Meteoric Iron Drives Out Fear Through The Blood
"Anyone who is able to witness this cycle of the year feels that their entire human life is immensely enriched by such an experience. People of the present—and indeed those of a now rather distant past—actually experience only the physical-etheric processes of their own bodies, that which lies within the skin, and even that in a rather dull, unconscious way. They experience their breathing; they experience their blood circulation. Yet what unfolds outside in the wind and weather throughout the course of the year—what lives in the outpouring of the seed forces, in the fruiting of the earth’s forces, in the radiance of the sun’s forces— all of that is, for the totality of human life—even if people are not conscious of it today—no less significant, no less decisive than what, for my part, takes place as breathing and blood circulation within their skin. Just as the sun shines upon any region of the earth, whatever it brings about there through its warmth and its radiation—human beings experience that as well. And when a person takes in anthroposophy in the true sense—not reading it like a sensational novel, but reading it in such a way that what is communicated to them through anthroposophy becomes part of their inner life—then they gradually train their heart and soul to share in the experience of what is unfolding out there throughout the course of the year. And just as one experiences the course of the day in the freshness of the morning, in the readiness for work in the late morning, in the onset of hunger, the onset of fatigue in the evening—just as one senses the inner processes, the inner weaving and life of forces and matter within one’s skin—so, by taking to heart the anthroposophical ideas that differ entirely from the description of sensory events, one can prepare this mind so that it becomes truly receptive and sensitive to what weaves and lives throughout the course of the year. And then one can deepen and enrich this shared experience of the course of the year more and more; then one can truly bring about a state in which one does not, so to speak, go through life as a human being within one’s own skin in a rather sour manner, letting external things pass one by, but rather one can experience it in such a way that one blooms within one’s own soul with every flower, that one witnesses the blooming of the flower, that one witnesses the opening of the buds, that one experiences, in the dewdrop from which the sun’s rays glisten, in that glistening light, this wonderful mystery of the day, which can meet us precisely in that glistening dewdrop in the morning. In this way, one can transcend the philistine, prosaic experience of the external world—which is expressed by putting on a winter coat in winter, lighter clothing in summer, and taking an umbrella when it rains. Only when one transcends the prosaic and enters into this shared experience of the weaving and unfolding of natural phenomena and facts does the cycle of the year become truly understood. [...]
And when, especially in the height of summer, meteorites fall from a certain constellation in mighty meteor showers—when cosmic iron falls to Earth—then this cosmic meteoric iron, which contains such an immensely powerful healing force, holds within it the weapon of the gods against Ahriman, who seeks to entwine himself like a dragon around the radiant human beings. And the power that falls to Earth in the meteorites, in the meteoric iron—that is the cosmic force with which the higher gods seek to defeat the Ahrimanic powers as autumn approaches. And what unfolds there in majestic grandeur out in the cosmos—when the August swarms of meteors radiate into the human radiations in the astral light—that which takes place so magnificently out there has its gentle, seemingly small—though only spatially small—counterpart in what occurs within human blood. This human blood is truly not permeated in such a material way as modern science imagines, but is everywhere permeated by spiritual-soul impulses, radiated through by that which, as iron, streams into the blood—that which, combating anxiety, fear, and hatred, integrates itself into the blood as iron. The processes that take place within every blood cell when the iron compound enters it are, on a very small, minute scale, exactly the same as what occurs when a meteorite hurtles through the air, glowing and radiating. Meteor effects within the human being are the infusions of iron that occur for the sake of the blood and its liberation from fear. For it is a liberation from fear, a dispelling of dread, that radiates into the body with the iron.
And just as the gods fight the spirit with their meteorites, which seeks to radiate fear across the entire earth through its serpentine form—by allowing iron to radiate into this atmosphere of fear, which is most intense as autumn approaches or as midsummer draws to a close—the same thing the gods do occurs within the human being, as the blood becomes infused with iron. One can only understand all these things if, on the one hand, one grasps their inner spiritual significance, and if, on the other hand, one recognizes the connection between what sulfur formation in the human being is, what iron formation in the human being is, and what exists in the cosmos.
The person who can look up when a shooting star streaks across the sky may say to himself with reverence toward the gods: What happens out there in the vastness of space is constantly happening within you on an atomic scale; these shooting stars fall as iron is formed in every blood cell: your life is full of shooting stars, full of tiny shooting stars. — And this inner shower of shooting stars—which actually represents the life of the blood from another perspective—this inner shower of shooting stars becomes particularly significant as autumn approaches, when the sulfur process is at its peak. Then, when this radiance I have described—this transformation of the human being into a firefly—is present, the counterforce is at work as millions of sparkling blood meteors swarm within.
This is the connection between the inner human being and the universe. And then we see how, particularly from the nervous system that permeates the human body—especially at this time of year, as autumn approaches—a powerful radiation of sulfur takes place toward the brain. One can, so to speak, see the whole human being glowing with a sulfuric light, like a phantom, as autumn approaches.
But the meteor showers present in the blood life radiate into this bluish-yellow sulfur atmosphere. That is the other phantom. While the phantom of sulfur rises like passing clouds from the lower regions of the human being up toward the head, the iron formation radiates straight out from the head, like swarms of meteors pouring over into the living existence of the blood.
This is how people are as the Michaelmas season approaches. And they must learn to make use, in their consciousness, of the meteoric power of their blood. They must learn to celebrate the Feast of Michael by transforming it into a festival of freedom from fear, a festival of fearlessness, a festival of inner initiative and inner strength—by making the Feast of Michael a festival of remembrance of selfless self-awareness."
Read more: Rudolf Steiner, Experiencing the Course of the Year in Four Cosmic Imaginations, Lecture 1, GA 229, 5 October 1923, Dornach.