Embedded Files
- P -
(Cont.)
planes - also see astral plane; Buddhi plane; Devachanic plane; higher mental plane; lower mental plane; Maha-Para-Nirvana plane; mental plane; Nirvana plane; Para-Nirvana plane; physical plane
In Theosophical/Anthroposophical discourse, these are segments or levels of existence or consciousness. The term “plane” is sometimes synonymous with “world,” according to which usage the “astral world” is the same as the “astral plane.” However, “plane” may also refer to a sub-world or a slice across one or more worlds, or it may sometimes refer to some other stratum of reality or perception. Steiner began speaking of spiritual planes when he was a Theosophist, at which time he absorbed wisdom such as this: “No hard and fast enumeration can be made as to the number of planes in the kosmos [sic]. The number assigned depends on the particular purpose for which the definition is made. The septenary classification [1] is often used, as in the seven planes of prakriti [2] or the seven states of consciousness pertaining to each. But other enumerations may equally be made, and any plane is subdivided into subplanes.” — ENCYCLOPEDIC THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY (Theosophical University Press, 1999).
The chief planes Steiner discussed during his Theosophical period are the physical plane, astral plane, devachanic plane (includes rupa-devachan and, above it, arupa-devachan), buddhi plane (or shushupti), nirvana plane, para-nirvana plane, and maha-para-nirvana plane. [3] After breaking with Theosophy, Steiner continued to speak of planes, and his cosmology continued to resemble the Theosophical vision (or at least the Theosophical vision that he himself had preached). The Anthroposophical description of spiritual reality, like the Theosophical, is highly complex. Steiner’s teachings include references to spiritual worlds, lands, levels, spheres, regions, and planes that may coincide with one another, extend from one another, or cut across one another. [See “Higher Worlds”.] The chief planes Steiner discussed during his post-Theosophical period are the physical plane, astral plane (or soul world, imaginative world, elementary world), mental plane (Spirit Land, spiritual world, world of harmony of the spheres, world of inspiration; this includes the lower spiritual world or heavenly world, and the higher spiritual world or world of true intuition), buddhi plane (world of "fore-seeing"), and nirvana plane (incorporating nirvana, para-nirvana, and maha-para-nirvana planes).
•••
Above are the planes of spiritual consciousness as often enumerated in Anthroposophical literature. [4] When speaking of worlds rather than planes, Steiner in his Anthroposophical period often said there are just three: the physical world, the soul world (or astral world), and the spirit world (or the devachanic world). The last of these consists of a lower and a higher region. Thus, at least approximately, the physical world corresponds to the physical plane, the soul world corresponds to the astral plane, and the lower and higher regions of the spirit world (sometimes called Lower Spiritland and Higher Spiritland) correspond to the lower and higher mental planes:
•••
[1] I.e., sevenfold classification (division into seven planes).
[2] "Prakriti," a Sanskrit term, refers to nature or matter (or, by extension, the physical world). "Prakrit" means approximately or roughly. [See T. Besterman, A DICTIONARY OF THEOSOPHY (Cosimo, 2005), pp. 94-95.
[3] See entries for such terms in this encyclopedia.
[4] For the more extensive array of planes often enumerated in Theosophy, see the entry for "Para-Nirvana Plane".
.
.
.
.
planetary conditions - also see conditions of consciousness; Future Jupiter; Future Venus; Future Vulcan; historical narrative; incarnations of the solar system; Old Moon; Old Saturn; Old Sun; planetary gods; Present Earth
In Theosophy and Anthroposophy, these are the main phases of our evolution: They are our progressive conditions of consciousness [1] occurring during the progressive incarnations of our solar system [2]. According to Steiner, we will pass through seven (or, as he sometimes indicated, twelve) such phases. Steiner used various designations for the first seven planetary conditions; sometimes referring to them as Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. But this terminology can cause confusion, because it seems to equate the planetary conditions (incarnations of the entire solar system) with the planets in our sky today (separate, physical members of today's solar system). In an effort at clarification, Steiner sometimes referred to the planetary conditions, instead, as Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon, Present Earth, Future Jupiter, Future Venus, and Future Vulcan. [3]
Each planetary condition is a new incarnation of the entire solar system: It is, in a sense, a single extended "planet" in that it contains all of the essences that constitute the various bodies (planets, the Sun, moons) in the solar system at that stage. During some planetary conditions, the entire "occult planet" [4] is a single orb of undifferentiated essences that in other planetary conditions separate out as discrete bodies. But in some planetary conditions, especially the one we live in now (Present Earth [5]), the numerous parts of the solar system exist separately (although they remain components of the overall solar system or occult planet at that stage of cosmic evolution).
According to Steiner, the first planetary condition in our solar system was Old Saturn [6], which was an enormous ball of heat extending out about as far as the orbit of the planet Saturn today. It is important to distinguish planetary conditions from the planets we see in our sky now, although they may have similar names. Planetary conditions are evolutionary stages, whereas individual planets in our sky today are relatively small, material (physical) objects. Still, there are connections between planetary conditions and our planets today. Steiner said the planets we see today may be recapitulations, on a small scale, of past planetary conditions, or they may be small preliminary embodiments of future planetary stages. Thus, the planet Saturn today is a recapitulation of Old Saturn, while the planet Jupiter today is a materialized precursor of Future Jupiter [7].
According to Steiner, ours is not the only solar system that passes through planetary conditions. There are solar systems entirely apart from ours, and there are others that in a manner of speaking overlap ours. Steiner said that some beings who coexist with us today had their starts in planetary conditions that occurred before our solar system began (these occurred in a different solar system), and after our solar system ceases to exist some beings will continue their own evolution in planetary conditions we will never experience (they will dwell in solar systems different from ours). Sometimes, Steiner indicated, we can perceive planetary conditions that are outside our planetary conditions. "In the course of our whole evolution we have seven Planetary conditions: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan ... [W]e stand exactly in the middle of our Earthly evolution [8] ... We have behind us three Planets [9]...and the same number still lie before us [10]. But if we were standing on the Old Moon, we should see yet another Planetary condition before Saturn [11]; if we were standing on future Jupiter we should no longer see Saturn, but in its place a Planet beyond Vulcan. [12]" — R. Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 26, GA 93a.
•••
• PLANETARY CONDITIONS •
(Conditions of Consciousness)
Steiner usually spoke of seven planetary conditions, extending from Old Saturn (the orange-yellow orb on the left) through Present Earth (green, the fourth orb from the left) to Future Vulcan (blue, seventh from the left, not counting the orb below Earth). Sometimes he added an eighth condition (shown here as the dark-green orb below Earth) — a place of perdition [see "Sphere 8"]. He also sometimes said there will be five conditions beyond Future Vulcan, but these cannot be described (these are the five orbs extending upward from Vulcan). [R. R. sketch, 2010.] For an account of evolution as presented in Anthroposophical texts, see the entry in this encyclopedia for "historical narrative".
•••
[1] See the entry for "conditions of consciousness" in this encyclopedia.
[2] See the entry for "incarnations of the solar system" in this encyclopedia.
[3] In some Anathroposophical texts, variants are used, such as Ancient Saturn, or New Jupiter. [See, e.g., "Waldorf's Worlds".]
[4] In Anthroposophical usage, "occult planet" is a synonym for "planetary condition." "Occult planets are called the successive outer incarnations of an evolving planetary system. They must not be confused with the planets of today with the same name! [paragraph break] Occult research shows that each planetary system evolves through a series of seven successive, causally connected, outwardly appearing rebirths ... What connects the successive occult planets is the world karma, the world destiny, which was created with the first incarnation of the planetary system and which will be extinguished again at the end of the planetary series of development." — "Occult planet", AnthroWiki, accessed 7/22/2024.
[5] See "Present Earth", below.
[6] See "Old Saturn" in this encyclopedia.
[7] See "Future Jupiter in this encyclopedia.
[8] I.e., we live at the midpoint of the fourth planetary condition or condition of consciousness: We have evolved halfway through the Present Earth condition.
[9] I.e., before beginning the Present Earth stage of evolution, we evolved through three prior stages: Old Saturn, Old Sun, and Old Moon.
[10] I.e., Future Jupiter, Future Venus, and Future Vulcan.
[11] I.e., during our Old Moon existence, it was possible to be aware of a planetary condition that predated Old Saturn.
[12] I.e., during Future Jupiter, we will no longer be aware of Old Saturn, but we will know that another planetary condition lies beyond Future Vulcan.
.
.
.
.
planetary gods - also see gods; planetary conditions; planetary spirits; planets; cf. planetary humans
According to Anthroposophy, these are spiritual beings, deities, who preside on or around various planets and other celestial bodies; the physical objects, the planets, are manifestations of these gods. We humans have perceived these gods in many guises and we have used many names for them, Steiner said. Thus, for instance, Jupiter has also been known as Jove and as Zeus. Similarly, today in "true" Christianity or Anthroposophy the gods of Saturn and the Sun are perceived as the Father and the Son. "The highest Ruler of Saturn...appears to us as the Father God, and the highest Ruler of Sun, the Sun-God, as the Christ." — R. Steiner, ROSICRUCIAN WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), p. 100.
Steiner taught that a planetary god — usually referred to as a planetary spirit — is multifaceted, and may indeed consist of multiple spirits. Humans may join with these planetary gods or spirits. “When I say that a man becomes one with the planetary spirit, that he lives in union with this planetary spirit, you must not suppose that this implies an advanced degree of clairvoyance; this is but a beginning. [1] For when a man awakens in the manner described, he really only experiences the planetary spirit as a whole; whereas it consists of many, many differentiations — of wonderful, separate, spiritual beings ... The different parts of the planetary spirit, the special multiplicities of this spirit, of these [man] is not yet aware. What he realizes first of all, is the knowledge: 'I live in the planetary spirit as though in a sea, which spiritually laves [i.e., washes] the whole earth planet [2] and itself is the spirit of the whole earth.' One may go through immensely long development in order further and further to experience this unification with the planetary spirit; but to begin with, the experience is as has been described. Just as we say with regard to man: 'behind his astral body is his ego' [3] — so do we say that behind all that we call the totality of the Spirits of the Rotation of Time [4] is hidden the Spirit of the Planet itself, the Planetary Spirit." — R. Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND IN THE KINGDOMS OF NATURE (Steiner Book Centre, 1981), lecture 2, GA 136. [See "Planetary Spirits".]
•••
[1] Steiner taught that clairvoyance is needed in order to perceive spiritual truths, and there are degrees of clairvoyance. Gaining true knowledge of the spirit realm is a complex, involved process, he taught. [See, e.g., "Knowing the Worlds"]
[2] We currently live on the planet Earth, so the one planetary spirit with which we typically can unite now is the spirit of the Earth. (Steiner uses the term "earth planet" to differentiate this planet from Present Earth — the evolutionary period in which we currently live. [See the entries in this encyclopedia for "Earth" and "Present Earth".])
[3] These are two of our three invisible bodies, Steiner taught. [See "Incarnation".]
[4] Steiner described many ranks and varieties of gods. [See "Polytheism".] Spirits of the Rotation of Time are gods that manifest in a planet's natural laws. [See the entry for "Spirits of the Rotation of Time" in this encyclopedia.]
.
.
.
.
planetary humans - also see Jupiter humans; Mars humans; Mercury race; Moon humans; planetary conditions; planetary migrations; planetary organs; planetary souls; planets; Saturn humans; Sun humans; Venus humans; Vulcan humans; cf. planetary gods
Steiner associated people with various planets in various ways — they are, in various senses, planetary humans. He said some humans or proto-humans migrated to other planets in the past [1]. Some remained on those planets (as "Mars men", etc.), while others returned, bringing to Earth the effects of the planets to which they had traveled. Some of the returnees mated with humans who had remained on Earth; their children inherited some of the influences picked up on other planets. Steiner said that, for these and other reasons, some people living in our time have particular spiritual (or astrological) ties to various planets; some have various sorts of "planetary souls." [2]
Moreover, because humanity has evolved through various "planetary conditions," Steiner sometimes referred to humans or proto-humans in terms of these conditions (so, for instance, a "Saturn human" or "Saturn man" would be, in this sense, a proto-human living during Old Saturn; a "Moon man" would be a proto-human living during Old Moon; and so forth). [3]
Here are a few examples. ◊ "Jupiter became the dwelling place of some of the beings who had not matured to the level of the Sun [4] ... [The] Jupiter leader [5] became the higher I [6] that spread like a common consciousness through the human beings who had their origins in the interbreeding of Earth offspring [7] with humans who...moved to Jupiter. In the sense of spiritual science, we can call these the 'Jupiter humans' ... There were also beings who had detached Mars from the common cosmic substance [8] and made it their dwelling place under the leadership of their most advanced member ... These were 'Mars humans' [9] ... We can also distinguish 'Saturn humans' ... [Etc.]." — R. Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), pp. 238-239. ◊ "The men of Mars [10] tend to settle permanently on a certain spot. Men on the Earth are cosmopolitanly inclined; Mars men are wedded to the soil, there are very few cosmopolitans among them." — R. Steiner, MAN IN THE LIGHT OF OCCULTISM, THEOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964), lecture 10, GA 137. ◊ “We will now picture the human being of Saturn [11] who has the first rudiments of the physical body. We must visualize hovering above him beings who are the Spirits of Form [12] ... Now we must think of the next stage. In the Sun-human-being [13] we have the physical body and the etheric body. The etheric body had been instilled into man by the Spirits of Form...." — R. Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1961), lecture 4, GA 102. ◊ “The things and beings in Moon man's [14] environment exercised no immediate effect on any human senses ... To gain a better idea of Moon man's consciousness we should imagine him steeped in the vapor-like environment ... Manifold processes are taking place within it. Substances are combining, substances are separating; some parts grow more condensed, others thin out, become more tenuous. All this goes on in such a way that though the human beings do not directly see or hear it, it calls forth pictures in their consciousness [15] ... Moon man is [16] thus in a position to order his conduct according to the pictures, just as today man orders his conduct according to his perceptions. Only, observe the difference; conduct based on our perceptions is subject to free choice whereas action under the influence of these pictures takes place as though impelled by a deep inner urge.” — R. Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Anthroposophic Press, 1972), chapter 4, part 5. [See "Planetary Humans".]
•••
[1] See the entry for "planetary migrations", below.
[2] See "Astrology" and the entry for "planetary souls", below.
[3] Planetary conditions are incarnations of the solar system: Old Saturn, Old Sun, etc. They are also known as conditions of consciousness. [See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.]
[4] According to Steiner, the Sun and Earth were once a single body. When the Sun separated from the Earth, some highly evolved entities (super-humans, gods) went with the Sun. Other entities, less evolved (although higher than humans), went to other locations in the solar system.
[5] The "Jupiter leader" was the super-human entity that was the god or spiritual master of all the beings (including human beings) who went to Jupiter.
[6] The "higher I", in the sense used here, is the shared, controlling "I" or spiritual ego of a particular group.
[7] Some humans remained on Earth while others went to various planets. Some Earth humans later mated with humans who went to Jupiter and then returned to Earth. The offspring of these matings are called "Jupiter humans"; they shared the "higher I" that is the spirit or god referred to previously as the "Jupiter leader."
[8] These beings were instrumental in separating Mars from the central substance of the solar system.
[9] Just as some souls moved to Jupiter under the leadership of a highly evolved being, some others moved to Mars under the leadership of a different highly evolved being.
[10] In this instance, "the men of Mars" are residents of Mars, not residents of Earth descended from migrants who returned from Mars.
[11] "The human being of Saturn", in the sense used here, is man as he was during Old Saturn, the first incarnation of the solar system.
[12] These are gods of the lowest rank in the Second Hierarchy. [See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.]
[13] "The Sun-human-being", here, is man as he was during Old Sun, the second incarnation of the solar system.
[14] "Moon man", here, is man as he was during Old Moon, the third incarnation of the solar system.
[15] Our consciousness was an subliminal form of visualization. Steiner said that during Old Saturn, we were essentially comatose.
[16] I.e., was. Steiner uses the present tense, here, although he is describing things that purportedly happened long ago.
.
.
planetary migrations - also see Lemuria; moon crisis; planetary humans
Steiner described travel to and from other planets by humans and/or proto-humans. Thus, he said that as the Earth grew denser during the Lemurian epoch [1] or slightly before it, many humans found they could not incarnate in the denser human condition developing at that time. Therefore they went to other planets instead. “[W]e know from yesterday’s lecture that human beings were of course soul/spiritual beings [2], and for this very reason they could not unite with the earth materiality [3]...because, while the moon was still united with the earth, this was too coarse. [4] So it came about that the great majority of human souls had to relinquish their union with the earth ... Some soul/spirits were more suited to pursue their evolution on Saturn for the time being, others on Mars, others again on Mercury and so on ... So what we call our human soul condition went through an evolution on the neighboring planets of our earth ... [But] by no means all human soul/spirits left the earth. What we might describe as the toughest souls were able to go on using earthly matter [5], and remain united with it." — R. Steiner, GENESIS: Secrets of Creation (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002), pp. 124-126.
•••
[1] This was the third great epoch of human evolution during Present Earth, when humanity lived on the continent of Lemuria. [See "Lemuria" and "Present Earth".]
[2] Steiner differentiated between soul and spirit. [See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.] Steiner said we are still essentially soul/spiritual beings — that is, beings who possess both souls and spirits — but today we incarnate in physical bodies during our Earthly lives. We did not incarnate physically during earlier stages of our evolution, Steiner taught (there was no physicality then, at least not as we experience physicality now).
[3] The Earth hardened, becoming more densely physical, Steiner taught. Many humans found the denser conditions on Earth unbearable; they could not continue their existences on the Earth.
[4] The hardening of the Earth went too far, as it were. The Moon was still united with the Earth at that time. Steiner taught that the Moon later split away, taking with it much of the hardening that had been found throughout the Earth. (Anthroposophists tend to believe that the Moon today is super-hardened, and thus it is inaccessible to human beings even in our current, physical form. [See the entry in this encyclopedia for "Moon landings".])
[5] I.e., the substance of the Earth was not too "coarse" for their use, so they were able to incarnate and live on Earth. (Steiner taught that the humans who went to other planets were generally able to return to Earth when conditions became more congenial after the Moon split away.)
.
.
.
.
planetary organs - also see Jupiter organ; Mars organ; organs of clairvoyance; Saturn organ
In Anthroposophy: These are inner, nonphysical organs that we develop after death as we rise through various planetary spheres. [1] Steiner particularly spoke of three such organs, leaving their functions largely undisclosed. "In the same way that in earthly life we have head, heart, limbs...after death...we have organs which we must attribute to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. [paragraph break] These are then our inner organs, just as heart, pineal gland, kidneys, are on Earth. All this has gone through a metamorphosis into the spiritual and these new organs, not fully formed when first we leave the soul-world and enter the world of spirit [2], now have to be gradually developed. For this purpose we do not describe one circle only...but three. [3] In the first circle the spiritual Mars organ is developed; in the second, the Jupiter organ, and the Saturn organ in the last circle." — R. Steiner, THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1966), lecture 10, GA 227.
•••
[1] These are physical/spiritual regions of the solar system, defined by the orbits of the planets. [See the entry, below, for "planetary spheres".] After we die, Steiner taught, we make the Sun our "skin" and we then rise through the spheres of the inner planets. Then we proceed to the spheres of the outer planets (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and develop the "organs" he names here.
[2] Steiner generally taught that there are two "higher worlds": the soul world (the lower of the two) and the spirit world (the higher). [See the entries in this encyclopedia for "soul world" and "spirit world".]
[3] I.e., three planetary spheres in the outer solar system.
.
.
.
.
planetary regents - see planetary gods; planetary spirits
.
.
.
.
planetary seals - also see astrology; columns; seals; signs; symbols
"[T]o decorate the hall in which the Theosophical Congress...was held...Rudolf Steiner designed seven columns. Each column was related to one of the traditional seven planets (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn) and to the corresponding type of metal (gold, silver, iron, mercury, tin, copper, lead). The seven different capitals of the columns [bore] two-dimensional emblems [of the planets] ... The same sequence was also represented in relief [i.e., bas relief seals] ... These seals, likewise designed by Rudolf Steiner, can be regarded as pictorial or sculptural representations of the types of spiritual influence the planets exert on the earth." — H. van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Sophia Books, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 93. The columns and seals are depicted in Steiner's book MYSTIC SEALS AND COLUMNS (originally titled PICTURES OF OCCULT SEALS AND COLUMNS.) Steiner was a Theosophist before breaking away to found Anthroposophy. The same seals are recognized today in Anthroposophy. See, e.g., ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER (Mercury Arts Publications, 1987).
•••.
Steiner's planetary seals are shown on the cover of Yvan Rioux's THE SEAT OF THE SOUL - Rudolf Steiner's Seven Planetary Seals (Temple Lodge, 2018). Reading from left to right, the seals represent Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and the Moon. [Close up of the upper portion of the cover of Rioux's book.]
.
.
.
.
planetary souls - also see planetary humans; planetary organs; planetary spheres; soul
Steiner taught that after we die (and, to some extent, after we fall sleep) we ascend into the spirit realm by rising through a succession of planetary spheres. [1] Within each sphere, we come into contact with the resident planetary spirits. [2] Our souls are conditioned by this contact. We are most affected by the spirits in the sphere where we stay longest. Hence, we return to our next earthly incarnations (or the next morning) with souls that bear the imprint of the spirits. "Between two incarnations, the 'I' [3] lives in the spiritual world where it travels through the following sequence of planetary spheres: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. [4] When the 'I' is again born on earth [5], it arrives there with all the knowledge it has been able to absorb during its sojourn in the spirit world. This newly acquired knowledge manifests in the soul of the new human being. However, the planetary sphere where the 'I' stayed longest...will leave a predominant imprint on the soul. This imprint becomes more visible when the astral body...is 'born' [6]...." — H. van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 95.
•••
[1] These spheres are the regions of the solar system bounded by the orbits of the various planets. The spheres are nested: The spheres of planets orbiting close to the Sun lie within the spheres of the planets that orbit farther from the Sun. (Bear in mind, however, that Steiner sometimes said that the planets do not orbit the Sun. [See "Deception".])
[2] See the entry for "planetary spirits", below.
[3] I.e., the human spark of divine individuality. [See "Ego".]
The process of rejuvenation that occurs during one's next incarnation is replicated, at a smaller scale, when wakes each morning.
[4] See "Higher Worlds" and the entry for "planetary spheres", below.
[5] I.e., when an individual is reincarnated. [See "Reincarnation".]
The process is replicated at a smaller scale each morning.
[6] The astral body is the second of three invisible bodies that, Steiner taught, real human beings possess. This body generally incarnates when a human reaches the age of 14. [See "Incarnation".]
.
.
.
.
planetary spheres - also see death; higher worlds; music of the spheres; sphere; cf. celestial sphere
In Anthroposophical belief, these are regions of physical/spiritual space falling under the influences of various planets/planetary gods. We visit these spheres during sleep and death, Steiner taught. The sphere of each planet is defined by the orbit of that planet (if planets have orbits, which Steiner sometimes denied [see "Deception"]). Everything bounded by a planet's orbit falls within that planet's sphere. Spheres are nested within one another: The sphere of a planet close to the Sun is nested within the spheres of planets farther from the Sun. [See "Higher Worlds".] The Sun and Moon have spheres despite not being planets: The Sun sphere is the occult version of what would otherwise be the Earth sphere, while the Moon sphere is the occult version of what would otherwise be the Vulcan sphere (the smallest sphere). The planetary spheres are thus, from smallest to largest: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. (In Anthroposophical teachings, Uranus and Neptune are not considered true members of the solar system and thus are omitted from this list. Pluto and the other minor planets are generally also ignored in Anthroposophical teachings.)
"[D]uring his life between death and a new birth, man passes into the Sun sphere [among others]. In this region the spirit-form [1] of the lower part of the human being is transformed into the head of the next earthly life. [2] It must of course be remembered that man's path between death and new birth is such that he passes through all these planetary spheres twice. [3] After death he passes, first of all, into the Moon sphere, then he goes on into the Mercury sphere, the Venus sphere and the Sun sphere ... In the Sun sphere the lower man begins to be transformed into the upper man. [4] The limb structures are transformed — spiritually, of course, at this stage [5] — into the future head-system ... After this work has been begun in the Sun sphere, man passes into the Mars sphere, then into the Jupiter sphere and into the Saturn sphere. The Saturn sphere is really the last, for Uranus and Neptune do not come into consideration here ... Man's path then leads him still further out into the cosmic expanse, out into the wide ocean of the cosmos [6], where the work of metamorphosis continues, until the time comes for him to take the path of return. Then, going back through the regions of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars to the region of the Sun, he comes again at length to the sphere of the Moon." — R. Steiner, SUPERSENSIBLE MAN (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1961), lecture 4, GA 231.
•••
Planetary spheres are nested within one another. The innermost sphere usually identified in Anthroposophy is that of the Moon/Vulcan; the outermost is that of Saturn (Steiner said Saturn is the planet farthest from the Sun). The inner spheres lie within the outer spheres. Thus, the sphere of the Moon/Vulcan lies within the sphere of Mercury; the spheres of the Moon/Vulcan and Mercury lie within the sphere of Venus; and so on. [R.R. sketch, 2010.]
•••
[1] I.e., the phantom or constellation of spiritual forces that gives a person her/his physical form. [See the entry for "phantoms", above.] Here Steiner speaks of the phantom of the legs ("the lower part of the human being").
[2] I.e., the "spirit-form" (phantom) of the legs during one incarnation becomes the head in the next incarnation.
[3] I.e., we pass through each sphere once while ascending into the spirit realm and then a second time when descending to our next earthly incarnation.
[4] I.e., the lower portion of oneself during one incarnation ("the lower man") is transformed so that it becomes the higher portion of oneself ("the upper man") in the next incarnation.
[5] I.e., the transformation occurring in the spirit realm is purely spiritual; the transformation becomes physical only when one incarnates on the physical Earth.
[6] I.e., spiritual regions beyond the planetary spheres. (Steiner often said that Saturn is the outermost planet in our solar system, so :the wide ocean of the cosmos" may be considered to begin outside the Saturn sphere.)
.
.
.
.
planetary spirits - also see planetary gods; gods; planets; polytheism
These are spiritual beings who are the spiritual essences or representatives of planets or other celestial objects: They are planetary gods, also called planetary regents. [See “Planetary Spirits”.] Steiner taught that the “real” solar system has seven planets. Hence, there are seven planetary spirits in the system. These gods are “brothers” although there are profound differences between them. Thus, for instance, because Lucifer is the Spirit of Venus, he is Christ’s ”brother” (although, in another sense, he is one of Christ’s adversaries). “Christ shows us that He calls the directing Spirit of Venus — who, as we have learned, is Lucifer [1] — His brother, calls him His brother, accounting him a Planetary Spirit like the other Planetary Spirits. So that when Lucifer shows himself in the second stage of initiation [2], he at once reveals himself as a planetary Spirit taking his place among the seven Regents of the planets among his brothers. We enter thus into a world [3] where we find what we might call a highly exalted College [4] of seven planetary Spirits, who are in completely brotherly relation one with another. But here lurks a danger, and the pupil [5] must needs possess himself of a great deal more knowledge if he is not to go under [6] at this point. For he must on no account simply receive easily what here shows itself to him; he must earnestly endeavour to acquire an exact knowledge of what lies behind it. [paragraph break] When we come to enter into occult knowledge [7] in detail, we can look in many directions for help to find our way. Although we have learned to recognise the seven brothers who are the seven Planetary Spirits, we are still a long way from any full knowledge of them. Seven brothers may be quite different one from another, and the difference does not perhaps show itself at first sight. [8]” — R. Steiner, MAN IN THE LIGHT OF OCCULTISM, THEOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964), lecture 9, GA 137.
•••
[1] See "Lucifer".
[2] I.e., during the process of occult initiation, one encounters Lucifer.
[3] I.e., a realm, a cosmos (not a planet).
[4] I.e., a gathering, brotherhood, or lodge within which certain forms of knowledge are developed and shared. (The term "college" is often used in this way within Anthroposophy. Thus, the faculties of Waldorf schools often form "colleges of teachers" — gatherings of selected faculty members who discuss the teachings of Rudolf Steiner and make decisions about the operations of that Waldorf school.)
[5] I.e., the candidate for occult initiation.
[6] I.e., lose his way, stray from the path, fall victim to error.
[7] I.e., hidden spiritual knowledge. [See the entries in this encyclopedia for "occult, occultism" and "mystery knowledge".]
[8] This caution may apply especially in the case of Lucifer, who although being a planetary spirit and the "brother" of the other planetary spirits, is also a demonic power. [See "Evil Ones".]
In urging spiritual seekers to strive for "full knowledge" of the planetary spirits, Steiner effectively urges them to heed him: He invites them to become Anthroposophists. Steiner purported to offer his followers a vast array of "occult knowledge." [See "Occultism".]
.
.
.
.
planetary stages - see planetary conditions; also see planets
.
.
.
.
planetary types - see planetary souls
.
.
.
.
Planet of Love - also see Cosmos of Love; love; Future Jupiter; planetary conditions; Present Earth
This is our planet, Earth, as it may become. Anthroposophists say they aim to turn the Earth into the planet of love, and sometimes they refer to the present Earth by this title. But strictly speaking, according to Steiner's teachings, the love that has been found on Earth thus far is imperfect. We are evolving toward more perfect love, a goal we will not reach until the Earth and the entire solar system as we know them cease to exist and are replaced by Future Jupiter. [1] Thus, the history of earthly evolution is the progression toward perfected love, which will be fulfilled during Future Jupiter. "Our planet (the Earth) is the planet of love. The development of this, the first instilling of love, had to be in its lowest form. This happened during the Lemurian epoch [2] ... All further development [during Present Earth] consists in the continual refinement, the spiritualizing, of this love-principle. Just as in the Moon-period [3] wisdom was instilled into Moon-beings, so one day, when our earth shall have attained its goal, all earthly beings will be filled with love." — R. Steiner, UNIVERSE, EARTH AND MAN (Harry Collison, 1935), lecture 8, GA 105. Earth will not attain its goal until it ceases to exist in its present form, Steiner indicated. Wisdom was developed during Old Moon but it did not become generally accessible until Present Earth. [4] Likewise, love is being developed during Present Earth, but it will not be "natural" until Future Jupiter. "The Moon [is the] planet of wisdom, the Earth [is the] planet of love. On [Future] Jupiter love will have become [as] natural as wisdom has on the Earth." — THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1982), lectures by Rudolf Steiner, synopsis of lecture 6, GA 102.
Note that Steiner sometimes spoke of the "cosmos" of love, rather than the "planet" of love, but his meaning was essentially the same. "Earth-existence signifies the Cosmos of Love; existence on the previous planet [5] signifies the Cosmos of Wisdom. We are to evolve love from its most elementary stage to its highest ... [L]ove is not yet perfected ... Immense numbers of beings which the love-urge brought forth are destroyed in the battle for existence. [6] Conflict is active wherever love is, the entry of love brings conflict, necessary conflict [7] ... Those who attain the goal of earthly evolution will bring love into the next planet [8] as a force of nature, just as wisdom was once brought to Earth. The humanity of the Earth look up to the gods as to the bringers of wisdom. The men of the following planet will look up to the gods as to the bringers of love." — R. Steiner, ORIGIN OF SUFFERING, ORIGIN OF EVIL, ILLNESS AND DEATH (Steiner Book Centre, 1980), GA 55.
•••
Steiner taught that we are evolving through a series of incarnations of the solar system. We currently live during the Present Earth incarnation of the solar system. (Despite its name, Present Earth is not the planet Earth. It is a stage of evolution, not a place. The planet Earth is one planet existing in the solar system as it exists now.) The previous incarnation of the solar system — the previous evolutionary stage — was Old Moon. The next stage will be Future Jupiter. During Old Moon, wisdom was developed; hence, Old Moon is sometimes called the "planet" or "cosmos" of wisdom. During Present Earth, love is being developed; hence, Present Earth is sometimes called the "planet" or "cosmos" of love. The love currently being developed will be realized during the next incarnation of the solar system, Future Jupiter.
•••
[1] See "Future Stages". (According to Anthroposophical teachings, Old Moon, Present Earth, and Future Jupiter are mega-stages of evolution, incarnations of the solar system, otherwise known as conditions of consciousness. As we evolve, we rise to higher and higher types of consciousness. Wisdom was developed during Old Moon, and now during Present Earth we have risen to a higher stage and we are developing love. [See the entries for "incarnations of the solar system" and "conditions of consciousness" in this encyclopedia. For an exposition of the Anthroposophical conception of love, see "Love and the Universal Human".]
[2] I.e., during the third great epoch of Present Earth. [See "Lemuria".]
[3] I.e., during Old Moon.
[4] The wisdom that suffuses human life now, according to Steiner, is represented by Anthroposophy (the word means "human wisdom").
[5] I.e., during Old Moon. (The incarnations of the solar system are sometimes called "planetary conditions." [See the entry "planetary conditions", above.])
[5] I.e., love between males and females produces offspring, many of whom are destroyed in the harsh conflicts of earthly life.
[6] I.e., earthly love is imperfect; love itself may lead us to fight one another (due to jealousy, conflicting beliefs, etc.); this is a necessary developmental stage, according to Steiner.
[7] I.e., the next major stage of evolution, Future Jupiter.
.
.
.
.
Planet of Wisdom - also see brain; Cosmos of Wisdom; intellect; Old Moon; planetary conditions; truth; wisdom
This is the Old Moon stage of evolution, brought to fulfillment in the Present Earth stage. [1] When we evolved through the Old Moon phase, we gradually developed the capacity for wisdom. When we became capable of wisdom, we proceeded to the Present Earth stage. [2] During the Present Earth stage, Steiner said, we develop our intellectual capacities in support of the principle of wisdom. In this sense, Present Earth may be considered the fulfilled planet of wisdom progressing toward becoming the planet of love. Bear in mind, however, that "wisdom," in Anthroposophy, is not a product of brainwork. According to Steiner, both the use of the brain and the knowledge attained through it are of low importance, overall — they help us to progress, Steiner said, but they really apply only to life on the physical plane. We will evolve beyond them in our future evolution — we will take our wisdom and intellectual capacities with us, but we will rise to forms of consciousness far above intellect or brainwork. The "wisdom" conferred by the gods, according to Steiner, consists of "living thoughts" which are generally implanted in human beings before their incarnation on Earth. Ordinary brainwork produces little or nothing of last value, Steiner taught. [See "Steiner's Specific" and "Thinking".]
All of this reflects the basic narrative of Anthroposophy, derived largely from Theosophy: Mankind is evolving upward through higher and higher forms of consciousness. "You know that our Earth, which forms the present dwelling-place of man, originated in another planetary being [3] usually called ancient Moon or the Cosmos or Planet of Wisdom [4], in contradistinction from our present Earth, which we designate as the Cosmos or Planet of Love. The Cosmos of Wisdom or the ancient Moon is again only the reimbodiment of a still earlier condition which we call the Sun Planet [5] ... And the Sun Planet is the re-imbodiment of ancient Saturn. [6]" — R. Steiner, THE APOCALYPSE OF SAINT JOHN (SteinerBooks, 1993), pp. 90-91.
•••
According to Steiner, these are the stages of our evolution thus far. Each of these is an incarnation of the entire solar system. The solar system first came into existence during a period called Old Saturn. Almost everything that exists today in the solar system existed then, but in very different form. We ourselves first came into existence during Old Saturn. After the solar system evolved as far as possible during Old Saturn, it ceased to exist, and then it was reincarnated in a new form: Old Sun. This process of evolution and reincarnation has continued up to today, when we exist in the incarnation of the solar system called Present Earth. During this stage of evolution, we are developing our capacity for love. During the previous stage of evolution — Old Moon — we developed our capacity for wisdom.
•••
[1] Old Moon and Present Earth are mega-stages of evolution, otherwise known as conditions of consciousness. [See the entries for "incarnations of the solar system" and "conditions of consciousness" in this encyclopedia.]
[2] See the entry for "planet of love", above.
[3] Conditions of consciousness are sometimes called planetary conditions. [See the entry for "planetary conditions", above.] Old Moon, like the other incarnations of the solar system, may be considered a being or a condition of existence comprising all the members of the solar system during one evolutionary period. In a sense, during Old Moon all the members of the solar system existed as a single "planet." Old Moon was followed by Present Earth, the next incarnation of the solar system. [See "Old Moon, Etc." and "Present Earth".]
[4] I.e., Old Moon.
[5] Old Moon was the third incarnation of the solar system; it followed the second incarnation of the solar system, called Old Sun. [See "Old Sun".]
[6] Old Sun was the second incarnation of the solar system; it followed the first incarnation of the solar system, called Old Saturn. [See "Old Saturn".]
.
.
.
.
planetoids - see asteroids
.
.
.
.
planets - also see Earth; evolution; Future Jupiter, Future Venus, Future Vulcan; Jupiter; Mars; Mercury; Moon; Neptune; Old Moon; Old Saturn; Old Sun; orbits; planetary conditions; planetary spheres; Saturn; Sun; Uranus; Venus; Vulcan
a) The Sun’s large natural satellites: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. (Modern astronomy also recognizes a growing list of "minor planets": Pluto, Sedna, Ceres, etc.)
Steiner sometimes accepted the scientific description of the solar system, more or less, acknowledging that planets are satellites of the Sun: They orbit the Sun. (Steiner refused to admit that Uranus and Neptune are real planets, however, and he sometimes referred to Vulcan as a real planet.)
b) Steiner, contradicting himself, sometimes said the planets of our solar system do not orbit the Sun but move in line with the Sun: Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars ahead, the Sun in the middle of the line, with Mercury, Venus, and Earth behind. Hence, the planets are not satellites of the Sun. “[I]t is not that the planets move around the Sun, but that these three, Mercury, Venus, and the Earth, follow the Sun, and these three, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, precede it. Thus, when the Earth is here and this is the Sun [1], the Earth follows along. But we look at the Sun from here [2], and so it appears as though the Earth goes around it, whereas it is actually only following. The Earth follows the Sun.” — R. Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 30.
c) Science recognizes the existence of eight major planets in the solar system. [3] All eight were known in Steiner's time. On the other hand, astrology and occultism generally affirm the existence of seven planets — the seven lights in the sky that ancient people saw moving across the immobile "fixed" stars. [4] "[P]lanets. In astrology and magic, a term for all celestial bodies visible from Earth that move in regular orbits across the background of stars. The sun and moon are thus considered planets by astrologers and occultists." — J. M. Greer, THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE OCCULT (Llewellyn Publications, 2009), p. 375. Steiner often affirmed the truth of this ancient belief, referring many times to the "seven planets." These planets are the abodes of seven planetary gods, he taught. Thus, for instance, "[T]he Sun...now appears [to clairvoyant insight] as a planet among the seven planets, and Christ as the Spirit of the planet of the Sun [5] ... [T]he seven Spirits of the Planets become manifest." — R. Steiner, MAN IN THE LIGHT OF OCCULTISM, THEOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964), lecture 10, GA 137.
d) Steiner (drawing from Theosophy) often referred to conditions of consciousness as planetary conditions [6], and he sometimes referred to these as "planets." In part, this term, used in this way, was a form of shorthand; in part, it was the sort of language mystics use when discussing physical realities that to them are also spiritual realities. A planet, for Steiner, is a physical object that is also a spiritual manifestation, and it is manifested in different forms in different evolutionary periods. If "planets" are, in one sense, conditions of consciousness, then human beings have so far existed "on" Saturn, Sun, Moon, and Earth (i.e., we have lived during Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon, and Present Earth). [7] Eventually we will live "on" Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan (i.e., we will evolve through Future Jupiter, Future Venus, and Future Vulcan). [8] Steiner gave varying accounts of these matters. Thus, for instance, “[T]he ancestors of man existed on Saturn [9] ... The human being himself can [i.e., could] make no use of his luminosity on Saturn. [10] ... [But] other more exalted beings are [i.e., were] given the possibility to reveal themselves to the life of Saturn. [11] ... Without any necessity for them to do it, they now radiate [i.e., they radiated] something of their nature out of ‘free will’. [12]” — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), chapter 14, GA 11.
Realizing that his terminology could be confusing, Steiner offered a clarification in a revision of his most important book, AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE. He said planets are, strictly speaking, different from planetary conditions, although there are connections. Thus, for instance, he said: "Seen in the light of spiritual science, the present Saturn is a kind of reincarnation of Old Saturn ... Mars is a reincarnation of Old Moon on a higher level." — R. Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), pp. 328-329.
•••
[1] Steiner was addressing a group of Waldorf teachers. He drew a diagram at this point. [See "Deception".]
[2] Steiner indicated the position of the Earth at the end of the line. (The line is serpentine, Steiner indicated. The position of the Earth relative to the Sun constantly changes as the line swings back and forth, Steiner said. This creates the illusion that the Earth circles the sun, he said.)
[3] Science today also recognizes the existence of numerous minor or dwarf planets. For a time, Pluto was considered to be the ninth major planet, but today (I am writing this early in 2016), it is instead considered one of the minor planets along with, for instance, Eris and Ceres.
[4] The moving or "wandering" lights, the "seven planets," are the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. (Concerning the fixed stars, see the entry for this term in this encyclopedia.)
[5] See "Sun God".
[6] These are the mega-stages of our evolution, incarnations of the solar system. [See the entries in this encyclopedia for "conditions of consciousness", "incarnations of the solar system", and "planetary conditions".]
[7] See "Old Saturn", "Old Sun", "Old Moon, Etc.", and "Present Earth". (Bear in mind that, according to Steiner, we did not become truly human until Present Earth. Prior to that, we were proto-humans. [See the entry in this encyclopedia for "human stage of evolution".]) Moreover, we have not yet realized all our potential as humans: the "human kingdom" lies in our future. [See the entry in this encyclopedia for "human kingdom".]
[8] See "Future Stages".
[9] I.e., we as proto-humans existed during Old Saturn.
[10] I.e., our inner light, the power of our souls, had little impact during Old Saturn. (We had only just come into existence; we were extremely unevolved.)
[11] I.e., more highly evolved beings were present and active during Old Saturn. (For the most part, they were beings we would now call gods.)
[12] I.e., out of their own free will, they contributed to our evolution during Old Saturn.
.
.
.
.
PLANS (People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools)
An organization of volunteers opposing support and public financing for Waldorf schools. The organization is also known as Waldorf Critics International. It maintains a website called "waldorfcritics.org".
Under its revised name (Waldorf Critics International), the organization has widened its objectives. The chief goal now set forth in its mission statement is this: "1) Provide parents, teachers, and school boards with views of Waldorf education from outside the cult of Rudolf Steiner." [https://waldorfcritics.org/mission/]
.
.
.
.
plant kingdom - also see animal kingdom; human kingdom; kingdoms of nature; mineral kingdom; Plant Kingdom Condition of Life; plant man; plants
According to Steiner, there are four kingdoms of nature. The second, between the mineral and animal kingdoms, is the plant kingdom. Beings at the plant level have physical and etheric bodies but not astral bodies or "I's". [1] Like the other kingdoms of nature, the plant kingdom assumes different forms during different phases of cosmic evolution. [2] Thus, for instance, "Present-day animals are Moon-men descended to a lower level and human beings are Moon-men who have ascended higher. [3] But on the Moon [4] the plants too [were] different from those of today. The plant kingdom stood between the present mineral and plant kingdoms, similar to a peat bog that is half mineral and half plant. [5] The Old Moon was actually a great plant. [6] Its ground consisted of intertwined plants. At that time rocks did not exist." — R. Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 24, GA 93a.
•••
According to Anthroposophical teachings, these are the four levels of existence below the supernal, especially as nature is constituted now, during Present Earth. [7] The kingdoms below the human level (animal, plant, mineral) are occupied by beings that are unable to continue evolving toward divinity. They have been ejected from the upward stream of human evolution and dwell within segments of existence where subhuman nature spirits [8] hold sway. There, aided by the nature spirits, they grow and develop in their own fashions. Thus, gnomes — nature spirits dwelling within the soil [9] — contribute to the development of plant roots, while sylphs — nature spirits dwelling in the air — contribute to the development of plants' leaves and flowers.
•••
[1] According to Anthroposophical belief, a fully incarnated human being has four bodies: a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, and an "I" or spiritual ego. [See "Incarnation".] An animal has the first three of these, a plant has the first two, and a mineral has only the first one.
[2] See the entry for "incarnations of the solar system" in this encyclopedia.
[3] "Moon-men," in this formulation, were proto-humans who existed during the stage of cosmic evolution called Old Moon. [See "Old Moon, Etc."] In effect, they were ourselves at a previous evolutionary stage. Here, Steiner says that animals as they exist today are descendants of Moon-men who fell to a lower level, while we humans of today are descendants of Moon-men who evolved to a higher level.
[4] I.e., during Old Moon.
[5] I.e., during Old Moon the plant kingdom was less evolved than it is today. It was midway between the plant kingdom as we know it now and the mineral kingdom as we know it now.
[6] In Anthroposophical teachings, Old Moon was a period of evolution, it was not a physical orb. However, the solar system was incarnate during Old Moon, so it is possible to describe various incarnated conditions found during that period. Here Steiner says Old Moon in general was alive and can be compared to an enormous plant (and thus, in a sense, it existed in the plant kingdom). Rocks (minerals) did not yet exist, at least as we know them now — the solar system had not yet hardened sufficiently for rocks to exist.
[7] Present Earth is the fourth incarnation of the solar system. [See "Present Earth".]
[8] See "Neutered Nature".
(Steiner often, but not always, taught that all things in the physical universe are alive, even minerals. Thus, minerals such as rocks can be deemed living beings. [See "minerals" in this encyclopedia.])
[9] See "Gnomes".
[10] See, e.g., "Beings".
.
.
.
.
Plant Kingdom Condition of Life - also see conditions of life; plant kingdom; plants
In Anthroposophical teachings, this is the fifth condition of life [1], the condition we will enter after the present Mineral Condition of Life. [2] In the same way that plants are higher than minerals, the plant condition will be higher than our present mineral condition: It will be a step upward from our current densely physical incarnation toward more spiritual existence. In the plant condition, entities will not be plants, per se (any more than we are currently minerals by virtue of living in the mineral condition), but they will be living forms, more nearly akin to ideal spiritual thoughts than to densely mineralized embodiments. Entering the plant condition, we will experience a preview of life as we will know it during Future Jupiter. [3] "The fifth Condition of Life...may be seen as a precursor of Jupiter evolution [4] ... Human beings [will] no longer dwell within a [physical] body ... Everything which we today work into the mineral kingdom reappears [i.e., will reappear]...as a plant kingdom. Buildings and machines [will be] deliberately grown from the living ground — Cologne Cathedral grows [i.e., will grow] as a plant, everything painted today becomes [i.e., will become] living cloud formations ... The whole world thus becomes one single, immense living being [5] ... The majority [of people] have already put their karma in order [6] ... But there are still evil ones, 'Satan [7] will be let loose' (Rev. 20:7); and the Manichaeans [8] have educated others to become their teachers, who unite with the fallen ones in another attempt to bring salvation, which even black magicians [9] can still find ... Before the end of the plant condition the decision is taken as to what is to be severed from evolution, though this is not yet carried out. [10] " — R. Seddon, THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY AND THE EARTH AS FORESEEN BY RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publications, 2002), pp. 104-106.
•••
The Plant Kingdom is the fifth condition of life. We evolve through all seven conditions of life during each condition of consciousness (that is, we pass through all seven of these subdivisions during each major stage of our evolution). During each condition of consciousness, we begin our existence at the lowest level of life possible in that condition of consciousness (i.e., we begin in the first of the elementary levels). Thereafter we gradually evolve to the highest level of life possible during that condition of consciousness (i.e., we eventually reach the "human kingdom" or its analogue in that condition of consciousness).
•••
[1] Conditions of life are subdivisions of conditions of consciousness, the largest phases of our evolution. [See the entries for "conditions of life" and "conditions of consciousness" in this encyclopedia.]
[2] See the entry for "Mineral Kingdom Condition of Life" in this encyclopedia. We currently live in the Mineral Kingdom Condition of Life, although obviously we are not minerals — we are human beings incarnated in a physical (mineral) form. In the Plant Kingdom Condition of Life, we will not be plants — we will be human beings incarnated at a higher level than presently: we will be, in a sense, vegetative; but we will be nonphysical (non-mineral).
[3] Future Jupiter will be the fifth condition of consciousness — the next major stage of our evolution following the Present Earth stage. [See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.] During the Plant Kingdom Condition of Life, we will have a preview of life as it will be during Future Jupiter.
[4] I.e., during Future Jupiter.
[5] Steiner generally taught that all things are alive. During the Plant Kingdom Condition of Life, all things will live as plants, as it were — or, more accurately, all things will be parts of a single enormous plant.
[6] Although phrased in the present tense, this is a statement about the future: how things will be during the Plant Kingdom Condition of Life. Most people will have put their karmas in order (i.e., they will be virtuous, having discharged their karmic obligations), but there will still be some evil people. (Belief in karma is a basic Anthroposophical tenet. [See "Karma".])
[7] In Anthroposophical teachings, Satan is generally identified as Ahriman. [See "Ahriman".]
[8] See "Manichaeism".
[9] See "Magicians". Seddon says evil will still exist during the Plant Kingdom Condition of Life, and various efforts will be made to save the evildoers. Even black magicians will not be beyond hope.
[10] During evolution, as described in Anthroposophy, various beings are expelled at various stages from the upward course of progressive development. "Evil" or "abnormal" or "substandard" beings are cast aside so that virtuous beings can continue their ascent toward spiritual perfection. Here Seddon says that a decision will be made, during the Plant Condition Kingdom of Life, concerning the next group to be expelled, but the expulsion will not occur yet.
.
.
.
.
plant man - also see animal man; plant kingdom; plants; Old Sun; Sun humans
According to Steiner, this was the evolving proto-human as he existed during Old Sun. [1] We were not yet truly human — that is to say, we had not yet attained our "I's", our sparks of divine individual identity. [2] Instead, we stood at a level analogous to plants. During Old Saturn, we had been at the mineral stage, as it were [3]; during Old Sun, we were at the plant stage; and on Old Moon we would rise to the animal stage. [4] We would not become truly human until Present Earth. [5] "[T]he plant man needed the mineral basis for his life. As today there can be no plants without a mineral realm from which they take in their substances, so was it on the Sun [6] with respect to the plant man. For the sake of his further development, the latter had to leave a portion of the human rudiments behind at the level of the minerals. [7] Since on the Sun conditions were quite different from those of Saturn [8], these minerals which had been thrust back assumed forms quite different from those they had had on Saturn. Thus, alongside the human plant realm, a second province, a special mineral realm came into being. It can be seen that man ascends into a higher realm by thrusting a part of his companions down into a lower. [9] We shall see this process repeating itself many times in the subsequent stages of development. It corresponds to a fundamental law of development." — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), chapter 15 , GA 11. (The companions whom we thrust down are beings who had evolved alongside us but then prove incapable of evolving further, so we leave them behind.)
•••
[1] Old Sun was the second major stage of our evolution, according to Steiner: the second incarnation of the solar system. [See the entry in this encyclopedia for "incarnations of the solar system".]
[2] See "Ego".
[3] Old Saturn was the first major stage of our evolution.
[4] Old Moon was the third major stage of our evolution.
[5] Present Earth is the fourth major stage of our evolution, the one we are undergoing now.
[6] I.e., during Old Sun.
[7] During evolution, as described in Anthroposophy, we have to shed various inferior parts of ourselves at various stages so that we can evolve higher. We did this during Old Sun, ridding ourselves of certain "rudiments" that were unable to evolve higher (they remained behind at the mineral stage, as it were).
[8] I.e., during Old Saturn.
[9] The process of shedding inferior parts includes expelling "evil" or "abnormal" or "substandard" beings, effectively removing them from our evolutionary line ("man ascends into a higher realm by thrusting a part of his companions down into a lower").
.
.
.
.
plants - also see botany; biodynamic gardening and farming; plant kingdom; Plant Kingdom Condition of Life
According to Steiner, plants as we know them now are members of the second tier of creation, the second kingdom of nature. [1] They are above minerals and below animals. They are endowed with physical and etheric bodies, but they lack astral bodies and "I's". [2] Steiner gave varying accounts of plants that may or may not be consistent with one another. Plants often are the expression of thoughts, feelings, or spirits, he said; they are sense organs for the Earth or, in a manner of speaking, they are the Earth's hair; they are the reflection of the Sun. [See, e.g., "Biodynamics".] ◊ "What, then, are the plants in this whole web of existence? We could say that when spring approaches, the earth organism [3] begins to think and to feel, because the sun with its being lures out the thoughts and feelings [of the Earth]. The plants are nothing but a kind of sense organ for the earth organism, awakening anew every spring, so that the earth organism with its thinking and feeling can be in the realm of the sun activity [4] ... [E]very spring the sun organism [5] creates for itself the plant covering [on the Earth] in order to look at itself [6], to feel, to sense, to think by means of this plant covering. The plants cannot directly be considered the thoughts of the earth, but they are the organs through which the awakening organization of the earth in spring, together with the sun, develops its thoughts and feelings ... [T]he spiritual investigator [7] sees in what transpires between earth and sun with the help of the plants the marvelous weaving of a cosmic world of thoughts, feelings, and sensations. The spiritual investigator finds that the earth is surrounded not merely by the mineral air of the earth, by the purely physical earth atmosphere, but by an aura of thoughts and feelings. For spiritual research [8] the earth is a spiritual being whose thoughts and feelings awaken every spring, and throughout the summer they pass through the soul of our entire earth." — R. Steiner, THE SPIRIT IN THE REALM OF PLANTS (Mercury Press, 1980), GA 60. ◊ "It may seem fantastic, but plants are in fact the 'hair' of the living Earth. Just as you can understand what a hair is really like only when you consider how it grows out of the head — actually out of the whole organism [9] — so in teaching about nature you [10] must show the children how the Earth exists in a most intimate relationship to the world of plants. You must begin with the soil and, in this way, evoke an image of Earth as a living being. Just as people have hair on their head, the Earth as a living being has the plants on it." — R. Steiner, THE ROOTS OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 65.
•••
[1] See the entry for "plant kingdom", above.
[2] These are the four types of bodies described by Steiner; three of them are invisible. [See "Incarnation".] Humans have all four types of bodies, animals have three, plants have two, and minerals have one, Steiner said.
[3] I.e., the Earth conceived as a single living organism. Steiner taught that the living Earth has thoughts and feelings, although he sometimes indicated that the Earth is now dead. [See the entry in this encyclopedia for "Earth".]
[4] I.e., plants provide sensations to the Earth, enabling the Earth to receive the influences of the Sun.
[5] I.e., the living Sun. Steiner says the Sun endows the Earth with its covering of plants.
[6] I.e., in plants, the Sun's sees a reflection of itself.
[7] I.e., a spiritual scientist, in particular an Anthroposophist, who uses clairvoyance to study the spirit realm.
[8] I.e., occult science: Anthroposophy. [See "OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE" and "Anthroposophy" in this encyclopedia.]
[9] I.e., the whole human being.
[10] Steiner was addressing Waldorf teachers.
.
.
.
.
Plato - also see Aristotle; Atlantis; initiate, initiation; living thoughts; mysticism; philosophy; Platonism; reincarnation
Ancient Greek philosopher (c.429-347 BCE) who postulated a world of abstract, ideal universal forms; the material world is but a reflection of such ideal forms, he said. Because this and some of his other ideas can be taken as mystical, Plato (as interpreted by Steiner) is embraced in Anthroposophy. "The significance of the Mysteries [1] in the spiritual life of Greece can be seen in Plato's conception of the world. There is only one means of understanding him fully: he must be placed in the light which shines forth from the Mysteries." — R. Steiner, CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT, chapter 4, GA 8. [2] In particular, Plato's myth of Atlantis is accepted in Anthroposophy as an essentially factual report. [3] "Plato...was certainly an initiate [4], and from past lives [5] had reached a high degree of spiritual development ... Platonism would always be a philosophy for the mystic and would-be mystic ... Plato held that abstract ideas, or archetypes, are exclusively of a spiritual nature, and can be attained by man only by 'bringing them to birth' within him, so that all such knowledge is really recognition of what had been experienced [in the spirit realm] before birth. [6]" — S. C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 68-70.
•••
[1] I.e., spiritual mysteries and their meaning. [See the entries for "mystery" and "mystery knowledge" in this encyclopedia.]
[2] Also see the entry for "philosophy", above.
[3] See "Atlantis and the Aryans".
[4] I.e., an occult initiate. [See "initiate, initiation" in this encyclopedia.]
[5] Anthroposophists believe in reincarnation.
[6] This, too, is an Anthroposophical belief. [See "living thoughts" in this encyclopedia.]
.
.
.
.
Platonism - also see geometry; mathematics; philosophy; Plato
Plato's teachings have been revived at various times in reformulations usually called forms of Platonism. [1] At their core is the proposition that abstractions such as numbers and geometric forms have an objective existence apart from, and superior to, their reflections in the real world. [2] Steiner credited Plato with living on the ideal or spiritual plane; this was, Steiner suggested, the essence of Plartonism. “The mood in which I came to Weimar was tinged by previous thorough-going work in Platonism ... [I asked myself] How did Plato live in the ideal world, and how [did] Goethe? [3]” — R. Steiner, THE STORY OF MY LIFE (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1928), p. 142. Despite his admiration for Plato, Steiner indicated that Platonism is ultimately unfulfilling: It remains abstract or intellectual, whereas humans need something far more heartfelt at the center of their lives. "Platonism, as a philosophical view of the world remains more within the element of thought; religious experience plunges thought into the life of feeling and establishes it thus in man's nature." — R. Steiner, GOETHE'S CONCEPTION OF THE WORLD, chapter 2, GA 6.
•••
[1] "Plastonism [embodies] an intense concern for the quality of human life — always ethical, often religious, and sometimes political, based on a belief in unchanging and eternal realities, which Plato called forms, independent of the changing things of the world perceived by the senses. Platonism sees these realities both as the causes of the existence of everything in the universe and as giving value and meaning to its contents in general and the life of its inhabitants in particular." — "Platonism". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Jun. 2024, accessed 24 July 2024.
[2] Steiner credited geometry with fostering his knowledge of the spirit realm: “In my relation with geometry I...perceive the first budding forth of a conception which has since gradually evolved in me ... [T]he reality of the spiritual world was to me as certain as that of the physical.” — R. Steiner, THE STORY OF MY LIFE, p. 11.
[3] Steiner's admiration of Plato, as he understood him, was perhaps second only to his admiration of Goethe. [See "Goethe".]
.
.
.
.
play at Waldorf schools - also see crafts; Olympics; outdoor play at Waldorf schools; cf. academic standards; arithmetic; computers; reading
Waldorf schools stress unstructured play for young children, both to keep them young (youngsters are believed to retain connections to their past lives in the spirit realm) and to delay “harmful” intellectual development. Basic academic skills such as reading and arithmetic are often not taught until children reach at least age seven, and students are considered incapable of abstract or intellectual thought until at least age 14. Thus, Waldorf schools discourage early-childhood education and development, as these are usually conceived. “Childhood is commonly regarded as a time of steadily expanding consciousness.... Yet in Steiner’s view, the very opposite is the case: childhood is a time of contracting consciousness.... [The child] loses his dream-like perception [1] of the creative world of spiritual powers [2] which is hidden behind the phenomena of the senses ... In mastering the world of physical perception the child encounters difficulties in that he first has to overcome a dream-like yet intensely real awareness of spiritual worlds. [3] This awareness fades quickly in early childhood, but fragments of it live on in the child for a much longer time than most people imagine ... [I]n a Waldorf school, therefore, one of the tasks of the teachers is to keep the children young." — A. C. Harwood, PORTRAIT OF A WALDORF SCHOOL (The Myrin Institute Inc., 1956), pp. 15-16.] Hence, early preparation for academics, such as is provided by programs like Head Start, is usually ruled out in Waldorf schools. [4]
When young children play, they reenact scenes from their past lives, or they renew memories of the spirit realm — or so Anthroposophists believe. “Already at a very early age, the child enjoys the game of hide-and-seek ... These games reflect the transition from there to here, from the spiritual to the physical world....” — H. Britz-Crecelius, CHILDREN AT PLAY: Using Waldorf Principles to Foster Childhood Development (Park Street Press, 1996), p. 18. Waldorf schools often attempt to teach children how to play, channeling the children's energies into recreational activities that are deemed spiritually correct and fruitful. Special toys are often used, such as faceless dolls onto which children can project their inner visions. Natural materials are stressed — woolen dolls, wooden blocks — since the products of industrialization are considered harmful. Computers and video games are almost totally banned, since these are considered tainted with demonic influences. [5]
The free play of young children prepares them for their independent lives as adults, Steiner indicated, while the collaborative play of children after age seven has social benefits. [6] Perhaps surprisingly, Steiner added that directing play and its "soul activities" [7] into wholesome channels can produce physical benefits. "Play involves a whole constellations of soul activities ... When we guide children's play toward contentment, we improve their health by promoting an activity that is indirectly connected with the digestive system. And the way a person's play is guided during childhood can determine whether a person's blood circulation and digestive system become congested in old age." — R. Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL GROUND OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2004), p. 106.
[Also see "Play — Isn't Slow Learning Best?"]
•••
[1] In Anthroposophy, dreams and dream-like states of consciousness, especially imagination, are deemed conveyors of truth. [See, e.g., "Dreams", "Thinking", and the entry in this encyclopedia for "imagination".]
[2] The "spiritual powers" are the gods. Anthroposophy is polytheistic. [See "Polytheism".]
[3] I.e., adapting to life on the physical plane requires children to lose their dream-like spiritual awareness, at least to some degree. Waldorf schools see this as a necessary but regrettable development, and they seek to ameliorate it.
[4] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "early-childhood education"; also see "Academic Standards at Waldorf".
[5] See, e.g., "electricity" and "media policies at Waldorf schools" in this encyclopedia.
[6] See, e.g., THE RENEWAL OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001, chapter 13, "Children's Play."
[7] I.e., actions that arise from the soul or that exercise the soul.
.
.
.
.
pluralism - also see polytheism; cf. monism
This is the doctrine that the universe arises from multiple sources or consists of several underlying substances. It is related to the belief that the universe was created, or ruled, by multiple gods: polytheism. [1] Steiner said the universe is pluralistic and/or polytheistic, but he also said all of the gods arise (like everything else) from an underlying, unified "principle" or spirit. True unification, however — the ultimate overcoming of pluralism — is only a distant objective, Steiner indicated. "Monism [3] or monotheism [4] in itself can only represent an ultimate ideal; it could never lead to a real understanding of the world, to a comprehensive, concrete view of the world. [5] Nevertheless, in the post-Atlantean age [6] the current of monotheism also had to be represented, so that the urge, the impulse toward monotheism devolved upon a single people, the Semitic people. [7] The monistic principle is reflected in this people by a certain rigidity or inflexibility, whilst all the other peoples, in so far [sic] as their different divinities are comprehended in a unity, receive the impulse toward monism from them. [8] The other peoples are inclined to pluralism. [9]" — R. Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 115. Steiner tried to affirm both pluralism and monism. [10] "Pluralism is not possible without monism. We must recognize the necessity for both." — Ibid., p. 116. The point is true only linguistically (and even there it is moot): We need a word for pluralism only because we can conceive of monism, so we must make a distinction (we must have bth words so that we can conceive both possibilities). But in reality, either pluralism or monism is true now; they cannot both be true now. Whether polytheism may give way, in the future, to monotheism (whether the multiple gods existing now may become unified in a single spirit someday) is an Anthroposophical belief that, from a rationalist perspective, cannot be verified now.
•••
[1] See "polytheism", below.
[2] Pluralism is thus truer.
[3] The belief that the universe has a single source or underlying substance.
[4] The belief that a single god rules the universe.
[5] I.e., monism or monotheism is untrue now, but it may become true in the future (if we evolve toward the creation of a single universal spirit or god).
[6] I.e., the period we live in now, following the destruction of Atlantis.
[7] I.e., the idea of monotheism had to be represented within the human family, so this became the mission of the Hebrews or Jews (who believed their god, Jehovah, was the one and only god).
[8] I.e., the Hebrew had a rigid belief in their one god, while other peoples received from the Hebrews the idea that monotheism might be (or become) possible.
[9] Nonetheless, virtually all peoples except the Hebrews have had polytheistic belief systems.
[10] He taught that polytheism is true, but monotheism is the ideal toward which the universe is evolving.
.
.
.
.
Pluto - also see Neptune; planets; solar system; Uranus
a) In Greek mythology, Pluto was the god of the underworld; He was sometimes also called Hades.
b) In astronomy, Pluto is a minor planet in our solar system, orbiting beyond the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. [1]
Rudolf Steiner died early in 1925; Pluto was discovered early in 1930. Steiner evidently knew nothing about Pluto, for which he should reasonably be excused. However, from 1930 until 2006, Pluto was regarded as the ninth planet in the solar system. Steiner claimed to be able to see the future [2], so presumably he should have known that a planet called Pluto would be discovered. But, despite his frequent and extensive descriptions of the solar system, he made no mention of Pluto. [3]
Pluto was demoted to the new category of "minor planet" or "dwarf planet" in 2006. The space probe New Horizons visited Pluto in 2015.
•••
[1] Pluto's orbit is moderately eccentric. During one portion of its orbit, Pluto dips inside the orbit of Neptune. (The average distance of Pluto from the Sun is 3.7 billion miles. The average distance of Neptune from the Sun is 2.8 billion miles. Uranus's orbit is smaller still, averaging 1.8 billion miles. Saturn orbits the Sun at about 1.4 billion miles.)
[2] Steiner claimed to be clairvoyant, and he described many events that he said will occur in the future. His failure to mention Pluto may be taken as a minor oversight, or it might suggest that Steiner's professed clairvoyance was faulty. (In reality, there is no reliable evidence that clairvoyance exists. [See "Clairvoyance".])
[3] Steiner taught that the outermost planet in the solar system is Saturn. He acknowledged the existence of Uranus and Neptune, but he denied that they are members of the solar system.
Steiner was silent about several other minor planets in addition to Pluto. The minor planets Eris, Haumea, Quaoar, Makemake, etc., orbit the Sun at greater distances than Pluto. Eris is almost as large as Pluto, and it is more massive. Eris orbits the Sun at about 8.95 billion miles.
.
.
.
.
pneumatism - also see medicine; philosophy; world conceptions
a) An antiquated medical theory that respiration involves a subtle vapor called pneuma, consisting of a "vital spirit" and an "animal spirit."
b) One of the twelve justified or defended world conceptions, according to Steiner. [1] "When someone is a Psychist [2], and able as a thinking person to contemplate the world clearly, then he comes to the point of saying to himself that he must presuppose something actively psychic in the outside world. [3] But directly [4] he not only thinks, but feels sympathy for what is active and willing in man, then he says to himself: 'It is not enough that there are beings who have ideas; these beings must also be active, they must be able also to do things.' But this is inconceivable unless these beings are individual beings. That is, a person of this type rises from accepting the ensoulment of the world to accepting the Spirit or the Spirits [5] of the world. He is not yet clear whether he should accept one or a number of Spirits [6], but he advances from Psychism to Pneumatism, to a doctrine of the Spirit." — R. Steiner, HUMAN AND COSMIC THOUGHT (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1991), p. 35. Steiner associated pneumatism with Aquarius. [7]
•••
[1] See "Philosophy".
[2] "Anyone who understands that ideas, if they are there are all, are bound up with some being capable of having ideas...becomes a Psychist and his world-outlook is Psychism." — R. Steiner, HUMAN AND COSMIC THOUGHT (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1991), p. 34. [See the entry for "psychism", below.]
[3] I.e., he comes to believe that mental phenomena (thoughts, apprehensions, concepts) exist objectively outside oneself. (These phenomena may be deemed creations of the Earth itself, as a living, thinking being.)
[4] I.e., as soon as.
[5] I.e., the God or gods. The pneumatist, as defined by Steiner, comes to believe in the objective existence of a God or gods: spirits.
[6] I.e., he does not yet know whether there is one god (monotheism) or a number of gods (polytheism).
[7] See "Aquarius" in this encyclopedia.
.
.
.
.
Polaria - also see Hyperborea; Lemuria; Old Saturn; Polarian Epoch; Polaris
a) In some esoteric accounts: an ancient lost continent in polar regions, possibly in or near today's Siberia.
b) In Theosophy: an invisible northern continent that will become visible one day; the ancient residents of Polaria were the first root race [1] of the earth.
c) In Anthroposophy: the first dwelling place of humanity during Present Earth [2]: the situation of humanity during the Polarian Epoch. [3] Usually Anthroposophical descriptions of Polaria are vague, if attempted at all — conditions were so different then, we can scarcely find the right words. But some Anthroposophists have tried to give a plain account. Often, these efforts portray Polaria as a huge ball of undifferentiated essence: an initial incarnation of the Earth, an embodiment that was far larger and far, far less dense than the planet we know today. "Polaria was...a recapitulation of Ancient Saturn [4] ... Polaria was smaller than [Old] Saturn, though still immense; it was about the size of the earth's orbit today. [5] In fact Polaria still contained both sun and moon [6] and, like Ancient Saturn, was a globe." — A. Whitehead, ANCIENT SATURN TO ATLANTIS (Golden Beetle Books, 1991), p. 48. [See "Out in the Open".]
•••
[1] See the entry for "root races" in this encyclopedia.
[2] Present Earth is our current condition of consciousness, the current incarnation of the solar system. [See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.]
[3] See the entry for "Polarian Epoch", below.
[4] I.e., Old Saturn: the first condition of consciousness, the first incarnation of the solar system.
[5] In accounts such as this, Polaria was not a continent on the planet Earth; rather, it was an incarnation of the entire Earth in a form wholly unlike today's (Polaria was a gauzy sphere having a radius of 93 million miles).
[6] I.e., the Sun and Moon had not yet separated from the Earth. [See "Early Earth".]
.
.
.
.
Polarian Epoch - also see epochs; great epochs; Hyperborean Epoch; Polaria; Present Earth
According to Steiner — drawing from Theosophy — this was our first evolutionary stage or "great epoch" in what may be called our lives "on" Earth (following life "on" Saturn, Sun, and Moon). [1] Steiner gave only brief and vague descriptions of the Polarian period. “[I]n the beginning of its development, our Earth was united with Sun and Moon. [2] At that point man had arisen once more out of the earliest germ [3] which comprised physical, etheric, and astral bodies [4]; he appeared, so to speak, in his first earthly form — the only one possible to him while the Earth still contained both Sun and Moon [5]. This period of Earth evolution, which man experienced in common with his planet, is usually called in the literature of spiritual science [6], the ‘Polarian’ period. It would lead too far to explain today why this period is called ‘Polarian’; meanwhile let us simply accept the term.” — R. Steiner, THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1948), p. 66. [See "Early Earth".]
Sometimes Steiner was slightly more forthcoming about at least some aspects of Polarian life. "The Polarian human beings were very similar to four-footed animals, but they were formed out of a soft, pliant substance similar to a jellyfish, but much warmer. — R. Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2019), pp. 176-177..
Here is an elaboration by a Waldorf teacher: "In the Polaris state [7] the solar system is [i.e., was] still a homogenous unity [8] ... There is [was] transformed warmth from [Old Saturn], providing the basis for the [future] physical body of man [9] ... There is life force [10] and something akin to light ... [T]here is astral substance [11], which, taken into the human being, gives him the ability to have external and internal experiences ... One might imagine the substance of Polaris [12] as refined ether [13] surrounded by an astral atmosphere. [14] In this atmosphere are the souls of human beings [in a form not yet differentiating one from another] ... Our present Saturn comes into existence. [15]" — R. Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2005), pp. 96-97.
•••
The Polarian Epoch was the first great epoch of our Earthly lives, according to terminology usually employed in Anthroposophical texts.
•••
[1] Anthroposophical accounts of evolution are complex. In one sense, we have always existed on "Earth" if we conflate the evolution of the solar system with the evolution of the Earth, as Steiner often did. However, in Anthroposophy past incarnations of the solar system are often referred to as Old Saturn, Old Sun, and Old Moon. Only after passing through all three of those stages did we arrive at the Present Earth stage (the fourth incarnation of the solar system). Within this stage, we have evolved through numerous smaller stages (conditions of life and, within those, stages of form). Currently, according to Anthroposophical teachings, we exist within the Physical Stage of Form, within the Mineral Kingdom Condition of Life, within the Present Earth incarnation of the solar system. It is within this current phase that we began evolving through the seven great epochs, of which the Polarian Epoch was the first. [See the entries in this encyclopedia for these various terms. For an overview, see the entries for "evolution" and "design".]
[2] I.e., Earth, Sun, and Moon were a single body. (In its earliest incarnation, Steiner said, the entire solar system was a single body. Evolution has entailed the gradual splitting off of various parts from that original unity.)
[3] I.e., germinal or embryonic condition. (We arose "once more" because we incarnate and reincarnate many times as evolution progresses. When the Polarian Epoch began, we had evolved to a point where our germinal condition included early versions of the physical, etheric, and astral bodies.)
[4] I.e., man incarnated as a physical, etheric, and astray being — but he did not yet have an "I." [See the entries for "physical body", "etheric body", "astral body", and "'I'" in this encyclopedia.]
[5] The Earth was very different then (it still contained the Sun and Moon), and consequently our form was very different then.
[6] As Steiner used the term, "spiritual science" is essentially Anthroposophy, which Steiner said enables practitioners to scientifically study the spirit realm (and, through it, the physical realm).
[7] I.e., during the Polarian Epoch.
[8] I.e., no planets or other bodies had yet separated from the others.
[9] Old Saturn was our first condition of consciousness, the first incarnation of the solar system. Steiner taught that Old Saturn was largely composed of a form of spiritual warmth, analogous to the warmth of blood.
[10] See the entry for "life force" in this encyclopedia.
[11] I.e., essence from the astral plane or soul world. [See "Higher Worlds".]
[12] Polaris is the Earth as it existed during the Polarian Epoch (Polaria); the term "Polaris" may also apply to the Epoch itself. [See "Polaris", below.]
[13] See the entry for "ether" in this encyclopedia.
[14] I.e., an "atmosphere" such as is found in the soul world.
[15] I.e., the planet Saturn separated from the "homogenous unity" — the unified mass comprising much of the rest of the solar system.
.
.
.
.
Polaric Age - see Polarian Epoch
.
.
.
.
Polaris - also see Polaria; Polarian Epoch
a) The North Star.
b) In Anthroposophy: Polaria or the Polarian Epoch. "The name of this developmental epoch ['Polaris'] is derived from the fact that these original Earth conditions of the polar time [1] were preserved for the longest time around the 'North Pole'. However, [Polaris] was a huge nebulous gaseous structure that still encompassed the entire planetary system and also contained the Sun and the other nascent planets. [2]" — "Polaris, the Polar epoch", AnthroWiki, Jan. 27, 2023. [See "Polaria & Hyperborea".]
•••
[1] According to one account that is sometimes offered, Polaris or Polaria was an island or continent in the far frozen North of the early Earth.
[2] This is closer to the general account given of Polaris or Polaria (Polaris was a huge cosmic ball containing all the substance that would eventually comprise all the members of the solar system). This more common account, however, is difficult to square with the former account, although AnthroWiki attempts it.
.
.
.
.
polarities - also see dualism; good and evil
The concept of polarities or polar oppositions plays a crucial role in Anthroposophy, which tends toward dualism. [1] Steiner discussed polarities of many types: light and dark, upward evolution and downward evolution, good gods and evil gods, West and East, Lucifer and Ahriman, the Sun God and the Sun Demon, knowledge and belief, materialism and mysticism, and so forth. [2] While Steiner often indicated that, ultimately, all things tend to contribute to the fulfillment of the divine cosmic plan [3], he also indicated that the forces of good are arrayed against the forces of evil, here on the physical plane and also high above in the spiritual realm. So, for instance, Steiner told his followers this: ”[W]e are watching the battle waged by the good gods against the evil gods." [4] The task of Waldorf teachers is to work in cooperation with the beneficent forces of the cosmos, Steiner said. “Among the faculty, we must certainly carry within us the knowledge that we are not here for our own sakes, but to carry out the divine cosmic plan. We should always remember that when we do something, we are actually carrying out the intentions of the gods, that we are, in a certain sense, the means by which that streaming down from above will go out into the world.” [5]
•••
[1] See "dualism" in this encyclopedia.
[2] See, e.g., the book POLARITIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF MANKIND, consisting of lectures delivered by Rudolf Steiner (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1987).
[3] See "divine cosmic plan" in this encyclopedia.
[4] Rudolf Steiner, KARMIC RELATIONSHIPS, Vol. II (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1974), p. 251.
[5] Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 55.
.
.
.
.
polytheism - also see gods; goddesses; planetary gods; pluralism; Sons of Twilight; Spirits of Fire; Spirits of Form; Spirits of Harmony; Spirits of Love; Spirits of Movement; Spirits of Personality; Spirits of Will; Spirits of Wisdom; cf. monotheism
This is the doctrine that multiple gods exist; Steiner affirmed polytheism. Steiner taught that there are nine ranks of gods, extending from those who are just slightly more advanced than humans to those who are almost inconceivably advanced. Above or behind the nine ranks he located the nebulous Godhead, which he described as divine will and/or a sort of committee of three exalted gods. [1] Steiner divided the nine ranks of gods into three subsections or "hierarchies" [2], each of which consists of three ranks of gods. Below the gods stand humans who, Steiner said, will evolve to become gods, and eventually will attain the highest divine rank. Indeed, the divine plan for our evolution to ultimate apotheosis is the central narrative of Anthroposophy. [3]
Steiner used different terms at different times, and his descriptions/enumerations were not wholly consistent, but in a general sense we can say that, according to Steiner, the following are the ranks of the gods, from highest to lowest.
These are designations Steiner usually preferred, but gods known by many other names are also located among the three "hierarchies." In addition, some gods do not stand at the levels they normally should — "abnormal" gods lag behind, standing at lower levels than their titles would ordinarily indicate. [4] Thus, for instance, while normal Spirits of Wisdom stand in the fourth rank, abnormal Spirits of Wisdom may stand at the fifth rank and function much like Spirits of Movement.
The gods in general evolve much as we evolve, Steiner taught. We originally came into existence during the stage of cosmic evolution known as Old Saturn. [5] Our evolution then and in subsequent stages has been overseen by gods of various ranks, some extending themselves to us at more at one stage, others extending themselves to us mainly at other stages. The gods themselves originally came into existence at various prior stages of cosmic evolution, before the first formation of our solar system, Steiner taught. Thus, for instance, the gods who stand one step higher than ourselves — Sons of Twilight, also known as Angels — first came into existence during a period preceding Old Saturn, Steiner said, while the gods one step higher than Sons of Twilight — Spirits of Fire, also known as Archangels — first came into existence during the period preceding that. We can know virtually nothing about such extremely distant stages, Steiner said; they were, in a sense, stages of a different universe from our own.
The Godhead hovers above the hierarchies [6], while humanity stands below. Steiner taught that we are in the process of forming a tenth divine rank, somewhat confusing called, in Anthroposophical texts, "the tenth hierarchy." [7]
•••
[1] See "Polytheism", "Trinity", and "The Father".
[2] See "Polytheism" and the entry in this encyclopedia for "hierarchies".
[3] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "historical narrative of Anthroposophy".
[4] See "Abnormal".
[5] See "Old Saturn".
[6] See "God".
[7] See "Tenth Hierarchy".
.
.
.
.
PORTAL OF INITIATION, THE - also see Goetheanum; mystery plays
The first of four mystery plays [1] written by Steiner. The complete cycle of these plays is often performed at the Anthroposophical headquarters, the Goetheanum. [2] [See "Plays".]
The plays hardly have plots in the normal sense; there is little action but a great deal of talk. But even trying to summarize the talk is difficult. The central theme of the four-play cycle is the development of human karma through spiritual evolution. In a sense, the protagonist is Anthroposophy itself. "[The cycle is] the representation of a community of contemporary human beings who...find themselves searching for the spirit that belongs to humanity. This was a community...called together by destiny and determined to undergo and overcome the most varied tests of soul on their paths of life. All of the individuals in this ‘initiation drama’ (as Rudolf Steiner once called it) find themselves on the threshold of the awakening to their higher humanity.” — A. Steffen, quoted by H. Barnes in A LIFE FOR THE SPIRIT: Rudolf Steiner in the Crosscurrents of Our Time (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 100.
Here is an outline of THE PORTAL OF INITIATION as given in Steiner's FOUR MYSTERY PLAYS (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1925), GA 14:
Beings and Persons Represented
Scene 1 — A debating room. Theodora's vision of the coming Christ.
Scene 2 — Johannes' meditation among the mountains: ‘Know thou thyself.’
Scene 3 — Meditation chamber. Maria's separation.
Scene 4 — The Spirit of the Elements. The Soul-world.
Scene 5 — The subterranean rock temple. The consultation of the hierophants.
Scene 6 — Continuation of Scene 4. Felicia: her First Fable. Germanus.
Scene 7 — The Spirit-world. Maria and her soul powers. Theodora's vision of the past incarnation of Maria and Johannes. The scene ends with Benedictus' great mystic utterance.
Scene 8 — The portrait of Capesius by Johannes. Strader's bewilderment.
Scene 9 — Johannes' second meditation among the mountains three years later than Scene 2. ‘Feel thou thyself.’
Scene 10 — As in Scene 3. A trial for Johannes.
Scene 11 — The Temple of the Sun. Destiny and debtors.
•••
A scene from THE PORTAL OF INITIATION as staged at the Goetheanum. [GOETHEANUM (Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press,
1961, p. 22); color added.]
•••
[1] See the entry for "mystery play" in this encyclopedia.
[2] For information about the Goetheanum, see "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"
.
.
.
.
Poseidon - also see clairvoyance; gods; etheric body; Neptune
a) The ancient Greek god of water and the seas; equivalent to the Roman god Neptune.
b) According to Steiner, the god whose influences constitute the etheric body. "[T]he [ancient] Greek...felt that in the ebb and flow of the ocean, in the storms and hurricanes which rage over the earth, the same forces are active as are active in us when lasting emotions, when passion and habit pulsate through our memory. When we are speaking microcosmically [1] they are the forces in us which we cover by the term ‘ether body’ [2] ... Macrocosmically speaking they are forces...which determine wind and weather, storm and calm, untroubled and raging seas ... The ancient Greek was still conscious of a figure who could be reached by clairvoyance [3], he was still conscious of the ruler, the centre of all these forces in the macrocosm [4], and spoke of him as Poseidon." — R. Steiner, WONDERS OF THE WORLD, ORDEALS OF THE SOUL, REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT, lecture 3, GA 128.
•••
[1] Steiner taught that the human being is the microcosmic replica of the cosmos, the macrocosm. [See "The Center"; also see "microcosm" in this encyclopedia.]
[2] See "etheric body" in this encyclopedia.
[3] Steiner taught that ancient peoples had natural clairvoyant powers that enabled them to perceive the gods.
[4] See "macrocosm" in this encyclopedia.
.
.
.
.
possession - also see demonic possession; demons; doubles; incorporation
As described in various occult traditions, being "possessed" is the state or condition of being controlled by another being that invades your body; it dominates, bewitches, or owns you. The invader is usually considered demonic. "Spirits [i.e., demons] who arise through immoral actions [1] have a particular tendency to be parasites in human evolution on Earth under Lucifer's leadership [2], and to seize hold of the evolution of human beings before these make their physical entry into the world. They attack human beings during the embryonic stage and share their existence between conception and birth. [3] Some of these spirits, if they are strong enough, can continue to accompany the human being after birth, creating the phenomena seen in children who are possessed.” — R. Steiner, ANGELS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), pp. 167-168. One's inner demon is often called a double, Steiner taught. [4]
•••
[1] According to Anthroposophical belief, our actions and thoughts produce spirits that take up independent existence in the spirit realm. Evil actions and evil thoughts create evil spirits: demons. (Spirits dwelling in the spirit realm may influence us on the physical plane, and occasionally they may descend to the physical plane, Steiner taught. Spirits that "possess" humans do precisely this, entering physical existence inside human physical bodies.)
[2] I.e., these demons interfere in our evolution during life on Earth; they do so under the leadership of the arch-demon Lucifer. [See "Lucifer".]
[3] I.e., the demons attach themselves to us before our incarnation on Earth, attacking our bodies between the moment of conception and the moment of physical birth.
[4] See "Double Trouble"; also see "double" and "doppelgänger" in this encyclopedia.
.
.
.
.
Post-Atlantean Epoch - also see Aryan Epoch; Atlantean Epoch; great epochs; War of All Against All
This is our current great epoch [1], according to Steiner — the stage of Earthly evolution we entered following the destruction of Atlantis. [2] Steiner taught that Lemuria [3] was destroyed in firestorms brought on by human wickedness, Atlantis was destroyed in the great flood caused by human wickedness, and the Post-Atlantean Epoch will end similarly, in the catastrophic War of All Against All. [4]
The Post-Atlantean Epoch is the fifth of the great epochs. All great epochs are divided into seven subdivisions. In the Post-Atlantean Epoch, these subdivisions are called "cultural epochs" or "cultural ages." "[I]t is only in our fifth (Post-Atlantean) epoch that one can first speak of cultural ages [5], each guided by a different Archon as Spirit of the Age [6] ... Each of these [cultural ages] is first prepared and then influenced by forces from one particular constellation. [7]" — R. Seddon, THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY AND THE EARTH AS FORESEEN BY RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2002), pp. 11-12.
According to Steiner, essentially everything that has happened during what is normally considered the history of human civilizations, and everything that will occur before conditions change out of all recognition, occurs during the Post-Atlantean Epoch. The subdivisions of the Post-Atlantean Epoch — the seven cultural ages — are the Indian Age (eighth to sixth millennium BC), the Persian Age (fifth to four millennium BC), the Egypto-Chaldean Age (2900-747 BC), the Greco-Roman Age (747 BC-1413 AD), the Anglo-Germanic Age (our present cultural age: 1413-3573 AD), the Russian Age (3573-5733 AD), and the American Age (5733-~7900 AD). Following the American Age, mankind will plunge into a calamitous war, and thereafter the Post-Atlantean Epoch will end. Steiner taught that survivors of the war will proceed to the Sixth Epoch (the Epoch of the Seals) and then the Seventh Epoch (the Epoch of the Trumpets). [8]
•••
According to Anthroposophical belief, we have already evolved through the Polarian, Hyperborean, Lemurian, and Atlantean Epochs [8]. We now live in the Post-Atlantean Epoch, Steiner taught. It began after the destruction of Atlantis and will end in the War of All Against All.
•••
[1] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "great epochs".
[2] See "Atlantis".
[3] According to Steiner, this was the continent we inhabited before moving to Atlantis. [See "Lemuria".]
[4] See "All v. All".
[5] Other great epochs are also divided into seven subdivisions, and often — somewhat loosely — these are also called cultural epochs or cultural ages. But Seddon is correct: Technically, only the subdivisions of the Post-Atlantean Epoch should be referred to under these designations
[6] Archons (Archai) are gods three levels higher than humanity — they are the highest gods of the Third Hierarchy. [See "Polytheism".]
[7] I.e., under the astrological influence of one sign of the zodiac. Astrological forces are important throughout Anthroposophical teachings. [See "Astrology" and "Star Power".]
[8] See "Sixth Epoch" and "Lucky Seventh".
[9] See "Early Earth", "Lemuria", and "Atlantis".
.
.
.
.
Powers - also see Authorities; Elohim; Exusiai; Spirits of Form
According to some esoteric teachings, Powers are angels of a middle rank. Steiner designated them as gods of the sixth rank, placing them four levels higher than humanity. “[W]hen we get beyond the Archai [1], we reach to those Beings...the so called Powers — Exusiai, whom we also call the Spirits of Form. [2] Here we have to do with tasks that reach beyond the earth [3] ... Humanity will have to be guided from one planetary condition to another. [4] Spiritual Beings must...exist, whose care it is during the whole earth evolution [5] to see that when that evolution will have come to an end, humanity may pass in the right manner through a Pralaya [6] and find its way to the next goal, to the Jupiter goal. [7] These are the Powers or Spirits of Form ... The spirits whose care it is to see that the whole of humanity should be led from one planetary condition to another, are the Powers, Exusiai or Spirits of Form.” — R. Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL HIERARCHIES AND THE PHYSICAL WORLD (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1928), lecture 6, GA 110.
•••
Steiner taught that there are nine ranks of gods subdivided into three "hierarchies." Powers stand among the lowest ranking gods of the Second Hierarchy — they are members of the sixth rank of gods, which puts the four levels higher than humanity.
•••
[1] These, according to Steiner, are gods of the seventh rank, putting them three levels higher than humanity. [See "Polytheism".]
[2] See the entries in this encyclopedia for "Exusiai" and "Spirits of Form".
[3] I.e., the work done by the Powers (Exusiai, Spirits of Form) reaches beyond the planet Earth and/or the Present Earth incarnation of the solar system. [See "Earth" and "Present Earth" in this encyclopedia.]
[4] Planetary conditions are incarnations of the solar system, Steiner taught. We currently live in the fourth incarnation of the solar system, which is called Present Earth. When this incarnation ends, there will be a rest period (a "pralaya") during which the solar system will vanish. Then the next incarnation of the solar system — called Future Jupiter — will begin. [See the entries in this encyclopedia for "incarnations of the solar system" and "planetary conditions".] Here Steiner says the Powers will help us make the transition to Future Jupiter and, perhaps, beyond.
[5] I.e., Present Earth.
[6] A rest period, a pause between incarnations of the solar system.
[7] I.e., Future Jupiter.
.
.
.
.
pralaya - also see evolution; conditions of consciousness; conditions of life; stages of form
In Theosophy and Anthroposophy: a rest period between evolutionary phases. The word comes from Sanskrit and means, roughly, to melt away. During evolution, as described in Theosophy and Anthroposophy, from time to time everything fades out of existence and no new evolutionary stage begins for a while. The universe, in a sense, pauses. Thus, for instance, Steiner taught that there will be a long (five-step) pralaya following Present Earth and prior to Future Jupiter. [1] Likewise, during Present Earth, there will be a three-step pralaya between the fourth condition of life (Mineral Kingdom) and the fifth condition of life (Plant Kingdom). [2]
The math for the evolutionary phases discussed in Theosophy and Anthroposophy doesn't work out precisely. (For example, a great epoch is something like 2160 years long, while subdivisions of it are about 350 years long. There are seven such divisions, but 2160/350 is 6.27243, not 7.) Various pauses are required up and down the line, so that the clock can be reset. Pralayas fill this function. Steiner refers to pralayas in passages such as this: "After the great cosmic era of Saturn [3]...there follows that of the Sun. [4]. Between them lies a period of rest (Pralaya) [sic] ... Saturn man, as it were [5], has left behind his seed, which is sunk in a kind of sleep, after which it will develop into Sun man. [6]" — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), chapter 15, GA 11.
•••
[1] These are the fourth and fifth incarnations of the solar system. [See "Present Earth" and "Future Stages".]
[2] Conditions of life are subdivisions of conditions of consciousness. [See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.]
[3] See "Old Saturn".
[4] See "Old Sun".
[5] I.e., the proto-human as he evolved during Old Saturn. (Steiner often inserts qualifying expressions such as "as it were," generally to indicate that human language is inadequate to fully convey occult realities.)
[6] I.e., after the pralaya, the proto-human will appear in a new form during Old Sun. ("Sun man" — the proto-human kiving during Old Sun — is the progeny of the "seed" or inheritance left by "Saturn man" — the proto-human licing during Old Saturn.)
.
.
.
.
prana (prãna) - also see life ether
According to Hindu teachings, prana is breath; it is considered a life-giving force. "Prana, in Indian philosophy, the body’s vital 'airs,' or energies. A central conception in early Hindu philosophy, particularly as expressed in the Upanishads [1], prana was held to be the principle of vitality and was thought to survive as a person’s 'last breath' for eternity or until a future life. [2]" — "prana". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Mar. 2015; accessed 1 June 2024.
Steiner equated prana with the fourth form of ether. [3] "[T]he finest of all the ethers is that which constitutes life: Prana, or Life Ether." — R. Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 5, GA 93a.
•••
[1] The four Upanishads are the concluding sections of four sacred Hindu texts, the Vedas.
[2] Future lives, in this sense, occur as a result of reincarnation.
[3] See "ether" in this encyclopedia.
.
.
.
.
prayers in Waldorf schools - also see graces; hymns; meditations; spiritual exercises; spiritualistic agenda; verses
Prayers written by Steiner, often disguised as "morning verses," are recited by students and teachers each morning in most Waldorf schools. Waldorf teachers also pray to various gods for guidance in their work. The following is the prayer Steiner wrote for use each morning by students in the lower four grades:
"The Sun with loving light
Makes bright for me each day;
The soul with spirit power
Gives strength unto my limbs;
In sunlight shining clear
I reverence, O God,
The strength of humankind,
That thou so graciously
Hast planted in my soul,
That I with all my might
May love to work and learn.
From Thee come light and strength,
To Thee rise love and thanks.”
— R. Steiner, PRAYERS FOR PARENTS AND CHILDREN
(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 45.
[See "Prayers".]
•••
Prayers used and recommended by Steiner's followers can be found in various Anthroposophical publications. Often the prayers were written by Steiner himself. Prayers recited by Waldorf students appear on pp. 44-47 of this book.
.
.
.
.
pre-earthly life - also see evolution; higher worlds; incarnation; life after death and before birth; planetary conditions; preexistence; reincarnation; spirit realm
As discussed in Anthroposophy: this is life in the spirit realm between earthly incarnations. [1] “During his pre-earthly existence man lives in the cosmic creation which is the spiritual germ of his future physical organism [2] ... Man has his pre-earthly existence in the active recognition of the spirit-cell of his future physical organism [3] ... As during his existence on earth he perceives through his senses a physical world round him in which he is active, so in his pre-earthly existence he perceives his physical organism being built in spirit; and his activity consists in helping its construction, just as his activity in the physical world consists in helping to shape the physical things of the outer world. [paragraph break] In the spirit-cell [4] of the physical human body which the psycho-spiritual man [5] experiences in his pre-earthly existence, a whole universe is present [6], no less manifold than the physical outer world of the senses. Indeed intuitive knowledge [7] may well say that man, incorporated in his physical body, though unknown to himself, carries a universe of such magnificence that the physical world cannot be remotely compared with it. [8] [paragraph break] This universe it is which man experiences in a spiritual manner in his pre-earthly state, and in which he is active. He experiences it in its growth, its mobility, but filled with spiritual beings. [9]” — R. Steiner, COSMOLOGY, RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1943), chapter 6, GA 25.
•••
[1] In a different but related sense, "pre-earthly" life is man's existence during previous incarnations of the solatr system. [See the entries in this encyclopedia for "Old Saturn", "Od Sun", and "Old Moon".]
[2] I.e., man lives in the spirit realm, in a form that will give rise to his next Earthly incarnation.
[3] I.e., man focuses on the spiritual locus or seed ("spirit-cell") from which the physical form of his next incarnation is created. (The central activity and purpose of life between incarnations is making preparations for the next incarnation.)
[4] I.e., spiritual formative matrix.
[5] I.e., man as he exists in the spirit realm.
[6] Steiner taught that the human being is a microcosmic replica of the entire cosmos. Here, he says this is true during pre-earthly life, in the spirit realm, just as it is true during physical incarnation. (Man experiences virtually the entire spiritual universe during pre-earthly life, and he carries this with him, internally, when he descends to earthly life.)
[7] Steiner taught that Intuition is one form of clairvoyance, akin to Imagination and Inspiration — other forms of clairvoyance. [See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.]
[8] I.e., the spirit realm — which man carries inwardly — is vastly more magnificent than the physical universe — which man also carries inwardly.
[9] Chiefly, these are gods. [See "Polytheism".]
.
.
.
.
preexistence - also see higher worlds; life after death and before birth; pre-earthly life; reincarnation; spirit realm
As discussed in Anthroposophy: this is pre-earthly life [see above], the period a human spends in the spirit realm before beginning a new life on Earth. "Pre-existence — in a broad sense, the period between two lives in which the 'I' [1], after having gradually cast off its preceding life, is guided and inspired by the hierarchies [2] to start creating new conditions for its next incarnation on earth." — H. van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 96.
•••
[1] The "I" is one's inviolable, divine identity. [See the entry for "I" in this encyclopedia.]
[2] I.e., gods.
.
.
.
.
premonition — also see clairvoyance; future; imagination; inspiration; intuition
According to Steiner, clairvoyant training allows one to see the future. Steiner claimed that he himself knew the future. [See, e.g., "Everything" and the essays that follow it. Also see "Millennium".] Steiner taught that primitive peoples had untrained powers of premonition, and these powers sometimes emerge among modern humans. "We know...that the subconscious activity [1] is not aroused by spiritual training alone, but that it may exist as inheritance of an old, primitive atavistic state of the human mind. [2] Under these conditions there arise what we define as visions, and visions of this naive consciousness would correspond to imaginations [3] gained through training. Premonitions arise; and these might be [called] primitive inspirations." — R. Steiner, PSYCHOANALYSIS (Anthroposophic Press, 1946), lecture 4, GA 143.
•••
[1] I.e., intuitive perception. According to Anthroposophy, imagination, inspiration, and intuition are precursors to clairvoyance, or (as Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition) they are actual forms of clairvoyance. Steiner said ancient people had natural clairvoyant abilities that modern humans have generally lost.
[2] I.e., instinctive clairvoyance. Steiner taught that Anthroposophy ("spiritual training") enables its practitioners to develop high, "exact" clairvoyance [see "Exactly"], whereas ancient peoples had a natural but lower ("old, primitive") form of clairvoyance; sometimes this ancient clairvoyance arises today, in which case it is "atavistic".
[3] I.e., images perceived through clairvoyance.
.
.
.
.
preparation, spiritual - see probation
.
.
.
.
preparations - also see biodynamic gardening and farming; medicine; mistletoe
In Anthroposophy, the word "preparations" often refers to magical compounds prepared for use in biodynamic agriculture, such as liquids produced by stuffing manure into a cow's horn, burying the horn for a prescribed period, digging it up, pouring the decayed manure into a pail of water, and stirring vigorously for an hour, reversing the direction of the stir every few minutes. Careful observance of astrological conditions is usually required. [See "Biodynamics".]
Another Anthroposophical use of the term "preparations", almost as common, applies to various herbal remedies (powders, pills, potions) prepared for use in Anthroposophical medicine. Thus, for instance, a preparation consisting mainly of mistletoe is often prescribed for the treatment of cancer. [See "Steiner's Quackery".]
.
.
.
.
preschool - see early childhood education
.
.
.
.
Present Earth - also see conditions of consciousness; Earth; Future Jupiter; Future Venus; Future Vulcan; human stage of evolution; Old Moon; Old Saturn; Old Sun; physical plane; planetary conditions
According to Anthroposophical belief, this is the fourth incarnation of the solar system (our fourth condition of consciousness), coming after Old Moon and before Future Jupiter; it is the condition in which we now exist. [1] We have evolved from an extremely nonphysical condition, Old Saturn. [2] This was followed by progressively more condensed conditions, Old Sun and then Old Moon. [3] We exist now in a densely material, physical condition — Present Earth. Here, we are far removed from the spirit realm (although it is immanent). Our tasks during Present Earth have included confronting and comprehending evil. In this sense, we have fallen from grace, descending from a spiritualized condition to a lowly physical condition; but in exchange, we are acquiring the capacity to be free, able to choose between the white and black paths. [4] Another, related task during Present Earth has been to develop intellect. This is a dubious and dangerous attainment, but it strengthens us for our future, free development. [5]
Following Present Earth, Steiner taught, we will reascend toward spiritualized, nonphysical existence, passing through progressively less and less condensed existences, first Future Jupiter, then Future Venus, and then Future Vulcan. [6] Having begun our evolution in a form of consciousness like coma during Old Saturn, we have proceeded to ordinary waking consciousness during Present Earth. Ahead, we will attain perfected Imagination (Jupiter consciousness), perfected Inspiration (Venus consciousness), and then perfected Intuition (Vulcan consciousness). [7] A few advanced humans — Anthroposophists, mainly — have attained preliminary forms of these high, clairvoyant powers during Present Earth, chiefly by following the indications given by Rudolf Steiner. Waldorf schools endeavor to set students' feet on the path toward such advancement. [8]
The gods with greatest creative authority during Present Earth are the Spirits of Form. [9] Under their aegis, we have become human — that is, we have attained our" I's" during Present Earth, just as the Angels attained their "I's" during Old Moon and the Archangels attained theirs during Old Sun. [10] When we have evolved through all of the phases of Present Earth [11], we will proceed to our next condition of consciousness, Future Jupiter. [See "Matters of Form" and "Everything".]
Present Earth should be distinguished from the planet Earth. Present Earth is a period of time or a stage of evolution; the planet Earth is a physical sphere, a location within the solar system. [12] Often, Anthroposophical references to the planet Earth center on the planet as it exists now or as it has existed during various phases of Present Earth. [13] However, according to Steiner, the Earth existed — in very different forms — during previous incarnations of the solar system. It is also important to recognize that Anthroposophists sometimes refer to the major stages of evolution (Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon) as if they were physical orbs ("Saturn," "Sun,""Moon"). Likewise, Anthroposophical references to "Earth" sometimes apply to Present Earth rather than to the planet Earth. When reading Anthroposophical texts, distinctions or precise meanings must sometimes be inferred from context.
•••
The seven conditions of consciousness or planetary conditions described by Rudolf Steiner: They are incarnations of the solar system. We currently live in the Present Earth condition. (The term "Manvantaras," derived from Sanskrit, is used in Theosophy; Steiner used it for a time, but generally he avoided it after splitting from Theosophy. A "Manvantara," as conceived in Theosophy, is an age or "round." [14]) [This is a portion of a chart from THE TEMPLE LEGEND, a collection of Steiner lectures (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2009), p. 357; color added.]
•••
[1] See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia. Steiner taught that humans will evolve through a series of seven major stages of evolution (sometimes he said there will be 12 such stages). These seven major stages, shown in the diagram above, are usually called Conditions of Consciousness, because we develop a particular form of consciousness during each one. An alternate designation for Conditions of Consciousness is "Planetary Conditions." Each Condition of Consciousness or Planetary Condition is a new incarnation of the entire solar system, and each such incarnation bears the name of a celestial orb (Saturn, Sun, Moon, and so on)."Old Saturn" was the first of these major stages of evolution; Future Vulcan will be the seventh. We currently live on the planet Earth during the Present Earth stage.
[2] See "Old Saturn".
[3] See "Old Sun" and "Old Moon, Etc."
[4] In Steiner's teachings, the white path is the upward path of spiritual improvement, toward which his own teachings direct us. The black path is the downward path to spiritual corruption and ruin.
[5] Steiner was an intellectual, but he generally disparaged the intellect, rating it lower than clairvoyance and teaching that it chiefly has value in the lowly physical realm, not in the realms above. However, he said we needed to develop intellect, which empowers us to make rational choices. Having been exposed to evil, we have potentially gained the power to rationally (intellectually) differentiate good from evil, and to choose between them. Thereby, we may become "free."
[6] See "Future Stages".
[7] See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.
[8] See "Thinking Cap", "Spiritual Agenda", and "Schools as Churches".
[9] These are gods four levels higher than humanity. [See "Polytheism".]
[10] According to Anthroposophy, becoming truly human (which entails developing one's "I" or spiritual ego) is a stage of spiritual evolution. We have become human now, during Present Earth. Beings we look up to as gods became human during previous stages of cosmic evolution and later rose further to become divine. [See the entries for "I" and "human stage of evolution" in this encyclopedia.]
[11] Like the other Conditions of Consciousness or Planetary Conditions, Present Earth consists of seven subdivisions, which may be referred to as Conditions of Life. Each of those consists of seven subdivisions, often called Stages of Form. Each of those consists of seven subdivisions, often called Great Epochs. Each of those consists of seven subdivisions, generally called Cultural Epochs or Ages. Thus, during Present Earth, we will pass through seven Conditions of Life, 49 Stages of Form (7x7), 343 Great Epochs (7x7x7), and 2,401 Cultural Epochs (7x7x7x7).
[12] See the entry for "Earth" in this encyclopedia.
[13] All phases of Present Earth have been more densely physical than phases of the preceding incarnations of the solar system. However, it is only during our current incarnations that we have become as thoroughly, materially physical as we are today.
[14] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "rounds".
.
.
.
.
priestly office of Waldorf teachers - also see divine cosmic plan; messianism; spiritualistic agenda; Waldorf teachers
Genuine Waldorf schools are religious institutions, although this is usually concealed. [See, e.g., "Here's the Answer" and "Secrets".] Steiner gave Waldorf teachers the charge to act in the name of the gods, serving at the altar of human life. The teachers then become, in effect, priests. ◊ “Among the faculty, we...should always remember that when we do something, we are actually carrying out the intentions of the gods....” — R. Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 55. ◊ “[W]e wish to begin our preparation by first reflecting upon how we connect with the spiritual powers in whose service and in whose name each one of us must work.” — R. Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 33. ◊ “In the child we have before us a being who has only recently left the divine world. [1] In due course, still at a tender age, he comes to school and it is the teacher’s task to help guide him into earthly existence. The teacher is therefore performing a priestly office.” — R. Steiner, THE ESSENTIALS OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 23.
The religion practiced in genuine Waldorf schools — the religion in which Waldorf teachers serve as priests — may be mistaken for Christianity, but it is in fact Anthroposophy. [2]
•••
[1] I.e., recently descended from the spirit realm to Earthly incarnation.
[2] See "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?", "Was He Christian?", and "Schools as Churches".
.
.
.
.
Primal Semites - also see Akkadians; Atlantis; Mongols; Primal Turanians; Rmoahals; sub-races; Tlavatlis; Toltecs
The fifth sub-race that, according to occult teachings, arose on Atlantis. [1] Members of this race, Steiner taught, were the first to develop a capacity for ratiocination. “The origin of logical thinking [2] must be sought among the fifth subrace, the Primal Semites. Men began to go beyond a mere remembrance of the past and to compare different experiences. The faculty of judgment developed. Wishes and appetites were regulated in accordance with this faculty of judgment. One began to calculate, to combine ... The Primal Semites at first arranged their personal circumstances as their faculty of thought directed. Intelligence took the place of mere appetites and desires. The conditions of life changed. If preceding races were inclined to acknowledge as leader one whose deeds had impressed themselves deeply upon their memory, or who could look back upon a life of rich memories, this role was now conferred upon the intelligent.” — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), chapter 3, GA 11.
•••
According to Steiner — drawing heavily from Theosophy — each root race consists of seven consecutive sub-races A root race is the overarching racial form intended by the gods for a particular evolutionary period. Sub-races represent the progressive steps that reincarnating souls should take during their evolution in that period. These are the seven sub-races of the Atlantean root race.
•••
[1] See the entries for "sub-race", "root- races", and "Atlantis" in this encyclopedia.
[2] The benefits of logical or intellectual thinking are, according to Steiner, far less than may appear at first. [See "Thinking" and "Steiner's Specific"].
.
.
.
.
Primal Turanians - also see Akkadians; Atlantis; Mongols; Primal Semites; Rmoahals; sub-races; Tlavatlis; Toltecs
The fourth sub-race that, according to occult teachings, arose on Atlantis [1]; the doom of that continent can be traced, in part, to them. “Man wanted to count for something through his power [over nature]. The greater the power became, the more he wanted to exploit it for himself. The ambition which had developed turned into marked selfishness. Thus the misuse of these powers arose. When one considers the capabilities of the Atlanteans resulting from their mastery of the life force [2], one will understand that this misuse inevitably had enormous consequences. A broad power over nature could be put at the service of personal egotism. [paragraph break] This was accomplished in full measure by the fourth subrace, the Primal Turanians. The members of this race, who were instructed in the mastery of the above-mentioned powers, often used them in order to satisfy their selfish wishes and desires.” — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), chapter 3, GA 11.
•••
[1] See the entries for "sub-race", "root- races", and "Atlantis" in this encyclopedia. Also see the chart, "Sub-Races of Atlantis", above.
[2] See the entry for "life force" in this encyclopedia.
.
.
.
.
primal wisdom, Primal Wisdom - also see Godhead; knowledge; spiritual science; wisdom
This term is used in various, interrelated ways by Anthroposophists. It is often a reference to the Godhead or the ground of being. [1] Primal wisdom is, then, the formative power behind all of creation. "Religious doctrines and formulas are only echoes of the sensations that could be once communicated from person to person and that were drawn from the primal wisdom that created the world itself." — R. Steiner, THE LORD’S PRAYER: An Esoteric Study (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2008), p. 57. The term "primal wisdom" is also used to denote the spiritual wisdom possessed by ancient peoples: "[M]ankind had a primal revelation, a primal wisdom in ancient times ... [I]f you think of this wisdom as spread out, you call that the Logos [2], the Primal Word, then you have an approximate idea of what is meant by the word ‘Word’ [3], the Logos." — R. Steiner, THINGS IN PAST AND PRESENT IN THE SPIRIT OF MAN, lecture 5, GA 167. A closely related usage refers to the shared truth underlying all forms of religion and/or spiritual science (the divinity within truth). [4] And the term is also used in reference to the innate divine wisdom within each human soul (the god within). [5]
•••
[1] See "God" and the entry "Godhead, The" in this encyclopedia.
[2] See "Logos" and the entry "Logos" in this encyclopedia.
[3] See "Word, The" in this encyclopedia.
[4] See "All".
[5] Steiner taught that human beings are microcosmic replicas of the entire cosmos, the macrocosm. [See "The Center".] Hence, we can find all truth, ultimately, by looking within.
.
.
.
.
Primeval Beginnings - also see Archai; Primeval Forces; Spirits of Personality
According to Steiner, these are gods three levels above humanity. [1] "Then we rise to those beings whom we designate the Spirits of Personality, Primeval Beginnings, Primeval Forces, or Archai ... [T]hey live in such a way that, on the waves of time, from epoch to epoch [2], they transform themselves at certain definite periods, they assume other spiritual bodies [3] ... You have here to do with that which represents the meaning and the mission of an epoch of humanity [4] ... This ‘Spirit of the Age’ comprises something which reaches beyond single nations, beyond single races [5] ... That which one really calls a ‘Zeit geist’ [sic] or Spirit of an epoch [6] is the spiritual body of the Archai or the Primeval Beginnings or Spirits of Personality.” — R. Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL HIERARCHIES AND THE PHYSICAL WORLD (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1928), lecture 6, GA 110.
•••
Steiner taught that there are nine ranks of gods subdivided into three groupings or "hierarchies." Primeval Beginnings are gods of the seventh rank, the highest rank in the third or lowest hierarchy. Mankind stands one level below the ninth rank of gods; hence, we stand three levels below the seventh rank.
•••
[1] For an outline of the ranks of the gods, see "Polytheism".
[2] See "epochs (great epochs)" in this encyclopedia.
[3] I.e., these gods evolve as the epochs they oversee evolve: These gods change their spiritual forms or bodies in order to have the proper shape (structure, constitution) for the evolving human epochs.
[4] I.e., these gods give human epochs their meaning and purpose.
[5] Steiner taught that gods two levels above humanity — Spirits of Fire, Archangels — oversee nations, peoples, and races. [See "Embedded Racism".] Gods three levels above humanity have a broader mission, encompassing virtually all of humanity during a given historical period.
[6] See "Zeitgeists" and "Spirits of an Age" in this encyclopedia.
.
.
.
.
primeval clairvoyance - see atavistic clairvoyance; natural clairvoyance
.
.
.
.
Primeval Forces - also see Primeval Beginnings; Principalities; Spirits of Personality; Zeitgeists
According to Steiner, these are gods three levels higher than humanity. "Men are not the only beings we know of, we also know of beings [1] that are superior to present-day earth man. We know of the sons of life or the angels [2], and we know that they went through their human stage on ancient Moon. [3] We know of the spirits of fire or the archangels, that went through their human stage on the old Sun condition of the earth [4], and we also know of the primeval forces, who went through their human stage on ancient Saturn. [5] These beings are in advance of man in their cosmic evolution. [6] If we were to study them today we would find that they are beings of a much more spiritual nature than man. Therefore they live in higher-worlds. [7]" — R. Steiner, THE BEING OF MAN AND HIS FUTURE EVOLUTION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1981), lecture 5, GA 107.
•••
Steiner taught that there are nine ranks of gods subdivided into three groupings or "hierarchies." Primeval Forces are gods of the seventh rank, the highest rank in the third or lowest hierarchy. Mankind stands one level below the ninth rank of gods; hence, we stand three levels below the seventh rank.
•••
[1] I.e., gods.
[2] I.e., gods one level higher than humanity.
[3] I.e., they attained their divine egos, their "I's", during Old Moon. [See "Ego" and "Old Moon, Etc."] According to Steiner, becoming human means rising to the evolutionary level at which beings attain their "I's". [See "human stage of evolution" in this encyclopedia.] We "present-day earth men" have attained our "I's" recently, during the Present Earth period. [See "Present Earth".] Gods one level above us attained their "I's" one major evolutionary stage ago, during Old Moon.
[4] I.e., gods two levels above us became human during Old Sun. [See "Old Sun".] Like other incarnations of the solar system, Old Sun may be considered an evolutionary stage of the Earth itself, hence Steiner speaks of the "old Sun condition of the earth."
[5] I.e., gods three levels above us became human during Old Saturn. [See "Old Saturn".]
[6] I.e., they have evolved much as we are evolving; we will follow in their tracks, at least for some considerable time to come.
[7] See "Higher Worlds".
.
.
.
.
primeval teachers - also see leaders; Lunar Pitris; spiritual guides; Sons of Twilight
According to Steiner, these are superhuman spiritual guides who assisted us during Old Moon [1] and during our early lives at the Present Earth stage of evolution. [2] They later colonized the Moon. ◊ “Through spiritual perception [i.e., clairvoyance]...we become aware of beings of signal grandeur who leave an impression of the superhuman, rather than the human. They exist today and the Moon sphere [3] is their permanent abode, as the Earth is ours between birth and death ... We learn from these figures that they were once united to the Earth [4] as we human beings are today. Whilst human beings live in their physical bodies, these Moon beings formerly lived on Earth in subtle, ethereal bodies. [5] And we realize that we are in the presence of beings who, in primordial times, were associated with humanity and were the spiritual Teachers of mankind on Earth. [6] When their tasks on Earth were fulfilled, they withdrew to the Moon sphere and are no longer associated with the Earth today.” — R. Steiner, TRUE AND FALSE PATHS IN SPIRITUAL INVESTIGATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1969), lecture 7, GA 243. ◊ “[T]he moon today is like a fortress in the universe, in which there lives a population that fulfilled its human destiny over 15,000 years ago, after which it withdrew to the moon together with the spiritual guides of humanity” — R. Steiner, RUDOLF STEINER SPEAKS TO THE BRITISH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 93.
•••
[1] Old Moon was the major stage of evolution preceding the current stage. [See "Old Moon, Etc."]
[2] Present Earth is the current major stage of evolution. [See "Present Earth".] During Present Earth, we live on the planet Earth in some of its varying, evolving forms. [See, e.g., "Early Earth".]
[3] I.e., the Moon and the region of space it defines. [See the entry for "planetary spheres", above.]
[4] I.e., they lived in the Earth sphere or "on" the Earth as it then existed.
[5] "Ethereal" bodies consist of ether or ether-like, virtually impalpable substances, far finer than the material found on the current physical plane of existence. (Ethereal bodies are related to the etheric bodies that plants, animals, and humans have now. [See the entry for "etheric body" in this encyclopedia.])
[6] Steiner taught that humanity has been guided by the gods and also by "humans" who were more evolved than others, essentially rising to divine status. These are beings who "leave an impression of the superhuman, rather than the human."
.
.
.
.
Principalities - also see Archai; Dynamis; Spirits of Movement; Spirits of Personality
According to Steiner, these are gods three levels above man. [1] “[N]ow at this stage in the evolution of Saturn [2] certain Beings intervene [i.e., intervened], who...have the astral body for their lowest member [3], but have brought it on so far in its evolution that it works like a human I of the present time. [4] Through them the I looks down from the surrounding spaces on to Saturn [5] ... Hence something is sent forth from Saturn into the heavenly spaces [6], that resembles the impression made by human personality in our present cycle of life. [7] The Beings who bring this about may be called ‘Spirits of Personality’ (in Christian terminology they are the Archai, First Beginnings, or Principalities.) These Beings communicate to the particles of the Saturn body [8] a semblance of the character of personality. The Spirits of Personality have their real personality in the surrounding sphere. [9] They cause their own being to be rayed back to them from the Saturn bodies [10], and this very process bestows upon the Saturn bodies the fine substantiality which was described above as ‘warmth' [11] ... [T]he Spirits of Personality behold and recognize the image of their own inwardness, in that it streams out to them as warmth from Saturn. [12]” — R. Steiner, OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1963), chapter 4, part 3, GA 13.
Steiner also referred to certain gods five levels above us as Principalities: “The third kind of spirits with the self-conscious (supra-psychic) object consciousness [13] is called ‘Spirits of Motion’ or of ‘Activity.’ In Christian mystery science they are called ‘Principalities’ (Dynamis). (In theosophical literature, the expression Mahat is to be found for them.) From the middle of the second Saturn cycle onward [14] they combine with the progress of their own development, the further elaboration of the human material body [15], in which they implant the capacity of movement and of forceful activity. This task comes to a conclusion around the middle of the third Saturn cycle. [16]” — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), chapter 14, GA 11.
•••
These are the ranks of divine beings, from highest to lowest, according to some esoteric teachings. The nine ranks of angelic beings were denominated as shown to the left by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 6th century CE. [17] According to Steiner, the beings shown are gods, and he assigned them the names shown to the right. Note that other names are also sometimes used for beings of the various ranks. In Steiner's teachings, human beings constitute (or will constitute) the tenth rank. [18] Thus, Sons of Twilight (rank 9) stand one level higher than humanity, Spirits of Fire (rank 8) stand two levels higher than humanity, etc. Ultimately, Steiner said, humans will ascend through the ranks, destined for the pinnacle of divinity. [Table adapted from E. R. Smith's THE BURNING BUSH (Anthroposophic Press, 1997). Also see R. McDermott, THE NEW ESSENTIAL STEINER (Lindisfarne Books, 2009).]
•••
[1] For a summary of the ranks of gods as described by Steiner, see "Polytheism".
[2] I.e., Old Saturn, the first incarnation of the solar system.
[3] I.e., they had astral bodies but not physical or etheric bodies. [See the entries for these terms in this encyclopedia.]
[4] Steiner taught that human beings have four bodies: physical, etheric, astral, and ego bodies. The ego body, usually called (or containing) the "I", is the spiritual ego that confers divine individuality. [See "Ego".] Here Steiner says that during Old Saturn, Principalities had astral bodies that functioned much like the spiritual egos that humans possess today.
[5] I.e., onto the solar system as it existed during Old Saturn. [See the entry in this encyclopedia for "incarnations of the solar system".]
[6] I.e., the spiritual influence of these gods was reflected out into the cosmos from "Saturn." (Some of this description is imagistic, discussing the period of Old Saturn as if it were a planet, Saturn.)
[7] I.e., the influence of these gods is analogous to the effect of human personality during the current stage of cosmic evolution, Present Earth. [See "Present Earth".]
[8] During Old Saturn, Steiner taught, virtually everything in the solar system existed within a unified, undifferentiated mass. "The particles of the Saturn body" were components of Saturn that would later split off and assume independent existence, becoming, for example, human beings.
[9] To the extent that "Saturn" may be conceived as a globe (and this is only approximate — Old Saturn was a period, not a planet such as we know today), then the Principalities existed chiefly within the surrounding "sphere" or spiritual atmosphere (this is where their "real personality" was to be found).
[10] I.e., from the surrounding sphere, these gods beamed their essence ("their own being") down to the particles or "bodies" of Old Saturn, and this essence was then reflected back up to them.
[11] The process of divine influence beaming down to Saturn and then back up caused a spiritual "warmth" to develop among the particles or bodies of Saturn. (Steiner taught that all of Old Saturn was, in a sense, spiritual warmth, analogous to the warmth of human blood today.) This "warmth" was the "substance" of Saturn ("the fine substantiality which was...'warmth'").
[12] Good gods, Steiner taught, act selflessly. Yet their selfless assistance to us redounds to their benefit, enabling them to evolve higher. This process is indicated by the image Steiner offers here: The gods beam their beneficence down to Saturn, and then they receive the reflection of this beneficence rising back up to them, whereby they recognize themselves more fully (and thus become capable of further development).
[13] I.e., a level of consciousness we will acquire after Future Vulcan. [See the entries in this encyclopedia for "Future Vulcan" and "Vulcan consciousness".]
[14] I.e., during and after the second phase of Old Saturn.
[15] i.e., in addition to promoting their own evolution, they help develop what will become the physical body for human beings.
[16] I.e., during the third phase of Old Saturn
[17] "Pseudo-Dionysius The Areopagite, (flourished c. 500), probably a Syrian monk who, known only by his pseudonym [Dionysius the Areopagite], wrote a series of Greek treatises and letters for the purpose of uniting Neoplatonic philosophy with Christian theology and mystical experience ... Historical research has been unable to identify the author, who, having assumed the name of the New Testament convert of St. Paul (Acts 17:34), could have been one of several Christian writers ... The treatises 'On the Divine Names,' 'On Mystical Theology,' 'On the Celestial Hierarchy,' and 'On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy' comprise the bulk of the Dionysian corpus of writings." — ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA ONLINE, July 21, 2015.
[18] See "Tenth Hierarchy".
.
.
.
.
probation, spiritual - also see enlightenment; initiation
This, Steiner said, is the testing period for anyone who aspires to occult initiation. During probation, the candidate should focus on certain physical phenomena, not trying to understand them as such, but developing the feelings they inspire. "To begin with, the attention of the soul is directed to certain events in the world that surrounds us. Such events are, on the one hand, life that is budding, growing and flourishing, and, on the other hand, all the phenomena connected with fading, decaying and withering ... Whenever [the aspirant] observes a definite kind of blooming and flourishing, he must banish everything else from his soul ... [A] feeling which heretofore, in a similar case, would merely have flitted through his soul, now swells out ... He must now allow this feeling to reverberate within himself.... [1]" — R. Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1944), p. 27.
According to Steiner, probation is a process of spiritual preparation (and is sometimes referred to as "preparation" rather than "probation"). One seeks to quiet and discipline the mind, gaining direct experience of fundamental realities. One may then proceed to a second stage, usually called enlightenment, in which the inner, spiritual "light" behind phenomena becomes perceptible. [2] Successful attainment of enlightenment may lead to the final stage: true initiation — gaining occult or hidden spiritual wisdom. [3] For a summary of Steiner's instructions on the attainment of occult initiation, see "Knowing the Worlds".
•••
[1] Feelings are more important than thoughts, Steiner taught; they provide a surer pathway to spiritual truth. [See, e.g., "Spiritual Agenda".] Here he advocates allowing a special feeling (in this case, for blooming life) to fill the soul, banishing every other thought and emotion: The feeling "swells out" so that it will "reverberate within himself."
[2] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "enlightenment".
[3] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "initiation".
.
.
.
.
progressive education - also see alternative education; humanism; cf. Waldorf education: goals
"Progressive education [began as a] movement that took form in Europe and the United States during the late 19th century as a reaction to the alleged narrowness and formalism of traditional education. One of its main objectives was to educate the 'whole child' — that is, to attend to physical and emotional, as well as intellectual, growth." — "progressive education". Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Feb. 2023, accessed 28 July 2024.
Waldorf schools sometimes describe themselves as "progressive," but this description is generally inappropriate. In fact, Waldorf thinking often harkens back to ancient times and bygone beliefs. This frequently causes Waldorf schools to reject progressive, alternative, or reform educational approaches. [1] ◊ “In several significant ways, Waldorf developed in conscious contrast to alternative pedagogy and educational reform movements, even while borrowing extensively from those sources. Central aspects of Waldorf pedagogy stand in direct opposition to standard principles of progressive education. Several of Waldorf's more conspicuous weaknesses stem directly from Steiner's rejection of progressive educational ideals and from the early Waldorf movement's hostility toward alternative educational models.” — P. Staudenmaier, "Are Waldorf Schools Progressive?", Waldorf Critics. [2] ◊ “Aside from its [spiritual] content, about which people may agree or disagree depending on their personal beliefs, I already perceived that the general setup for teaching [in Waldorf schools] was far from being progressive, which, in my opinion, has everything to do with opening up the learning situation and with self-determination of the students.” — C. Pangh, "The Phlegmatic Sits by the Window" (People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools). [3]
Waldorf education often follows traditional forms, for instance by having children sit silently at their desks, arranged in rows and columns, while the teachers address them from the front of the room. [4] Much of the work performed by the students consists of taking down the teachers' words and then producing reports or class books that replicate artwork put on the chalkboard by the teachers. [5] The Waldorf approach most nearly fulfills the progressive model in its emphasis on educating the "whole child." [6] But the Waldorf conception of wholeness is mystical, emphasizing spiritual or incorporeal organs or bodies such as the "etheric body" and "astral body". [7] Largely because of this emphasis, brainwork — especially development and use of the intellect — is often minimize or postponed. [8]
•••
[1] See, e.g., "The Ancients".
[2] See “Waldorf Now”.
[3] See “Ex-Teacher 3”.
[4] See, e.g., "Methods".
[5] See "Lesson Books".
[6] See "Holistic Education".
[7] See "Incarnation".
[8] See, e.g., "Thinking Cap".
.
.
.
.
Prokofieff, Sergei O. (1954-2014)
A Russian-born Anthroposophist, co-founder of the Anthroposophical Society in Russia, and a member of he Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society. His published works include RUDOLF STEINER AND THE FOUNDING OF THE NEW MYSTERIES and THE FOUNDATION STONE MEDITATION - A Key to the Christian Mysteries. (Sergei O. Prokofiev should not be confused with his grandfather, the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953).)
.
.
.
.
proto-humans - also see human stage of evolution; conditions of consciousness; subhumans
This term may be applied to ourselves as we were, according to Anthroposophical belief, before we became human beings. [1] According to Steiner, "human" is a stage of spiritual development. [2] We are human now during Present Earth [3], Angels were human during Old Moon [4], Archangels were human during Old Sun [5], and so forth. We ourselves first came into existence during Old Saturn [6], and we subsequently evolved through Old Sun and Old Moon, but we did not become human (i.e., we did not acquire our "I's") until Present Earth. [7] And indeed we have not yet become fully human — we have not yet developed our human capacities to their fullest. [8]
•••
[1] Steiner himself did not employ the term "proto-human". The term should be taken as neologism offered in an attempt to clarify Steiner's complex and often-confusing statements. For instance, when Steiner spoke of "human beings on Saturn" he meant predecessors of humans (proto-humans) living during the first incarnation of the solar system, called Old Saturn. Consider such statements as the following: "The whole human being [during Old Saturn] was a formation consisting only of warmth. Otherwise, nothing whatever of man was in existence. Try to think away from man as he is today everything physically perceptible, even the in-haled air, and imagine that he consists only and entirely of the warmth of the blood circulating in him, thus forming a picture of the blood system as it is today. Such was the constitution of all human beings on Saturn." — R. Steiner, ROSICRUCIAN ESOTERICISM, lecture 6, GA 109.
[2] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "human stage of evolution".
[3] This is the fourth incarnation of the solar system, our fourth major evolutionary stage. [See "Present Earth".]
[4] According to Steiner, Angels are gods one level higher than humans. [See "Polytheism".] Old Moon was the third incarnation of the solar system.
[5] Archangels are gods two levels higher than humans, Steiner taught. Old Sun was the second incarnation of the solar system.
[6] This was the first incarnation of the solar system.
[7] The "I" is the spiritual ego, possession of which makes us human. [See the entry for "I" in this encyclopedia.]
[8] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "Human Kingdom Condition of Life".
.
.
.
.
Prototype - also see Christ; Sun God
According to Steiner, Christ's great contribution to our evolution was showing us how to be truly human. Christ, the Sun God [1], descended to and merged with the Earth. He gave us the impulse to develop our "I's" [3] and thus enabled us to evolve properly, in imitation of Him. Inhabiting a human body, he became our proper model or Prototype. “Fire and air in the macrocosm are, in man the microcosm, blood and nerves. [4] As you have lightning and thunder in the macrocosm, so you have thoughts arising within the human being. And the God seen and heard by Moses in the burning thorn-bush, Who spoke to him in the fiery lightning on Sinai, was present as the Christ in the blood of Jesus of Nazareth. [5] Christ, descending into a human form, was manifest in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. In that He thought as a man in a human body. He became the great Prototype of the future evolution of humanity.” — R. Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING, Vol. 2 (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1956), lecture, 7, GA 109. [See "Prototype".]
•••
[1] See "Sun God".
[2] See the entry in this encyclopedia for "Christ impulse".
[3] This is the spiritual ego, which confers divine individuality, according to Steiner. [See the entry in this encyclopedia for "I".]
[4] Steiner taught that the human being is a microcosmic replica of the cosmos, the macrocosm. Events occurring outwardly in the macrocosm are reflected by inner events within the microcosm.
[5] In Anthroposophical teachings, the god of Moses, or the god of the Jews — Jehovah — is not truly the One and Only God otherwise proclaimed in monotheistic belief; Jehovah is simply one of many gods who have contributed to human evolution. Jehovah was present "in the blood of Jesus," Steiner taught, because Jesus descended from two Hebrew lines. (Steiner taught that there were two Jesuses, who merged, becoming a single vessel to house the incarnated Sun God. [See "Was He Christian?"])
.
.
.
.
psychic consciousness - see imagination
.
.
.
.
psychic powers - in the Semi-Steiner Dictionary: see clairaudience; clairsentience; clairvoyance; ESP; telekinesis; etc.
.
.
.
.
psychism - also see philosophy; world conceptions
This is one of the twelve justified or defended world conceptions, according to Steiner (they are philosophical perspectives that he associated with the twelve astrological constellations). [1] "Idealism [2] can be enhanced. In our age there are some men who are trying to do this. They find ideas at work in the world, and this implies that there must also be in the world some sort of beings in whom the ideas can live. Ideas cannot live just as they are in any external object, nor can they hang as it were in the air ... Anyone who understands that ideas, if they are there are all, are bound up with some being capable of having ideas, will no longer be a mere Idealist ... He becomes a Psychist [3] and his world-outlook is Psychism." — R. Steiner, HUMAN AND COSMIC THOUGHT (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1991), p. 34. Steiner associated psychism with Pisces. [4]
•••
[1] See "Philosophy"; also see "world conceptions" in this encyclopedia.
[2] See "idealism" in this encyclopedia.
[3] I.e., while the idealist accepts ideas as having an existence apart from thinkers, the psychist insists that ideas exist only as products of thinkers. (The thinkers can be human or godly.)
[4] See "Pisces" in this encyclopedia.
.
.
.
.
pure thinking - also see clairvoyance; Goethean science; living thoughts; cf. thinking
In Anthroposophical doctrine, this is thinking that is directed by the "I". [1] The practice of Anthroposophy entails great efforts to discipline thinking so that one perceives what one aspires to perceive. [2] "[Pure thinking occurs when] the higher 'I' [3] is aware of the thinking process and, in addition to this, all subconscious influences from the physical body, the ether body and the astral body [4] are kept at bay." — H. van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 97. The key question, in this regard, is whether "pure thinking" as conceived in Anthroposophy is anything more than self-deception. You discipline yourself tightly, seeking to employ a part of your being (the higher "I": a part of yourself that may not exist) to see things that may be wholly fictitious (the phantasmagoria of Rudolf Steiner's teachings). [5] Steiner described pure thinking in these words: "Anybody who really studies The Philosophy of Freedom [6], however, will discover that when we achieve pure thinking, thinking and willing coincide. Pure thinking is fundamentally an expression of will." R. Steiner, THE BOUNDARIES OF NATURAL SCIENCE, lecture 8, GA 322. The problem, mentioned above, is illustrated here. If pure thinking is the same as willing — or if pure thinking is an "expression of will" — then indeed one thinks only what one wishes (wants, wills) to think, in which case thoughts become only the outpourings of desire or wish or intention. Such thoughts tell us nothing about reality; they are inescapably subjective and unreliable.
•••
[1] The "I" is the spiritual ego, possession of which confers divine individuality.
[2] See "Knowing the Worlds".
[3] I.e., the part of the "I" that remains in the spirit realm while other parts of yourself incarnate omn Earth. [See the entry for "higher I" in this encyclopedia.]
[4] I.e., the three bodies below the "I." [See "Incarnation".]
[5] See, e.g., "Thinking" and "Why? Oh Why?"
[6] This is a philosophical/mystical treatise by R. Steiner. [See "Freedom".]
.
.
.
.
purgatory - also see Kamaloka
This is an hypothesized region of expiation or spiritual intermediation. In Roman Catholic teachings, purgatory is a state of suffering in which souls pay for their sins before rising to heaven. In Theosophy and, by extension, Anthroposophy, the concept of purgatory is found in a condition called Kamaloka, a realm where one lingers until, having been cleansed, one proceeds into the true spiritual realm. [1] "If we can clearly envisage what will remain when we are parted from all our physical organs [2], from everything that normally fills our daytime consciousness and enlivens the soul, from everything for which we have to be grateful to the [physical] body all day long, we shall begin to form some conception of what the condition of life is after death, when the two corpses [3] have been laid aside. This condition is called Kamaloka [4], the place of desires ... [M]an has to wean himself gradually from these physical wishes and desires, so that the soul may free itself from the Earth, may purify and cleanse itself. When that is achieved, the Kamaloka period comes to an end...." — R. Steiner, AT THE GATES OF SPIRITUAL SCIENCE (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1986), lecture 3, GA 95.
•••
[1] See "Kamaloka". The term derives from Buddhism. In Buddhist teachings, kama-loka is the lowest of three spheres of existence. [See http://www.britannica.com/topic/arupa-loka.]
[2] I.e., when we die and no longer have physical bodies.
[3] Steiner taught that fully incarnated human beings have four bodies, the lower two of which are the physical and etheric bodies. [See "Incarnation".] At death, we separate not only from the physical body but also from the etheric body. Thus, we leave "two corpses" behind.
[4] "Kama-loka (Sanskrit) Kāma-loka [from kāma desire + loka world, sphere] Desire world; a semi-material plane, subjective and invisible to us, the astral region penetrating and surrounding the earth. It is the original of the Christian purgatory, where the soul undergoes purification from its evil deeds and the material side of its nature. It is equivalent to the Hades of the Greeks and the Amenti of the Egyptians, the land of Silent Shadows." — ENCYCLOPEDIC THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY (Theosophical University Press, 1999).
.
.
Purification - also see Regions of Soul; Sixth Epoch (Seals)
In Anthroposophy: This will be the fifth of seven Regions of Soul, a period of soul evolution attainable only after karma and the physical body have been set aside, a period of preparation for receipt of the soul forces released by the opening of the Apocalyptic seals. Leo will preside. "The fifth region of the soul world [1] is that of Soul Light [2], the realm of Mercury, where souls develop sympathy for their soul-surroundings [3], and let themselves be shone upon by other beings ... This fifth age [4] is prepared and guided by the forces of Leo, the Lion [5], through which active inner organs such as the (etheric) heart and lung [6]...are filled out ... The Apocalypse [7] no longer speaks of a horse, for mere intellectual thought [8] no longer exists. Instead, 'I saw beneath the altar the souls of those slain for God's Word and for the witness they bore' (Rev. 6: 9)." [9] — R. Seddon, THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY AND THE EARTH AS FORESEEN BY RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publications, 2002), pp. 78-79.
•••
◊ 7. Silence ◊
◊ 6. Sealing or Ordeal ◊
◊ 5. Purification ◊
◊ 4. End of Karma & Physical Body ◊
◊ 3. Sacrificial Will ◊
◊ 2. Moral Feeling ◊
◊ 1. Sense-Free Thinking ◊
These are the seven "regions of soul" we will pass through during the Sixth Epoch (Seals).
The seven regions are comparable to the seven cultural epochs we must pass through during the current fifth great epoch, the Post-Atlantean Epoch. However, the regions are sequential states of existence rather than sequential periods of time. "Purification" is the fifth Region of Soul. (I am adapting, here, terminology used by R. Seddon in his effort to explicate R. Steiner's teachings about future evolution.)
•••
[1] During the Regions of Soul (phases comparable to cultural epochs), we pass through successive portions of the soul world or earthly manifestations of them. [See "soul world" in this encyclopedia].
[2] In Anthroposophical belief, physical light in the physical world is but a pale simulation of the forms of light found in the higher worlds, such as "soul light" in the soul world.
[3] I.e., the surrounding environment and denizens of the soul world.
[4] I.e., the fifth of the Regions of Soul.
[5] I.e., the zodiacal constellation Leo.
[6] These are some of the many higher organs we develop during our sojourns in the higher worlds.
[7] I.e., the Book of Revelation. Seddon, like Steiner, strives to make biblical passages seem to confirm Anthroposophical teachings.
[8] Anthroposophy is deeply anti-intellectual. Here we are told that we will evolve to higher states in which "mere intellectual thought no longer exists."
[9] "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained." — Rev. 6: 7-9.
- Q -
Qabalism - see Cabalism
.
.
.
.
quintessence - also see ether
This is ether, by another name. ◊ "[I]n mediaeval times there was still some knowledge of a super-sensible [1], scarcely material substance lying behind all material substance, for a so-called quintessence, a fifth mode of being [2], was spoken of together with the four elements: earth, water, air, fire — and quintessence." — R. Steiner, THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1966), lecture 4, GA 227. ◊ "Ether - in general, shapeless and invisible life force [3], also called the fifth essence or 'quintessence'...." — H. van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 37.
•••
[1] I.e., supernatural or supernal, beyond the reach of our ordinary senses.
[2] I.e., a fifth element, enabling incarnated existence.
[3] See the entry for "life force" in this encyclopedia.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse