SATURN-2 ~ 22 October 1954
We spoke last time about
Saturn, which entered the constellation of Scales at Michaelmas, and we spoke
about the transition from the Father to the Son. Saturn is a planet that leads
into the past, but one can also see in it the future. The position of Saturn at
birth shows the past incarnation, and just as in a reflection, one can read the
past in it. In that reflection there is a vacuum, so to speak, into which the
future shines.
We are moving, in the sense,
to the autumn of evolution, autumn of the Earth; that is, in the sense of world
karma, one can speak of autumn. A picture is given to us by John the Divine in
the Book of Revelation: There is a woman in heaven clothed with the Sun and the
Moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown with 12 stars. She was giving
birth to a son. There was a dragon who swept one-third of the stars down to the
Earth and was waiting to devour the child. We can see in this the world of the
physical stars, the world of modern science.
Who is the woman? In the
lectures on the Apocalypse by Dr. Steiner, the time is given when that will
actually take place on Earth. We are currently in the fifth cultural age and
the sixth and seventh cultural ages will follow. Only after these ages will the
event of the “woman in heaven” take place. She is the vision of what the soul
will become after death. After death we unite with the soul of the universe. We
must imagine that in that future time there will no longer be a physical Earth,
and that the Moon and Sun will have united with the Earth. The Earth will then
be of a different consistency. By then we must have learned to live as we do
after death, as we will be permanently in this condition. This is the meaning
of the teachings that great individualities such as Christian Rosenkreutz have
brought as a preparation for the coming of the new events. This is a great
warning to learn to stand erect in that sphere after death. One may think that
death is a state of darkness, of nothing; but this idea must be overcome. The
vision of the “woman” must become a reality to us.
Apart from this picture,
there is something else. Underneath the constellation of Virgin is the
constellation of the dragon, the Hydra. This Hydra is the monster that Hercules
killed by dipping his arrows into the blood of the dragon, which made them
poisonous. Eventually this blood of the dragon killed Hercules himself. The
Hydra is connected with the blood and with consciousness. We have the picture
of the Virgin standing on the Moon and upon the Hydra. Next to the Virgin is
Crater the cup (the wine-bearer), which is also connected with the blood.
We have to create our own
imaginations, and we must learn to look at the planets just as we might look at
a clock in which we do certain things at certain times. Saturn is a time
indicator, and going back in history we find that Saturn in Scales shows an
apocalyptic character. For instance, Mani died in February in the year 276 when
Saturn was in Scales. He was the founder of Manicheism in Asia Minor, who
taught the seeking of a living knowledge within the interplay between the
spiritual in all material things. He was a great leader of humanity, but he and
his followers were persecuted, and he met with a horrible death. Rudolf Steiner
said that Mani and Manicheism will come to the foreground when the Moon has
reunited with the Earth. The reality of the Apocalypse is of great
significance.
In the late Middle Ages,
there were also important people who died when Saturn was in Scales:
Copernicus, as we know, was the individual who introduced the Copernican world
conception of the planets revolving around the central Sun. He was one who was
concerned with the one-third part of the stars that were thrown down to Earth
by the dragon. Tycho Brahe was also a great individuality who died when Saturn
was in Scales. In a former incarnation he was Julian the Apostate, who wanted
to introduce the Persian Mysteries into Europe, and in the 9th century he was incarnated as Herzeleide, the mother
of Parsifal. In a mighty effort, Tycho Brahe wanted to counteract Copernicus;
he wanted to make the Earth the center of the universe. In later years he
became a wanderer and finally found refuge in Prague, where he met Kepler. As
Julian, he wanted the ancient mysteries to be preserved, and as Tycho, he
wanted to save cosmic knowledge. In Prague he worked with Kepler, urging him to
further his own world conception. However, after Tycho Brahe’s death, Kepler
worked further into the Copernican world conception. When Kepler died, Saturn
was also in Scales. First there was Copernicus, then there was Tycho who wanted
to save, or foster the spiritual side, and then there was Kepler who went back
to the Copernican view.
When Faraday and many other
scientists died, Saturn was in Scales. Saturn in Scales is somehow connected
with the senses. This also culminates in Rudolf Steiner, for when he died
Saturn was also in Scales.
After death there is the
tableau of the etheric body, which generally remains intact about three days,
then it disperses into the stars. One can imagine the life forces slowly
spiraling out from the Earth and continuing on through the spheres. One can
read in the position of Saturn, the dramatic moment in Rudolf Steiner’s life
when he was living in experiences that were for him of inner reality. Many of
those who lived with him could not accept a spiritual world as real; even
Hermann Grimm could not accept it. The question in Rudolf Steiner arose as to
whether he should remain silent; however, he broke through — he spoke. This is
the spiritual essence if the “Child of the Woman in Heaven”, which can work
into the future. There are mighty imprints in Scales, and these impulses do not
disappear. Others who descend into incarnation take up these impulses with them
and develop them further. For example, Leonardo da Vinci, whose Saturn at birth
was in the sign of Libra, had the idea of flying machines; and years later
there were several who brought down these dramatic events that had been born in
Scales. So far it seems to have only worked in a destructive way.
Gottfried Hermann Schubert
was another very great personality who was born when Saturn was in Scales. We
must learn to look at each single individuality and work with it in an inner
exercise of concentration and imagination.
Answers to Questions
The Zodiac is like a
backbone, and the constellations outside the Zodiac are like illustrations of
the Zodiac.
The essence of forces are
saved in the activity of thinking. The plants are created from archetypes. What
is the difference between archetypes and what is now new? What does the
transition of old and new mean? The creation so far, was a creation out of
obedience. In the “new” creation, we have the possibility to say “no”, it is
the possibility of deviation. Lucifer and Ahriman create out of obedience (see
Goethe’s Prologue of Faust, next page). We now have the capacity to deny the
possibility to identify ourselves, out of freedom and love, with the divine
world. The new creation will be a creation born out of love and freedom. This
is something entirely new. We need not accept the spiritual world; we can
reject it.
Saturn in Scales is a kind
of backbone. In one way Saturn works in the senses and in another way in the
skeleton. Saturn, being the oldest planet, knows into which direction the
development of the world has to go. The direction of heaven to Earth is the
direction of the skeleton; thus Saturn brings back into line the destiny of
humanity.
The virtue of
Saturn, in a philosophical sense, is gnosis.
I mentioned Copernicus,
Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and (in the background) Rudolf Steiner: Why do they all
have Saturn in Scales? What has cosmology to do with Saturn in Scales?
PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN
The
LORD ~ The HEAVENLY HOSTS Afterwards MEPHISTOPHELES
The
THREE
ARCHANGELS come forward.
Raphael. The Sun intones,
in ancient tourney
With
brother-spheres, a rival song, Fulfilling its predestined journey,
With
march of thunder moves along.
Its
aspect gives the angels power,
Though
none can ever solve its ways; The lofty works beyond us tower, Sublime as on
the first of days.
Gabriel.
And
swift beyond where knowledge ranges,
Earth’s
splendor whirls in circling flight; A paradise of brightness changes
To
awful shuddering depths of night.
The
sea foams up, widespread and surging
Against the rocks’
deep-sunken base, And rock and sea sweep onward, merging In rushing spheres’
eternal race.
Michael.
And
rival tempests roar and shatter, From sea to land, from land to sea, And,
raging, form a circling fetter Of deep, effective energy.
There
flames destruction, flashing, searing,
Before
the crashing thunder’s way; Yet, Lord, Thy angels are revering The gentle
progress of Thy day.
The
Three. Its
aspect gives the angels power,
Since
none can solve Thee nor Thy ways; And all Thy works beyond us tower, Sublime as
on the first of days.
Mephistopheles.
Since
you, O Lord, once more draw near
And
ask how all is getting on, and you
Were
ever well content to see me here, You see me also midst your retinue.
Forgive,
fine speeches I can never make,
Though
all the circle look on me with scorn;
Pathos
from me would make your sides with laughter shake, Had you not laughter long
ago forsworn.
Of
suns and worlds I’ve naught to say worth mention. How men torment them claims
my whole attention. Earth’s little god retains his same old stamp and ways And
is as singular as on the first of days.
A
little better would he live, poor wight,
Had
you not given him that gleam of heavenly light. He calls it Reason, only to
pollute
Its
use by being brutaler than any brute.
It
seems to me, if you’ll allow, Your Grace,
He’s
like a grasshopper, that long-legged race That’s made to fly and flying spring
And in the grass to sing the same old thing. If in the grass he always were
reposing!
But
in each filthy heap he keeps on nosing.
The
Lord. You’ve
nothing more to say to me?
You
come but to complain unendingly?
Is
never aught right to your mind?
Mephistopheles.
No,
Lord! All is still downright bad, I find. Man in his wretched days makes me
lament him; I am myself reluctant to torment him.
The
Lord. Do
you know Faust?
Mephistopheles. The Doctor?
The Lord. Yes, my servant!
Mephistopheles. He!
Forsooth,
he serves you most peculiarly.
Unearthly
are the fool’s drink and his food; The ferment drives him forth afar.
Though
half aware of his insensate mood, He asks of heaven every fairest star And of
the earth each highest zest, And all things near and all things far Can
not appease his deeply troubled breast.
The
Lord. Although
he serves me now confusedly, I soon shall lead him forth where all is clear.
The gardener knows, when verdant grows the tree, That bloom and fruit will deck
the coming year.
Mephistopheles.
What
will you wager? Him you yet shall lose, If you will give me your permission
To
lead him gently on the path I choose.
The
Lord. As
long as on the earth he shall survive, So long you’ll meet no prohibition.
Man
errs as long as he doth strive.
Mephistopheles.
My
thanks for that, for with the dead I’ve never got Myself entangled of my own
volition.
I
like full, fresh cheeks best of all the lot. I’m not at home when corpses seek
my house; I feel about it as a cat does with a mouse. The Lord. ‘Tis
well! So be it granted you today!
Divert
this spirit from its primal source
And
if you can lay hold on him, you may Conduct him downward on your course,
And
stand abashed when you are forced to say: A good man, though his striving be
obscure, Remains aware that there is one right way.
Mephistopheles.
All
right! But long it won’t endure! I have no fear about my bet, be sure!
When
I attain my aim, do not protest,
But
let me triumph with a swelling breast.
Dust
shall he eat, and that with zest,
As
did the famous snake, my near relation,
The
Lord. In
that too you may play your part quite free; Your kind I never did detest. Of
all the spirits of negation
The
wag weighs least of all on me.
Mankind’s
activity can languish all too easily, A man soon loves unhampered rest; Hence,
gladly I give him a comrade such as you, Who stirs and works and must, as
devil, do. But ye, real sons of God, lift up your voice, In living, profuse
beauty to rejoice!
May
that which grows, that lives and works forever,
Engird
you with Love’s gracious bonds, and aught That ever may appear, to float and
waver, Make steadfast in enduring thought!
Heaven closes, the ARCHANGELS disperse.
Mephistopheles
[alone]. I
like to see the Old Man not infrequently,
And
I forbear to break with Him or be uncivil; It’s very pretty in so great a Lord
as He
To
talk so like a man even with the Devil.