The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Names of the Days of the Week and Human Evolution

[ 1 ] The evolution of our planetary system is reflected in the order of the days of the week. One must simply be very clear that, from an esoteric perspective, Earth is to be replaced by the two planets Mars and Mercury. For the first half of Earth’s evolution—from the beginning to the middle of the Atlantean epoch (the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and half of the 4th race)—is esoterically related to Mars, while the second half (half of the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th races) is related to Mercury. When the beings who had developed on the Moon emerged from the darkness of Pralaya (the Earth’s first cycle), the following had been developed in the human being as a potential: 1. The physical body (derived from Saturn). 2. The etheric double (derived from the Sun). 3. The feeling body (derived from the Moon). Based on everything predisposed by the Moon, the soul of feeling—which itself fuses with the body of feeling—could now develop during the first half of Earth’s evolution (1st, 2nd, and 3rd cycles) without any external influence. Human beings were thus, by virtue of the tendency inherent in the straight line of evolution, predisposed to solidify into beings structured according to the following scheme:

[ 2 ] If humanity were to continue evolving, it would need a new impetus. During the first half of Earth’s evolution, forces had to be planted on Earth that had not yet existed on the three preceding celestial bodies. The guiding beings of Earth’s evolution drew such forces from Mars during the first half of this development; they draw them from Mercury during the second half. Through the forces of Mars, the feeling soul (astral body) is revitalized. It becomes what is called the intellectual soul in my book *Theosophy*. Through the forces drawn from Mercury, this intellectual soul is further revitalized so that it does not remain stagnant at its own stage of evolution, but develops into the conscious soul. And within the conscious soul, the “spiritual self” (Manas) is born. This will be the governing principle of human beings on Jupiter. The same will be true of the Life Spirit (Budhi) on Venus and of Atma on Vulcan. If we thus draw a parallel between the members of the human being and the planets and their forces—insofar as the latter play a part in the development of these members—we arrive at the following schema.

[ 3 ] Human beings have not been to Mars; but their intellectual soul has such an esoteric relationship to this planet that its powers are drawn down from it. Spatially, one can imagine this as follows: before the Earth itself became ethereal (i.e., physical) in its fourth cycle, it passed through Mars—which was ethereal at that time. Schematically, one can visualize this as follows:

[ 4 ] This process even extended into the physical Earth era; and as it unfolded, the guiding beings extracted from Mars the kama-matter necessary for the intellectual soul, and since this matter has its physical vehicle in warm blood (in the Ares blood of the warrior), iron—which is a component of blood—was then incorporated into the Earth.

[ 5 ] Nor will humankind ever truly inhabit Mercury; however, since the middle of the Atlantean World, it has been in connection with the Kama-Manas matter of Mercury, and from this the guiding beings have endowed the human soul of consciousness with powers. As a physical vehicle, mercury (Mercury) came to Earth through this influence of Mercury. After the Earth has developed to a plastic state, it will pass through Mercury in space. The Earth itself will then be astral, while Mercury will be etheric. — Schematically, it looks like this:

[ 6 ] The initiates have now mapped out this entire evolutionary path of the Earth in the order of the days of the week:

1. Saturday = Saturn Day: Saturday
2. Sunday
3. Monday
4. Mars Day = mardi = Dius Day (Dius is the German Ares, Mars, or god of war)
5. Mercury Day = mercredi = Wotan Day (Wotan is the German Mercury; see Tacitus’ *Germania*)
6. Jupiter Day = jeudi = Donar Day (Donar is the German Jupiter) Venus Day = vendredi = Freja Day (Freja is the German Venus)
7. Vulcan Day is not formed because it is a repetition, just as the octave is a repetition of the prime.

[ 7 ] Now, in the secret schools, another system regarding the days of the week is taught, one that does not contradict the first but is entirely compatible with it. It is based on the idea that a day is divided into four parts, with a planet assigned to each part. The entire system is then based on the sequence of the planets in order of their distance from Earth; namely

[ 8 ] We therefore have:

[ 9 ] * In the section titled “Day I,” Rudolf Steiner must have made a mistake: Venus and Mercury need to be swapped. See also the preceding sketch (facsimile of the manuscript).

[ 9 ] So, assign the planets to the quarters of the day in the order Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, then start over: Moon, Mercury, etc. Once you have gone through the cycle so many times that the Moon is back in first place, the 7 days are complete.

[ 10 ] This division is based on the ratio of 4 (tetragram) to 7. The idea is that, during the first part of the day, one of the basic parts is assigned to the planet to which it belongs according to its powers:

[ 11 ] Through such a law, one can see how human beings are structured in relation to the macrocosm and, as a result, have the most diverse relationships with the constellations of the bodies of the macrocosm.