E.S.P. — R.R. impression.

ooo

A clairvoyant sees the full picture; everyone else sees only skeletal abstractions — or so Steiner said.

"It may easily happen that clairvoyant people...produce thoughts cleverer than the thoughts of recognized scientists ... [C]lairvoyant persons do not need to exercise any organs of thought in order to arrive at the clever thoughts ... They create the corresponding images out of the spiritual world ... There they are, ready-made ... Suppose a clairvoyant person brings something out of the spiritual world in all manner of pictures [left] ... The person in question does not need to think this out, he sees it ... Consider another person who is not gifted in clairvoyance, but who can think ... He exerts his organs of thinking and through them produces this thought skeleton [right]."— Rudolf Steiner, MATERIALISM AND THE TASK OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1987), pp. 5-6.

[Colored sketch, R.R., 2009, based on b&w sketch in the book.]

ooo

Steiner usually taught that we will progress through seven stages of evolution: Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon, Present Earth, Future Jupiter, Future Venus, and Future Vulcan.

However, he sometimes added an eighth stage. Thus, the overall pattern is this: Old Saturn is at the upper left, Future Vulcan is at the upper right. Present Earth is in the middle — at the bottom of the V — with the Eighth Sphere suspended below it.

We evolve from left to right, descending toward the intense physical condition of life during Present Earth, and then reascending toward more fully spiritualized conditions. Errant humans descend too far, falling from Present Earth to the Eighth Sphere, which is in effect a place of perdition. Humans who evolve properly avoid the Eighth Sphere; they will proceed from Present Earth to Future Jupiter and then to the higher spheres beyond.

[R.R. sketch 2015, based on image in Rudolf Steiner's THE OCCULT MOVEMENT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1973), lecture 5, GA 254.]

◊

(On some occasions, Steiner said there will be five more stages

after Vulcan, but they cannot be described.

Thus, the overall pattern should look like this:

But since the final five stages are so distant and incomprehensible, we can forget them for now.)

◊

Old Saturn, Old Sun, and Old Moon lie in the past — we have already passed through those evolutionary stages. We exist now in the Present Earth stage of evolution. Future Jupiter, Future Venus, and Future Vulcan lie in the future.

Despite being named for planets, the stages are spiritual environments, they are not the planets we see today in the solar system.

ooo

One of Steiner's designs for occult/astrological columns. This is the column for Jupiter. [R.R. sketch, 2010, based on an image in MYSTIC SEALS AND COLUMNS (Health Research, 1969).]

ooo

Rough R.R. sketches of rough R.S. sketches for windows at the Goetheanum. [R.R., 2009; see e.g., rudolfsteinerweb.]

ooo

“Just think how dead the cosmos is when we look out there and see only burning bodies of gas that shine! Just think how alive it all becomes when we know: Those stars are expressions of love, with which the astral cosmos works on the etheric cosmos!” Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 150. [My sketch of Steiner's sketch, 2009.]

Steiner’s words were sometimes pretty, but did they convey anything real or true? Did his use of the word “love” carry real significance?

Actually, a statement such as the one above reveals the desires and fears motivating Steiner and his followers. Anthroposophists want a universe of love; they want it very much. But wanting something, even wanting it desperately, doesn't produce it. The stars are indeed balls of gas; they burn with atomic fire, not — so far as we can know — with love. This does not mean that the universe is cold and empty — although we may fear that it is, and this fear can lead us to develop alternative cosmologies that seem preferable to us. But our deep longings can never be truly satisfied by fantasies. We all want love; we would all like to live in a universe of love. But we must learn to distinguish between our dreams and reality. Perhaps we can create a universe of love, but does the real universe function now on the basis of love? Are the stars really "expressions of love"? We have little or no solid evidence to support such contentions.

ooo

Evil is within us. We need it, Steiner said — it creates the condition for freedom, the choice between the right path and the wrong path. But it is, nonetheless, evil.

"Let us imagine the focus of destruction within the human being. It spreads over the whole of the human organism ... Here is the focus of destruction, and here is the human being's outer envelope. If that which lives within the human being were to spread out across the whole world, what would be living in the world because of the human being? Evil. Evil is nothing other than the outward projection of the chaos that is a necessary part of the inner human being." — Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 53.

[R.R. sketch, 2011, based on the one (also quite crude) in the book.]

ooo

To approximate Steiner, we might say that the "sphere" of a planet (such as the sphere of Saturn) encompasses the area defined by the orbit of the planet (bear in mind, however, that Steiner sometimes said such orbits are illusory). More properly, in Anthroposophical doctrine, a planet's "sphere" is the spiritual region presided over by the god who guides that planet.

[R.R. impression, 2010.]

ooo

"Try to picture the sun and moon both contained in the earth and oysters that had no shells, but were slime. When lumps of this substance separated off, new oysters developed, and so forth. They were so huge and lay right next to each other so that you could not have told them apart. What did the earth look like at that time? It looked like our brain, whose cells also lie next to each other. The only difference is that these cells die off, whereas in that very ancient time the huge oysters cells were one next to the other, and the sun constantly developed forces, because it was inside the earth. Yes, gentlemen, the earth was here [see drawing], and there was a giant oyster, another next to it, and many other huge lumps of slime, which continuously propagated ... If you had looked at the earth at that ancient time, it would have resembled a gigantic creature that contained within it the forces of the sun and of the moon." — Rudolf Steiner, FROM CRYSTALS TO CROCODILES (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2002), pp. 143-144.

[R. R. sketch, based extremely loosely on sketch on p. 143. I may not have the details quite right.]

(This is closer to the one in the book.)

ooo

Copy of a mystical Anthroposophical seal, reflecting Steiner's teachings about the Apocalypse.

“Everything in the way of magical forces that the moon still exerts on the earth at present will...be overcome. When man becomes united with the sun, he will have overcome the moon.

“The next picture shows us that the human being, when he had achieved the highest spirituality, takes on the form of Michael fettering the evil in the world, symbolized by the dragon.

“In a certain way we have seen that both at the beginning and at the end of human evolution there are the same conditions and transformations.”

— Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SIGNS AND SYMBOLS (Anthroposophic Press, 1972), p. 55.

[R.R. sketch, 2010, based on the image in Steiner's MYSTIC SEALS AND COLUMNS (Health Research, 1969).]

ooo

Another such seal The trumpets that will sound at the end of Earthly time may be ominous or they may be recognized as angelic instruments that have played in various times and regions. When we ascend into higher worlds, we may hear the celestial music always.

"[M]en went through not only physical transformations, but spiritual and astral transformations as well. To follow these requires that we rise to spiritual worlds. There the music of the spheres can be heard, tones that swell and flood through space in this world, the harmony of the spheres, called by the occultist 'the trumpet tones of the angels,' will sound forth for them. Hence, the trumpets in the third seal." — Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SIGNS AND SYMBOLS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972), p. 53.

Nonetheless, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse thunder below. [R.R. sketch, 2012, based on the one in the book.]

ooo

Venus column designed by R. Steiner.

[R.R. sketch, 2010, based on the one in MYSTIC SEALS AND COLUMNS (Health Research, 1969).]

ooo

Mystic seal for Steiner's fourth mystery play, THE SOUL'S AWAKENING.

See, e.g., ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER (Mercury Arts Publications, 1987), p. 73. [R. R. sketch, 2010.]

ooo

Diagram of the celestial sphere, showing the positions of the twelve astrological constellations. (Seven is perfection, but Steiner found occult meaning in other numbers, too — such as twelve. When he didn't divide things into seven parts, he tended to divide them into twelve.) Gemini is in the 12 o'clock position; the others signs, clockwise, are Cancer, Leo, Virgo (at 3 o'clock), Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius (at 6 o'clock), Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces (at 9 o'clock), Aries, and Taurus.

"This is what will be good: to discover how from two directions of the cosmos morning and evening forces can be placed in the service of humanity, those coming from the directions of Pisces [9 o'clock] and those coming from the direction of Virgo [3 o'clock] ... The spiritual secrets that on earth can cause the spirit to stream from the cosmos — with the help of the dual forces of positive and negative magnetism — these spiritual forces derive from the direction of Gemini[12 o'clock]. They are the forces of midday ... Here again we have the duality of forces that certain egoistic brotherhoods...will use to lead also the Eastern part of Europe astray, the part of Europe which has the task of preparing for the sixth post-Atlantean period. This dualism makes use of the forces coming from Sagittarius [6 o'clock]." — Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 189-191.

[Colored sketch by R.R., 2009, based on b&w sketch on p. 190.]

ooo

[R.R., 2010.]

“[T]he great majority of human souls had to relinquish their union with the earth. Here we come to something of great importance in the relationship between man and earth, something which happened during the time between the separation of the sun and that of the moon. During this interval human soul-spirits, except for a very small number, abandoned earthly conditions, and pressing upward into higher regions, continued their evolution upon the several planets belonging to our solar system, each according to the stage of his development. Some souls were fitted to pursue their evolution on Saturn, others on Mars, others again on Mercury, and so on. Only a very small number of the strongest soul-spirits remained in union with the earth. During this time the rest dwelt upon the earth's planetary neighbours. This came about at a time preceding (to use our own terminology) the Lemurian age.” — Rudolf Steiner, GENESIS: Secrets of the Bible Story of Creation (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1959), lecture 9, GA 122.

ooo

Here you see, in schematic form, the beginning of the Archangel Michael's reign. The horizontal line separates the astral plane (above) and the physical world (below). The arc from the left represents the reign of Gabriel, which ended in 1879. The arc to the right is Michael's reign, beginning in that year. Trouble, though: Mammon poked his snout in at about the same time.

"[I]n November of the year 1879 there occurred on the astral plane something very similar to a birth ... The rulership of Gabriel was replaced by another archangel, under whose leadership we now stand, the archangel Michael. He is the radiant sun that esoteric wisdom lets shine forth on a small band of people ... The radiant leadership of Michael will again be replaced by a dark, horrible age that will begin around the year 2400. Already today simultaneously with Michael a dark god has entered into his rulership: the god Mammon.

"For esotericism, Mammon is not only the god of money. He is much more the leader of all vile black powers. And his hordes attack not only human souls, but also the physical bodies of humans in order to gnaw away at them and ruin them. People speak of bacteria a lot more today not because they know more about them, but because bacteria have taken on a very special form today. And in the future they will get the upper hand in a terrifying way. When that black age approaches, then fraternal war will rage in a gruesome way, and poor human bodies will waste away, terribly afflicted by diseases and plagues. The stigma of sin will be impressed on human bodies visible to everyone." — Rudolf Steiner, ESOTERIC LESSONS 1904-1909 (Steiner Books, 2007), pp. 232-233.

[R.R. sketch, 2009, based on b&w image on p. 232.]

In case the forgoing quotation left any doubt, here's a clarification on one point:

"Mammon, the spirit of hindrances and darkness, has countless helpers who incarnate as bacteria." — Ibid., p. 208.

The small band to whom Michael radiates esoteric wisdom is, of course, the small group to whom Steiner delivered "esoteric lessons": initiated Anthroposophists.

ooo

R.R. sketch of R.S.'s design for the large red window at the Goetheanum.

ooo

The mounmental statue — sometimes called "The Group", sometimes called "The Representative of Humanity" — that stands in the Goetheanum. [R.R. impression.]

ooo

Most Anthroposophical art, including architecture, is meant to have spiritual significance and power. It is essentially religious.

Whether it "works" for you is a matter of taste and temperament. In any case, you may want to train your eye to spot typical Anthroposophical styles and motifs that crop up in Waldorf schools.

They are there for a reason.

This is an exterior arch at a typical Steiner-designed structure, such as the Eurythemeum on the Goetheanum campus.

[R.R. sketch, 2010.]

ooo

The mystic emblem of Venus, as promoted by Steiner.

See John Fletcher, ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER, (Mercury Arts Publications, 1987), p. 199. [R.R. sketch, 2010, based on the one in the book.]

“[W]e find certain beings who in their own way are also of a mild, peaceable nature and who in a certain respect are extraordinarily clever. These beings...have their actual home on the planet Venus, as the other beings [have homes] on the moon and Mars. On Venus too we find yet a second species of beings who — in contrast to the gentle, amiable kind — present a wild and furious vitality, and whose principal occupation consists in mutual fighting and plunder." — Rudolf Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1961), lecture 1, GA 102.

ooo

We can attempt to live in phantasmagoric dream universes such as the one Steiner concocted. Or we can elect to live in the real world. The latter option isn't so bad.

[R.R. photos.]