Planets, fixed stars, moons, and comets

The Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies and in the Kingdoms of Nature. Lecture 7.
Rudolf Steiner, Helsinki, Finland, April 10, 1912:

You will have understood from the former lectures that when we gaze at the planetary system, at the starry heavens, our physical vision only perceives “ maya,” the great illusion. We only reach the reality, the actual facts, when we gradually attain knowledge of the spiritual beings at work in the various heavenly bodies. We were obliged, first of all, to make the attempt in these studies to learn about the individual spiritual beings at work in cosmic space, in the stellar system; to know these spiritual beings as such; in other words, we had to become acquainted with the various beings of the three hierarchies standing above man. You will have noticed that we have approached the beings of these hierarchies by pointing out the ways in which occult consciousness actually penetrates to a sort of perception of those beings in the supersensible world who are, directly or even indirectly, exalted above man. We tried, as it were, to follow an inner, a mystic-esoteric way, in order to gain some idea, a purely spiritual-psychic idea, of the character of the beings of the higher hierarchies. Only in the last lecture did we try to turn a little from the inner to the outer, so to speak, and to show how through a cooperation of a duality in the hierarchies — in the really normal beings and the Luciferic beings of the hierarchies — the actual external form of the stars visible to the senses have come into being. I should now like, before proceeding further with the occult, esoteric, mystical consideration, to seek a way from another side, namely that which is connected with the ordinary consciousness, and which again brings us to the paths we followed in the former lectures. In any case we shall have to refer to much in the earlier lectures in considering this more external way, which starts from the facts known to normal consciousness.

When with our ordinary normal consciousness we look out into cosmic space, we discover, first of all, heavenly bodies of various kinds. These have indeed been differentiated and described by external materialistic astronomy. Today we will devote our attention to that which is, to a certain extent, visible to the external consciousness in a planetary system. There we have the planets themselves, with the fixed star, the Sun, as their ruler; and circling the planets we have their moons (speaking of our Earth we have our own moon) — and within the planetary system we also have those remarkable stars which are so difficult for the external consciousness to place in the collective picture of the system — the meteoric and cometary bodies. We will, to begin with, look away from everything else in the stellar systems, and fix our attention upon the following quaternary in a planetary system: the planets, the fixed stars, the moons, and the comets. Let us be quite clear concerning the obvious fact that to the ordinary normal consciousness only the planet itself — and, indeed, only the particular planet on which the normal consciousness functions — is perceptible. Thus to the  Earth-dweller the Earth is the planet. To the normal consciousness all the rest is at first only observable in its most external nature. With the hypotheses given us by the occult-esoteric methods we will now pass on to this external classification which the normal consciousness provides. We have already classified man himself, in the ranks of the beings who stand, as it were, above him, as on the lowest step of the ladder of the hierarchies. We then ascended to the three categories of the Third Hierarchy, and described the beings known to western esotericism as Angels or Angeloi, Archangels, and Archai. Standing above these as the Second Hierarchy we have those beings we have described as Spirits of Form, Spirits of Motion, Spirits of Wisdom; and above these again the Spirits of Will or Thrones, the Cherubim, and the Seraphim. Only when we thus fix our attention upon the ranks of the spiritual beings — the steps, as it were, of the ladder of the different beings of the Hierarchies — do we bring the Earth relations to our esoteric consciousness. Indeed if, as we have seen, we wish fully to consider man and everything which appertains to him on this planet, we must think of him in relation to all these beings. We saw in the last lecture  that the phenomena of man and his planet are not to be spiritually explained  unless we fix our attention on these beings. We have seen from man to the Spirits of the Age; we are concerned with beings who, in the first place, play their part in the human, historical process of civilization; so that we must regard the beings of the Third Hierarchy as bringing man himself forward, step by step, in his Earth-development, and as leading the progress of civilization. Further, we have seen that while these beings of the Third Hierarchy remain above, certain of their offspring, which we have called the nature-spirits, descend into the world of nature, and work there. We have also seen that when we turn our attention to the planets themselves, they cannot be explained unless we think of their forms as determined by the Spirits of Form; their inner mobility and activity by the Spirits of Motion, and their consciousness by the Spirits of Wisdom. This only refers to the inner part of the planet, the inner part of the Earth, that part of it which belongs to man. We have further seen that if only beings up to the rank of the Spirits of Wisdom were active, the planet would be still. The fact that it moves, and has an impulse to movement, we must ascribe to the Spirits of Will; and the regulation of the movement in the whole planetary system we must ascribe to the Cherubim. We have thus put together the whole planetary system; for while the movements of the individual planets are so ordered that together they comprise the system, it must be presumed that the whole is directed from the fixed stars. And in the Seraphim, we have that which speaks from the

Seraphim
Cherubim 

Thrones
Spirits of Wisdom

Spirits of Motion
Spirits of Form

Spirits of the Age
Archangels

Angels
Man

planetary system to cosmic space, to the neighboring planetary system. We could compare this with the fact that men do not live for themselves alone, or simply in a social connection — which could be compared with the directing of the Spirits of Will — but that men understand one another by their speech. So, in a similar way there is mutual understanding between one planetary system and another by means of the Seraphim. They are, as it were, to the whole system that which corresponds to the speech which draws men together, holds them together, and leads them to agreement. The Seraphim carry messages from one planetary system to another, and give information of what takes place in one planetary system to the other system. Through this means the world of planetary systems is integrated and forms a whole.

We were obliged to instance these successive grades of the beings of the hierarchies, for all the forces and activities proceeding from these hierarchies are perceptible in the collective phenomena of man on his planet. Occult vision teaches us that just as this whole system of beings has to do with the Earth-planet, so in like manner a similar system belongs to other planets. When man, with all the means at his disposal, directs his occult vision to the other planets of our own planetary system he finds that the same experiences that we make as human beings when we approach the Cherubim, Seraphim, or Thrones we make also with regard to other planets. In other words, everything which I have described as necessary in order that we may raise ourselves to a being of the rank of Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, in so far as they cooperate in the occurrences of the  Earth-planet — all this we find when we direct our spiritual vision to Saturn, or to other planets our system. Exactly in the same way must we proceed as far down as the Spirits of Motion. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Spirits of Wisdom — thus far the results for occult vision are the same for all the individual planets of our planetary system: whether we direct our observation to Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, or Venus, we find the same results if we fix our attention on the activities of these particular beings. On the other hand, we no longer find the same results for the other planets of our system, as regards the activity of the Spirits of Motion and the Spirits of Form. In other words, if we try to direct our occult vision to another planet — to Mars, for instance — and ask ourselves: How do the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom work upon Mars? The answer is: They work there just as upon our Earth. But if we ask the same question with regard to the Spirits of Motion and Form, this is no longer the case. The activities of these two categories of higher hierarchies differ from one another as regards the individual planets. We must make this distinction: Every planet of our planetary system has its own Spirit of Form, its own Spirit of Motion.
Now, we can also direct our occultly developed vision to the Sun itself, the fixed star. If we wish to know the fixed star in its own being, we must be careful that in our observation of it we do not confuse it with what, in the main, has significance not for the fixed star but for its surrounding planets. Let us understand correctly. In a previous lecture I stated that all these beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Form actually work together in the cosmic system as a sort of council having its residence in the Sun; that the Sun is actually the center of activity of all these spirits. Now, when it is stated that Mars, for instance, has its own Spirit of Form, likewise has Jupiter, and also the Earth, we must if we wish to speak in picture (and in relation to these exalted conditions everything is more or less a picture) we must imagine that although actually the seat, the center, of the activities of the Spirits of Form of Mars and Jupiter and so on is always the Sun — that they work from there, from the fixed star — yet their sphere of action on Mars is, so to speak, allotted to the Spirits of Form from the Sun. They work upon Mars from the Sun; other Spirits of Form work upon the Earth, others upon Jupiter. That which they perform is an activity for the benefit of the whole system.

Now we will not ask what is accomplished from the Sun, from the fixed star, for the benefit of the planets, but rather what takes place in the realm of the fixed star itself for its own beings, for the actual evolution of the beings belonging to the fixed star.

We can best understand this matter if we compare it with what a man does for other men; we cannot regard this activity as directly meaning something for his own development; it is done for the benefit of others. This particular activity of the Spirits of Form and the Spirits of Motion benefits the planetary system. But now if we ask: Apart from the fact that the fixed star is surrounded by planets, how does evolution take place upon the fixed star itself as a separate entity? What contributes to the evolution of the beings of the fixed star itself? — we then actually find the same boundary. If we direct our occult vision to the fixed star, thus in our system to the Sun, we have to say; those spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies, from the Seraphim down to the Spirits of Wisdom, alone have a certain power over the nature of the Sun; they alone are active for the development of the fixed star itself and its beings; whereas the Spirits of Motion and Form can, so to speak, do nothing for the evolution of the beings of the fixed star itself; to them is apportioned the planets which surround the fixed star in the planetary system.
Thus, if we direct our gaze to the fixed star, we must say: Life upon the fixed star is so exalted, so grand and mighty, that the beings developing there can only associate with beings of the sublimity of the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom; while the Spirits of Motion and Form, who are going through their evolution upon the fixed star itself, are powerless to do anything for its evolution. They are not of sufficiently exalted rank; they, who are of such immense importance for the humanity of the planets, are of no importance to the fixed star; they are powerless to work upon its development. Thus if we fix our attention on the being of the planet, and look away from the humanity dwelling upon it — on our Earth — we can say: In so far as the planet has its place in the solar system, all ranks of beings down to the Spirits of Form have an influence on its development. Down to the Spirits of Wisdom we have to reckon the sphere of influence upon the fixed stars; down to the Spirits of Form the sphere of influence upon the planets.
Now, within the planetary system there still remain two cosmic bodies — the Moon and the comets —  and the question now is: How do these cosmic bodies present themselves to occult vision? If directed to the Moon which revolves around our Earth, what forms of activity does occult vision find there?
Occult vision finds upon the Moon nothing of that which is developed as human life upon the Earth. An evolution resembling the human is not to be found upon the Moon. Nor is there anything to be found upon it, as regards its evolution, which can be compared to our animal kingdom. Neither of these is to be found by occult vision upon our Moon. It would, of course, be trivial and superfluous to say that no human beings incorporated in flesh perambulate the Moon, or such animals as are to be met with upon the Earth; when an occultist uses such expressions he means something essentially different. It certainly might he possible for something resembling the higher principles of human nature (the human ego, or astral body) to be in existence under other conditions on a cosmic body, and there go through a development without being incarnated in a human fleshly or etheric body. That is conceivable — and such conditions really do exist. It is conceivable that an evolution in a spiritual sense might take place upon the Moon without the external embodiment, the external stamp, of beings resembling those of man; but it does not happen to be the case. Nothing like human history, like a development of beings who might even psychically resemble man or our animals, exists upon the Moon. Even if we ascend from man to the beings we have called the first spiritual leaders of mankind, whom we have described as Angels in the ranks of the hierarchies, we do not find their evolution upon the Moon. We find there no form of activity, no forces, such as those which proceed from the intervention upon Earth of the Angels, or the Angeloi. We have described somewhat exactly what these beings have to do for mankind upon the Earth. No such intervention takes place on the Moon. Nowhere do we find traces of any human or animal activity, or any such as we could attribute to the Angels. But if we go further and fix our attention on the forces by means of which the Archangels forward human evolution and if we then turn our occult sight to the Moon, strange to say we find these forces existing there. Occult vision finds there as active forces in existence on the Moon the same forces which it encounters when, in contemplating the Earth evolution, it looks upon the development of a people through its Folk-soul, through its Archangel. The Archangel who spiritually guides the lives of nations is present in his special characteristic as forces and speaks to us when we focus our spiritual sight upon the Moon. When we fix our attention upon the nature of those spiritual beings whom we designate as the Archai or Spirits of the Age, the beings who take charge of and lead earthly evolution from one epoch to another — for instance, from the Egyptian civilization to the Greek, or from the Greek to our own — if we acquire an occult vision of the forces which rule in the guidance of evolution by the Spirit of the Age, we find again these same distinctive forces when we look upon that which meets our gaze from the Moon. So, just as we could, for the planet, designate for its sphere the beings of the higher hierarchies as far as the Spirits of Form, so can we also set limits to the sphere of the Moon and say: The sphere of the Moon extends as far as the Archangels.
Now, before we continue to study the results of occult investigation as we have done before, it will be useful for our further consideration if, from the point of view of occultism, we further compare the Moon and planets and the fixed star. In undertaking such a comparison, it is necessary, in the first place, to acquire the right ideas of what exists in man himself and especially in his physical body, in a way not taken into account by the ordinary materialistic anatomy and physiology. What does the ordinary anatomist of today do when he investigates a physical body? Well, he takes a piece of the liver, let us say, then a piece of nerve or brain substance as contiguous substances; these he investigates side by side, comparing the one with the other in a purely external way. The ordinary materialistic anatomist or physiologist does not take into consideration the fact that when we have before us a piece of brain-substance and a piece of liver-substance, we have absolutely different things. In one part of the human body we have something upon which the higher bodies, the supersensible principles, work in quite a different way from how they do on another part. Thus, for instance, a portion of brain substance is so constituted that the whole structure, the whole formation, could not arise if this substance had not been worked upon not only by the etheric body but also by an astral body. The astral body permeates and works upon the brain-substance, and there is nothing in the brain-substance or the nerve-substance upon which the astral body, in cooperation with the etheric body, does not work. Take on the other hand a portion of the liver: you must imagine that the liver is also permeated by the astral body, but that it does nothing for the liver, takes no part in the inner organization of the liver. On the other hand, the etheric body takes a very essential part in the organization and structure of the liver. The different organs in man are in reality very different from each other. We can only study the liver when we know that in it the etheric body with its forces plays the chief part, and that the astral body, though it certainly permeates the liver as water does a sponge, has no special share in its formation or inner configuration. We can only picture the brain-substance as something in which the astral body has essentially the largest share, and the etheric body only a lesser one. Again, in the whole structure of the blood-system, even to the framework of the heart, the ego has its essential part, while in the organization of nerve-substance as such, for instance, the ego takes no part at all — not to mention the other organs. Thus, when we consider the physical body of man in the occult sense, not in the sense of mere formulae, we have in its various organs, things, beings of quite different value, of quite different essence, altogether of quite different nature. We may say that what in man is his liver or his spleen depends upon higher principles at work within it. Liver and spleen are very different organs; the astral body has, in a very special manner, a strong share in the spleen, while it has hardly any share in the liver. All these things will at some time have to be studied; and indeed at no very distant date, by the physiologists and anatomists, because gradually facts will come to light in the materialistic descriptions of the organs of men, animals, and plants that would have no sense at all if only compared as though they were peas and beans, as external anatomy and physical science does today. How something in the world and in man stands to the spirit, represents its true nature. And as in man, so it is in the heavenly system. A moon is quite different from a planet or fixed star. We have already seen that the relation of the beings of the higher hierarchies are different as regards the Sun from what they are in regard to the Moon or the planets; consequently we must fix our attention on the following in order to describe these differences. Suppose we could take out of a planetary system — as if we peeled them off — all the moons of the individual planets: that is to say thought away for a moment the fixed star itself and the planets, till we have only the moons remaining in the planetary system. If occult vision were so directed that it only observed the moons — everything which is moon within the planetary system, everything in which the forces, as far down as the Archangels, are the same as upon our Earth in the successive evolution of humanity — we should then gain a very definite impression; we should have a very definite occult experience.
We might repeat this occult experience a second time. Anyone with trained occult vision can, if he has sufficient willpower, think away the fixed star and the planets from the planetary system so that only the moons remain (that is to say, he must fix his attention only upon that for which he has prepared himself). He must then seek for something else from which he has the same impression as that connected with all the moons of a planetary system. Precisely the same impression as is made upon one by visualizing all the moons is also made on one who looks at a human corpse, a physical body, the bearer of which has recently passed through the gate of death. Although these things appear externally as absolutely different, what appears to natural science as an external difference is maya. The impression made upon our occult vision when we, as human beings, stand thus with regard to all the moons of a planetary system on the one hand, and on the other stand before a physical body left behind, deserted by the astral and etheric bodies, is one and the same. From this arises the occult knowledge that in the moons that are continually coming into existence the planetary system is gradually forming its own corpse within itself. All the moons of a system which are continually being formed will constitute the corpse of a planetary system. The difference with regard to man is, that at the moment when he, with his being, passes into the condition in which the planetary system is when it forms its moons, he then rejects his corpse; while the planetary system keeps the corpse within itself, binds it together, and condenses the dying matter into moons. Thus it is as though man, when he goes through the gates of death, were not to lay aside his physical body, but were to form it into some sort of organ, and by a certain power within him, drag it about with him. A planetary system actually drags about its own corpse, and indeed a continually changing corpse, in its moons; a corpse which is in the process of becoming, which is in the course of evolution.
Let us now go further and try to describe the impression which occult sight has when it thinks away all the moons of the planetary system as well as the fixed star and the possibly existing comets. If he thus fixes his attention upon the whole system of the planets themselves, completely concentrates himself upon this system of planets, makes the impression clear to himself and imprints it upon his memory in order to describe it, he must again, later, compare this impression with something which differs from the impression he received from the individual planets. If a man searches for something which will give him the same impression as does the totality of the planets of a system he finds in his immediate earthly environment none other than that made on him if he allows the various forms of the animals to work upon him. This is an impression which it is extremely difficult to gain completely; but it can be partially gained by allowing various animal forms to work upon one. One cannot at one time have an occult impression of all the animals on the Earth — that would be too complicated — but a compromise can be made by letting a number of characteristic animal forms so work upon him that he only takes into consideration the occult forces at work in those forms; then, comparing them by means of occult vision, he can gain from the form something producing a similar impression to that made by the totality of the planets of a system. Thus as the animal kingdom lives on Earth (and in so far as man has an extract of the animal body in his living body we can also draw this comparison with the living human body) and the impression of all the forms working in the animal kingdom resembles the forces which proceed from the individual planets — we can say the following: The actual living body, the body with which a living, conscious being is endowed as in primitive man, or in the animals, corresponds to the system of planets of a planetary system; so that in a whole planetary system we have all that we call the totality of the planetary mass, the living body, that is, the body permeated by the principle of life and of consciousness. The totality of the planets of a system is therefore the living body of the planetary system. If we consider all the spiritual beings we have described as contained in the planetary system as the spirit and soul of the system, we must then consider the totality of the planets as its living body, and the totality of the moons as the corpse of the planets, which they drag about with them.
Now let us direct our occult vision to the fixed star, thus in our case, to the Sun, and try to gain an impression of the fixed star in the way described for the totality of the moons and planets. If we notice the impression made by the forces active in the fixed star, we can find something in the Earth conditions themselves which can call up a similar impression. This again is somewhat difficult, because this time we have to do with the plants, and we cannot reach the whole plant-world of our Earth. But comparatively speaking it will suffice if we fix our occult gaze upon a certain number of forms, of plant-forms, and gain the occult impression of that which works and lives in the plants; if we allow that to work upon our vision, it recalls the impression we received from the inner development of the fixed star.
The differences certainly become ever greater and greater. The resemblance of a human corpse after death with the totality of the moons is really very striking as regards the occult impression. This resemblance is also pronounced in the impressions made by the planetary world and the fixed star upon man. The resemblance is clearly present, but it is no longer so great as that between the discarded physical human body and the totality of the moons. But the resemblance becomes infinitely greater if we now demand from occult vision something special; namely, when we have gained an impression of a number of plant-forms, we must look away from these plants which we have observed with occult vision, look away from the physical plant-bodies and make use of those means which the practical occultist uses when he observes the etheric bodies of the plants. We thus make an additional observation. We have noted the impression we gained from the fixed star; we then seek the similar though not yet satisfactory impression which we gain from a number of plants. We go further; we abstract the external form of the plant and allow the etheric body which is within the plant to work upon us. The resemblance then increases and becomes almost as complete as that between the physical corpse of a man and the totality of the moons. Occult perception then realizes that when we look up to the fixed star, what we perceive as working in the fixed star is the etheric body of the planetary system; for we actually gain the impression of an etheric body. We understand the impression which the fixed star makes upon us when we observe the etheric body of the plants, where it works as yet unmixed with an astral body, where only the etheric body works, in cooperation with the physical body. We then gain the knowledge that when we look at the fixed star, we actually see the etheric body of the planetary system raying down from it. We can now say: In the moons we have the corpse of the planetary system, in the totality of the planets we have its body, its physical body; and in the fixed star itself, raying out from it, we have the etheric body of the planetary system. In fact, the possibility of occult vision clinging to the dead paper-mache ideas upon which all physical astronomy is based, soon ceases; for this vision everywhere recognizes that the whole planetary system is permeated by life, and is a living organism. Indeed a continual stream of etheric life flows from the fixed star to the outermost boundary of the system, and back again. We have continually to do with life-forces (as in living animal and plant bodies) which appear centered — I say that now by way of comparison — centered in the fixed star — as the life of the animal is centered — let us say — in the heart; or as plant-life is centered in the various organs which regulate the rising and failing of the sap. In short, we have to do with a center of the planetary system, which we must seek in the fixed star.
After this we can also direct our attention to the comets, to cometary life. Now I do not doubt that if the characteristics of the planetary system, which we have just discussed, were heard in external science, this would be regarded as a very special folly; but that does not matter at all: Nevertheless with regard to cometary life things become particularly difficult — because the opportunity of observing cometary life is such that a certain impartiality of occult vision is necessary in order to observe this peculiar life in the planetary system.
It must not for a moment be supposed that in the whole planetary system there is nothing besides that which we have now called corpse, physical body, and etheric body; for of course every part is permeated by the beings of the various hierarchies. Naturally there are spiritual-psychic forces everywhere and we need only grasp the fact that within the system are the Spirits of the Age, the Archangels and the Luciferic Beings; they all belong to it. We have now discovered in the planetary system the corpse, the physical body, and the etheric body. From what we have now heard we can, of course, say that everywhere within the system there is also astral substance, which is organized into beings; for there is astral substance even in the beings of the higher hierarchies.
If we describe man — the microcosm — as he passes before us, we say: Man consists of physical body, etheric body, astral body, etc. If we describe a planetary system, we must only add something else to its lowest principle, and we must say: A planetary system consists of its moons (which are its corpse), its planets (which are its physical body), and of everything of which the fixed star is the director (which is its etheric body). The astral body we can find there of itself; we learn to know of it by the fact that the beings dwell in it. Just as man dwells in his sheaths, so do the beings of the higher hierarchies dwell in the sheath of the corpse, in the physical sheath, and in the etheric sheath of the planetary system. We need not at first trouble about the astral body, for we already have that by means of the esoteric-occult vision which is directed inwards. Yet even if you consider human life upon the Earth, you will admit that by means of this human life — as you know from elementary spiritual science — there arise a number of astral beings, of astral forms, which are actually harmful, hindering to life. From man himself stream forth continually, erroneous, base, evil thoughts; these are, as we know, realities, which pass out into the astral world and continue to exist there; so that the astral sphere of a planet is filled not only by the normal substances of its psychic being, but also by this outpoured astral substance. If we should only investigate all the harmful forces brought forth by the various Luciferic spirits, we should find an enormous mass of harmful, astral substances in a planetary system. And in a curious way, the occult vision which for a time has had the opportunity of observing cometary life shows us that everything of a cometary or meteoric nature is ever striving to collect round itself all the harmful astral products, and to remove them out of the planetary system. We shall see further in the course of these lectures how this affects in particular the harmful astral products of humanity; but we see that the noxious Luciferic evils are carried away through the comets out of the planetary system. Before concluding this lecture I should like to give you an idea of how this is done.

If I draw a planetary system with its sun, we can so indicate a comet passing through it, that its track crosses the system. Physical astronomy says that the comet comes from very, very far away. When the beginning of a thing cannot be traced, it is easy to say that it comes from very, very far away. So physical astronomy also says — the comet comes from very far away and it also returns to a very great distance. Now because certain comets return periodically, physical astronomy cannot think otherwise than that these comets come from far away, pass through our system, and again disappear; follow a very long path in cosmic space, and then come back again. Materialistic astronomy cannot imagine anything else. Occult vision shows us, that, however, as a matter of fact, just about when the comet disappears from physical sight, it dissolves, and continues its way through a world not limited to the ordinary three dimensions of space; it no longer exists in the ordinary world. It actually disappears on the one side and appears again on the other. This is a conception of which, naturally, materialistic astronomy can make no use; it cannot conceive that a comet, when it again reappears, has not been in existence in the meantime. The Anthroposophist should be able to understand something of such things; for he knows, for example, that the succession of physical bodies of the human incarnations form a complete whole in certain respects, from the force-aspect; and yet they are not connected physically. Thus, in short, with the exception of a few comets which really have long-drawn elliptical orbits, the comets for the most part are so formed that they come in at the one side and disappear at the other, and when they reappear they have formed themselves anew. Why? Because as a comet approaches, it exercises a power of attraction — it is, at first, merely a sort of spiritual force center; this center attracts all the harmful astral streams, develops them around itself and thus takes on form. We shall hear in the next lecture why it has a tail and a nucleus under the influence of this drawing-up of harmful astral matter. It attracts more and more of this around it as it passes through the planetary system. In its journey toward the other side it draws this along with it, until it gets beyond the region of the planetary system, when it casts it out into cosmic space. Then the center of force builds itself again at the other pole without needing three-dimensional space, once more takes up the harmful matter, and throws it out on the other side. Thus we must regard cometary life as something which continually works as a thunderstorm in the planetary system, cleansing it. By the passage of a comet through the planetary system an effort is made to discharge from it the injurious matters which have been called forth in the system by the harmful astral radiations of the beings. Thus we have something in the cometary life of which we cannot, as in the physical and etheric bodies, find an analogy in man himself. The physical body of the planetary system is the totality of the planets. The etheric body is that which, raying out from the fixed star, streams through the system; but in physical man it is not the case that he carries his corpse about with him, as the planetary system does. On the other hand, it has an arrangement for getting rid of the evil astral matter by means of its comets.

Now if we study what exists in the comet only as maya, yet which is active within it as force, it is extremely difficult to connect with it what we have learnt in the course of these lectures. I have described to you, for example, how one may ascend to the Thrones, and how this can only be done by studying the human will. If this study is undertaken with occult means, one can raise oneself up to the Thrones. But in the comets there is nothing at all to be found either of the Spirits of Wisdom or the Thrones. We find in the comets nothing which would be attainable by any other than those occult methods which I mentioned in former lectures. These are such methods as proceed from the fact that we study a man who is not merely a thinking, feeling, and willing human being, but one who can give us a special impression. We described how this impression can be obtained by allowing ourselves to be influenced by a man who has behind him decades of rich experience of life; whose wisdom, as an extract of all this experience, makes an impression upon us and does more than can be done by arguments of a logical or more rational sort. The actual power of conviction of the wisdom derived from human experience is so impressive that, developed by occult vision, the spiritual can actually be seen through it; that first gives our occult vision an idea of the Cherubim. If we further school this occult vision on the direct convincing effect of the unspoken wisdom and strength of such a man, whereby what he has gained through his experience of life is displayed in his eyes, we then gain an understanding of the impression we need for the sphere of the Seraphim. But the impression which we can thus obtain does not yet lead us to the observation of the spiritual behind the comets. All this is of no avail for an occult study of the comets. Only the two methods leading to the Cherubim and Seraphim can give us an elucidation of the comets. The sphere of the comets extends to the sphere of the Cherubim. We must therefore first know what is the nature of the Cherubim and Seraphim, in order to understand the substance and movement of the comets. The evolution of the comets is therefore dependent upon the beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Cherubim; the evolution of the fixed star is dependent on the beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Wisdom; the evolution of the planet itself, apart from the human being who dwells upon it, is dependent upon the forces proceeding from the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Form; and that which works on the Moon is dependent on the forces which proceed from the higher hierarchies down to the Archangels. Thus we have described the life of a planetary system from various sides, and can build further upon this foundation in the subsequent lectures. To be sure, we must specially note that we can never grasp these matters by means of merely mechanical definitions. How often has it been said that every microcosm corresponds to a macrocosm! We may call man a microcosm, a solar system in miniature; but if we wish to point out the correspondence, we must not stop at these abstract assertions, but must proceed so far with the concrete connection that one realizes that such mechanical descriptions have but an approximate value in the world. If we begin by describing the microcosmic man from the physical body upward as the being standing immediately before us, we must in the planetary system begin by describing the corpse, and must also find in the physical system the substances of the cometary bodies, which are the external expression for the purifying astral thunderstorms in the planetary system.

Source: http://wn.rsarchive.org/GA/GA0136/19120410p01.html