The Rudolf Steiner Archive

29. Gemstones and Metals in Relation to the Evolution of the Earth and Humanity

[ 1 ] I have spoken to you before about how there are powers lying dormant within every human being that can be developed and that elevate them to a higher level of existence. Just as the physical world is perceived through physical senses, so too can the supersensory world be perceived through supersensory senses. At that time, the means by which a person can become clairvoyant were described, albeit in a fragmentary manner. Today, to transition to our topic, we will mention certain methods used in inner training.

[ 2 ] At each stage, new instructions must be followed. What is discussed today is not sufficient on its own, but it is part of the whole. On the path to becoming a disciple, an instruction is given that aims to help a person develop the habit of establishing a very specific relationship with the supersensible world—a moral relationship. On the first stage, a person must realize that just as he is a sentient being, animals are also sentient beings. However, just as a person has an individual soul, animal groups have a group soul. Thus, all lions, all sharks, all frogs, and so on, share a single soul. To put it another way: While human beings possess the soul as something inner, the animal souls—the spiritual connecting threads of the animals, so to speak—extend into the astral world, where the group souls of the animal groups reside. When a human being is harmed, they feel it alone. But if a lion is harmed, the group soul—which does not live on the physical plane but on the astral plane—feels it.

[ 3 ] The training now aims to develop a relationship—an emotional connection—with the animal souls on the astral plane. Here is an example: In some regions, the ancient Germans regarded the horse as an object of veneration. They placed a horse skull on their houses as a symbol. The choice of such a symbol shows that they had a very specific relationship with the horse. Where did this come from? The horse first appeared at a very specific time. In the middle of the Atlantean epoch, this species of animal appeared—gradually, of course. This coincided with the development of intelligence. Even if humans did not articulate this particularly clearly in conceptual terms, they felt a comparative attraction to the horse, much like a lover feels toward a beloved. Arabs still have a special relationship with their horses today. There are many references to this in mythology. For example, Odysseus’s wisdom led him to devise a wooden horse. In this sense, human beings will develop a sense of the group soul of the various animals. When this enters into consciousness, the connection to the astral plane will begin to unfold.

[ 4 ] In this way, a moral relationship with the plant world can also develop. The occultist not only sees the beauty of the plant, but also perceives something like a smiling or sad face. This moral sensibility is of great value. If you develop such a moral relationship, you enter into a connection with the lower region of the Devachan plane.

[ 5 ] One can also develop a subtle sensitivity toward the inanimate world of stones. Rock has a group soul on the Devachan plane, just as animals have a group soul on the astral plane. The souls of minerals dwell in Devachan. That is why they are inaccessible to humans. Just as a fly, when it walks across our hand, has no inkling that there is a soul behind it, so humans do not know that stones have souls.

[ 6 ] If stones do indeed have souls, then you will also understand how a moral relationship with them can develop. A human or animal body has desires, passions, and instincts. A plant body no longer has desires, but it still has instincts. The body of a stone has neither desire nor instinct; therefore, it presents us humans with an ideal, namely that our instincts should be spiritualized. And in the distant future of humanity, this will be achieved: humans will have bodies without desire or instinct. One day, humans will be like diamonds; they will no longer have inner instincts, but rather these will then be controlled externally.

[ 7 ] The stone already embodies this chastity today; it is matter devoid of desire. The occult student must cultivate this lack of desire within himself even now. In this sense, the stone stands above animals, plants, and humans. An ancient Rosicrucian formula begins by stating: “I have placed the eternal Word of the Creator within the stone.”—Chaste and virginal, the stone preserves this Word of the Creator in the depths of physical existence.

[ 8 ] If one can elevate such a feeling toward the stone to a spiritual experience, one becomes clairvoyant in the highest regions of Devachan.

[ 9 ] I will now describe the mineral kingdom from a different perspective. Let us go back in the evolution of the Earth, as we know it, to the Atlantean era. The atmosphere was filled with water vapor. The Atlanteans, too, looked quite different from modern humans. And even further back, when the Lemurian continent existed and temperatures were still very high, humans were half-aquatic creatures. At that time, all minerals were also in a different state. Lead could not possibly have been solid then. There was also a time when gold was not yet solid; this was the case when the Sun and Earth were still united. When the Earth separated from the Sun, traces of this finer substance were still visible. Like all metals, it solidified and formed veins of gold within the rock. Going even further back, we come to a time when the gemstones also solidified. Back then, coal was still transparent and formed diamonds. The physical conditions prevailing during that early period made this possible. At another time, carnelian was formed; at yet another, topaz.

[ 10 ] Now you must understand that the human soul already existed back then, but it did not yet have a physical body. The Earth was once in a state in which it would have been completely impossible for a physical body to inhabit it. At that time, human beings had only the etheric body. Within this etheric body, the rudiments of the eyes developed at a certain point in time. The physical eye was only formed later from the etheric body. All other organs were first differentiated and formed from the etheric body. Each time such an etheric organ formed, the impetus was desire. The astral body had the desire to perceive something, to see; so it acted upon the etheric body and formed the etheric eye from it; only later was the physical eye differentiated from it. The etheric counterpart arose in the mineral kingdom, and this desireless counterpart is chrysolite. Thus, there is indeed an intimate connection between human vision and chrysolite. This is why the occultist uses stones for specific purposes. He senses a sympathy between vision and chrysolite and knows how to use it to treat certain eye diseases.

[ 11 ] The faculty of hearing arose earlier than that of sight. In the chaste realm of stone, hearing was prefigured as onyx. Now, the sense of hearing is most closely connected with the purest form of matter. Where sound waves flood through space, there is the finest sound ether, also called the numerical ether or chemical ether. There are also the heat, light, and life ethers. The subtle sound ether was the impetus for hearing and for the formation of the predisposition toward onyx. I remind you here of the old man with the lamp in Goethe’s “Fairy Tale of the Green Snake.” His lamp transformed all wood into silver, dead animals into gemstones, and the pug—the dead dog—into onyx.

[ 12 ] Carnelian arose with the sense of touch, topaz with the sense of taste, jasper with the sense of smell, beryl with the development of the intellect, and the carbuncle with the emergence of the power of imagination. As a beautiful legend recounts, when Lucifer was cast down from the heavenly realms, he lost a stone from his diadem—that was the carbuncle. In fact, this gemstone came into being at the very moment when the human imagination, initially pictorial, began to awaken.

[ 13 ] The emerald arose from the solar plexus, which is connected to the involuntary, unconscious movements of the human body. At the time of the earliest formation, when the first beginnings of the human physical body emerged, the potential for the diamond took shape. See how deep the connections in the world are. This is not superstition, but wisdom.

[ 14 ] Here I would like to mention two facts from the rich field of the occult. You know that there are also moderate factions among the labor unions. One particularly moderate group comprises a specific trade association—the printers. The editor of their newspaper was even fired because he held such moderate views. It was among the printers that workers and employers first came together. People have no idea how dependent they are on their surroundings. Because printers work with lead—which doesn’t just affect the lungs—it has a psychological effect: it fosters a certain sober mindset.

[ 15 ] Here is another example. I became acquainted with a person who gradually became a good theosophist. A completely inexplicable ability troubled him. He publishes a magazine and is able to quickly find analogies. If a scholar were to search for such analogies, he might, under certain circumstances, sit there at a loss for months on end. This person, however, found what he was looking for with a single reach to the bookshelf. His thinking had become so free that it was no longer constrained by the physical brain. But this also carries great dangers. “Where does this come from in me?” he asked me. So I told him that he might have a lot to do with copper. That was indeed the case: he played the French horn, which also contains copper. This was enough to produce such a powerful effect. From this you can see how everything out in the world has a profound influence on human beings, and how metals and gemstones are related to human nature.

FAQ

Question not recorded.

[ 16 ] When it comes to the artistic contemplation of plants, this initially affects the astral body, whereas occult vision affects the etheric body. The artist may encounter the archetypes in some of his works—be they sculptures, paintings, or melodies—but one finds them consciously on the Devachan plane.

What is gold?

[ 17 ] When the Earth and the Sun still formed a single mass and everything was still pure ether, everything was in a state of dissolution, with a subtlety akin to that of sunlight. At that time, the minerals could not solidify. Only after the Sun had separated and some of the pure sunlight remained with the Earth did it condense into gold within the Earth’s veins. Gold is condensed sunlight and is directly connected to the Sun.

[ 18 ] In humans, the sapphire corresponds to the feet. The feet are a much more important part of the body than is generally assumed. In the past, the feet still had the ability to cling as if by suction, much like a fly does.

[ 19 ] Opal is more like a region from which the lungs also originated.

[ 20 ] Rubin is connected to what is called the higher organ of the brain, the organ of intuition.

[ 21 ] Iron evokes a certain sensual excitement in humans. When the Earth encountered Mars, that same quality was also generated in the blood. The occultist is reluctant to handle objects made entirely of iron.

Question about the meaning of Edward Bulwer’s novel Vril.

[ 22 ] Everything that once existed in the world will return. There is something special underlying the Vril force. At present, humankind can really only make use of the forces of the mineral kingdom. Gravity is mineral in nature, and electricity is likewise mineral. We owe the operation of railroads to coal. But what humankind does not yet know how to use is the power of the plant kingdom. The force that causes the stalks to grow in a grain field is still a latent force, and humankind will harness this force just as it has harnessed the power of coal. This is Vril. It is the same force that the fakirs still use. They live in atavism—a characteristic of the ancestral state.

Was Goethe an initiate?

[ 23 ] Goethe’s initiation took place between his stays in Leipzig and Strasbourg, where he was close to death. However, he was not aware of it at the time. This did not happen until 1795. As early as 1784, it resurfaced within him, but still vaguely. At that time, in a moment of enlightenment, he wrote the poem “The Secrets,” which remained a fragment. It was not until “The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily” that he set forth his creed. His initiation on the physical plane was carried out by a very specific individual.