Egyptian Myths and Mysteries
GA 106
9 September 1908, Leipzig
Seventh Lecture
Evolutionary Events in the Human Organism up to the Departure of the Moon. Osiris and Isis as Builders of the Upper Human Form.
In the preceding lectures we have brought before our eyes, in connection with the nature of man, a long series of facts related to the evolution of the earth and of the whole solar system. In the last two lectures we directed our particular attention to bringing forward those facts of the evolution of sun, moon, and earth which had a sort of resurrection in the Egyptian mysteries, and which the pupil of these mysteries, as well as the whole Egyptian people, learned to know. In his clairvoyant seeing the pupil actually learned to know all the things mentioned here, as well as those that will be brought out today.
The greater part of the people, who were unable to raise themselves to clairvoyance, learned about all this in a most significant picture. We have often touched upon this picture, which was the most important one in the Egyptian world-view. It is embodied in the myth of Isis and Osiris. We are all acquainted with this picture, and no one who knows anything believes that it is without significance.1In classical antiquity this feeling of baffling importance was already present. See Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris. It was not only a picture for these people, but it was much more. What was contained in the Isis myth was told approximately as follows.
In earlier times Osiris long ruled the earth, to the blessing of humanity. This continued up to a particular moment, later characterized as the point when the sun stood in the sign of the Scorpion. Then it was that Typhon, or Set, killed his brother Osiris by inducing him to lay himself down in a chest, which Typhon then closed and committed to the sea. Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, searched for her brother and husband, and after finding him brought him to Egypt. But the evil Typhon, still striving for the destruction of Osiris, cut him in pieces. Isis gathered the fragments together and buried them in various places. (Various graves of Osiris are still shown in Egypt.) Then Isis bore Horus, who avenged his father on Typhon. Osiris was now again admitted into the world of the divine spiritual beings and is no longer active on earth, but he aids men when they sojourn in the spiritual world between death and a new birth. Therefore in Egypt the path of the dead was called the way to Osiris.
This is the myth, which is one of the most ancient components of the Egyptian conception of life. Although there were later additions and changes, this legend pervaded all the cults of Egypt as long as any life remained in the Egyptian religious views.
Having directed our attention to this myth, into which was compressed what the pupil saw as a real event in the holy secrets of the mystery schools, we must now turn our attention to what we began yesterday and try to gain a clearer understanding of what was produced in man through the influence of the various aspects of the moon. We have spoken of the twenty-eight nerves proceeding from the spinal cord, which stem from the positions of the moon during the twenty-eight days that the moon requires to return to its first form. We have probed the mystery of how, through the cosmic forces, these twenty-eight pairs of nerves were formed in man from outside. Now I beg you to heed well the following.
So far as possible in a short discourse, we shall now describe, as precisely as possible, what the Egyptian pupil learned about human evolution in a still broader sense. Those who are too strongly infected by modern anatomy will say that this description is pure nonsense from the contemporary point of view. They may say this, but they should be aware that this is the doctrine that the Egyptian neophyte not only learned, but clairvoyantly observed. I shall speak to those who are perceptive enough to be able to follow. This teaching was not only the result of the vision of the Egyptian in the mysteries, but it is also accepted as true by the modern occultist of today.
Let us recall what was said in the last lectures about how the earth, while still at the beginning of its evolution, consisted entirely of human germs, which formed the primeval earth-mist. The Indian clairvoyant, as well as the Egyptian, could see the entire subsequent human form sprout forth spiritually out of this spiritual human germ. All that later grew out of this human germ could be seen clairvoyantly at that time. But one could also look back on those parts of man that first arose out of the germ. The first that arose out of this germ, when the sun was still connected with the earth, was actually like a sort of plant, which opened its chalice upward. These forms filled, so to say, the whole earth as they shaped themselves out of the primeval mist. But in the earliest time in which this arose, like a sort of flower corolla opening itself into cosmic space, this corolla was scarcely visible; man would only have been able to perceive it by feeling its presence as a chalice-shaped warmth-body. This was present at first as a warmth-body. While the earth was still connected with the sun, the inner part of this human formation began to light up and to shine into cosmic space. If at that time one had been able to see with the eyes of today, on approaching such a light-form one would have seen a sparkling sphere, like a glittering sun, which cast its gleams into space in a regular form. Today, one can hardly form a clear picture of what existed at that time. This would only be possible if one could conceive of the pure atmosphere of our earth as completely filled with fire-flies raying their light out into cosmic space. Thus would the first beginnings of man have shone into cosmic space when the earth was still connected with the sun. But this was not all that existed. At about the same time a sort of gas-body took form, outside and around the chalice form. Many substances were present in this, in solution, just as today we find fluid and solid substances in the human and animal bodies. At that time, however, they were air-forms. Soon after all this had arisen, other germs came out of the common earth-mass, germs that were the first indications of our present animal kingdom. Thus the human kingdom came forth first; then came the germs that gave rise to the animal kingdom. The earth still consisted of an air-mass, of gleaming light-disseminating bodies, which shone into cosmic space. Within this air-mass emerged the first traces of sexless animals, which stood at the lowest stage of the present animal kingdom. We shall see that these animals, then arising in their first outlines, had a certain significance for man.
The important thing is that these animals, which then made their appearance, composed the thickest of the gas-masses, like thick clots of gas. These animals developed through most diverse forms to a certain level, and when the sun had just gone forth from the earth, the highest animal form was the fish, although not the fish of today. The form of the animals of that time was entirely different from that of the present fishes, but it stood at the same stage. In the course of evolution our fishes have retained what could be achieved while the sun was still in the earth. Now the earth condensed to a water-earth and the densest forms, the animals, swam in this water-earth. Something singular now came about. Certain of the primitive fish-forms remained animals and troubled themselves no further about the progress of evolution. Others, however, retained a certain relation to the human shapes in the following way.
At the same time that the sun went out from the earth, the earth began to turn on its axis so that at one time one side of the earth would be shone upon by the sun, and at another time it would not be shone upon; thus day and night began. But at that time, the days and nights were much longer than today. At the time when the moon had not yet split off, whenever such a human form (already considerably condensed) was on the sunny side, there was organized into this gas-mass something of such an animal form below in the water-earth. Human and animal forms were combined so that there was a human form above and an animal form below. The upper part protruded toward the sun, but the lower parts were weaker, and the animal body joined itself to them. The upper part protruded out of the water-earth, and the sun influence, proceeding through the flower-men, worked on the inner forces of earth and moon. Because here an animal form was joined to the human body, which was then at the fish level, it was said that the sun, which illuminated the human body, stood at the sign of the Fish. The first hint of this formation actually coincided with the sun's being in the sign of the Fish, but the sun passed many times through this sign before the next formation took place. The beginning of this formation, however, was the time when the sun stood in the zodiacal sign of the Fish, and this sign received its name because beings at the fish stage united themselves with man at that time.
Now, as we know, evolution proceeded in such a way that moon and earth formed one body. At the separation of the sun, Yahweh remained with the earth along with the moon forces, and among his ministers was the godly form the Egyptians called Osiris. Until the moon left the earth, evolution proceeded in a strange way.
We know that the earth was a water-earth, and the formation in the water attained an ever lower stage during the time preceding the departure of the moon. When the moon withdrew, man's lower nature was at about the stage of a great amphibian. This is what the Bible calls the serpent, and what is elsewhere called the lindworm or dragon. During the time when the moon was withdrawing, more and more of the animal kingdom had worked itself into the lower human form. When the moon finally left, man had a hideous animal-like form in his lower parts, although above he still had the last remnants of a light-form into which the forces of the sun flowed from without. It was still possible for the light-beings to work into man. He moved about in the primal ocean, floating and swimming, with this remarkable light-form protruding out of the water-earth. What was this light-form? In the course of time it had transformed itself into a powerful and comprehensive sense-organ. When the moon withdrew, this transformation was complete. When man swam in the primal ocean, if some dangerous being approached him, he could perceive it with this organ. Especially could warmth and cold be perceived with it. This organ later shriveled up, so that today it is the so-called pineal gland. At that time man moved within the earth-mass, floating and swimming, using this organ as a sort of lantern. In very young children we still find a soft place in the head, and it was from there that this organ protruded into cosmic space.
There were ever higher animal forms, which man took into himself. At one time, what had developed out of the fish was called the Water-man, because it lived in the water and contained the germ of the later man. A still higher form that developed could be called the Goat. The singular thing is that what corresponded to man in his lower members actually gave the name to the then prevailing constellation. The feet are actually the original Fish; the calves or shanks are the Water-man, which for a long time enabled man to steer while swimming; the knee we find to be related to the sign of the Goat. The animal kingdom evolved more and more, and what became the thigh was designated as the Archer. It would lead too far if I attempted to explain this expression, but we shall try to give a picture of how man looked when the animal kingdom corresponded to the Archer.
Man was an animal then, which for the first time could move about on the islands that were forming in the water. In his upper parts he became ever finer, and at the top he actually preserved the flower-form. He was illuminated from above by an organ that he carried on his head like a lantern. The then human form is rightly conceived if we see the upper part as etheric and the lower part as animal-like. In older pictures of the Zodiac, the form of the Archer is shown as an animal below and a man above. These signs portray the stage of evolution at which man then stood, even as the centaur reflects an actual stage of evolution-upward man and downward horse. The horse must not be taken literally, but as a representative of the animal kingdom. This was the artistic principle in earlier times; the artist portrayed what the clairvoyant described to him or what he himself had seen. Artists were often initiates. It is said that Homer was a blind seer, but that means that he was clairvoyant. He could look back into the Akashic Record. Homer, the blind seer, was much more seeing in the spiritual sense than were the other Greeks. Thus, the centaur was once an actual human form. When man looked like this, the moon had not yet withdrawn. The moon force was still in the earth, and in man was still what had formed itself during the sun period, the shining pineal gland, which he bore like a lantern on his head.
When the moon withdrew from the earth, sexuality appeared. The centaur-man was still sexless. Sexuality appeared when the sun stood in the sign of the Scorpion, and this is why we always connect sex with this sign. The Scorpion is what in the animal kingdom corresponds to the stage of evolution at which man stood when he had developed sexuality. In his upper half, man was turned toward the cosmic forces, but in his lower half he was a bisexual being. He had become a sexual being. When the clairvoyant pupil of the Egyptian mysteries directed his gaze toward this period of earth-evolution, he saw the earth peopled by men whose lower bodily form was becoming denser, in harmony with their baser nature, but who had a luminous human shape above.
Then began the time when, through the forces of the moon, the nerve-filaments appeared in the region where the spine now is. The formation above the spine, the present head-region, had condensed and changed itself into the human brain; that was the completely transformed light-organ. Attached to this was the spine, from which the nerves proceeded, and attached to this in turn was the lower man whom we have described. This was revealed to the Egyptian pupil, and it became clear to him that any being wishing to incarnate on the earth would have to assume the corresponding human form. Osiris, as spirit, often visited the earth and incarnated as a man. Men felt that a god had descended, but he had a human form. Every exalted being who visited the earth appeared in the shape that man then had. This shape was then such that one still, saw that light-body, that remarkable head-ornament, the lantern of Osiris,2Pictures of this ornament may be found in E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection (London, P. L. Warner, 1911), pages 42 and 49. which has been described in a pictorial way as the eye of Polyphemus. This is the organ, the lantern, which at first was outside the human body, and which then transformed itself into an inner organ in the brain. Everything in early art is a symbol of actual forms.
When the Greek initiates became acquainted with these mysteries of the Egyptians, they had already learned many things. Basically, they had learned the same things as the Egyptian initiates, but they gave them different names in their language. The initiates of the Egyptians had developed the clairvoyant gifts to a high degree, so that many of their pupils could look back clairvoyantly into those most ancient times. The Egyptian initiate had a direct connection with those mysteries, hence the Greek priests seemed to him to be only childish stammerers. This is illustrated by the words that an Egyptian priest once spoke to Solon, “O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes remain always children, and there is not an old man among you. In spirit you are all young; there is no old opinion handed down among you from ancient tradition, nor any science that is hoary with age.3See the opening passages of Plato's Timaeus. Thus did the Egyptian point out that his wisdom stood infinitely far above anything that can be experienced materially. Only in the Eleusinian mysteries did the Greeks progress equally far, but only a few participated in them.
In his study of earth-evolution, the Egyptian initiate saw that the god Osiris had separated himself from the sun and had gone to the moon, whence he reflected the light of the sun. What this god did was also sacred to the Greeks. They too knew that it was this god, Osiris, who formed the twenty-eight moon-aspects, and thereby laid the groundwork for the twenty-eight nerves in man. Through Osiris, the nervous system is built onto the spinal column, thereby forming the whole upper body of man. For what appears as muscle can maintain its form only because the nerves are its shapers. All we have as muscles, cartilage, and other organs such as heart and lungs, maintains its form only through the nerves. Thus through the earlier sun-activity appeared what took form as brain and spinal column, and on this spinal column the twenty-eight aspects of Isis and Osiris work from outside. Isis and Osiris are the shapers of all this, and in the tentacles that the brain sends down into the spinal column, Osiris works upon the spine. The Greeks experienced this also, and as they became acquainted with the Egyptian mysteries they recognized that Osiris was the same as the god whom they called Apollo. They said that the Egyptian Osiris was Apollo, and that, like Osiris, Apollo worked upon the nerves so as to achieve a soul-life within man.
Now in a simple way, let us try to view this formation. Let us think of the brain as it might be sketched. This continues itself into the spine, and there the twenty-eight arms of Osiris enter in; there Osiris with his twenty-eight hands plays upon the spine as upon a lyre. The Greeks had a significant image for this—the lyre of Apollo. We need only think of it as transposed. The lyre is the brain, the nerves are the strings on which the hands of Apollo play. Apollo plays on the cosmic-lyre, on the mighty work of art that the cosmos has formed, and that causes to resound in man the tones that compose his soul life. For the Eleusinian initiate, this was what the Egyptians had given in their pictures.
From such a picture we can see that these things should not be expounded too rigidly, or we shall merely be forcing fantasies into them. For as a rule, our experience should be that these pictures are actually much deeper than anything we can dream into them by means of the intellect. If the Greek clairvoyant spoke of Apollo, he had before his mind the mystery of Osiris-Apollo and the human musical instrument. Osiris stood before the Egyptian pupil when he was initiated into the mysteries of earth-existence. Thus we must say that these symbols, these pictures, which have been preserved for us and which characterize what has been taken from the primeval mysteries, mean much more than can be expounded by the intellect. This lyre was seen, the hands of Apollo were seen. The important thing is that we should relate every symbol to some actual vision, to something really seen. There are no symbols, no legends, that have not first been seen.
The Egyptian pupil could penetrate to such mysteries only after a long time. He was first prepared through a definite course of instruction, which was somewhat similar to basic theosophy. Then only was he admitted to the real exercises. There he experienced a sort of ecstatic condition which, although not yet true clairvoyance, was more than a dream. In this condition he beheld what he was later to see in the form of pictures. The pupil actually beheld in a mighty living dream the departure of the moon, and of Osiris with it, and Osiris's working upon the earth from the moon. He dreamed the Osiris-Isis legend. Every pupil dreamed this Osiris-Isis dream. He had to dream it, for otherwise he would not have been able to come to a perception of the true facts. The pupil had to go through the picture, the imagination. The legend of Isis and Osiris was inwardly experienced. This ecstatic soul-condition was a preliminary to the true vision, a prelude to his seeing what takes place in the spiritual world. What has been described today could be read by the pupil in the Akashic Record only when he had reached a high degree of initiation. Tomorrow we shall speak further of this, and also of the other signs of the Zodiac and their significance.
Siebenter Vortrag
Wir haben in den vorhergehenden Vorträgen eine große Reihe von Tatsachen vor unsere Seele gestellt, die sich auf die Evolution der Erde und des ganzen Sonnensystems im Zusammenhange mit der Natur des Menschen beziehen. Wir haben insbesondere in den letzten beiden Betrachtungen darauf Rücksicht genommen, jene Tatsachen der Sonnen-, Erden- und Mondenentwickelung besonders hervorzuheben, welche ihre Wiederauferstehung gefunden haben in den ägyptischen Mysterien, welche sowohl der Schüler der ägyptischen Mysterien wie auch das ganze ägyptische Volk kennenlernten. Der Schüler lernte in seinem hellseherischen Schauen in der Tat alle die Dinge kennen, die wir angeführt haben und die wir durch unsere heutige Betrachtung ergänzen werden. Der größere Teil des Volkes, der sich nicht bis zum Hellsehen erheben konnte, der lernte in einem bedeutungsvollen Bilde das kennen, um was es sich da handelte. Dieses Bild, das hingestellt wurde als das wichtigste Bild der ägyptischen Weltanschauung, haben wir schon öfter berührt. Es ist das Bild, das die Osiris- und Isissage einschließt. Wir kennen alle dieses Bild, von dem eigentlich kein Mensch, der etwas weiß, glaubt, daß es etwas Unbedeutendes enthalte. Dieses Bild, das vor ihn hingestellt wurde, war ihm nicht nur ein Bild; und das, was die Isissage in sich einschließt, wird etwa so erzählt:
Es herrschte in früherer Zeit lange noch auf Erden, zum Segen der Menschheit, Osiris, bis zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt, welcher später charakterisiert ist in dem, daß die Sonne stand im Zeichen des Skorpion. Da war es, daß der Bruder Typhon oder Set den Osiris tötete. Er tötete ihn in der Weise, daß er ihn veranlaßte, sich in einen Kasten zu legen, welchen er schloß und dem Meere übergab. Isis, die Schwester und Gemahlin des Osiris, suchte ihren Bruder und Gemahl, und als sie ihn gefunden hatte, brachte sie ihn nach Ägypten. Aber da strebte der böse Typhon wieder nach der Vernichtung des Osiris, er zerstückelte ihn. Isis sammelte nun die einzelnen Teile und begrub sie an verschiedenen Orten. — Man zeigt auch heute noch in Ägypten verschiedene Osirisgräber. - Dann gebar Isis den Horus, und Horus rächte seinen Vater Osiris an Typhon. Osiris wurde wiederum in die Welt der göttlich-geistigen Wesen aufgenommen, und ist zwar nicht mehr auf der Erde tätig, aber er ist dort für den Menschen tätig, wenn dieser zwischen Tod und einer neuen Geburt in der geistigen Welt weilt. Daher stellte man sich auch den Weg des Toten in Ägypten vor als den Weg zum Osiris.
Das ist die Sage, die zu den allerältesten Bestandteilen der ägyptischen Lebensauffassung gehört. Während manches darin sich änderte oder zugefügt wurde, hat diese Osirissage alle Kulte des Ägypterlandes so lange durchzogen, solange überhaupt die ägyptischen Religionsanschauungen gelebt haben.
Nachdem wir uns diese Sage vor Augen geführt haben, in welche gedrängt worden ist dasjenige, was als ein wirkliches Geschehnis in den heiligen Geheimnissen der Mysterienschulen der Schüler schaute, müssen wir wieder den Blick dahin zurückwenden, wo wir gestern schon begonnen haben, uns eine genauere Vorstellung zu machen von dem, was durch den Einfluß der verschiedenen Mondesgestalten im Menschen verursacht worden ist. Es ist von den achtundzwanzig Nervensträngen gesprochen worden, die wir vom Rückenmark ausgehen sehen, die herrühren von den Konstellationen des Mondes während der achtundzwanzig Tage, die der Mond braucht, um zu seiner gleichen Gestalt zurückzukehren. Wir haben das Geheimnis erforscht, wie durch die kosmischen Kräfte im Menschen diese achtundzwanzig Nervenpaare gebildet worden sind von außen. Und nun bitte ich, folgendes recht wohl zu beachten.
Es soll nun - soweit das möglich ist in einer kurzen Andeutung mit möglichster Genauigkeit geschildert werden, was der ägyptische Schüler lernte in bezug auf die Entwickelung des Menschen in einem noch weiteren Umfange. Von dieser Schilderung werden einige sagen, welche zu stark angekränkelt sind von der modernen Anatomie: Das ist ja der reine Unsinn vom heutigen Standpunkte aus. — Diese mögen das sagen. Sie sollen sich nur bewußt sein, daß es die Lehre ist, die der einzuweihende ägyptische Schüler nicht nur gelernt, sondern auch hellseherisch geschaut hat. Jetzt spreche ich für diejenigen, die in ihren Empfindungen mitgehen können. Diese Lehre ist nicht nur ein Ergebnis früheren Schauens für den Ägypter in den Mysterien gewesen, sondern auch für den heutigen, modernen Okkultisten gilt das als Wahrheit und nimmt sich genau so aus.
Wir wollen das wiederholen, wovon in den letzten Vorträgen schon gesprochen worden ist, daß, als die Erde im Beginne ihrer Entwickelung war, sie sozusagen ganz aus lauter Menschenkeimen bestand, die den Erdenurnebel bildeten. Sowohl der indische als auch der ägyptische Hellseher konnte geistig heraussprießen sehen aus diesem geistigen Menschenkeim die ganze spätere Menschengestalt. Alles das, was später aus diesem Menschenkeim geworden ist, konnte man dazumal hellseherisch schauen. Aber man konnte auch zurückschauen auf das, was zunächst vom Menschen, aus dem Menschenkeim heraus entstanden ist. Das erste, was aus diesem Menschenkeim heraus entstand, als die Sonne noch lange mit der Erde verbunden war, das war in der Tat wie eine Art Pflanze, die den Kelch wie nach oben öffnete. Diese Formen erfüllten sozusagen die ganze Erde, indem sie sich aus jenem Urnebel heraus bildeten. Aber in der allerersten Zeit, in der das entstand, wie eine Blütenkrone sich in den Weltenraum eröffnend, in der allerersten Zeit war diese Krone kaum sichtbar; man hätte sie nur so wahrnehmen können, daß man ihre Nähe gespürt haben würde wie einen kelchartigen Wärmekörper. Es war also zunächst ein Wärmekörper da. Noch als die Erde mit der Sonne verbunden war, fing das Innere dieses Menschengebildes an aufzuleuchten, und es strahlte Lichtstrahlen in den Weltenraum.
Wenn man dazumal als ein mit heutigen Augen sehendes Wesen wahrgenommen hätte, und sich einer solchen Leuchtform genähert hätte, so würde man etwas wie eine funkelnde, leuchtende Kugel, wie eine glitzernde Sonne, welche in glimmernden Strahlen in den Weltenraum funkelte, in regelmäßiger Gestalt gesehen haben. Kaum wird jemand heute noch ein klares Bild sich machen können von dem, was dazumal war. Er würde das nur können, wenn er dächte, daß unsere Erde bei ganz reiner Luft von lauter Leuchtkäferchen erfüllt wäre und diese ihr Licht hinaussendeten in den Weltenraum. So etwa würde der erste Ansatz vom Menschen in den Weltenraum geleuchtet haben, als die Erde noch mit der Sonne verbunden war. Und nicht nur das war vorhanden, sondern in derselben Zeit ungefähr gliederte sich außen um dieses Kelchgebilde eine Art Gaskörper. Es waren darin viele Substanzen aufgelöst, so wie heute auch im Tier- und Menschenleibe sich flüssige und feste Substanzen finden, die damals aber luftförmig waren. Bald aber, nachdem dies entstanden war, kamen aus der gemeinschaftlichen Erdenmasse auch noch andere Keime heraus, Keime, welche die erste Anlage wurden zu unserem heutigen Tierreiche. Das Menschenreich war also das erste, dann kamen die Keime, die die Anlage zum Tierreich wurden. Natürlich bestand noch die ganze Erde aus einer Luftmasse, aus leuchtenden und Licht aussendenden Körpern, die in den Weltenraum hineinleuchteten. Innerhalb dieser Luftmasse kam auch die erste Anlage geschlechtsloser Tiere heraus, welche auf der untersten Stufe des heutigen Tierreiches dazumal standen, und wir werden sehen, daß diese Tiere, die jetzt in ihrer ersten Anlage entstehen, auch eine gewisse Bedeutung für den Menschen erhalten haben.
Es entstanden also die ersten Keimanlagen der Tiere, und es ist uns vor allem wichtig, daß diese 'Tiere, die da entstanden, die allerdichtesten Gasmassen waren, wie dichte Gaseinschlüsse waren. Diese Tiere entwickelten sich bis zu einer gewissen Höhe herauf durch die verschiedensten Formen; und als die Sonne eben herausgegangen war aus der Erde, da war die höchste Tierform die Fischform, aber nicht die heutige Fischform. Die Form der damaligen Tiere war eine ganz andere als die der heutigen Fische, aber sie stand auf der betreffenden Stufe der Fische. Diese haben in der Erdenentwickelung das zurückzubehalten in sich, was man werden konnte, als die Sonne noch in der Erde war. Die Erde verdichtete sich nun zu der Wassererde, und die dichtesten Gebilde, die Tiere, schwammen in dieser Wassererde. Nun trat etwas sehr Eigentümliches ein. Einige dieser Urfischformen blieben Tiere und kümmerten sich sozusagen nicht um den Fortschritt der Evolution. Einige andere waren da, die erhielten ein gewisses Verhältnis zu den Menschengestalten, und zwar folgendes Verhältnis. In demselben Augenblicke, als die Sonne herausgegangen war aus der Erde, da fing auch die Erde an, sich um ihre Achse zu drehen, so daß sie einmal auf der einen Seite von der Sonne beschienen war, ‚ einmal auf dieser Seite unbeschienen war, so daß Tag und Nacht entstand. Dazumal aber waren die Tage und Nächte wesentlich länger als heute. In der Zeit, als der Mond noch nicht abgespalten war, da gliederte sich jedesmal, wenn ein solches Menschengebilde, das damals wesentlich verdichtet worden war, auf der Sonnenseite war, an diese Gasmasse etwas von einer solchen Tierform unten in der Wassererde an. Es verband sich Mensch- und Tierform so, daß wir oben die Menschenform haben und nach unten die Tierform; so also, daß hinausragte der Sonne zu der obere Teil, der nach unten immer schwächer wurde und an den sich der Tierleib angliederte. Wir haben also dieses Hinausragen des oberen Teiles über die Wassererde; und dadurch, daß die Sonnenwirkung durch den Blütenmenschen geht, wirkt sie auf die inneren Erden- und Mondenkräfte. Weil hier eine Tierform angegliedert wurde an den Menschenleib, die auf der Höhe der Fischstufe stand, sagte man, die Sonne, die den Menschenleib beschien, stehe im Zeichen der Fische. Nun fiel ja in der Tat die erste Andeutung dieser Bildung zusammen damit, daß die Sonne auch am Himmelsgewölbe im Zeichen der Fische stand, aber sie ging noch oft hindurch durch dieses Sternbild, bis sich das nächste bildete. Jedoch der Ausgangspunkt zu dieser Bildung war der Zeitpunkt, in dem die Sonne auch am Himmel im Tierkreisbilde der Fische stand. Und von da aus, daß die Wesen auf der Fischstufe sich damals angliederten an den Menschen, bekam das Sternbild den Namen.
Nun geht ja, wie wir wissen, die Entwickelung so vor sich, daß Mond und Erde einen Körper bilden. Jahve blieb bei der Trennung von der Sonne bei der Erde mit den Mondkräften, und zu seinen Dienern gehörte die Göttergestalt, welche die Ägypter als Osiris angesprochen haben.
Bis der Mond aus der Erde herausging, gestaltete sich die Entwickelung in höchst eigentümlicher Weise. Wir wissen, die Erde war eine Wassererde, und die Gestaltung im Wasser erreichte einen immer niedrigeren Grad in der Zeit, bevor der Mond herausging. Als der Mond herausging, da stand der Mensch in bezug auf seine niedere Natur auf der Höhe etwa eines großen Molches. Das ist das, was die Bibel die Schlange nennt, was genannt ist Lindwurm oder Drache. Während der Zeit, als der Mond herausging, hatte sich immer mehr vom Tierreich in die untere Menschenform hineingebildet. Als der Mond herausging, da hatte der Mensch unten eine tierartige, häßliche Gestalt, oben aber waren die letzten Überreste einer Lichtgestalt, in welche die Kräfte der Sonne von außen flossen. Das war den Menschen geblieben, daß die Lichtwesen in sie hineinwirkten. Es bewegte sich schwebend, schwimmend in dem Urmeere der Mensch, der diese eigentümliche Lichtgestalt herausragen läßt aus der Wassererde. Was war diese Lichtgestalt? Sie hatte sich mittlerweile umgebildet zu einem umfassenden, mächtigen Sinnesorgan. Als der Mond herausging, hatte sich die Umwandlung vollendet. Es war so, daß, wenn der Mensch im Urmeere schwamm, er mit diesem Organ wahrnehmen konnte, wenn irgendein gefährliches Wesen in der Nähe war. Namentlich Wärme und Kälte nahm er damit wahr. Dieses Organ ist später eingeschrumpft; es ist heute die sogenannte Zirbeldrüse. In der damaligen Zeit bewegte sich der Mensch schwebend, schwimmend in der Erdenmasse und bediente sich dieses Organs wie einer Art Laterne. Wir können heute noch bei ganz jungen Kindern eine weiche Stelle am Kopfe finden; das ist die Stelle, wo man etwa zu suchen hätte, von wo das Organ sich herauserstreckte in den Weltenraum.
Es waren immer höhere Tierformen, die der Mensch in sich aufnahm. Und in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt der Menschengestaltung nannte man das, was aus den Fischen mittlerweile geworden war, weil es im Wasser lebte und weil es den Keim des späteren Menschen in sich hatte, den Wassermann. Eine noch weitere Gestaltung, die sich herausbildete, war das, was man nennen konnte den Steinbock. Nun ist das Eigentümliche, daß in der Tat das, was dem Menschen in seinen unteren Gliedern entspricht, wirklich dem jeweiligen Sternbild den Namen gab. Die Füße sind tatsächlich die ursprünglichen Fische; die Unterschenkel der Wassermann, das, was eine lange Zeit den Menschen befähigte, sich eine Richtung zu geben beim Schwimmen; die Knie des Menschen finden wir im Zusammenhang mit dem Zeichen des Steinbocks. Immer mehr entwickelte sich die Tierheit, und dasjenige, was Oberschenkel geworden war, bezeichnet man als Schütze. Es würde zu weit führen, wenn ich Ihnen den Ausdruck erklären wollte.
Wir wollen ein Bild davon geben, wie der Mensch aussah, als die Tierheit dem Schützen entsprach. Da war der Mensch ein Tier, das sich zum ersten Male bewegen konnte auf den Inseln, die sich aus dem Wasser bildeten. Nach oben wurde der Mensch immer feiner, zuoberst blieb tatsächlich die Blütengestalt. Die Gestalt blieb oben erleuchtet von einem Organ, das er wie eine Art Laterne auf dem Kopfe trug. Man würde sich die damalige Gestalt des Menschen richtig vorstellen, wenn man sie sich oben als ätherisch, unten als tierähnlich vorstellte. In älteren Abbildungen des Tierkreises sieht man noch das Zeichen des Schützen unten als Tierform, oben als Menschenform. Diese Zeichen sind etwas, was wiedergibt die Entwickelungshöhe, auf der der Mensch stand, ebenso wie der Kentaur wiedergibt eine wirkliche Entwickelungsstufe des Menschen: nach unten Pferd, nach oben Mensch. Das Pferd müssen wir nur nicht wörtlich nehmen, sondern als Repräsentant der Tierheit. Das war das Kunstprinzip in früheren Zeiten; da hat man sich das, was man kunstmäßig bilden wollte, von Hellsehern beschreiben lassen oder selbst gesehen. Auch waren Künstler selbst Eingeweihte. Man sagt, Homer war ein blinder Seher, das heißt, daß er ein Hellseher war. Er konnte zurückschauen in die Akasha-Chronik. Der blinde Seher Homer war viel sehender, im geistigen Sinne, als die übrigen Griechen.
Der Kentaur ist also eine wirkliche Menschenform. Als der Mensch so aussah, war der Mond noch nicht aus der Erde heraus, da war die Mondenkraft selbst noch in der Erde. Da war im Menschen noch vorhanden, was früher sich gebildet hatte während der Sonnenzeit: die leuchtende Zirbeldrüse, die er damals wie eine Art Laterne auf dem Kopfe trug. Als dann der Mond aus der Erde herausging, da trat die Geschlechtlichkeit ein. Der Kentaurmensch war noch ungeschlechtlich. Die Geschlechtlichkeit, die eintrat, die trat ein, als die Sonne stand im Zeichen des Skorpions, und man bringt daher die Sexualität im Menschen in Beziehung zu dem Zeichen des Skorpions. Der Skorpion ist das, was bei der Tierheit der Entwickelungshöhe entsprach, als der Mensch bis zur Sexualität entwickelt war. Der Mensch war in seiner oberen Hälfte den kosmischen Kräften zugewendet, in der unteren Hälfte aber war er als zweigeschlechtliches Wesen vorhanden. Der Mensch war Geschlechtsmensch geworden. Wenn nun der hellsehende Schüler der ägyptischen Mysterien sein Auge auf diese Zeit der Erdenentwickelung richtete, dann sah er die Erde bevölkert von Menschen, die nach unten eine dichter werdende Leibesform herausbildeten, ihrer niedrigen Natur entsprechend, und die nach oben aber eine lichte Menschengestalt hatten.
Dann begann die Zeit, in der sich eingliederten durch die Kräfte des Mondes längs derjenigen Gegend, die das Rückgrat ausmacht, die Nervenstränge. Die Bildung über dem Rückgrat, die heutige Kopfgegend, war auch verdichtet worden und hatte sich umgebildet zum menschlichen Gehirn: das war das ganz umgebildete Leuchtorgan. Daran gliederte sich das Rückgrat, von dem die Nervenstränge ausgingen, und an dieses gliederte sich der niedere Mensch, wie er beschrieben worden ist. Das zeigte sich dem ägyptischen Schüler, und es wurde ihm klar, daß, welche Wesenheit auch immer sich verkörpern wollte auf der Erde, sie die entsprechende Menschengestalt annehmen mußte. Osiris hat als Geist oft die Erde besucht und sich als Mensch verkörpert. Die Menschen empfanden dann: Ein Gott ist herabgekommen — aber er hatte dann Menschengestalt. Jede hohe Wesenheit, die die Erde besuchte, war in der Gestalt, die der Mensch jeweilig hatte. Damals war die Menschengestalt so beschaffen, daß man noch jenen Leuchtkörper sah, jenen merkwürdigen Kopfschmuck, die Laterne des Osiris, die bildlich als das merkwürdige Polyphemauge bezeichnet worden ist. Das ist jenes Organ, jene Laterne, die erst außerhalb des Menschenleibes war, die dann zu einem inneren Organ im Gehirn sich umbildete. Alles in der ursprünglichen Kunst ist Symbol für tatsächliche Gestalten.
Als die griechischen Eingeweihten bekannt wurden mit diesen Geheimnissen der Ägypter, hatten sie auch schon manches erfahren: im Grunde dasselbe wie der ägyptische Eingeweihte. Sie benannten es nur in ihrer Sprache anders. Die Eingeweihten der Ägypter hatten die hellseherischen Gaben in einem hohen Maße ausgebildet, so daß viele ihrer Schüler in jene uralten fernen Zeiten hellseherisch zurückblicken konnten. Der ägyptische Eingeweihte hatte einen ursprünglichen Zusammenhang mit jenen Geheimnissen; daher kam es auch, daß dem ägyptischen Eingeweihten griechische Priester wie kindliche Stammler vorkamen. Bezeichnend ist daher das Wort, das einst ein ägyptischer Priester, der mit Solon zusammentraf, aussprach, indem er sagte: O Solon, Solon, ihr Hellenen bleibt doch immer Kinder, einen alten Hellenen gibt es nicht! Jung seid ihr alle im Geiste, denn ihr habet in demselben keine auf vieljährige Überlieferung gegründete alte Ansicht, noch irgendeine durch die Zeit ergraute Kunde.
So wies der Ägypter darauf hin, daß die ägyptische Weisheit hoch erhaben darüberstand über dem, was materiell erfahren werden kann. Nur in den eleusinischen Mysterien war man ebensoweit, aber es hatten nur wenige Teil daran. Aber was für jene Strecken der Erdenentwickelung der ägyptische Eingeweihte sah: daß sich der Gott Osiris von der Sonne getrennt hatte und auf den Mond gegangen war und von dorther das Sonnenlicht zurückstrahlte — das, was dieser Gott tut, das war auch den Griechen heilig. Auch sie wußten, daß dieser Gott Osiris es ist, der die achtundzwanzig Mondesgestalten bildet und dadurch die achtundzwanzig Nervenstränge im Menschen veranlagt. Durch Osiris wird das Nervensystem gebildet am Rückenmark herunter und dadurch der ganze menschliche Oberkörper geformt. Denn das, was als Muskel entsteht, kann seine Form nur erhalten dadurch, daß die Nerven die Bildner sind. Alles nun, was da ist an Muskeln, Knorpeln, an anderen Organen, wie Herz und Lunge, alle diese erhalten ihre Form nur durch die Nerven. So ist durch die frühere Sonnentätigkeit entstanden, was sich gebildet hat als Gehirn und Rückenmark, und an diesem Rückenmark arbeiten von außen die achtundzwanzig Gestalten des Osiris und der Isis. Also sind Osiris und Isis ihre Bildner, und indem das Gehirn seine Fühlfäden heruntersendet in das Rückenmark, da bearbeitet Osiris das Rückenmark. Das empfanden auch die Griechen, und die Griechen erkannten, als sie bekannt wurden mit den ägyptischen Mysterien, daß Osiris derselbe Gott war wie der, den sie Apollo nannten. Sie sagten, der ägyptische Osiris ist Apollo, und wie er an den Nerven tätig war, damit im Inneren des Menschen das Seelenleben bewirkt wurde, so tut es unser Apollo.
Und nun nehmen wir uns skizzenhaft diese Gestaltung heraus. Denken wir uns das Gehirn schematisch gezeichnet: das setzt sich fort ins Rückenmark, da greifen ein die achtundzwanzig Hände des Osiris, da spielt der Osiris mit seinen achtundzwanzig Armen in dem, was als Rückenmark vom Gehirn sich herunterzieht, wie auf einer Leier. Die Griechen gaben davon ein bedeutungsvolles Bild: das ist die Leier des Apollo. Man braucht sich das bloß umgekehrt zu denken. Die Leier ist das Gehirn, die Nerven sind die Saiten, in welche die Hände des Apollo eingriffen. Apollo spielt auf der Weltenleier, auf dem großen Kunstwerke, das der Kosmos gebildet hat, und läßt im Menschen erklingen die Töne, die sein Seelenleben ausmachen. Das war für die eleusinischen Eingeweihten das, was die Ägypter in ihren Bildern gegeben haben.
Aus einem solchen Bilde können wir ersehen, daß diese nicht schematisch gedeutet werden dürfen, sonst würde man nur etwas hineinphantasieren. Denn man wird in der Regel erleben, daß die Bilder in der Tat viel tiefer sind als das, was man irgendwie durch den Verstand hineinträumen kann. Wenn der griechische Hellseher von Apollo sprach, dann hatte er das Geheimnis des Osiris-Apollo und des Menschheitsinstrumentes vor sich. Und Osiris stand vor dem ägyptischen Schüler, wenn er eingeweiht wurde in die Geheimnisse des Erdendaseins. So müssen wir uns sagen, daß diese Symbole, daß diese Bilder, die uns erhalten sind, welche das charakterisieren, was aus den Urgeheimnissen entnommen ist, daß all die Ausdrücke der Urgeheimnisse viel mehr bedeuten als etwas, was man mit dem Verstande deuten kann. Gesehen wurde diese Leier, gesehen wurden die Hände des Apollo. Und daß wir jedes Symbolum auf irgendein wirkliches Gesicht, auf eine reale Schauung zurückführen, darauf kommt es an, das ist das Wesentliche. Denn es gibt kein Symbol, keine Legende, die nicht geschaut worden wäre.
Der ägyptische einzuweihende Schüler konnte erst nach langer, langer Zeit zu solchen Geheimnissen dringen. Der Schüler wurde erst durch eine ganz bestimmte Lehre vorbereitet, die eine ähnliche war wie unsere elementare Theosophie. Dann wurde er erst zu den eigentlichen Übungen zugelassen. Da erlebte er Zustände einer Art Ekstase, die noch kein eigentliches Hellsehen war, aber die mehr war als ein Traum. In ihr sah er das, was er später im Bilde sehen sollte. Wahrhaftig, dieses Hinausgehen des Mondes und mit ihm des Osiris, dieses Arbeiten desselben vom Monde aus auf die Erde herunter, das sah der Schüler als gewaltigen lebendigen Traum. Er träumte in der Tat die Osiris-Isislegende. Jeder Schüler träumte diesen Osiris-Isistraum. Er mußte ihn träumen. Hätte er ihn nicht geträumt, er hätte nicht zur Anschauung der wahren Tatsachen kommen können. Durch das Bild, durch die Imagination, mußte der Schüler hindurchgehen. Die Osirisund Isislegende wird innerlich durchlebt. Diese ekstatische Seelenverfassung war eine Art Vorstufe zum wahren Schauen, das Vorspiel zum Schauen dessen, was sich in der geistigen Welt abspielt. In der Akasha-Chronik konnte der Schüler das, was heute beschrieben wurde, nur lesen, wenn er in einen so hohen Grad eingeweiht war, wie wir es heute nur angedeutet haben, und von dem wir morgen weiter reden wollen. Dann wollen wir auch von den anderen Bildern des Tierkreises und ihrer Bedeutung sprechen.
Seventh Lecture
In the previous lectures, we have presented a large number of facts relating to the evolution of the Earth and the entire solar system in connection with the nature of human beings. In the last two lectures in particular, we have taken care to emphasize those facts of the evolution of the sun, earth, and moon that have found their resurrection in the Egyptian mysteries, which were known both to the students of the Egyptian mysteries and to the entire Egyptian people. Through his clairvoyant vision, the student actually learned all the things we have mentioned and which we will supplement with our present consideration. The greater part of the people, who could not rise to clairvoyance, learned what this was all about in a meaningful image. We have already mentioned this image, which was held up as the most important image of the Egyptian worldview, on several occasions. It is the image that encompasses the Osiris and Isis sagas. We are all familiar with this image, which no one who knows anything believes to contain anything insignificant. This image, which was placed before him, was not just an image to him; and what the Isissage encompasses is told something like this:
In ancient times, Osiris ruled on Earth for a long time for the benefit of humanity, until a certain point in time, which is later characterized by the sun standing in the sign of Scorpio. Then it came to pass that his brother Typhon or Set killed Osiris. He killed him by causing him to lie down in a chest, which he closed and cast into the sea. Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, sought her brother and husband, and when she found him, she brought him to Egypt. But then the evil Typhon sought once again to destroy Osiris, and he dismembered him. Isis gathered the individual parts and buried them in different places. Even today, various tombs of Osiris can still be seen in Egypt. Then Isis gave birth to Horus, and Horus avenged his father Osiris on Typhon. Osiris was again accepted into the world of divine spiritual beings, and although he is no longer active on earth, he is active there for humans when they dwell in the spiritual world between death and a new birth. This is why the path of the dead in Egypt was imagined as the path to Osiris.
This is the legend that belongs to the most ancient elements of the Egyptian view of life. While some things in it changed or were added, this Osiris legend permeated all the cults of the Egyptian land for as long as the Egyptian religious beliefs were alive.
Now that we have considered this legend, which contains what was regarded as a real event in the sacred mysteries of the mystery schools, we must return to where we began yesterday and form a more precise idea of what has been caused in human beings by the influence of the various forms of the moon. We have spoken of the twenty-eight nerve strands that we see emanating from the spinal cord, which originate from the constellations of the moon during the twenty-eight days it takes for the moon to return to its same shape. We have explored the mystery of how these twenty-eight pairs of nerves were formed from outside by the cosmic forces in human beings. And now I ask you to pay close attention to the following.
It should now be described as briefly and accurately as possible what the Egyptian student learned about human development in a broader sense. Some who are too strongly influenced by modern anatomy will say that this description is pure nonsense from today's point of view. They are free to say so. They should only be aware that this is the teaching that the Egyptian student to be initiated not only learned but also saw clairvoyantly. Now I speak for those who can follow their feelings. This teaching was not only the result of earlier visions for the Egyptians in the mysteries, but is also accepted as truth by today's modern occultists and appears exactly as it did then.
Let us repeat what has already been said in the last lectures, that when the earth was in the beginning of its development, it consisted, so to speak, entirely of human germs, which formed the earth's primordial mist. Both the Indian and the Egyptian clairvoyants could see the whole later human form sprouting spiritually out of this spiritual human germ. Everything that later became of this human germ could be seen clairvoyantly at that time. But one could also look back to what first arose from the human being, from the human germ. The first thing that arose from this human germ, when the sun was still connected to the earth for a long time, was indeed like a kind of plant that opened its calyx upward. These forms filled the whole earth, so to speak, as they formed out of that primordial mist. But in the very earliest time, when this arose, opening up like a flower crown into the world space, in the very earliest time this crown was hardly visible; one could only perceive it by feeling its proximity as a chalice-like body of warmth. So at first there was a body of warmth. Even when the earth was still connected to the sun, the interior of this human form began to glow, and it radiated rays of light into the universe.
If one had perceived it at that time as a being seeing with today's eyes and had approached such a luminous form, one would have seen something like a sparkling, glowing sphere, like a glittering sun sparkling in the universe with shimmering rays, in a regular shape. Hardly anyone today can form a clear picture of what it was like back then. They could only do so if they imagined that our Earth was filled with tiny fireflies in completely pure air, sending their light out into space. This is roughly how the first human beings would have shone into space when the Earth was still connected to the Sun. And not only that was present, but at the same time a kind of gaseous body was forming around this chalice-like structure. Many substances were dissolved in it, just as today liquid and solid substances are found in the bodies of animals and humans, but at that time they were gaseous. Soon after this came into being, however, other germs emerged from the collective mass of the earth, germs that became the first seeds of our present animal kingdom. The human kingdom was therefore the first to emerge, followed by the germs that became the seeds of the animal kingdom. Of course, the whole earth still consisted of a mass of air, of luminous bodies that emitted light and shone into the world space. Within this mass of air, the first seeds of sexless animals also emerged, which at that time stood at the lowest level of today's animal kingdom, and we will see that these animals, which are now emerging in their first form, have also acquired a certain significance for humans.
Thus, the first germ forms of animals came into being, and it is particularly important for us to note that these animals that came into being were the densest gas masses, like dense gas inclusions. These animals developed to a certain height through the most diverse forms; and when the sun had just emerged from the earth, the highest animal form was the fish form, but not the fish form of today. The form of the animals at that time was completely different from that of today's fish, but it was at the relevant stage of fish development. These animals retained within themselves what could be developed when the sun was still within the earth. The earth now condensed into the watery earth, and the densest formations, the animals, swam in this watery earth. Now something very peculiar happened. Some of these primitive fish forms remained animals and, so to speak, did not concern themselves with the progress of evolution. There were others that developed a certain relationship to human forms, namely the following relationship. At the same moment that the sun emerged from the earth, the earth also began to rotate around its axis, so that it was once illuminated by the sun on one side and once unilluminated on this side, thus creating day and night. At that time, however, the days and nights were much longer than they are today. At the time when the moon had not yet split off, every time one of these human figures, which at that time had become considerably denser, was on the side of the sun, something of an animal form attached itself to this gas mass down in the watery earth. The human and animal forms were connected in such a way that we have the human form above and the animal form below; thus, the upper part protruded toward the sun, becoming weaker and weaker toward the bottom, where the animal body was attached. So we have this protrusion of the upper part above the watery earth; and because the sun's influence passes through the flower human being, it acts on the inner earth and moon forces. Because an animal form was joined to the human body here, which stood at the level of the fish stage, it was said that the sun shining on the human body stood in the sign of Pisces. Now, the first hint of this formation did indeed coincide with the sun also standing in the sign of Pisces in the sky, but it passed through this constellation many times before the next one formed. However, the starting point for this formation was the moment when the sun was also in the zodiac sign of Pisces in the sky. And from the fact that the beings on the fish stage were then attached to humans, the constellation got its name.
Now, as we know, development proceeds in such a way that the moon and the earth form one body. When the sun separated from the earth, Yahweh remained with the earth with the forces of the moon, and among his servants was the god figure whom the Egyptians called Osiris.
Until the moon emerged from the earth, development took place in a highly peculiar manner. We know that the earth was a watery earth, and the formation in the water reached an ever lower degree in the time before the moon emerged. When the moon emerged, man stood, in relation to his lower nature, at about the level of a large toad. This is what the Bible calls the serpent, what is called the lindworm or dragon. During the time when the moon emerged, more and more of the animal kingdom had formed into the lower human form. When the moon emerged, man had an animal-like, ugly form below, but above were the last remnants of a light form into which the forces of the sun flowed from outside. What remained to humans was that the light beings continued to work within them. The human being floated and swam in the primeval sea, allowing this peculiar light form to emerge from the watery earth. What was this light figure? It had meanwhile transformed itself into a comprehensive, powerful sense organ. When the moon came out, the transformation was complete. It was so that when man swam in the primordial sea, he could perceive with this organ when any dangerous being was nearby. He perceived heat and cold in particular. This organ later shrank; today it is known as the pineal gland. At that time, humans moved by floating and swimming in the earth's mass and used this organ as a kind of lantern. Even today, we can still find a soft spot on the heads of very young children; this is the place where one would have to look for the organ that once extended out into the world space.
Humans absorbed increasingly higher animal forms. And at a certain point in human development, what had become of the fish, because it lived in water and carried within it the seed of later humans, was called the Aquarius. Another form that developed was what could be called the Capricorn. Now, the peculiar thing is that what corresponds to the lower limbs of the human being actually gave the respective constellation its name. The feet are in fact the original fish; the lower legs are the Aquarius, which for a long time enabled humans to give themselves direction when swimming; the knees of the human being are found in connection with the sign of Capricorn. Animal nature developed more and more, and what had become the upper legs is referred to as Sagittarius. It would take too long to explain the meaning of this term.
Let us try to give a picture of what human beings looked like when animal nature corresponded to Sagittarius. At that time, human beings were animals that were able to move for the first time on the islands that had formed out of the water. Towards the top, the human being became increasingly refined, and at the very top remained the flower form. The form remained illuminated at the top by an organ that it carried on its head like a kind of lantern. One would imagine the form of the human being at that time correctly if one imagined it as ethereal at the top and animal-like at the bottom. In older illustrations of the zodiac, you can still see the sign of Sagittarius below as an animal form and above as a human form. These signs reflect the level of development at which humans stood, just as the centaur reflects a real stage of human development: horse below, human above. We should not take the horse literally, but as a representative of animal nature. That was the principle of art in earlier times; people had clairvoyants describe what they wanted to create artistically, or they saw it themselves. Artists themselves were also initiates. Homer is said to have been a blind seer, which means that he was a clairvoyant. He could look back into the Akashic Records. The blind seer Homer was much more scandalous, in a spiritual sense, than the other Greeks.
The centaur is therefore a real human form. When humans looked like this, the moon had not yet emerged from the earth, and the power of the moon was still within the earth. What had previously formed during the solar period was still present in humans: the luminous pineal gland, which they carried on their heads like a kind of lantern. When the moon then emerged from the earth, sexuality entered. The centaur man was still asexual. Sexuality entered when the sun stood in the sign of Scorpio, and sexuality in humans is therefore related to the sign of Scorpio. The scorpion corresponds to the animal stage of development when humans had developed to the point of sexuality. The upper half of the human being was turned toward the cosmic forces, but the lower half existed as a hermaphroditic being. Humans had become sexual beings. When the clairvoyant student of the Egyptian mysteries turned his gaze to this period of Earth's development, he saw the Earth populated by human beings who, in accordance with their lower nature, developed a denser physical form towards the lower part of their bodies, but who had a light human form towards the upper part.
Then began the period in which, through the forces of the moon, the nerve strands became integrated along the area that forms the spine. The formation above the spine, today's head region, had also become denser and had transformed into the human brain: this was the completely transformed light organ. Attached to this was the spine, from which the nerve strands emanated, and attached to this was the lower human being, as described above. This became apparent to the Egyptian student, and it became clear to him that whatever entity wanted to incarnate on Earth had to take on the corresponding human form. Osiris often visited the earth as a spirit and incarnated as a human being. People then felt that a god had come down — but he had the form of a human being. Every high being that visited the earth took on the form that humans had at that time. At that time, the human form was such that one could still see that luminous body, that strange headdress, the lantern of Osiris, which has been described figuratively as the strange eye of Polyphemus. That is the organ, the lantern, which was first outside the human body and then transformed into an internal organ in the brain. Everything in primitive art is a symbol of actual forms.
When the Greek initiates became acquainted with these secrets of the Egyptians, they had already learned a great deal: basically the same as the Egyptian initiates. They only named it differently in their own language. The Egyptian initiates had developed their clairvoyant gifts to such a high degree that many of their disciples were able to look back clairvoyantly into those ancient, distant times. The Egyptian initiate had an original connection with those secrets; this is why Greek priests appeared to the Egyptian initiates as childlike stammers. Significant, therefore, are the words once spoken by an Egyptian priest who met Solon, when he said: “O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes always remain children; there is no such thing as an old Hellene! You are all young in spirit, for you have no old views based on many years of tradition, nor any knowledge grayed by time.
The Egyptian pointed out that Egyptian wisdom was far superior to what could be experienced materially. Only in the Eleusinian mysteries had people reached the same level, but only a few had taken part in them. But what the Egyptian initiate saw in those stages of the earth's development—that the god Osiris had separated himself from the sun and gone to the moon, and from there reflected back the sunlight—what this god did was also sacred to the Greeks. They also knew that it was this god Osiris who formed the twenty-eight lunar phases and thereby laid down the twenty-eight nerve strands in human beings. Through Osiris, the nervous system is formed down the spinal cord, thereby shaping the entire upper body. For what arises as muscle can only obtain its form through the nerves as its formers. Everything that exists in the form of muscles, cartilage, and other organs, such as the heart and lungs, all receive their form solely through the nerves. Thus, what has formed as the brain and spinal cord came into being through the earlier activity of the sun, and the twenty-eight forms of Osiris and Isis work on this spinal cord from outside. Osiris and Isis are therefore their formers, and as the brain sends its feeling threads down into the spinal cord, Osiris works on the spinal cord. The Greeks also felt this, and when they became acquainted with the Egyptian mysteries, they recognized that Osiris was the same god as the one they called Apollo. They said that the Egyptian Osiris is Apollo, and just as he worked on the nerves to bring about the soul life within man, so does our Apollo.
And now let us sketch out this configuration. Let us imagine the brain schematically drawn: it continues into the spinal cord, where the twenty-eight hands of Osiris reach in, where Osiris plays with his twenty-eight arms in what extends down from the brain as the spinal cord, as on a lyre. The Greeks gave a meaningful image of this: it is the lyre of Apollo. One need only think of it in reverse. The lyre is the brain, the nerves are the strings that Apollo's hands pluck. Apollo plays on the lyre of the world, on the great work of art that is the cosmos, and makes the tones that constitute the soul life of human beings resound within them. For the Eleusinian initiates, this was what the Egyptians had given in their pictures.
From such an image, we can see that these must not be interpreted schematically, otherwise one would only be imagining things. For one will generally find that the images are in fact much deeper than what one can somehow dream up with the intellect. When the Greek clairvoyant spoke of Apollo, he had before him the mystery of Osiris-Apollo and the instrument of humanity. And Osiris stood before the Egyptian disciple when he was initiated into the mysteries of earthly existence. So we must say to ourselves that these symbols, these images that have been preserved for us, which characterize what has been taken from the primordial mysteries, that all the expressions of the primordial mysteries mean much more than anything that can be interpreted with the mind. This lyre was seen, the hands of Apollo were seen. And it is essential that we trace every symbol back to some real face, to a real vision. For there is no symbol, no legend that has not been seen.
The Egyptian student to be initiated could only penetrate such secrets after a long, long time. The student was first prepared by a very specific teaching, which was similar to our elementary theosophy. Only then was he admitted to the actual exercises. There he experienced states of a kind of ecstasy that was not yet actual clairvoyance, but was more than a dream. In these states, he saw what he would later see in pictures. Truly, the disciple saw this going forth of the moon and with it Osiris, this working of Osiris from the moon down to the earth, as a mighty living dream. He actually dreamed the Osiris-Isis legend. Every disciple dreamed this Osiris-Isis dream. He had to dream it. If he had not dreamed it, he would not have been able to perceive the true facts. The student had to pass through the image, through the imagination. The legend of Osiris and Isis is lived through inwardly. This ecstatic state of soul was a kind of preliminary stage to true seeing, the prelude to seeing what takes place in the spiritual world. In the Akashic Records, the student could only read what has been described today if he was initiated to such a high degree as we have only hinted at today, and which we will discuss further tomorrow. Then we will also talk about the other images of the zodiac and their meaning.