The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Life of Saturn

[ 1 ] The great evolution of humanity through the seven stages of consciousness, from Saturn to Vulcan, has been compared in one of the previous descriptions to the journey through life between birth and death—through infancy, childhood, and so on, up to old age. This comparison can be extended even further. Just as in present-day humanity the individual stages of life do not merely follow one another but also coexist side by side, so it is with the unfolding of the stages of consciousness. The elderly person, the mature man or woman, the young person, and so on—they all exist side by side. Likewise, on Saturn, it was not only the ancestors of humankind who existed as beings with the dull Saturn consciousness, but alongside them were other beings who had already developed the higher stages of consciousness. Thus, even when Saturn’s evolution began, there were already beings with solar consciousness, others with image consciousness (lunar consciousness), some with a consciousness resembling that of present-day humans, then a fourth type with self-conscious (psychic) image consciousness, a fifth with self-conscious (superpsychic) object consciousness, and a sixth with creative (spiritual) consciousness. And even this does not exhaust the range of beings. After the Vulcan stage, humanity will continue to develop and then ascend to even higher levels of consciousness. Just as the outer eye gazes into a misty-gray distance, the inner eye of the seer looks into the spiritual realm at five more forms of consciousness, which, however, are utterly impossible to describe. Thus, in total, we can speak of twelve levels of consciousness.

[ 2 ] The Saturn human thus had eleven other types of beings in his sphere. The four highest types had their tasks at stages of development that preceded the Saturn life. When this life began, they had already reached such a high stage of their own development that their further existence now took place in worlds beyond the human realms. Therefore, there is no need to speak of them here.

[ 3 ] The other types of beings, however—seven in addition to the Saturn human—are all involved in human evolution. In this process, they act as creative forces, rendering their services in a manner that will be described in the following discussion.

[ 4 ] The most exalted of these beings were those who, when Saturn’s evolution began, had already attained a level of consciousness that humans will not reach until after their Vulcan life—that is, a high creative (superspiritual) consciousness. These “creators,” too, once had to pass through the stages of human evolution. This took place on celestial bodies that preceded Saturn. Their connection to human evolution, however, persisted until the middle of the Saturn life. In esoteric science, they are called “radiant beings” or “radiant flames” because of their sublime, subtle ray body. And because the substance of which this body was composed bears some distant resemblance to the human will, they are also called the “Spirits of Will.” — These spirits are the creators of the Saturn human. From their bodies they pour forth the substance that can become the vehicle of human Saturn consciousness. The period of development during which this takes place is called the first minor Saturn cycle. (In the language of theosophical literature, the “first round.”) The material body that the human being receives in this way is the first rudiment of his later physical body. One can therefore say that the seed of the physical human body is sown during the first Saturn cycle by the spirits of will; and at that time, this seed possesses the dull Saturn consciousness.

[ 5 ] This first, shorter Saturn cycle is followed by six others. Within these cycles, the human being does not attain a higher level of consciousness. However, the physical body they have received continues to be developed. And the other types of beings, as indicated above, participate in this development in the most diverse ways.

[ 6 ] After the “Spirits of Will” come beings with creative (spiritual) consciousness, similar to that which humans will attain on the volcano. They are called “Spirits of Wisdom.” Christian esoteric science calls them “Dominions” (Kyriotetes), while it refers to the “Spirits of Will” as “Thrones.” ^{9Anyone who truly knows Christian doctrine is aware that the concepts of these spiritual beings, who are superior to human beings, are indeed part of it. It is just that they have been lost to an externalized religious doctrine for some time now. Anyone who truly delves into these matters and looks more deeply will recognize that, from the Christian perspective, there is not the slightest reason to oppose esoteric science; on the contrary, this esoteric science is in complete harmony with true Christianity. If theologians and religious educators were willing to engage with the study of esoteric science, they would, for the sake of their own Christianity, have to recognize in it the best helper and promoter in the present day. But, admittedly, many theologians also think in a thoroughly materialistic way; and it is telling that today, even in a popular work intended to promote Christian understanding, one can read the words: “Angels” are for “children and nannies.” Such a claim stems from a complete misunderstanding of the true Christian spirit. And only those who sacrifice true Christianity to a supposedly “advanced” science can make such a claim. But the time will come when a higher science will render the childishness of such claims a thing of the past.} They advance their own evolution a step further during the second Saturn cycle and, in doing so, work upon the human body in such a way that a “wisdom-filled structure,” a rational constitution, is implanted within it. More precisely, this process begins its work on the human being soon after the middle of the first cycle and is completed around the middle of the second.

[ 7 ] The third type of spirits, possessing self-conscious (superpsychic) object consciousness, is called “spirits of movement” or “activity.” In Christian esotericism, they are called “powers” (dynamis). (In Theosophical literature, the term “Mahat” is used for them.) As their own evolution progresses, beginning in the middle of the second Saturn cycle, they are involved in the further development of the human physical body, into which they implant the capacity for movement and for force-filled activity. This work comes to an end around the middle of the third Saturn cycle.

[ 8 ] After this point, the work of the fourth type of being begins—the so-called “Spirits of Form.” They possess a self-aware pictorial consciousness (psychic consciousness). Christian esoteric teaching refers to them as “powers” (Exusiai). Through their work, the human physical body—which was previously a kind of moving cloud—acquires a defined (three-dimensional) form. This activity of the “Spirits of Form” is completed around the middle of the fourth Saturn cycle.

[ 9 ] Next comes the activity of the “spirits of darkness,” who are also called “spirits of personality” or of “selfhood” (egoism). At this stage, they attain a consciousness similar to that of present-day human consciousness on Earth. They inhabit the formed human physical body as “souls” in a manner similar to how the human soul inhabits its body today. They implant in the body a kind of sensory organ that serves as the seed for the sensory organs that will later develop in the human body during Earth’s evolution. — One must simply realize that these “sensory seeds” still differ significantly from the sensory organs of humans today. Earth humans could not perceive anything through such “sensory germs.” For them, the images from the sensory organs must first pass through a finer etheric body that forms on the Sun and through an astral body that owes its existence to the development of the Moon. (All of this will become clear in the following explanations.) But the “spirits of the personality” can process the images from the “sensory germs” through their own souls in such a way that, with their help, they can perceive external objects just as human beings do during their earthly evolution. By working in this way on the human body, the “spirits of personality” pass through their own “human stage.” They are thus human beings from the middle of the fourth to the middle of the fifth Saturn cycle . — These spirits therefore implant selfhood and egoism into the human body. Since they themselves have only just reached their “stage of humanity” on Saturn, they remain connected to human evolution for a long time. They therefore still have important work to do with human beings in subsequent cycles. And this work always serves to instill a sense of self. The degenerations of this sense of self into selfishness are attributable to their effects, just as they are, on the other hand, the originators of all human independence. Without them, human beings would never have become self-contained beings, “personalities.” Christian esotericism uses the term “primordial forces” (Archai) for them, and in theosophical literature they are referred to as Asuras.

[ 10 ] Around the middle of the fifth Saturn cycle, the work of these spirits is superseded by that of the “Sons of Fire,” who at this stage still possess a dim, pictorial consciousness, similar to the lunar consciousness of human beings. They do not reach the stage of humanity until the next planet, the Sun. Their work here is therefore still, to a certain extent, unconscious and dreamlike. Through them, however, the activity of the “sensory germs” from the previous cycle is enlivened. The light images produced by the “Fire Spirits” shine outward through these sensory germs. The human ancestor is thereby elevated to a kind of luminous being. While Saturn life is otherwise dark, the human now shines forth from the general darkness. — The “spirits of personality,” on the other hand, were awakened to their human existence within this general darkness. — The human being itself, however, cannot make use of its luminosity on Saturn. The luminous power of its sensory seeds would be unable to express anything on its own, but through them other, more exalted beings find the opportunity to reveal themselves to Saturn life. Through the sources of light of the human ancestors, they radiate something of their being down onto the planet. These are exalted beings from the group of the four mentioned above, of whom it was said that in their development they had already outgrown all connection with human existence. Without any necessity on their part, they now radiate something of their nature through “free will.” Christian esotericism speaks here of the revelation of the Seraphim (Seraphim), the “spirits of universal love.” This state lasts until the middle of the sixth Saturn cycle.

[ 11 ] After that, the work of those beings begins who, at this stage, possess a dim consciousness, similar to that which humans currently experience during deep, dreamless sleep. They are the “Sons of Twilight,” the “Spirits of Twilight.” (In theosophical writings, they are called Lunar Pitris or Barhishad-Pitris.) They do not reach the stage of humanity until they are on the Moon. Both they and their predecessors, the Sons of Fire, have therefore already transcended the stage of humanity on Earth. On Earth, they are higher beings whom Christian esotericism calls “angels” (Angeloi), while it uses the term “archangels” (Archangeloi) for the Sons of Fire. These Sons of Twilight now develop a kind of intellect within the mature human ancestor, though he is not yet able to make use of it himself due to his dull consciousness. Through this intellect, sublime beings now reveal themselves once again, just as the Seraphim did previously through the sensory germs. Through human bodies, the spirits now allow the intellect to flow over the planet; the Christian esoteric teaching calls these beings “Cherubim” (Cherubim).

[ 12 ] Around the middle of the seventh Saturn cycle, a new activity begins. By this time, the human being has reached the stage where he can unconsciously work on his own physical body. Through this activity of their own, human beings create, in the utter dullness of Saturn existence, the first seed of the actual “spiritual human being” (see my Theosophy), which will only reach full development at the end of human evolution. In theosophical literature, this is called “Atma.” It is the highest member of the so-called monad of the human being. In and of itself, it would be entirely dull and unconscious at this stage. But just as the Seraphim and Cherubim reveal themselves through their free will in the two preceding stages of human development, so now do the Thrones—those beings who, at the very beginning of Saturn existence, radiated the human body from their own being. The seed of the “spiritual human” (Atma) is completely permeated by the power of these spirits of will and retains this power throughout all subsequent stages of development. The human being, in his dull consciousness, can of course still perceive nothing of this germ at this stage; but he continues to develop, and later this germ will also shine forth for his own consciousness.

[ 13 ] This work is not yet complete at the end of the Saturnic life; it continues into the first solar cycle. It should be noted that the work of the higher spirits, as described here, does not coincide with the beginning and end of a smaller cycle (a round), but rather extends from the middle of one cycle to the middle of the next. And it is precisely during the periods of rest between cycles that their greatest activity unfolds. It rises from the middle of a cycle (Manvantara), reaches its peak in the middle of a period of rest (Pralaya), and then subsides in the next cycle. (It has already been mentioned in the previous chapters that life by no means ceases during these periods of rest.)

[ 14 ] From the above, it is also evident in what sense Christian esoteric science speaks of the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones first revealing themselves at the “beginning of time.”

[ 15 ] Thus, the orbit of Saturn is traced until its life, through a period of rest, evolves into that of the Sun. More on this in the following discussion.

[ 16 ] For the sake of clarity, here is a summary of the facts regarding the formation of the first planet.

1. It is on this planet that the most dulled human consciousness unfolds (a deep trance-like state of consciousness). At the same time, the first rudiments of the physical human body begin to form.
2. This development passes through seven sub-stages (smaller cycles or “rounds”). At each of these stages, higher spirits begin their work on the formation of the human body, specifically in the
   1. cycle, the spirits of will (Thrones),
   2. cycle, the spirits of wisdom (Dominions),
   3. cycle, the spirits of motion (Powers),
   4. cycle: the Spirits of Form (Powers),
   5. cycle: the Spirits of Personality (Primordial Forces),
   6. cycle: the Spirits of the Sons of Fire (Archangels),
   7. cycle: the Spirits of the Sons of Twilight (Angels).
3. In the fourth cycle, the Spirits of Personality rise to the level of humanity.
4. From the fifth cycle onward, the Seraphim reveal themselves.
5. From the sixth cycle onward, the Cherubim reveal themselves.
6. Starting with the seventh cycle, the Thrones—the true “Creators of humankind”—reveal themselves.
7. Through this final revelation, the potential for the “Spirit-Man,” or Atma, arises in the seventh cycle of the first planet.