The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Easter as a Chapter in the History of Humanity's Mysteries III

[ 1 ] Building on what I have discussed over the past few days, I would now like to draw attention today to the astronomical aspect of Easter. In order to highlight this astronomical aspect of Easter, it is necessary to touch on some of the facts relating to the so-called “mystery of the moon.”

[ 2 ] Throughout all the ages in which the wisdom of the mysteries has been known, people have spoken of the mystery of the Moon and have linked this mystery to the nature of the human being, insofar as the human being is connected to the entire cosmos. We must be clear about this: that human beings, in their full being, are connected to the entire cosmos, just as they are connected to the Earth in terms of their physical bodies. Now, the age of materialism has meant that, of the vastness of the cosmos—which expresses its spirituality in the forms of star clusters and in the movements of the stars—nothing of this spirituality of the cosmos has remained in human consciousness except for the outward appearance of the stars and the calculations of their movements, whether the stars are variable stars or the like.

[ 3 ] All of this appears, when viewed from the perspective of how astronomy is studied today, as if one were to focus solely on the proportions and the external mechanical movements of this human organism, and were to focus solely on the proportions and the external mechanical movements of this human organism, completely forgetting that these proportions and movements are an inner expression of the spiritual and soul aspects.

[ 4 ] Now, in human beings, a unified spiritual-soul aspect, held together by the “I,” comes to light. From the entire world organism, what is expressed to spiritual contemplation is not a unified spiritual-soul aspect, but a multitude—an immeasurable, boundlessly vast multitude of spiritual beings—which manifest through the forms of the star groups, through the movements of the variable stars, through the radiant light of the stars, and so on.

[ 5 ] All that spiritual diversity that exists in the stars is connected to human beings in the same way that the substances in the Earth’s environment that can serve as human nourishment are connected to the physical human being from the Earth. And what can be called the “mystery of the Moon” has to do precisely with humanity’s next relationship to the universe.

[ 6 ] When we look at the moon from the outside, it appears to the eye to be undergoing a metamorphosis. We see the moon much as we see it now, as a full, luminous disk. Then we see the moon as partially illuminated—half-illuminated, or a quarter-illuminated. We also experience that phase of the moon in which it completely withdraws from our external view, which is then referred to as the new moon. And we then return to the full moon.

[ 7 ] All of this is explained today as if there were some kind of body on the Moon that moves around out there in outer space and is illuminated by the Sun from various directions, so that it then appears to us in different forms. But this does not fully account for what the Moon is to the Earth—namely, to humanity on Earth; rather, we must realize—especially with regard to the Moon—that when we look at something that presents itself to us so clearly in physical form as the full Moon—that is, something that offers us a physical aspect—this phenomenon is something entirely different from when it appears to us as the new Moon, which, due to the cosmic conditions associated with it, cannot manifest itself physically in an immediate way. But we must also not hold the view that, if this Moon does not manifest as a phenomenon, its effect is therefore absent. If, within the context of the cosmos, we must be aware that it is a new moon, then the Moon is indeed present in an invisible and therefore more spiritual way than when it appears to us in physical light as a full moon. The Moon is thus present at one time in a fully physical manner and at another time in a fully spiritual manner, so that we continually experience the rhythmic alternation between the physical manifestation of the Moon and its spiritual manifestation.

[ 8 ] Now, if we want to understand what this is actually about, we must look back at those facts that you are already familiar with from the account you will find in my *Outline of a Secret Science*. We must reflect on this account. The Moon was once inside the Earth. It was part of the Earth’s body. It emerged from the Earth’s body, became, as they say, a satellite of the Earth—that is, it separated from the Earth and now orbits it. It exerted influences on human beings from the Earth during the time it was connected to the Earth.

[ 9 ] Human beings were, of course, entirely different beings when they lived and evolved on an Earth that still contained the Moon within it. The Earth was impoverished of that which the Moon represents when the Moon emerged from the Earth, and human beings are now shaped and held in place by the Earth from below through the other forces—namely, the mere forces of the Earth, and no longer by the combined forces of the Earth and the Moon. Conversely, what once acted upon human beings from within the Earth—when the Moon was still within it—now acts upon them from the outside, from the Moon, since the Moon is now outside. So one can say: The lunar forces once permeated the human being, first striking his limbs—his feet and legs—and then flowing through him from the bottom up. Since the Moon’s departure from the Earth, the lunar forces have been acting in the opposite direction, from the human head downward. As a result, these lunar forces have taken on a completely different role for human beings than they had in the past.

[ 10 ] How, then, does this task come to light? This task comes to light because human beings have very specific experiences when they descend from their pre-earthly existence into earthly existence. Once a person has passed through the time between death and a new birth, once they have completed everything that needs to be completed in the soul-spiritual realm between death and a new birth, they set out to descend to Earth to unite with what is passed on to them from their father and mother in the physical-bodily realm. But before they can find the means, through their “I” and their astral body, to connect with the physical body, they must clothe themselves in an etheric body, which they draw from the surroundings of the cosmos.

[ 11 ] This process has changed radically since the time the Moon separated from the Earth. When the human being, before the Moon’s departure—after having completed the life between death and a new birth—approached the Earth again, he needed forces through which he could arrange the ether, which is scattered throughout the entire world, around himself, around his “I,” and around his astral body in the form of an etheric body. He received these forces as he approached earthly existence from the Moon, which was then still part of the Earth. Ever since the Moon separated from the Earth, human beings have received the forces they need to form their etheric bodies from outside the Earth—namely, from the Moon that separated from the Earth—so that, immediately before entering earthly life, a human being must draw upon what lies within the forces of the Moon—that is, upon something cosmic—in order to form their etheric body.

[ 12 ] This etheric body must now be formed in such a way that it has, so to speak, an outer and an inner side. Let us imagine, in very schematic terms, how this etheric body is formed. It has an outer side, and it has an inner side. So we can imagine that the human being forms his etheric body from the outside and from the inside.

[ 13 ] When a human being shapes the outer form of this etheric body, he needs the forces of light, for the etheric body is formed—along with other substantial elements—primarily from the flowing light of the cosmos. But sunlight is not suitable for this purpose. Sunlight cannot provide the forces that enable a person to shape their etheric body. What is necessary for this is the light that shines from the sun to the moon and is then reflected back by the moon, a process that fundamentally transforms it. But all the light that reaches us from the Moon—that which radiates out into the cosmos from the Moon—contains the forces through which human beings, as they descend, become capable of forming the outer aspect of their etheric body. In contrast, everything that radiates spiritually from the Moon during the new moon sends out into the cosmos the forces that human beings need to form the inner aspect of their etheric body. Thus, it is connected to this rhythm between the Moon’s outward appearance of light and its darkening that human beings are able to form the outer and inner aspects of their etheric body.

[ 14 ] However, what the forces of the Moon, so to speak, accomplish for human beings is connected to the fact that the Moon is truly not merely the physical body that modern natural science speaks of, but that the Moon is, in fact, permeated everywhere by spirituality, and that the Moon also contains a multitude of spiritual beings.

[ 15 ] I have discussed in various places how the Moon once separated from the Earth, and how not only physical matter flowed out into outer space, but also how those ancient beings who lived on Earth—not in physical bodies, but in spiritual form—and who were the primordial teachers of humanity—were drawn out into outer space along with the Moon, where they founded a kind of lunar colony; so that we must distinguish between the physical-etheric and the spiritual-soul aspects of the Moon, except that the spiritual-soul aspect, too, is not a unity but a multiplicity.

[ 16 ] Now, the entire spiritual life on the Moon depends on the way in which the beings residing there view the world around them from their lunar vantage point, from their lunar perspective. And if I may speak figuratively, I would say that the spiritual beings of the Moon first turn their gaze to what is most important to them: the variable stars that belong to our planetary system. Everything that happens on the Moon—including what enables human beings to properly receive the forces they need to form their etheric body—all of this depends on the results of the observations made by the beings on the Moon, who, so to speak, live on the Moon and observe the wandering stars of our planetary system—Mercury, the Sun, the Moon, and so on—all around them.

[ 17 ] This was a body of knowledge that existed within certain mysteries. An ancient mystery teaching of certain mystery sites held that the constellations and the movements of the planetary system associated with our Earth were observed from the Moon, and that the actions of the lunar beings were determined accordingly. This was expressed by regarding the Moon, as it were, as the point from which precisely those cosmic conditions are determined that are connected with the formation of the human etheric body, and by bringing these lunar forces into human consciousness in connection with the forces of the other wandering stars.

[ 18 ] And they did this on weekdays:

Moon: Moon Day: Monday—the day the Moon is associated with in this observation
with Mars: Mars Day: Tuesday
with Mercury: Mercury Day, mercredi: Wednesday
then Jupiter: Jupiter Day; Jupiter is the German Donar: Thursday
then Venus, who is the German Freya: Friday
then on to Saturn: Saturn Day, Saturday: Saturday
with the Sun itself, which cannot directly influence the formation of the etheric body with its own forces, but acts through the Moon’s reflection: Sunday

[ 19 ] Thus, what related to the perspective of the Moon was linked to that which, in the division of time, brought the planetary context into human consciousness. And, in a sense, this needed to be stated in the ancient mystical tradition: “Human being, remember that before you descended to Earth, you needed forces that are formed on the Moon through the Moon beings’ gaze directed toward the other planets of the solar system.” It is to what the Moon receives from Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and so on that you owe the special configuration your etheric body can assume upon descending into earthly life.

[ 20 ] And so, on the one hand, we have the rhythmic course of the Moon through light and darkness around our Earth; on the other hand, the entire sequence of planets is inscribed in human consciousness. Yes, the Mysteries also revealed this: because the lunar beings can look toward Mars, the human being’s ability to speak is organized into his etheric body. Because the lunar beings can look toward Mercury, the human being’s ability to move is concentrated within his etheric body.

[ 21 ] If one now wishes to speak of these secrets of the moon, one can do so in an entirely different form: then eurythmy arises from language. One could say that eurythmy arises from language when—after having explored the mysteries of language by allowing the lunar beings to tell us what observations they make as they gaze toward Mars—one then also explores how these observations change when the lunar beings gaze toward Mercury. So when one transforms the lunar beings’ experiences of Mars into their experiences of Mercury, one arrives at the eurythmic capacity in human beings from the capacity for spoken language. That is the essence of the matter, expressed in cosmic terms.

[ 22 ] What flows through human beings endowed with the capacity for wisdom is derived from the experiences of the lunar beings with Jupiter.

[ 23 ] The love and beauty that flow through a person’s soul are derived from the experiences of the lunar beings with Venus.

[ 24 ] What is learned about the lunar beings through the observation of Saturn is what infuses the human being’s etheric body with inner soul warmth. And that which must be kept at bay—or, so to speak, pushed aside—so that it does not interfere with the formation of the etheric body immediately before the descent to Earth is that which originates from the Sun. Thus, everything from which the human being must be protected—so that he can become a complete human being through the formation of the etheric body, that is, through protective forces—originates from the Sun or from the sight of the Sun.

[ 25 ] In this way, one might say, one learns to recognize what happens on the Moon. Through this, one also learns to recognize how this human etheric body is shaped and formed when the human being descends from pre-earthly existence into earthly existence. These are the things that relate to the mystery of the Moon.

[ 26 ] Yes, such things can be told today. In certain ancient mysteries, they were not merely told, but they were experienced—truly experienced. And they were experienced in such a way that what I have written on the board was not merely known, but was experienced inwardly:

Moon Day
Tuesday: Language
Wednesday: Movement
Thursday: Wisdom
Friday: Love, Beauty
Saturday: Inner Spiritual Warmth
Sunday: Protective Forces

[ 27 ] Through initiation into the mysteries I spoke to you about yesterday, one could transcend merely looking out through the eyes and listening through the ears to the physical environment of the Earth; one could become free, could detach oneself from the physical body, and live solely in the etheric body. But when one lived in the etheric body, one lived with all of that. Then one did not live with the language that takes shape through the larynx, but rather with the language that resounds on Mars as the language of the worlds. One moved in the same way that Mercury directs the movements in the cosmos; one did not move with feet and legs, but moved in the same way that Mercury directs the movements of the human being. Nor did one possess the wisdom so painstakingly acquired during childhood and adolescence—which, in the materialistic age, is actually a form of ignorance—but one lived directly within the wisdom of Jupiter; but one lived in the wisdom of Jupiter by being able to unite with the lunar beings who observed Jupiter. In fact, by being initiated in this way, one was completely immersed in the radiant light of the moon. One had departed from the Earth. One was not a being of flesh and blood on Earth; one had departed from the Earth and lived as a being in the moonlight—but in the configured moonlight, in the moonlight that was modified by what lived in the other planets of our solar system.

[ 28 ] During the period of spiritual observation in such mysteries, one became a being of light from the Moon—not as something symbolic or something to be imagined in the abstract, but just as a person today who takes a trip to Basel and back is aware of reality and knows that they have experienced something real there; so one was also conscious of reality after having visited the lunar beings through the initiation rite. One knew that one had taken leave of one’s physical body for a while, had drawn into the lunar sphere of light with one’s spiritual and soul aspects, had been clothed in a body of light, and because one was united with the lunar beings, one looked out into the vastness of the planetary realm and was thus truly able to observe what could be revealed to one in the vastness of the planetary realm.

[ 29 ] And what was observed? Well, what was observed primarily—other things were observed as well, but this was the main focus—was that forces emanating from the Sun come from beings that must have nothing to do with the formation of the human etheric body. The sun was viewed as something that had a dissolving, destructive effect on the etheric body. From this it was understood: Forces emanating from the solar beings must not be absorbed by the etheric body, but must instead be absorbed by the higher members of the human nature—the ego and the astral body. The solar forces may act only upon these. Thus, it was known that one does not turn to the Sun for the human etheric body; for the etheric body, one turns to the planets. One turns to the Sun for the astral body and, in particular, for the human “I.” It was known that for the entire inner power of the “I,” one must turn to the Sun. That was the second aspect of this initiation, which drew upon the mystery of the Moon. The second point was that one knew that, for the etheric body, one belongs to the planetary system; but for the strengthening of one’s ego in particular, and also of the astral body, one looks to the Sun.

[ 30 ] This initiation was, in fact, about becoming one with the moonlight, but through the moonlight nature of one’s own being, one gazed into the sun.

[ 31 ] People used to say: The sun sends its light to the moon because it is not allowed to give it directly to human beings. Then one has the moonlight in conjunction with the planetary forces. From these, one forms one’s etheric body. — This secret was known to the one who had been initiated in this way. And so he knew to what extent he carried the power of the spiritual Sun within himself. He had beheld it. He had gained an awareness of the extent to which he carried the spiritual power of the Sun within himself. And that was precisely the degree of initiation through which a human being became a bearer of Christ—that is, a bearer of a solar being—not a recipient of a solar being, but a bearer of a solar being. Just as the moon itself, when it is full, is a bearer of sunlight, so the human being became a bearer of Christ, a Christophorus. This initiation into Christophorus was therefore a thoroughly real experience.

[ 32 ] Now imagine this very real experience, through which human beings, as it were, broke free from the Earth and, as initiated earthly beings, rose up to become beings of light—this earlier, inner human Easter experience. Imagine it transformed into a cosmic festival. In later times, people knew nothing of the fact that such a thing could happen: that a human being could truly step out of the earthly realm, unite with the lunar realm, and gaze upon the sun from the moon. But a memory of this was to be preserved, and this memory has been preserved in the Easter festival.

[ 33 ] For the way in which a person could experience all of this did not carry over into the later, increasingly materialistic consciousness, but rather into an abstract concept. People no longer looked inward, saying, “I can unite myself with the moonlight.” Instead, they looked up at the moon, at the full moon. People looked up at the full moon and said: “It is not I who am developing upward toward it, but the Earth that is striving toward it.” — When does it strive toward it the most? It strives toward it the most when spring begins, when the forces that were previously within the earth—in the seeds and plants—pour forth from the earth’s surface. They become plants on earth, but they go further; they flow out into the vastness of the cosmos.

[ 34 ] In the ancient mysteries, the following image was used: When the inner forces of the Earth, through the plant stems and leaves, carry out into the cosmos that which radiates from the Earth, then the human being can most easily attain the Moon-Sun initiation and become a Christophor; for then, in a sense, he floats upward toward the Moon on the forces radiating from the Earth in spring. But they must step into the full moonlight.

[ 35 ] All of this became a memory, but it became abstract. “He must step into the full moonlight.” So subconsciously—no longer clearly aware that this could become a human experience—the following was imagined: Something—not the human being himself—flows toward the full moon, which is the first full moon since the beginning of spring. And what can this full moon do now? It looks at the sun—that is, it looks toward the first day dedicated to the sun, the first Sunday that follows it. Just as St. Christopher once gazed upon the sun from the moon’s vantage point, so now the moon looks at the sun—that is, at its symbolization in Sunday.

[ 36 ] So here we are at the beginning of spring, March 21: The forces of the Earth are sprouting out into the universe. We must wait until the right observer arrives, until the full moon arrives.

[ 37 ] March 21: Full Moon: Sunday.

[ 38 ] What does he observe? The sun. The following Sunday is designated as Easter Sunday.

[ 39 ] It is, therefore, an abstract designation of time, a remnant of a very real mystery ritual that took place frequently for many people in earlier times. And this is indeed the case with this Easter celebration. Our modern spring Easter celebration represents a mystery ritual that was once performed everywhere in the spring; but this is a different mystery ritual than the one I discussed the day before yesterday. The mystery ritual I discussed the day before yesterday is the one that led people to comprehend the event of death. I said: That resurrection process, which was made comprehensible to people through something like the Adonis festival in the fall, actually led people into the experience of death—into this resurrection in the spiritual realm after about three days. This process—this resurrection process—actually belongs to the fall season for the reasons I have already explained.

[ 40 ] Another ritual is the one I have described today, which was celebrated or performed in other mysteries for certain initiations, namely the solar and lunar initiations. And this ritual placed humanity at the beginning of life. Thus, we can look back to times when, in certain mysteries, humanity’s descent from pre-earthly existence to earthly existence was recognized through the descent. In other mysteries—the autumn mysteries—the ascent into the spiritual realm was recognized.

[ 41 ] But in later times, when people could no longer perceive the living essence of this relationship between human beings and the spiritual in the cosmos, things reached the point where the autumn mystery of ascent was simply merged with the spring mystery of descent. And so the confusion that has arisen in the course of human development reveals how materialism has gradually taken effect—how it has not only given rise to false views, but has in fact completely bewildered people regarding what once existed, I might say, in a sacred order within the course of human history on Earth. In a sacred order, it was the case that as autumn approached, humanity celebrated a cosmic festival, which in turn pointed to a mystery process from which it could be said: Nature falls into desolation, withers, and dies away; this is akin to the physical death of the human being. But while, when one looks at nature, one sees only the transitory at work within it, the eternal lives within the human being—which, apart from what takes place in nature, is to be contemplated in the spirit and which, after death, is that which rises again in the spiritual world. Through the spring mysteries, it became clear to human beings that nature is overcome by the spirit, that the spiritual in turn works its way in from the cosmos, and that the physical sprouts and grows out of the earth because it is driven by the spiritual.

[ 42 ] But through this, people should reflect not on how they pass into the spirit through death, but on how they come from the spirit, descending from the spirit. Thus, where nature is in its ascent, there human beings should reflect on their descent into the physical world. Where nature is in its descent, there human beings should reflect on their ascent, their resurrection in the Spirit. And it would profoundly deepen the life of the soul if one could experience in this way how human beings relate to the cosmos.

[ 43 ] It varied depending on the region. In ancient times, there were indeed peoples who were more “autumn peoples,” and peoples who were more “spring peoples.” Among the autumn peoples were the Adonis mysteries; among the spring peoples were other mysteries related to what I have described today. And only those seekers of knowledge—of whom it is rightly said that they wandered from place to place, like Pythagoras, and went from mystery to mystery—were the ones who truly experienced the totality of human existence. They journeyed from one place of mystery, where they could behold the mystery of autumn—which is actually the mystery of the sun—to another place, where they could behold the mystery of spring, which is the mystery of the moon. That is why the ancient, all-encompassing initiates are repeatedly described as having journeyed from one place of mystery to another. And one can certainly say: In a certain way, these initiates experienced the year inwardly—the year in all its festivals. An ancient initiate might have said: “When I come to this place where the Adonis festivals are celebrated, I behold the world’s autumn and the radiance of the spiritual sun in the dawning winter night.” — When he arrived at another mystery site where the spring mysteries were celebrated, he could say: “There I behold the mystery of the moon.” — And in this way, he came to know inwardly that which is actually connected to the entire meaning of the year.

[ 44 ] You see, our Easter celebration has actually been burdened with something it shouldn’t be burdened with. Our Easter celebration should actually be a burial festival, and this burial festival, held in the spring at the same time—just as such burial festivals truly were in relation to human spirituality—should be a festival that inspires work, as the more primitive human beings needed during the summer months. Thus, the Easter festival was a festival of exhortation to work during the summer. And so the autumn Resurrection festival for the spiritual world was a festival celebrated at the time when people were drawing back from their work. But when they stepped away from their work, they were meant to experience within themselves what is most important for their spiritual and soul life: becoming aware of their eternal nature by looking toward the resurrection in the spiritual world, three days after death.

[ 45 ] Thus, as we move from earthly mysteries to cosmic mysteries, from earthly knowledge to cosmic knowledge, we can also recognize—I would say—the inner structure of our annual cycle as reflected in the festivals. But much of what was actually enshrined in the festivals has disappeared.

[ 46 ] Tomorrow, as far as possible, I will try to delve even deeper into the subject—which I wanted to present to you today through an examination of the celestial conditions themselves—by drawing more closely on certain mystery sites.