SEVENTEENTH LETTER - August 1945 The Nature of the Planetary World - Moon (continued) Within the Earth evolution a condensation of substance took place again. This time a part of the substance derived from the previous cycles of evolution was densified into solid matter, forming the mineral kingdom. However, the Angels retained their activity in the sphere of the liquid substances. They could work in the world of matter, but only if it was connected with the liquid state. Thus their activity appears everywhere through the medium of the Moon, where solid matter is dissolved in water or comes into contact with it. The Earth would be a dry desert without water; but through the water, solid matter can be transmuted with the aid of the manifold beings in the plant and animal world. It is the same with our digestion; we cannot eat dry food, it must be penetrated by water. When the water forces are connected with solid matter, they can even create matter, as the Herzeele experiments have proven. For only the seed that is organically penetrated by water can germinate and thus create matter. Dry matter cannot do this. The Moon forces, revealing themselves in the phases of the Moon, can work through the water. It is the spiritual inheritance of the experiences of the Angels within the Ancient Moon evolution. By far the greater part of the human body consists of water. The balance of the water within us is the foundation of our conscious soul life. We could not use our brain if it did not “float” in the brain fluid. Through this fact, which is connected with the law of buoyancy through displacement, the circulatory system of the brain is kept in order so that we can use our brain as an organ for perception and conception in the world around us. It was the water that transformed the human body during long periods of the Earth evolution into an instrument for conscious soul life. In this we can realize the work of the Moon sphere or of the Angels. They kindled the spark of the soul member in us that spiritual science calls the consciousness soul. People are directly connected with the forces of the Moon through the consciousness soul. Rudolf Steiner says of the consciousness soul in Theosophy: “The kernel of human consciousness, that is, the soul within the soul, is here meant by consciousness soul. The consciousness soul is thus distinguished as a distinct member of the soul from the intellectual soul, which is still entangled in the sensations, the impulses, the passions, etc. Everyone knows how at first people accept as true what they prefer in their feelings, and so on. Only that truth, however, is permanent that has freed itself from all flavor of such sympathy and antipathy of feeling. The truth is true even if all personal feelings revolt against it. The part of the soul in which this truth lives will be called consciousness soul.” The consciousness soul has a twofold nature. It stands between the world of the senses and the world of the spirit. It realizes the truth of the world of the senses if the brain is able to reflect an undistorted picture of it. Thus the consciousness soul strives toward absolutely objective sense perception, but it strives also for a cognition of the phenomena of the world of the senses as a manifestation of the spirit. If the forces of the consciousness soul are to be really developed in humanity, as well as in the single human being, then this bridge between the two worlds must be established. To make the objective sense perceptions so transparent that the light of the spirit shines through them means the transformation of the consciousness soul into what we may call the “imagination soul”. Thus we are also connected with the Moon through our own nativities; the Moon forces endow us with bodies that should be undistorted mirrors of the world of the senses. It is our task while on Earth to make the phenomena of this world so transparent that the light of the spirit can penetrate them. We have to create imagination, for it is what the Moon forces expect from us. Therefore, the Moon has two faces — as, in fact, have all the planets — it gives and it also receives. If we perceive the Moon in a certain constellation of the Zodiac, we can always find these two aspects: one that shows how cosmic sustenance emanates from the Moon forces, and another that demands creative imagination from us. For instance, if we look at the Moon in the constellation of Ram, we find that it endows the human being with forces of tremendous cosmic memory, which may appear in the garment of the power of thinking in connection with the purification of perception. If we try to attain a knowledge of the Moon in this position through inner cognition, at first we may not perceive much more than mighty horns reaching through universal space and wound like spirals. They may appear like perception organs for all the wisdom that is incorporated into the universe; yet it is possible to perceive that these huge cosmic, ethereal organs have become imprisoned in the grave of the skull. Once they could freely move in universal space. Now they are fixed; and through this fixation and imprisonment, they bring one into the danger of being lost in them as in a labyrinth. In the course of evolution, this drama happened to the human brain that we so much admire today. However, we can also evolve beyond the sole use of our physical brains. By the path leading to the attainment of higher knowledge, we can develop imagination that is not bound to the function of the brain only. We can then experience the ethereal “horns” growing from the grave of the skull into universal space, and thereby we can learn how to “name” things and beings with the eternal names created by true imagination. If this can be accomplished by us for supersensible perception, the fleece of Ram begins to radiate with brilliant light. Swedenborg and Novalis were connected with Ram shining through the Moon in their nativity. We have the impression that Swedenborg, who was a prominent scientist in the earlier part of his life and a spiritual and religious teacher in his later lifetime, did not fully establish a bridge between his scientific perception of the world of the senses and the visionary world that grew into his soul experience. There is a gap in between these two worlds. Therefore, the world of his visions could not bring about the redemption of the thinking still buried in the grave of the brain. The case of Novalis is different. From his writings we have the impression that he built a bridge between the world of scientific thinking and imaginative cognition. If we look at the Moon in Bull, perhaps at first we perceive only the animating forces of the mighty Bull flowing into the vessel of the Moon. This is connected with the perception of everything dependent on the forces of heredity through physical parents. However, if we, through the evolution of our own inner forces, are able to transform this original imagination of the Bull, we then perceive that the head and the mighty horns of the Bull metamorphose into the shape of a vessel or crescent in which appears the brilliant disc of a golden Sun. The one-sided aspect of hereditary descent is then transformed into the imagination of the true relationship between physical heredity and the cosmic origin of their spiritual nature. A consciousness of this fact was still alive in medieval times but was gradually lost. Spiritual science reveals again the spiritual nature of human beings. Personalities such as Dante, Mirandola, Kepler, and Haeckel were connected through the Moon with Bull, and we can see in their lives an illustration of these Bull powers. Through the Moon in Twins we can experience the mighty forces in the universe that once, long ago, separated the united cosmos into a spiritual and a physical world. We can learn from these forces the cause of light and darkness, for instance, as well as of all polarity in the world. These are the real causes of dualism in the religious and philosophic life of modern humanity. If we transform this imagination again through our own soul capacities, we can perceive that suddenly a third figure steps between the light that, although brilliant in the cosmic heights, cannot penetrate the darkness and the darkness which creates the fear of isolation and loneliness. We see the third being keeping the other two forces in their places so that they cannot overwhelm the soul of humans through their conflict. We can experience how this third being really can come to life in us. Among many others, it is expressed in a beautiful imagination from Albrecht Dürer, who received the forces of Twins through the vessel of the Moon in his nativity and, among other pictures similar in character, created the well-known engraving “The Knight, Death, and the Devil”. It is a most beautiful imaginative expression of the third power of unerring soul courage holding sway over those two mighty opponents. If we now turn our eyes toward Crab as it is gathered in the vessel of the Moon, we behold at first the shape of the crab seen, as it were, from the front. We see the mighty pair of claws and the creature that is hidden in its shell. We perceive in this imagination those forces in the world that have carried evolution one step further after the Twin-powers had brought about the split between the physical and the spiritual world. We see the image of materialism that has cut the thread that still connected the two worlds with the sharp claws of the sense-bound thinking and has withdrawn into the rock-cave of the skull. But if we transform this imagination, we behold how it is changed into the picture of an overturned vessel filled with the fruits of human moral striving. In spite of the experience of temporary separation from the spiritual world during life on Earth, this vessel can be the bearer of sustaining food in a far distant future time. Personalities such as Edward Geo. Bulwer-Lytten, R.W. Emerson, and John Ruskin are connected with the constellation of Crab through the Moon. When the Moon is in the constellation of Lion, we can have the imagination of a lion's head looking through us as if we were transparent and gazing beyond us into a far distance. We see in it the picture of the spiritual accumulation of human achievements and attainments on Earth throughout the ages. It is the image of courage, enterprise, and pride. For one who evolves his or her soul capacities, it changes into an image where the animal nature is subdued by the blows of destiny until the selfish qualities are transmuted into a mood of acceptance of the challenge of destiny. In this struggle between the selfish nature and the world guiding powers of destiny, we can develop a supersensible cognition of the superhuman plans and powers that spiritually guide humanity. We can then recognize the spiritual beings who work behind the movements of the starry heaven and form the destiny of human beings and the world. This cannot easily be attained in our age. Very often the soul forces of individuals lose in this struggle. Benjamin Disraeli was connected with Lion through the Moon in his nativity and so was Leo Tolstoy. The ex-Empress Charlotte of Mexico had the Moon in the same position at her birth. She was the wife of the unhappy Emperor Maximilian of Mexico who was shot by the Mexican insurgents, and she became mad after the death of her husband. The Moon in Virgin appears to us in the image of the heavenly Mother of all existence who knows the secrets of creation. In olden days people experienced this Being as holding a sheaf of corn in her hand, the symbol of ripeness. Christian esotericism can evolve to a point where we see not only the heavenly Virgin Mother but also the Child of the universe that grows as radiating spiritual Sun into the remotest spaces of the cosmos. The powers of imagination that stream into the world from the innermost soul of individuals toward the Moon in this constellation create deeds that are of greatest historic importance, yet they are never on the surface of earthly events. They stay hidden in the background of the streams of the evolution of humanity. Although these deeds are seldom recognized by contemporaries, their influence is all the stronger and reaches far into the future when the physical bearers of these impulses, the “child-impulses” of humanity, are no longer alive. In this group we can name personalities like Joan of Arc, Tycho de Brahe, and Rudolf Steiner. The Moon in the constellation of Scales leads to the imagination of the scales of cosmic judgment, as people have perceived them since olden times. Nostradamus, the famous astrologer who at his birth had the Moon in Scales, experienced this cosmic judgment when he wrote the prophecies, which reached far beyond his own age. They are veiled imaginations of the destiny of the European peoples, which became true long after his death. However, Christian clairvoyance can experience the transformation of this imagination into another impression; the Scales become then two hands that softly and unseen work in the world as healing and balancing powers. They make the path level for the revelation of the spirit in the world. This imagination became manifest in the life of Raphael Santi. In his paintings we can still experience the magic power of those healing hands. The constellation of Scorpion cannot easily be penetrated when its forces are gathered in the vessel of the Moon, because, in fact, three different imaginations are hidden within. In olden times people perceived these forces in the imagination of the eagle that penetrates into the light and warmth-filled heights of the atmosphere, far away from the dwelling places of human beings on Earth. Powerful and dominating were these eagle forces in the human soul. They endowed people with great capacities of spiritual rulership; then this spirit became more and more estranged from the Earth. It could only rule the Earth from the heights but it did not redeem it. Thus these forces deteriorated, and for many ages people have only been able to behold them in the image of the scorpion with the deadly sting. The famous German philosopher Nietzsche lived through this tragedy when his glorious flight of thoughts in Thus Spake Zarathustra was followed by his fateful fall into the abyss of insanity. Thus the imagination of the eagle was transformed into the imagination of the Scorpion, and we could show many examples that bear the imprint of the fall of human idealistic but illusionary thinking into the abyss of destruction. However, spiritual activity can lead people to a point of inner evolution where they can transform the imagination of the Scorpion into the imagination of the Dove, even the Dove of the Holy Spirit, working in humanity as the gentle might of spiritual creative power. This was manifest in the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling, who at his birth had the Moon in Scorpion. His Philosophy of Revelation is a realization of this new imagination. The composer Mozart was also endowed with these forces. His music breathes the soft magic power of the Dove, and it was also manifest in his bright character. The Moon in the constellation of Archer can appear to us in the imagination of an arrow that rests upon the drawn string of a bow. We can see in it the expression of mighty powers that can become alive in human souls as driving forces toward certain goals, even inhuman goals. But true Christian consciousness must transform the image of the arrow, the shooting power as it were, into powers of moral self-perfection. Then the arrow will change into the imagination of a narrow serpentine path that leads up the slopes of a mountain into the realm of the light. Thus it may become a striving for the spirit in the human soul. This has been realized by the Pastor Oberlin in a beautiful perfection. He was a pastor in Steinthal in Alsace, a poor mountain village in the Vosges. Through the energy of Oberlin, this village rose to a remarkable prosperity, yet behind this was another fact. The pastor's wife died earlier and Oberlin was strongly connected with her after her death. Through the beautiful contact of their two souls, he could take part in her experiences in the life after death. In fact, practically the whole congregation of Steinthal lived with their pastor in these experiences, because he communicated to his parishioners the secrets of his soul life. Here human striving in this village had a certain goal, and the path toward it led upward into the spiritual world, which was obviously of benefit for the congregation of Steinthal. The constellation of Goat, through the light of the Moon, appears as the image of the ibex. Since olden times it was thus experienced, but instead of hind feet it had a fish-tail. It is a picture of a soul attitude that strives for the highest in the world. The danger is that it does not stand very firmly upon the ground of earthly realities and can lose its foothold altogether. However, true evolution can also transform this imagination into the picture of something like a shining castle standing on the summit of a high mountain. This is conceived not as an earthly but as a spiritual reality. Richard Wagner, whose Moon stood in Goat at the time of his birth, realized this imagination in the beauty of his musical drama Parsifal, which he created as the last work of his life. Parsifal, after long vain striving, arrives there at the Grail's castle, which stands radiating on the summit of Montsalvat and in which the healing and ever-feeding vessel of the Holy Grail is guarded. The Grail's castle is a spiritual reality; it cannot be found in the world of the senses. The Waterman in the image of the Moon appears as the great cosmic waterer who pours the content of his jug into cosmic space. It is an imagination of soul forces that may easily lose themselves in a kind of passiveness or an unbalanced altruism. The soul may find itself as though left alone upon an endless ocean or it may feel like it is engulfed by a shattering torrent. If this is transformed into a true imagination, then the water will appear as the sea of the life-endowing ether forces that stream down from cosmic spheres into earthly realms and bring about the miracle of living forms. Goethe was endowed with this Moon mystery, and we can say that the reality of the ether forces working in nature and in humanity was a matter of inner experience for him. We could prove this in manifold ways. The Moon in the constellation of Fishes creates the imagination of the two fishes that swim in the water of Waterman. The fishes are like islands in the sea founded upon human individual existence. The Fishes is the picture of individuals who have realized the spirit in themselves through the development of the higher principles of their whole being. Now such people stand at the end of a cycle of evolution, or rather they swim in the sea of the creative ether forces. Such individuals prepare themselves to be the master of the creative ether forces so that through their aid they can perform deeds of which we have in our present age only a very faint conception. Therefore, the fruits of deeds that can ripen in the light of this imagination are brought forth in a soul region which is not yet under the conscious control of the “I”. We have this position of the Moon in Fishes in personalities such as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, Ignatius of Loyola, Hahnemann; the founder of Homeopathy, and Thomas More. These are only outlines of the activity of the Moon forces in the constellations of the Zodiac and their transformation through the capacities of the consciousness soul. Of course we cannot generalize in the case of nativities. There the aspects of the other planets in connection with the Moon and also many other details have to be considered, but our aim here was to show how these forces can work and be developed under ideal circumstances. The Events in the Sky On July 6, a conjunction of the Sun and Saturn took place in the constellation of Twins. The conjunction between these two celestial bodies happens once in a year, and it always takes place about half a month later than in the preceding year. For instance, in 1946 it will occur on July 21, but both the Sun and Saturn will then have already entered the constellation of Crab. Thus the annual event shows a progressive evolution through the Zodiac. Within a time of 30 years we can find 30 conjunctions that successively take place in the 12 constellations of the Zodiac. About two or three conjunctions occur in each single constellation. The conjunction during this and the coming two years is especially important because it gradually moves toward the planet Pluto, which was discovered in 1930. (So far Pluto is the planet that is furthest away from the center of our solar system. Its orbit is beyond that of Neptune, and it needs about 250 years in order to complete one whole orbit.) Therefore, we are facing the following facts: in 1945 the conjunction of the Sun and Saturn takes place in Twins, in 1946 it will occur in Crab, and in 1947 it also will occur in Crab, but then it will be combined with a conjunction with Pluto. If we could observe this event through a telescope, we would see in the background of the firmament of the fixed stars the faint stars of Crab and in front of it the Sun. Slightly above the Sun would appear the planet Saturn in the far distances of the universe. Considerably higher, but in an almost straight line above the Sun we would then detect the planet Pluto, which, of course, could only be seen through one of the big modern telescopes. The times and the places of these combined conjunctions are very important, and it may be necessary to draw the attention of people who feel a strong spiritual responsibility toward the cultural developments of our age to these events. About 33 years elapse from one conjunction of Saturn with Pluto to the next; therefore, the last conjunction of these two planets must have taken place in 1914. On 13 June 1914, there occurred a conjunction of the Sun and Saturn. Pluto was at least very near the place where the Sun and Saturn stood in those days. Thus we have here an event that is similar to the one which will take place in 1947, but it occurred in the constellation of Bull. We will remember that on June 28, 1914 the murder of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo occurred, leading to the First World War. The place where the combined conjunction in 1947 will take place is strongly connected with the tragedy of the German philosopher Nietzsche, who became insane in 1888. It is also connected with the man who forced Germany into this war (WWII) and led her to destruction. The megalomaniacal idea of the Greater German Empire took hold of the latter when Saturn was in conjunction with the planet Neptune (discovered in 1846). This happened in 1917, in the constellation of Crab. In 1947 Saturn will be in conjunction with Pluto in about the same position, but the conjunction with Pluto will mean an “exaltation” because Pluto is further away, i.e., it belongs to a “higher” sphere. How will this cosmic occurrence reflect itself in the earthly events? Could we bear to know the aspects written into it? It will certainly be connected with the fight of the evil forces and the power of cosmic evolution in the universe. Therefore, much is given into the hands of humanity itself. The balance of human moral and spiritual achievements on Earth will decide the outcome of these events in the end. If in 1914 when the combined conjunction of the Sun, Saturn, and Pluto took place in Bull, the building of spiritual science — the Goetheanum at Dornach, the “House of the Word” — could have been finished, events in that year might have taken another course. The events connected with the celestial occurrences in the coming years may be directed to the good and the progress of humanity if a certain number of people develop and carry through certain strong moral and spiritual impulses for which our age yearns. How can we read and understand the language of these events? The Word, which we can hear sounding from the Sun during these conjunctions, pronounces that the time for “realization” has come for certain impulses, and that certain things must be done or certain possibilities will vanish from humanity. Saturn will reveal that once again a time has come when many should recognize the fact that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, and that many more than hitherto should penetrate to the experience of the “kingdom of heaven” through the cognition of the higher principles of the human organization. Otherwise many will be swept away by the counter-forces of the Higher-Self. Pluto is deeply hidden behind veils of mystery. It will tell us of forces that the single human being cannot attain, not single nations nor single continents, but can only be attained by humanity as a true Christian and globe-embracing community. The peoples of the Earth can become one body in the Holy Spirit. Against it stand the forces of total destruction, annihilation, even of the human race. These events in the sky will initiate the age in which humanity will have to decide and choose between the two forces.