TWENTY-SECOND LETTER - January 1946
Our Connection with the Stars - Tycho's Venus/Mercury

After the superior conjunction of Venus with the Sun, we saw that this planet moved close to the Sun through the constellations of Twins, Crab, and Lion. Toward the end of the third lunar month it entered Twins. This was reflected in the events around 1565–70 in Tycho de Brahe's life. It was the time when he visited many places in Germany: Wittenberg, Rostock, Augsburg, and then there slowly began to develop within him the kind of astronomer and alchemist that we have already described.

Venus and its sphere (which has a Mercury character) are connected with the feeling life of humanity and with its bodily foundation, that is, with the rhythmic system. The sphere is certainly also related to the functions of the senses, as it carries a rhythmic character into the realm of the senses. We might almost say, it makes the development of the “Yoga of the senses” possible. We know that the old Indian Yoga system is not suitable for western bodies any more; it is the last remaining link with a period when humanity perceived the world quite differently from the way we do today. At that time, the practices which lead to a discipline of inhalation and exhalation served the purpose of making the breathing a sense organ for supersensible cognition. This cognition was more dreamlike. Therefore, it is not suitable for western bodies, because these bodies are organized for day-conscious, physical sense perceptions. Further, humanity is moving toward an epoch when the purely physical sense perception will also be overcome, not by a dreamlike supersensible cognition as in olden times but by a conscious discipline of the sense perceptions. Just as in olden times, the scholars of the Yoga method learned to direct their breathing by voluntary acts, humanity in future must learn to handle the activities of the senses. The sense impressions today flow into human bodies, mostly, without any discrimination or inner “digestion”. The bodies act on the impressions of the senses like automatons. This is one of the reasons for the disastrous lack of constructive thinking today. Only if the sense impressions are very consciously and voluntarily directed by human beings, will the cultural deadlock of human intelligence be overcome in future. Such a discipline of sense perception can be called “Yoga of the senses”. Both the old Indian Yoga (the old dreamlike condition) and the new Yoga are related to the sphere of the planet Venus, which we may call Occult Mercury.

This is clearly indicated in the case of Tycho de Brahe. During the time of his life, which is reflected in Venus entering into Twins in the third prenatal lunar month, he developed a “Yoga” of this kind. If the average person of today looks at the starry sky, he or she usually sees only the multitude of light points at unimaginable distances from the Earth. Nothing is created in the soul except a more or less helpless awe. One might as well be blind to the stars and not see them at all, for nothing is altered in the inner soul world. This was different for Tycho. He could really inhale, as it were, the view of a star and exhale the knowledge of its special message in the chorus of the starry heaven. It was a discipline of perception that he developed in those years of his studies, which were reflected in the movement of Venus (or Occult Mercury) in Twins.

After Venus had moved through Crab it entered Lion, and in the beginning of the fifth lunar month, it came into the same position in Lion where Jupiter had been in 1541 at the time of the spiritual nativity. (See diagram 2 in letter 21.) This event, during the fifth lunar month, refers exactly to the year 1576 in Tycho's life. It is the year during which the foundation stone of Uranienburg, Tycho's observatory on the island of Hveen or Huen, was laid. The island of Hveen was bestowed on Tycho de Brahe in 1575 by King Frederick II of Denmark, in order to enable him to pursue his astronomical studies freely. If we now re-read what was said in letter 21 about Jupiter in Lion in the spiritual nativity, we can well grasp the significance of this event that was reflected in the position of Venus in Lion. “Logistic Sensualism” was shining above Venus at this moment and again transformed the “Yoga of the senses” of Tycho de Brahe. The observatory that was built was, as it were, the sense organ of this “Yoga”. We have already described in the last letter this peculiar kind of respiration organ of the astronomical observatory in the upper stories of the building and the alchemistic laboratory in the lower part.

We can almost see in the movement of Venus through the various constellations of the Zodiac, the steps for a kind of initiation of Tycho. The sense for the perception of the language of the stars was innate in him. It may be that he inherited it from a previous incarnation. This “sense capacity” was led deeper and deeper into the realm of earthly substance, just as Venus passed through the constellations from Fishes to Lion, Virgin, and so on. Tycho demonstrated in his own spiritual evolution something that comes very near to the alchemistic Rosicrucianism of the Middle Ages. Some other instances in his life reveal that he must have been much more deeply related to this stream of esoteric Christianity than we know. He was also visited by King James I of England, then still James VI of Scotland, who was inspired by Rosicrucianism.

This sense capacity of Tycho de Brahe was even led so deeply into the realm of Earth existence that he was able to experience the very essence of the Earth, which externally is death. Toward the end of the seventh and during the eighth prenatal lunar month, Venus moved through Scorpion. This refers to the last seven years of Tycho's life. Venus was then opposite Bull, where it was in superior conjunction with the Sun, and where we could see the beautiful image of Tycho's sense for the perception of Cosmic Thought. Now it was in opposition and, during those last years of his life, Tycho had really to develop a kind of “sense of smell” (Scorpion) for the Earth; he literally “smelled death” as the essence of the Earth. The last years in Tycho's life brought a series of catastrophes. In 1588 his protector King Frederick II of Denmark died, and his successor had little affection for Tycho. Finally, in 1597, he had to leave the island of Hveen with all his instruments, and after wandering about for some time he was given asylum in Prague by the Emperor Rudolph II in 1599. After a couple of years, on October 24, 1601, he died of a strangury.

Toward the end of the eighth prenatal lunar cycle, Venus passed over from Scorpion to Archer, and at the same time it was in conjunction with Saturn. This event is exactly related to the moment of Tycho's death. He had passed through the deepest valley while Venus was in Scorpion. It was necessary for him to go through this experience. The following ascent, indicated by the entry of Venus into Archer, did not take place while he was on Earth. There stood Saturn, the Guardian of the Threshold and the image of the higher self of humanity that is interwoven into the Self of the World; into world destiny. The individual path of initiation that Tycho had followed now became an affair of the universe; it was no longer only his personal concern. This is indicated by Venus in conjunction with Saturn. The “sense capacity for Cosmic Thought”, which had gone through the deep and dark valley of Earth existence, now gradually returned to its origin, filled with the wisdom and reality of Earth existence, and thus it came back highly enriched and strengthened.

Certainly, death made an end of the development of this sense capacity on Earth. Still, if we take into account that nothing can be lost of what has been written by the stars into a physical form, and if we then look at Venus after the conjunction with Saturn, it becomes quite clear that this sense capacity was developed further even after death. After the event, which refers to the year 1601 in Tycho's life, Venus moved through Archer and finally entered Goat, where it came into conjunction with Jupiter shortly before Tycho's birth. Venus in Goat means the development of the sense of sight. Yet here in Tycho's case, where these final Venus capacities were no longer evolved on Earth but were taken beyond the threshold of death, we are compelled to call it almost a divine sense of sight lit by the wisdom of Jupiter. In his earthly life, Tycho experienced the matter of the Earth from the heights of his star wisdom. It was like an initiation and sometimes very difficult and painful. Even a mood of tragedy hovers over him. He carried the fruit of cognition of earthly matter beyond the threshold, and in time he became a cosmic sage of the destiny of the Earth. Now he could penetrate the secrets of Earth history with his star eyes much more deeply than ever before. He had become an initiate into the future of the Earth planet. That such ideas about the life after death of a certain individuality are not empty phrases, may be emphasized by the indications of Rudolf Steiner about Tycho de Brahe. He said that Tycho de Brahe's soul went through a very strong evolution after death so that he could inspire certain great historic personalities on Earth. Furthermore, he indicated that this soul is very active during this century and that he can be regarded as a cosmic counselor in all those matters which concern the prophecy of the 20th century. Thus we can witness how the forces of Venus can be transmuted into the forces of the Inspiration soul (see letter 18).

In letter 21, figure 1, we can see that the planet Mercury performed about two and a half cycles during the prenatal development of Tycho de Brahe. In the beginning, it just came out of a loop in Fishes, then it had a superior conjunction with the Sun in Ram/Bull, went into another loop in Twins, followed by a superior conjunction in Lion. During the eighth lunar month there was another loop in Scales, and finally Mercury was in superior conjunction with the Sun at the time of Tycho's birth.

Such a rhythm from one long loop to the following one may be called a cycle. As it comprises a time of roughly four months, it is related to an interval of 28 to 30 years in the life time of a human being. (One lunar month during the prenatal development is the reflection of seven years in the life of a human being.)

These cycles of Mercury, and of its sphere, refer to the rhythms of activities in the life of a human being. In the 19th letter we pointed out that this cosmic sphere is connected with the willing of human beings. Thus we can witness by the gestures of Mercury, toward which realm of active life the soul of an individuality is directed.

Here we find that we must distinguish in Tycho's life among three great cycles of activity. The first one comes to an end about the time of the fourth lunar month. We must imagine that this moving of Mercury from loop to loop appears like a descent or ascent into cosmic depths of the sphere of this planet (which has a Venus quality). It is like a wandering into the realms through which the soul normally passes only during sleep. The time of the superior conjunction marks the culmination of such a development where the impulses for any human activity are fetched from the depths of the spiritual universe. Then as the planet draws near the Earth, toward the inferior conjunction or loop, there is brought down to Earth with the sphere of the planet, which now fully enters the realm of the Earth, all that which has been gathered in cosmic depths. The Mercury qualities ascend, as it were, from the more spiritual but unconscious sphere of the will and the limbs into the bright consciousness of the head. The first Mercury cycle comes to an end during the fourth lunar month, which refers to the time when Tycho de Brahe quite consciously turned toward astronomy. The loop indicates that something previously had been brought down from cosmic spiritual spaces into earthly realms of human will. It had become head consciousness in a human on Earth. Furthermore, we find that this loop took place in Twins, where the Sun was at the same moment when Tycho de Brahe realized that side of his spiritual nativity, which referred to the mood of Mathematism or Twins.

Therefore, we must assume that the impulse which materialized in Tycho's Mathematism originated in experiences connected with the expansion of the Mercury or Occult Venus sphere into cosmic space, preceding the first prenatal loop in Twins. We can really find this source; it is the superior conjunction of Mercury with the Sun during the first Mercury cycle of Tycho de Brahe. It took place in Bull. We must imagine the planet standing behind the Sun and the occult sphere extending into the realm toward Bull. This happened during the second lunar month of Tycho's embryonic development and referred to the age of about nine in his later life. The rhythm of 9 years, 19 years, 28 years, and so on, which is connected with the rhythm of the Moon Nodes is very significant in human life. They are times when out of the depths of the unconscious arise strange soul experiences like messages from another world. Sometimes they enter only the dream world of human beings. At this age, when one experiences, as it were, the night aspect of life, Tycho de Brahe received in the depths of his soul the impulse of Bull in the mood of the Mercury sphere. What is this impulse? It is exactly the impulse of Cosmology or Cosmosophy.

The Mercury or Occult Venus sphere is the realm of the Archai or Spirits of Personality. From previous descriptions, we remember that these spirits were especially connected with the creation of humanity already within Ancient Saturn evolution. Through their activity, it had been established that the human being can experience itself as a personality through the warmth-will part or organization of its body.
Thus we imagine Saturn and Mercury, or Occult Venus, as opposites. Present in Saturn is what had been the sacrifice of the Gods that created humanity. It is the archetypal memory of the origin of humanity in the chorus of the hierarchies, and it works, as it were, from an aura around the human head down into the body. The forces of Mercury make it possible that people can experience themselves as independent beings. Whereas Saturn represents the still creative memory of the remotest past, Mercury (Occult Venus) stands for the germ of the final manifestation [of the spiritual goal of humanity] in the great universe [and known in occultism as] Spirit Man. Mercury works from the unfathomable depths of human will-future up into the head of a human being.

In the movement of Saturn through the Zodiac, we can experience the cosmic memory of the entry of the hierarchies through the gateways of the spiritual predecessors of the constellations into Ancient Saturn evolution. For instance, we saw the Spirits of Wisdom or Kyriotetes entering through Ram, the Dynamis through Bull, the Exusiai and Archai through Twins, the Archangels through Crab, and the Angels through Lion. The forces of Mercury (Occult Venus), in moving through the constellations of the Zodiac, bring home to the human being the effects of the activities of these hierarchies in the virginal human will throughout the ages of cosmic evolution.

In the case of Tycho de Brahe, we spoke above of a Bull (or manifesting) impulse entering Tycho's soul through the medium of the Mercury [Occult Venus] sphere. Therefore, we can see in this event the source of impulses originally coming from the Dynamis or Spirits of Motion, not as they entered the Ancient Saturn universe but as they are realized in the realm of human willing. The Spirits of Motion gave the primeval impulses for the motions of the stars. Soul experiences of spiritual Beings are the original motives for their movements. If human beings can realize such an influx that has been, as it were, transponed by Mercury, then they can create a Cosmology or Cosmosophy. This is what Tycho de Brahe did. We cannot regard these facts in the light of any determinism or fatalism. It is left to each of us whether we are willing to accept and work out such impulses or neglect them; and of course, karmic effects in either case will be created.

Thus we can find that the Mercury (Occult Venus) sphere can bring down into human willing the impulses of true Religion from Ram, Philosophy from Twins, a kind of Sociosophy from Crab, the Sophia of Pedagogics from Lion, and so on. It is difficult to find concepts for these impulses, because they are really virginal. Words cannot give very adequate descriptions of these really sublime connections of humanity with Mercury (Occult Venus) sphere, or the sphere of Sophia.

The second great Mercury cycle had its superior conjunction in Lion, which was related to the time of Tycho's first and positive years on the island of Hveen. It ended in a loop in Virgin/Scales. This loop referred, according to the prenatal lunar cycles, to the last seven years in Tycho's life. From the superior conjunction in Lion, we can assume that Tycho should have become a spiritual teacher of humanity. He had a group of really young people around him on the isle of Hveen. But why wasn't he able to break through then, why did he become relatively unknown so that today he is classified only as a specialist, as the “famous Danish astronomer”? We can find the answer if we look at the following loop of the planet Mercury in Scales. The loop should signify the realization of the Lion impulse. But what do we witness? We see Tycho de Brahe involved in almost profane human difficulties, which center around himself. The Cosmology that he had brought down into the mood of a philosophical Mathematism during the first Mercury cycle and which had been elevated to a pedagogical quality during the second Mercury cycle, should have become the teaching of the active presence of the spiritual hierarchies in all existence on the basis of visible phenomena and reality.

He could not achieve this for various reasons. His whole age was against it. Around him a civilization grew up, especially with regard to science and knowledge, that gradually recognized only the world of the senses and completely disavowed all knowledge of spiritual hierarchies. What Tycho de Brahe had to bring came too early on Earth. It will be realized one day, but the time had not come then. Tycho died at a time that was the reflection of that loop of Mercury during his prenatal development.

Here again we can say that this impulse was not lost. Tycho carried its essence over the threshold of death. He developed the third cycle of Mercury, which was innate in his soul, in the spiritual world. In his nativity, we see the planet Mercury moving from the loop in Scales into another superior conjunction in Archer. The impulse that could not be realized on Earth was again taken out into cosmic space and received another transformation. In the superior conjunction in Archer we can see the influx of forces that want to create in the soul of a person an active cognition of human and cosmic evolution, in fact the interplay of both. We can say that the impulse which wanted to manifest itself through Tycho de Brahe was a Cosmosophy combined with a Sophia of evolution. Only it was not accomplished on Earth, but it was achieved in the spiritual world through the soul of Tycho. Thus we arrive at a point similar to the one when we looked at the gestures and experiences of Tycho's Venus planet (or Occult Mercury sphere). Only this time we come to the same conclusions from a different angle. After death, this soul became a cosmosophist who by his knowledge of the course of spiritual world evolution can inspire and advise those who live on Earth.