The Eighth Holy Night - Leo/Lion

LEO/LION

The region of Lion is related to the Hierarchy that is known in Christian mysticism as Thrones, and in Spiritual Science as the Spirits of Will. This hierarchy is connected to the earthly developmental stage which Rudolf Steiner calls 'Saturn' or the primal beginnings of earth evolution. The sacrifice enacted by the Spirits of Will on Saturn was the motivation for all that happened afterwards on the Sun and for this reason the Lion is associated with Sun forces in the outer Macrocosm and inwardly, Microcosmically to the human heart - the inner Sun. Leo's relationship to Saturn means it is also associated with the Karmic Past, Karmic Laws, since Saturn is the Father of Time - Chronos.

The foundation for the human heart was laid down on old Saturn and it is in the region of the human heart that we find the 12 petalled chakra, or heart chakra. Six Petals relate to Buddha's 6 fold path and the other 6 petals relate to the 6 Beatitudes of Christ. The complete development of this chakra creates a fifth chamber, a Fountain of light which generates a spiritual heart, that Rudolf Steiner calls an Etheric Heart. The Bible calls this spiritual heart the fountain of love from whence comes the Water of Life. In Arthurian Mythology it is the Holy Grail in which one finds the mana of life, the transmuted sacrificial substance through which we commune with God - Communion.

And so the region of Lion is associated with the courageous heart forces necessary for Sacrificial Will, which comes about through the activity of the spiritualised blood - water - in the heart, working into the physical body - the metabolic system and the limbs - engendering Eternal Life. The alchemical Sulphur process and warmth associated with it, is, spiritually speaking,  the sacrifice of the blood as it 'dies away' into the muscles and limbs and 'moves' the human being towards acts of 'Goodness' - or 'Good Will'. That is why Rudolf Steiner calls the heart the seat of the will.

On Saturn was also seeded the human ability to stand upright (something which we have already seen was vouchsafed by Christ when he entered into the sphere of the stars through the gate of Ram, coming into relation particularly with Leo and through it to its planetary counterpart Saturn). This ability also relates to the Archai who were the ego bearing beings of Saturn (in us this is denoted by the fact that the ego has its seat in the warmth of the blood). For this reason 'heart' consciousness is connected to this sign and it is through this connection of heart and consciousness that the redemption of the physical body will eventually take place, through the fructification of the entire bony system by way of the blood.

Interestingly, Jesus of Nazareth was called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah because the Tribe of Judah was one of the twelve tribes of Israel related to this region of the Zodiac designated as Leo. When speaking of this aspect of Jesus, the writer of the Matthew Gospel was referring to the individuality of Zarathustra, who had once been the pupil of Manu/Noah, or Melchizedek. Melchizedek was also the teacher of Abraham. Abraham was given the task by Melchizedek (both pictured on the right) of preparing the forces of the physical body for the birth of Jesus children. Forces which unfolded over 42 generations. We see how Leo's connection to Saturn and to the physical body relates to this mystery, creating in Yeshua of the Matthew Gospel, in particular, not only wisdom and an understanding of Laws, but also courage and the will to Sacrifice (we should note that the individuality of Zarathustra not only sacrificed his physical body twice, once on the temple steps and again at the baptism, but in earlier times he also sacrificed his etheric body which he donated to Moses and his Astral body which he donated to Hermes, according to Rudolf Steiner).

On the other hand Leo and its influence on the development of the Etheric body during old Sun evolution is connected to the 12 petals of the heart chakra. This path relates to the special development of the loving heart forces that were inherent in the Jesus of the Luke Gospel and accounts for his heightened ability to 'heal'.  A different stream - the stream of the Essenes - had the task of preparing the right 'community' into which this Paradisal (Etheric) Nathan Soul could incarnate. These conditions were created by Jeshu ben Pandira, the leader of the Essenes who had once been inspired by Buddha. A hundred years before Christ he created the 'pure' etheric community into which the child who was united with Buddha - that is, whose etheric had united with the Astral body or Nirmanakaya of Buddha, could incarnate. 

Cosmically speaking Christ sacrificed himself four times in order to take upon himself the 'sins' or objective karma of mankind bringing the old Laws of Saturn (of the Father and the Sabbath) the Laws of necessity, to an end, and inaugurating the new Laws - the Sun (Son) Laws, the Laws of freedom from karmic necessity. In other words He is the Lord of Karma. On the other hand His forces worked particularly strongly in the heart of Jesus. Mark, the Evangelist has always been seen to be related to Leo and Rudolf Steiner tells us that the Gospel of Mark is a 'cosmic gospel', that is, it focuses mainly on the journey of the outer sun of Christ which entered the inner sun/heart of Jesus so that it could walk about the earth in a physical body. Christ's connection through Jesus to the Etheric of the earth is illustrated in the Transfiguration.

Since the Mystery of Golgotha the forces of Christ Live in the Sun/Heart of every human being (whether that human being knows it or not) and in the etheric sheath of the earth.

So, when we look up to the region of Lion this night, may we see its connection to Saturn and Sun Evolutions. May we see the connection between Melchizedek and Abraham and Jeshu ben Pandira and the Essenes, both preparing the way for the two Jesus Children, Matthew and Luke respectively. May we  see the sacrifices that were made by Jesus of Nazareth and Christ to enable His birth for the salvation of the Heart Consciousness of humanity.

Sun, thou bearer of rays,
Thy light's power over matter
Magics life out of the earth's
Limitless rich depths.

Heart, thou bearer of soul,
Thy light's power over spirit
Magics life out of the human being's
Limitless deep inwardness.

If I gaze upon the Sun
Her light speaks to me in radiance
Of the Spirit, filled with grace,
Wielding through the beings of worlds.

If I feel within my heart
The Spirit speaks its own true word
About the human being, loved by him
Through all rhyme and eternity.

Looking upwards, I can see
In the Sun's bright disc
The mighty heart of worlds.

Looking inwards, I can feel
In the heart's warm beat
The human Sun ensouled. - Rudolf Steiner.

Mariam

The dream had come again and as always she could not remember it very well.  In the dream she always woke to the howling of a wolf and found herself in a house among a number of sleeping women. In her heart there was always a feeling of agony, a despair and horror for something that had not yet come to pass and a longing to be with someone – someone she did not yet know. But it was only a dream and awake now she searched the darkness for her child, and found him sleeping soundly on his rush mat in their family tent. 


On their journey to Egypt three years ago, fleeing from Herod and his madness, she had taken to dreaming such a dream, and upon coming to Heliopolis–that island of green calm in the middle of the barren desert–the dreams had made a pause. They had only come again lately, upon this return journey to her homeland, and she did not know what it meant but it seemed to her that it was a portent of peril.

She lay in the darkness listening to her husband’s soft breathing and recalled those years in Egypt with a fond eye. She saw Yeshua walking in the ruins of the fallen temples, his skin browned by the sun; she saw him bathing in the cool waters of the oasis for the holy ablutions, or sitting in the shade of the sycamores eating dates. She longed for the peace and safety she had felt then. For the priests had sequestered them and at the appropriate time, had even begun to instruct Yeshua. 


In the cool, dark, depths of their sacred places he was taught many things: how to listen to what wafts on the warm breezes, to what resounds in the songs of birds and to what lives in the harmony of growing grass. He was taught how to see behind the shapes of twigs and branches and to know what lay behind cloud, sky and storm –  the thoughts of God. She knew this because she had always been with him and she was with him again on the day the priests took him to see an old anchorite.

The anchorite lived on a limestone hill not far from the great city of Alexandria. Having retired to a contemplative life he now spent his days in a holy room, a sanctuary, wherein he celebrated all the mysteries of the holy life. He never admitted anyone to his house and yet he had wanted to see Yeshua.

On the appointed day, Mariam was sat with her son feeling anxious for what he would say. But the old man said nothing for a long time. Instead, he inspected Yeshua from below his wrinkled brow, making soft noises to himself. When it seemed that he would never speak, he smiled suddenly and began to laugh with merriment, as if relieved of some great burden. Surprised, Mariam said nothing, but watched and waited for it to stop, knowing that old sages were known to have a peculiar wisdom. When he addressed her, his face was as unwrinkled as a child’s might be and his eyes were as clear as a stream. 

‘Long ago,’ he told her, ‘there was a teacher whose name was Melchizedek. Old Melchizedek had a favourite pupil to whom he taught all the mysteries of the sun. You see this pupil, my dear, was destined to incarnate many times, and a long line of ancestors had to be prepared to make a body suitable for him. So Melchizedek tutored another pupil, Abraham, and he taught him all the secrets of the moon, the secrets of the blood and the creation of the perfect body. So you see forty-two generations have prepared your ancestors so that you could be here today with the fruit of your loins. My pupil is come again, and I am rejoicing! For my task is near done, and I must now remind him of his past and bring to him all that he has left behind in order that he might perform a special task.’

He reached out and passed both hands over Yeshua’s eyes and immediately her son fell asleep in her arms. The old man closed his own eyes and uttered many prayers over her boy. When it was over and her son was returned to his senses the old man looked at her with kindness and familiarity.

‘Soon you will give birth to another child,’ he told her.

Instinctively she moved a hand over her flat belly. Not even Joseph knew that her bleeding was late. 

         

‘Herod is dead; soon you will be too big with child to travel. You must go. Take your husband and journey by way of the Sinai desert in the direction of your homeland, but do not take this child to your Temple in Jerusalem for the hope of your priests will nurture him towards earthly and not heavenly ends. There is a safe place to which you can go, called Nazareth. The people who live there are not so different from us, they are called Essenes and you may live among them, untroubled, until the time comes.’

She wanted to ask him when that time would be and what Yeshua was destined to do, but could not bring herself to say anything. 

He told her, ‘A mother must love her son, but you must love the Son of God, even as you love your own son…for the love of a mother can make all things taste sweet.’

Now as she lay upon the rush mat, she wondered what the old sage had meant and wished with all her heart that she had asked the questions that continued to plague her. What was to be her son’s task? When would it come? And how must she love the Son of God as her own? Her vexation with herself made the child in her belly give her a kick and it took away her breath. The child reminded her that by the time they reached Nazareth, she would be a mother twice over.

She did not know what she would find in Nazareth among the Essenes, the pure ones. She only knew what she remembered of her Temple days, that these ascetics were more strict than the Therapeutae of Egypt, more strict even than the Nazarites, for they wore only white and sequestered themselves in their Mother Houses for fear of defilement. What would become of Yeshua’s task in such a place as Nazareth? Could the heir of David be made a king of Israel in such a place, among men whose faces were turned away from Jerusalem? Nothing good had ever come out of Nazareth–that was the saying and she worried that it was true. 

She turned over to hold her husband, who seemed to be older by the day. In truth, the memory of her former life at the Temple had become distant to her eye and the details had lost their clarity and distinction. She remembered how she had been taken to the Temple as a child and how the miracle of the greening staff had proved to the priests the eligibility of an ageing Joseph as a choice of husband. She had not wanted to marry but the priests had reminded her of the duty of every person of sovereign lineage to further their ancestral lineage. She had consented as a service to her people and in time she had grown to love her husband, and if the love she felt was not that young love she had seen in others, it was weighty and costly and she was glad of it. She only hoped he would live long enough to see his son’s task accomplished. 

Outside, the night deepened. Tomorrow would be another long day’s march and she put away her thoughts and fears and resolved to sleep.

She closed her eyes and sleep did come, but it was not peaceful.