The Twelfth Holy Night - Ram/Aries

RAM/ARIES

We have been on a long journey and we have now come to the highest and most exalted region of Ram or Aries, which one could say sits at the 'head' of all the zodiacs and which is connected with the principle of the Sun/Christ and the highest archetype of the human being - Adam Kadmon, or the redeemed physical existence of the human being - from Alpha to Omega, from Physical body to Atma - Spirit Man.

It was through the gate of Ram that the Son Logos Christ first entered from beyond the realm of the Zodiac to be born into the Spirit and soul of the Sun in order to redeem the physical body through the twelve senses (as we saw on the first night), and it was this sign which also stood in the heavens at the Baptism in the Jordan, when the Christ being descended into the Sun-soul and physical body of Jesus of Nazareth in order to perform, three years later, his fourth and most important sacrifice.

It is the constellation of Ram that is the source of Christ's spiritual influence in the cosmos and it spreads its beneficent emanations down towards the first seven of the zodiac signs to the region of the Scales. In the sphere of Virgo and Scales, the Sophia meets the being of Christ and this is where the Chymical wedding is consummated. These seven Zodiacs may be called the body of the Mystic Lamb, from Ram to Scales, and from Virgo to Pisces we have the body of the Divine Sophia.

The Hebrews recognised the connection between the Messiah and the region of Ram, and the ritual of sacrificing lambs for the sins of Israel, and at The Passover, was a preparation for the true'SacrificialLamb', Christ, Who was  destined to be led to the slaughter for the sins of the world.

John the Baptist was the foremost initiate of the Hebrews. He was the old Adam individuality, the first man to take up a physical existence on earth, and for this reason he was given the task of baptising the people in preparation for the descent of Christ, the First God to enter physical existence on earth. His task was to sort the Lambs - those ready for the new initiation, from the Vipers, those old souls incapable of the new initiation in that life.  

Christ Jesus was the archetype of the redemption of the physical body of human beings, which had fallen into disarray through the fall of Adam. The physical body, was intended to be more spiritual, less material and its 'fall' will be righted by the Resurrection which is an archetype for the rise of Adam/Kadmon - the perfect human being - in times to come. The human physical body which entered too deeply into materiality will then be as it was intended for humanity by the gods from the beginning. It is for this reason that John says to his disciples that he must decrease while Christ Jesus must increase, that is, Adam the physical man must die away in order that Adam/Kadmon the Spiritual man might be born in every human being, right down into his bones.

At the baptism in the Jordan we are given a wonderful picture: Adam stands in the glistening water, looking impossibly tall before his 'brotherly' soul, the Nathan Jesus who is kneeling. John recognises that below him is the Nathan Soul, which was that part of him separated from him before the fall. At the same time John is given the vision that above him the Dove is descending over Jesus of Nazareth, which indicates to him that the Holy Spirit is making possible the entry of the Lord, the being of Christ, the Lamb of God into the body of the Son of Man.

Later after John the Baptist's death his spirit united with Lazarus during his initiation by Christ, so that Lazarus became Lazarus/John or John the Divine. John the Divine showed his recognition of Christ as the Son Logos, the Word, in the Gospel of St John. In his Apocalypse he showed his  recognition of Christ's connection to Ram, for Christ is depicted as the heavenly Lamb who guards the Book of Seven Seals. 

So on this night, as we gaze upwards to the realm of the Ram, may we see the connection between this region and the Son Logos who descends towards earth through this gate. May we see, on earth the connection between the first Adam - John the Baptist, and the archetype of the redemption of Adam in Christ Jesus, Adam Kadmon. And may we prepare our hearts for tomorrow, when we celebrate Epiphany, the birth of the Son Logos, Christ into the physical body and soul of Jesus as an archetypal image of what must occur in our own bodies and souls, the birth of Christ in all of us and in the earth!

The Seventh Holy Night - Virgin/Virgo

VIRGIN/VIRGO

The Region of Virgo is related to the Hierarchy of the Kyriotetes, or in Spiritual Science - The Spirits of Wisdom. The Imagination that corresponds to this Zodiac is of the leading Kyriotetes on the Sun, the Virgin depicted in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse of St John, the woman clothed with the Sun, wearing a crown of stars and standing on the sickle moon with the dragon at her feet. The Gnostics knew this being as the Divine Sophia whose wisdom has rayed down towards humanity during the three evolutionary stages prior to earth evolution - Saturn, Sun and Moon.  The twelve stars correspond to old Saturn evolution; the Sun image corresponds to Sun evolution; the sickle moon to old Moon evolution. 

As we have seen before, Christ in his descent to earth was 'born' into the sphere of Kyriotetes, into the sphere of the Sun Spirit, or Sun as a Star through the gate of Ram in order to redeem the twelve senses and the physical body.

The Mary of the Luke Gospel was closely related to this being of the Cosmos. She is the Twin Soul of the Nathan Jesus, a pure soul that like the Nathan Jesus had not participated in the fall of man and was Paradisal. Because of this she was given the task to make her own descent towards the earth carrying the wisdom of the Sophia down into the Souls of men ahead of time, in preparation for both the descent of Christ and the birth of Jesus who would become his vessel. Rudolf Steiner named her Anthroposophia, for she is the inspirer of the Wisdom that lives in the soul of Man. At the turning point in time, she had the task of uniting the Region of the Virgin to the Region of the Fishes through the deep connection that existed between the two Marys: Mary of Luke Gospel and Mary of the Matthew gospel.

Before the fall, one could say, the two Marys were one being, a being which separated just before the fall into two beings. These two sister souls found one another again in Palestine. Mary of the Matthew Gospel was the incarnation of the oldest woman the earthly Eve, while Mary of the Luke Gospel was the youngest woman, the paradisal Eve. And, in the same way that both Jesus children, one a young soul (Nathan) and the other an old soul (Zarathustra), united at the steps of the Temple in Jerusalem to create the perfect vessel for Christ, Rudolf Steiner tells us the two Marys united at the moment of the Baptism in the Jordan to create a vessel for the Divine Sophia. Mary of the Matthew Gospel, the old Eve individuality on earth, united with the Paradisal Mary of the Luke gospel, who had her abode in heaven, and this made the old Mary into a 'Virgin' again, that is, pure. Through the power of the Paradisal Mary or the heavenly Eve, the earthly Eve was united with the heavenly Sophia for all times. The heavenly Sophia  incarnated 'Vicariously' into the Matthew Mary right down into her bones, perfecting her soul into a 'Mother of God' in order to enable the Birth of Christ into Jesus of Nazareth. Thereafter, Mary of the Matthew Gospel became the earthly reflection of the Divine Sophia, and the bearer of the highest human virtue - the Wisdom of the Kyriotetes. From that time on humanity became the lowest member of the Sobornal (collective) being of the Sophia. And when the Matthew Mary died she became a Bodhisattva and joined the circle of masters.

At the foot of the cross it is John who is asked by Christ Jesus to take this Wisdom of the Sophia, the Mother of God, into his 'house' or soul. And it is for this reason that later he is able to write his Gospel and the Book of Revelations. John becomes known from that time on as John the 'Divine' because he is overshone by the Divine Sophia.

John's connection with this being occurred in a Macrocosmic way when he ascended,  many incarnations later, to a 'conscious' experience of Christ as the Cosmic Lamb in the region where Christ unites with Virgo - the Sphere of the Sophia or Kyriotetes in a marriage, an initiation which Valentin Andrea calls, The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz'.

Rudolf Steiner tells us that it is from the two Regions Fishes and Virgin that in future times will proceed spiritual forces that are beneficent for human evolution because this represents the boundaries of the workings of the Cosmic Sophia. The Hebrews knew that the Sophia would one day bring man in connection with the seven zodiacal regions - from Fishes to Virgo as stated in the book of Proverbs: 'Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars'.

So when we look up to the region of Virgo on this Seventh Night, may we see the connection between the Sphere of Kyriotetes, the Divine Sophia and the Sun. May we see how the Luke Mary descended to earth to give birth to the Sun Garment of Christ, the Nathan Soul, and may we see how she and the Matthew Mary enabled the Birth of Christ into Jesus at the Baptism. May we feel gratitude for the being of Anthroposophy and her connection to the Divine Sophia, for it is through this connection that we can acquire the wisdom to bring about the birth of the Christ within our souls! 

Prologue in Heaven from my unfinished play: Fausto

Stage: blue and purple light upper stage, red and yellow the lower half.

The divine Sophia stands centre stage, resplendent and sparkling in white. Seven spirits of wisdom arrayed in gold kneel with heads bowed in a circle around her. At the perimeter of this circle twelve spirits of time arrayed in blue, dance, holding incense burners)

The Sophia speaks

SOPHIA:
Oh man!
Made from Saturn’s wisdom-warmth
Sun’s light flaming forges thee
Silver waves of Lunar dwells
In thine own being
The seed of knowing

SPIRITS OF WISDOM:
We contemplate the sacrifice
We venerate the pouring forth
We ponder well the essence of
Cosmic wisdom’s flowing love

SPIRITS OF TIME:
We dance the chanting of the Sun
We sing down songs of radiance weaving
The fire of love moves in our hearts
For man’s created being

(enter Spirits of Space weaving in and around the spirits of wisdom and the spirits of time)

SPIRITS OF SPACE:
How swift the spheres in splendour circuit
Round radiant paths are burning
Their movement flows with Far- flung force
Lengths widths and breadths of Cosmic learning

There is a bright light and Michael Appears from the right.

SOPHIA:
My son!
Thine countenance is radiant
With light-reflecting Sun
Thine sword-iron defiant
Thine steady heart compliant
Toward thine heavenly role

It is time that thou must yield
What thou hast held with heart-fast will
Cast forth intelligence below
In freedom’s will within man’s soul
Will shine thought’s mighty force-filled glow

MICHAEL : (gesturing downwards with grave and solemn expression)
O mother!
When wisdom’s light flames free
From world creative will
And tumbles toward the earth
My sacrifice is sealed

The intelligence of gods
I hereby liberate
What I’ve held fast for aeons now
Is man’s to contemplate


(In a puff of smoke enters Lucifer and Satan, immediately the spirits form a protective circle around Sophia and Michael steps forward brandishing his sword.

MICHAEL:
Who requests your presence!

LUCIFER:
It is the essence of what you speak
That calls our spirits forth
From our abodes above and below
We come to see if there is sport
In what to man you have bestowed

SATAN:
You place such hopes upon these beasts
I really must decry!
Thoughts in their heads
As good as dead
Corpses cold and dry,

LUCIFER:
And as for feeling
Man is lacking
Any studied care
He swings from sadness
To joy and gladness
From laughter to despair

SATAN
In his will, he is fast sleeping
Habit drives his every move
It would not be daunting
Or even demanding
To lead him about in a noose

LUCIFER:
Shall we make thee a wager?
We are at your pleasure
Perhaps it is not so secure

SATAN:
He will take your intelligence
And make it material

LUCIFER;
He will use it for means
Sinful and serial

SATAN:
He will throw in the mud
What you hold so dear

LUCIFER:
Like pearls to a swine
It will not take a year!

MICHAEL:
Away, away! You deplorable ghosts
I trust in the power of spirit inherent
In every man though he may be aberrant.
Error is good when it brings about learning
Inside every man the right question is burning!

SATAN:
He will not ask it!

LUCIFER:
He will look past it!

MICHAEL:
I believe that intelligence leads
To inquiry,
That is my creed.

LUCIFER AND SATAN TOGETHER (to one another):
The sons of earth will ne’er see heaven
Once they’ve tasted of our leaven.
Come let us go to your place and to mine...
The pageant has started there isn't much time!