Renewal of Ancient Persian Mysteries

17 July 1966

   

Rudolf Steiner has spoken of the importance of the Persian chronology, and we must make a mighty effort to get behind his words. The ancient Persian relationship was that 12 months was equal to one month of 28/29, 30, 31 days. This was the basis of Persian astrology in the Age of Gemini.

What do we make of it? Chronos (Saturn) relates to time, which is a type of measure. We know that every day consists of 24 hours, or one rotation of the Earth around its axis. A month is the rotation of the Moon calendar. These lunations (synodic orbit) progress from New Moon to New Moon, which takes 29.5 days. A year is timed by the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth, returning to the same position in 365 days.

These are all cosmic standards, and are the basis of all our time measurements (drawing). One orbit is the path of the rotation of the Earth round its axis. The Sun, Moon, and planets each pass through their own orbits. We also know that in land survey a fixed point is used to assess the size of a particular piece of land. One projects a minimized standard of space into a bigger space, or a minimized time into a larger time, in relation to the measuring of space and time. This is called progression; for instance, one day is essentially the same as one year, although it takes less time. It stands symbolically for a bigger rotation. This can be used as a means of discovering time. One day, or degree, of the Sun after birth can stand for one year of one’s life. If the Sun moves ten degrees after birth, this is reflected into the tenth year of one’s life. There are all kinds of progressions proving that the part reflects the whole, and the whole is reflecting the part. Today we will take up such projections, for instance, the lunation standard.

When one side of the Moon is lit up by the Sun, we have a New Moon on Earth, and this Moon returns after 27.3 days, but the Sun will have moved into another position, which the Moon must follow. So we add two days, and this is the synodic month. During one year, there are twelve such lunations, with a gap of a few surplus days, or 12.37. Let us experiment where the synodic month returns, remembering that we can expect 29.5 days to be similar to 365 days.

The Persians used this in the mysteries with a full awareness of its implications, so we must try to peer into the work of the Persians. Say we were living in 2907 BC, the beginning of the Age of Taurus and at the time of Zarathustra, and we decide to have a ‘preview’ into the year 747 BC, which represents the beginning of the Age of Aries. By subtracting 747 from 2907, we come to 2160, which is the length of time of each Age of civilization. Cosmic forces were streaming down into Aries, which then worked down into civilization at the time of Christ. But first we want to investigate that Egyptian-Chaldean Age of 2907, which was permeated by the forces of the Bull.

In 2907, at the end of the Age of Gemini and the Persian Age, the great initiate Zarathustra had forecast the future salvation. This was at a time when humanity would be gliding into the deepest abyss. He knew then that a moment of resurrection must come, and that the deepest point at which it could still take place would be the Mystery of Golgotha. Such Initiates must guide their people, and they were therefore called Kings. For example, King Arthur, in the Celtic tradition, was really a degree of Initiation. They advised their people economically, agriculturally, and spiritually. All Kings were initiated, as were the Pharaohs; therefore, they were obliged to look into the future for their visions and calculations. The Three Kings had a special gift of star prophecy. The stars can give a memory of spiritual reality, which one can experience in one’s own being.

Let us take the year 2687 BC, which is 220 years after the commencement of the Taurus Age. At that time, Jupiter and Saturn were in a Great Conjunction in Fishes, and the Persians knew how to compute such things in advance. We must now transmute these 220 years into lunations. To do this, we have to multiply 220 years by the number of lunations in a year — 12.37 — to come to the number of lunations of 29.5 days each, which happen in one year of 365 days. We are looking from 2907 towards 2687 — Sun year equivalents (one Moon year equaling one Sun year). This leaves us with a balance of 33 years, through the transformation of these lunations into Sun years:

   

2907 BC

          220 x 12.37 lunations =    2720

 AD

   

What then did these sages see? They saw this Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Fishes, which refers to the Great Conjunction in 6 BC that the Three Kings followed, which was the time of the Spiritual Incarnation. This was their guiding beacon in the heavens, leading them to the spot where the Birth had taken place. In fact, they looked forward to the time when the great fulfillment would be at hand, which Zarathustra had foretold through his calculations as the Great Redemption. The Fishes, as we know, is a symbol of fulfillment. It portrays this spiritual fact, by its symbol: i or  (“side by side” or “two worlds”), suggesting that after a long struggle, two worlds enter into a state of communion, which demands both suffering and healing for its fulfillment. In this way, the Initiates, by virtue of chronology, were able to calculate the time of the happening in 33 AD. Modern people might call it coincidence. The ancients, however, were not so primitive as to be unable to corroborate this by yet another method of progression — by time transmutation.

We know that Saturn takes 29.458 years to go through its orbit and return to the same fixed star. This is a sidereal revolution. According to the aforesaid law of progression, this equals one year of the Sun traversing its orbit, so that one Sun year equals one Saturn year. Therefore, if we take one Sun year as equivalent to one Saturn Year of 29.458 years, we will find that the Persians used this computation and arrived at the year 2806 BC. This was about 100 years after the beginning the Age of Taurus, and 120 years (two Great Conjunctions) earlier than 2687 BC, when there was another Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the Fishes:

   

        2806 Conjunction Jupiter & Saturn in Fishes             2907 = starting point of the Taurus Age

        2687                                                                            2807 = Jupiter conjoined Saturn in Fishes

           119 = 2 Great Conjunctions earlier.                            100 x 29.458 (transposition into Saturn years)

2945.8

 AD

   

The Persian chronologers saw through the perspectives of time. Such calculated comparisons, though without the rigidity of a computer, give us a safe and correct basis on which to establish a spiritualized astrology, and also gives backbone to our vision into the spiritual world.

If we now turn to the year 747 BC, the beginning of the Age of Ram, a trained cosmologist in the mysteries could again come to a similar result of that predecessor of the Great Conjunction in Fishes of 6 BC. Working with this time equation, one would find oneself again at the time of Christ, and would again encounter prophecy. To prove this, we have only to choose a few instances as a general vantage point. One might even verify such computations with regard to geographical positions.

What are we to do with this pre-Christian aspect? Faced with the modern age, it demands a re-creation of astrology through a rejuvenation of the Persian chronology by the Christ Impulse.

But today I would like to speak of the projection of time from Golgotha itself. In the year 1910, Rudolf Steiner spoke in Stockholm about the Second Coming. The city then held a branch of the Theosophical Society, whose leader implored Steiner not to lecture because of adverse planetary configurations. There was what is called a “cross” in the heavens made up of four squared planets — and squares are deadly to the astrologist. But Dr. Steiner insisted on speaking of the Second Coming as visualized in Acts I. This is an example of what we must do when we are faced with the stars — not succumb to fear, but evolve positive spiritual deeds.

Let us now take the equation of one Sun year to one Saturn year. Rudolf Steiner pointed out that from the years 1933-5-7 into the far future — during the next 3000 years — we would be given the chance to experience the Presence of Christ in the Etheric Body. We will take one Moon year, which equals 12.37 lunations, as equal to one Sun year. Therefore, one Sun year stands for 12.37 years in history. In one lunation (one month), Saturn moves one degree of its orbit, which comes to 12° a year.

From 1933 AD (the Second Coming), we subtract 33 (the Christ Jesus rhythm), giving us 1900 years, or 1900 Saturn degrees. This is five Saturn cycles, plus 100 degrees (5 x 360 degrees = 1800 + 100 degrees) = 1900.

   

5 x 29.458	147
Starting from 33 AD	+33
	180	+ 100° next c. 8 years, or	188 AD

   

What can we see with this? In 188 AD Saturn had gone through 1900 degrees of its orbit since 33 AD. In that year of 33 AD, Jupiter was in its ascending node in Twins, reminding us of Golgotha; while Saturn, stepping into Jupiter’s node in 30 AD, reminds us of the Baptism. Saturn is connected with the Father and Jupiter with the Son. Uranus stepped into the ascending node of Jupiter in the year 188 AD, which indicated that a kind of happening took place on a higher level that was the equivalent of the Baptism. In this manner, we can progress with Saturn through history.

When the paintings in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo were created, Saturn stood in this ascending node of Jupiter. Here is echoed again the voice of the Father, as if saying, “It shall be”, just as St. John the Baptist heard the words, “This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I realize Myself as Self” — as the Cosmic Ego.

At the time of Golgotha, Jupiter stepped into its own node, for Jupiter is connected with the Son forces, who prepare the future. Within Jupiter’s sphere, deeds are performed that prepare for the future of this solar cosmos. The Son has now taken over jurisdiction, and this is the seed of all future evolution. It is surely a question of leading the past over into the future.

In 188 AD, Uranus slipped into this planetary node of Jupiter. Uranus represents a higher octave, for it comes from an extra-solar system, and it is connected with Manas, a higher principle of our being. This shows that something, such as the Second Coming, can happen to transcend the merely physical existence. With regard to 188 AD, we have been dealing with purely time rhythms that point to a time of invisible crisis, of which there is no documentary evidence.

This is an indication of a chronology of the Persian Mysteries that can be revived. However, our investigations must be permeated with the essence of Christianity and of that Christ Impulse leading to such grandiose perspectives of the future — such as the Apocalypse.