The Rudolf Steiner Archive

35. The Days of the Week — Sibylline Wisdom

[ 1 ] Deep wisdom is hidden even in everyday things. The names of the days of the week also have a deep meaning. They reflect the long evolution our Earth has undergone since it was in a molten state. It has passed through various stages of development, during which humanity has evolved to its present organization and form.

[ 2 ] We belong to the fifth root race of our Earth. The first tribes were the Atlanteans who had come over from Atlantis, the flooded continent where they once lived. The tradition of the great flood that destroyed Atlantis is preserved in the story of the Flood, as found in the legends of all religions. What distinguishes our race from the Atlanteans above all else is the gift of intellect. The Atlanteans did not yet possess reason. Only memory and language had developed among them. The third race, the Lemurians, also lacked language. The bodies of the Atlanteans were not yet fully formed. They lacked the forebrain, which was still in the process of development. They could not reason or draw conclusions, yet they possessed an exceptional mastery of the lower forces of nature, through which they were able to exert a powerful influence on humans and animals.

[ 3 ] The Lemurians, the third race, inhabited a continent located between present-day Asia, Africa, and Australia. Volcanic catastrophes destroyed this part of the world. The Lemurians had not yet developed memory. The last remnants of this race, in whom these characteristics can still be observed, are still found in Australia. Their language consisted only of sounds that did not serve as a means of communication but were rather magical incantations. The words possessed magical powers. The bodies of these people were still soft. They possessed the ability to extend their limbs through the power of their will, just as lower animals today can extend and retract their tentacles. — In the middle of the Lemurian era, they developed self-consciousness, which distinguishes humans from animals. Animals share the physical body, etheric body, and astral body with humans; it is only self-consciousness that makes a human being a human being. The significance of the “I” is unique in its depth. “I” is the inexpressible, the divine. No one can say “I” to another person. And yet it is both familiar and intimate. I can say “I” only to myself. It is the only word that cannot be applied to anyone else.

[ 4 ] Humans possessed the three lower principles—the Sthula sharira, the Linga sharira, and the astral body—from the Moon; the fourth principle, self-consciousness, was added on Earth. The leaders of humanity brought this higher principle—the new “I”—over from the world of Mars. Previously, the astral body was capable of functioning only through the suggestion of the initiates; human beings first had to see the image in their souls in order to feel. — Mars is a predecessor of Earth. There, the astral bodies were already more highly developed than on Earth. Now an influence took place that we can describe as the Mars stage.

[ 5 ] In the middle of the Atlantean race, in the fifth subrace, among the Proto-Semites, thinking emerged. However, they were not yet able to combine ideas; it was a matter of memory. Thinking arose through a Mercury impact, which gave human beings the ability to evolve further. The fifth root race later developed from this fifth subrace of the fourth root race. In esoteric teaching, “Earth” is understood to mean Mars and Mercury.

[ 6 ] Before the Lemurian race, bodies were air-like; even earlier, they were etheric on an astral world-body, which then condensed into an etheric-earthly form.

[ 7 ] The first earthly forms were repetitions of earlier states and cycles. On the Moon—which was large and not yet separated from the Sun—lived the Hyperborean race and the Polar race. It was not until the Lemurian epoch that the Moon split off. In the time of the Hyperboreans and the Polar people, the Sun and the Moon were still united. Osiris, the Sun, and Isis, the Moon, gave birth to Horus, the Earth, and also the human soul. And even earlier, the universe had already undergone other metamorphoses through an entire Pralaya. — Thus, before the Lemurian epoch, the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth still formed a single whole. It was there that the astral body was formed. The capacity for pleasure and suffering developed. Minerals and plants were still very similar to one another. Minerals grew in a manner similar to plants. Human beings lived on marshy ground. The Earth had not yet taken on its solid form. Plants sprang forth from the mineral kingdom. Minerals, too, were alive. Everything was alive; living things grew upon living things. - We see a remnant of this epoch in parasitic animals and plants. Mistletoe is one such parasitic plant that can only eke out an existence on other plants. It is a type of underdeveloped living being that has not transcended the lunar state. It plays a major role in Norse mythology: The evil Loki kills Baldur with a sprig of mistletoe. Only this parasite from the moon could wield a deadly power over Baldur, the sun god, because it predated the sun. There are also lower animals that have not completed the lunar cycle, and they therefore surround themselves with a shell to protect themselves from the outside world; otherwise, they would be no match for the influences of the earth.

[ 8 ] The Moon Epoch is preceded by the Sun Epoch. The solar body was the home of us all; we are children of the Sun. That is the source of our pranic life force. Before that, human beings had only a physical body. It was there that they received the etheric body.

[ 9 ] Before the Sun came Saturn. As a planet, it was physical. This physical matter was the origin of the mineral kingdom. It formed the human body. The rest of the human body still rested in God.

[ 10 ] We should not think of the transition from Saturn to the Sun, or from the Sun to the Moon, as a sudden leap, but rather something like this: Saturn encompassed the entire region of what would later become the solar system. The Sun separated itself from the excess parts that human beings did not need for the formation of their physical bodies. This process is referred to as “separation.”

[ 11 ] On the Sun—which at that time still encompassed the Moon and the Earth—the human etheric body took shape as it received the pranic life force. When the Sun had split off, the great Moon, including the Earth, moved around the Sun but without rotating on its own axis. It was not yet mobile enough to do so, for the astral body had only just begun to develop on the Moon. And only when this life force had been absorbed by humankind and the Earth did the Moon separate from the excess matter—the dross—and form the Earth’s satellite as we know it. On Earth, Manas was then added to the four lower principles, and its task is to develop humankind up to the Budhi stage.

[ 12 ] The influence of Mars came in the middle of the Lemurian race. From it we received self-awareness. The Budhi principle comes from Mercury. The Budhi stage encompasses clairvoyance and the continuity of consciousness, which is then uninterrupted by sleep and death. Consciousness then extends into Devachan and to the planets. This is the development from Manas to Budhi, which is to reach its completion in the sixth and seventh races.

[ 13 ] The development of Jupiter and Venus goes far beyond this. Vulcan is not yet visible; he can only be perceived by the initiated.

[ 14 ] The conditions on Jupiter are such that if an ordinary human being were transported there, he would go mad, for he would lack any means of understanding what is happening there, and he would be completely unable to make himself understood to the inhabitants there. Communication there takes place solely through thoughts that produce a light effect. The light figures that are conjured up, however, are merely illusions, whereas on Venus the thought-forms are not only objective but actual entities. The power of thought there is so great that it creates real beings. A volcano cannot be conceived by beings endowed with a brain. To ensure that humans always keep these seven stages of planetary development in mind, the great sages—the guardians and guides of humanity—have given the seven days of the week the names of the celestial bodies. Although the original names have not been preserved in all languages, they can be found in many modern languages:

German	English	Dutch	Italian
Saturday	Saturday	Zaterdag	Sabbato
Sunday	Sunday	Zondag	Domenica
Montag	Monday	Maandag	Lunedi
Dienstag - Ziu	Tuesday	Dinsdag	Martedi
Mittwoch	Wednesday	Woensdag	Mercoledi
Donnerstag	Thursday	Donderdag	Giovedi
Freitag	Friday	Vrydag	Venerdi

[ 15 ] In ancient times, the counting of days began on Saturday. The seven days of the week are meant to serve as a constant reminder to humankind that it has evolved from the cosmos.

[ 16 ] When humanity came together to form states governed by laws, and when parliaments such as those we have today came into being, it forgot the origin of these laws. Things were different in the past. People were well aware of the great spiritual laws. They knew the one truth and understood that there can be only one truth.

[ 17 ] The fifth root race developed from the Proto-Semites. We can divide it into seven cultural epochs. The first, the Proto-Indian epoch, was led by the seven wise Rishis. It was entirely focused on the supersensible, the all-encompassing Divine. The Proto-Medes and Persians had a dual-god system. They perceived light and shadow, calling them Ormuzd and Ahriman—the good and the evil principles. Among the Babylonians and Egyptians, the worship of the gods took on further form and shape. In all these cultures, the priests alone possessed wisdom and ruled over peoples who were not yet intellectually developed themselves. The development of states and priestly rule coexisted for a long time, eventually merging into one another.

[ 18 ] Let us take a brief, schematic look at the different eras. Seven to eight thousand years ago, as the Atlantic culture gave way to the post-Atlantic culture, the sages recognized that every culture must pass through seven phases.

Phase 1: The great divine intervention is governed by laws.
Phase 2: Love is to govern all.
Phase 3: The effects of the passions.
Phase 4: Kama-Manas—the arts and sciences.

[ 19 ] 5th, 6th, and 7th Phases: Manas, Buddhi, and the Atma-principle come into play. This overview of a future cultural epoch—this sevenfold plan—was recorded in the Sibylline Books. Thus, it was not so much foresight that guided the sages in their actions and leadership of peoples, but rather a process of building according to a very specific plan, ordered by high divine beings in accordance with eternal laws.

[ 20 ] Myths and legends have passed down to us many stories from prehistoric times. For example, the Trojan War brings to life the conflict between the third and fourth subraces. Troy, with its gods, was outwitted by Odysseus’s cunning. His cleverness, embodied in the wooden horse, brought about Troy’s downfall. The Laocoön Group also gives us a picture of the struggle between reason and the power of priestly wisdom; or, to put it better: the culture of the priests is overcome by cleverness.

[ 21 ] Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, became the progenitor of the Romans. The seven Roman kings should be regarded as mythical figures, as historians already do. Romulus symbolizes the enduring cosmic substance of the physical body; Numa Pompilius symbolizes the full force of life, the warlike element, self-confidence, and religious worship. Under Tullus Hostilius, the conquest of Alba Longa took place. The “Alba longa” was the robe of the priests. The Roman conquest signifies that the higher law of Budhi will gain the upper hand over the priestly rule, under which the individual received knowledge of the higher laws only through the priests, whereas he is now to strive toward the Supreme on his own responsibility through self-awareness. The emergence of the plebeian class coincides with this period of the lower Manas’s development. Ancus Marcius: expansion of the state and the city. Founding of the port city of Ostia. The Roman citizen as the provisional bearer of the “I.” Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth Roman king, the Etruscan who came from outside. He represents the part of Manas, the spiritual self, that connects the three lower members with the three higher ones. Servius Tullius: class division based on wealth, the census, the elevation of the plebeians, the emergence of Budhi. Tarquinius Superbus, the Sublime: the highest development of absolute royal power; goal: Atman, the spiritual human being.

[ 22 ] Theosophy brings order even to the chaos of historical research. Nations, too, are structured according to very specific laws. We always find the sevenfold division according to which everything develops. Following this thread, the mysteries and confusions that otherwise seem insurmountable are unraveled.

Q&A

Mr. Hube asked a question regarding the development of the senses. Dr. Steiner replied:

[ 23 ] The sensory organs on the Moon were quite different from those that later developed on Earth. For example, salt could be perceived, but not seen in the present sense of the word. Only what is seen gives rise to an image in the astral realm. - There are four types of ether: thermal ether, light ether, chemical ether, and life ether. Life ether, or prana, has two poles: electricity and life.

[ 24 ] The Lemurians were initially cold-blooded; the Earth itself provided them with the necessary warmth; this process is aptly described in the words: “The Spirit hovered over the waters”—the matter. It was only the astral body that could generate warmth in human beings.

[ 25 ] Sensitivity to light emerged only gradually as the Sun separated from the Earth. At first, there was merely a sense of light and darkness; gradually, a visual organ developed that no longer exists today but has been preserved in the legend of the Cyclops’ single eye. With the development of the eyes—which could only come into being once the sun began to shine upon the Earth—human beings lost their ability to perceive the spiritual aspects of their surroundings. The soul increasingly became a mirror of the outer world.

[ 26 ] The ethereal ancestor of humankind was, in essence, a single organ of hearing; the ear did not develop until later. — The sense of touch has remained with humankind; it is distributed throughout the entire body, which is capable of sensation.

The Significance of the Moon in Its Current State

[ 27 ] It also has certain effects on the astral body and influences reproduction, the tides, and general fertilization.

When asked about the canals on Mars, Dr. Steiner said,

[ 28 ] that even the scientific community has already dismissed this discovery as a mistake. The Martians are far more advanced than we are; they cannot be measured by our standards.

[ 29 ] The days of the week in German, Swedish, and French:

German	Swedish	French
Saturday	Lördag	Samedi
Sonntag	Sondag	Dimanche
Montag	Mändag	Lundi
Tuesday	Tisdag	Mardi
Wednesday	Onsdag	Mercredi
Thursday	Torsdag	Jeudi
Friday	Fredag	Vendredi