Christ’s Coming and the Stars

Unrevised Lecture by Willi Sucher - January 1952

   

The meetings of the planets in the sky take place in beautiful harmony, if we study them carefully, as you will see from this diagram:

   

	The outer sphere is Saturn		The inner sphere is Jupiter
World of Fixed Stars
	543 BC Conjunction in Goat (Cyrus)		7 BC Conjunction in Fishes

   

We can study the wonderful conference of heavenly bodies and of the celestial nature between Saturn and Jupiter in the invisible sphere. They meet every 20 years at a different part of the heavens in differing constellations. As you can see, these conjunctions take place in a kind of triangle. In between the conjunctions there are also oppositions, and after 60 years they return to the approximate place of the first conjunction. However, the cosmos is a living organism and not a machine. Jupiter and Saturn have different velocities, meaning that there will not be absolute, mechanical precision.

We spoke before of the Persian Magi, who were of the priest class and knew, as did the whole world then, of the approaching Christ, and through much research, they were working on both time and space. In 543 BC there was this conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter in Goat. The conqueror Cyrus released the Hebrews at that time to return to Palestine. This was the same time in which Zoroaster, one of the great Persian Magi, lived in Babylon.

These initiates knew that certain steps must be taken to prepare for the coming of Christ. It is assumed that Cyrus worked out of the knowledge given by the Persian priests, when he released the Hebrews. Several hundred years later in 7 BC, there was another conjunction of these great planets further on in the constellation of the Fishes — a conjunction well known in history as having occurred at the birth of Christ. Theologians, historians, and astrologers come together at this point, for it is recognized that 1 BC, though traditional, was not the true time. However, I still say that it possibly could have been, because there is a difference of 6 years in the establishment of the foundation of Rome.

I have mentioned that this same conjunction was there three times in the course of the year. This can happen, though it is too complicated to explain at the moment. Saturn is a planet speaking more of the past. It used to be depicted as a very old man, who represented the past and its living memory. In the sphere of Jupiter dwell beings who are concerned with the future. Therefore this conjunction seemed like a conference between past and future to the ancients, discussing what was to be done on Earth in order to bring about the Divine intentions.

In the background was an even higher sphere than that of the planets, where even more exalted Beings lived. Therein had taken place the past gigantic stages of catharsis, in which the evil forces had tried, as a1ways, to interfere with the Divine progress. All these great battles are written into the constellation of Goat.

In the 6^th century, a similar cosmic purge passed through the world, as shown by the Exile and the great age of the prophets. In Saturn we saw the sacrifice personified of the Divine Wisdom into the world; and in the least object we can trace this Divine essence. This is also written into the constellation of Fishes. However, it is best seen through the gateway of Jupiter in the sky.

This Divine essence will be lit up again and pass through the great cosmic act of Resurrection, when our present world of illusion will have passed away. Thus these two meet and converse — the bearer of past wisdom and the carrier of future destiny — so that the Magi recognized that those events were imminent that would create a bridge between the past and the future on Earth. We know the Magi saw the Star and followed it until it stood above the birth place of the Christ.

You know that the indications of this birth differ in the Gospel of St. Matthew from that in the Gospel of St. Luke. The riddle has been indicated by Rudolf Steiner that two chi1dren were born at different times: the child of the Matthew Gospel, whom the Magi visited, was born earlier than the child of the St. Luke Gospel. The Star of the Magi was the one that was indicated in the human soul. The Star that led the Magi to the Child, led them to the one who held the fullness and majesty of Truth and Wisdom. The child described by St. Luke had more the humble being of the Earth within it, the impulse of compassion and mercy, and it was the Shepherds who came to this Child.

Thus we have both the ancient star wisdom and the living being of the Earth. These children unite with each other when they were twelve years old, as described in St. Luke. Only then did it become possible for the cosmic Christ to enter this chosen vessel and body. We are concerned with the star of the Magi leading to Jesus. Ancient documents always warned them to watch out for the conjunction that would guide them to the Savior’s birth.

I will now speak of another planet that has conjunctions with the Sun in yearly rhythms — this is occultVenus. The Sun moves around the Earth in yearly rhythms. This occult Venus, which is traditionally called Mercury, I am calling Venus, but do not confuse it with the actual planet, which I cannot fully explain now. This planet has three conjunctions with the Sun in the course of the year. They will occur either in from of the Sun, called an inferior conjunction, then behind the Sun, or superior conjunction, as seen from the Earth. We remember these spheres as living Beings, not fixed, but expanding and contracting, and sometimes this planetary sphere expands through and becomes bigger than the Sun.

This makes an invisible six-pointed star within the Saturn/Jupiter conjunction, which was the Star of the Magi. On the continent, there is a Christmas tradition in which a singer carries a six-pointed star, in the center of which is a picture of the Virgin and Child; in this same ancient play, a speaker mentions the conjunction of Venus and the Sun. This six-pointed star is related to the fixed-star world; one corner, say, pointing to the constellation of Lion. However, this great star also rotates, so that it gradually points to different constellations. The Earth is fixed in the heart of this David’s Star, or Solomon’s Seal, as it swims in the heart of this great starry world. At one time, a point of this star was directed toward the constellation of Virgin, and at the same time there was a conjunction between Venus and the Sun. Imagine the three Magi watching the sky to the east before sunrise and seeing the Sun behind which lay Venus, in superior conjunction with it, while Saturn was high up in Twins and at a right angle (90°) to the Sun and Venus. Behind Venus was the constellation of Virgin, and behind Saturn was the constellation of Twins. The Magi recognized in this the time for the birth of the Savior: Occult-Venus represents love and Eve redeemed in Mary, thereby bearing the Sun Child.

This is related to Saturn, the Divine Chronology, the past wisdom. By entering into the position of a right angle, Saturn announces that the Divine Idea will materialize on Earth. It had passed from the moment of contemplation to the moment of the rising Sun. Therein the Magi read that the long historical preparation was about to enter into the sense world as a physical event. Saturn, speaking from the constellation of Twins, thus announces the birth of the Two Jesus Children, who will eventually be united as one to become the vessel of the cosmic Christ. The great impulse of the “I AM” worked through Twins, from the reaching down to the Event of Golgotha, and in Twins was recorded every step of the way toward the incarnation of the “I AM” of the Earth.

Thirty years later, Saturn was again in the constellation of Twins, when Jesus was baptized and the Christ entered into the prepared vehicle. The time had then come when the two Jesus Children had become one, more so than in the physical union at twelve years, for now the Divine and the human became One.

If we look at Twins horizontally, we will see two poles, representing the two children; whereas looking at it vertically we see the union of the Divine cosmic world with the Human world.

The ancients carried out a process of intuitional divination rather than calculations. The Magi looked through the stars to the Spirit of the Cosmos behind them. At that time, they looked through the gateway of the Moon into cosmic space. They could look through it to the past or to the future. Looking back they saw the conjunction in Fishes in 7 BC, but if we could have looked through the gateway of the Moon at the time when the Luke Child was born, we would have seen that the same great conjunction was repeated at the birth of the Matthew Child.

   

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