The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Twelfth Lecture

[ 1 ] Last time, I explained to you how human beings relate to the various hierarchies of the higher world throughout the course of their lives, and I would like to note that everything discussed there will ultimately lead to an ever-better understanding of the effect of karma on human life and human evolution. So, in essence, all of this is preparation for understanding karma.

[ 2 ] I have explained how, from a person’s birth until approximately the age of twenty-one, the third hierarchy has a special relationship with the person, and how, upon reaching sexual maturity, the second hierarchy—Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes; how these hierarchical orders continue to exert their influence from sexual maturity onward—initially until the age of twenty-one in the first phase, in the second phase until the age of twenty-eight, and in the third phase until the age of thirty-five; and how, as early as the age of twenty-eight, an inner relationship with the first hierarchy—the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones, which then continue to exert their influence in their first phase until the age of thirty-five, where they interact with the second hierarchy; then in the second phase until the age of forty-two; and in the third phase until the age of forty-nine.

[ 3 ] Now, I would say, what directly intervenes in the course of human life through the hierarchical order intersects with that which appears in the course of human life as reflections of the spiritual beings of the planetary system.

[ 4 ] We know, of course, that when we look at the outer physical appearance of any of the planets, it is actually only a sign that in the direction from which the planet or star appears to us, there is a colony of spiritual beings. We look at a star; but what we see shining and glowing in the star is the outward sign that, in that direction, our soul’s gaze encounters a cosmic colony of spiritual beings. We now relate to our life in such a way that we bear an etheric body within our physical body. At the very moment when a human being ascends to imaginative, supersensible knowledge, they perceive everything that they can perceive through their etheric body. And I have often hinted to you how a person then looks back upon the panorama of their earthly life since birth, and how, at the same time, all the events and forces they have experienced—and which have influenced their growth and their entire physical, soul, and spiritual organization—stand before the human soul in a mighty panorama, as if time had become space. One learns to survey life in this way when one is initiated into imaginative knowledge.

[ 5 ] But now, when inspired insight sets in, one can look upon this real memory of earthly life—which is a tableau of memories—and one then perceives, because in inspired insight one has suppressed the imaginative, because, so to speak, the events of earthly life, even insofar as they are perceptible through the etheric body, are no longer there, one then surveys a glimmer of something higher.

[ 6 ] So when I schematically depict this looking back by the human being—I am drawing the physical gaze rather than the soul’s gaze—all the way back to birth within this current, this current is extinguished in inspired insight, and all sorts of other formations then emerge.

[ 7 ] First, something like a revelation occurs within this current (see drawing on page 210, purple), and as one learns to orient oneself within the inspiration, one begins to realize what is actually appearing there.

[ 8 ] So please understand me correctly: One looks upon a tableau that encompasses the human journey on Earth. This tableau is, in a sense, a part; when one looks at it, it appears—according to the inspired initiation—in such a way that the tableau of memories between birth, that is, between the age of zero and the age of seven, is erased; and in the place where the tableau of memories is erased, all the deeds then appear that arise from the fact that the lunar beings, of whom I have spoken to you, have dealings with the human being after death.

[ 9 ] For example, what I have told you about the experience of life after death as lived by the figure who served as the model for Strader in my Mystery Dramas is experienced by first looking at the tableau of memories and then, through inspired insight, erasing that tableau. When the portion corresponding to the period from birth to the age of seven is erased, the effects I have described to you occur—effects that represent the interaction of the lunar beings (violet) with the human being after death.

[ 10 ] These experiences—which can be gained as a person’s life course from birth to the age of seven becomes transparent, and through this the lunar beings and their deeds become visible—what becomes vivid there, what can be experienced there, can be perceived most easily by any initiate.

[ 11 ] For, as you will understand, one can undergo initiation at any age—except when one is a very young child; children under the age of seven are not usually initiated. And if one wishes to comprehend what I am now describing, one must have outgrown this age in one’s earthly life. Now, anyone who is initiated has, of course, outgrown the age of seven. Therefore, what can be perceived through the course of life up to the age of seven—that is, what a person can experience during the backward journey, which, in terms of time, accounts for one-third of one’s lifespan, in the life between death and a new birth—is relatively easy to grasp.

[ 12 ] A second aspect becomes apparent when we then reveal, in the inspired initiation, that part of the retrospective that corresponds to the years of life from seven to fourteen—the age of sexual maturity. There, everything that the human being experiences after death as they ascend from the lunar region into the Mercury region (white) becomes visible.

[ 13 ] A person ascends into the Mercury region after passing through the Moon region. But if one wishes to recognize and establish a relationship with people who are in this Mercury region, one must erase from the memory tableau the period between the age of seven, the change of teeth, and sexual maturity.

[ 14 ] If one then brings about the extinction of the next human period through inspired insight and allows that which can then appear during the extinction of this part to come to light, these are the experiences and realities that a person goes through in the region of Venusian existence after death (orange).

[ 15 ] And so, in a sense, when one looks back on this first epoch of human life marked by inspired initiation, one sees what is taking place in the macrocosm—and, moreover, in the spiritual macrocosm with the dead, with the so-called dead.

[ 16 ] At the same time, from what I am saying here, you can see how infinitely profound an ancient science is in its terminology. For with Venus, one usually senses the element of love already in the very naming of the planet. But looking at Venus corresponds to the stage of human life in which sexual maturity has been reached.

[ 17 ] This is a period that lasts from the twenty-first to the forty-second year of life (yellow). If one looks into this period with inspired initiation, one experiences—or at least can experience—what a deceased person goes through during the vast majority of their life between death and a new birth, what they go through as a result of being in relationship with the solar beings. The solar existence between death and a new birth is vividly illustrated by this period.

[ 18 ] The Sun is such a powerful celestial body, containing so many spiritual forces and spiritual essences, that in order for a human being to gain a comprehensive view of everything that influences him—originating from the solar being, from the spiritual solar being—between death and a new birth, this must encompass a period of time three times as long as the others: that is, the period from the twenty-first to the forty-second year of life. At the same time, however, you will realize that initiates can only look back on the entire connection between human beings and the solar beings between death and a new birth once they have passed the age of forty-two. This connection is, in fact, not comprehensible before then. And growing older is indeed significant for spiritual insight as well. Certain things become perceptible not only through a specific initiation, but simply through a certain maturity of life.

[ 19 ] Thus, another period in human life is that from the age of forty-two to forty-nine (red). Through this very subject, my dear friends, we are approaching what I was aiming at in my last lecture here, for at the age of forty-nine the possibility of maintaining direct relationships with the Hierarchies comes to an end. You have gathered this from my remarks.

[ 20 ] In the coming period, we will now take a closer look at what those over forty-nine years of age are doing. If we allow what intersects with the structure of that time and allow it to affect our souls today—which, of course, requires having reached the age of fifty or older—then, when we look back on the period of life from the age of forty-two to forty-nine, we will see everything that a human being can experience after death, as perceived by the beings that inhabit Mars.

[ 21 ] But that is where the region begins in which the spiritual world ensures a significant individualization of the human being on Earth through karma. You have seen, after all, how karma is prepared in that life which a human being undergoes after death, immediately following earthly life, during one-third of the time between death and a new birth. But karma is worked out gradually. And I have already made some remarks about how karma is worked out: it is worked out in cooperation with higher beings.

[ 22 ] Now, there are people who work through their karma particularly in the Mercury region, in the Venus region, and in the Sun region, but there are also beings who work through it in the Mars region.

[ 23 ] Such beings, such people who, through their previous earthly lives, bring with them into the spiritual world something that must be worked out specifically in the Mars region—such people then manifest the results of what is worked out in the Mars region during their next earthly incarnation. And to illustrate this, let me give you an example, my dear friends.

[ 24 ] You see, there was a figure—albeit from a time when Islam had already taken hold, when Islam had already spread its civilizational influence across Asia, North Africa, and all the way to Spain—a figure who, at that time, initially underwent his spiritual development at a school in North Africa—which was, however, already in decline—similar to the one that St. Augustine had attended much earlier; a figure who studied in North Africa entirely in that spirit and style.

[ 25 ] Now, one must realize that studying in those days was quite different from what it is today. Today, one would hardly hear anything about something as distant as the studies of St. Augustine—which lie so many centuries in the past—behind the studies of that figure in North Africa of whom I am speaking here. But back then, especially in North Africa, mystery studies were still possible, even if they were based on mysteries that were already in decline. And the individual I am referring to underwent such mystery studies—that is, experienced everything that could be learned through such studies about the independence of the human soul, about the realms the human soul experiences when it perceives freely from the body, and so on. But this individual then moved to Spain along with the Islamic influence, absorbing much of the Islamic-Asian scholarship that had already been transformed in Spain by that time; in particular, they also absorbed much of what had been spread far and wide by the Jews—not the Kabbalah that was later so widely cultivated in the Middle Ages, but an older form of Kabbalah. And so, in the early period, influenced by Muslim traits, it became a personality deeply immersed in the spiritual life of this Muslim tradition, but in a particular way: calculating, analytical, in a Kabbalistic manner.

[ 26 ] Then the same experience was lived through in a later, female incarnation, where it was internalized more deeply, where it was absorbed less by the mind and more by the heart.

[ 27 ] But then, in the 18th century, that same individuality evolved into the figure who has since become world-famous as the embodiment of Frenchness: Voltaire. We thus see this individuality reappear in Voltaire.

[ 28 ] If we now look at what Voltaire—before he became Voltaire—went through, based on his earlier incarnations on Earth, during the life between death and a new birth, one finds that this individuality, in particular, further developed everything it had acquired through its North African studies—and through the Kabbalistic influence permeating those studies—in the Mars region during the second half of the life between death and a new birth. And with the transformation, the metamorphosis that can arise from the Mars region, Voltaire then entered the 18th century as Voltaire.

[ 29 ] And so I was able to cite him as an example of a karmic development that takes shape between death and a new birth, particularly in the Mars region.

[ 30 ] Mars makes everything it shapes—whether in the realm of physical, emotional, or intellectual virtues—aggressive. But not only aggressive, but also warlike. After all, the warlike nature—otherwise wars could not be waged—consists not only in advancing, but also in retreating. I believe this became clear enough during the World War.

[ 31 ] Take a look at Voltaire’s entire life: it is a life that cultivated intellectual prowess, yet at every turn, it was a life of advancement, of aggressiveness, and a life of retreat. At times he pressed forward almost recklessly; at other times, he retreated to the point of cowardice.

[ 32 ] It is much better to study such things using examples that can then be examined in terms of their impact on one’s life than through “theory”; that is why I cite such examples.

[ 33 ] When a person then — one must have grown considerably older for this than for what preceded it — looks back on his life during the period from the age of forty-nine to fifty-six with inspired insight, he comes to understand all that can be brought about in human beings by the beings of the Jupiter region (green) as they pass through life between death and a new birth.

[ 34 ] When one becomes acquainted with these beings of the Jupiter region, one actually gets a strange impression. At first, as a human being—one must, of course, be over fifty-six years old to have this impression—one is struck by the fact that there are such beings as those connected with the Jupiter region—I mean as a human being on Earth, not as a human being between death and rebirth, for in that state one is, after all, dealing with these beings. They are beings who have nothing to learn, because at the very moment they are formed—I cannot say “born”; you will soon see why—they are already formed as supremely wise beings. They are never stupid; they are never unwise; they are formed in the way that people on Earth often wish they could be formed: if they do not appreciate the benefit of education, they might perhaps wish to be born wise right away. But these beings on Jupiter are not born at all; rather, they arise from the entire Jupiter organism. Much as clouds form from the atmosphere here on Earth, these beings emerge from the entirety of Jupiter and come into being in such a way that, once they have emerged, they can actually be regarded as embodied wisdom. In the Jupiter region itself, they do not die, but rather they transform. For Jupiter is, in fact, weaving wisdom. For my sake, imagine that you are looking down from the Rigi and see the weaving clouds there, and imagine that you have the impression that these are not static, watery clouds, but weaving wisdom itself—weaving thought-images that are, however, beings—then you have an impression of Jupiter.

[ 35 ] Now I would like to show you, once again using an example, how karma can be particularly shaped in this region of Jupiter.

[ 36 ] There was an inquisitive individual who, during the final days of Mexican culture, lived among the Mexican mystery cults—which had become utterly decadent and steeped in magic and superstition—an inquisitive individual who studied everything, absolutely everything, in great detail.

[ 37 ] This led me to recall that, a number of years ago, I met a peculiar man who, even now, continues to study—in a primitive way—the elements found in the superstitious, decadent notions surrounding the Mexican mysteries. That’s of no consequence, because anyone who studies that today is simply studying superstitious nonsense: it’s all decadent nowadays. But that person from the past whom I am referring to had already, even before the so-called “discovery of America”—when Mexican civilization was still flourishing but was already in decline as a civilization of the mysteries—become intimately acquainted with all of it there with frenzied zeal. Today, we know little more than the names and a few images when we speak of Toatl, Quetzalcoatl, Tetzcatlipoca—that is, of these entities of the Mexican mysteries. But this figure, who still knew full well that Toatl is an entity that weaves through all clouds as a kind of cosmic universal spirit, surges through all waters, shines in the rainbow, and lives in lightning and thunder—but who can also, under certain conditions, be invoked into consecrated water through ritual acts—this individual also knew how Quetzalcoatl was a kind of deity who could grasp human beings in their living state through their blood circulation and the workings of their breath. Thus, this individual absorbed the living essence of Mexican civilization.

[ 38 ] Later, she was reborn without an intermediate female stage. She was a man in Mexico, and was a man again when she was born, without an intermediate female stage. But in the life between death and a new birth, she passed through the supersensible region in such a way that, in her karmic development — which in turn was conditioned by earlier earthly lives, during which this personality was elsewhere than in Mexico — namely, what she had experienced in Mexico in terms of superstition, yet still richly imbued with elements from earlier civilizations, carried through the Jupiter region. What she experienced there passed through the Jupiter region and took on the form of wisdom—but a form of wisdom that is, in fact, automatic in relation to the wisdom a human being is meant to acquire through their own individuality. Wisdom, when it pours out—as it lives and weaves on Jupiter—during the karmic working out between death and a new birth, upon something that a human being has previously experienced in earthly life, allows wisdom to shine forth from all of this even on Earth. But this wisdom then depends on what one has experienced in earthly life.

[ 39 ] And the individuality I am referring to is the very same one that was later reborn as Eliphas Lévi in modern civilization. Eliphas Lévi thus lived out his previous earthly life within Mexican culture and passed through the region of Jupiter’s wisdom. There, this decadent Mexican culture was, so to speak, worked through once again, and if you read Eliphas Lévi’s books today, you will find something profoundly wise poured out over something extraordinarily primitive. Those who can penetrate such things will then say: “Pure Jupiter, but an inferior Jupiter.”

[ 40 ] And if one can now—since I am permitted to speak of these things—survey the course of life from the age of fifty-six to sixty-three, you see, one is already touching the matter with the tip of one’s nose (blue); then one looks into those effects that emanate upon the human being between death and a new birth from Saturn, from the Saturn beings. That is an even more surprising sight, a disconcerting sight, and actually already a sight that causes pain.

[ 41 ] Those beings associated with Saturn are those who, by their very nature, do not concern themselves with what they are currently doing; they do so, as it were, entirely unconsciously, under the influence of much higher divine beings, into whose bosom they have entered upon reaching maturity. But as soon as they have done something, it remains as a memory with a tremendously powerful effect.

[ 42 ] Just put yourself in this situation for a moment: Whatever you do—I don’t want to list specific professions—but imagine this: Whatever you do, you don’t even notice it while you’re doing it, but as soon as you’ve done it, it stands there before your vivid memory like an incredibly vivid image. So, for my sake, imagine a singer: He sings, but he is unaware of it; he is simply being used by the gods to sing. Imagine a large auditorium listening: He is completely unaware of it while he sings; none of them know anything—neither about themselves nor about what they are experiencing. The moment the concert is over, the whole thing is there and doesn’t go away—it remains, forming the substance of life. That is who you are then. On Saturn, you are nothing but the past.

[ 43 ] It’s just like when you, as a human being, are walking on Earth: you think to yourself, “I’m walking,” and you don’t notice anything about yourself when you look at yourself; but when you’ve taken one more step, there stands a little snowman representing who you were just a moment ago. Now you’re still unaware of it; you keep walking: behind you stands another little snowman. This goes on and on, following you, and you say “I” to all these little snowmen. If you now translate this into the spiritual realm, you have the essence of the Saturn beings. And it is with these beings—who thus live entirely in the past with their very being—that human beings also have to do between their death and a new birth. And there may be people who, particularly in the working out of their karma, have to deal with these Saturn beings.

[ 44 ] The fate of such beings can only be understood by looking back at the period of their existence that lies between the ages of fifty-six and sixty-three. I would also like to give you an example here so that you can see how the events that occur karmically in a human life point back to what takes place in the supersensible realm between death and a new birth.

[ 45 ] Not too long ago, I referred you to what took place in the admirable, yet also difficult-to-access—because they repel one, as I said at the time—Hybernian Mysteries, and how magnificent was what the Hybernian Mysteries of Ireland had to offer. I explained there how, after having experienced all the doubts and uncertainties of life, a person was led before two statues. One statue was made of a material that was completely elastic, and one had to keep dabbing and touching it. This made an incredibly horrifying, spine-chilling impression, once holes had been drilled into the statue: it was as if one were constantly—which is indeed a terrible thing for a sensitive person—cutting into living flesh—I cannot say into a corpse, but into living flesh. That was one aspect.

[ 46 ] The other was the statue, which retained everything that was imprinted on it and was only then, in the interval between two demonstrations for the initiate, replenished and repaired.

[ 47 ] Now I will describe to you all the magnificent things that the people who were initiated into the Mysteries of Hybernia experienced—both in relation to the microcosm, the human being itself, and in relation to the greater world, the macrocosm. These were great, overwhelming impressions—impressions of indescribable magnitude.

[ 48 ] One of those who participated with particular inner zeal and who attained a high degree of initiation into these Hybernian Mysteries—and who, following his earlier earthly lives, which in turn had created the conditions for this earthly life he lived through in the Hybernian Mysteries to unfold in precisely this way—had to pass through the Saturn region in particular. These were, after all, experiences of indescribable magnitude; I showed you at the time, when I described these things to you, how the Hyberian Mysteries played a part in the spiritual perception of the Mystery of Golgotha, without having any physical-spatial connection to that Mystery of Golgotha. One of those who experienced all of this with particularly intense feeling was then reborn into our civilization.

[ 49 ] Now imagine what this person was doing as his last karma was being processed in the Saturn region. Everything was revealed to him in the light of the past. He beheld what he had experienced in the Hybernian Mysteries in the light that shone upon him as the Saturn beings cast a light over all that lies far in the past—awakening within him magnificent images of pre-earthly times, even of the lunar and solar regions.

[ 50 ] When he was reborn, what had previously been—so to speak—the nuance, the color of the past before his earthly incarnation, transformed for him into powerful, idealistic—yet visionarily idealistic—images that shone into the future, images that then emerged in the height of Romanticism.

[ 51 ] In short, this individuality, once initiated into the Hybernian Mysteries, has been reborn into our time—that is, in the broader sense, into our time—as Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo’s life, in its romanticism and in the very way it is structured, reveals the unfolding of karma in the Saturn region.

[ 52 ] These are brief insights into the nature of karma and how it is formed. As I said, the best way to understand them is through examples. For the way in which such karma—as in the cases of Voltaire, Eliphas Levi, and Victor Hugo—was worked out is precisely what most interestingly and intensely leads one to an understanding of the connection between a person’s own being and the macrocosmic spiritual being in the process of karma’s development between death and a new birth.