The Pentagram and the Hexagram

 

Esoteric Lesson #11

Rudolf Steiner, Munich, November 6, 1911

Notes taken down by a listener after the lesson

A=past

U=present

M=future

Occult training leads a person to freedom. He becomes the master of various beings who continually go in and out of his bodies by becoming their companion. These are phantoms in the physical body, ghosts in the etheric body, demons in the astral body, and spirits in the ego. To learn to rule them a man must form a firm framework in the etheric body, just as there's a skeleton in the physical body. This framework for the etheric body is a pentagram with thinking in the head point, feeling in the arms, and willing in the legs. One must also form a framework for the astral body, namely a hexagram with the head and heart points, two ears, and two arms.

To arrive at this one must apply the following four principles: Learn to be silent and you'll get power; give up power and you'll get will; give up will and you'll get feeling; give up feeling and you'll get knowledge.

These are four stages to which a person ascends. Every suppression gives a certain power. If a person knows the spirits and beings who continuously rule and enslave him he no longer needs to be their slave. The first thing that a pupil must learn and do is pay attention to himself.

Source: November 6, 1906