The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Part One

Chapter I
Reflection and Deflection of Historic Events in the Cosmos

The present universe of the stars is the result of the working of the spiritual hierarchies or Divine Intelligences, as they were called by Thomas Aquinas. In the author’s book Isis Sophia II — A New Star Wisdom, hereafter referred to as Isis Sophia II, we endeavored to give a picture of the emanation of the external cosmic world from the working of that hierarchical universe in the course of evolution. Our basis of knowledge was the result of investigation on the lines of spiritual science.

This description recalled one decisive fact; the evolution of the starry world cannot be divorced from the development of humanity. The grand biography of the universe and the spiritual phylogenesis of the human being are the two sides of the same process—the exterior and the interior aspect of creation. Therefore, the great question must arise: How are the two entities, the macrocosmic world present in the stars and the microcosmic world of terrestrial creation, interrelated in the present moment of cosmic history?

Here lies a vast field of facilities for research that can be undertaken with those tools of knowledge which spiritual science provides. It will increasingly occupy humanity now and for a very long time. The initial probings in this direction have shown that all the kingdoms of nature—mineral, plant, animal, human—are closely connected with the cosmos. These kingdoms of nature may have emancipated themselves more or less, but traces of the bonds with the world of the stars are unmistakably prevalent. To explore and discover the real connection between the two realms of the universe with the means of strict scientific discipline, will provide the possibility to penetrate equally to the origins of existence and to the meaning and purpose of all creation.

A certain amount of research work toward the foundation of such cosmological investigation has already been done. There exist also a number of publications describing the results and achievements of initial efforts in this direction. We may point to, among others, the books of Mrs. L. Kolisko and Dr. R. Hauschka.

Our concern in the present book will be especially the presentation of results of our investigations concerning the interrelationship between the human being and the stars. However, we would like to emphasize that we do not intend to identify our efforts with certain astrological beliefs. Astrology, as it exists today, is founded on very ancient traditions and methods of knowledge. We do not intend to enter into an argument about these ancient methods of knowledge, but we want to establish a knowledge that is in keeping with the character and the requirements of the modern age. Certainly the whole universe is in a state of uninterrupted evolution, and as a part of the universe we are constantly changing and evolving with regard to our whole constitution and consciousness. Therefore, it seems impossible for us to impose on this modern age, methods of approach that were justified several thousand years ago. Evolution demands from us the readiness for ever new approaches.

We will base our deliberations in this book on two fundamental questions: 1. Is there any possible proof for a connection between the movements and rhythms of the stars and human beings as we live on the Earth? and 2. What is the character of this relationship under present conditions if it exists? In order to find a more general and humanity-wide approach, we will now put certain historic events and cosmic rhythms side by side. For this purpose we will take the last two world wars and the corresponding movements and positions of the planet Saturn. We would like to emphasize, however, that we will not employ any preconceived ideas about influences of cosmic facts on history, etc., but we shall simply compare the latter with the data of those historic events.

The First World War started on August 1, 1914. At that time the planet Saturn stood in 87° 43’ of the ecliptic. This is the point of transition from the constellation of Bull to Twins. After the first few months of mobile warfare, the situation deteriorated, as we know, into the war of the trenches. It was until 1917 that new developments ensued. Already in the beginning of that year the German High Command resolved to break the obvious stalemate by certain moves. One of these was the transportation to Russia of Lenin, who lived then in Switzerland in exile. His extreme revolutionary activity was well-known by then, and the German High Command hoped that he would start a revolution in Russia effective enough to cripple Russia as an ally of the Western powers. He arrived in Russia in a sealed coach in the course of April 1917, and started at once to carry out his revolutionary intentions. The political masters of Russia sensed, of course, the dangerous efforts of Lenin. In the course of the following months, Lenin had to take refuge in Finland, but the situation in Russia deteriorated so quickly that he could soon safely return to his native country. By autumn, the Bolshevik movement had become so overwhelmingly strong that the cabinet of Kerensky, who was then in power, could not hold on any longer and was forcibly removed in the beginning of November 1917, in the course of the Bolshevik revolution. The hope that the German High Command had entertained was fulfilled: Russia was unable to carry on the war against Germany and gradually dropped out.

Even before Russia had faded out as an opponent of Germany, the U.S. was drawn into the war. Gradually, huge American armies arrived on continental soil toward the end of 1917 and beginning of 1918. Later on the Bolsheviks signed the humiliating Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. During those months in 1917, Saturn was moving through the constellation of Crab, and in July it was in about 122° of the ecliptic. Those two positions of Saturn, on August 1, 1914 and July 1917, are indicated in the chart of the Zodiac in Fig. 1 below.

Apart from the most disputable character of that action of the German High Command, it did not bring much relief to the desperate situation of the Germans. They decided, therefore, to make a major effort on the Western front in the beginning of 1918. This offensive did not yield the desired success. Moreover, the Western Allies, after the breaking down of the German efforts, went over to the offensive themselves. The final result was the complete defeat of the German armies. Especially the battles around Chateau Thierry in August 1918 were so decisive that even the German High Command saw the only possible salvation in a request for an immediate armistice. However, the war still went on, and the Germans signed the armistice in November 1918. The Peace Treaty of Versailles was then concluded and signed on June 28, 1919.

In August 1918, Saturn was in about 138° of the ecliptic, the transition from the constellation of Crab to Lion. On June 28, 1919, it stood in 144° 51’ of the ecliptic. All these positions are indicated in our chart of the Zodiac (Fig. 1).

We shall now investigate the Second World War from a similar cosmological viewpoint. It started on September 3, 1939, after Germany had attacked Poland. During the following winter, it seemed that the war would again freeze on the Western front in a stalemate similar to 1914 - 1918. It was not before the spring of 1940 that cataclysmic events developed. In May 1940, the Germans suddenly attacked Holland and Belgium, later also France. Saturn was then in about 38° of the ecliptic in the constellation of Ram.

After the entire conquest of Holland, Belgium, and France by Germany, there came again a long spell of comparative inactivity, apart from the air-raids on England, etc. Only in June 1941, the war took a new turn. On 22 June Germany attacked Russia. Saturn was then standing in 53½° of the ecliptic. It was in transition from Ram to Bull. This was followed by rather dramatic events on the Eastern front.

So far the U.S. had kept out of the war, but they were forced into the decision through the famous Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. Saturn had moved again into 53.5° of the ecliptic. (During the preceding summer, it had gone retrograde and performed a loop, therefore, not moving very far from the position on 22 June.)

Again a long time of relative stalemate commenced until in 1944, the war seemed to enter a decisive stage. On June 6, 1944, the famous invasion of the Allies into France took place. About the same time the Russians pressed toward the west. All these events made the position of Germany more and more hopeless until in 1945, her final collapse brought the war to an end. On June 6, 1944 Saturn was standing in 87° of the ecliptic. It had returned almost exactly to the same spot in the sky where it was on August 1, 1914. All these positions of Saturn are put down in our chart of the Zodiac in Fig. 1. Now we become aware of an amazing set of facts; the events on the right side of our chart (first war) correspond in a reversed fashion to the events on the left side (second war).

Let us take the points of June 28, 1919 (Peace Treaty of Versailles), and September 3, 1939 (start of second war). On that date in 1919, Saturn was standing 57° to the right of the initial position on August 1, 1914 (start of 1st war ), and on September 3, 1939 it had moved to a point 57° to the left of that same root position (Fig. 1). In a cosmological sense, there is obviously a connection between these two events.

Yet we notice, too, that the two events had opposite historic significance. The Peace Treaty of June 28, 1919 concluded, or at least was supposed to conclude, the first war. On September 3, 1939, another war commenced. We seem to be confronted here with a phenomenon that is similar, in a sense, to the function of a mirror. In a mirror, the exact image of the object appears, except that right and left are reversed.

By probing a little deeper into the nature of the two events concerned, we may find also an inner connection. The Peace Treaty of Versailles was a failure. It did not only fail to solve the problems that had arisen through the preceding war, but it also aggravated the social complications leading to that war. It was a bad piece of statesmanship. For such a statement we need not only rely on the opinions of the Germans, who felt, of course, badly treated. Many important personalities in western countries came to similar conclusions, simply because of the economic and social consequences of that Peace Treaty. There were even those who maintained that the first war really never came to a conclusion and was carried on after the Treaty with different means, i.e. economical.

Usually one is not conscious that political failures of this kind are bound to produce corresponding consequences. Yet, we should be able to realize this as a law. From everyday experience, we know perfectly well that if we smash a utensil, we have to suffer for it in one way or another. Similarly, we can now say that the failure in 1919 called forth the outbreak of the second war. This is not the place to point out the many details of the economic and social deterioration caused by the impotence of the Treaty of Versailles. We simply look at the cosmic implications, though we cannot yet understand their working. There is the Treaty in 1919, accompanied by the position of Saturn in Lion; and in the point of reflection, perhaps better “deflection”, when Saturn was in Ram (September 1939), the Western powers were forced to enter a new war. All the political patchwork following the Treaty of Versailles was of no avail.

Are we not faced here with a master example of how modern humanity is shaping its own destiny? One can argue that the Peace Treaty of Versailles was caused by preceding events. Certainly the mentality of the leading personalities in German politics before and during the first war did not make the situation easier. Instead of positive suggestions, chaos reigned in political circles of Central Europe. Constructive ideas, like that of the Threefold Commonwealth by Rudolf Steiner, were not accepted by the German speaking nations, although they were pronounced early enough before the breakdown in 1918. However, one could imagine that more farseeing attitudes and courageous ideas of the makers of the peace treaty could have smashed through the fateful ring of historic cause and effect.

The cosmological facts that we have worked out so far suggest a “deflective” activity performed by Saturn. If we imagine a straight line drawn from the position of Saturn on August 1, 1914, to the opposite point of the Zodiac, we come to the constellation of Archer (see Fig. 1). This line obviously acts as a kind of cosmic deflector, and a point 57° to the right of it is deflected into a position 57° to the left—June 1919 - September 1939. We may now attempt to formulate a more conclusive opinion about this deflecting activity of Saturn. In Part Three of Isis Sophia II, we described briefly the nature of this planet on the basis of spiritual investigation. We pointed out that the sphere of Saturn is closely associated with the hierarchy of the Spirits of Will, and that this cosmic sphere has worked as the preservation of the divine Will since the most ancient stages of evolution. It is the organ of cosmic memory and, hence, acts as the conscience of history.

Let us again take the position of Saturn in June 1919. All the decisions and deeds performed by humanity were accumulated and recorded by the planet Saturn, the organ of cosmic memory of the universe. Saturn works in a similar way as the human memory does, using the physical organism for this activity. We can read in this cosmic organ of memory the working of destiny, in as much as it causes the recollection of the past for the sake of its redemption in the future. When, therefore, Saturn stepped into the point of deflection of the Treaty of Versailles in 1939, humanity was faced with the consequences of its own previous deeds. This is how destiny and world memory work for the sake of evolution.

The idea of the cosmos taking notice of what happens in the seemingly small human realm may at first appear fantastic. Yet here are the inescapable cosmic facts that require us, at least, to question the so-called insignificance of the human race within that unimaginably big universe which modern astronomy proclaims and describes.

From another extreme viewpoint, one could also argue that this cosmic deflection of earthly events is only a proof of the absolute domination of the cosmos over all earthly and human history. One could regard those happenings, for instance, in 1914, 1919, and 1939 as having been completely out of reach of free human activity and as having been imposed on humanity as the motion of a machine is superimposed on its material. This would be the viewpoint of an extreme astrological fatalism. However, it is an entirely philosophical question as to whether we are free with regard to our semi-activities or not. From quite different aspects, which we will also indicate in this book, we have come to the conclusion that a genuine spiritual cosmology cannot but admit the possibility of theoretically unlimited scope for human freedom within the framework of the cosmic impacts in which we stand. One is justified in saying that if someone then had found another more practical solution in 1919, instead of the Treaty of Versailles, the events in 1939 could have taken a different turn.

We notice in Fig. 1 the significance of the cosmic line of deflection, the line from Twins to Archer. In Twins this line was marked by the position of Saturn in August 1914. It is quite illuminating to also consider the implications of Archer. Saturn stood there in 1929; in fact, it went across that point, exactly opposite to that of August 1, 1914, three times by retrograde movement. This was the year of the great economic crisis all over the world, starting in the U.S. It upset the social structure of many countries; for instance, Germany never really recovered from it before the drastic events in 1933, and this was one of the reasons for the totalitarian developments in that country after 1933. In the U.S., the economic crisis was felt like a shattering blow, and visitors and observers in the United States have confirmed that the memory of that catastrophe has left deeper marks in the mentality of American people than even the first war. These two catastrophes—the first war and the great economic world crisis—hold that line of cosmic deflection. For an objective and unprejudiced observer, the connection between the two events is quite obvious. Yet here we also ought to say that if between 1914 and 1929 more farseeing leadership had prevailed in humanity, then the events in 1929 might have struck a different note.

A glance at the chart of the Zodiac (Fig. 1), in correspondence with the various historic events, will show us that there are more deflections indicated; for instance, the happenings in 1941 are such deflections of 1917. In the course of 1917, Russia was overrun by the Bolshevik revolution and was, consequently, unable to carry on the war against Germany. This took place when Saturn was in about 34° to the right of its initial position in August 1914. On June 22, 1914, Germany attacked Russia and exposed itself to a two-flanked war. Saturn was then standing in 53.5° of the ecliptic, or 34° to the left of its position on August 1, 1914.

Here, again, we have a perfect example of deflection. In 1917, Russia was crippled to such a degree that it could not continue the fight. This was caused by the move of the German High Command to send Lenin back to Russia. It may have brought temporary relief to the Germans, but it has presented humanity with the gigantic menace of aggressive bolshevism. This impact promptly entered the stage of world history again in 1941, when Saturn was in the point of deflection corresponding to 1917. As much as Russia had faded out of the first war in 1917, so it entered the second war in 1941, and even now we cannot fully judge the future consequences of this whole set of historic developments. Moreover, the dates of the entry of the U.S. into the first and second war (1917 and 1941) correspond in a similar sense, although we cannot speak here of a reversal of the events.

The final decision of the first war came when the Germans were beaten in the course of 1918, in the battles of Chateau Thiery in August 1918. Saturn had then moved to 138° of the ecliptic, which is 50° to the right of its initial position on August 1, 1914 (see Fig. 1). The point of deflection, 50° to the left, refers to May 1940. At that time, the Germans staged their big attack on Holland, Belgium, and France. Again we find here a complete reversal of events.

The most striking deflection happened, however, when Saturn returned to the point of its position on August 1, 1914. This took place on June 3, 1944. (It takes Saturn about 30 years to return to the same position in the ecliptic.) Three days later the famous landing of the Allied forces on the French coast took place. The planet had already moved a fraction of one degree further, making our calculation not appear to be quite correct. However, later on it was revealed that the landing should have taken place on June 3rd and was postponed because of bad weather in the Channel.

Here we have an unmistakable deflection and reversal of events. On August 1, 1914 and afterward, the German armies poured like an avalanche into Belgium and France. The movement was from east to west, but after June 6, 1944, the Allied armies streamed into France from the west. The one was the beginning of the first war, the second practically the last stage of the second war.

Experience has shown that one can find many more such points of deflection in connection with the two wars. We have selected only a few of the major events, but even happenings of a much more intimate character have their corresponding place in these cosmic settings.

A study of the history of the line of deflection from 87° to 267° of the ecliptic (see Fig. 1) is also very illuminating. It appears that it is by no means arbitrary. Historically, it can be traced in connection with the Thirty Years War. On October 24, 1648, the Peace Treaty of Westphalia was concluded thus terminating that war. Saturn was then standing in the constellation of Bull. On June 29, 1914, at the time of the murder of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, it was almost exactly in the same region of the sky. Aspects of greatest importance concerning the cultural and social life of modern humanity seem to be connected with this line of deflection.

Our researches have proven that the line from Twins to Archer is not the only medium of deflection, although this seems to be the most important one concerning the destiny of European humanity at present. There are also other lines of deflection in different parts of the ecliptic, but we cannot embark here on further presentations of this subject. It was our intention to show, by an example, the relationship of humanity to the world of the stars. The unimaginable immensity of the universe, that modern astronomical science proclaims, suggests the absolute insignificance of the planet Earth and of the human race. We appear to be a product of chance and entirely dominated by the impacts of the great universe—however far one is prepared to admit its influence. We wanted to put the facts that our researches have revealed against such a possible conception. The example we have given suggests that there is sufficient scope for the employment of free human activity in the course of historic events. If, however, we do not make use of our capacity of constructive thinking and move only in channels of worn-out traditional conceptions, then the cosmos of the stars seems to bear down on us the consequences of our own failures.

The question of whether we are dominated by the movements of the stars thus finds a relatively simple answer. To the degree that we develop moral imagination, new ideas, and spiritual activity, is the degree to which we are the masters of the stars. If we do not cultivate our slumbering spiritual faculties, then we will be subjected to the domination of the cosmic world that only confronts us with the deflection of our own failures. Sometimes it is most agonizing to see humanity ruled and punished by its own shortcomings, deflected through the movements and gestures of the stars. If we do not penetrate to the real background of our relationship to the world of the stars, it is all too easy to regard our history as entirely ruled by the cosmos. Such a half-truth will only create confusion and bar the road to real spiritual progress.

In the following chapter we shall present another relationship of the human being with the cosmos of the stars that we hope will throw more light on this delicate problem.

Chapter II
Our Relationship to the Stars in the Moment of Death

The acquisition of a clear philosophic conception of the relationship between the human being and the stars is made extremely difficult by the tenets of astrology, as far as it still rests on the most antiquated tradition. This kind of astrology presumes, more or less, that we are dominated, with regard to our physiological and psychological make-up, by the positions of the planets in the ecliptic and their concordance with the terrestrial horizon at the moment of birth. It has produced an enormous amount of evidence that suggests and supports strongly the idea of our dependence on the stars. These suggestions are, however, based on certain prejudices that sometimes even work quite unconsciously, creating the assumption that the bigger entity (in this case the great universe) is bound to dominate and determine the smaller object of humanity. Yet a lot of this so-called astrological evidence, if not all, can be interpreted philosophically in an entirely non-fatalistic sense. The investigations of a genuine spiritual science must even strongly refute the idea of our absolute dependence. Spiritual science comes to the evidence of the spiritual existence of a human being before birth and that this being chooses, in accordance with its own requirements, the moment of its birth etc. This also establishes the striking resemblance between each person’s destiny and the movements of the stars.

Another aspect of astrology renders its acceptance by a modern scientific mind rather difficult. Modern embryology has discovered the most illuminating facts about the prenatal development. There is nothing in the life after birth that can compare with those most radical changes, especially during the earlier periods of gestation. Therefore, it seems to be extremely inconsistent to take into account only the moment of birth when the decisive part of our physiological development has come to an end. It is possible to find evidence of our connection with the movements of the planets during the period of gestation. We have made an extensive study of this and hope to produce the facts sometime in future publications.

Now, however, we will describe one’s relationship with the world of the stars at the time of death. This will enable us to demonstrate, from a different angle, a fundamentally new viewpoint. The idea of such a relationship between one’s death and the picture of the universe at that moment—or as we may briefly call it, the asterogram of death—is something entirely new. Rudolf Steiner has drawn attention to this fact in some of his lectures.

We have chosen as an example the death asterogram of Tycho Brahe, the famous Danish astronomer of the 16th century. He was born on 14 December 1546 (old style) and died at Prague on 24 October 1601 (new style). According to his biographers, he died in the morning before dawn.

In Fig. 2 below, we have tried to give a perspective picture of the sky on that day, as far as the positions of the planets in the Zodiac and their relative angles to the horizon of Prague during the morning hours are concerned. In Fig. 3, we have reduced this diagram to a two-dimensional picture of the Zodiac with the planets. The line of the horizon indicates the parts of the Zodiac that were visible at that moment above the plane of the horizon and those below it.

The most remarkable feature of this asterogram of death is the position of all the planets near the eastern horizon. The Sun was standing at the feet of the constellation of Virgin. A few days later it entered Scales. As the death occurred before sunrise, we must imagine that Virgin had then partly risen. Higher in the eastern sky stood Lion, whereas Scales was still below the horizon. All the planets (except the lately discovered Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, which we will not consider now) were concentrated in those three constellations. Mars had just entered Lion, standing highest in the eastern sky. Venus was below it but still in Lion. Still deeper, but above the east, Jupiter appeared with the Moon, which had probably just risen and were visible in Virgin. The Moon formed a narrow crescent, because it was shortly before New Moon, and in its cup rested Jupiter. Mercury, also in Virgin, was probably just on the point of rising. Then came the Sun at the feet of Virgin, and Saturn was standing in Scales, still deeply below the eastern horizon.

We come now to the problem of how to interpret this aspect of the sky. On Earth, a human being has died and at the same moment we find in the sky the configuration that we described. Can we prove any connection between the two facts?

First of all, we must now get a clear conception of the death of a human being. The physiological facts are, of course, more or less clear. Through some kind of defect caused by an illness or an accident, life cannot operate anymore in the body. The latter is given up and handed back to the elements from which it was taken. Can we go beyond that fact? Have we any proof that some kind of existence, apart from that in the body, is still going on? Up to a certain point, we can attain certain proofs of an existence after death. It has been described by many people, who by some accident, had already crossed the threshold of death but were recalled by artificial means. The facts they describe are more or less common knowledge. They all agreed that there was no emptiness of consciousness, and that they were confronted with a kind of grand tableau consisting of a summary of pictures presenting the main incidents during their past earthly existence.

What have the investigations of spiritual science to contribute to this fact? When a human being dies, we usually say life has ceased. What is life? Nobody has yet found the cause of life. It remains a mysterious agency, working somehow within the material body. A few materialists still maintain that life is only a certain condition of matter and that one day this condition will be found as one has found the chemical formulae ruling the conditions of lifeless matter. Spiritual investigation, however, leads to the conclusion that life is not a condition of matter but a principle in itself on a level of existence different from that of the physical. Spiritual science speaks of a life organism or life-body. It cannot be perceived by the physical senses, because it operates on a level that is, to a certain degree, even contradictory to the physical. Only sense organs that are, so to speak, homogeneous to its own nature, can “perceive” this principle of the life-body. The development of such “sense organs” is possible. Already Goethe spoke of them, and Rudolf Steiner described the methods and discipline for the attainment of such faculties.

How does this life organization act within the physical body? It works for a certain time against the natural tendency of matter, which would lead the material body to decay if it had its own way. Furthermore, the life-body preserves the typical form of the human frame. It acts like a kind of active memory of the whole evolution and of the purpose of the human race and implants it already during the earliest stages of embryonic development into the material body. Thus it also continually counteracts in later life the deviations from the human level that appear as illnesses.

This organic, active “memory” is freed from its functions in the material body immediately after death. Then it appears as a pure memory tableau of the entire life on Earth that has just come to an end. After death, we are able to perceive these pictures of our earthly existence drawn together into one great panorama, because we are still united, apart from our life-body, with our consciousness organization.

This experience lasts, according to occult investigation, about two to three days after death. Then the individual consciousness cannot hold it any longer. The grip of the Ego on the life-body loosens, just as we cannot keep our physical body under control indefinitely during the earthly existence. After these events, the life forces return to their origin, to the source of the “memory” of all evolution, to the cosmos itself. About the further development of the soul after death, we shall have to address on a later occasion.

A great amount of evidence has proved that the configuration of the sky at the moment of the death of a human being contains also a kind of biographical tableau of that person; for instance, if we take again the death asterogram of Tycho Brahe (Fig. 3), we discover that the whole Zodiac contains a memory tableau of his life and that the positions of the planets indicate the main incidents. How can we come to such a conclusion?

In Part Three of Isis Sophia II, we have described the planet Saturn as the organ of cosmic memory. Thus Saturn had prepared and memorized, during the life time of Tycho Brahe, a tableau of his earthly experiences.

If we take the moment of Tycho Brahe’s incarnation (he was born in 1546), we can compute the position of Saturn at that time. While standing in that certain part of the Zodiac, it “memorized” that event, so to speak. When Tycho Brahe died, Saturn had moved to a different region of the ecliptic, but we will find that the point where it stood at the time of incarnation was occupied at his death by a certain cosmic phenomenon. Equally, Saturn memorized other of the main incidents in the life of this personality while in other parts of the Zodiac. All these points were occupied at his death by the planets.

We shall explain this fact with the help of Fig. 4. In the inner circle, we have the positions of the planets at the time of Tycho Brahe’s death (similar to Fig. 3). In the outer circle, we have inserted the movements of Saturn during his lifetime.

Tycho Brahe was born on December 14, 1546. In the course of that year, during gestation, Saturn had entered the constellation of Archer. In the asterogram of death, this point is clearly marked by the position of the ascending Moon node. (The Moon nodes are the crossing points of the path of the Moon and the apparent path of the Sun. The orbit of the Moon, like those of the planets, does not exactly coincide with that of the Sun. It is slightly tilted, thereby forming an angle with the ecliptic and crossing the latter in two opposite points. These Moon nodes have a deep connection with the stages of life after death.)

We do not hear very much about Tycho Brahe’s youth, except that his father died in 1559, and afterward he was sent by his uncle to Copenhagen to study philosophy and rhetoric. There he experienced, on 21 August 1560, a Sun eclipse that became a most decisive event in his life. Tycho Brahe, who was then only 14 years of age, found his true vocation that had led him to incarnation. He began to look upon astronomy as something divine. It was probably the turning-point to his later career. During that year, Saturn moved into the point of transition from Bull to Twins. In the death asterogram we find this point marked by the descending Moon node.

In 1562, he was sent to Leipzig to study law and was put under the care of a tutor. It was intended that he should prepare for a diplomatic profession; however, he was not very interested in the career that his uncle had chosen for him. During the nights, when his tutor was asleep, he observed the stars. The vocation that he had consciously conceived in 1560 had taken hold of him. In 1563, he watched a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter and, although his means of observation were rather primitive, he noticed a considerable difference between the cosmic facts and certain astronomical tables about the movements of the stars that existed then. In that moment, the modern astronomer was born in him who was determined to build his work on exact observation and calculation. Saturn was then standing in the region of Crab Lion. In the chart of the death sky, this moment and the years following immediately are indicated by the position of Mars.

Tycho Brahe returned to Denmark in 1565, but he left soon for the University of Wittenberg. This return to his home was probably connected with the decision to change the direction of his studies. His intention to devote his life to astronomy was not welcomed by his family. However, he seems to have stood his ground very well, for afterward he studied astronomy, as it existed in those times, in various places. In 1566, he went to Rostock and in 1569 to Augsburg. From his sojourn at the latter university, we know that he was busily engaged in astronomical and alchemistic researches. Those were still the days when the medieval ways of studying the properties of matter were practiced and known as alchemy. The fact that Tycho Brahe combined it with his astronomical studies is a sure sign that he must have known a good deal about the interplay between cosmic and terrestrial forces, a knowledge almost completely lost to our age. During all those years, Saturn moved through the constellations of Lion and Virgin, past those places that were occupied by Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Moon, and Sun at the time of death.

A remarkable incident occurred in 1572. Tycho Brahe had been working in his alchemical laboratory, and when he came out he saw a new star, a so-called Nova in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Such a Nova is usually a very brilliant star that shines only for a brief period and then disappears again. It must have made a deep impression on Tycho Brahe that the heavens, so to speak, answered his labors in the depth of the world of matter. It may be that he experienced something of the great spiritual stream with which he was connected in that moment, namely, to realize consciously the script of the stars in earthly substance and happenings. Saturn was then in Scales, in the same place where it stood at Tycho Brahe’s death. Thus we may see in the image of this Saturn, an incident that opens up a view into Tycho Brahe’s eternal spiritual being—that kernel of one’s being standing above the single Earth life and that is one’s great spiritual guide through the ages. However, he was hardly able, during that incarnation in the 16th century, to manifest this higher being under the prevailing conditions. His time was against him. We can only divine from such an incident the greatness of this individuality.

In 1576, after many wanderings, he at last found a place where he could devote all his energies in peace and helpful understanding to the task he had set for himself. King Frederick II of Denmark bestowed on him the small island of Hveen in the Sund, opposite Copenhagen. He also furnished him with sufficient financial means to build an astronomical observatory on that island. It must have meant something like a second birth for him. The purpose of his incarnation seemed to have been fulfilled. Saturn by then had moved again into Archer, the same position where it had been standing about the time of Tycho Brahe’s birth. In the death asterogram we found that place occupied by the ascending Moon node.

Now years of fruitful work followed on the island. Not only were large buildings erected, astronomical observations pursued, and a comparatively large number of students of astronomy trained but Tycho Brahe also undertook a great number of agricultural improvements on the island, as the plans and descriptions of Uraniborg—the name of this astronomical settlement—betray. During those years, Saturn moved through constellations where there weren’t any planets at the moment of death. However, we can read many incidents in connection with the dates when Saturn was standing opposite to the places of the planets at the moment of death. For instance, about the time of 1583, Tycho Brahe was engaged in the working out of his own particular astronomical world system, which he intended to put against the new astronomical conception of Copernicus. He felt the danger in the Copernican views. Saturn was then in Waterman, opposite the positions of Mars and Venus in the death asterogram.

In 1588 a very decisive incident occurred. Tycho Brahe’s benefactor, King Frederick II of Denmark, died. Soon afterward, the financial assistance he received for the work on Hveen was gradually cut down. The young King Christian was not crowned before 1596, but immediately afterward the financial help and pension that Tycho Brahe had received from the Danish state was withdrawn. He left the island soon after Easter, taking away as many of his instruments for astronomical observations as possible.

Saturn was in the constellation of Ram in 1588. It was then opposite the place it occupied in the death asterogram. Outwardly, it appears to have been a moment after his work was gradually undermined. With Saturn in Scales, we saw a glimpse of the eternal spiritual greatness of this soul. In the opposite position, a great transformation began that appears like a defeat on the physical plane; however, we must judge the events from a higher level. During those increasingly difficult times, after King Frederick had died in 1588, Tycho Brahe started to develop another side of his inner being that stands far above the level of the ordinary astronomer. This was a very painful process indeed, and only after death did this soul grow up to the maturity of faculties from the foundation laid during the years of wandering and suffering immediately before his death. We shall have to say more about this as we go along.

Tycho Brahe left Hveen in 1597. Saturn had then moved to the place where Venus appeared in the death asterogram. First he went to Rostock and to various other places until in 1599 he arrived in Prague. There, the Hapsburg Emperor Rudolf II had offered him asylum and facilities to continue his studies. Kepler, another famous astronomer, joined him as his assistant in 1600. But Tycho Brahe was already very worn out from his disappointments and wanderings. He became ill in October 1601, and on the 24th (Gregorian Calendar) he died.

During those last years, Saturn moved through Virgin and arrived in Scales in 1601. It passed through those parts of the Zodiac that were occupied in the death asterogram by the planets Jupiter, Moon, Mercury, and Sun. At the time of Tycho Brahe’s arrival at Prague in 1599, Saturn stood in the place of Jupiter and Moon at death.

Thus we find a kind of celestial biography or tableau in the configuration of the heavens at the time of the death of a human being. This fact has been proven in many historic cases.

Our question now is: How is this cosmic tableau related to the memory tableau that humanity experiences immediately after death? It certainly doesn’t make much sense to say, in this case, that the tableau experienced by the one who has died is caused by the stars, because its very substance is taken from the past, from very real events and incidents that happened on the Earth, not in heaven. In this connection, the Earth and its human inhabitants seem to be the predominant factor, and the stars appear to be adjusted to a human biography. But would it not be equally senseless to say that the stars are influenced by something that comes from the Earth? They are not disturbed, in any case, by it and follow their usual orbits. Perhaps it is more justified to conclude that the death of a human being takes place in a moment when a correspondence is established between the tableau of the planets and the memory tableau of that person. Certainly this cannot be done by one consciously, but we may see here a glimpse of that deep spiritual will of human beings which is their destiny.

In the spiritual neighborhood of the soul that has died is the tableau of the earthly life. In the depth of the cosmos, as we see it from the Earth, there exists a replica of that biography at the same time, which is qualitatively akin to the individual tableau. The latter is caused by the life-body (or ether-body in the terminology of spiritual science), which is now freed from its function in the physical body. After two to three days this tableau vanishes from the inner sight of the soul. What happens to it? The life “substance” is dispersed in the world of its own origin, in the cosmos of the planets and their spheres, just as the material body is dispersed in the world of its origin, the physical-material world. Is the conclusion then not justified that the planetary, etheric world absorbs the memory substance coming from each human being? As we said before, this can certainly not be guided by one’s ordinary consciousness, but the moment of death is decided by the deeper forces of human destiny.

The fact derived from spiritual investigation is this:

If we can accept this thought, we are at once confronted with an entirely new and grand idea of the relationship between the human being and the universe of the stars. Here the cosmos appears to be in a state of expectation, not in the position of a donor or even a dominator over one’s fate. Indeed, spiritual investigation confirms that the universe of the stars is related to that which comes from human beings as memory substance. This memory contains the imprint of one’s deeds, feelings, and thoughts. In a wider sense, it is filled with images of morality that have grown through the encounter of the individuality with the conditions and implications of its earthly surroundings. This kind of moral essence is for the cosmos, in a universal sense, something similar to what food is for the human being. After death it is absorbed by the stars, and thus they are rejuvenated.

Such an idea may sound fantastic; however, we have been able to find a certain amount of historic evidence for its justification. We shall produce it in the course of these publications. Thus, the old ghost of our dependence on the stars appears to be repudiated, at least from one angle of human life. We are convinced that this is the basis of a new cosmology that acknowledges our freedom and capacity for real and effective spiritual activity. So far, our extensive researches have justified this conviction.

Chapter III
The Interpretation of the Asterogram of Death

In the preceding chapter, we spoke about the asterogram of death more from the technical point of view. We saw it as the tableau, the sum-total of a human life on Earth. This aspect leads us back into the past, and we have sometimes called the previous positions of Saturn, relative to the places of the planets at death, “anterior” (zurükliegende) transits of Saturn.

There is, however, also another aspect of the asterogram of death that leads into the future, into the various stages of life after death through which the soul has to pass. For this purpose we shall now proceed with a qualitative interpretation of the positions of the planets at the time of Tycho Brahe’s death.

We found Mars in the constellation of Lion. In order to work out an interpretation of Lion, we look up the diagram called Stages of Evolution in Part Three of Isis Sophia II. There we find an indication that leads us back to the sixth great cycle of Ancient Saturn. (See also the constellation of Waterman opposite.) This was the great stage at the very first beginning, when the Spirits of the Harmonies, or Cherubim, impressed the harmonies (or “the Music of the Spheres”) on the Ancient Saturn planet. We imagine that a physically visible stellar world did not yet exist, but instead of the fixed stars that we see now, there was a most profound and harmonious “galaxy” of sound of divine essence. This was the world in where the Spirits of the Harmonies were active. Here we have, in a cosmic Imagination, the picture of the great cosmologist Tycho Brahe, who as a child could see in astronomy a manifestation of the divine.

Furthermore, our diagram indicates a connection of Lion with the second great cycle of Ancient Sun evolution. Then the Spirits of Motion were active. They lived in the reflection of those “Harmonies of the Spheres”, which manifested themselves much later in the movements of the planets of our solar system. This power of motion and direction on Ancient Sun was still in a state of soul- or astralformation that reflected the harmony of the greater galaxy beyond the Ancient Sun universe. In this cosmic astrality or soul-force, the Spirits of Motion lived and worked. They also radiated it into humanity on Ancient Sun. However, humanity could not yet realize soul activity, and only a reflection of the working of the Dynamis remained in our early ancestors. Thus the first foundation of our rhythmic system was laid, which still today reflects cosmic rhythms. Our breathing and heartbeat are related to the rhythm of the Platonic year (see Isis Sophia II, Part Three). We are, with regard to our Lionorganization, a perfect but unconscious cosmologist.

Now with Mars in Lion, we can even more clearly see the image of the great astronomer. We can also corroborate our previous viewpoint on Mars when we connected it with the years 1563/65. That was when Tycho Brahe finally decided to become an astronomer. He obeyed his own vocation; the cosmos was alive in his innermost being.

Another indication concerning Lion refers to the second great cycle of Ancient Moon. (Isis Sophia II, Part Three). In the course of that stage of evolution the Ancient Moon planet was condensed to such a degree that the higher ranks of the spiritual hierarchies could no longer dwell on it. They separated a part of the more refined substances and founded another celestial body, a kind of reborn Ancient Sun, as their focus of activity. These gigantic cosmic happenings are reflected in Scales, but we see the separated Sun going for a time its own way in Lion.

Here we now look deeper into the destiny of Tycho Brahe. He did not become an astronomer for sheer desire of knowledge. A deep spiritual purpose was working in him. We have previously indicated that he opposed the Copernican views on the movements of the planets and the position of the Sun. Why did he do this?

Copernicus simplified the conception of our solar system by considering the Sun as being in the center of the planetary universe. Older views, which were in part extremely complicated, regarded the Earth as being the central focus. Our age is so used to the Copernican aspect that we sometimes find the older aspects, for instance the Ptolemaic systems, odd and resulting from the primitive nature of humanity in those times. However, the ancient systems were founded on entirely different ideas and conditions of consciousness, which our age can hardly comprehend any more.

Originally, the ancient views of the cosmos were based on the conception of the spheres of the planets. These spheres, indicated by the orbits of the celestial bodies, were conceived as most important. The Gods, or spiritual hierarchies, were considered to live in them, and they moved the spheres. Thus the planets, which were fixed to the spheres, were moved too, but they were of secondary importance.

Only an age that moved toward mechanical interpretations of everything existing in the universe, could so easily discard those ancient views. Thus it was possible that a man like Copernicus could lay the foundation of a conception of the solar system that can be explained similarly to the workings of a machine. Tycho Brahe was well aware of this. He had a deep connection with the ancient Mysteries from previous incarnations in which the planetary spheres were experienced as the dwelling-places of the Gods. Therefore, he must have been horrified by the views of Copernicus as they tended to make a sheer mechanism of the universe. He struggled hard to put something better in its place, but he did not succeed very well—his time was against him.

Thus, he stood between the Golden Age of the Mysteries, when humanity still lived with the Gods, and a future that still withholds the rebirth of the Mysteries in its womb. The direction toward this future, and Tycho Brahe’s deep inner connection with it, we find indicated in the association of Lion with the sixth great cycle of the Earth evolution (Isis Sophia II, Part Three). Humanity of that sixth stage of the Earth will be the true cosmologists. They will then fully comprehend and realize the interplay between the cosmic astral forces and their own being and the beings of nature.

These implications of Lion are indicated by the position of Mars in that constellation. The soul experiences in the sphere of Mars after death, the spiritual background of the physical-material-object world that it had previously met on the Earth. (See Isis Sophia II, Part Three.) Thus we can imagine that Mars in Lion points to the kind of experiences that Tycho Brahe had after death in that cosmic sphere. He saw the full spiritual truth about the physical interconnection between the cosmos and the Earth. He became a great “astrologer” in a spiritual sense and was able to inspire those who lived on the Earth. He could read the prophecy of future terrestrial events and thus help souls to fulfill their destiny.

These aspects can be amplified by a study of the lives of other souls whose Mars was also in Lion at the time of death. From the many examples that we have before us, we take that of the famous poet of the Divina Comedia, Dante. He died on September 14, 1321 when Mars was in Lion. The previous, or anterior, transit of Saturn over this position points to the year 1301. Dante was involved at that time in political upheavals in his native city of Florence, in the course of which he had to go into exile. He was never allowed to return to Florence, and he wandered from place to place during the last twenty years of his life. Externally, he was forced to lead an unsettled life, but during all those painful years, the poet of the unsurpassed Divina Comedia was spiritually born. In 1300, the year before the catastrophe, he had a deep inner experience in which he had conceived that great poem, and Saturn was in Lion.

Everybody who knows the Divina Comedia will agree that it is founded on a grand conception of the spiritual nature of the interior of the Earth and of the cosmos of the stars. Thus Dante, too, was a cosmologist who was initiated in the interrelationship between the human being and the stars. We see in it a confirmation of what we said about Mars in Lion.

Now we go on to the position of Jupiter in Virgin at the time of Tycho Brahe’s death. One experiences in the sphere of Jupiter after death, the spiritual archetypes of all life-forces. (See Isis Sophia II, Part Three.) He becomes aware of the origins of the immeasurable wisdom-life that flows through all living creatures and unites their existence in the great stream of divine evolution. Thus we can imagine that Jupiter in Virgin points to Tycho’s sojourn in that sphere where he saw the truth of the eternal impulses behind all life and evolution, the common origin and the ultimate goal of all living creatures. He must also have comprehended his own position in this gigantic stream of cosmic life and development. In the earthly existence of humanity, this individual participation in the immeasurably wise and manifold stream of cosmic evolution is hidden behind his inner attitude toward life, usually expressed in the human temperaments, and in his whole life conception.

Jupiter was in the constellation of Virgin. Apart from the Ancient Saturn evolution, we find this constellation associated with the first great cycle of the Ancient Sun universe. (See Isis Sophia II, Part Three.) That first stage of the Sun cosmos saw the recapitulation of Ancient Saturn. The very foundation of all physical substance was recreated, but it was now partly permeated by life. Something similar happened during the initial cycle of Ancient Moon that we also associated with Virgin. Furthermore, in connection with the Earth evolution, we find the indication there of the final stage of the Earth. Then we will have developed so far, with regard to our ego, that we will be able to realize our spiritual oneness, our inner connection with the universe, and with all that which will exist in that future universe as the descendants of the present kingdoms of nature, of the stars, etc.

In this setting we find Tycho Brahe’s Jupiter. It indicates that after death he must have attained a deep insight into the workings, the origins, and the ultimate purposes of life. The divine Wisdom, which operates in all life formations and that is the expression of the mighty stream of cosmic evolution as it was contemplated by the highest spiritual hierarchies, must have been laid open to this soul. He must also have attained an exalted insight into the working of these life-forces in the single object, in the chemistry of matter, in the alchemy of human destiny, etc.

He could not have aspired to such realizations if he had not already laid the foundations for them on Earth. The positions of the planets in the death asterogram imply two aspects, as we have seen: one refers to the earthly past, the other to the future—to life after death. The past is indicated by the previous or anterior transits of Saturn. In connection with the latter we find some interesting information, as described earlier. In 1569, Saturn was in the later place of Jupiter, and Tycho Brahe was then in Augsburg, engaged in astronomical and alchemistic studies.

Our present age is apt to belittle the efforts of medieval alchemy as a kind of superstition due to the ignorance of those people. This is certainly true with regard to the practices of a great number of charlatans who attempted, or pretended, to make gold. The genuine alchemist, however, did not devote energies to the satisfaction of base human greed. He tried to find the hidden secrets of the workings of nature, the manifestations of the spirit in the properties and the substances of the Earth. By a deep devotional attitude, he prepared himself to have a glimpse of the working of the elemental beings in matter—of the cosmic wisdom- and life-forces, etc. This was the gold that he wished to find, the metal gold only being the external manifestation of Divine Wisdom Light. Without knowing that expressions like gold, mercury, or sulfur, etc., meant invisible, creative forces in nature for the genuine alchemist, we cannot understand the weird language of medieval books on Alchemy.

We must imagine that Tycho Brahe made experiments of this kind. Of course, we do not know what he achieved, but he continued with his experiments on the island of Hveen. He did make medicines and put them to use on certain occasions. However imperfect these attempts may have been, they were the foundation for his experiences after death in the sphere of Jupiter when he stood face to face with the spiritual truth of the working of the cosmic hierarchical world into the physical on the wings of the lifeforces. We find Jupiter associated with Virgin in the death asterograms of the following personalities: Pico della Mirandola, died 17 November 1474. He was deeply concerned about the deterioration of astrology into a means of fortune telling and therefore opposed it. However, he had a very high opinion of true cosmology and star wisdom and deplored its profanation.

When William Blake died on 12 August 1827, Jupiter was also in Virgin. The previous or anterior transits of Saturn over this position of Jupiter coincided with Blake’s start on his great work Jerusalem. However difficult it is to pronounce an opinion on Blake’s works, we may safely say that his Jerusalem is an apocalyptic conception of the great alchemical transformation of the Earth into a future state of existence. It is certainly an artistic interpretation of the Revelation of John the Divine. We could add many more examples, but these two may suffice to amplify what we said about Tycho Brahe’s Jupiter in Virgin.

Saturn was in the constellation of Scales at the time of Tycho’s death. From the description of Saturn in Isis Sophia II, Part Three, we gather that it is the great preserver of the “entelechy”, the undeviated flow of evolution through all existence. The soul experiences in that sphere after death the spiritual archetypes of all soul existence, the divine motives of all emotions, impulses, notions, etc., which were met on the Earth without knowing where they come from. We can imagine that Tycho Brahe here saw through to the real background of his psychological make-up. For instance, there was in him the deep desire to serve the wisdom of the stars that shaped his whole life. Where did it come from? Only in the sphere of Saturn can we get answers to such questions. There, the knowledge and realization of past incarnations provides the keys for an understanding of individual soul formations.

In the constellation of Scales we find the imprint of the last great cycle of the Ancient Sun evolution and the second stage of Ancient Moon. (See Isis Sophia II, Part Three.) During the seventh great step of Ancient Sun, the ancestors of humanity had attained the highest perfection of which they were then capable. In a plant-like attitude, they were a perfect mirror of the Sun universe and followed unerringly its directions. This gives us a glimpse of the character of Tycho Brahe’s individuality in previous incarnations. He was deeply connected with ancient Sun Mysteries and was initiated in earlier lives in the secrets of the spiritual nature of the Sun. In Part Three of Isis Sophia II, we have briefly indicated the threefold character of the Sun, of the present Sun that is, in a certain sense, a replica of Ancient Sun. In secrets like these of the threefold Sun, this individuality was initiated in previous lives. This was the reason he became a cosmologist in his Tycho Brahe incarnation. It was the spiritual archetype of his psychological make-up and can explain many of his characteristics and his destiny.

There is the other aspect of Scales, the second cycle of Ancient Moon. There occurred then the dramatic exit of the reborn Ancient Sun with the higher spiritual hierarchies. For the first time in the history of the universe, a deep rift came into existence between the higher divine forces and the lower regions of existence. It was enacted for the sake of development of independence and freedom, but it also offered a possibility for evil, death, and illness to enter the universe.

This aspect of Scales points to another side of Tycho Brahe’s soul-world. We have previously mentioned his dislike of the Copernican world views. Partly it was the heritage from the Ancient Sun Mysteries that influenced him; however, he was not able to turn back the wheel of evolution. After his death, even his closest co-worker of the last year, Kepler, went over to Copernicanism and it became more and more triumphant. For the sake of independent thought and freedom, humanity had to forget for a while ancient spiritual conceptions of the universe and experience it as a material and mechanical system only. To see humanity moving into this direction must have been a tragic experience for Tycho Brahe.

Yet, on the basis of the death asterogram, we can also find that this experience of Saturn in Scales was for this soul the dawn of a new light. Long after death he must have become aware of the great change that had taken place through the union of Christ with the Earth. He perceived the new Sun Mysteries that he had also met in a previous incarnation. (We tried to describe some of these facts in Part Three of Isis Sophia II.) He found and took up again the thread of the Mysteries that for him, in his Tycho Brahe life, seemed to have been broken.

Saturn in Scales portends, indeed, the great decisions in the course of evolution, also the great impulses that made the progress of humanity in times of crises possible. We find Saturn in Scales in the death asterograms of Copernicus and Kepler. We have mentioned both already in connection with Tycho Brahe. The drama of the battle for and against the Copernican system became visible here. Also in the death asterogram of Rudolf Steiner, Saturn stood in Scales.

We shall now briefly consider the Moon and the inferior planets. In their case, we should like to employ the divisions of the ecliptic rather than the constellations of the fixed star Zodiac. Orthodox astrology calls them signs, and they are given the same names and symbols as the constellations, unfortunately. (Fig. 6a & b may help us to understand the difference. Signs and constellations are slowly moving apart. This increasing divergence is caused by the precession of the vernal point.)

The inner planets are more connected with the (apparent) path of the Sun or ecliptic; therefore, we consider them from the viewpoint of the signs. Also the Moon has a stronger affinity to the ecliptic.

From the description of the Moon in Part Three of Isis Sophia II, we gather that this cosmic sphere is the great storehouse, as it were, from which all physical objects obtain the substances that they need for their bodily existence. Also, our body is created under the influence of the Moon forces during the time of gestation. After death we are called upon to abandon our affinity to the bodily world in the Moon sphere.

In Tycho Brahe’s death asterogram, we find the Moon in the waning phase and in the sign of  Libra or Balance. The signs are more associated with the seasonal rhythms and with the working of the formative- or life-forces in nature. The  is the sign in which the Sun stands at the beginning of autumn, when the “Fall” in nature sets in. We may see in this Moon of Tycho Brahe an indication of his bodily condition toward the end. He must have been very worn out, not only physiologically but also with regard to his inner funds of resistance and positive nature toward life. It may well be that his vain struggle against his time was extremely exacting, all the more as he was by no means a placid nature but rather choleric.

One can say with a certain justification that his later years were already a process of inner purification, which the human being normally experiences only after death. The waning Moon in the sign of  is a certain amplification of this. Tycho Brahe’s bonds with the material existence were no longer very strong when he died; therefore, his ascent to spiritual heights was probably rather rapid and unopposed.

The planet Venus appears here in the constellation of Lion (Fig. 7a), which corresponds to the ecliptic sign of Virgo (see Fig. 6a & b). We associated the sphere of this planet in our researches with the “Mercury of the ancient Mysteries”. In Part Three of Isis Sophia II, we have outlined our viewpoints on this matter of “M-Mercury”. We also gather from those descriptions that this sphere is especially connected with all that we can call “relationship”.

In order to come to the viewpoint of the sphere of Venus (M-Mercury), however, it is not sufficient to only take into account the momentary position of the planet. The whole orbit is an indication of the “sphere”. We must extend, therefore, our observations to the gestures of the planet in the course of time.

The most revealing gestures of the interior planets are their conjunctions with the Sun when they are standing roughly in the same position as the Sun—as we perceive them from the Earth. There are two possibilities: the planet can stand in front of or behind the Sun. The first is called an inferior conjunction, the second a superior one. Both alternate in time. In Fig. 7a & b (below), we give a diagram of these rhythms of Venus (M-Mercury), first on the basis of the Ptolemaic view (with the Earth in the center) and secondly from the Copernican view. We have chosen the gestures about the time of Tycho Brahe’s death.

We see in the diagram that the “M-Mercury” (or Venus) of Tycho Brahe had an inferior conjunction, before his death, with the Sun in the ecliptic sign Leo. Seen from the Earth it appeared to be in a loop caused by the retrograde movement of the planet. After the death of Tycho Brahe, it moved into a superior conjunction in the ecliptic sign  . These gestures give us an idea of the condition of the sphere at that time. We can read in it the character of the relationship that this soul had to his surrounding world both during life and also after death.

The position in the ecliptic sign of  gives us an indication of the direction we have to search. It is a sign that is very much connected with maturity. When the Sun is there in the course of the seasons, it is ripening time in nature in the Northern Hemisphere). This sign has also a very subtle and sensitive character, which was certainly the case with regard to Tycho Brahe’s feeling life. He was like a being without protecting skin, and his choleric temperament could flare up at the slightest provocation. He had a strong sense of dignity and was very conscious of his own spiritual weight and importance. This is also indicated by the previous transit of Saturn over this position in 1597, when he left Hveen. He was deeply hurt by the attitude of the court of young King Christian and was prepared to renounce the work that he had built up through 21 years rather than to carry on under the difficult circumstances that had arisen.

The superior conjunction in the sign of Taurus, which took place after his death, is connected with the experiences of this soul beyond the threshold of death. The soul becomes aware in the sphere of “MMercury” of the moral implications and values of its relationships and connections with groups and communities. The gestures of the planet in Tycho Brahe’s death asterogram rather suggest that he experienced a tremendous change in that sphere after death. His “touchy” feeling life became very refined in a certain sense, even resigned. He must have realized that through his life of suffering on the Earth, he had prepared the path for something much bigger. Gradually, he became a spiritual guide and inspirer of souls who dwelt on the Earth. We know of definite inspirations that came from him to people of historic importance, and we are also aware that in this present age he can be a councilor to souls who struggle to find and fulfill the inner calling of their destiny. He can also be experienced as a leading group spirit of those who battle for a spiritual union and harmony between the heavens of the stars and the earthly world of destiny. Unfortunately, we cannot explain the foundations of the foregoing statements. It has to be reserved for a later publication because it would fill a volume alone.

Mercury was in the ecliptic sign of , like the Moon. We regard the movements and gestures of this planet as indications of the (invisible) sphere of “Mystery-Venus”. In Fig. 8a & b, we give a diagram of these gestures about the time of Tycho Brahe’s death. What we said above about “M-Mercury” refers also to “M-Venus”; only, the rhythms are different. Mercury (M-Venus) is connected with the development of the integrated human personality, with the self-manifestation of a person as an intelligent being in the family of humanity. After death we experience in that sphere the moral aspects of our affiliations with religious and philosophic institutions and communities, etc.

The planet Mercury, which indicates this region, stood in the sign of , where it also had an inferior conjunction with the Sun (a loop, see Fig. 8a) before Tycho Brahe’s death. With reference to the death asterogram, we see in this an indication of a rather detached attitude, a kind of restraint resulting from a sureness of his own personal dignity, especially in later years. Although social contact was not difficult, there was the desire to stand aloof from any association with groups, etc. For instance, there is nothing known about a deeper connection with any religious institution. He must have been a personality with a strong sense of independence and spiritual self-sufficiency.

This tendency to detachment after death made it possible for a rather steep ascent to the higher regions in life beyond the threshold. The further indications of “M-Venus”, a superior conjunction in the sign of  Scorpio and a loop or inferior conjunction in  Capricorn (see Fig. 8a), suggest that he went through a strong and deep-reaching transformation. His intimate knowledge of the stars and his spiritual views on the cosmos helped him to preserve consciousness to a high degree after death. Not all human souls are able to stay awake after death when they face the dazzling light of the spiritual world. The cultivation of a spiritual star wisdom can certainly help a soul to go through the regions beyond death in full consciousness.

Finally, we come to the Sun in Tycho Brahe’s death asterogram, which stood in Virgin, or rather at the feet of that constellation. The experiences of the soul after death in the sphere of the Sun are rather peculiar. The soul is, in a certain sense, referred back to the Earth. In Part Three of Isis Sophia II, we have described the great change that has taken place with regard to Sun and Earth. At a certain time, the great Spirit leader of the Sun hierarchies dwelt in the Sun sphere and at the beginning of our era united with the Earth. Christian humanity calls this spirit the Christ. Since that time the spiritual qualities of the Sun have begun to work within the Earth. If human souls enter the Sun sphere now after death, they find it, in a certain sense, devoid of its great Spirit leader, the Christ. They will only be able to advance if they can look back upon experiences of the Sun Spirit, the Christ, on the Earth. They need not have belonged to any of the Christian religious institutions, but they can only stand the trial of passing over the threshold of the Sun sphere, when they have experienced consciously on Earth the great impulse of love and brotherhood of all beings in which the Christ is manifest. Only then can the soul ascend to higher regions of the spiritual world, where it will be confronted with its own true higher “I”. Therefore, the position of the Sun at the moment of death indicates, rather, the path of the soul from the Earth through the cosmic regions and through the gate of the Sun to the realm where its own eternal, spiritual archetype dwells. We found in our researches that the soul usually returns into a following incarnation from the same region where it ascended after the preceding death. This world region is indicated by the position of the Sun in the Zodiac at the time of death.

The Sun at the feet of Virgin in Tycho Brahe’s death asterogram reminds us of the last great cycle of the Earth evolution (Part Three of Isis Sophia II). We find it also in the visions of John the Divine. It is the imagination in Chapter XII of the Book of Revelation: The Woman in Heaven, clothed with the Sun, standing upon the Moon and crowned with twelve stars, who is persecuted by a mighty Dragon. He is waiting for her child to be born, the “Son of Man”, because he wants to destroy it. Then the Archangel Michael with his hosts comes to the rescue of the woman. A mighty battle in heaven ensues, and the Dragon is defeated and destroyed.

We see in this imagination the picture of the commencement of the final stages of the Earth evolution. The woman in heaven is the Soul of the World, of whom a reflection lives in every human soul. The child, the “Son of Man”, is the spiritual fruit of all humanity’s evolution, as far as it aims at the realization of the Christ-forces in every human heart. Against this spiritual birth in a human being, stand other forces that want to prevent the ascent of humanity to spiritual heights of existence. They want to hold on to the present stage of a material universe, preserve it for their own ends as a gigantic, lifeless, and soulless mechanism. These are the Dragon-forces.

The position of the Sun in Tycho Brahe’s death asterogram betrays his association with the “hosts of Michael”, who prepare to battle against the adversary of the Woman in Heaven. He cannot be called a Christian in the ordinary, conventional sense. The Christianity with which he entered the sphere of the Sun is much greater. His struggle for a conception of the cosmos of the stars as the manifestation of the Divinity is, for one who is able to see deeper into the human soul, a sure witness of Tycho Brahe’s cosmic Christianity. In bitter battles that reach back into incarnations before this one, in the Middle Ages, he broke through to the realization of Christ as the great Sun Spirit who descended to the Earth, suffered the death on the Cross, and went through Resurrection for the sake of Salvation. Thus has this soul entered the spiritual world and is working for a spiritual-cosmic Christianity, which is not only a matter of eloquent words but of far-reaching and penetrating deeds. One day he will enter another earthly existence and stand in the ranks of those who fight for the preservation of spiritual life against the forces that proclaim the running down of the universe and the insignificance of Earth and humanity and so on. These seem to be the only aspects of which a certain section of present science is capable.

Chapter IV
Where Do We Stand?

The previous chapters have demonstrated that a new kind of relationship between the cosmos of the stars and the human being is shaping itself. The question will now arise: How can such a new relationship enter our practical, day-by-day life, besides the intellectual accumulation of the described facts as mere knowledge?

For traditional, orthodox astrology, the answer seems to be comparatively simple. The make-up and the destiny of human beings are supposed to be determined by the courses of the stars at the times of their incarnation. Therefore, the general assumption is that by studying the nativities of people, one is able to delineate their destines. This seems to be a practical conclusion, and the practice of astrology appears to have a more or less social function. There have also appeared, over time, the defects of this assumption: the gradual loss of the ancient capacity of reading the script of the stars, and the realization that within the framework of these cosmic connections very little scope was available for spiritual freedom, or none at all, etc. The relationship that we described is, however, of a different make. For instance, the facts that we presented in Chapter I show clearly enough that we are not solely destined by the courses of the stars. We are, with regard to our thoughts and deeds, an integral part of the cosmos. Much depends on our own decisions, and the world of the stars presents us only with the magnified reflection, as it were, of our spiritual morale.

Furthermore, the character and function of the asterogram of death confronts us with an aspect of human relationship with the stars that simply does not lend a hand to the classical astrological presumption of being able to prognosticate the destiny of a human being. Where, then, is its “practical” value beyond the facts, that in themselves may appear to be interesting enough and worthwhile knowing?

One possible answer is that such a study can imbue one with a sense of cosmic responsibility and conscience, which in turn can enhance one’s spiritual dignity. To see our own deeds and thoughts magnified and thus coming back to us as our—however self-made—destiny, will make us more aware of the weight of our own activities and will urge us to search for the spiritual sources of ever more perfect and farseeing ideas and actions. We will realize that stumbling into the future without firm inner convictions—a casual and arbitrary management of the affairs of earthly life, both great and small—may lead to disaster. We may learn that the present condition of humanity demands constant spiritual vigilance and preparedness for action out of free spiritual activity, searching for new roads and approaches outside the worn-out paths of tradition and convention. It may even enlighten us to permeate tradition and convention with new and free understanding, thus eliminating the dangers arising from the management of especially those elements that are not controlled, so far, by the segregating and ordering capacity of the human mind. Thus cosmological facts like those described in Chapter I can become great teachers of humanity. This is one way of realizing their practical value.

The aspect of the asterogram of death circumscribes yet another connection of the human being with the world of the stars. There, the responsibility of the human being becomes apparent in a strong individual sense. In Chapter II, we described the permeation of the cosmos by the life organization of a soul, by the living memory substance coming from the earthly life of a single human being. It is quite obvious that in this connection the moral quality of this life substance must be of decisive nature for the cosmos. In the case of Tycho Brahe, we see the fine qualities and the lofty aspirations of a human being imprinted into the cosmos of the planets.

However, we can also imagine that these imprints permeating the universe through the dissolving life- or ether-forces of a soul are not always of such a superb nature. For instance, if we take the death asterogram of Lenin, we find the imprints also very clearly marked in the cosmos. The life substance of Lenin also permeated the universe of the stars to a certain degree: the growth of this revolutionary; the Bolshevik revolution, in part; the very sinister deeds following in the wake of those events in Russia. Yet, how differently from the case of Tycho Brahe must this memory substance have echoed through cosmic space. We can imagine that it was like dark, indigestible enclosures in the cosmos, existing like centers of retention and disease in space.

Thus we can find, by empirical research, all kinds of living memory substance in the planetary cosmos originating in humanity’s earthly deeds. The quality of this substance is most important for the cosmos. Our responsibility is magnified by it to a degree not many people realize in the present moment of history. We shall see later on that this memory substance, which humanity implants into the cosmos of the stars after death, does not only concern the world of the stars but humanity also. Humanity is constantly called upon to rarefy and develop the substance that flows into the cosmos through its single members. We cannot escape the need to stand responsible, as a whole, for the deeds and thoughts of our brethren, with which the universe of the stars is permeated. A spiritual cosmology, as we try to represent it here, can provide a basis for a sound and healthy understanding of these facts, and possibly help humanity on the road of its evolution and assist it in overcoming the bondage of illusion and falsehood.

In Chapter III, we have described the realization of cosmic memory, present in the Zodiac and in the planets, through the life of a single human being. For example, Mars standing in Lion at the time of Tycho Brahe’s death turned our attention to the most ancient stages of cosmic evolution. We saw them, as having been manifested and expressed in the life of Tycho Brahe, in his strong relationship to the universe of the stars. Yet, by no means was this relationship simply a falling back to the past. Tycho Brahe had brought down to Earth those memory-pictures of Ancient Saturn, Ancient Sun, and Ancient Moon as far as they are inscribed in Lion. He had adjusted them to the conditions of his age, to the facts with which a human being incarnate on the Earth is confronted. Thus one can say that the great cosmos of the memory of past evolution woke up in the consciousness of a single human being. It had resurrected through the ego of a man, and such a noble soul as Tycho Brahe was even able to transform it into pictures of “cosmic future”.

The individual appears to be like a bridge from the past to the future: in one’s present conscious life there awaken the pictures of past divine creation; these pictures are woven into the patterns of our thinking, feeling, and willing; and, although we are only more or less perfect, they are lifted up to the level of the ego, and thereby the old cosmos is elevated to new cosmic existence in the realm of moral imagination. If this idea is not pressed too much, one can even speak of a rescue of the moral essence of the earlier, God-created cosmos and its preservation for future cycles of evolution. All human beings are involved in this cosmic process. We are called upon to act as mediums of transformation between cosmic past and cosmic future. However, there are very few people who are able to realize this at the present stage of evolution. In a certain sense, it even had to be hidden away from the consciousness of modern humanity, lest we become overwhelmed by such grand and responsibility evoking aspects of human existence. It is an iron necessity that our ego grow sufficiently strong and universal before we become able to comprehend such ideas.

The task of a spiritual cosmology is to prepare coming ages of history, when humanity will be able to grasp consciously its position in cosmic existence. The teaching of modern spiritual science is an essential and indispensable aid in such endeavors.

The presentation and interpretation of the death asterogram, as we attempted it in Chapter III, can bring home one’s true position within the cosmos. By studying such historic charts as that of Tycho Brahe—in fact by nature they must all be historic—we can gradually develop inner organs of perception for the tasks of transformation that are demanded from us while being incarnate on the Earth. Here, too, we learn to know spiritual cosmology as a teacher who helps us to find our true Self.

There exists still another aspect of the death asterogram that concerns the human being even more directly. The example of Tycho Brahe shows us that the life substance flows into the planetary cosmos after death, and to a certain extent it changes the character of the universe, for instance, the dynamic quality of the constellations. We will presently explain this.

We may ask: What happens to this substance? Experience has shown that it is not lost, but that it lives on. Souls who descend into incarnation on the Earth go through the spheres of the planets and gather what they need there for their coming earthly existence, according to their previously attained capacities. They meet also the living memory substance of others, who had left behind the imprints of their earthly deeds and struggles after they had departed from our planet. This memory substance is taken up by incarnating souls as far as their disposition makes it possible. They bring it back to the Earth and develop it further. Thus, the impulses of those who have passed away before us are ever more perfected. Ideas and impulses of previous ages that could not be accomplished, owing to the conditions of those times or the incapacities of their bearers, are brought nearer to realization and refinement in this manner. It may even be that tendencies, which at a certain time did not fit positively into the stream of human evolution, are redeemed and purified by ever new attempts of souls in later times.

Experience has taught us that previous memory substance of this kind can also deteriorate and lead to disaster, if those who took it up before they incarnated are not awake enough to the facts of which we are speaking here. Shortly before we enter the earthly realm through birth, the curtain is drawn before our prenatal experiences. We forget them as far as our day-waking consciousness is concerned; only in the depths of our unconscious regions are they present and may even become the cause of all kinds of psychological upheavals and disturbances. Then dangers beset the human being from all sides. Powers of deviation can enter the soul if we are not, to a certain extent, in conscious command of those facts in ourselves.

Humanity is rapidly moving into conditions in which these dangers become more and more acute, because the ancient means of safety through instinct have almost completely melted away. Humanity of the present age, and even more of the future, must attain a consciousness of those hidden facts concerning the prenatal life and experiences in the spheres of the planets. A new spiritual cosmology can prepare the path to an understanding of these connections of the soul with its prenatal existence, when it was still a dweller in the regions of the stars.

We shall explain such connections by an historic example. For this purpose we take the death asterogram of the famous Italian painter Raphael Santi (1483–1520 AD). He died on April 6, 1520 in Rome. In Fig. 9, we give the aspects of the sky at the time of his death on lines similar to those employed in connection with Tycho Brahe in Fig. 3.

First of all, we should like to give a very brief outline of Raphael’s biography. His father was a painter at Urbino, which was the residence of the Dukes of Montefeltro. Raphael was also born there. Both his parents died while he was still a child. His teacher was the painter Perugino.

In 1504, Raphael came to Florence, which had become one of the great centers of Italian art through the generosity and the understanding of the family of the Medici, and from then onward he gradually became famous—above all by his many representations of the divine Virgin, the Madonna. He was called to Rome in 1507 by Pope Julius II. From 1508 till about 1517, he executed his world famous paintings in the palace of the Vatican, the “Disputa”, the “School of Athens”, the “Parnass”, and so on. In 1514, he had also become director of the re-building of St. Peter’s cathedral in Rome. About 1515/16, came the sketches for the tapestries in the Sistine Chapel that have also become world famous, and of which a part can be seen in the Victoria-Albert Museum in London. In 1519, he completed the paintings in the Villa Chigi and in the Vatican Loggias in Rome. Just after having finished his last great painting, the “Transfiguration”, he died 6 April 1520, at the age of 37 years.

As in the case of Tycho Brahe, we can also find the biography of Raphael Santi imprinted in his asterogram of death. We shall not go into any detail now but take into consideration only one special point. On 6 April 1520, the death-day of Raphael, we see the Moon and Jupiter standing in the constellation of Scorpion (see Fig. 9). Saturn had occupied these places in 1514 and 1515. Therefore, these positions of Saturn are previous or anterior transits (see beginning of Chapter III), and we conclude that the events of 1514/15 were imprinted in Jupiter and the Moon after Raphael’s death.

We have already mentioned a few events concerning the years 1514/15 in Raphael’s life, but above all we should like to direct our attention to Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna”, which he painted about 1515. This painting is probably the best known work of the artist. We see in it the culmination of all his Madonna pictures. He achieved a simplicity of presentation with it by which he surpassed all his previous, though wonderful, paintings of the divine Virgin, and yet it expresses the supreme, even cosmic majesty of Virgin in a manner that no painter before nor after him attained. Whereas Raphael presented Virgin Mary in partly very realistic earthly settings and landscapes in previous pictures, the “Sistine Madonna” just touches the globe of the Earth beneath her feet. Only the two figures, to the right and left below her, remind us of earthly reality. The figure of the Virgin herself reaches up from the Earth into cosmic space where innumerable angel-like beings are indicated. And yet all the attributes of the “Heavenly Queen”, which were so often used by painters, like crown and royal attire, are missing here. It seems to be this simplicity that weaves around the Virgin an invisible cloak of cosmic, unsurpassed majesty. Raphael, indeed, uplifted the imagination of the Divine Virgin—the Soul of the World—in this picture to cosmic dimensions.

This event in Raphael’s life, among the others, we imagine was imprinted in those planets in Scorpion. It flowed into the cosmos as a new message coming from the realm of one who endeavors ever again to comprehend the mysteries of the Divinity. If we contemplate this fact, we may even permit ourselves to speak of this event as a “re-valuation” of the constellation of Scorpion. Of course, it can be only one of a long series of incidents in human history that all aim at a transformation of Scorpion. It is even possible to find a “history” of this stream of transformation.

In Part Three of Isis Sophia II, we have described Scorpion as the cosmic memory-picture of the great crisis during the Ancient Moon evolution. Behind this, in a deeper layer of Scorpion, we saw a most profound stage of Ancient Sun evolution. This was lost in time and the cosmically critical aspect of the Ancient Moon-Scorpion remained to a high degree. Now we are called upon to transform this aspect in the course of the give and take that occurs in our relationship with the cosmos of the stars. Many historic events have taken place, which testify by their cosmic aspects, this impulse of transformation in humanity.

Those events in Raphael’s life, the elevation and glorification of eternal womanhood, in a universal sense, were indeed imprinted into the cosmos by the anterior transits of Saturn over the places of Jupiter and the Moon. We may mention another fact here that amplifies what we said. In 1515, the year in that the “Sistine Madonna” was born, Jupiter moved into the constellation of Bull opposite to Scorpion. Therefore, we can also speak of an anterior Jupiter transit, though it imprinted this event into the opposite part of the Zodiac. It would be wrong to assume that only Saturn works out a kind of cosmic biography of a human being by its anterior transits. The death asterogram is more complicated in reality and consists of “layers” of anterior transits performed by Jupiter, Mars, and so on. They paint the biography in minute details.

The imprint of the “Sistine Madonna” in the cosmos was not lost. It lives on, and souls who descended later into incarnation took it up as far as they had the capacity to do so. In order to demonstrate this, we select one historic example, the Russian philosopher Vladimir Soloviev (born January 28, 1853, died August 13, 1900, New Style). When he prepared for incarnation, Jupiter was moving from Scales into Scorpion. This happened during the time of his gestation, and we see in it an indication that he was especially connected with Jupiter and Scorpion during his sojourn in the spiritual world before birth.

First of all, I would like to give an account of the life of this personality. At the age of 14, he already went through a religious crisis, destroyed his icons and pictures of religious content, and saw his aim in the study of materialistic philosophy and science only. But six years later, we see him attending lectures at the theological academy of a monastery in Moscow, and in the following year he wrote about the “Crisis of Western Philosophy”, repudiating philosophical materialism. He went to London in 1875 to study in the British Museum. During that year, he had two far-reaching inner experiences of which we shall speak later on. He returned to Russia in 1876 but found little appreciation of his philosophic and religious views among church people, and he started as a free-lance lecturer with good success. In 1881, he had to give up his public lectures and devoted his energies during the following years to a great ideal. He felt it was his task to bring about a unification of the Christian churches in a Universal Church. He contacted the Roman Catholic Church in connection with this matter, but nowhere could he find a response to his great ideal.

He wrote a number of books that have only partly been translated. Among them are: Treatise on God-Manhood, History and Future of Theocracy, Russia and the Universal Church. During the last ten years of his life he wrote, The meaning of Love, The Justification of the Good and one of his very last writings is a vivid description of the coming and defeat of the Antichrist, as he imagined it.

What was the inner foundation on which this soul rested and from which he worked into the world? We can understand this only if we are prepared to lend an ear to what he said about his inner experiences in 1875, which we mentioned above. It is contained in a poem (Three Meetings) that he wrote shortly before his death. There he described his spiritual meetings with Hagia Sophia, the Divine Wisdom, the Divine Glory of the Cosmos.

At the age of 9, on Ascension Day 1862, he had the vision of the Hagia Sophia while he was attending Divine Service in a Moscow cathedral. He went to London in 1875 in order to study all he could lay hands on about the Divine Sophia, the Wisdom of God. He went there with a deep inner longing that the vision of his youth might come again, and one day when he was sitting in the reading room of the British Museum, she indeed revealed herself to him. In his longing he said these words (quoted here from a translation by Mr. George Adams.): “‘Flower of God, I feel thy presence here. Why didst thou not appear since childhood’s days unto mine eyes?’ And hardly had I thought these words, when suddenly the space was filled with golden azure-blue, and once again she shone forth before me ...It was her countenance alone, her countenance! ...I spake to her: ‘Thy countenance thou hast unveiled, yet all of Thee I wish to see. What to the child Thou didst not stint to shew, to full grown youth Thou’lt surely not deny.’ ‘…In Egypt it shall be’, the inner voice resounded.”

He describes then how he went to Egypt, to Cairo, where he waited for the promised vision until one day, “twas in a silent hour by night…like a cool zephyr breeze I felt her voice: ‘Out in the desert seek me—there I am.’” So he went on foot into the desert, in the black overcoat of the student of theology and over-high top hat. He barely escaped death when some Bedouins mistook the strange figure for the Devil. When night came, he lay down on the ground and tried to sleep in spite of the bitter cold and the baying of jackals around him.

“Long lay I thus in anxious slumber. Then suddenly the words were breathed to me, ‘Sleep, sleep, poor friend!’ I fell asleep, and when at last I wakened all aware, fragrance of roses filled all Earth and Sky, and in the Ether-light of Heaven’s glory, Thine eyes aflood with azure fire, Thou didst shine forth, like the first lightening of eternal Day. Whatever is, whatever was and will be through the ages, …all, all was one within Thy silent gaze. In the blue light beneath me, seas and rivers sparkled; then distant forests, snow-capped mountain-heights. All I beheld, and all was One …One picture vast of fairest Womanhood. The limitless was within its limits, …before me and within me …all wert Thou. O light of sunrise Glory! Thou didst not deceive me, for in the desert I beheld Thee all. Nor ever in my soul shall these roses fade, where’er the waves of life may bear me. One instant only, and the vision closed. The Sun’s disk rose on the horizon. The desert silence and my soul in prayer, filled with the song of blessing, without end!”

He returned to Cairo with empty stomach and big holes in his shoes, but his soul filled with the echo of the great experience.

We see here a human being who had visions of a spiritual being. The character of the poem suggests that they were real inner experiences, not speculations. In his writings, he describes this being as “the transfigured and reintegrated universe appearing before him in its original splendor and glory”. One of his biographers says: “Soloviev was convinced that belief in a Personal God implies that the cosmos also has a personality; to this personality he gave the name of Hagia Sophia, or the Divine Wisdom, who responded by a free act of her own love to the creative love of her Maker.”

Wherefrom did this seemingly strange experience of Soloviev come? From a study of the cosmological implications we suggest that he took up at the time of his descent into incarnation a part of the memory substance of Raphael Santi, the eternal image of the “Sistine Madonna”, which had been elevated to cosmic heights. This is indicated by the position of Jupiter in Scorpion when Soloviev incarnated. It reminds us of the Jupiter in Scorpion in Raphael’s asterogram of death.

However, we notice that the description of Hagia Sophia in “three meetings” bears unmistakable features of the Ancient Egyptian Goddess Isis. Words that he used like, “whatever is, whatever was and will be through the ages...” confirm this. How is this to be reconciled with the undoubtedly Christian image of the “Sistine Madonna”? In order to solve this problem, we must penetrate a little deeper into the mysterious background of the Christian Imagination of the Virgin Mother. The Egyptian Isis was, as it were, a pre-Christian prophecy of the events that were to take place physically in Palestine at the beginning of our era. What was perceived in the Egyptian mysteries as an eternal truth, the pure Soul of the universe who gives birth to the spirit-child in Earth humanity, was expected to become external, visible reality. This was the great message of the Egyptian Isis mysteries, and consequently early Christianity, which had still a glimpse of the spiritual background of physical events, realized the connection between the great Isis and the Virgin Mother. Thus there lived in the veneration of the Madonna, the awareness of the fact that upon the earthly Mary rested the divine reflection of the Goddess Isis. (We have found numerous statues of ancient Egyptian origin showing Isis holding the child Horus in her lap.)

This knowledge was lost more and more in later times of Christianity, but Raphael seems to have still had a glimpse of it. In his last picture of the “Sistine Madonna”, he succeeded in presenting the ancient Isis-prophecy, blended with the Christian Imagination of the Mother Mary event. Whether he did it consciously or out of the unfathomable depths of “unconscious memory” is an open question.

Thus we see the living and creative memory substance of one human being handed on to another after it had gone through a cosmic transformation. Soloviev wasn’t a painter. He had not the means at hand that Raphael had. Yet his description of the Hagia Sophia is a witness of the undeniable fact of the advancing evolution of humanity. Someone may have an idea or an impulse that is taken up into cosmic realms after death. Then the idea or the deed may appear submerged in the stream of history, until one day other human beings take it up again and transform it according to their capacities and dispositions. It is then certainly not only just a repetition of what it had been in the past; it has evolved in the meantime and brings a new message to humanity.

Certainly the connection indicated between Raphael and Soloviev is not the only one. There have been other souls who took up the imaginations that Raphael had imprinted into the cosmos. They transformed them according to their own capacities.

For our studies, this example can become another proof of the significance of a new spiritual cosmology. It is only one of many aspects that can teach us about the more intimate connections between human beings of the past and of the present. Learning from it we can prepare to help bring light into the soul. How often does it happen that we stand and wonder before the expressions of the soul life of a human being, without being able to comprehend the sources of it? And how often does it occur that we are confronted with strange soul moods and impulses, in ourselves or in another person, that seem to spring from nowhere? To bring understanding and, even in certain cases, healing order into the soul life of humanity, we will need ever more a knowledge of our real connection with the spiritual world, with the dead, with our own experiences before birth and after death. Spiritual cosmology can become a guiding beacon on the path to spiritual truth concerning our greater Self.