COSMOLOGY COURSE

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LECTURES TO MEMBERS - Willi Sucher: from 1 Oct. ‘54 to 1 Apr. ’55

(All drawings by Willi Sucher)

Rudolf Steiner House, London, England

(Notes from lecture, unrevised by author)

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MOON NODE - 2 ~ 3 December 1954

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Today I should like to go straight into the matter of the Moon node that we started last time. Tonight the Moon is in the constellation of Waterman (the ecliptic sign of Pisces), and it is a waxing Moon. The constellations are much deeper in space than the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the path of the Sun, starting with the vernal point. The Moon will now go into the sign of Aries (constellation Fishes), and 2000 years ago behind the sign of Aries was the constellation of Ram.

We want to grasp the significance of the Moon node. We want to have a viewpoint through which we can become aware of the present time. If we come to the Moon node, we are doing an exercise that we called the “re-view” earlier. If we go forward with the Moon, we go backward with the Moon node. We must find an opening, for the Moon of itself means nothing, it is a key, and the key does not help if we do not find the keyhole, which is the Moon node.

We want to find a point that is universal, so we move against the stream of time to when the node was in this same position. We can move one cycle further back, or we can go back endlessly. However, we must find a point that is relevant for this time, which we may find through our soul activity, through a question or feeling that may lead to an answer. If we take the Moon node back to where the Moon is now, we find that we can take it all the way back to 33 AD, the Mystery of Golgotha. According to Rudolf Steiner, the date of Golgotha was 3 April 33, and the Moon node was here in the sign and constellation of Aries/Ram. Standing nearby was the Sun, Venus, and Mercury. This is a viewpoint on which we can work, a way to find a higher point of view. Now our present Moon in Ram is thrown open through the Moon node being in the vernal point.

It is the beginning of spring if the Sun is in Aries. With the Moon, it is not the same as with the Sun, but it is a spring on the etheric level, which happens once a month. With the Moon node there, the gate is opened. We can see that ourselves in history when we journey back to find the Moon node again in Aries, and we come to 1801. This was the year when Novalis died. It was he who, as we know from Dr. Steiner, was John the Baptist. Three years before his death, Novalis wrote Heinrich von Otterdingen, which contains the Klingsor fairytale (see story on page 40). It is a description of the Apocalypse told in a fairytale style. Earlier Goethe had written the fairytale of the beautiful lily and the green snake, which is also in the background.

There were many Romantics living at that time in Europe and England, and there were 12 Romantics standing around Novalis. There is Novalis and there are those twelve already partly in the spiritual world at the death of Novalis. In 1801 the aspects in the sky were similar to the time after Golgotha.

We have been working against time, going into the past. We can do the same thing going into the future. Toward the end of this century, in 1997, the Moon node will again be in this position. Then again the “Cosmic Image of Humanity” will appear in the heavens. Toward the end of this century, we will have to make a decision. All that exists in modern civilization that makes us passive will still exist. Then humanity will ask, “What does the life on Earth mean? What are we here for? We will be presented with these great questions in 2000 when Jupiter is in Bull, the divine representative of the human being. This is to show how one can break through the Moon. One can see how all is standing on the ground of the Mystery of Golgotha.

When Dr. Steiner died, the Moon was in this position in Bull moving toward Twins. We can ask what happened in the spiritual world then. One had the impression that it was a moment that was a burden. Why was he not permitted to stay with us longer? There was so much that was left open. One had wished for still more information. What does that mean? One can ask what kind of aspects open the gateway to the answer; but one must have a burning question to get the answer.

Let us again work back from 1954 to when the Moon node moved into this position in 1740. We again come into a time that was similar to the Mystery of Golgotha. This was a most important moment in history. It was the time when Swedenborg had his illumination, when he came away from his scientific work. This time of 1740 is of great significance for humanity of our age, for it is also the same aspect of the sky which stood above Kaspar Hauser. In 1828, at the age of 16, Kaspar Hauser suddenly appeared in Nürnberg, and people didn’t know where he came from. The people of Nürnberg looked after him, and five years later, in 1833, he was murdered. A great personality was standing above Kaspar Hauser, in that constellation of Golgotha. Through the Moon node of Dr. Steiner’s death, we can also see the spiritual world open and see the great spiritual aspects behind it. It must be a genuine problem, a genuine question, and then we shall find the answer.

Last time a question arose about how one can come to these dates, or how one can calculate them. There are tables, but they are very scarce. This class is for members and it is meant for study and working together. All this may seem very strange and farfetched, but all I told you would not have been possible if it weren’t for Dr. Steiner. In Human and Cosmic Thought, Dr. Steiner speaks about the spiritual nativity. The relationship of the planets, etc. to the ordinary birth asterogram can easily be mixed with egoism; it is a closed gate. In itself it does not speak anything. The gate has to be opened. There is a sharp distinction between the birth and spiritual nativity — what we bring with us as our thinking orientation in this life on Earth. The higher hierarchies endowed us with their living-thinking-divine forces before birth, which we received while we were still in the spiritual world. These considerations of these divine thoughts show themselves on Earth as philosophies. Dr. Steiner gives examples, for instance: Idealism in the mood of Logism is like seeing Jupiter (Logism) in the constellation of Ram (Idealism). Hegel developed Jupiter in Ram. Fichte also developed it, etc. Dr. Steiner does not say how it is found through the birth nativity; however, I found the answer in connection with the Moon node. These events of the spiritual nativity can happen before or after birth. With regard to Nietzsche, the Moon was in Libra/Scorpion. When we open the gate, at the time when we find either of the Moon’s nodes in the position of the birth Moon, we can find, for instance, Jupiter in Ram (Logism in Idealism), etc.

Next time I should like to discuss the eclipse, as there will be one on 25 December. One is easily inclined to take such events as mechanical happenings, and I want to show how we can come to the experience of beings and with which kind of beings we are confronted in such an eclipse.

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