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! 

The Twelve Holy Nights - Pisces/Fishes

The Twelve Holy Nights 

Two festivals stand at opposite poles at this time of the year: Christmas and Epiphany. They mark two births.  Christmas celebrates the birth of the Son of Man - Jesus, and Epiphany marks the birth of the Son of God - Christ. We could say that the twelve nights are those nights that fall between these two festivals and which  mark, on the one hand, an earthly path from Jesus to Christ, and on the other, a Cosmic path from Christ to Jesus. Two paths, one of a man towards Godhood and the other of a God towards manhood.

From Jesus to Christ:

The man's journey is a veiled one. We know something of the birth of Jesus but not much is written about his life thereafter. Why is that? Because it was far too complicated. Only recently, since the Renaissance,  have we developed a consciousness capable of understanding it.

In order to understand the path that Jesus took to become Christ we have to know that there were two Jesus children. The first being of the line of Solomon - I call this child Yeshua. Yeshua was a native of Bethlehem and his birth is depicted in the Matthew Gospel.

The second child, which I call Jesus, is the younger child from the lineage of Nathan and a native of Nazareth and his life is depicted in the Luke Gospel.

We know these are separate individuals because not only do Matthew and Luke give different genealogies in the bible, but the Matthew Jesus and the Luke Jesus are shown to have had different experiences: the Matthew child was born earlier, in the time of Herod and is visited by Magi and thereafter journeys to Egypt; while the Luke child is born at the time of Quireneus and the Census and travels to Bethlehem where he is visited by Shepherds and thereafter returns to live a quiet life in Nazareth.

Rudolf Steiner was the first modern human being to recognise this mystical fact and he has many lectures devoted to the understanding of this mystery.

The younger years in the live of the two Jesus children are similarly veiled, but we do know that the Luke Child unites with the Matthew child when the Luke child is twelve and the Matthew child is around 14. This mysterious unification occurs at the Temple in Jerusalem and is depicted in the Bible in that part where Mary loses her son and finds him speaking 'uncharacteristically' to the rabbis. This is because her quiet child is now united with the wise child who subsequently dies.

In his lectures entitled the Fifth Gospel, Rudolf Steiner gives an account of this mystery and the years that follow.

From Christ to Jesus:

The journey of  Christ through the spiritual world and His descent into a human being is also veiled.  There are various lectures in which Rudolf Steiner gives account of this journey - a journey that is sacrificial and encompasses the entire cosmos and various Zodiac constellations as he descends towards the earth and into the body Jesus of Nazareth.

During Christmas and Epiphany we celebrate Jesus' individual's outer journey in the physical world, the inner revolution occurring in the body and soul of a human being who is being prepared to accept a god into his body and soul, and paradoxically, a god's journey through the outer cosmos which is really a contraction of His heavenly nature and a sacrifice of His various exalted members through the regions of the 12 Zodiacs, in order that he might enter into the body of that prepared human being.

So, when we look at the twelve regions (the circle) of the Zodiac during those twelve Holy Nights we can find a memory of that momentous parallel path which forms a kind of cosmic ladder from human depths to spiritual heights and from spiritual heights to human depths - and for the man Jesus, it begins with the Zodiacal region of the Fishes.

    FISH/PISCES 
The first Holy Night

The path symbolised by the Fishes is the path taken by every human being who is born on earth. It is so because long ago it was taken by the first human beings who descended from the realm of the spirit to the earthly realm. They descended by  relinquishing their connection to the outer light of the spirit, in order that the unification with darkness might eventually teach them how to kindle, through their own efforts, the light within their own hearts.

This descent was experienced by the two Jesus children, who both entered into the womb of their respective mothers in order to be born into the darkness of matter - the physical world.

This descent was also experienced in a higher way, by the second Logos, the Son, who had much earlier journeyed from the heights of the Trinity into the realm of the zodiac and the Sphere of the Sun as a star. Thus was Christ born into the Spirit womb of the divine Sophia, the Sun as a star.

We can see how the two images are a wonderful unification of Christ with the realm of the Fishes and the realm of the Virgin which both stand at opposite positions in the starry sky.

In the future this unification will be a practical experience - a conscious one - undergone by the prepared human soul (Virgin/Fish) with the Spirit of Christ. This is what is mean by the Second Coming.

Within ourselves we have two fish - one swims upwards and the other downwards - one part of us is male, outward striving, individual, wise and fiery  like the Matthew Jesus, and the other part of us is feminine, inward gazing, communal, calm and loving like the Luke Jesus. The two must come together inwardly in the same way that outwardly the two Jesus'  children united in Jesus of Nazareth - if we are to find the inward and outward Christ.

It was understood in the age of the 'Twins', that is, in Persia, that the realm of the Fish and Virgin would one day unite to prepare two human beings (twins) so that they could make ready the womb for a God. For this reason the Fish has always been synonymous with Jesus Christ. He not only called Himself the 'fisher of men' but many of his disciples were 'Fishermen'. This knowledge was carried  in the soul of the early Christians who always associated Jesus Christ with the sign of the Fish until it was replaced by the Catholic Church with the sign of the black cross. On the other hand, the Vesica Pisces, the womb of the Fish, is the ancient symbol which signifies the birth of the spirit of Christ - Fish - into the womb of the soul.

John the Baptist was the initiator of the Fish initiate - Jesus. He initiated Jesus of Nazareth and facilitated the release of the Matthew Jesus from the Luke Jesus by Baptising Jesus of Nazareth with water. He could do this because he was an 'Aquarian' initiate, one who has been initiated from the region of the starry realms which was later called after him: Waterman. John the Baptist spoke of one who would come to Baptise not with water but with the Fire of the Holy Spirit. This is Christ.

So, when we look upwards to the realm of the Fish on this Holy Night, may we see what has been in the past as a sign of what is now happening within our souls so as to pave the way for what will be the experience of all men on earth - the birth of the child...the Christ within the human soul.

Unabridged Excerpt from Fifth Gospel: THE AGE OF GEMINI

ZARATHUSTRA, the Prince of Princes, stood upon the flat temple terrace of the great ziggurat and raised his arms in supplication.

It was the midnight hour near the spring equinox and above, the vaults of heaven were unroofed and spread open to the eyes was a sea of star-fire. The prince of princes looked to the horizon where lightning struck a thought into the mind of God. This was a signal for him to begin the hymn to the super-sensible sun that even now passed unseen through the region of the goat on the other side of the world.

The four shivering acolytes heard the sound of his voice ring out to the spirits of the planets and the sprits of the stars, to the lords of the world in the east and west and north and south, beckoning all creation to listen:

Praise to the immortal, radiant, swift-footed horse, the sun!

We pay homage unto thee! Nemase-te Ahuramazda!

May the lord of wide pastures,

Mighty, triumphant, worthy of worship and adoration,

Forgiver of sins and dispenser of justice,

Listen to our prayers!

When he was finished he beckoned his chosen ones to come to the stone that marked the southern corner of the terrace and bade them to stand in the semi-circle, which in the day formed the great cosmic clock. At their feet were marked the hours, at the centre stood the great shadow-thrower. Here it was that the priests of the Sun observed the solar rising points for the seasons and calculated the four cardinal points of the earth.

The Prince of Princes, said to them,  ‘Look up! See the Twins, the constellation of our age! Before that were ages lost in mists known only to the guardians of beginnings and endings,’ he told them. ‘There!’ He pointed. ‘Beyond the stars live the possessors of the eternal knowledges and intelligences, the keepers of hidden things who inscribe upon the airs of their heavens the past, the present and future of man. Feel the power of their speech! Do their words not shine into your heads? Do you not sense it also in your hearts and in the strength of your limbs? This night what they shall tell will quicken your souls to your tasks...so listen, sons of fire, hear now of the lament of the gods!

‘When man fell into the shadows of Tiamat the light of the spirit began to darken in their souls. After that the ages increased and both sun souls and moon souls; souls of fire and water; kings and priests, began to forget the fathers in heaven. In the future the sanctuaries of the mysteries shall lie deserted, their altars broken and forsaken. A time is near when kings shall no longer look to the heavens to hear the language of the stars and when priests shall not know how to evoke the forms of the gods in their rituals. In those days darkness of night shall hold sway and selfishness shall run free!’

He spread his arms to encompass the visible and invisible heavens and his pupils, following his movements looked, and they felt it in the rhythm of their blood how these words lived in the forms of the stars. They saw the desecration of the sacred places and the evil of man, and they trembled with anguish.

‘But the gods are wise! They have sent the spirit light of heaven down to the womb of darkness! The radiant and glorious, the greatest and the best, the most beautiful, the most firm, the wisest, whose body was the most perfect, who attained his ends the most infallibly, who disposed of the minds of men aright, who sent his joy-creating grace afar, who made man, and fashioned him, and nourished and protected him; the most bounteous Spirit of the sun. He will come into the body of a man to kindle in men a memory of the gods! A new people will build a temple body for the Sun God Ahuramazda! Their exalted leader shall have two sons: to his sun-born he will give the Kingdom and to his moon-born he will give the Priesthood. From the line of kings will come the first child, a wise old sun-soul. From the line of priests will come a young moon-soul unspoilt by sin. Two children destined to become one for the salvation of the world!  

‘Feel the interval from Twins to Ram! Inscribe it in your hearts! See how this night two stars collide: Wisdom-radiating Jupiter and spirit-recollecting Saturn!’

They looked and they did see.

‘See the pattern of the stars! Remember it! In a far off age of the Fish, when the sun rises in the constellation of the Virgin, these stars shall shine like one again. When you see this pattern you must start your journey to the centre of the world to find a child, your re-born master! For I will be that first child, born from the line of kings and you will come to awaken me from my sleep!’  

From the night there came a wind no w, sweeping over the plains and rushing over the land of the Twin Rivers Euphrates and Tigris. It awakened the wheat in the fields and disturbed the animals in their beds; it curved its back over the houses of the sleeping populace and snaked over the polished stones of the temple ziggurat. Strengthened, it made dust rise to sting the eyes of the acolytes and gathered up the yellow silk robe studded with gold and silver stars worn by their prince. Rapid came their breath and hard did pound their hearts and struck with terror and panic and awe their souls were loosened and whisked up into the heavens.

Amid this terrible splendour they saw a child crowned with stars, whose eyes were like suns. A pulsing stream of light moved from those eyes into their hearts and the stars on his head began to form and melt into a script, which they could read. It described a name, and they knew it meant ‘salvation’. A name that would become forever branded onto the mettle of their souls:

YESHUA