SIXTH LETTER - September, 1944 The Spiritual Nature of the Fixed-Star Zodiac (continued) In the last letter we had to stop at the description of the constellation of Virgin. We found it in relationship to the opposite constellation of Fishes and also in connection with the mysteries of substance. It is the manifestation of the Father forces of the universe that gave and still gives “existence”. Indeed, if we look at Fishes as the veil of those forces that, through their sacrifice, gave the foundation of all physical existence and we start from there, we can count seven constellations until we reach the opposite position in Virgin. These seven constellations are like the heavenly countenance of a spiritual Being that, with its highest manifestation in Fishes, we can call the “Will of the Father” and which descends — or ascends — toward Virgin into the sphere where it can manifest itself in the manifold forms of substantiated existence. Hence, we can see in Virgin the sphere of manifestation of the Father forces in physical existence. The Constellation of Scales Opposite Scales we have the constellation of Ram. In the course of the description of the Ancient Saturn evolution, we found the activity of the Spirits of Wisdom located, so to speak, in Ram, or we ought rather to say that their activities start from this realm. Life forces emanated from these Beings, although they were not yet able to penetrate existence with Life. Just as in the case of Fishes and Virgin, we can now start with Ram and go through seven constellations. Then we come to Scales and can perceive in the seven constellations the image of a heavenly Being, or of several Beings, whom we can call the Givers of Life. They have actually given Life in later cycles of evolution, which we still have to speak about in coming letters. Just as we can find the original source or impulse of Life in the universe behind Ram, we can experience here, through Scales, the sphere whence emanates the manifestation of the life forces within substance. As we found the manifestation of the Father forces in Virgin, we can see the realm of the manifestation of the Son forces in Scales. The Father forces gave existence, but the Son enlivens it. We can find this illustrated quite clearly in the Mystery of Golgotha. In Christ, the Son was present in a physical body. Through the sacrifice of Christ on the hill of Golgotha, the Earth, which was then at the point of cosmic death, was endowed with eternal life. The manifestation of the cosmic life forces took place on Earth, and at the same time the Moon was in the constellation of Scales (Good Friday, 3rd of April, 33 AD). We can find further illustrations in many star events in Scales. Saturn was in Scales when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born (August 28, 1749), and we know that he was the modern initiate of the life forces or, as we call them, the ether forces. Thus he could say, “Nature has invented death in order to have much life.” This reveals that he was a better Christian than many imagine. The famous painter Raphael Santi was born when Saturn and Moon were in conjunction in Scales (March 26, 1483). The life-endowing and healing forces are revealed in his paintings. The cosmic life forces of the Son shine through his whole being like an eternal Sun, and these life forces at the same moment become cosmic Love. The Constellation of Scorpion The Scorpion is opposite the constellation of Bull in the circle of the Zodiac. We must remember that this constellation was once perceived as the image of an eagle. We can again proceed in the same way as before. Behind Bull we find the seat of the activities of the Spirits of Motion. Forces of animation emanated from them. They were cosmic “concept and word-endowing” forces. Again, if we go through seven constellations of the Zodiac, we find ourselves in the constellation of Eagle-Scorpion and there perceive the features of hierarchical beings who in Eagle-Scorpion descended into their manifestation within the world of substance. Then we find in this constellation the manifestation of the Holy Spirit that descended upon the apostles in the first Whitsun event and gave them the power of “speaking and understanding all the languages of the world”. It is the power of the creative Word of the world as it flowed forth into the manifold different forms of existence in the universe. Star events in Scorpion are always connected with the “spiritual call” that strives to reach single human beings, requiring us to perform a certain task of which we are capable through our own destiny. Out of the manifoldness of such “spiritual calls”, or “creative words”, the gigantic picture of human evolution and spiritual development is composed. This is the revelation of the Holy Spirit. We can find such an event in the beginning of the 17th century. Many souls living in those times expected a fundamental change of spiritual nature within humanity. And there were many who based their expectations and hopes on events that they read in the starryworld; for in the year 1603-4, a “great conjunction” took place in Scorpion. Saturn and Jupiter had a conjunction in this constellation and in the second half of 1604 Mars was also there. Together with this event a new star — a Nova — appeared in the sky and was visible for several months. Those who knew expected something like a great Whitsun for humanity but nothing visibly happened. However, great events were taking place in the spiritual life of humanity, and Rudolf Steiner spoke of these. For some time before 1603, a rapid decline had set in on the planet Mars. From the 15th century onward, this decline began to be reflected in the development of human knowledge through the impulses that human souls brought down into their earthly incarnations from their prenatal experiences in the sphere of Mars. There arose the danger that human striving for knowledge and way of living fell too deeply into materialism, while the bearers of the spiritual culture on Earth became more and more like strangers on this planet. However, toward the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century, when this great conjunction took place in the constellation of Eagle-Scorpion, the Spirit inspired various members of the human family with tasks that, flowing together in the end, caused this danger to be avoided and gave the possibility of a new spiritual outlook. Christian Rosenkreutz, one of the greatest spiritual guides of humanity, perceived the danger. He had a great friend, the soul of Gautama Buddha, who was in the spiritual world and who no longer incarnated in a physical body. For the soul who has reached the degree of a Buddha no longer descends into a physical body. Christian Rosenkreutz now sent his friend, Gautama Buddha, to Mars in order to restore the decline on that planet. We know that Gautama Buddha was the Teacher of Love and Compassion. The nature of Mars in its decline was aggressive and cold; therefore, the impulse of love and compassion was transplanted to that planet in order to heal its fall. Thus the Holy Spirit, working through the highest members of the human family, opened the way for positive development in the future. This is indicated in the events in Eagle-Scorpion in 1603-4, and we can always find similar happenings in connection with events in this constellation. The Constellation of Archer Whereas we find Eagle-Scorpion forces using groups of human beings from different directions for the accomplishment of impulses of the spirit of the world, we discover events in Archer that reveal the connection of the single human being with the spiritual world. Achievements of human beings, which appear to be of a singularly ingenious character, are mostly related to Archer. Opposite Archer is the constellation of Twins. From there we saw the impulse of individualization coming as the result of the age-old working of the Spirits of Form and the Spirits of Personality upon the ancestors of the human race. We saw the Spirits of Personality experiencing their human stage through the warmth beings on Ancient Saturn. Similarly, we can find indicated today in the events in Archer, the way in which the “Genius” of single human beings want to experience and develop themselves. Very much depends on the moral attitude of the human being as to whether the Genius — the higher ego — fails to express itself or finds the path to a positive development. Today it is within the realm of human freedom to help the Angels or to cause them to fall. When Richard Wagner was born (May 22, 1813), Saturn stood in Archer. In studying his nativity, we find expressed through the position of Saturn in Archer his life long struggle for the adequate expression of his innermost impulse through the many stages of his life. For him the old mythology and the world of music were the mediums for bringing about the appropriate entry of the higher ego into earthly existence. In Parsifal, which was his last poem and composition, he created the imagination of the striving of the human being through darkness and doubt toward the source of life within the chalice of the Holy Grail; therefore, the constellation of Archer becomes the cosmic image of human striving through the valleys and abysses of life toward the heights of the spirit. The Constellation of Goat Events in Goat indicate tasks and quests in human life that should lead further toward the cognition of the spiritual world and the Godhead. They demand “perception” of the God in humanity and in nature. Opposite is the constellation of Crab. From previous descriptions we know that both Goat and Crab are connected with the primeval creation of the sense organs. The Crab is filled with the history of the development of the sense organs more within the life of the creature. It gives the call to develop the use of the senses, while in Goat we find engraved that which is beyond the physical senses, that which is derived from the once exalted perception of the Spirits of Love on Ancient Saturn. They sacrificed their experience so that an image of it could be created within the Saturn ancestor of humanity, and this was the origin of the physical senses. Thus we have in Goat the gateway to the “supersensible”. When coming into connection with this constellation, we can pass through this gateway or stay back. To go through it, in our age, we can win our freedom. Therefore, we can find in Goat the struggle for or against the cognition of a spiritual world. For this reason, we have the strongest human contradictions in Goat, especially in connection with horoscopes of death. Saturn was in the constellation of Goat when St. Francis of Assisi and Raphael Santi died (October 4, 1226 and April 6, 1520). Certainly both are personalities who, as their biographies prove, had a higher “perception” of the Godhead. However, Mars was there when the philosopher Kant died (February 12, 1804). During his life on Earth he denied the possibility of supersensible perception, although he may have had different experiences after death. Both Nietzsche and Mozart had Saturn in Goat at the time of their birth. Unfortunately, Nietzsche could not find the way to the knowledge of a higher world; therefore, he broke down and became mentally ill. In Mozart the supersensible was present in the beautiful world of his music. As you see, we can always find in connection with this constellation the fight in humanity for or against the cognition of a higher world in which spiritual beings are active, and from which they penetrate the physical world. Fundamentally, two events reveal this. The first is the birth of Jesus when the Sun was in Goat. Then the shepherds through their inborn clairvoyant capacities could perceive the spiritual meaning of this birth. The second was thirty years later when the Sun was in Goat, and the Baptism in the Jordan took place where Christ entered the body of Jesus. Then another personality, St. John the Baptist, could behold clairvoyantly the Being that entered the world of the senses. Therefore he could say, “Behold the Lamb of God.” (The “Lamb of God” is Christ within the hierarchical order of the spiritual world.) The Constellation of Waterman The foundation of that primeval warmth metabolism, of which we have spoken in previous letters, is deeply connected with Waterman and the opposite constellation of Lion. Waterman is especially the realm from which the activity of the Spirits of Harmony emanated. They are the masters of the eternal order of the hierarchies and later of the heavenly bodies. This order in its inner essence is the “harmony of the spheres”. It was perceived in olden times as a gigantic cosmic and musical composition. Kepler, the famous astronomer, speaks of it in Harmonices mundi. And it is wonderful to see that he had, during his embryonic development (born December 27, 1571) and in the moment of his death (November 15, 1630), the planet Jupiter in the constellation of Waterman. Thereby, we can find that events in Waterman always reveal the last traces of an old universal star wisdom, as well as the first beginnings of a new Christianized knowledge of the starry world and its connection with the Earth and humanity. We can find many examples of this fact in the lives of people of modern times. For instance, there is one outstanding personality in the Middle Ages, Pico of Mirandola (born February 24, 1463), who in his nativity, as well as in the moment of his death (November 17, 1494), had several planets including Saturn in Waterman. Although he died very young, he was an eager scholar of the science of those days. On his long journeys, he visited all the important universities in Italy and France. He deeply studied Christian philosophy, but one thought reveals his innermost striving. He wrote that no science could give so sure a conviction of the divinity of Christ as a knowledge of the secrets of the heavenly bodies, although he was a very strong opponent of astrology. He knew that the highest secrets of the spiritual essence of our universe are hidden within the stars, but on this very account he opposed the star wisdom being used for egotistical purposes, which was very widespread in those days. Behind these thoughts, stand the fact that the old star wisdom had come to an end and had died in the so-called astrological practices, so that now we have to strive and look forward to a rebirth of the script of the stars. This fact has found another expression in the destinies of the Hapsburg emperors Rudolf II and Wallenstein. Both were strongly connected with Waterman. Rudolf II(born July 18, 1552, died January 20, 1612) had Saturn in Waterman in his nativity and in the moment of his death. Wallenstein (born September 14, 1583, died February 25, 1634) had Saturn and Jupiter in Waterman during his prenatal development. In the moment of his death, the Sun and all the inferior planets had entered Waterman. Both personalities were under the spell of the old, decadent astrology. They ignored the fact that the old star wisdom was dead, and that a new connection between the human being and the stars had to be found. This fact contributed strongly to their final tragic downfall. Rudolf II was completely deprived of his imperial power and died in extreme melancholia. Wallenstein, as we know, was murdered. We could find many historical examples, but they would all show how difficult it is for modern humanity to find the way toward a new star wisdom. For this true spiritual “Waterman-knowledge” belongs more to the age when the vernal point will be in Waterman. We are still today in the “Age of Fishes”, i.e., the vernal point is still in the constellation of Fishes. This does not exclude the fact that in the hidden background of human culture, these future faculties are already being prepared in our time. The Constellation of Fishes Coming to the constellation of Fishes, we again enter the cosmic sphere of which we have already written. It is the veil that hides the activity of the Spirits of Will within Ancient Saturn and later. Through this constellation, the Will of the Father finds its expression. The workings of destiny, which are sometimes so incomprehensible and that, in spiritual science, we are accustomed to calling the forces of karma, have their spiritual “locality” behind this constellation. Mostly, we cannot judge the working and weaving of these forces in the events of one single human life or even in a limited age of human history. They reveal their divine plans only if we are able to view the sequence of incarnations of a human being or long ages of human development. From Fishes is active the long, almost timeless education of the human race by the spiritual world. We find, for instance, that in the moment when the so-called Dark Age started (3 101 BC), Saturn stood in the constellation of Fishes. In the eastern wisdom this epoch is called the Kali Yuga. Its beginning marks the point in human history when the old natural experience of a spiritual world came to an end, and humanity started to use the physical senses more fully, which cut humanity slowly away from the realization of the existence of a spiritual world. From one point of view, this was a very sad event that was expressed in many old myths and legends, and yet it was a necessity for the spiritual development of the human race. Only by being cut away from the natural and inborn experience of a real spiritual world could humanity become independent and free. It is the hard and stony road of destiny that leads humanity to the unfolding of new capacities and also to a new experience of the spiritual world born in the sphere of free and self-conscious activity. Before the Dark Age, experience of the spiritual world was a gift of the Gods, now it has to be born in the sorrows of human striving. There is also another event connected with Fishes. In the beginning of the year 1910, Saturn stood in Fishes. At this moment, Dr. Steiner revealed the secrets of the “Second Coming of Christ” in our time. (He gave his first lecture on this event on 12 January 1910 at Stockholm.) He showed that this new revelation of Christ cannot take place again in a physical body but in a supersensible form — in an ether body. And he revealed that from the year 1935 onward, many would be able to perceive Christ in this form as their Guide and Comforter. The Dark Age had come to an end in 1899 AD, having lasted for 5000 years. It was announced by Saturn standing in Fishes. Although the new age had started, the dark powers still did not seem to give way, and yet, the gateway leading out of the darkness into the spiritual light was shown in the days of 1909-10 when Saturn was in Fishes. The prevailing darkness cannot be overcome by outer means, but only by the efforts of human hearts to recognize Christ in this new revelation. We have now completed the description of the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, and we can see how as the background of cosmic evolution they are interwoven into the existence of the Earth and humanity. We can experience the starry universe, especially the Zodiac and the movements of the planets within it, as a gigantic Being that precedes all existence in the universe. It is like a representative of humanity in the cosmos, leading and advising humanity on its path of destiny. The human form on Earth is indeed but a semblance of this cosmic form. The twelve parts of the human body, as known in olden times, are related to the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, and has been partly indicated, for instance: head originates in Ram larynx originates in Bull arms originates in Twins chest originates in Crab interior of chest above diaphragm originates in Lion interior of chest below diaphragm originates in Virgin hips originates in Scales reproductive organs originates in Scorpion thighs originates in Archer knees originates in Goat calves originates in Waterman feet originates in Fishes But the human form on Earth has fallen from its cosmic origin. In the course of long ages it has come under the influence of the forces of the Earth too much. Therefore, if we speak of that heavenly Being that goes before humanity, helping and guiding its development, we must imagine it in a different form from the present human being. We must imagine it more in the form of that Angel-like Being that we described in the conclusion of the description of Ancient Saturn evolution in our last letter. A Being with mighty wings instead of arms who, without a body, can perform organic functions as life-endowing activities in its surroundings. The planets in their rhythms and movements are then like its active manifestations in the universe. We shall have to speak more about this cosmic representative of humanity so that we may learn to hear other sounds of the heavenly language.