the nitrogen which senses whether there is the proper quantity of water in a given district of the
Earth. If so, it has a sympathetic feeling. If there is too little water, it has a feeling of antipathy. It
has a sympathetic feeling if the right plants are there for the given soil. In a word, nitrogen pours
out over all things a kind of sensitive life. and above all, you will remember what I told you
yesterday and in the previous lectures: how the planets Saturn, Sun. Moon, etc., have an influence
on the formation and life of plants. You might say, nobody knows of that! It is quite true, for
ordinary life you can say so. Nobody knows! But the nitrogen that is everywhere present - the
nitrogen knows very well indeed, and knows it quite correctly. Nitrogen is not unconscious of that
which comes from the stars and works itself out in the life of plants, in the life of Earth. Nitrogen
is the sensitive mediator, even as in our human nerves-and-senses system it is the nitrogen which
mediates for our sensation. Nitrogen is verily the bearer of sensation. So you can penetrate into the
intimate life of Nature if you can see the nitrogen everywhere, moving about like flowing,
fluctuating feelings. We shall find the treatment of nitrogen, above all, infinitely important for the
life of plants.
For earthly life it is impossible that the Earth should wander through the Cosmos as a solid thing, separate
from the surrounding Universe. There must be constant interchange of substance, and so it must be
between the Earth - with all its creatures - and the entire Universe. All that is living in physical
forms upon the Earth must eventually be led back again into the great Universe. It must be able to
be purified and cleansed, so to speak, in the universal All.
We may describe the process thus: In all these structures, the Spiritual has become physical. There it is
 living in the body astrally, there it is living in its image, as the Spirit or the Ego - living in a
physical way as Spirit transmuted into the physical. After a time, however, it no longer feels
comfortable there. It wants to dissolve again. And now once more - moistening itself with sulphur
- it needs a substance wherein it can take its leave of all structure and definition, and find its way
outward into the undefined chaos of the universal All, where there is nothing more of this
organisation or that.
Now the substance which is so near to the Spiritual on the one hand and to the substantial on the other, is
hydrogen. Hydrogen carries out again into the far spaces of the Universe all that is formed, and
alive, and astral. Hydrogen carries it upward and outward, till it becomes of such nature that it can
be received out of the Universe once more, as we described above. It is hydrogen which dissolves
everything away. (50, p.48-50)

All of these substances, sulphur, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen are united together in protein. Now
we are in a position to understand the process of seed formation a little more fully than hitherto.
Wherever carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen occur - in leaf or flower, calyx or root - everywhere they are
bound to other substances in one form or another. They are dependent on these other substances;
they are not independent. There are only two ways in which they can become independent:
namely, on the one hand when the hydrogen carries them outward into the far spaces of the
Universe - separates them all, carries them all away and merges them into an universal chaos: and
on the other hand, when the hydrogen drives these fundamental substances of protein into the tiny
seed-formation and makes them independent there, so that they become receptive to the inpouring
forces of the Cosmos. In the tiny seed-formation there is chaos, and away in the far circumference
there is chaos once more. Chaos in the seed must interact with chaos in the farthest circles of the
Universe. Then the new being arises. (50, pg.52)

14 June 1924
The simple question is, how can we rid a certain field or area of what will naturally grow there through the
prevailing conditions of Nature, while we do not want it there?
We can only answer this question by taking into account what we have dealt with in the past few days. I
showed how we must strictly distinguish between the forces that are there in the growth of plants -
forces which, though they come from the Cosmos, are first received into the earth and then work
from the earth upon plant-growth. As I said, the forces which are mainly due to the cosmic
influences of Mercury, Venus and Moon (though they do not work directly from these planets, but
by the round-about way of the Earth) - these are the forces we must consider when we are tracing
what produces the daughter-plant after the mother-plant and so on in succession. While on the
other hand, in all that the plant derives from the surrounding sphere, from that which is over the
earth, we must perceive the workings and potentialities which the more distant planets transmit to
the air, which are in this way received.
Moreover, speaking in a wider sense we may say: All the forces that work into the earth from the near
planets are influenced by the chalk- or limestone-workings of the earth, while that which works
from the surrounding sphere is influenced by the workings of silica. Although the silica influences
proceed from the earth itself, nevertheless they transmit what proceeds originally from Jupiter,
Mars and Saturn - not what proceeds from Moon, Venus and Mercury. Nowadays, people are
altogether unaccustomed to take these things into account.
Let me show it diagrammatically. Imagine this is the level of the earth's surface. Here we have all the
influences that come in from the Cosmos - from Venus, Mercury, and Moon - and ray back again,
working upward from below. Everything that works in the earth in this way causes the plants to
bring forth what grows in a single year and culminates in seed-formation. From the seed a new
plant arises, and a third, and so on. Once more then: everything that works from the Cosmos in
this way flows out into the reproductive forces - into the sequence of generations. On the other
hand there is all that which comes by another way - above the level of the earth - all that which
comes from the forces of the distant planets. Diagrammatically we can draw it thus: it represents
all that is transformed in the plant so that it spreads out and expands in the surrounding circle.
Here therefor we have what makes the plant look thick or bulky -i.e. what we can take away as
nourishment, because a continuous stream reforms it, ever anew. I mean, for example, what we
take from the apple- or the peach-tree - the fleshy fruit which we consume. All this is due to the
 influence of the distant planets.
Such insight alone will tell us how to act if we wish to influence the plant's growth in a particular way. It is
only by taking these varied forces into account that we gain an idea, how we can influence the
plant's growth. Now a large number of plants - notably those which we ordinarily count as weeds -
are greatly influenced by the workings of the Moon. These are often medicinal plants. Precisely
among the 'weeds', so-called, we often find the strongest curative herbs.
Now in the Cosmos it is just this lunar force which strengthens and intensifies all that is earthly. Indeed,
when the Moon was united with the Earth, the Earth itself was far more living, fruiting, inherently
fertile. When the Moon was still one with the Earth there was nothing so mineral as we have
today. Even now, after its severance, the Moon works so as to intensify the normal vitality of the
Earth, which is still just enough to bring about growth of living creatures. The Moon intensifies it,
thus enhancing the growth-process to the point of reproduction.
Now the Earth by itself is still just able to transmit that feeble reproductive process which growth
represents; but it has no power, without the Moon's assistance, to produce the enhanced growth-
process of reproduction. Here it requires the cosmic forces shining in upon the Earth through the
Moon - and, in the case of certain plants, through Mercury and Venus too. As I said, people
commonly imagine that the Moon merely receives the Sun's rays and throws them down onto the
Earth. In considering the Moon's effect they only think of the Sunlight: hut that is not the only
thing that comes to the Earth.
With the Moon's rays the whole reflected Cosmos comes on to the Earth. All influences that pour on to the
Moon are rayed back again. Thus the whole starry Heavens - though we may not be able to prove
it by the customary physical methods of today - are in a sense rayed back on to the Earth by the
Moon. It is indeed a strong and powerfully organising cosmic force which the Moon rays down
into the plant, so that the seeding process of the plant may also be assisted: so that the force of
growth may be enhanced into the force of reproduction.
However, all this is only there for a given district of the Earth when it is full Moon. When it is new Moon,
the country does not enjoy the benefit of the Moon-influences. It only holds fast in the plants,
during the new Moon, what they received at the full Moon. Indeed, we should attain important
results if we only tried to see what progress we could make by using the Moon, let us say, in
sowing -i.e. for the very earliest germinating activity within the Earth.
However, Nature is not so cruel as to punish man forthwith for his slight inattention and discourtesy to the
Moon in sowing and reaping, we have the full Moon twelve times a year, and that is adequate for a
sufficiency of the full-Moon influences, i.e. of the forces that quicken the fruiting process. If on
any occasion we perform what tends to fertilisation, not at the full Moon but at the new, it will
simply wait in the Earth till the next full Moon. So it gets over our human errors and takes its cue
from great Nature.
This is sufficient for men to make use of the Moon all unawares. But that is all - and we get no further
along these lines. Treated in this way, the weeds will demand their rights just as much as the
vegetables, and everything grows confused, for we are strangers to the forces that regulate growth.
We must first enter into them. Then we shall know that by using the fully evolved Moon-force we
work for reproduction of all vegetable life, i.e. for that which shoots up from the root, right up into
the seed-formation. Thus we shall get the strongest weeds if we let the kind Moon work down
upon them - if we do nothing to arrest its influence upon our weeds. For there are wet years when
the Moon-forces work more than in the dry. The weeds will then reproduce themselves and
increase greatly.
If on the other hand, we reckon with these cosmic forces, then we shall say to ourselves: We must contrive
to check the full influence of the Moon upon the weeds. That is to say, we must only let work upon
them the influences coming from without - not the Moon influences, but those that work directly.
Then we shall set a limit to the propagation of the weeds: they will he unable to reproduce
themselves. Now we cannot 'switch off' the Moon. Therefor we must treat the soil in such a way
that the earth is disinclined to receive the lunar influences. Indeed, not only the earth, but the
plants too (i.e. the weeds) can thus become disinclined to receive the lunar influences. We can
make the weeds reluctant, in a sense, to grow in earth which has been thus treated. If we attain this
end, we have all that we need.
You see the weeds growing rampant in a given year. You must accept the fact. Do not be alarmed: say to
yourself: Something must now he done. So now you gather a number of seeds of the weed in
 question. For in the seed the force of which I have just spoken has reached its final culmination.
Now light a flame - a simple woodflame is best - and burn the seeds. Carefully gather all the
resulting ash. You get comparatively little ash, but that does not matter. Quite literally, for the
plants thus treated by letting their seeds pass through the fire and turn to ash, you will have
concentrated in the ash the very opposite force to that which is developed in attracting the Moon-
forces.
Now use the tiny amount of substance you have thus prepared from a variety of weeds, and scatter it over
your fields. You need not take especial care in doing so, for these things work in a wide
circumference. Already in the second year you will see, there is far less of the kind of weed you
have thus treated. Moreover, many things in Nature being subject to a cycle of four years, after the
fourth year you will see, if you continue sprinkling the pepper year by year, the weed will have
ceased to exist on the field in question. (50, pp.107-lll)

And now, imagine that you do the following: you catch a fairly young mouse and skin it, so as to get the
skin. There you have the skin of a fairly young mouse (There are always enough mice - albeit,
they must be field-mice if you wish to make this experiment). But you must obtain this skin of the
field-mouse at a time when Venus is in the sign of Scorpio.
To attain our end within the plant-world we can stop at the planetary system. For the animal world, that is
not enough. There we need ideas that reckon with the surrounding sphere of the fixed stars,
notably the fixed stars of the zodiac.
Moreover, in the growth of plants the Moon-influence is wellnigh sufficient to bring about the
reproductive process. In the animal kingdom, on the other hand, the Moon-influence must be
supported by that of Venus. Nay, for the animal kingdom the Moon-influence does not need to be
considered very much. For the animal kingdom conserves the lunar forces it emancipates itself
from the Moon. The Moon-force is developed in the animal kingdom even when it does not
happen to be full Moon. The animal carries the force of the full Moon within it, conserves it, and
so emancipates itself from the limitations of time.
This does not apply to what we here have to do; it does not apply to the other planetary forces. For you
must do something quite definite with the mouse-skin. At the time when Venus is in Scorpio, you
obtain the skin of the mouse and burn it. Carefully collect the ash and the other constituents that
remain over from the burning. It will not be much, but if you have a number of mice, it is enough.
You can easily get enough.
Thus you obtain your burned mouse-skin at the time when Venus is in Scorpio. And there remains, in what
is thus destroyed by the fire, the corresponding negative force as against the reproductive power of
the fieldmouse. Take the pepper you get in this way, and sprinkle it over your fields. In some
districts it may be difficult to carry out: then you can afford to do it even more homoeopathically:
you do not need a whole plateful.
Provided it has been led through the fire at the high conjunction of Venus and Scorpio, you will find this
an excellent remedy. (50, pg.113)

In this case you do not take part of the insect as you do with the mouse. You must take the entire insect.
An insect like this, which settles harmfully on the plant-root, is altogether an outcome of cosmic
influences: it only needs the Earth as its underlying basis. Therefor you must burn the whole
insect. It is best to burn it; that is the quickest way. You might also let it decay; possibly this would
be even more thorough, only it is difficult to collect the products of decay. But you will certainly
obtain what you need by burning the whole insect.
Now it is necessary to perform this operation when the Sun is in the sign of Taurus. (If need be, you can
keep the insect and burn it when the time comes]. This, you see, is precisely the opposite of the
constellation in which Venus must be when you prepare your mouse-skin pepper. In effect, the
insect world is connected with the forces that evolve when the Sun is passing through Aquarius,
Pisces, Aries and Gemini and on to Cancer. In Cancer it appears quite feebly, and it is feeble again
when you come to Aquarius. It is while passing through these regions that the Sun rays out the
forces which relate to the insect world.
People are unaware what a specialised thing the Sun is. The Sun is not really the same when in the course
of a year or a day it shines on to the Earth from Taurus, or from Cancer, or the other constellations.
In each case it is different. It is comparative nonsense to speak of the Sun in general terms - albeit,
 pardonable nonsense. We should really speak of Aries-Sun, Taurus-Sun, Cancer-Sun, Leo-Sun,
and so on. For the Sun is a different being in each case. Moreover, the resultant influence depends
both on the daily course and on the yearly course of the Sun, as determined by its position in the
vernal point. (50, pg.115)

You have the Earth - the Earth which is filled with water - and you have the Moon. The Moon, letting its
radiations pour into the Earth, makes it to some extent alive in itself: awakens waves and weavings
of the ethereal within the Earth. It does so more easily when the earth is saturated with water, and
with greater difficulty when the earth is dry. You must remember, the water is only a mediator. It is
the earth itself - the solid, mineral element - which must be made alive. The water, too, is mineral.
There is of course no hard-and-fast line. Thus we must have the lunar influences in the soil.
Now the Moon-influences in the soil can also become too strong. This can happen in a very simple way.
You need only call to mind a thoroughly wet winter, followed by a thoroughly wet spring. Then
the Moon forces will enter the earth too strongly. The earth will become too much alive. Once
more, you will have an over-intense vitalisation of the earth.
If the Moon imparts precisely the right vitality to the earth, this vitality will work on and upward till the
seed develops. Assume now that the Moon-influence is too strong: the earth is much too vitalised.
Then it will work too strongly from below upward. That which should only occur in the seed-
formation will occur at an earlier stage. Precisely when it is too strong, it will be insufficient to
reach the top. Through its very intensity, it will work itself out more in the lower regions. As a
result of the strong Moon-influence, the seed-formation proper will have insufficient power. The
seed receives something of dying life into itself, and through this dying life there arises, as it were,
above the soil - above the primary level of the earth - a secondary level. Although it is not earth,
the same effects are there - above the proper level - and, as a consequence, the seed (the upper part
of the plant) becomes a soil for other organisms. Parasites and fungoid growths arise - all manner
of fungoid growths.
Thus we see the forming of mildew, blight, rust, and similar diseases. The over-intense Moon-influence
prevents what should work upward from the earth from reaching the necessary level. The true
force of fertility depends upon the Moon's influence being normal. It must not be too intense. It
may seem strange, but it is so: this result is brought about, not by a weakening but by an over-
intensity of the Moon-forces. (50, pp.117-118)

Must the position of the stars always be the same for combatting insect pests?
It will have to be tested. I said that the whole series is important from Aquarius to Cancer. Undoubtedly,
within these limits a variation among the constellations for the different kinds of lower animals
will be significant. It must be tested.
Did you mean the astronomical Venus, for the fieldmice?
Yes, that which we call the evening star.
What 'constellation of Venus with Scorpio'?
Whenever Venus is visible in the sky with the Scorpio constellation in the background. Venus must be
behind the Sun.
How should the insects be caught? Can they be used in the larval state?
You can use the larvae and the complete winged insect equally well. It may only involve a slight
difference in the constellation. The proper constellation will move to some extent in the direction
from Aquarius to Cancer as you pass from the winged insect to the larva. For the insect itself, the
proper constellation will therefor be more towards Aquarius. (50, pp.L23-124)

15 June 1924
Diagrammatically, we can draw the animal in this way: In all that is there in the periphery, in its
environment - in the nerves-and-senses system and in a portion of the breathing system - the
animal is itself. In its own essence, it is a creature that lives directly in the air and warmth. It has
an absolutely direct relation to the air and warmth.
Notably out of the warmth its bony system is formed - where the Moon- and Sun-influences are especially
transmitted through the warmth. Out of the air, its muscular system is formed. Here again the
 forces of Sun and Moon are working through the air. But the animal cannot relate itself thus
directly to the earthy and watery elements. It cannot assimilate water and earth thus directly. It
must indeed receive the earth and water into its inward parts: it must therefor have the digestive
tract, passing inward from outside. With all that it has become through the warmth and air, it then
assimilates the water and the earth inside it - by means of its metabolic and a portion of its
breathing system. (50, pg.133)

16 June 1921
Now let us come to the question, how should we fatten animals? Here we must say to ourselves: As much
as possible of cosmic substance must be carried, as it were, into a sack. Oh, the pigs, the fat pigs
and sows - what heavenly creatures they are! In their fat body - insofar as it is not nerves-and-
senses system - they have nothing but cosmic substance. It is not earthly, it is cosmic substance.
The pigs only need the material food they eat, to distribute throughout their body this infinite
fulness of cosmic substance which they must absorb from all quarters. The pig must feed, so as to
be able to distribute the substance which it draws in from the Cosmos. It must have the necessary
forces for the distribution of the cosmic substance.
And so it is with other fattened animals. (50, pg.117)

Might we have the indications as to the proper constellations?

(Dr.Vreede) The exact indications cannot be given now. The necessary calculations cannot be done in a
moment. Broadly speaking, the period from the beginning of February until August will hold good
for the insect preparations. For the field-mice, the periods will vary from year to year. For this year
(1924) the time from the second half of November to the first half of December would be right.
Speaking of full Moon and new Moon, do you mean the actual day of the full Moon, or do you include the
time shortly before and after?
You call it new Moon from the moment when this picture appears, approximately speaking. This picture is
there; then it vanishes. And you reckon it full Moon from the time when the following picture
occurs. New Moon, therefor, from the time when the Moon appears as a quite narrow crescent,
and then disappears. Twelve to fourteen days in each case.
As to frost in general, you must realise what it is that comes to expression in the effects of frost. These
effects always represent a great enhancement of the cosmic influences at work in the earth. This
cosmic influence has its normal mean when certain degrees of temperature are prevalent: then it is
just as the plant requires it. If, on occasion, we get frost of long duration or too intense and deeply
penetrating, the influence of the heavens on the earth is too strong, and the plants will tend to
ramify in various directions, to form thread-like growths, to spread out thinly. And the resulting
growths, being thin, will under certain conditions naturally be received by the prevailing frost, and
destroyed. Frost, therefor, when it goes too far, is undoubtedly harmful to plant-growth, simply
because too much of the heavens comes into the soil of the earth. (50, pp.152-153)

1 July 1924
In effect, these human beings ascribed to their own person only their Feeling and their Willing. Out of an
ancient background of culture, they rather lived in the sensation It thinks in me than they thought
I think. Doubtless they thought I feel, I will, but they did not think I think in the same
measure. On the other hand they said to themselves - and what I shall now describe was an
absolutely real conception to them: In the Sublunary Sphere, there live the thoughts. The thoughts
are everywhere within this sphere, which is determined when we imagine the Earth at a certain
point, and the Moon at another, followed by Mercury, Venus, etc. They not only conceived the
Earth as a dense and rigid cosmic mass, but as a second thing belonging to it they conceived the
Lunar Sphere, reaching up to the Moon. And as we say, In the air in which we breathe is oxygen,
so did these people say (it is only forgotten now that it was ever so): - In the Ether which reaches
up to the Moon, there are the thoughts. And as we say We breathe-in the oxygen of the air, so
did these people say - not We breathe-in the thoughts - but We perceive the thoughts, receive
them into ourselves. They were conscious of the fact that they received the thoughts.
Men who had this kind of inner experience felt themselves in a common atmosphere of thought with all
others who had the same experience. It was a common atmosphere of thought reaching beyond the
earth, not only a few miles, but as I said, up to the orbit of the moon. (97, pp.14-16)
5 July 1924
In the algae we have plants that have neither strongly developed root formation nor strongly developed
flower formation. It is indeed almost as though flower and root had been telescoped. The leaf
organisation is the main thing; everything else is produced from it. In algae therefore, since foliage
preponderates, we find no very near relationship to the earth. Nor, on the other hand, is there any
very near relationship to the outer cosmos. There is however a relationship to the watery and airy
elements that are active immediately over the surface of the earth. Algae - and the same applies
also to mushrooms - are plants that are, as it were, completely steeped in the interplay of air and
water. (93, pg.173)

Here we come into the realm of the cosmic; we have to set about investigating the constellations that were
present at birth (we cannot of course do it for conception). And this will lead us to ask whether
there were not in the case of these children who are albinos, quite special constellations,
constellations moreover that can only seldom occur. We shall have to find what we can learn, not
from the planets that move quickly, but from the constellations of the planets that take a long time
to revolve, such as Saturn and Uranus. (93, pg.185)

6 July 1924
The sun rises and sets; the stars rise and set. We can trace how the sun sets, for example in the region
where there are certain groups of stars. We can trace what is now called the apparent course of the
stars, circling round the earth. We can trace the course of the sun. In 24 hours, the sun circles
around the earth - apparently as we say nowadays, - and the stars too circle around the earth. So
we say: but it is not quite correct. For if again and again we attentively observe the course of stars
and sun, we perceive at length that the sun does not always rise at the same time in relation to the
stars. It grows ever a little later. Day after day it arrives a little later at the place where it was on
the previous day in relation to the stars. These spaces of time, by which the sun remains behind the
stars in their course, add up till they become an hour, two hours, three hours, and at length a day.
Thus at length the time approaches when we can say: The sun has remained behind the star by a
whole day.
Now let us assume: Someone was born on the 1st of March in a particular year. And, let us say, he lived till
the end of his 72nd year. He always celebrates his birthday on the 1st of March, for the sun says: His
birthday is on the 1st of March. And he can celebrate it so, for throughout the 72 years of his life
(though it progresses in relation to the stars) the sun shines forth ever and again in the
neighbourhood of the star that shone when he came down to earth. But when he has lived 72
years, a full day has elapsed. He has arrived at an age in life when the sun leaves the star into
which it entered when he began his life.
During this time which the sun can spend in the region of his star, a man can live on earth. Then (under
normal conditions) when the sun is no longer there to comfort his star for his life on earth, when
the sun no longer says to his star: (He is down there, and I for myself am giving thee what he - this
human being - has to give thee; and for the time being, as I cover thee, I am doing for him what
thou dost for him between death and a new birth, when the sun can no longer speak thus to the
star, the star summons the man back again. (97, pp.45-46)

7 July 1924
Our earth, from what I have just now described and what you can still see today, our earth is a greybeard,
an ancient fellow, almost dead already - if one does not count the life newly sprung up, one can
call it almost dead. But at its side in the universe there are again younger forms which will only
later become what our present life is. For instance, we must regard the comets as one of these. We
can know, therefore, that since the comets are younger, they must still have conditions that belong
to a younger age. The comets are to the earth what the child is to the older man. And if the earth
once had prussic acid, the comets must now have it, they must have hydrocyanic acid! If with
todays body one were to touch a comet, one would instantly die. It is diluted prussic acid that is in
them.
I said in Paris in 1906 that this follows from the premises of spiritual science. Those who acknowledge
spiritual science accepted my statement even though it astonished them. Then later, a fairly long
 time afterward, a comet made its appearance. By that time people had got the necessary
instruments and it was then found by ordinary scientific methods that comets do have cyanide,
prussic acid, as I said in Paris in 1906. So it was confirmed. (52, pp.45-46)

13 July 1924
Then when they had reached this point, they were introduced to the planetary system. They learnt how
with the knowledge of the planetary system there arises at the same time the knowledge of the
human soul. Learn to know how the wandering stars hold sway in the heavens, and thou shalt
know how thine own soul works and weaves and lives within thee. This was placed before the
pupils. And at length they were led to approach what was called The Great Ocean, - but it was
the Cosmic Ocean, which leads from the planets, from the wandering stars , to the fixed stars.
Thus at length they penetrated into the secrets of the I, by learning the secrets of the universe of
the fixed stars.
Mankind to-day has forgotten that such instructions were ever given; but they were. A living knowledge of
this kind was cultivated until the 7th or 8th century in the last relics of the ancient Mysteries. And as
a doctrine - as a theory - it was still cultivated even until that turn of the 14th and 15th centuries of
which we have so often spoken. In certain centres we still see these old teachings cultivated,
although with the greatest possible difficulties. They were well-nigh shadowed-down to concepts
and ideas; yet the concepts and ideas were still living enough to kindle, in one man and another,
the upward vision of all the realities of which I spoke just now. (97, pp.88-89)

8 Aug. 1924
Now there is a certain contrast. Since the very beginning of earthly evolution, this contrast has existed. It
is the contrast between the Intelligences of all the planets and the Intelligence of the Sun. There is
indeed on the one hand the Sun Intelligence, while on the other there are the Intelligences of the
several planets. And it was always so, that the Sun Intelligence stood paramountly under the
dominion of Michael, while the other Planetary Intelligences were subject to the other Archangels.
Thus we may say:
Sun Intelligence Michael
Mercury Raphael
Venus Anael
Mars Samael
Jupiter Zachariel
Moon Gabriel
Saturn Oriphiel
On the other hand it was always so that one might not say, Michael administers the Sun Intelligence alone,
but rather, Michael administers the whole Cosmic Intelligence, differentiated as it is into the Sun
Intelligence and the Planetary Intelligences, Mercury, Venus, Mars, etc. The several Beings of the
Hierarchy of Archangeloi partake in its administration. But over all of them together Michael
holds sway ever and again. (97, pp.168-169)

9 Aug. 1924
For the moment let us disregard what Copernicus taught, namely, that the earth revolves around the sun;
let us take things as they appear. We have the earth with the sun moving around it, rising in the
east and setting in the west. The sun is always at a different point. But there is something
remarkable here. In certain regions - but everywhere, really; one only has to observe carefully - at
sunrise and at sunset, other times too, there is not only twilight but something else that is always a
thing of wonder. Around the sun there is a kind of radiating light. Whenever we look at the sun,
but especially toward morning or evening, this radiating light is apparent as well as the twilight.
Light radiates around the sun. It has a name: the zodiacal light. People rack their brains about this
zodiacal light - especially those who think in a materialistic way. They say to themselves: The sun
shines in empty space and when it shines, it illumines other celestial bodies, but where does this
zodiacal light around the sun come from? Countless theories have been put forward as to its
origin. Whether one assumes that the sun moves around through empty space, or - as Copernicus
taught - merely stands still, this does not account in any way for the presence of that light. So
where does the light come from?
This is a very simple matter to explain. You will certainly on a very clear evening have walked through the
town and seen the street lamps. On a clear evening the lights have definite outlines. But on a
misty, foggy evening there is always a haze of light around them, why is this? The haze is caused
by the mist. At certain times the sun moves over the sky in a haze because heavenly space is not
empty but filled with a fine mist. The radiance that is present in this fine mist is the zodiacal light.
But the reason why this zodiacal light that accompanies the sun is sometimes strong, sometimes
faint, sometimes not visible at all is that the mist in the universe is sometimes dense and
sometimes thin. (52, pp.142-143)

Now since the universe is filled with the gaseous substance we perceive in the zodiacal light, this universe
would be found to he emitting all kinds of different smells if organs of smell existed which were
even more delicate than that of the dog.
Such beings do exist. There are beings that can actually smell the universe: namely, the plants. The plants
smell the universe and adapt themselves accordingly. What does the violet do? The violet is really
all nose, a very, very delicate nose. The violet is beautifully aware of what streams from Mercury
and forms its scent-body accordingly, while the asafoetida has a delicate perception of what
streams from Saturn and forms its gas-body accordingly, having thereby an offensive odour. And
so it is that every being in the plant world is perceiving the in from the planetary world.
But now what about plants that have no fragrance? Why have they no scent? As a matter of fact, to
sensitive noses all plants do have a certain scent - at the least, they have what can be called a
refreshing aroma - and this has a very strong effect upon them. This refreshing smell comes from
the sun. A large number of plants are only receptive to this sun smell. But various plants, like the
violet or the asafoetida, are receptive to the planetary influences: these are the sweet-smelling or
the had-smelling plants.
And so we can say when we smell a violet: This violet is really all nose - but a delicate nose, inhaling the
cosmic scent of Mercury. It holds the scent, as I have indicated, between its solid parts and exhales
it: then the scent is dense enough for us to be able to smell it. So when Mercury comes toward us
through the violet, we smell Mercury. Suppose you are walking through an avenue of horse-
chestnuts - you know the scent of horse chestnut, or of linden blossoms? They both have such
perfume because their flowers are sensitive noses for everything that streams into the universe
from Venus.
Now let us turn to something else Herr Erbsmehl mentioned in his question, namely the human races.
Originally, different races lived in different regions of the earth. It is quite correct to say that one
planet has a particularly strong influence upon one part of the earth, another planet upon another
part. In Asia, for instance, the land is strongly affected by what streams to the earth from Venus -
Venus, the evening star, what streams from Saturn works with particular strength upon American
soil. And Mars works particularly strongly upon Africa. So we find that each of the planets works
particularly strongly upon some specific part of the earth. They radiate their light from the various
places where they stand in the heavens. The light of Venus, for instance, works quite differently
upon the earth from the light of Mercury. This is connected with the different formations of
mountains, of rocks. And the plant-nature in man is determined in accordance with this.
The plant-nature in the human being adjusts itself to the scents of the planets just as do the plants
themselves. Certain minerals which still retain much of the plant-nature, also have an odour. So
whether something does or does not have an odour depends upon whether it is perceiving the
scents of the universe, (52, pp.115-118)

12 Aug. 1924
And again a deep impression was made upon them in those early times when they looked back to the first
six or seven years of their childhood and perceived how, during those years, they were still
unmistakably clothed in that divine element in which they had lived before incarnation, how,
between the seventh and fourteenth year they began to emerge from the spiritual egg until the
process was finally complete in the twentieth year. It was only at this age that they really felt
themselves to be Earth beings. And then they realized the more keenly the difference between day
and night.
They observed in themselves periodic changes in development every six or seven years. This was in
accordance with the lunar phases. The Moon phases of twenty-eight days corresponded with the
pattern of their own life experience of periods of six or seven years. And they felt that a Moon
phase of one month was equivalent, in the life of man, to a period of twenty-eight years (4x7
years). This they expressed in the calendar by inserting an intercalary month every seventh year. In
brief, their calculations were based on the Moon, not the Sun. (51, pp.12-13)

We know that the real origin of the plants lies in the higher spheres. That which, hitherto, we had taken to
he nothing more than the sparkle and glitter of the separate stars, that is the true being of the
plants. It seems as if now for the first time we have seen the real plant-beings: as if we were seeing
only the dewdrops of the violet bathed in morning dew and not the violet as such. In looking at the
single star we see the single sparkling dewdrop: in truth, however, a mighty world in flux and
movement lies behind. We know what the plant-world really is: it is not to be found on Earth, but
out in the Cosmos, grand, mighty and sublime. And in all that we saw by day in the multi-coloured
carpet of flowers is the reflected image of the higher spheres.
And we now know that the Cosmos, with its flux and movement of real forms and beings is reflected on
the surface of the Earth. When we look into a mirror, we see ourselves reflected and we know that
the reflection is only of our outer form, not of our soul. The heavens are not reflected on Earth so
definitely, but in such a way that they are mirrored in the yellow, green, blue, red and white of the
plant colours. They are a reflected image, the faint, shadowy reflection of the heavens.
We have now come to know a new world. In the higher spheres are found the 'plant-men', beings endowed
with self-consciousness. And so, to the phenomenal world and astral world, we can add a third, the
real spiritual world. (51, pp.51-55)

13 Aug. 1924
In the case of the plants this stream of cosmic energy flows down from above, the Earth offers resistance
and the plants grow up out of the Earth. In the case of the mineral kingdom we are aware that
through the free interplay of these currents from the cosmic All, the mineral kingdom is created. In
the case of the mineral-crystal kingdom nothing is reflected back from the Earth. Everything is
mirrored in its own element.
If you discover a quartz crystal in the mountains, it is usually found in a vertical position. Its base is
embedded in the rock. This is accounted for by the intervention of terrestrial, Ahrimanic forces
which act as disruptive factors. In reality, the quartz is formed by the pressure of a spiritual
element from all sides; there is an interplay of reflecting facets and you see the crystal free in
cosmic space. Each single crystal whose every facet is perfectly fashioned, is a little world unto
itself.
Now there are many types of crystal formation... Each of these crystals is formed in the way I have
described. And there are as many different cosmic forces, indeed, as many worlds in cosmic space
as there are crystals in the Earth. We begin to have insight into an infinitude of worlds. (51,
pp.60-61)

16 Aug. 1921
What we see as the Moon is simply a kind of nucleus and the whole sphere belongs to the Moon. The
Earth is within the Moon sphere. If the germ could rotate, this nucleus would also rotate. The
Moon's orbit follows the boundaries of the Moon sphere.
The ancients who still knew something of these matters did not speak therefor of the Moon, but of the
Moon sphere. The Moon, as we see it today, was to them only a point at the furthest boundary.
Every day this point changes position and in the course of twenty-eight days traces for us the
boundaries of the Moon sphere. When our inner experiences between birth and the seventh year
become inspirational vision, we acquire the power to enter into the Moon sphere as our perception
of the Earth is gradually lost.
When the experiences of the second life-period, between the change of teeth and puberty, are transformed
into inspirational vision, we experience the Mercury sphere, the second sphere. We live together
with the Earth in the Mercury sphere. The experiences of the Mercury sphere only become visible
through the organ of vision that we can create for ourselves when we look back consciously and
with clear perception into the experiences of our life on Earth between the ages of seven and
 fourteen. With the inspirational vision derived from the years between puberty and the age of
twenty-one, we experience the Venus sphere. The ancients were not so ignorant as we imagine;
with their dreamlike knowledge they knew a great deal about these things and they endowed the
planetary system that we experience after the years of puberty with a name associated with sexual
awareness which begins at this period.
Then when we look back consciously on our experiences between the ages of twenty-one and fourty-two,
we know that we are within the Sun sphere.
When the separate life-periods are transformed into organs of the inner life, they endow us with the power
to enlarge step by step our cosmic consciousness.
It would be untrue to say that we cannot know anything of the Sun sphere before our fourty-second year.
We can learn about it from the Mercury beings for they are fully acquainted with it. But in that
event our experience comes to us indirectly, through supersensible teaching. Now in order to have
direct experience in the Sun sphere in our own consciousness, in order to be able to enter into it,
we must not only have lived in the period between the ages of twenty-one and fourty-two, but we
must have passed our fourty-second year, we must he able to look back over the past, for only in
the retrospective survey are the mysteries revealed.
And again, when we are able to look back upon our life up to the fourty-ninth year, the mysteries of Mars
are revealed. If we can look back upon our life up to the age of fifty-six, the Jupiter mysteries are
revealed. And the deeply veiled, but extraordinarily illuminating mysteries of Saturn - mysteries
which, as we shall see in the following lectures, veil the profound secrets of the Cosmos - are
revealed when we look back upon the events and happenings between the fifty-sixth and sixty-
third years. (51, pp.L28-130)

21 Aug. 1924
Now whenever the Sun-forces work in upon the earth they are always connected with an impulse which
streams into earthly civilisation as an inpouring wave of intellectuality, for in our sphere of
existence everything possessed by man and by the world in general in the way of intellectuality,
derives from the Sun. The Sun is the source of all intellectual life operating in the service of the
spirit. (102, pg.32)

22 Aug. 1924
[Archangel epochs, characterised by the most important lift-period specified for each planet, above]
present Michael Sun
1879-1510 Gabriel Moon
1510-1190 Samael Mars
1190-850 Raphael Mercury
850-500 Zachariel Jupiter
500-150 Anael Venus
150-200BC Oriphiel Saturn
[51, pg.139, precis by RSWB))

It is essential to realize that we must not immediately undertake investigations into the spiritual world; but
on the other hand if we do not adopt undesirable practices, such as experimenting with karma
when there is no karmic necessity, or with mediums whose procedure we do not understand; and if
we rely upon everyday consciousness, which is the right condition of consciousness for this world,
then we will attain to a perfect understanding of the communications of Initiation Science. We are
greatly mistaken if we imagine that we cannot have such an understanding without first being able
to experience the spiritual world for ourselves. To say, 'What avails the spiritual world, if I cannot
experience it for myself?' is to encourage yet another of the errors commonly committed today.
This is to commit one of the greatest, most dangerous and most obvious of errors and must be
clearly recognized by those who are associated with a movement such as the Anthroposophical
Society. (51, pp.212-213)

24 Aug. 1924
Wherever artistic skill and fluency in speech show themselves in the karma of a human being, these are to
be traced to the fact that his karmic experiences have brought him into the vicinity of Mars
 Beings. (102, pg.64)

27 Aug. 1924
[Time-periods and planetary relationships of governing Archangels] (102, pp.83-84, precis by RSWB)

9 Sept. 1924
Mars is near the earth. What effect does that have upon the earth7 What is known about Mars?
We must not attach prime importance to these external circumstances in the planetary constellations due to
the relative positions of earth and sun, because the influences arising from them do not really
amount to very much. It is interesting that there has been all this talk about the proximity of Mars,
because every planet, including the moon, is constantly coming nearer to the earth, and the planets
are undergoing a process that will finally end in all of them uniting again with the earth, forming a
single body.
...the degrees of density of the various planets are not the same as that of the earth. If Mars, for instance,
were actually to come down and unite with the earth, it would not he able to lay waste the land but
only to inundate it. For as far as investigation is possible - it can never be done with physical
instruments but only through spiritual science, spiritual vision -Mars consists primarily of a more
or less fluid mass, not as fluid as our water but, shall we say, more like the consistency of jelly, or
something of that kind. There are also dense components, but they are not as densely solid as those
of our earth. Their consistency would be more comparable to that of antlers or horns of our
animals, which form out of the general mass and dissolve back into it again.
Only everything on Mars is much more full of life than on the earth. The earth is a dead planet in a far
stronger sense than Mars, on which everything is still more or less living.
...the sun and the moon have a tremendous influence upon the earth. We can recognize the lunar influence
from the time of the rotation, that is, from the time it takes for the moon to become full moon, new
moon, and so on. We can recognize the influence of the sun from its rising and setting, or from the
fact that it acquires its power in the spring and loses it in the autumn.
The course of propagation of certain insects shows us the kind of influence that Mars exercises upon the
life of the earth. But the influence is rather hidden. The influence of the sun is quite obvious, that
of the moon not obvious to the same extent, and the influence of Mars is hidden. Everything for
which intervals of years are needed on the earth - as in the case of grubs and cockchafers - is
dependent upon Mars. So there you see a significant effect of Mars.
However, we come now to the essential point. The sun has the most powerful influence of all. But it exerts
its greatest influence upon everything on the earth that is dead, that must be called to new life
every year while the moon influences only what is living. Mars exerts its influence only upon what
exists in a more delicate form of life, in the sentient realm. The other planets have their influence
upon what is of the nature of soul and spirit. The sun, then, is the heavenly body that works most
strongly; it works into the very minerals of the earth. In the minerals the moon can do nothing nor
Mars. If the moon were not there, no animal creature could live and move about on the earth; there
could only be plants on the earth, no animals. Again, there are many animal creatures that could
not have intervals of years between the larva-stage and the insect if Mars were not there.
Until about our thirtieth year we do really 'increase'; but then, for the first time, we begin to 'decrease'. If
we compare this with happenings in the universe, we get the time of rotation of Saturn.
So the planets exercise their influence upon the more delicate conditions of growth and of life. Hence we
can say: When, like all the planets, Mars comes near the earth, we must not attach primary
importance to this outer nearness. What is of far greater importance is how things in the universe
are connected with the finer, more delicate states and conditions of life.
Jupiter consists almost entirely of air, but again somewhat denser than the air of the earth. Jupiter today
represents a condition toward which the earth is now striving, which it will attain only in the
future.

In one of your last lectures you said that the scents of flowers are relates to the planets. Does this also
apply to the colours of flowers and colours of stones?
As I said, the plant takes shape out of the aroma of the universe and throughout the year it is exposed to
the sun. While the form of the plant is shapes by the planets out of the cosmic fragrance, its colour
is due to the sun and also to some extent to the moon. The scent and the colour of plants do not,
 therefor, come from the same source; the scent comes from the planets, the colour from the sun
and moon.
You can see from the following that the colours of plants are connected with the sun and moon. If you take
plants that have beautiful green leaves and put them in the cellar, they become white, they lose
every trace of colour because the sun has not been shining on them. They retain their structure,
their form, because the cosmic fragrance penetrates everywhere, but they don't keep their colour
because no sunlight is reaching them. The colours of plants, therefor, undeniably come from the
sun and, as I have said, also from the moon, only this is more difficult to determine.
With stones and minerals it is like this. If you picture to yourself that the sun has a definite influence upon
the plants every day, and also during the course of a year, then you find that the yearly effects of
the sun are different from its daily effects. The daily effects of the sun do not bring about much
change in the colour of the plants; but its yearly influence does affect their colour.
If in the present epoch we look at the point in the heavens where the sun rises on the twenty-first of March
we find behind the sun the constellation of the Fishes (Pisces). The sun has been rising in this
particular constellation for hundreds of years, but always at a different point. Going back through
a few centuries we find that the point at which the sun rose in spring was still in the same
constellation, but if we go back as far as the year 1200 A.D. we find that the sun rose in the
constellation of the Ram (Aries). Again for a long time it rose in spring in the constellation of the
Ram. Still earlier, however, let us say in the epoch of ancient Egypt, the sun rose in the
constellation of the Bull (Taurus); and earlier than that in the constellation of the Twins (Gemini),
and so on.
Now why am I telling you all this? You see, to give colour to a plant, the sun needs a year: to give colour
to a stone, the sun needs 25,915 years. The stone is a much harder fellow. To bestow colour on a
plant the sun makes a circuit lasting one year. But there is also a circuit which the sun needs
25,915 years to complete. And not until this great circuit has been completed is the sun able to
give colour to the stones. But at any rate it is always the sun that gives the colour. You will realize
from this how widely removed the mineral kingdom is from the plant kingdom. (52, pp.155-164)

11 Sept. 1924
But now we must go on. The human being is active in his organism in the first seven years of life with the
forces of the sun, in the second seven years with the forces of the moon. In this second period the
sun forces remain and the moon forces combine with them. In the third seven year period, from
puberty into the 20s, much more delicate forces are taken in, coming from the other planets. Now
these other planetary forces appear in man's growth process, and because they work much less
strongly than sun or moon, their influence upon him is outwardly much less visible. They had been
working in his body between the fourteenth and the twenty-first years, and now at twenty-one it is
hardly noticeable but they begin to work in the area of soul and spirit. Whoever has insight can see
this remarkable change. Up to that moment only sun and moon have spoken out of human deeds.
Now, planetary forces modify that sun and moon activity.
But now, how does it go on from there? After that period, even though there are continually fewer parts to
be renewed, still the human being must renew them. Now you see, up to the twenty-first, twenty-
second year, sun, moon and planets are working in succession into human growth. Then from the
twenty-first to the twenty-eighth year the constellations of the fixed stars work. To be sure, this
escapes ordinary observation. Only mystery wisdom tells of the entire zodiac playing into the
human being between the beginning of his 20s and the end of them. Then the world becomes
severe, It no longer wants to work into man; it becomes harsh.
But we have collected many, many forces from sun and moon and stars, which we are carrying with us,
and which we need when at twenty-eight we have to begin to renew our physical-material body
ourselves. (106, pp.49-55)

13 Sept. 1924
Has Mars' proximity to the earth anything to do with the weather?
The weather conditions which have shown such irregularities through the years, particularly in recent
years, do have something to do with conditions in the heavens, but not specifically with Mars.
When these irregularities are observed we must take very strongly into consideration a
phenomenon of which little account is usually taken, although it is constantly spoken of: I mean
 the phenomenon of sunspots. The sunspots are dark patches, varying in size and duration, which
appear on the surface of the sun at intervals of about ten or eleven or twelve years. Naturally, these
dark patches impede the sun's radiations, for, as you can well imagine, at the places where its
surface is dark, the sun does not radiate. If in any given year the number of such dark patches
increases, the sun's radiation is affected. And in view of the enormous significance the sun has for
the earth, this is a matter of importance.
In another respect this phenomenon of sunspots is also noteworthy. In the course of centuries their number
has increased, and the number varies from year to year. This is due to the fact that the position of
the heavenly bodies changes as they revolve, and the aspect they present is therefor always
changing. The sunspots do not appear at the same place every year, but - according to how the sun
is turning - in the course of years they appear in that place again. In the course of centuries they
have increased enormously in number and this certainly means something for the relationship of
the earth to the sun.
Thousands of years ago there were no spots on the sun. They began to appear, they have increased in
number, and they will continue to increase. Hence there will come a time when the sun will radiate
less and less strongly, and finally, when it has become completely dark, it will cease to radiate any
light at all. Therefor we have to reckon with the fact that in the course of time, a comparatively
long time, the source of the light and life that now issues from the sun will he physically
obliterated for the earth. And so the phenomenon of the sunspots - among other things - shows
clearly that one can speak of the earth coming to an end. Everything of the earth that is spiritual
will then take on a different form, just as I have told you that in olden times it had a different form.
Just as a human being grows old and changes, so the sun and the whole planetary system will
grow old and change.
A good or bad vintage year, for example, is connected with phenomena such as sunspots, also with the
appearance of comets. Only when they are observed in connection with phenomena in the heavens
can happenings on the earth be studied properly. (52, pp.171-173)

The moon has an influence on water. But remember this: everything connected with the moon is repeated
every 18 or 19 years. For example, in a certain year, on a certain day, there are sun eclipses and on
another day moon eclipses: this happens regularly in the course of 18 or 19 years. All phenomena
connected with the positions of the stars in the heavens are repeated regularly. Why, then, should
not weather conditions be repeated, since they depend upon the moon? After 18 or 19 years there
must be something in the weather similar to what happened 18 or 19 years before. So as
everything repeats itself, these people observed other repetitions too, and indicated in the calendar
certain particulars of what the weather had been 18 or 19 years earlier, and now expected the same
kind of weather after the lapse of this period.
In the case of the other stars and their relative positions, there are different periods of repetition. One such
repetition is that of Venus, the morning and evening star. Suppose the sun is here and the earth
over there. Between them is Venus. Venus moves to this point or that, and can he seen
accordingly: but when Venus is here, it stands in front of the sun and covers part of it. This is
called a 'Venus transit'. (Venus, of course, looks much smaller than the moon, although it is, in
fact, larger.) These Venus transits are very interesting because for one thing they take place only
once every hundred years or so, and for another, very significant things can be observed when
Venus is passing in front of the sun. One can see what the sun's halo looks like when Venus is
standing in front of the sun. This event brings about great changes.
Here again, when Venus is having a special effect upon the sun because it is shutting out the light, an
influence is exercised upon the weather conditions that occurs only once about every hundred
years. There is something remarkable about these Venus transits and in earlier times .they were
regarded as being extraordinarily interesting.
And in still earlier times the conclusion was drawn that because the sun's light is influenced at that time by
Venus, this same influence will he there again after about a hundred years; and so there will be
similar weather conditions again in a region where the transit of Venus is seen to be taking place.
(As you know, eclipses of the sun are not visible from everywhere, but only in certain regions.)
Since the weather of the whole year is affected, then the influences are at work not only during the few
days when Venus is in transit across the sun but they last for a longer period. So you see from what
I have said that to know by what laws the weather is governed during some week or day, one
 would have to ask many questions: How many years ago was there a Venus transit:, What is the
present phase of the moon? I have mentioned only a few points. One would have to know how the
trade winds are affected by magnetism and electricity, and so on. It is a subject that leads to
infinity! (52, pp.178-182)

15 Sept. 1924
Someone who combines sensitivity with observation will have the definite feeling that the stem strives to
stream out as a line. The root wants to unfold in a rounding, circular direction; the stem wants to
unfold in a linear direction. That is the archetypal form of the plant. And in the linear striving
upward we must see the presence of sun forces on the earth. In the roots striving toward
roundness we must see the presence of moon forces on the earth.
Now let us look further. We think of the sun as being at a great height and of the plant as streaming to
reach it. But the plant does more than just reach upward; it reaches out in width, it creates
peripheries. And we find within its upward striving that something else is active, at first just at its
top in the blossoms: we find the forces of Venus working with the sun forces. Then as blossoms
unfold below, as leaves come, moving inward from the periphery, we find the forces of Mercury
working. So if we want to understand the structure of the plant as it pushes toward the sun, we
must see that the sun forces are helped by the forces of Venus and Mercury. That on the one hand.
On the other hand we must realize that these forces alone would not be able to form the plant. With them
alone, the plant-being would in a certain sense only attain a compact, solid form. For it to unfold
as one sees it, for instance, in the most extreme example in a tree, there are forces working
everywhere counter to the Venus and Mercury forces: namely, the forces of Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn. Thus, as well as the basic polarity of sun activity and moon activity there is also the
activity of all the other planets in the universe. (106, pp103-104)

17 Sept. 1924
[Review of the rhythms of the Platonic year] (106, pp.132-138)

We can say of all the old star names, that they were God-given, spirit-given. The stars were asked what
their names were, because the tone of the star was always perceived and its name was thus given
accordingly. One cannot think that Neptune and Uranus are as truly characterized by their names
as Saturn was. (106, pp.142-144)

18 Sept. 1924
You see, it can always be shown that when things like fiery eruptions happen on the earth, they are
connected with the constellations, the relation of the stars to the sun. An eruption can never occur
unless at some particular place the sun is able to shine more strongly than usual because it is not
covered by other stars. If it is covered by other stars as is generally the case, then the sunshine is
normal.
But when the stars are in such a position that the sun can develop its heat to full strength, when they do not
obstruct the sun, then the suns forces of warmth shine down upon some special places. These are
the places where, after the earth had been fastened together, later volcanoes arose. They came
about later. On the other hand, those that lie along the edges of the tetrahedron are the original
volcanoes. (52, pg.198)

2 Nov. 1924
Man confronts a world that was once entirely divine-spiritual in nature, a world to which he belonged as
an integral part of it. The world of his belonging was thus divine-spiritual. But at a subsequent
evolutionary stage this was no longer the case; the world was a cosmic revelation of the divine-
spiritual, its essential being hovering behind the revelation. But that being lived, nevertheless, and
was active in the revelation. The starry world was already in existence, with the divine-spiritual
living and active as revelation in its shining out and in its movement. It would be accurate to say
that in the way a star stood or moved was a direct demonstration of the activity of the divine-
spiritual.
Other times came. The starry world ceased to be a direct, immediate revelation of divine-spiritual activity.
Rather did it live and move in continuation of such activity as had earlier been engendered in it.
 The divine-spiritual no longer lived in the cosmos as revelation, but only as ongoing effect. A
definite split had appeared between the divine-spiritual being and the universe; they were now
separated.
When man has lived out his life between death and rebirth and is beginning his descent to a new earth
existence, he seeks, on his way down, to establish harmony between the movements of the stars
and his own life on earth. Unless man sought it, this harmony - which had previously been a
matter of course because of the activity of the divine-spiritual in the stars, where human life also
had its origin - would not presently exist in movements of the stars that had become the mere
effect of previous activity. Man brings the divine-spiritual preserved in him from earlier times into
relationship with the stars that contain the divine-spiritual only as an ongoing after-effect of those
times. (94, pp.27-28)

28 Dec. 1924
A great variety of plant growth confronts us, revealed as a brilliant show of color. Forces of sun, moon and
stars all work together here with forces from terrestrial depths. These forces derive from minerals,
whose presence must be attributed to the fact that cosmic beings have given themselves to the
earth. That stone juts from the underworld is because heavenly powers have become earthly.
Animals, however, have not taken on the forces of the earths depths. They originate wholly from
the cosmic forces acting from earths environment; they owe their growth and development, their
ability to absorb nutrients, their mobility, to the sun forces streaming into the earth. They possess
the faculty to reproduce their kind as a result of the in-streaming forces of the moon. The
multiplicity of animal forms and species comes from the manifold way in which the positions of
the stars work from the world-all upon animal life and shape it. But the animals have been merely
deposited on the earth by the cosmos. The only way they participate in the earth is through their
dim life of consciousness. They are not creatures of the earth in origin, growth, or in any of the
equipment whereby they are able to perceive and move about. (94, pg.85)

1925
4 Jan. 1925
The corporeal universes bears witness, in the arrangement of the stars and in their movement, to the
intelligence and will-inspired working of the gods in that past age. But what was once freely
creative, mobile divine will and intelligence in the stars movement has become subject, in the
cosmic present, to fixed natural laws.
So we may say that what we see presently shining down upon us here on earth from the starry worlds is no
longer the immediate expression of the gods will and intelligence, but instead a fixed record of
their former activity in the stars. We therefor see in the star patterns of the heavens that evoke such
marvelling in the human soul a past rather than a present revelation of the gods.
But what is of the past in starlight is of the present in the spiritual world; man lives with his being in this
present world spirit.
In the matter of the worlds shaping, we have to look back to an ancient cosmic epoch in which the world
spirit and the world body worked as one. Then we have an intermediate epoch, a period in which
the two worked as a duo. For the future, we have to conceive a third epoch in which the world
spirit will again include the world body in its functioning.
It would not have been possible to make any calculations relating to the constellations and star orbits in
the ancient epoch; they were an expression of the free intelligence and free will activity of divine-
spiritual beings. In the future, they will again become incalculable.
Calculations are significant for the intermediate period only.
What is true of the constellations and star orbits applies also to the forces that radiate from the earths
centre into cosmic space. This working out-of-the-depths also goes through a calculable phase.
(94, pg.92)
11 Jan. 1925
Man receives from among the forces of the earth only what forms the foundation of his self-awareness.
The physical basis of this self-awareness also stems from what the earth has to give; everything
else a human being has comes from extraterrestrial, cosmic sources. The feeling and thought
supporting astral body, and its etheric basis, all the liveliness of life in the etheric body, indeed,
even the physico-chemical action going on in the physical body, are of cosmic origin. Strange as it
may seem, the physico-chemical action inside a human being is not of the earth.
That man develops this non-terrestrial, cosmic element in himself is due to the action of the planets and of
other stars. The suns forces bring to the earth what he thus develops. The human cosmic element
is transposed into the earthly realm by the suns action. Through this, man lives on earth as a
heavenly being. The capacity to reproduce his kind, in which he goes beyond the limits of his
human shaping, is, however, a gift of the moon.
These are, of course, not the only activities of the sun and moon, which are also responsible for other,
profoundly spiritual effects. (94, pg.102)

25 Jan. 1925
The earth lives in the physical body, the starry world in the etheric. Man owes to the creative work done
on his physical body by the Archangels the inner forces that enable him, while living on the earth,
to wrest his stance, his motion and his gesture free of the earths influence. In his etheric body live
forces that stream from every direction out of the cosmos into the earth, just as his form enables
earthly forces to live in his physical body. The earthly forces living in this physically manifested
form are such as to make it comparatively fixed and finished. An individuals external shape
remains fairly set, subject to only minor changes during the course of an incarnation; his capacity
for movement tends to harden into habits, and so on. But in the etheric body constant mobility
holds sway, reflecting changes in the constellations during his lifetime. The etheric body ever
changes in accordance with the changes in the heavens of day and night, as well as in accordance
with those occurring between birth and death.
This adaptation of the etheric body to the forces operative in the heavens is not in contradiction to the
gradual detaching of the starry skies from the divine-spiritual, spoken of in other contemplations.
It is true that divine will and divine intelligence did live in the stars in most ancient times. Later
on, the stars passed into the realm of the calculable. The gods no longer influenced man through
what had become their wrought work. But through the agency of his etheric body man gradually
attained his own independent relationship to the stars, just as his physical body related him to the
earths gravity
In this second period, the hierarchy of the Archangels created the etheric body, with which man joins
himself as he descends to be born upon the earth - an etheric body that has taken up into itself the
extraterrestrial forces of the cosmos.
His alliance with a particular earthly group of human beings is an essential element bestowed on man by
this hierarchy. People are differentiated over the earth. Looking back into this second period, one
sees a differentiation of another, more spiritual kind than that of todays races and nationalities. It
stems from the fact that the forces of the stars affect the various regions of the earth differently
according to the constellations involved. The starry heavens are mirrored in the life of the earth in
such matters as land and water distribution, climate, vegetation, and so on. To the degree that man
must adapt himself to these conditions, which are actually cosmic conditions obtaining in the
earthly sphere, he adjusts to them with his etheric body, and its form is a creation of the choir of
the Archangels. (94, pp.111-112)

22 Mar. 1925
In his existence on the earth, man occupies a position between two polar opposites. Stars spread out above
him. From these ray the forces connected with everything calculable and regular. The regular
alternation of day and night; of the seasons, and of other large time periods is the earthly mirroring
of what goes on in the starry heavens.
The opposite pole sends out its rays from the center of the earth. Irregularity is the rule here. Wind and
weather, thunder and lightning, earthquakes, volcanic outbursts, all these reflect this inner earthly
activity.
Man is an image of this star-earth reality. A starry order lives in his thinking organization, earthly chaos in
 his limb-will organization. Mans earthly being is experienced in the free balance of the rhythmic
system. (94, pg.156)

Sept. 1925
Now it is to the earth that every earthly substance, or earthly process, owes its forces of the kind that
radiate outward; it has these forces in common with the earth. It is, indeed, only as a constituent of
the earth-body that any substance has the nature which chemistry discovers in it. When it comes to
life, then it must stop being simply a piece of earth, it leaves its community with the earth. It is
gathered up into the forces that radiate inward to the earth from all sides, from beyond the earthly
realm. Whenever we see a substance or process unfold in forms of life, we must conceive it to be
withdrawing from the forces that work upon it from the centre of the earth, and entering the
domain of others, which have, not a centre, but a periphery. (95, pg.17)

References to Rudolf Steiners Star-Knowledge

References that gave two to five pages of information are italicized, whereas those that gave over five
pages of information are in bold type. The titles are listed in the order in which they were reviewed for
the survey. To date, an additional 87 books, lecture cycles and lectures have been reviewed that had nothing
to offer, directly, to this survey. As an aid to students these are listed alphabetically after the numbered list.
(1) Readings in Goethean Science, 1978, Bio-Dynamic Literature.
(2) An Outline of Occult Science, 1972, Anthroposophic Press.
(3) Foundations of Esotericism, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(4) At the Gates of Spiritual Science, 1970, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(5) The Occult Significance of Blood, 1967, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(6) The Inner Nature of Music and the Experience of Tone, 1983, Anthroposophic Press.
(7) Occult Signs and Symbols, 1972, Anthroposophic Press.
(8) The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, 1961, Anthroposophic Press.
(9) The Apocalypse of St. John, 1943, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.
(10) Universe, Earth and Man, 1987, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(11) Egyptian Myths and Mysteries, 1971, Anthroposophic Press.
(12) The Deed of Christ, 1954, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.
(13) The Principle of Spiritual Economy, 1986, Anthroposophic Press.
(14) The Spiritual Hierarchies and Their Reflection in the Physical World, 1970,
Anthroposophic Press.
(15) Rosicrucian Esotericism, 1978, Anthroposophic Press
(16) The Gospel of St. John and Its Relation to the Other Gospels, 1982, Anthroposophic
Press
(17) The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, 1983, Anthroposophic Press.
(18) The Festivals and Their Meaning, 1981, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(19) Genesis, 1959, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(20) The Spirit in the Realm of Plants, 1978, Mercury Press.
(21) The World of the Senses and the World of the Spirit, 1947, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.
(22) Reincarnation and Karma, 1960, Anthroposophical Publ. Co.
(23) The Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies and the Kingdoms of Nature, 1951,
Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.
(24) Between Death and Rebirth, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(25) Life Between Death and Rebirth, 1968, Anthroposophic Press.
(26) The Effects of Spiritual Development, 1945, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.
(27) Occult Reading and Occult Hearing, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(28) The Balance in the World and Man: Lucifer and Ahriman, 1948, Rudolf Steiner
Press.
(29) An Occult Physiology, 1951, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(30) Chance, Providence and Necessity, 1988, Anthroposophic Press.
(31) The Occult Movement in the Nineteenth Century, 1973, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(32) Inner Impulses of Evolution, 1984, Anthroposophic Press.
(33) The Karma of Evolution of Materialism, 1985, Anthroposophic Press.
(34) Ancient Myths, 1971, Steiner Book Centre, Inc.
(35) The Challenge of the Times, 1941, Anthroposophic Press.
(36) The Influences of Lucifer and Ahriman, 1954, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.
(37) Man - Hieroglyph of the Universe, 1972, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(38) Polarities in the Evolution of Mankind, 1987, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(39) Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy, 1987, Anthroposophic Press.
(40) Man as a Being of Sense and Perception, 1958, Anthroposophical Publ. Co.
(41) The Human Soul in Relation to World Evolution, 1984, Anthroposophic Press.
(42) Planetary Spheres and Their Influence on Mans Life on Earth and in Spiritual
Worlds, 1952, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(43) Man and the World of Stars, 1963, Anthroposophic Press.
(44) Health and Illness, Vol.II, 1983, Anthroposophic Press.
(45) Awakening to Community, 1974, Anthroposophic Press.
(46) The Cycle of the Year, 1984, Anthroposophic Press.
(47) Man in the Past, Present and Future, 1966, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(48) The Four Seasons and The Archangels, 1984, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(49) Beekeeping - Nine Lectures on Bees, 1964, Rudolf Steiner Publications.
(50) Agriculture, 1974, Bio-Dynamic Agriculture Assoc.
(51) True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation, 1969, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(52) The Evolution of the Earth and Man, 1987, Anthroposophic Press.
(53) An Esoteric Cosmology, 1987, Spiritual Science Library.
(54) The Mission of the Folk Souls, 1989, Spiritual Research Editions Series XIII,
Garber Communications Inc.
(55) Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modern Age, 1960, Steinerbooks.
(56) Cosmic Memory, 1959, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.
(57) Metamorphosis of the Soul; Paths of Experience, Vol.I, 1983, Rudolf Steiner
Press.
(58) The East in the Light of the West, 1986, Garber Communications Inc.
(59) The Karma of Untruthfulness, Vol. I, 1988, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(60) The Karma of Untruthfulness, Vol.II, 1992, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(61) Macrocosm and Microcosm, 1968, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(62) The Gospel of St. Matthew, 1965, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(63) First Scientific Lecture Course, undated typescript, Goethean Science Foundation.
(64) Evolution in the Aspect of Realities, 1989, Spiritual Research Editions, Series
XXXV, Garber Communications Inc.
(65) Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy and Philosophy, 1989, Spiritual
Science Library, Garber Communications Inc.
(66) Esoteric Christianity and the Mission of Christian Rosencreutz, 1984, Rudolf Steiner
Press.
(67) Human and Cosmic Thought, 1961, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(68) Toward Imagination, 1990, Anthroposophic Press.
(69) Cosmic and Human Metamorphosis, 1989, Spiritual Research Editions, Garber
Communications Inc.
(70) Building Stones for an Understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha, 1972, Rudolf
Steiner Press.
(71) Geographic Medicine, 1986, Mercury Press.
(72) Earthly Death and Cosmic Life, 1989, Spiritual Research Editions, Garber
Communications, Inc.
(73) Three Streams in Human Evolution, 1965, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(74) From Symptom to Reality in Modern History, 1976, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(75) Spiritual Science and Medicine, 1989, Steinerbooks.
(76) The Bridge Between Universal Spirituality and the Physical Constitution of Man,
1958, Anthroposophic Press.
(77) Cosmosophy, Vol.I, 1985, Anthroposophic Press.
(78) The Human Being in Body, Soul and Spirit: Our Relationship to the Earth,
1989, Anthroposophic Press.
(79) The Spiritual Individualities of the Planets, The Golden Blade, Rudolf Steiner
Press.
(80) The Evolution of the World and of Humanity, 1989, Spiritual Science Library,
Garber Communications, Inc.
(81) Man as Symphony of the Creative Word, 1991, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(82) Mystery Centers, 1989, Spiritual Research Editions, Garber Communications Inc.
(83) Background to the Gospel of St. Mark, 1968, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(84) Reading the Pictures of the Apocalypse, 1993, Anthroposophic Press.
(85) The Mysteries of the East and of Christianity, 19.. Spiritual Science Library, Garber
Communications Inc.
(86) Christ and the Spiritual World and the Search for the Holy Grail, 1963, Rudolf
Steiner Press.
(87) The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations, 1987, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(88) Self-consciousness; The Spiritual Human Being, 1986, Spiritual Science Library,
Garber Communications Inc.
(89) Karmic Relationships, Vol.I, 1972, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(90) Old and New Methods of Initiation, 1991, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(91) The Evolution of Consciousness, 1991, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(92) The Fall of the Spirits of Darkness, 1993, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(93) Curative Education, 1972, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(94) The Michael Mystery, 1984, St. George Publications.
(95) Fundamental of Therapy, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(96) Karmic Relationships, Vol. II, 1974, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(97) Karmic Relationships, Vol. III, 1977, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(98) Karmic Relationships Vol.. IV, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(99) Karmic Relationships Vol.. V, 1966, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(100) Karmic Relationships, Vol. VI, 1971, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(101) Karmic Relationships, Vol. VII, 1973, Rudolf Steiner Press.
 (102) Karmic Relationships, Vol. VIII, 1975, Rudolf Steiner Press
(103) Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation, 1982, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(104) The Being of Man and His Future Evolution, 1981, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(105) The Riddle of Humanity, 1990, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(106) Pastoral Medicine, 1987, Anthroposophic Press.
(107) Anthroposophy and the Inner Life, 1994, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(108) The Origins of Natural Science, 1985, Anthroposophic Press.
(109) How Can Mankind Find the Christ Again?, 1984, Anthroposophic Press.
(110) Wonders of the World, Ordeals of the Soul, Revelations of the Spirit, 1963, Rudolf
Steiner Press.
(111) Angels, 1996, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(112) World History in the Light of Anthroposophy, 1977, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(113) Earthly Knowledge and Heavenly Wisdom, 1991, Anthroposophic Press.
(114) Colour, 1992, Garber Communications Inc.
(115) The Universal Human, 1990, Anthroposophic Press.
(116) Education for Adolescents, 1996, Anthroposophic Press.
(117) The Relation of the Diverse Branches of Natural Science to Astronomy,
undated typescript.
(118) Mathematics and Occultism, 1928, Anthroposophical Movement, Vol. V, No. 28.
(119) Planetary and Human Evolution, unpubl. typescript
(120) The Interior of the Earth and Volcanic Eruptions, unpubl. typescript
(121) The Christian Mystery, 1998, Anthroposophic Press.
(122) Popular Occultism, unpubl. typescript.
(123) Myths and Symbols II, unpubl. typescript.
(124) Myths and Symbols IV, unpubl. typescript.
(125) Theosophy of the Rosicrucian, 1966, Rudolf Steiner Press.
(126) On Chaos and Cosmos, unpubl. typescript.
(126) Sun, Moon and Stars, unpubl. typescript.
(127) The Theory of Categories, unpubl. typescript.
(128) Problems of the Law of Karma, unpubl. typescript.

Steiner lectures & books researched, but with indirect, redundant or no

astrological references:
The Temple Legend, 1985, Rudolf Steiner Press
The Gospel of St, John, 1940, Anthroposophic Press
The Gospel of St. Luke, 1929, Anthroposophical Publ. Co.
The Spiritual Foundation of Morality, ?, Rudolf Steiner Press
Pre-Earthly Deeds of Christ, 1947, Rudolf Steiner Publ. Co.
The Fifth Gospel, 1968, Rudolf Steiner Press
Christ in Relation to Lucifer and Ahriman, 1978, Anthroposophic Press
The Karma of Vocation, 1944, Anthroposophic Press
Towards Social Renewal, 1977, Rudolf Steiner Press
The Tension Between East and West, 1983, Anthroposophic Press
Exoteric and Esoteric Christianity, ?, Steiner Book Centre
World Economy, 1949, Rudolf Steiner Press
Man and the Nature Spirits, 1983, Mercury Press
The Driving Force of Spiritual Powers in World History, 1972, Steiner Book Centre
Mans Being, His Destiny, and World Evolution, 1966, Anthroposophic Press
Health and Illness, Vol. I, 1981, Anthroposophic Press
Discussions with Teachers, 1967, Rudolf Steiner Press
The Education of the Child, 1965, Rudolf Steiner Press
Practical Advice to Teachers, 1976, Rudolf Steiner Press
Education as a Social Problem, 1969, Anthroposophic Press
Soul Economy and Waldorf Education, 1986,Anthroposophic Press
A Modern Art of Education, 1972, Rudolf Steiner Press
Philosophy, Cosmology and Religion, 1984, Anthroposophic Press
Metamorphosis of the Soul, Paths of Experience, Vol. II, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press
Supersensible Knowledge, 1987, Anthroposophic Press
Earthly and Cosmic Man, 1986, Spiritual Science Library, Garber Communications Inc.
Christianity as Mystical Fact, 1947, Anthroposophic Press
Boundaries of Natural Science, 1983, Anthroposophic Press
Esoteric Development, 1982, Anthroposophic Press
The Gospel of St. Mark
Spiritual Ground of Education, 1989, Spiritual Science Library, Garber Communications
The Occult Significance of the Bagavad Gita, 1968, Anthroposophic Press
From Jesus to Christ, 1991, Rudolf Steiner Press
Deeper Secrets of Human History in the Light of the Gospel of St. Matthew, 1957, Rudolf Steiner Press
Psychoanalysis & Spiritual Psychology, 1990, Anthroposophic Press
The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path,. 1990, Anthroposophic Press
The Kingdom of Childhood, 1995, Anthroposophic Press
Creative Speech, 1978, Rudolf Steiner Press
The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, 1980, Rudolf Steiner Publ.
Prayers for Mothers and Children, 1983, Rudolf Steiner Press
Nutrition and Stimulants, 1991, Bio-Dynamic Literature
Community Life, Inner Development, Sexuality and the Spiritual Teacher, 1991, Anthroposophic Press
The Genius of Language, 1995, Anthroposophic Press
Secrets of the Threshold, 1987, Anthroposophic Press
Initiation, Eternity and the Passing Moment, 1980, Anthroposophic Press
Necessity and Freedom, 1988, Anthroposophic Press
The Redemption of Thinking, 1983, Hodder and Stoughton
Reincarnation and Immortality, 1970, Rudolf Steiner Publ.
The Roots of Education, 1982, Rudolf Steiner Press
Theosophy, 1994, Anthroposophic Press
The Lords Prayer, 1970, Anthroposophic Press
The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, 1978, Anthroposophic Press
The Concept of Original Sin and Grace, 1973, Rudolf Steiner Press
Human Life in the Light of Spiritual Science, 1933, Harry Collison
The Origin of Suffering, the Origin of Evil, Illness and Death, 1980, Steiner Book Centre
The Forming of Destiny and Life After Death, 1989, Garber Communications
The Ahrimanic Deception, 1985, Anthroposophic Press
Preparing for the Sixth Epoch, 1957, Anthroposophic Press
Woman and Society, 1985, Rudolf Steiner Press
Ideas for a New Europe, 1992, Rudolf Steiner Press
The Archangel Michael, His Mission and Ours, 1994, Anthroposophic Press
Christianity in Human Evolution, 1944, Anthroposophic Press
The Christmas Festival in the Changing Course of Time, 1988, Anthroposophic Press
The Renewal of the Social Organism, 1985, Anthroposophic Press
From the History and Contents of the First Section of the Esoteric School 1904 - 1914, 1998,
Anthroposophic Press
The Four Temperaments, 1968, Anthroposophic Press
Truth and Knowledge, 1981, Rudolf Steiner Publ.
Balance in Teaching, 1982, Mercury Press
Fundamentals of Anthroposophical Medicine, 1982, Mercury Press
The History of Spiritism, Hypnotism and Somnambulism, 1943, Anthroposophic Press, Inc.
The Four Human Group Souls, unpubl. typescript
Shadow Beings, Phantoms and Demons Created by Man Himself, 1936, Anthroposophic News Sheet,
#35,#36,#37.
The Human Spirit and the Animal Spirit, unpubl. typescript.
The Human Soul and the Animal Soul, unpubl. typescript.
The Wisdom Contained in Ancient Documents and in The Gospels, 1937, Anthroposophic News Sheet,
#26,#27,#28 &#29
On Apocalyptic Writings, With Special Reference to the Apocalypse of St. John, unpubl. typescript
History of the Middle Ages Until the Time of the Great Inventions and Discoveries, unpubl. typescript
Schiller and Our Times, 1933, H.Collison
Medical Training and Anthroposophy, 1962, Free Deeds, Sept.
The Wisdom Contained in Religions, unpubl. typescript.
Brotherhood and the Struggle for Existence, unpubl. typescript
Error and Insanity, unpubl. typescript
The Apocalypse, unpubl. typescript
Precious Stones and Metals, unpubl. typescript
The Animal Soul. unpubl. typescript
Occult Seals and Columns, unpubl. typescript
Myths and Symbols III, unpubl. typescript
The For Human Group Souls, unpubl. typescript
Shadow Beings, Phantoms and Demons Created by Man Himself, Anthroposophic News Sheet, 1936,
#35,#36, #37.
Concerning the Spirits of Form, Anthroposophic News Sheet, 1936, #38