ST. PAUL - Equality ~ 6 January 1955

Included in Cosmology Course I, published by Astrosophy Research Center

   

   

It is one of the most comforting things to know that the rhythms of the cosmos and also the patterns of movements of the planets are a kind of ground archetype of what lives in a quite different fashion within the human realm, especially the realm of the human spirit. Those three Great Conjunctions, of which we have been speaking, took place about the time of Christ, and they take place at three different points of the Zodiac. There are only those three points during the time of Christ. In the interval of 60 years they repeat themselves. They always repeat themselves in approximately the same place, though there is one phenomenon connected with this that makes it more interesting. These points move and thus, in time, all those three points rotate through the Zodiac. The complete rotation of any one of these points, which means the return to the same position, takes about 2,600 years. This is the triangle that is inscribed into the cosmos. All the triads, all having to do with threefoldness, are connected with it. It also comprises the three great ideas of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. These are impulses that are deeply connected with the events of 2,000 years ago. They are practical impulses with regard to social life and many other concerns of human life in a very true sense.

Today we will speak about the corner of the star-triangle in Lion. Golgotha took place April 3^rd in 33 AD, and shortly after, in 34 AD, the Great Conjunction took place in Lion. This is connected with St. Paul and with the spreading of Christianity. One cannot imagine what would have happened if St. Paul would not have existed. We can really see the development of the inner growth of Christianity in the movement of this Great Conjunction in Lion. It is now in the constellation of Ram.

What is the St. Paul-line in Christianity? St. Paul had been a great enemy of the Christians. On the way to Damascus he had the experience of the Christ. It was such a tremendous experience and the light was so powerful that he was blinded for several days. The Christianity of St. Paul is different from the one of the Apostles. He had never seen the Christ while he was indwelling the body of Jesus; he was the first to experience the Christ in the Father, in the etheric. St. Paul is, in a certain sense, the guarantor for those who did not see Christ in the flesh; for it is because of his experience that we can all still experienced Christ, but now in the etheric. Thus we can experience the Christianity of Paul in the spiritual sense.

Thus it is connected with the Second Coming. St. Paul was never involved externally in the events of Palestine like the Disciples. Therefore he experienced Christ in this different form, after Golgotha and He had entered the Earth. This is the fundamental difference from the experience of the Disciples: that Christ had suffered death and was now united with the Earth, present in the Earth. Thus we can understand that this Paul-line is deeply connected with what is going through humanity with the call of equality. It is a yearning for equality; that is the archetype for all humanity on Earth. It is not of equality as equaling things out, but in the sense it is as dignity, lifting up ones selfhood. Now this conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter took place in 34 AD around the time of the conversion of Saul to Paul. This event is at present commemorated on the 6^th of January — the moment of Epiphany. This moment is closely connected with St. Paul at Damascus, only he experienced it three years later. Thus this event in 34 AD is connected with the incarnation of Christ into the Earth. We cannot go into details now, but the night of the Last Supper and during the following three days, the Moon is of great importance. If we look at the position of the Moon during these three days, then we have something like a portal, like a pathway leading us straight into all that which is connected with the union of Christ with the Earth, that which is really the foundation of the Pauline Christianity, and it leads straight to this Great Conjunction.

Let us look at the movement of the Great Conjunction, which was first in Lion and connected with the conversion of Saul/Paul. This constellation of Lion is deeply connected with the whole cosmos, especially with the Sun, with beings in the Sun working with this Great Conjunction. Sun powers are streaming through Lion and Sunlight was the experience of Paul. These Sun forces will be experienced again; this experience of the new cosmic light that has its root in the past. Everything that works into the future has its roots in the past.

If we go back into India, we hear of the famous warrior Ahrjuna (the Bhagavad-Gita) who had to fight an important battle. While he was contemplating, Krishna — the cosmic Christ — talked with him. It is worthwhile to read this poem, to read about the cosmic imagination that Ahrjuna had and which made him decide to fight the dragon. This Sun-majesty of Christ came to Paul and also comes to all of present humanity.

The Great Conjunction took place in the middle of the 2^nd to the 5^th centuries in Virgin. The Virgin is a beautiful constellation. It is not easy to penetrate into these high beings, but there are also other beings below in the Hydra, the water-serpent. The Hydra was one of the monsters Hercules killed. That dragon is opposed to the virgin. We have in those centuries a Christianity that is, in a sense, rather withdrawn; for instance, in Manichean Christianity and Gnostic Christianity. However, we also have another Christianity that comes up, which is not so subtle; it is the Christianity of Rome. These two streams of Christianity were at great odds. Great battles took place for the recognition of the events of Palestine. Many people could not understand that Christ had appeared in a physical body. On the one hand there was the struggle of inner Christianity and on the other hand Rome — the Hydra.

In Scales, in the middle of the 5^th to 6^th centuries, we have truly a time when the experience of Christ, who had united with the Earth and who was working within this planet, was very much in balance. It was the exiting time of the migration of peoples. The leader of the Huns, Attila, died. He set the migration going. It was the time when the Nordic element, the Germanic tribes, the Goths, all came in touch with Christianity. Many fine things developed, but everything was in upheaval. The date of King Arthur’s conversion to Christianity in 536 was also when the Great Conjunction was in Scales.

The Great Conjunction in Scorpion can bring great crises. By now it was difficult to experience the spiritual reality of Christ, and during the 9^th century the Great Conjunction took place in the sting of Scorpion. In 868 there was the Council of Constantinople. Pope Nikolas, who prepared the decisions that were taken at the Council of Constantinople, died when the conjunction was in the sting of Scorpion. At this time the body, soul, and spirit were not considered as being one any longer. That was the root of later materialism. Also slight alterations in the Holy Mass were made by Pope Nikolas. Before, the Mass was read for the experience of the Risen Christ. This was increasingly lost, and through these alterations in the Mass, such as the refusal of the cup, the door was closed. These things were a tragic necessity, which had to come to pass for the sake of freedom in humanity.

However, this was not the only dismal aspect. This series of conjunctions was also connected with the Grail movement. A split had taken place in humanity and a provision had to be made so that the experience of the risen Christ was not lost. In the cup of the Holy Grail, that which in the Celtic stream is called the transparent stone, is spirit in matter. That is the great heritage of the Christian movement. It was a new beginning, and spiritual beings worked who made this new beginning. There may come a time in the future when this constellation of Scorpion can be experienced as the dove, the Holy Spirit.

When this conjunction occurred in Archer, there was a definite split between the Christians whose past could not experience the Risen Christ (there are many things connected with it) and the Christians that were prepared to work out into practical life that experience of the spirit in matter (really of Christ having united with the Earth) and into practical life. In England it was the time of Alfred the Great. It was the time when one found organizations, so to speak, everywhere in civilization creating the first beginnings of culture. That was initiated by certain centers on the continent, occult centers that were connected with the Grail tradition.

About the middle of the 14^th century this conjunction was in Goat. It was the time when Thomas Becket was murdered. Then we come ever closer to the time where the experience of the risen Christ is hidden in true equality. Another conjunction is connected with 1225 and the Magna Carta. On the continent, Henry IV went to Canossa to ask the Pope for forgiveness. That is the one side of Goat that is involved in the water, i.e., its fishtail. As far as the ibex reaches out into cosmic light and warmth, the fish-tail reaches into the depth of the water. In the heights we find the school of Chartres, which is Pauline Christianity in its truest sense. Francis of Assisi died during a conjunction in Goat. The opposite position then was Genghis Khan who invaded Europe. On one hand there are the Sun forces and on the other the forces behind the upheavals of the Earth. Thomas Aquinas lived during this time also.

The Waterman is a time when we have two streams K. One developed into Protestantism, but also other things happened during these years. For instance, Christian Rosenkreutz went to Palestine, and there he had the experience of Damascus. In a sense it was a fruitful time, similar to the Sun entering Waterman, when everything comes into life again.

When this conjunction entered Fishes, it was the end of the 18^th century and into the 19^th century. The Fishes are held together by a ribbon of stars, they are holding the Alpha and the Omega (the beginning and the end). Theology broke down completely at that time, along with many other things. The French Revolution, which rose out of a yearning for equality, took place. The Risen Christ raises humanity to a higher level. Old and new meet — which is also a type of conjunction. A new experience of the Risen Christ takes place. Jakob Bφhme was a great mystic and a humble man. In his humble state he was experiencing the Risen Christ and that which can shine through the Risen Christ. Swedenborg, also a forerunner, was an exact scientist who suddenly became a mystic. (Somewhat like the conversion of St. Paul, although more like a caricature.) Then there was the development of Romanticism in England and on the continent. This is the dawn of the Risen Christ.

The conjunction was in Ram in 1881. Ram reminds us of the Golden Fleece, the new aspect, that shinning world which brings new impulses. However, Ram is also looking backward to ancient forms of existence and ancient times. Rudolf Steiner describes that about this time was the beginning of the Age of the Archangel Michael, who is the countenance of Christ. The conjunction came again in 1940 during the time of the Second coming of the Christ, when we were able to experience and even perceive Christ in the etheric. But the old in humanity worked as well and burst out in 1940. We must go back to the Great Flood to find the root of this — the time of Noah. Toward the end of the century, exactly in the year 2,000, another conjunction will take place in Ram/Bull, and the oldest forces will again rise up even more. To save the dignity of humanity, we will have to fight against forces of darkness which we cannot yet conceive. “I shall be with you always.” This will hold humanity in the future.

Thus we read in this particular Great Conjunction the slow progress of humanity, of Pauline Christianity, of a realization of the Christ Impulse, and of the Christ Being; in fact, as Christ is united with the Earth and is working with the Earth when He said, “I shall be with you always.” The realization of spirit in matter in practical life, and how we can get a grip on this kind of Christianity, is that which we can read in the progress of this Great Conjunction through the Zodiac.

We have followed these three groups of Great Conjunctions, and we can consider it an interesting historic investigation, but I think it is more. For present humanity it is like a kind of guarantee that Christianity is a reality and that those things which happen in Palestine to humanity 2,000 years ago are still present now. Rudolf Steiner pointed out that unless we find the wisdom again that works in the cosmos, Christianity will be lost. Here we try to find practical ways.

   

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