MOON ~ 19 November 1954 Today I would like to go on with the interpretation of the simultaneous events in the sky, by going on to the Moon. It seems to be a difficult matter because it moves so fast; however, it is possible to find means to solve this problem. Let us look at the Moon generally. There are the phases of the Moon: new Moon, after which we see it as a crescent and sometimes with the dark arc of the Moon; then it is waxing until it reaches full Moon; then it is waning until it is again new Moon. It is quite valuable to observe the phases of the Moon, which can reveal many things, such as the state of the Moon. In the morning in autumn or spring after new Moon, you will find that the crescent Moon stands as a cup or vessel that receives the cosmic forces. We do not receive the cosmic forces directly on the Earth; rather, we get them through the Moon. There is that part of the Moon that no human eye has ever seen, and this part of the Moon is the receptacle of the cosmic forces. On the Moon one sees circular mountains or craters, some of which are quite high. A scientist discovered how these crater-like mountains came about by taking some plaster-of-paris, making a smooth paste, and then dropping very fine powder on it. At first the circular holes appeared, but when he put more powder on it, the cone in the middle appeared as well, and it looked just like the craters of the Moon. Cosmic forces drop onto the Moon and they created the craters while the Moon was still in a softer state. Dr. Steiner spoke about the Moon as a symbol in the cosmos for cosmic feeding. In the north it was known as ganganda-greida, the journeying viaticum, the Holy Grail. It is said that the gravity of the Moon pulls up the water on Earth. It is not gravity but anti-gravity that does this. It is something that tries to pull matter away from the gravity. People with certain constitutions are dream-walkers. They can do things that “normal” people cannot do. They are under the anti-gravity forces of the Moon. When they sleepwalk, they are not awake. It usually happens toward full Moon. That is also a characterization of the forces of the Moon, which is really anti-gravity force. Now with this background we can go one step further toward the position of the Moon at the present moment. We speak about the position of Sun, Moon, and the planets, distinguishing them from the Zodiac and the fixed stars. The fixed stars are like the number plate on a watch, and the Sun, Moon, and planets are the hands. The Moon has entered Virgin and it is waning. There will be a new Moon in the constellation of Scorpion. Here we discard everything connected with astrology that comes from the past; this we must renounce. We want a new Christian astrology. Therefore we look at this Moon from the point of view of spiritual science. It demands that we not look at it from a material standpoint but, rather, that we try to look at it as we might do when one crosses the threshold into the spiritual world. Where there is matter, there is a hole seen from the spiritual world; thus, where we see the material object of the Moon, the spiritual world sees a hole. The Moon, in its path around the Zodiac, is describing a sphere, and beyond the sphere of the Moon is the sphere of the Sun. The Moon sphere is slightly inclined to that of the Sun, creating a point of contact or door. We must be able to look through that door, and then we shall be able to look at the sphere of the Sun. We watch the Moon, which is quite close to the Sun at present. It is slightly above the Sun, coming from its ascending node, and it will cross the path of the Sun at new Moon. As it crosses the path of the Sun, it will be moving through its descending node. These nodes do not stay in the same position, but slowly move back in the ecliptic. At these points of the Moon’s nodes, there is a contact from the Moon sphere to the Sun sphere. There is a bridge, so to speak, or communication established between the two spheres. Rudolf Steiner spoke many times about these nodes of the Moon, as well as those of the other planets, and he referred to them as gateways. I hope to show you more about the nature of the nodes, and I’d also like to show you how one can look quite realistically at the Moon of this moment. First, one has to look for the time when a node was, or will be, in the same place as the Moon is now — either in the future or in the past. One may even have to go back or forward more than one cycle of the node to find the right moment in the past or future. This demands moral imagination. At present the Moon is in Virgin and the descending node is in Archer. Yesterday morning, the Moon was in Lion, and today it went into Virgin. When we go back with the Moon node, we come to the time of Christmas 1922-3. Yesterday we would have come back to 1923, then today we come to 1922. We can, of course, go forward, as in daily life we go forward; but we can also go backward as when we pass the threshold into the Moon sphere after death. This going back reminds us of something we should do every evening, the so-called Rückschau or backward review of the day, when we imagine the entire day moving backward. On Earth we have to go forward in the gravity world in which we live. In this backward review we have an exercise that can lift us away from gravitation of the everyday life, and that helps us become objective. Here we are still involved with all the physical matters; whereas through the backward review we establish the bridge form the Moon to the Sun sphere. It takes about 18 years and 7 months for the Moon node to move through the entire Zodiac. Now we suddenly have substance which speaks to us. Here we have substance in the Christmas of 1923-22. In 1923 the Christmas Foundation meeting took place, and in 1922 was the burning of the first Goetheanum. By starting with 1923 and going back into 1922, this corresponds with the exercise of looking back on our day. First we are led to consider the Christmas Foundation meeting and then the burning of the first Goetheanum. It shows the connection between the two. In doing this, we have deliberately renounced the past ways of looking at the events. We shall have to consider this more next time. It has to be repeated and repeated and then it becomes a force.