Lectures to Priests: The Apocalypse
GA 346
Dornach, 10 September 1924
Lecture VI
When someone became initiated in the ancient mysteries, one of the first things he experienced there was that his thoughts and his whole human soul mood were directed towards the significance of the cycles of world civilization which are based on the number seven. And we see a clear reflection of what arises from this initiation principle in the Apocalypse. The number seven is present in the construction, composition and content of the Apocalypse in a great variety of ways.
Now of course what is connected with this number seven was not connected with it in the external way that one usually imagines today, but one initiated the person concerned into the working and weaving of numbers in general. Now I would like to draw your attention to something which I explained over there in a quite different course on speech formation.
There I had to explain how an experience of speech sounds is possible, and that mankind has lost its ability to experience them. Just place the way elements of the creative word are given through these experiences of speech sounds and the way that the most manifold and wonderful content and even a whole world content can be given through combinations of about 32 sound elements before your souls. Now try to imagine what things were like at such a time—and there were times when something like this was a reality for mankind—a time that lived with these 32 elements in a very active way and which felt how wonderful it was to be able to shape a world out of this experience of 32 speech sounds. One really felt that something spiritual was weaving in speech formation and in the pictorial shaping of words when one spoke; one experienced that gods were living in the speech sounds.
If you take our 32 speech sounds, it will be easy for you to see that about 24 of them are consonants and that about 7 of them are vowels. Of course these things are always approximate, but you can now let some light from the beginning of John's gospel “In the beginning was the word” fall on that Apocalyptic Imagination of an Alpha and Omega surrounded by seven angels or vowels, and by 24 elders or consonants. One felt that the secret of the universe weaved and lived in what one intoned in holy cultic language in the way that I already explained to you. And when one celebrated a religious rite one felt the presence of the world's content which lived powerfully in this symbolic picture.
Mankind must again get a feeling for where the gods were located from the viewpoint of mystery wisdom. They weren't sought in the remote transcendental places one thinks of today. One sought their bodies in things like speech sounds; and when people spoke about the cosmic, word, they were speaking about the things which really weave through the world and which men participate in with their speech.
The same applies to numbers. Our present idea about numbers is very abstract, by comparison with the kind of thinking which still holds sway in the Apocalypse. Now you see, if one goes back to the first Christian centuries one finds that a few people have a certain understanding for something like the Apocalypse, because they still felt what the secret of numbers is and because they still experienced the peculiar proportions which are connected with a division into a series of numbers.
People definitely did not look upon a series of numbers as a kind of joining of one more unit to the previous number, but one experienced what is present in three and in four, namely, the closed nature of three, the open nature of four, and the five which is related to the human being. One felt something divine in numbers, just as one found something divine in speech sounds and letters.
When someone in the ancient mysteries had reached the point where he was initiated into this secret of numbers, it was his duty to think, feel and sense in accordance with this secret of numbers. Just think what this means. In music we have an octave of seven tones—for the eighth is the same as the first, in the rainbow 7 colors, and the number 7 is also present in other things in nature. Just suppose that it would occur to Nature to have a different arrangement in the rainbow,—the whole universe would be thrown into confusion; or suppose one would divide up the musical scale in a different way,—the music would become unbearable, and so on.
However, since this secret of numbers is also in man's soul being—there where the lawfulness is right—, just as the course of nature is in it, the candidate for initiation was told that he shouldn't toss his thoughts back and forth arbitrarily anymore after his initiation, but that it was his duty to think inwardly in numbers, just as Nature thinks in numbers; he was told to experience how the mystery of numbers weaves and lives in all beings and processes.
Now the Apocalypse was written at a time when such an insertion of man into the cosmic secret of a 7 or 12 or 24 or 3 was absolutely valid. Since the beginning of our consciousness soul age, that is, since the first third of the 15th century, we are running into things which are similar to those which took place before the time in which the number 7 was strictly valid, so that displacements in the number 7 are gradually appearing. We are no longer in the fortunate position of experiencing an evolution which occurs exactly according to the number 7 We are already in that evolutionary stage of the earth where irregularities are beginning with respect to the secret of numbers, so that the secret of numbers has acquired a new significance for us. If we enlighten ourselves through the secret of numbers which exists in documents like the Apocalypse, we find that we gradually become able to grasp what is increasingly occurring outside the secret of numbers with our senses. And so in a certain sense, we're living our way out of the secret of numbers. But we have to find out what it is, so that we can use it in the forms which are suitable for the earthly human events which are to be guided by the priesthood in the religious sphere.
Although I'm assuming this, I can nevertheless speak about certain phenomena as if they were occurring in accordance with the secret of numbers, because world events will probably only emerge from the secret of numbers slowly, as they move into a mode which is not in accordance with numbers. In any case, in the ancient mysteries people thought in terms of larger, smaller and very, small cycles of seven.
Thus we have seen the continuation of old cultures and the beginning of new cultural periods in the 7 communities or churches, which were also real, concrete formations on earth. On the other hand, we have a smaller cycle, and the Apocalypse helps us to understand this in a certain way. Just consider what this smaller cycle consists of.
If we look back to the time in which the Mystery of Golgotha took place upon earth, we see that Oriphiel, the archangel who gets most of his impulses from Saturn, was ruling human spiritual development. Then we come into an age where Anael is the ruling archangel, then to the age of Zachariel, then we come to the age of Raphael, then of Samael, of Gabriel and into the present Michael age; we have the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh ages; so that we're in the seventh age of this smaller cycle within our fifth larger cycle.
If we wanted to write what they wrote in ancient times in a modern form, we would have to say that we are living in the 5/7 age, that is, we're in a larger, fifth cycle, and we're also in a seventh cycle which intersects this. A seventh cycle signifies an end condition. It was preceded by the sixth Gabriel cycle. A great deal is always decided in a sixth cycle; the end is prepared, and the previous age still works into this sixth cycle. The Michael cycle begins about 1879, the Gabriel cycle begins about 1471. Before that was the fifth Samael cycle, and this archangel gets his impulses from Mars.
The archangel of the fifth smaller cycle was reigning when the fifth post Atlantean epoch began. However, he had already been reigning for 3 to 4 centuries in this fifth archangel cycle when he ushered in the fifth post Atlantean cycle. Thus the small cycle overleaps the beginning of the large cycle. However, this means that the large cycles are brought about by spirits in the middle hierarchies; the third hierarchy, which includes the archangels, are the servants of the higher hierarchies. But the law of numbers works in such a way that the fifth archangel's main activity coincides with that of a being from a higher hierarchy who is also connected with the number five at the beginning of the fifth cycle.
It's been a relatively long time since anyone has spoken about these things, but they were discussed over a period which is longer than most people think. These secrets were discussed in places like the School of Chartres in the 12th century. They still had an apocalyptic language then, for the latter is always one which looks upon the universe from the perspective or point of view of numbers, and also from other viewpoints.
When Plato says that God geometrizes and mathematizes he doesn't mean our rather abstract geometry or mathematics, but that deep experience which people in ancient times had in connection with forms and numbers. And although it is ridiculed by materialism, one can see everywhere that the law of seven also applies to organic life. One will find that the law of seven is at work in the time it takes for larvae and butterflies to develop and crawl out, and in the development of certain diseases, and in many other things. These initiates were told that numbers are something which arise out of the nature of things, and this helped them to see the way things really are.
For one really becomes attentive to things if one has to tell oneself that the archangel who stands in the number five spot helps to begin the fifth post Atlantean age with Mars forces. Everyone knows that there is something warlike about Mars. If we look at the successive cultural periods, we see that they are separated by important events.
If we look back at the last big event which separates the Atlantean age from the present age which is now in its fifth cultural period, we have what is known as the ice age or flood between the two the sinking of Atlantis and the rising of new continents.
We are living in the fifth post Atlantean period, a sixth one will follow and a seventh one will follow. The catastrophe which then separates us from the next large period which will come the fifth from the sixth period will not just be an external event in nature like the ice age or flood was. This separation of the fifth from the sixth period will become manifest in a more moral way. As I have often mentioned, a war of all against all or a moral catastrophe will separate the fifth from the large sixth earth period.
Of course, this will also be connected with events in nature, but the latter will be less important. It is introduced by what comes from Mars through Samael, the spirit of conflict, when warlike elements for initiation were brought from the spiritual world. At the beginning of our fifth, smaller consciousness soul age we have a preview of the way our larger age will end after our fifth cultural epoch has been followed by the sixth and seventh ones.
If we listen to what people who still knew something about the secret events which stand behind the public ones said around the beginning of the 15th century when Samael was reigning under the influence of Mars we will get an inkling of the way our large epoch will end. One finds one's way into apocalyptic thinking if one connects numbers with events. If one learns to look at the world in an apocalyptic way, one will, as it were, be able to read the apocalyptic universe, and one will find that countless secrets are revealed to one.
Now consider the fact that the small Michael cycle is in our fifth post Atlantean cultural epoch and in the larger fifth earth period. Let's take a look at what this means.
We are living in the post Atlantean epoch or in the fifth large earth period. This fifth epoch has in a way strongly separated men from the world of the gods. Atlantean men still felt that they were permeated by God; they felt that they were like a covering for the godhead, and not like individual human beings. Atlantean men felt that the godhead existed, but not individual human beings.
The main thing that our epoch is for is to make men independent and to separate him from the godhead, and this has been happening slowly and gradually for four cultural periods. It was happening slowly in the ancient Indian cultural epoch, and one could still see the after effects of this in the Ephesian mysteries. During, the ancient Indian cultural age men felt that they were still almost entirely embedded in the godhead. They separated themselves from it considerably during the ancient Persian period. They were relatively independent in the third, so that they already felt death approaching from a distance. Death was felt to such an extent during the Græco-Roman cultural period that it gave rise to that well known saying, “It's better to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of the shades.”
Now that we're gradually supposed to have death beside us as a companion in the fifth post Atlantean cultural age, as I said yesterday, we will need moral strength in order to bear this continual presence of death. In the immediate present and in the age where the consciousness soul and the accompaniment by death are beginning for us, it is important that this coincides with the time of Michael's reign—a reign that signifies an end in a certain sense and a kind of an attainment of perfection; or decadence and perfection at the same time.
At the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, Michael, who lived in the sun and who was the most important servant of the Christ spirit in the sun, experienced this event from the other side.
Humanity on earth experienced the Mystery of Golgotha in such a way that it saw the Christ approaching, whereas Michael and his hosts, who were still in the sun at that time experienced it in such a way that they had to say farewell to the Christ.
One must let the two poles of this event which surpassed everything else which was happening in the cosmos work upon one's soul,—the hosanna on earth when Christ arrived there, and his departure from Michael's hosts up above, for they belong together.
But Michael has undergone a great metamorphosis in our age, and the beginning of his reign signifies a following of Christ down to the earth, and in the future it will signify a walking before Christ's deeds upon earth. And then one will begin to understand again what “Michael walks before the Lord” means.
In the Old Testament the initiates of Asia said that Michael went before Jehova, just as a man's face precedes him as his foremost part; for there was a Michael reign before Oriphiel's. They spoke of Michael as the countenance of Jehova. We must learn to speak of Michael as the countenance of Christ, but we're in a different age now. Certain things must attain the greatest perfection; we must, as it were, learn to make things productive which couldn't be productive before.
Let's take the seven churches. If we assign one of them which we can do to the period which went parallel with the Christ event and the beginnings of Christianity, which was still underway when the Apocalypse was being written—if we take this first time period, it is represented by the church in Ephesus. And then we see that the people in this Ephesian community were the ones whose first love united them with Christianity around the time the Apocalypse was written and also afterwards. All of this should be understood out of the secret of numbers.
After this we find the age of Anael, who draws his forces from Venus. We find the great deeds of love which spread Christianity during this age, countless deeds of love, namely those deeds of love which live in the footsteps of the Irish monks as they spread Christianity in Europe. And we find that love is also the predominant thing in the rest of Christian life during this reign of Anael.
The reign of Zachariel follows; he draws his forces from Jupiter, mainly forces of wisdom, but forces which could be but little understood during this age. Instead of a real Jupiter reign, the reign of the archangels began to retire more into the background at this time. In a way humanity no longer reached up to the region of Jupiter, and they denied the Jupiter spirit. The significant eighth Council of Constantinople, which took away a great deal from the evolution of humanity and which eliminated the trichotomy, took place during this period.
Then comes the age in which events occur that are more or less ignored in outer history. After the age of Zachariel is over, humanity's soul is basically sick. Humanity is very sick, and pathogenic substances spread from east to west. Terrible pathogenic substances exist which are dangerous to Christianity, because the period of Jupiter wisdom has ended. These pathogenic substances came from materialism, for it was this which pressed into Christianity, and it thereby took hold of the whole Christian culture.
However, something strange stands behind all of what is only present on earth as a projection. The age of Raphael, the doctor among the archangels, stands behind the sick things which were left behind from the age of Zachariel. This was the age which began in the 10th and 11th centuries, where things were healed behind the scenes not in an outwardly manifest way but mostly within. Namely, much was healed in connection with the rescue of certain moral qualities which were on the verge of being ruined; a great deal was healed in this way. But in contrast to the pathological substances which were brought to Europe by Mohammedanism, something was summoned which was permeated by the Christian principle and which had to come from the Orient in a different form. One must become aware of the great will impulse which was behind the crusades. One of the causes of the crusades was the principle to heal mankind, to cure it of the materialism which was threatening it from both Mohammedanism and Roman Catholicism. And Raphael, the doctor among the archangels, is basically the inspirer of those who prepared mankind, to look for the part of the Orient towards which the crusades were directed. However, the crusades are in the fourth small cycle in the fourth post Atlantean age which was almost over. Here we are in the fourth smaller cycle in the fourth larger one which is the fourth Græco-Roman age. But this fourth, larger period was the one which was chosen to include the Mystery of Golgotha. The fourth, smaller cycle or Raphael cycle is closely connected with the basic structure, of the fourth, larger one. For we see how Raphael the archangel implements Christ's impulses as he inspires people to go on the crusades and to look fervently towards the Orient in order to find Christ's mystery there, and we see that a kind of spiritual atmosphere floats above the ground and above all the events. The people who could look behind the scenes at all at the time were really only separated by a thin spider's web from a directly adjacent world, just as we were only separated from it by a spider's web in the last third of the 19th century, when Michael became visibly active on earth.
Joachim of Floris, Alanus ab Insulis and other outstanding spirits in the Raphael age could see this activity of Raphael and this healing of humanity which was going on behind the scenes. This was the background for the age of pathogenic spiritual materials, which is confirmed by the fact that people began to really understand Luke's gospel of healing in this age. Thus if one looks at periods from a numerical point of view, one finds important things which can help one to interpret events.
This was followed by the Samael age, which gets its main impulses from Mars. Quarrelsome forces arise and mankind is inoculated with them. Five becomes opposed to four. This is the strange thing in transitions from four to five, that the five always becomes opposed to the four. If we go back to the ancient mysteries, where pupils or adepts were initiated into the secrets of numbers for a long time, we find that after a while pupils left their classes with a deep conviction which they formulated as follows: Now I know that five is the number which represents evil.
According to the secret of numbers, wherever five is at work in the universe, one has to do with the evil sphere; it opposes four and this gives rise to great decisions which enable one to go up to six in either a good or an evil way. Tomorrow we will dis cuss the extent to which this leads to concrete things, such as to the wisdom of the heart and of the human soul. I wanted to show you how one becomes able to describe events if one lets one's thoughts be guided by the thread of numbers.
Sechster Vortrag
[ 1 ] Wenn jemand in die alten Mysterien eingeweiht worden ist, so bestand das erste, was er erfahren sollte, darin, daß sein Sinn, seine ganze menschliche Seelenverfassung, hingelenkt wurde auf die Bedeutung des in der Siebenzahl verlaufenden Zyklus der Weltkulturentwickelung. Und wir sehen ja deutlich in der Apokalypse nachwirken dasjenige, was gerade aus dem Einweihungsprinzip der alten Mysterien heraus sich ergibt. Die Apokalypse hat diese Siebenzahl in der mannigfaltigsten Weise sowohl in ihrer Gliederung, in ihrer Komposition, wie auch in ihrem Inhalt. Nun handelt es sich darum, daß ja damals dasjenige, was mit dieser Siebenzahl verbunden worden ist, nicht in äußerlicher Weise mit ihr verbunden wurde, wie man sich das gewöhnlich heute vorstellt, sondern man weihte den Betreffenden ein in das Wirken und Weben der Zahlen überhaupt.
[ 2 ] Nun möchte ich Sie hier, meine lieben Freunde, auf etwas aufmerksam machen, was ich auseinandergesetzt habe drüben in ganz anderem Zusammenhang, in dem Kurs über Sprachwissenschaft. Da mußte ich auseinandersetzen, wie ein Erleben im Laute möglich ist, wie aber tatsächlich die Menschheit heute das Erleben im Laute verloren hat. Sie müssen nur sich einmal vor die Seele stellen, wie ja im Laute Elemente des gestaltenden und wesenden Wortes gegeben sind, und wie durch das Erleben dieser Laute der mannigfaltigste, ja der wundervollste Welteninhalt gestaltet werden kann durch die Kombination der etwa 32 Lautelemente. Versetzen Sie sich einmal in eine solche Zeit - und es gab ja Zeiten, wo der Menschheit das noch eine Realität war -, versetzen Sie sich in eine Zeit, welche ganz lebhaft weste in diesen Elementen der Laute und ganz lebhaft empfand das Wunderbare, das darin liegt, aus dem Erleben dieser 32 Lautelemente heraus eine Welt gestalten zu können. Man empfand wirklich in der Sprach-Gestaltung, in der bildenden Gestaltung des Wortes, das Weben eines Geistigen, das man miterlebt im Sprechen. Man erlebte, daß in den Lauten Götter leben.
[ 3 ] Wenn Sie diese 32 Laute nehmen, dann werden Sie sich leicht ausrechnen können, daß dabei etwa 24 Laute auf die Konsonanten und etwa sieben auf die Vokale kommen — natürlich sind die Dinge immer approximativ —, und Sie können jetzt im Sinne des Anfanges des Johannes-Evangeliums «Im Urbeginne war das Wort» ein Licht fallen lassen auf jenes Bild, das ja auch als apokalyptisches Bild gedacht werden kann: Das Alpha und das Omega ist umgeben von den sieben Engeln — den Vokalen - und von den 24 Ältesten - den Konsonanten. Und so empfand man auch, daß das Geheimnis des Weltenalls ganz in dem webte und lebte — mit der Bedeutung, die ich schon auseinandergesetzt habe -, was man in der heiligen Sprache des Kultus intonierte. Und man fühlte im Zelebrieren des Kultus die mächtige Anwesenheit desjenigen, was von dem Welteninhalt in diesem symbolischen Bilde war.
[ 4 ] Überhaupt muß wiederum von der Menschheit gefühlt werden, wo gerade von der Mysterienweisheit die Götter gesucht worden sind. Sie sind nicht in einem so Fernen, Transzendenten gesucht worden, wie man sich das heute vorstellt. Ihre Verleiblichung hat man in so etwas gesucht wie in den Lauten; und wenn man vom «Weltenwort» gesprochen hat, so hat man eben von demjenigen gesprochen, was wirklich durch die Welt webt und an dem der Mensch mit seiner Sprache teilnimmt.
[ 5 ] Ebenso ist es mit den Zahlen. Wir haben ja heute eine durch und durch abstrakte Vorstellung von den Zahlen, gemessen an einer solchen Vorstellungsart, wie sie noch in der Apokalypse waltet. Nun, sehen Sie, wenn man in die ersten christlichen Jahrhunderte zurückgeht, so findet man, daß damals deshalb ein gewisses Verständnis für so etwas wie die Apokalypse bei manchen Menschen da war, weil das Geheimnis der Zahl noch gefühlt wurde, weil noch erlebt wurde dieses eigentümliche Verhältnis in der Gliederung einer Zahlenreihe. Man hat durchaus nicht in dieser Weise wie heute die Zahlenreihe als ein Aneinanderfügen von Eins zu Eins genommen, sondern man hat erlebt, was da liegt in der Drei, in der Vier, man hat erlebt das geschlossene Wesen der Drei, das offene Wesen der Vier, das mit dem Menschen verwandte Wesen der Fünf. In der Zahl selbst fühlte man so ein Göttliches, wie man in den Buchstaben und Lauten ein Göttliches fand.
[ 6 ] Und wenn nun in den alten Mysterien der Mensch soweit war, daß er in dieses Zahlengeheimnis eingeweiht wurde, dann war es seine Verpflichtung, in dem Lauf dieser Zahlengeheimnisse zu denken, zu fühlen, zu empfinden. Denken Sie, was damit gegeben ist. Wir haben in der Musik sieben Töne. Die Oktave, der achte, ist ja wie der erste. Wir haben im Regenbogen sieben Farben. Wir haben auch in anderem in der Natur die Siebenzahl. Denken wir uns, meine lieben Freunde, der Natur fiele es ein, im Regenbogen eine andere Anordnung der Farben zu treffen; es würde das ganze Weltenall durcheinanderfallen. Oder in der Tonskala würde man eine andere Einteilung der Töne machen — die Musik würde unerträglich werden.
[ 7 ] Daß es auch im Menschenseelenwesen eine richtige GesetzmäRigkeit gibt, wie im Lauf der Natur selbst, darauf wurde der Einzuweihende hingewiesen, und daß er nun nach seiner Einweihung nicht mehr willkürlich seine Gedanken hin- und herzuwerfen habe, sondern verpflichtet ist, innerlich in der Zahl zu denken, innerlich zu erleben das Zahlengeheimnis, so wie es in allen Wesen und Vorgängen webt und lebt und so wie in der Natur die Zahl lebt.
[ 8 ] Aber die Apokalypse ist ja nun noch in einem Zeitalter verfaßt worden, in dem ein solches Hineinstellen des Menschen in das kosmische Geheimnis der Siebenzahl oder der Zwölf- oder der Vierundzwanzig- oder der Dreizahl eine absolute Gültigkeit hatte. Seit dem Beginn unseres Bewußtseinsseelenzeitalters, also seit dem ersten Drittel des 15. Jahrhunderts, kommt wieder das zur Geltung, was vor dem strikten Gelten der Siebenzahl war, und es kommen allmählich Verschiebungen in der Siebenzahl heraus. Wir sind nicht mehr in der glücklichen Lage, eine Evolution so zu erleben, daß sie genau in der Siebenzahl verläuft. Wir sind schon in demjenigen Entwickelungsstadium der Erde, wo gegenüber den Zahlengeheimnissen eine Unregelmäßigkeit beginnt, so daß für uns die Zahlengeheimnisse eine neue Bedeutung gewonnen haben.
[ 9 ] Wenn wir uns erbauen an den Zahlengeheimnissen, wie sie in solch einem Dokument wie der Apokalypse leben, so ist es für uns so, daß wir durch dieses Sicheinleben in einen solchen Stoff wie die. Apokalypse fähig werden, auch dasjenige, was immer mehr und mehr außerhalb der Zahlengeheimnisse verläuft, mit unseren Sinnen aufzufassen. Und so können wir sagen, wir leben uns in einer gewissen Weise heraus aus den Zahlengeheimnissen. Aber wir müssen sie uns aneignen, um sie in den Formen dann zu gebrauchen, wie es nunmehr dem menschlichen Geschehen auf der Erde entspricht und wie sie durch die Priesterschaft auf dem Gebiete des Religiösen zu behandeln sind.
[ 10 ] Indem ich dies voraussetze, darf ich jetzt über gewisse Erscheinungen doch noch so sprechen, als ob sie durchaus in Zahlengeheimnissen verliefen, denn in einem gewissen Sinne dürfte ja das Weltgeschehen langsam erst aus den Zahlengeheimnissen herauskommen und in eine freilich nicht in der Zahl verlaufende Art des Weltgeschehens hineinkommen. Das war die Art des Denkens in den alten Mysterien: große Zyklen zu sehen, die in der Siebenzahl verlaufen, und andere, kleinere und kleinste Zyklen zu sehen.
[ 11 ] So haben wir in den sieben Gemeinden, die gleichzeitig als konkrete wirkliche Bildungen auf der Erde vorhanden waren, den Fortbestand der alten Kulturen und das Eintreten der neuen Kulturperioden gesehen, aber auf der anderen Seite haben wir auch einen kleineren Zyklus, den man in einer gewissen Weise verstehen lernt durch die Apokalypse. Wie dieser kleinere Zyklus ist, meine lieben Freunde, das wollen wir jetzt bedenken.
[ 12 ] Wenn wir zurückblicken auf die Zeit, in der das Mysterium von Golgatha stattgefunden hat auf der Erde, so treffen wir gegenüber der geistigen Entwickelung der Menschen auch auf die Erzengelherrschaft des Oriphiel, desjenigen Erzengels, der vorzugsweise von den Saturnkräften seine Impulse erhält (Tafel 4). Wir kommen dann in ein Zeitalter hinein, das als regierenden
[ 13 ] Tafel 4 Erzengel Anael hat, dann in das Zeitalter des Zachariel, dann in das Zeitalter des Raphael, dann des Samael, des Gabriel und in das jetzige, das Zeitalter des Michael. Wir haben ein erstes, ein zweites, drittes, viertes, fünftes, sechstes und siebentes Zeitalter, so daß wir in bezug auf diesen kleineren Zyklus innerhalb unseres fünften großen Zyklus im siebenten Zeitalter sind. Wir leben in dem Zeitalter, von dem man, wenn man mit heutigen Formen schreiben wollte, sagen müßte: Wir leben in dem Zeitalter Fünf/Sieben, im fünften nachatlantischen Kulturzeitraum, dem fünften großen Zyklus der Menschheitsentwickelung, und in bezug auf eine andere Gliederung — die Epochen der Erzengelherrschaften -, die sich mit dieser durchkreuzt, leben wir im siebenten Zyklus.
[ 14 ] Ein siebenter Zyklus, meine lieben Freunde, bedeutet einen Endzustand. Dem jetzigen ging voran der sechste Zyklus, der Gabriel-Zyklus. In einem sechsten Zyklus entscheidet sich immer sehr viel; das Ende wird vorbereitet. Aber der letzte Zyklus, der vorherging, wirkt in diesen sechsten Zyklus noch hinein. Der Michael-Zyklus begann etwa 1879, der Gabriel-Zyklus etwa 1471. Vorher war der Zyklus des Samael, jenes Erzengels, welcher seine Impulse vom Mars empfängt; es war der fünfte Zyklus.
[ 15 ] Zu dem Zeitpunkt, in dem das fünfte nachatlantische Zeitalter beginnt, ist eben der Erzengel des fünften kleineren Zyklus an der Regierung. Er leitet aber schon durch drei bis vier Jahrhunderte vorher den Beginn dieses fünften nachatlantischen Zyklus während des fünften Erzengel-Zyklus ein. Es fällt also der kleine Zyklus mit dem Beginn des großen Zyklus zusammen. Das heißt aber nichts Geringeres als: Die großen Zyklen werden bewirkt von Geistern der mittleren Hierarchie. Die dritte Hierarchie, zu der auch die Erzengel gehören, sind die dienenden Glieder der höheren Hierarchien. Das Gesetz der Zahl wirkt also so, daß beim Beginn des fünften Zyklus der fünfte Erzengel in seiner Haupttätigkeitszeit zusammenfällt mit den wiederum in der Fünfzahl stehenden höheren Wesen aus einer höheren Hierarchie.
[ 16 ] Es ist verhältnismäßig lange her, daß von diesen Dingen geredet wurde, aber immerhin ist davon länger geredet worden in der Welt, als man gewöhnlich denkt. In solchen Stätten wie zum Beispiel der Schule von Chartres ist schon im 12. Jahrhundert von diesen Geheimnissen gesprochen worden. Damals gab es noch eine apokalyptische Sprache. Diese ist immer so, daß das Weltenall sozusagen in der Perspektive, im Aspekt der Zahl gesehen wird.
[ 17 ] Wenn Plato sagt: Gott mathematisiert, Gott geometrisiert —, so ist mit diesem göttlichen Geometrisieren oder Mathematisieren nicht unser bißchen abstrakte Geometrie oder Mathematik gemeint, sondern jenes tiefe Erleben, das die Alten gehabt haben den Formen und den Zahlen gegenüber. Und es wird ja heute verspottet von dem Materialismus, aber es ist überall sichtbar, daß auch im organischen Leben das Gesetz der Zahl Sieben walter. Man verfolge nur einmal in bezug auf die Zeit des Werdens das Auskriechen von Schmetterlingen und Larven oder die Entwickelung gewisser Krankheiten — überall wird man das Gesetz der Sieben waltend finden. Daß die Zahl etwas aus der Natur der Dinge Folgendes sei, das wurde den Eingeweihten klargemacht, und dadurch wurden sie hingewiesen darauf, zu sehen, wie die Dinge im Weltzusammenhange liegen.
[ 18 ] Denn wie merkt man auf, meine lieben Freunde, wenn man sich sagen muß: Der in der Zahl Fünf stehende Erzengel beginnt die Zeit seiner Herrschaft im fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum mit aus den Marskräften herauskommenden Kräften. Wird ein Zeitalter mit Marskräften begonnen — das wird ja schon in der trivialen Vorstellung angedeutet -, so liegt etwas Kriegerisches darin.
[ 19 ] Wenn wir auf die aufeinanderfolgenden Kulturperioden sehen, so sind sie abgeteilt durch bedeutsame Ereignisse. Und wenn wir zurückblicken auf das bedeutsame Ereignis, das den vorigen, den atlantischen Zeitraum von dem jetzigen, dem nachatlantischen Zeitraum trennt, der als der fünfte Zeitraum in seiner fünften Kulturperiode steht, so haben wir als Grenze zwischen beiden die als «Sintflut» bekannte Eiszeitperiode, den Untergang der alten Atlantis, und das Aufsteigen neuer Weltteile. Wir leben in der fünften nachatlantischen Periode, eine sechste und eine siebente werden folgen. Die Katastrophe, die uns trennt von der nächsten großen Periode, die kommen wird — nach der fünften die sechste und siebente Periode -, die wird dann nicht bloß ein so äußerliches Naturereignis sein, wie die Eiszeit eines war und wie alles das war, was durch die Erzählungen von der Sintflut angedeutet ist, sondern es wird sich die Scheidung der fünften von der sechsten Periode mehr zeigen auf dem moralischen Felde. Ein Krieg aller gegen alle, auf den ich schon öfter hingedeutet habe, wird als eine moralische Katastrophe die fünfte von der sechsten großen Erdperiode trennen, allerdings verbunden mit Naturereignissen, aber die Naturereignisse werden mehr zurücktreten.
[ 20 ] Die fünfte Kulturperiode wurde eingeleitet von dem, was vom Mars kommt durch Samael, den Streitgeist, indem Streitelemente aus der geistigen Welt heruntergeholt wurden. Und im Beginn des Bewußtseinsseelenzeitalters sehen wir auch in unserem kleineren Zyklus, wie unser fünftes Zeitalter in sich etwas enthält von der Vorbedeutung, der prophetischen Vorbedeutung dessen, womit das große Zeitalter abschließen wird, nachdem auf den fünften der sechste und siebente Kulturzeitraum gefolgt sein werden.
[ 1 ] Wenn man diejenigen Stimmen vernimmt, die herrühren von Menschen an der Scheide des 14. zum 15. Jahrhundert, die noch etwas wußten von den geheimen Vorgängen, die hinter den offenbaren stehen, dann, meine lieben Freunde, finden wir schon in dieser Zeit, gerade in dieser Zeit der Marsregierung des Samael, Hinweise auf das Ende unseres großen Zeitalters, wenn sie auch nur in kleinen Andeutungen bestehen. Wenn man so die Zahl in Zusammenhang bringt mit dem, was geschieht, dann kommt man in das apokalyptische Denken hinein, dann lernt man gewissermaßen apokalyptisch das Weltall lesen, und man wird überall finden, daß sich einem unzählige Geheimnisse enthüllen, wenn man in dieser Art apokalyptisch die Welt betrachten lernt.
[ 21 ] Nun bedenken wir, wie unser Zeitalter in dem kleinen Michael-Zyklus steht und in dem fünften nachatlantischen Kulturzeitraum, im fünften großen Erdenzeitalter. Wir wollen untersuchen, was das bedeutet. Wir leben im fünften großen Erdenzeitalter, in der nachatlantischen Periode. Dieses fünfte Zeitalter ist dasjenige, das den Menschen in einem gewissen starken Sinne losgelöst hat von der göttlichen Welt. Die atlantischen Menschen waren durchaus noch so, daß sie sich Gott-durchdrungen fühlten, eigentlich nicht als einzelne Menschen sich fühlten, sondern wie in einer Umkleidung der Gottheit. Die Gottheit ist da, nicht der einzelne Mensch; so fühlte sich der atlantische Mensch.
[ 22 ] Unser Zeitalter ist im wesentlichen dazu da, den Menschen auf sich selbst zu stellen, ihn abzulösen von der Gottheit, und das ist ja durch vier Kulturperioden hindurch geschehen, langsam und allmählich. Das begann langsam in der altindischen Kulturperiode, die man wirklich noch nachfühlen konnte in den Mysterien von Ephesus. In der altindischen Kulturperiode fühlte sich der Mensch noch fast ganz darin in der Gottheit. Stark löste er sich los in der Zeit gegen die urpersische Periode hin. Verhältnismäßig weit ist er losgelöst in der dritten Periode, so daß er den Tod schon empfand als sich von der Ferne annähernd. In der griechisch-lateinischen Kulturperiode wird der Tod so weit empfunden, daß aus dieser Zeit das bekannte Wort herrührt: «Lieber ein Bettler in der Oberwelt als ein König im Reiche der Schatten.»
[ 23 ] Jetzt, wo die fünfte nachatlantische Kulturperiode — wie ich gestern sagte — dazu ausersehen ist, den Tod wie einen Begleiter allmählich mehr und mehr neben sich zu haben, werden wir moralische Kraft brauchen, um diese immerwährende Gegenwart des Todes zu ertragen. Da ist es wichtig für uns, daß gerade in unserer unmittelbaren Gegenwart zusammenfallen dieses Zeitalter, wo die Bewußtseinsseele und damit die ständige Begleitung des Menschen durch den Tod hereinbricht, und die Zeit der Herrschaft des Michael, jener Erzengelherrschaft, die in gewissem Sinne eine Art Ende, eine Art Vollkommenheitsziel bedeutet, aber Dekadenz und Vollkommenheit zugleich.
[ 24 ] Michael, jener Geist, der in der Sonne lebte, der der wichtigste Diener des Christus-Geistes in der Sonne war, der erlebte zur Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha dieses von der anderen Seite her. Die Menschheit auf der Erde hat das Mysterium von Golgatha so erlebt, daß sie den Christus ankommen sah. Michael und die Seinen, die damals noch in der Sonne waren, haben es so erlebt, daß sie Abschied nehmen mußten von dem Christus.
[ 25 ] Nun, meine lieben Freunde, man muß schon auf seine Seele wirken lassen die beiden Pole dieses alles überragenden kosmischen Ereignisses: das Hosianna auf der Erde, die Ankunft des Christus auf der Erde, und den Abschied von den Scharen des Michael oben auf der Sonne. Das gehört zusammen.
[ 26 ] Aber Michael erlebte eine große Metamorphose gerade in unserem Zeitalter. Sein Regierungsbeginn bedeutet ein Dem-Christus-Nachziehen auf die Erde herunter und wird in der Zukunft bedeuten ein Voranschreiten vor den Taten des Christus auf Erden. Man wird wiederum verstehen lernen, was es heißt: Michael geht vor dem Herrn her. Wie im Alten Testament - vor Oriphiel war ja auch eine Michaelzeit - die Eingeweihten Asiens drüben davon gesprochen haben, daß Michael vor Jahwe einhergeht, wie das Antlitz als vorderster Teil eines Menschen vor ihm hergeht, so sprachen sie von Michael als dem Antlitz Jahwes, und so müssen wir lernen von Michael zu sprechen als von dem Antlitz Christi. Aber es ist ein anderes Zeitalter. Gewisse Dinge müssen zur höchsten Vollkommenheit kommen. Ja, wir müssen in einer gewissen Weise lernen, etwas fruchtbar zu machen, was bisher noch nicht fruchtbar sein konnte.
[ 27 ] Nehmen wir einmal die sieben Gemeinden in der Apokalypse. Wenn wir sie zuteilen — was wir auch können — den Herrschaftszeiten der Erzengel, und wenn wir den ersten Zeitraum nehmen, der dem Christus-Ereignis und der Entstehung des Christentums parallel ging und der noch andauerte, als die Apokalypse verfaßt wurde, dann wird er uns repräsentiert durch die Gemeinde von Ephesus. Wir können auch nach der Apokalypse in dieser Gemeinde von Ephesus diejenige sehen, die in erster Liebe mit dem Christentum verbunden war. Das alles ist aber aus dem Geheimnis der Zahl heraus zu verstehen.
[ 28 ] Wir finden darauffolgend das Zeitalter des Anael, der seine Kräfte aus der Venus zieht. In diesem Zeitalter finden wir die großen Liebestaten, die für die Ausbreitung des Christentums geschahen, unzählige Liebestaten, namentlich diejenigen, die noch in den Spuren der irischen Mönche leben, die das Christentum verbreiteten in Europa. Aber wir finden auch im übrigen Leben des Christentums die Liebe als das Präponderierende unter dieser Herrschaft des Anael.
[ 29 ] Es folgt die Herrschaft des Zachariel, der seine Kräfte aus dem Jupiter zieht, Weisheitskräfte vorzugsweise, Kräfte, welche aber in diesem Zeitalter wenig verstanden werden konnten. Und statt einer eigentlichen Jupiterherrschaft beginnt schon damals die Erzengelherrschaft sich mehr in den Hintergrund zu ziehen. Die Menschheit ist gewissermaßen nicht mehr heranreichend bis zu der Region des Jupiter und verleugnet den Jupitergeist. Das bedeutsame, von der Entwickelung der Menschheit zunächst viel hinwegnehmende Konzil von Konstantinopel, das achte, das die Trichotomie ausgeschaltet hat, fällt in diese Zeit.
[ 30 ] Dann kommt das Zeitalter, in dem etwas tätig ist, was in der äußeren Geschichte wenig beachtet wird. Die Menschheit ist, als das Zeitalter des Zachariel vorbei ist, im Grunde genommen krank an der Seele. Die Menschheit ist recht krank, und Krankheitsstoffe verbreiten sich von Ost nach West, furchtbare Krankheitsstoffe, die dem Christentum gefährlich werden, weil sie vom Materialismus herrühren, denn er ist es ja, der sich hereindrängte in das Christentum; und weil ja die Periode der Jupiterweisheit abgeschlossen ist, war es möglich, daß der Materialismus innerhalb der christlichen Kultur sich geltend machen konnte.
[ 31 ] Aber hinter all dem steht etwas Merkwürdiges, das auf der Erde nur als Projektion vorhanden ist. Hinter all dem, was wie etwas Krankes zurückgelassen ist, steht etwas Merkwürdiges in dem Zeitalter, das auf Zachariel folgt seit dem 10., 11. Jahrhundert, dem Zeitalter des Raphael, des Arztes unter den Erzengeln. Es war das Zeitalter, in dem hinter den Kulissen der Weltgeschichte geheilt wurde, nicht offenbar im Äußeren, aber viel im Innern; viel wurde namentlich geheilt in bezug auf die Rettung gewisser moralischer Qualitäten, die damals daran waren zugrundezugehen. Gegenüber dem, was durch den Mohammedanismus an Krankheitsstoffen nach Europa gebracht worden ist, wurde dasjenige heraufgerufen, was in einer anderen Form, durchdrungen von dem christlichen Prinzip, vom Orient kommen mußte. Man muß hinter den Kreuzzügen den Willen suchen - und im Prinzip liegt da die Ursache der Kreuzzüge —, die Menschheit zu heilen, zu heilen von dem Materialismus, der sowohl vom Mohammedanismus wie vom römischen Katholizismus drohte. Und Raphael, der Arzt unter den Erzengeln, ist im Grunde genommen der Inspirator derjenigen, die zuerst die Menschheit präpariert haben, jenen Orient zu suchen, nach dem ja die Kreuzzüge sich richteten.
[ 32 ] Da aber, meine lieben Freunde, stehen wir ja in dem vierten kleineren Zyklus innerhalb des eben ablaufenden vierten nachatlantischen Zeitalters, innerhalb des vierten größeren, des griechisch-lateinischen Zeitalters. Aber dieser vierte größere Zeitraum war ja ausersehen, in sich das Mysterium von Golgatha zu beschließen. Der vierte kleinere Zyklus, der Raphael-Zyklus, ist intim verwandt mit der ganzen Grundstruktur des vierten größeren. Denn wir sehen, wie der Erzengel Raphael, indem er die Menschen inspiriert zu den Kreuzzügen, zu der gewaltigen Entfaltung ihres Blickes nach dem Orient hinüber, um das Mysterium Christi im Orient zu finden, wie Raphael die Impulse Christi besorgt, wie also gewissermaßen eine Atmosphäre spiritueller Art schwebt über dem Erdboden, über allem Geschehen. Diejenigen, die damals nur ein wenig hinter die Kulissen des äußeren Geschehens schauen konnten, waren eigentlich nur durch ein Spinnwebchen von der unmittelbar anstoßenden geistigen Welt getrennt, so wie auch wir nur durch ein Spinnwebchen getrennt waren davon, als im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts Michael auf Erden sichtbar wirksam wurde.
[ 33 ] Es lebten damals in jenem Raphael-Zeitalter hervorragende Geister, zu denen zum Beispiel Joachim von Floris und Alanus ab Insulis gehörten. Sie sahen hinein in dieses Wirken Raphaels, in dieses hinter den Kulissen des äußeren Geschehens vor sich gehende Heilen der Menschheit. Das war der Hintergrund für das Zeitalter des substantiell kranken Geistigen, was auch dadurch bezeugt wird, daß in diesem Zeitalter ganz besonders damit angefangen wurde, das Lukas-Evangelium, das Evangelium der Heilung, zu verstehen. So findet man, wenn man die Zeit nach dem Geheimnis der Zahl anschaut, Gewichtiges zum Verständnis der Bedeutung der Ereignisse.
[ 34 ] Es folgte das Samael-Zeitalter, das aus dem Mars seine Grundimpulse empfängt. Streit-Kräfte beginnen, sie werden der Menschheit eingeimpft. Die Fünf gerät in Opposition zur Vier. Das ist immer das Eigentümliche beim Übergang von der Vier zur Fünf, daß die Fünf immer in Opposition gegen die Vier kommt. Gehen wir in die alten Mysterien zurück, in denen durch lange Zeit hindurch die Schüler, die Adepten, eingeweiht wurden in das Geheimnis der Zahlen, so finden wir da in einer gewissen Zeit, wie diese Schüler mit einer tiefen Überzeugung aus ihrem Unterricht herausgehen, einer Überzeugung, die sie in die Worte kleideten: Nun kenne ich die Zahl des Bösen, das ist die Zahl Fünf. — Überall, wo im Weltenall nach dem Zahlengeheimnis die Zahl Fünf waltet, hat man es mit der Welt des Bösen zu tun; sie lehnt sich auf gegen die Vier, und es folgen große Entscheidungen, die dahin gehen, entweder im Guten oder im Bösen zur Sechs hinaufzukommen.
[ 35 ] Doch inwiefern eben das immer mehr in Konkretes hineinführt, in die Weisheit des Herzens und der Menschenseele, davon morgen weiter. Ich wollte Ihnen zeigen, wie man an dem Faden der Zahl hineinkommen kann in das Betrachten der Ereignisse.
Sixth Lecture
[ 1 ] When someone was initiated into the ancient mysteries, the first thing they had to learn was that their mind, their entire human soul, was directed toward the significance of the sevenfold cycle of world cultural development. And we can clearly see in the Apocalypse the after-effects of what arises from the principle of initiation in the ancient mysteries. The Apocalypse has this number seven in the most manifold ways, both in its structure, in its composition, and in its content. Now, the point is that at that time, what was connected with this number seven was not connected with it in an external way, as one usually imagines today, but rather the person concerned was initiated into the working and weaving of numbers in general.
[ 2 ] Now, my dear friends, I would like to draw your attention to something that I have discussed in a completely different context, in the course on linguistics. There I had to explain how it is possible to experience sound, but how humanity today has actually lost this experience of sound. You only have to imagine how elements of the formative and essential word are present in sound, and how, through the experience of these sounds, the most diverse, indeed the most wonderful content of the world can be formed through the combination of the approximately 32 sound elements. Put yourself in such a time — and there were times when this was still a reality for humanity — put yourself in a time that was very much alive in these elements of sound and felt very vividly the wonder that lies in being able to create a world out of the experience of these 32 sound elements. One truly felt in the shaping of language, in the creative shaping of the word, the weaving of a spiritual element that one experiences in speech. One experienced that gods live in sounds.
[ 3 ] If you take these 32 sounds, you can easily calculate that there are about 24 consonants and about seven vowels — of course, these things are always approximate — and you can now, in the spirit of the beginning of the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word,” shed light on that image, which can also be thought of as an apocalyptic image: The Alpha and the Omega are surrounded by the seven angels — the vowels — and by the 24 elders — the consonants. And so it was felt that the mystery of the universe was woven and lived entirely in what was intoned in the sacred language of the cult, with the meaning I have already explained. And in the celebration of the cult, people felt the powerful presence of what was contained in the world in this symbolic image.
[ 4 ] In general, humanity must once again feel where the gods have been sought, especially in the wisdom of the mysteries. They were not sought in something so distant and transcendent as we imagine today. Their embodiment was sought in something like sounds; and when people spoke of the “world word,” they were speaking of that which truly weaves through the world and in which human beings participate with their language.
[ 5 ] The same is true of numbers. Today we have a thoroughly abstract conception of numbers, measured by the kind of conception that still prevails in the Apocalypse. Now, you see, if you go back to the early Christian centuries, you will find that at that time some people had a certain understanding of something like the Apocalypse because the mystery of numbers was still felt, because this peculiar relationship in the structure of a series of numbers was still experienced. The series of numbers was not taken in the same way as today, as a stringing together of ones, but people experienced what lay in the three, in the four; they experienced the closed nature of the three, the open nature of the four, the nature of the five, which is related to the human being. In the number itself, people sensed something divine, just as they found something divine in letters and sounds.
[ 6 ] And when, in the ancient mysteries, a person was ready to be initiated into this mystery of numbers, it was their duty to think, feel, and perceive in the course of these mysteries of numbers. Think what this implies. We have seven notes in music. The octave, the eighth, is like the first. We have seven colors in the rainbow. We also have the number seven in other things in nature. Let us imagine, my dear friends, that nature decided to arrange the colors in the rainbow differently; the whole universe would fall into confusion. Or if the scale of tones were to be arranged differently, music would become unbearable.
[ 7 ] The initiate was made aware that there is a proper lawfulness in the human soul, just as there is in the course of nature itself, and that after his initiation he should no longer toss his thoughts about arbitrarily, but is obliged to think inwardly in numbers, to experience inwardly the mystery of numbers as it weaves and lives in all beings and processes, and as it lives in nature.
[ 8 ] But the Apocalypse was written in an age when such an immersion of human beings into the cosmic mystery of the number seven, or twelve, or twenty-four, or three, had absolute validity. Since the beginning of our consciousness soul age, that is, since the first third of the 15th century, what was before the strict validity of the number seven has come to the fore again, and gradual shifts in the number seven are emerging. We are no longer in the fortunate position of experiencing an evolution that runs exactly according to the number seven. We are already at that stage of the Earth's development where irregularities are beginning to appear in relation to the mysteries of numbers, so that the mysteries of numbers have taken on a new meaning for us.
[ 9 ] When we edify ourselves with the secrets of numbers as they live in a document such as the Apocalypse, it is as if, by immersing ourselves in such material as the Apocalypse, we become capable of perceiving with our senses even that which increasingly lies outside the secrets of numbers. And so we can say that, in a certain way, we live out of the mysteries of numbers. But we must appropriate them in order to use them in forms that now correspond to human events on earth and that can be dealt with by the priesthood in the realm of religion.
[ 10 ] Assuming this, I may now still speak of certain phenomena as if they were entirely governed by numerical secrets, for in a certain sense world events may slowly be emerging from the numerical secrets and entering into a type of world event that is certainly not governed by numbers. This was the way of thinking in the ancient mysteries: to see great cycles unfolding in the number seven, and to see other, smaller and smallest cycles.
[ 11 ] Thus, in the seven communities that existed simultaneously as concrete, real formations on earth, we have seen the continuation of the old cultures and the advent of the new cultural periods, but on the other hand, we also have a smaller cycle, which we learn to understand in a certain way through the Apocalypse. What this smaller cycle is like, my dear friends, is what we will now consider.
[ 12 ] When we look back on the time when the Mystery of Golgotha took place on earth, we encounter, in contrast to the spiritual development of human beings, the archangelic rule of Oriphiel, the archangel who receives his impulses primarily from the forces of Saturn (plate 4). We then enter an age that is ruled by
[ 13 ] Plate 4 Archangel Anael, then the age of Zachariel, then the age of Raphael, then that of Samael, Gabriel, and the present age, that of Michael. We have a first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh age, so that in relation to this smaller cycle within our fifth great cycle, we are in the seventh age. We live in the age of which, if one wanted to write in today's terms, one would have to say: We live in the fifth/seventh age, in the fifth post-Atlantean cultural period, the fifth great cycle of human development, and in relation to another division—the epochs of the archangelic reigns—which intersects with this, we live in the seventh cycle.
[ 14 ] A seventh cycle, my dear friends, signifies a final state. The present cycle was preceded by the sixth cycle, the Gabriel cycle. A great deal is always decided in a sixth cycle; the end is being prepared. But the last cycle that preceded it still has an effect on this sixth cycle. The Michael cycle began around 1879, the Gabriel cycle around 1471. Before that was the cycle of Samael, the archangel who receives his impulses from Mars; it was the fifth cycle.
[ 15 ] At the time when the fifth post-Atlantean epoch begins, the archangel of the fifth minor cycle is in charge. However, he already initiates the beginning of this fifth post-Atlantean cycle during the fifth archangel cycle, three to four centuries earlier. The small cycle thus coincides with the beginning of the great cycle. This means nothing less than that the great cycles are brought about by spirits of the middle hierarchy. The third hierarchy, to which the archangels also belong, are the serving members of the higher hierarchies. The law of numbers thus works in such a way that at the beginning of the fifth cycle, the fifth archangel coincides in his main period of activity with the higher beings from a higher hierarchy, who are again in the number five.
[ 16 ] It has been a relatively long time since these things were spoken of, but they have nevertheless been spoken of in the world for longer than is commonly thought. In places such as the School of Chartres, these mysteries were already being discussed in the 12th century. At that time, apocalyptic language was still in use. This language always views the universe, so to speak, from the perspective of numbers.
[ 17 ] When Plato says: God mathematizes, God geometrizes — this divine geometrizing or mathematizing does not refer to our somewhat abstract geometry or mathematics, but to the profound experience that the ancients had with forms and numbers. And although it is ridiculed today by materialism, it is visible everywhere that the law of the number seven also prevails in organic life. Just follow the emergence of butterflies and larvae or the development of certain diseases in relation to the time of becoming — everywhere you will find the law of seven prevailing. It was made clear to the initiates that numbers are something that follows from the nature of things, and this led them to see how things are connected in the world.
[ 18 ] For how do you notice, my dear friends, when you have to say to yourself: The archangel standing in the number five begins his reign in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch with forces emerging from the forces of Mars. If an age begins with Martian forces — as is already suggested in the trivial idea — then there is something warlike in it.
[ 19 ] When we look at the successive cultural periods, they are divided by significant events. And when we look back at the significant event that separates the previous, Atlantic period from the current, post-Atlantic period, which is the fifth period in its fifth cultural period, we have as the boundary between the two the ice age period known as the “Flood,” the demise of ancient Atlantis, and the rise of new parts of the world. We live in the fifth post-Atlantean period, a sixth and a seventh will follow. The catastrophe that separates us from the next great period that is to come — after the fifth, the sixth and seventh periods — will not merely be an external natural event, as the Ice Age was and as everything indicated by the stories of the Flood was, but the separation of the fifth from the sixth period will be more evident in the moral realm. A war of all against all, to which I have often referred, will separate the fifth from the sixth great earth period as a moral catastrophe, albeit connected with natural events, but the natural events will recede more into the background.
[ 20 ] The fifth cultural period was initiated by what comes from Mars through Samael, the spirit of strife, by bringing elements of strife down from the spiritual world. And at the beginning of the age of the consciousness soul, we also see in our smaller cycle how our fifth age contains something of the foreshadowing, the prophetic foreshadowing of what the great age will end with, after the fifth has been followed by the sixth and seventh cultural periods.
[ 1 ] When we hear the voices of those who lived at the turn of the 14th to the 15th century, who still knew something of the secret processes behind the obvious ones, then, my dear friends, we find already in this time, precisely in this time of Mars' rule of Samael, hints of the end of our great age, even if they consist only of small indications. When we connect the number with what is happening, we enter into apocalyptic thinking, we learn to read the universe in an apocalyptic way, and we will find countless secrets revealed to us everywhere when we learn to view the world in this apocalyptic way.
[ 21 ] Now let us consider how our age fits into the small Michael cycle and into the fifth post-Atlantean cultural period, the fifth great epoch of the Earth. Let us examine what this means. We live in the fifth great epoch of the Earth, in the post-Atlantean period. This fifth epoch is the one that has detached human beings from the divine world in a certain strong sense. The Atlantean people were still so imbued with God that they did not feel themselves to be individual human beings, but rather as if they were clothed in the divinity. The deity is there, not the individual human being; that is how the Atlantean human being felt.
[ 22 ] Our epoch is essentially there to make human beings stand on their own two feet, to detach them from the deity, and this has happened slowly and gradually through four cultural periods. This began slowly in the ancient Indian cultural period, which could still be felt in the mysteries of Ephesus. In the ancient Indian cultural period, people still felt almost completely immersed in the deity. They detached themselves strongly in the period leading up to the ancient Persian period. They were relatively far removed in the third period, so that they already felt death approaching from afar. In the Greco-Latin cultural period, death was felt to such an extent that the well-known saying originated from this time: “Better to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of shadows.”
[ 23 ] Now that the fifth post-Atlantean cultural period — as I said yesterday — is destined to have death as a companion more and more at its side, we will need moral strength to endure this ever-present presence of death. It is important for us that this age, in which the consciousness soul and thus the constant accompaniment of death by man is dawning, coincides with the reign of Michael, that archangelic reign which in a certain sense signifies a kind of end, a kind of goal of perfection, but decadence and perfection at the same time.
[ 24 ] Michael, the spirit who lived in the sun, who was the most important servant of the Christ spirit in the sun, experienced the Mystery of Golgotha from the other side. Humanity on earth experienced the Mystery of Golgotha in such a way that it saw Christ arrive. Michael and his followers, who were still in the sun at that time, experienced it in such a way that they had to say goodbye to Christ.
[ 25 ] Now, my dear friends, one must allow one's soul to be touched by the two poles of this all-encompassing cosmic event: the Hosanna on Earth, the arrival of Christ on Earth, and the farewell of Michael's hosts above on the Sun. These belong together.
[ 26 ] But Michael underwent a great metamorphosis precisely in our age. The beginning of his reign signifies a following of Christ down to earth and will signify in the future a progressing ahead of the deeds of Christ on earth. Once again, people will learn to understand what it means: Michael goes before the Lord. As in the Old Testament—before Oriphiel there was also a Michaelic age—the initiates of Asia spoke of Michael going before Yahweh, just as the face goes before a person as the foremost part of the human being. They spoke of Michael as the face of Yahweh, and so we must learn to speak of Michael as the face of Christ. But it is a different age. Certain things must reach the highest perfection. Yes, in a certain way we must learn to make fruitful what could not yet be fruitful.
[ 27 ] Let us take the seven churches in the Apocalypse. If we assign them — which we can do — to the reigns of the archangels, and if we take the first period, which paralleled the Christ event and the emergence of Christianity and which was still ongoing when the Apocalypse was written, then it is represented to us by the church of Ephesus. We can also see in this church of Ephesus, according to the Apocalypse, the one that was connected to Christianity in first love. But all this must be understood from the mystery of the number.
[ 28 ] We then find the age of Anael, who draws his powers from Venus. In this age, we find the great acts of love that were performed for the spread of Christianity, countless acts of love, namely those that still live on in the footsteps of the Irish monks who spread Christianity in Europe. But we also find love as the predominant force in the rest of Christian life under the rule of Anael.
[ 29 ] This is followed by the reign of Zachariel, who draws his powers from Jupiter, primarily powers of wisdom, powers that could be little understood in this age. And instead of an actual Jupiter reign, the archangel reign already begins to recede into the background at this time. Humanity is, in a sense, no longer reaching up to the region of Jupiter and denies the spirit of Jupiter. The significant Council of Constantinople, the eighth, which eliminated trichotomy and initially took much away from the development of humanity, falls into this period.
[ 30 ] Then comes the age in which something is at work that is little noticed in external history. When the age of Zachariel is over, humanity is, in essence, sick in soul. Humanity is quite sick, and pathogens are spreading from east to west, terrible pathogens that are dangerous to Christianity because they originate from materialism, for it is materialism that has forced its way into Christianity; and because the period of Jupiter wisdom has come to an end, it was possible for materialism to assert itself within Christian culture.
[ 31 ] But behind all this lies something strange that exists on earth only as a projection. Behind all that has been left behind as something sickly, there is something remarkable in the age that follows Zachariel since the 10th and 11th centuries, the age of Raphael, the physician among the archangels. It was the age in which healing took place behind the scenes of world history, not outwardly, but much inwardly; much healing took place, particularly in relation to the rescue of certain moral qualities that were in danger of being lost at that time. In contrast to the diseases brought to Europe by Mohammedanism, something else was called forth, something that had to come from the Orient in a different form, imbued with the Christian principle. Behind the Crusades, one must seek the will — and in principle, this is the cause of the Crusades — to heal humanity, to heal it from the materialism that threatened both from Mohammedanism and from Roman Catholicism. And Raphael, the physician among the archangels, is basically the inspirer of those who first prepared humanity to seek the Orient, which was the goal of the Crusades.
[ 32 ] But, my dear friends, we are now in the fourth smaller cycle within the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, which is just coming to an end, within the fourth larger epoch, the Greco-Latin epoch. But this fourth larger period was destined to conclude the mystery of Golgotha. The fourth smaller cycle, the Raphael cycle, is intimately related to the entire basic structure of the fourth larger one. For we see how the archangel Raphael, by inspiring people to undertake the Crusades, to turn their gaze toward the Orient in order to find the mystery of Christ there, how Raphael carries out the impulses of Christ, how, in a sense, an atmosphere of a spiritual nature hovers above the earth, above all events. Those who were able to look just a little behind the scenes of external events at that time were actually separated from the immediately adjacent spiritual world only by a gossamer web, just as we were separated from it only by a gossamer web when Michael became visibly active on earth in the last third of the 19th century.
[ 33 ] At that time, in the Raphael age, there lived outstanding spirits, including, for example, Joachim of Floris and Alanus ab Insulis. They saw into this work of Raphael, into this healing of humanity going on behind the scenes of external events. This was the background for the age of substantially ill spirituality, which is also attested to by the fact that it was during this age that people began to understand the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of healing. Thus, when one looks at the time according to the mystery of numbers, one finds important insights into the meaning of events.
[ 34 ] This was followed by the Samael age, which receives its basic impulses from Mars. Forces of strife begin to be instilled in humanity. The five comes into opposition to the four. This is always the peculiarity of the transition from four to five, that the five always comes into opposition to the four. If we go back to the ancient mysteries, in which for a long time the disciples, the adepts, were initiated into the mystery of numbers, we find that at a certain point in time, these disciples leave their lessons with a deep conviction, a conviction they express in the words: Now I know the number of evil, it is the number Five. — Wherever the number five reigns in the universe according to the secret of numbers, one is dealing with the world of evil; it rebels against the four, and great decisions follow, leading either to the good or to the evil, to the six.
[ 35 ] But to what extent this leads more and more into the concrete, into the wisdom of the heart and the human soul, we will continue tomorrow. I wanted to show you how one can use the thread of numbers to enter into the contemplation of events.