Overview Golden Chain

In the Bible, the image of the River of Life is used, the Greek poet Homer used the image of the Golden Chain connecting heaven and Earth.

Both are metaphors or symbolic imagery for the spiritual influences flowing from the highest source of the three logoi and the Mystical Lamb; and downstream, the life ether (carrying all the other ethers) as a source of life.

Both picture a flowing river as the source of life, the source of creation, streaming from the origin from the throne of God down to the kingdoms of nature on Earth including humanity. Hence often also the water of eternal life is used as a metaphor for the spiritual life forces sustaining creation (in Christianity this is linked to the Holy Spirit.

This provides a temporary jump-page to the various aspects that will be developed:

• the Golden Chain overview schema of nature's kingdom and the main spiritual entities behind or involved
• cosmic breathing: there is a natural in and out breathing related to the various levels of spiritual beings, and this creates the rhythms we recognize in Man, on Earth, in our planetary system and cosmos
• relationships between the spiritual hierarchies then allows to link in
  • Man and the macrocosmos
  • Man and the spiritual hierarchies
• the descent of power as described using the Tree of Life (see Sephiroth topic page)
• if one makes abstraction of the spiritual beings that lie behind the workings of the elements and ethers, and just considers these concepts, then these concepts can be used to describe the macroscopic process of interaction between the elements called alchemy in nature

Aspects

metaphoric imagery

• image of the spiritual waves that chrystalizes and results in the physical, see Schema FMC00.582 and The two etheric streams#1911-12-30-GA314
• the metaphor of the "a golden chain .. hanging down from heaven .. laying hold of all gods and goddesses together .. connection the firmament of heaven and Earth" (Homer in Iliad, see Homer’s Golden Chain)
• the metaphor of the 'river of life' used in the Bible: "the river of the water of life .. flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb" ( Book of Revelation 22:1–2), "a river went out of Eden to water the garden" (Book of Genesis 2:10:); "the Lord, the fountain of living waters" (Jeremiah 17:13) up to finally Christ-Jesus saying: "Whoever believes in me ... rivers of living water will flow from within them" (John 7:38)

Illustrations

The concept of down and up

Schema FMC00.141 shows how, on the one hand (blue arrow down), the flow from the nirvana and budhi planes down to the three worlds below, sustains the emanation of thoughts created by the spiritual hierarchies in earlier stages of evolution. This is all we see around us, nature's kingdoms including ourselves. The spiritual hierarchies live in and evolve through this whole creation. On the other hand (blue arrow up), Man also creates through his thoughts, just as previous hierarchies did on previous planetary stages. Hence the human being becomes creator and contributor to future worlds. See Meaning of Free Man Creator and Seeds for future worlds.

For another angle on the ascending and descending forces, see also Schema FMC00.042A below.

The pencil drawing on the left - see Schema FMC00.141A below for the original - shows how living spiritual germs ripple down from the higher planes into the formless spirit world, get clothed into archetypes in lower spirit land, and embodied with astral clothing and physical substance as they ripple down. In the middle is shown how Man's actions are inscribed into the akashic records, see more on this in Clairvoyant research of akashic records. On the left is a paragraph with RSL quotes by Maximilian Rebholz (in his essay 'Durchgang'). Double click to enlarge.

The goal of this schema is to depict an idea, not to have a nice illustration. It brings together a number of perspectives and can be seen as a synthetic picture, or as a point of departure to study various aspects that come together.

Schema FMC00.141A shows the original pencil drawing (as basis for Schema FMC00.141)

Schema FMC00.170, taken from Force substance representation, sketches the polarity between 'center and periphery' and 'pralaya and mantavara', see Cosmic breathing and especially the Cosmic breath of Brahma which denotes the same, the highest level of in- and out-breathing that gives rise to all of creation.

Schema FMC00.042A shows the ascending and descending forces, see the lecture text of 1908-01-27-GA102 for more info.

The landscape with many players - influences from spiritual entities

Schema FMC00.260 illustrates the various influences around the earth, of elements and ethers, zodiacal streams and planetary influences.

Schema FMC00.142 in full version below (simpler versions do not contain the various dimensions shown here). The schema shows the four kingdoms of nature, including their consciousness (group souls for the others besides Man), against the Planes or worlds of consciousness (see Conditions of Consciousness). It also shows the three elementary kingdoms as the source of the formative forces, as well as the elementals below and how they are orchestrated by the third hierarchy of angels, archangels and archai. Furthermore it also shows the evolutionary dimension in overlay, the sacrifice of the higher hierarchies that gave rise to these new entities as an offspring during the previous planetary stages.

Schema FMC00.142E depicts the schema variants A to D (pictograms) are explained in various sections, for study of various perspectives that all hang together:

1. Aspect A is about The elementary kingdoms and their evolution
2. Aspect B is about the creation of the four kingdoms of nature in previous stages of evolution
3. Aspect C is about the arising of elementals of nature
4. Aspect D is the the rhythm of a year, that describes the alchemical process, consisting of and 'lived' bythe elementals of nature on earth that consititute or make up the living physical plant kingdom, and the archangels 'steering them'
   

Various

Schema FMC00.605: shows a simple picture of Arnold Mindell's model of the three levels of reality. Though not part of the spiritual scientific worldview, one can see it as an illustration of the Golden Chain as part of the Cosmic fractal.

Below 'consensus reality', called this way because the majority of human beings are in consensus about the physical world with common contemporary waking consciousness. In the middle what is called the emergent 'dreaming level' that can be thought of as the astral world. Above the 'sentient essence' level that one can relate to the spirit world (for example Rawn Clark speaks there of 'essential meaning').

The model is used a.o. in ORSC coaching (Organizational Relationship and Systems Coaching). Another model where one finds these multiple levels of reality and soul experience is TheoryU. This illustrates that concepts from spiritual science are all around us in the world.

Schema FMC00.605: shows a simple picture of Arnold Mindell's model of the three levels of reality. Though not part of the spiritual scientific worldview, one can see it as an illustration of the Golden Chain as part of the Cosmic fractal.

Below 'consensus reality', called this way because the majority of human beings are in consensus about the physical world with common contemporary waking consciousness. In the middle what is called the emergent 'dreaming level' that can be thought of as the astral world. Above the 'sentient essence' level that one can relate to the spirit world (for example Rawn Clark speaks there of 'essential meaning').

The model is used a.o. in ORSC coaching (Organizational Relationship and Systems Coaching). Another model where one finds these multiple levels of reality and soul experience is TheoryU. This illustrates that concepts from spiritual science are all around us in the world.

Lecture coverage

Bible

Introductory commentary

The Bible uses ancient hebrew symbolic language rich with metaphors and symbols, and water and the river of water are imagery for what we could call the spiritual influences flowing from the highest source of the three logoi and the Mystical Lamb; and downstream, the life ether (carrying all the other ethers) as a source of life. In ancient cultures water is used as a symbol of life, of the etheric life forces (and not physical water).

The term 'River of Life' appears in the Book of Revelation 22:1–2: “the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”. This pictures a stream of creation, streaming from the origin from the throne of God down to creation and the kingdoms of nature on Earth including humanity. It is the same image already in the Old Testament with Jeremiah 17:13 "the Lord, the fountain of living waters" and the Book of Genesis 2:10: "a river went out of Eden to water the garden"

The water of eternal life is a metaphor for the spiritual life forces sustaining creation linked to the Holy Spirit as the source of life and spiritual nourishment.

Christ-Jesus also used the metaphor of water . In the conversation with the Samaritan woman (John 4:10–14), the term 'living water' is used, Jesus offers her the water of (eternal) life, promising she would never thirst again spiritually. And in John 7:38, "Whoever believes in me ... rivers of living water will flow from within them.

Old Testament

Book of Genesis 2:10

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

Psalms

46:4-5 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

Jeremiah

2:13

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

17:13

O Lord .. all that forsake you shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the Earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

New Testament

Gospel of John 7:37-39

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink.

He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

(But this spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Book of Revelation 22:1-2

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Streaming down: the rippling seeds from above and clothing downwards

1903-summer-GA089

Here the descent is described in a single flow storyline:

First of all the cosmic foundation was created when the two qualities—selfishness and selflessness of the first Logos—came together. Through the second stream in this, guided by harmony, atomistic essence was created. This enveloped itself in mother substance, which was already extant, and the creation of atoms ensued. These atoms, with their outer shells of varying density, step by step created the matter which could then serve the second Logos, the mirror reflection of the first, as a medium to give its mirror reflection over to it.

The second Logos then flowed into this matter, which on its first, nirvana level was so subtle in consistency that it could flow through it without hindrance and without being changed.

It then entered into the budhi region; here it was stopped, and even though selflessness is so strong in this region that it does not seek to hold the Logos fast in its realm, it does lay claim to it for its whole cosmos. Here the Logos' sacrifice began; the voice, the sound came forth from it: it wanted to enliven matter with its spirit, that its thoughts should exist as independent forms. This realm, where divine thought became sound and voice, in the budhi sphere, was the divine realm of the Middle Ages.

Enveloped in budhi, the Logos then flowed into the mental region, which consisted of the arupa and rupa levels; the world of divine thought poured in, with exemplary ideas surging and mingling. Here the exemplary idea was created of what later would be separate entity, still resting in the Logos in the budhi sphere. This arupa level of the mental sphere was Plato's world of ideas, the world of medieval rationality. At the arupa level these ideas assumed their first configurations. As divine genii they began their separate existence, floating and interpenetrating still, being entities of a like kind. It was the medieval realm of heaven.

These spiritual entities then entered into the astral sphere; here, enveloped in denser matter, sensation awoke from touch; only now did they feel themselves to be separate entities, sensing the separation. It was the elemental world.

Following descent to the ether sphere this sensation was pushed from the inside to the outside, it swelled up, expanded and grew because of the etheric vegetative power, ..

.. and was then enclosed by physical matter and crystallized, for here the selfish principle was still seeking with all its power to be set limits. Sentience is thus shut up in the mineral world, with the divine ideas sleeping in sublime peace in the virginal rock. Stone—a frozen divine thought: 'The stones are dumb. I have put the eternal creator word into them that it may lie hidden; virginal and bashfully they hold it enclosed within them.'86 This is an ancient druid saying, a prayer. In medieval times, ether and physical world or mineral world were called microcosm or small world.

Streaming in, the Logos surrounded itself with progressively denser vestments until it learned to define its Limits firmly in rock. Stones are dumb, however, unable to reveal the eternal creator word. The rigid physical shell had to be cast off again; it remained behind in its world, whilst the crystalline forms in their soft ether vestment were able to expand, growing from the inside, that is, able to live. For life was growth; stone became plant. Ascending further the Logos also shed this ether vestment and came to the sphere of astral sensation. Here, activity developed through interaction between touch and sensory perception; sentient animal existence configured itself in a living way out of sentience and active will. lt then gradually developed its organs of perception, with the impetus from outside acting inwards as sensation. The types evolved. On transition into the mental realm this sentience perceived itself, and the human level was reached with self awareness. From the cosmic point of view the Logos would descend most deeply into matter on streaming into the mineral world and begin its ascent on casting off the first outer vestment. From the human, anthroposophocentric point of view, which the ancient druids held, among others, the spirit resting in the chaste rock would be a sublime level of existence. Untainted by selfish intent, the stone obeys only the law of causality. For human beings on the lower mental level of development, which is where we are now, the rock would be a symbol for higher development. Going through lower kamic passions and errors we would develop to an etheric plant existence, living and growing from inside in a selflessly self-evident way, later to live in our causal body, untouched by anything external, resting in ourselves, pure spirit, just as the crystallized spirit rests enclosed in the rock.

1908-05-23-GA103

A simple reference to the descending and ascending flows is given in 1908-05-23-GA103

We have also pointed out that when the astral body and I were outside the physical and ether bodies in those periods which we call the Jahve or Jehova epochs, that Jehova was active as an inspirer.

But it was the true Light, the Fullness of the Godhead or of the Elohim, the Pleroma, that was also constantly radiating through the physical and ether bodies.

However, the human being, not having yet received the necessary impulse from the Christ-principle before the appearance of this Principle upon the earth, was not able to recognize it. Those principles which are to come to expression in the physical body, dwell in the higher spiritual regions of Devachan.

The spiritual beings and powers which work upon the physical body are at home in the higher heavenly spheres, in higher Devachan, and those powers which work upon the ether body are in their own sphere in the lower heavenly realms. So we may say that in this physical body there are constantly active, beings from the highest regions of Devachan and in the ether body, beings from the lower devachanic regions are active. Men can recognize them only after having received the Impulse of the Christ into themselves. “If you truly understand the Son of Man, you will perceive how the spiritual forces descending from and ascending to the heavenly spheres work upon mankind. This you will know through the impulse which the Christ gives to the earth.”

1909-03-27-GA111

Man is compared to a seed, and described how he adds something new and unique in the spirit world

1909-04-12-B-GA110

Let us now look around at our world: we see solid rocks, flowing streams of water, we see the water changing into rising mist: we see the air, we see all the solid, liquid, gaseous things and we see fire, so that at the foundation of all things we have nothing but fire. All is fire — solidified fire: gold, silver, copper, are solidified warmth. All things were once upon a time warmth; everything has been born out of warmth. But in all that solidified realm, some bewitched spirits are dwelling.

How are those spiritual, divine beings who surround us able to produce solid matter as it is on our planet — to produce liquids, and air substances?

They send down their elemental spirits, those which live in the fire: they imprison them in air, in water and in earth. These are the emissaries, the elemental emissaries of the spiritual, creative, building beings.

1910-03-31-GA119

Through our heart we make ourselves men; through the larynx the Macrocosm makes us men. When in a new incarnation we grow into the Microcosm, we grow into an organism of which the heart is the centre; but this organism, this bodily constitution, is unceasingly maintained by the Macrocosm, the forces of the Macrocosm stream into it. Through the larynx there streams into us from the Macrocosm something that is a supreme manifestation of the spirit. There we are linked with the Macrocosm. We not only receive into ourselves influences from the Macrocosm but in a certain sense we also give them back, although we still have no individual control of them.

1910-06-11-GA121

As all spiritual Beings manifest themselves in some way or other, so that they appear somewhere in the realm of maya or illusion, that is to say, in the realm of the world of the senses, where may we seek for them in the lowest stage of manifestation, at the stage of illusion?

1910-12-31-GA126

makes the link between zodiacal influences and twelve Amshaspands and twelve main nerves, but also intrigueingly with the Mars canals:

In other regions, too, it has been known that what comes to manifestation in the human being flows in from outside. For example, in certain periods of Germanic mythology mention is made of twelve streams flowing from Niflheim to Muspelheim. The twelve streams are not meant in the physical-material sense, but they are that which, seen by clairvoyance, flows as a kind of reflection from the macrocosm into the human microcosm, the human being who moves over the earth and whose evolution is to be brought about through macrocosmic forces.

It must however be emphasised that these streams are to be regarded today as astral streams, whereas in the Atlantean epoch, which immediately followed that of Lemuria, and in Lemuria itself, they could be seen as etheric streams.

So a planet which is related to the earth, but represents an earlier stage of development, must reveal some similar phenomenon. And as from a distance things can often be observed which in proximity escape our observation, because what we see is then broken up into details, so in the case of a planet resembling the earth, when it is sufficiently distant and passing through earlier stages of development such as those undergone by our earth, it might be possible, even to-day, to observe these twelve streams.

To be sure, they will not look quite the same as once they appeared when seen an the earth. Distance is an essential factor, for if, to take an example, you are standing in the midst of a swarm of gnats, you do not see the swarm with its different shades of density; these are perceived only when you see the swarm from some way off. What I have just said lies at the root of the observations of so-called “canals” an Mars.

It is there a matter of certain streams of force which correspond to an earlier stage of the earth and are described in the old Germanic myths as streams flowing from Niflheim to Muspelheim.

1913-03-23-GA145

cycle year monthly Amshaspands + ether body in man above below what part predominant (link temperaments)

1916-03-20-GA174A

covers the weaving of H3 in Man's etheric body

As so often, there is one lecture where Rudolf Steiner gives the key paragraph, the essential missing piece of information, or the explanation for otherwise mysterious or difficult to understand statements.

Food upward - or 'nourishment'

For the relation of Man to H3, see Schema FMC00.472.

section moved to: Third Hierarchy

Maximilian Rebholz

essential section copied from 'elementary kingdoms' essay

And in 1923-11-04-GA230 it is described in a wonderfully clear manner, how the undines, sylphs and elemental fire-beings connect themselves with these being-essence, and present it to the higher hierarchies as nourishment. The undines, for example, see these products of decomposition in the sea as glimmering and glittering colours, which they avidly take in.

They draw these colours into their own bodily nature. … Then in a vast, in a magnificent cosmic picture, one sees how, emanating from earthly water, the colours which are carried upwards by the undines and which have spiritual substantiality, provide the higher hierarchies with their sustenance, how the earth becomes the source of nourishment in that the very essence of the undines' longing is to let themselves be consumed by the higher beings.

A similar description is given for the sylphs and fire-beings.

lectures 7,8,9 or 1923-11-02/03/04-GA230  are on the life of the elementals in nature

1905-10-17-GA093a

It is not the substance in which Man is now incarnated. But certain retrograde beings who had fallen behind on the Old Moon had discovered in this astral substance — food for their gluttony. They want to feed on it; it has for them a great force of attraction. This shows that we are continually surrounded by beings whose higher nature is related to our lower.

When someone produces egotistical thoughts, this is very welcome to these beings. In other respects they are actually more advanced than Man, but they have the craving to embody themselves in the astral forms which we ourselves create. They are the so-called Asuras. Through our baser thoughts we provide nourishment for these asuric beings.

When people whose nature is not yet purified, not yet free from passions, meditate, creating strong thought forms, they conjure up around themselves a powerful aura of desires. In this incarnate asuric beings of this kind which are then able to draw such people downwards. If a person drowsy with sleep meditates and in so doing does not rise clearly enough into thoughts, he creates this substance, and because he has no counterbalance, such beings incarnate in his thought forms.

More key lectures

1921 - Cosmosophy Vol 2

1921-10-29-GA208

Looking up to the fixed stars, we see the zodiac as representing the principles that give rise to the human form. Observing the movements of the planets, we find the explanation for the different levels of human life. We look to Saturn for the life of the senses, to Jupiter for the life of the nerves, to Mars for the life of breathing, which is active in images.

Let us take a special look at this life of breathing. I told you that the images are received from the cosmos: form. The movements experienced in the zodiac, stream inwards as images of our internal organs. The images enter into us and become suffused with matter, otherwise we would have no internal organs. So: when we breathe, the images are pushed inwards, for example the image of the kidney. Matter then fills this out (drawing).

However, between birth and death human beings are on earth, and the lower acts into the upper, with the result that everything has its polar opposite: there is also always a counter process. The opposite also happens, this time in an upward direction, with the images thrown back, as it were, like an echo.

But do not think of this as a once-only event. The organs are in existence, having been developed in the early stages of earth existence; but the counter action may go on all the time.

Consider each on its own, therefore. You take in the images of your internal organs with the life process.

Then comes the counter action, in which the echoes of those images rise up again, as does the zodiac, especially with the life of breathing in it. Just think of your ears, and there you have the counter process. These images are created and go out into the air—they are the vowels and consonants! The vowels come more from the planets, the consonants from the zodiac.

The counter process to the images coming in, is reflected in speech.

Consonants and vowels are pushed into us, as it were, to be the foundation for our organs. Anything that is more by way of form inside us comes essentially from the zodiac, anything that is more by way of life comes essentially from the planets.

If the counter action relates more to life, we produce vowels, if it relates more to form, we produce consonants. All this is to some extent connected with the life of breathing, and we can see that quite clearly in speech.

.. human beings take their form from the life of the fixed stars and reproduce this as an echo, which gives rise to the consonants. They take in the movements of planetary life which influence their own life. The life of breathing in particular creates images of all this. The counter action then produces the vowels. Human speech can only be understood if consonants are seen in relation to the constellations of fixed stars and the vowels.

1923-08-27-GA227

Yesterday I described how the Druid priests set up stones and screened them in such a way that, by gazing into the shadow thrown within this structure and looking through the stones, they could gain information concerning the will of the spiritual worlds which impressed itself into the physical.

But something else also was connected with this. In the spiritual world there is not only a going away, but also always a coming back. Just as there are forces of time which carry us forward through physical existence on Earth, and after death draw us backwards again, so, in the structures set up by the Druids, there are forces descending from above and also forces ascending from below. Hence in these structures the Druid priests watched both a downward and an upward stream.

When their structures were set up on appropriate sites, the priests could perceive not only the will of divine Spirits coming down from the Cosmos but — because in the upward stream the one-dimensional prevailed — they could perceive the good or bad elements which belonged to members of their community and flowed out from them into the Cosmos. Thus these stones served as an observatory for the Druid priests, enabling them to see how the souls of their people stood in relation to the Cosmos.

1923-09-02-GA223

see the page on Human 'I' for the full lecture extract - sketches that the body we call 'I' to with our Waking Consciousness in the physical world, is not our true I at all, by showing that at night, the three hierarchies H3, H2 and H1 live in the blood, astral, and etheric bodily principles and maintain it, whereas the Trinity lives in the physical body.

.. this form or Man is a picture of the working-together of all the Hierarchies, they are within it. Look at this human head in all the detail of its form; look at the rest of the body in its human form. I do not look at it truly if I describe it as a reality — as a real being, thus or thus. I only look at it truly if I say: It is a picture of an invisible, super-sensible working of all the Hierarchies together. Only when things are seen in this way can one speak truly and in detail of what is commonly propounded in a rather abstract manner. The physical world is not the true reality, so it is said; it is a maya — the true reality is behind it. Yet such a statement does not help us much. It is too general, as if one were to say: Flowers are growing in the meadow. Just as this statement will only be of use if you know what kind of flowers, so too the knowledge of the higher world can only be applied in practice if one is able to point out in detail how it is working in the outer picture, maya, or reflection, which is its physical, sense-perceptible manifestation.

1923-10-13-GA229

(in FMC-B)

Wie alles sich zum Ganzen webt,

Eins in dem andern wirkt und lebt!

Wie Himmelskräfte auf- und niedersteigen

How each the Whole its substance gives,

each in the other works and lives!

See heavenly forces rising and descending,

— rising and descending! And then the lines that follow:

Und sich die goldnen Eimer reichen,

Mit segenduftenden Schwingen

Vom Himmel durch die Erde dringen,

Harmonisch all das All durchlingen!

their golden urns reciprocally lending:

on wings that winnow sweet blessing

from heaven through the earth they're pressing,

to fill the All with harmonies caressing.

Remember how in yesterday's lecture I spoke of it all passing over from plastic form into musical sound, universally resounding harmony.

Through the earth

I cannot tell you what I felt when this stood before my soul and I read again these lines by Goethe: vom Himmel durch die Erde dringen! This durch — it can shake one profoundly, for that is just how it is — it is true! It is staggering to realise that these words ring through the world like a peal of bells and are regarded as poetic licence or something of the sort — or as words that anyone might write in letters or articles. It is not so. These are words which correspond to a cosmic fact. It is really shattering to read these words in the context of Goethe's Faust and to know how true they are.

Further

Now we will go further. We have seen how the heavenly Powers with golden pinions — the Archangels — permeate the universe in harmony, working and living in one another. But that is not all.

1924-09-09-GA354

planetary influence on nature's kingdoms

1924-09-15-GA318

gives overview planets in plant and human being, and correspondence

The GA110 lectures

The key to understanding the principle of the Golden Chain is in 1909-04-13-GA110, 1909-04-14-GA110.

1909-04-13-GA110

In 1909-04-13-GA110 is explained how, on Old Sun, the 'inhabitants' Archangels that go through the human stage of waking consciousness, are met by the Cherubim who come to meet them and have a spiritually highly vivifying influence.. The Cherubim approaching from four sides, represented in old cultures by the the winged Lion, winged Eagle, winged Bull, winged Man. A side effect of that 'assistance' is also the creation of an 'off-spring' in the form of the animal kingdom (hence the name of the animal circle for the zodiac). Each Cherubim had two companions, hence twelve Cherubim forces around Old Sun. On Old Saturn, the Cherubim had not yet reached that stage (CoC-10), they uplifted themselves as a hierarchy by accepting the light which sprang forth from the fire substance sacrifice from the Thrones on Old Saturn.

1909-04-13-GA110 then continues but expands on other perspectives and goes less into the core of the subject matter considered here.

On Old Saturn, the similar situation occured with the Seraphim (then at CoC-10) who came to meet the archai who were then going through the 'human stage of waking consciousness' (in short: CoC-4, for Condition of Consciousness 4 out of 12, see FMC00.064). Above then and 'in' Old Saturn where H2 hovering above them (SoW as directors, SoM executors, SoF upholder/supporters of what is built).

1909-04-17-GA110

Old Saturn, H1 around .. as a hollow sphere ..

Zodiac signs are just pointers to the different directions from where different spiritual beings are active and send their influence. Symbolized, for good reason, by animal signs.

The formation of the globe of warmth of Old Saturn arose from spiritual beings working from two sides: H2 from inside, and H1 from outside and thus something arises between the two currents or streams of soul-warmth and inner-warmth (perceptable). Through a slow process different germs of Man's organs were laid by the different signs .. heart by the Lion area, breast area Cancer, etc (some names got transformed through the ages).

The inner motion full of molbility is brought to a standstill by the Lion.

Old Sun after the pralaya has shrunk in circumference and containes warmth-substance but also the more condenses gaseous air substance.

Two currents again compress the ball of mist between them. From the periphery the SoW and H1, in the Sun globe the SoM+SoF.

Certain currents are created by the surrounding spirits — the Spirits of Wisdom and the Thrones. These currents are somewhat denser than those which were produced by the Thrones alone. Inside, the mass contracts, and a ball of mist is now compressed between those two streams.

The first stimulation of life into the Sun globe arose from the area of the Eagle and the spiritual beings in that area in cosmic space.

Now, when this living globe had once completed its circle and returned to its starting point, to the region of the Eagle, something else comes into operation. Whilst the globe had first begun to be inwardly alive at this point, when it reaches the same point again it is killed through the same influence which originally called it to life.

This ‘sting of death,’ which the life of the ancient Sun received from universal space, was felt as the sting of the scorpion. Therefore that region where they were killed is called the ‘region of the Scorpion.’

• At this point the constellation can be seen which rouses dead matter to life: the Eagle
• and also that wherein work the forces which kill: the constellation of the Scorpion

We can therefore say:

• in the region of the Lion are those forces of the Zodiac, which brought the original life of the germinal physical human body to rest;
• in the region of the Scorpion are these forces which had the power to kill life as such. We shall get to know the correspondence to modern conditions, which are differently constituted, but this can only be explained gradually. A thick veil or Maya has been drawn over the original conditions.

Furthermore it says, in:

1909-04-18-GA110

What is called the physical body today had its first foundations during the earliest Old Saturn planetary stage. That physical body was not as yet interpenetrated by an etheric body or an astral body; but it was already so organised that after passing through all the transformations it experienced later, it could become the bearer of the spiritual earth-man of to-day. Very slowly and gradually was this physical body organised during Old Saturn evolution, and, whilst Old Saturn itself was being formed, the different signs of the Zodiac slowly revolved, and the human body member by member, took on its earliest form.

1909-04-18-GA110

(SWCC) is a continuation and summary statement for the detailed explanations on 1909-04-17-GA110

What is called the physical body today had its first foundations during the earliest Old Saturn planetary stage. That physical body was not as yet interpenetrated by an etheric body or an astral body; but it was already so organised that after passing through all the transformations it experienced later, it could become the bearer of the spiritual earth-man of to-day. Very slowly and gradually was this physical body organised during Old Saturn evolution, and, whilst Old Saturn itself was being formed, the different signs of the Zodiac slowly revolved, and the human body member by member, took on its earliest form.

Discussion

Note 1 - The current cosmos and various categories of spirits

Introduction

The Cosmic fractal page lays out how the cosmos and kingdoms of nature we see are a physical mineral rendering front layer of an underlying spiritual reality consistint of spiritual beings. This sentence captures the essence of the spiritual scientific worldview.

Given humanity's stage of evolution and our current contemporary state of waking consciousness, our worldview is based on our sensory perception and the accompanying faculty of thinking. Senses and thinking are bound to the mineral physical, and represent a bandpass filter to the full reality, that is: we only perceive a small band of the full reality.

Initiation exercises such as meditation and concentration can expand this consciousness to use the etheric and astral bodies as reflectors for clairvoyant perception, hence widening that spectrum of perception, the width of the bandpass filter.

Various names and categories of spiritual entities

The spiritual scientific worldview has as foundational basis the spiritual hierarchies, all intertwined and interrelated and in a complex dynamic of continuous evolution. The spiritual hierarchies are thus the 'building block' to understand the make-up, nature, structure of the cosmos. The spiritual hierarchies themselves are the result of cycles of creations with at the center a breathing pulsating heart that is referred to as God, the Logos, or due to its threefold nature also the three Logoi or Trinity. How all this came to be is sketched in Schema FMC00.564, and for our current solar system Schema FMC00.077(and variants). The underlying principle of creation we called logoic principle is illustrated bySchema FMC00.067A and variants. For more see Creation by the three Logoi and Creation of solar system.

Now when studying the kingdoms of nature and the cosmos, spiritual science (such as the teachings by Rudolf Steiner) uses the language of the spiritual hierarchies, three triads for nine hierarchies , with humanity representing the tenth hierarchy 'under development'.

However, when studying the kingdoms of nature around us, what becomes even more important are other spiritual entities not directly part of these nine hierarchies. For example

• the spirits of the Elementary Kingdoms (separated of the Third Hierarchy H3, see Schema FMC00.175),
• the elementals of nature (as in gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders)

Up to here these are quite universal, but then we now zoom in to the terms Rudolf Steiner used in anthroposopical teachings, and that kind of complexify the matter for the student. The reason this is so, is that he introduces additional terms for spiritual entities, and they all are rightly connected to the whole of evolution, but their origin and cohesion is not always as clearly laid out, and hence they can confuse the student of spiritual science. Rudolf Steiner wanted to use more specific appropriate terms that relate or describe the role and function of subclasses of spirits (not dissimilar as he also proposed alternative naming for the nine hierarchies, see Schema FMC00.273).

• Rudolf Steiner throughout his teachings uses the terms Luciferic and Ahrimanic spirits to denote - in the language of the four elements - the combinations of air+warmth (like a hot air balloon, lifting up, Luciferic) and earth+water (like gravity or an anchor, pulling down, Ahrimanic). For illustrations, see - for a start - ao Schema FMC00.297, Schema FMC00.308, Schema FMC00.343 on Christ Module 14 – the counterforces: Lucifer, Ahriman and Sorat. With air+warmth or earth+water, one has to read this across all the different planes or worlds of consciousness, so it relates to both the astral and spirit worlds and not just the elements but also the etheric formative forces (see spectrum of elements and ethers).
  • Side note:
    • Now in the teachings of all the ages, the four elements are a fundamental pillar because they are intrinsically related to creation in our solar system - it is essential to understand how encompassing this is and all the implications for the worldview, hence the importance of Schema FMC00.225 and the GA132 lectures it summarizes.
    • Steiner uses Luciferic and Ahrimanic because these terms connect to spiritual beings related to the spiritual scientific evolutionary framework. However, is most spiritual teachings the four elements are regarded 'as such' without this polarity Luciferic-Ahrimanic. An excellent 20th century example is Franz Bardon: in IIH one works on character transformation based on a self-assessment of one's elemental balance, and this is done both at the astral and mental level. This maps to the characteristic descriptions of Luciferic and Ahrimanic, but it's more universal in the sense it does not confuse people that try to grasp what Ahrimanic really is now, or where it sits in terms of nature. In Rudolf Steiner's teachings it appears everywhere and poses a threath to humanity, but it remains like an invisible force. It's clear from internet forums that the teachings themselves have caused emergence of elementals related to these counterforces based out of a sort of respectfull recognition or fear without a true grasp of the true spiritual nature of the concepts.
• Spirits of rotation of time (SoRT) are an SoRT are an offspring of the First Hierarchy (H1)
• Folk spirits or folk souls are at the archangelic level, and Time spirits or Spirits of the Age are terms used for spirits at the archai level. See more Schema FMC00.472B and on Third Hierarchy

Study process opportunity

Now the 'offspring' affair, the fact certain spirits were spinned off of the regular hierarchies in their stages of evolution, is the essential part and subject of this note, as it is not covered so explicitly by Rudolf Steiner but has to be studied between the lines of all the descriptions given.

As such however, it represents an excellent opportunity for the student to deepen understanding and check the cohesion of what he/she truly understands. The goal of this note is therefore to present this subject as an exercise and practice area for this.

Place to start

The following Schemas can provide some pictures to take at hand at the start of this journey:

• Schema FMC00.069 on Spirits of rotation of time
• Schema FMC00.142 on this page

What becomes immediately apparent is that each of the triads and each of the nine hierarchies spinned off and left behind some residues, that Rudolf Steiner calls the 'offspring'.

To understand the Golden Chain and evolution in depth, it is essential to build a good understanding of how the process of evolution causes this to happen, because these offsprings then play a crucial role in our worldview, they are underlying the cosmic fractal.

So, whereas the regular spiritual hierarchies are the central backbone of evolution, there also:

• non-regular spiritual entities, with this is meant those that are ahead or behind of the regular development. Imagining a Gaussian clock curve for a normal distribution of a class of entities, we mean the population cohorts corresponding to the outskirts left and right of that clock curve.
  • Note: this image is used ao on Schema FMC00.018 and

The best illustration is the fact that all we see as light is luciferic, that the mineral matter is ahrimanic .. that hence even our mineral physical bodies are due to these non-regular or by products of evolution.

Notes WIP - work section

Very old draft notes from very start of the wiki, not updated

Unfortunately this has to be divided up, and after all is said and done and you have done the whole tour to your own satisfaction .. you will be able to ‘see’ in one integrated imagination how it all hangs together. Not limited by the fragmentation and boundaries of thinking and languages.

That being said, it is normal that this can only be a process of gradual study, deepening, and building a new understanding. Only when you are driven to know, and you have an inner fire, will you remain motivated in your quest to dig deeper and build your own grasp on this matter. The nature of the aim is such it can not be passed on a piece of paper or in a single simple lecture. Not simple because it is not: reality is vastly complex. And not a single or a few lectures, because we need to build up a new framework for our thinking in this new spiritual scientific worldview. We can not take this in ‘as is’, because we are not ready and equipped for it, we cannot just fit this in into the physical-materialistic worldview we are taught and grow up in. In fact, we need to change ourselves.

The FMC areas, taken together, make up a foundation for a spiritual scientific worldview. However, rather than approaching it through the many logical chapters and building it up that way, this prototype website is presented as a nicer way to build one’s understanding. We will tap from these FMC areas, and at any point one can branch out of the Golden Chain storyline and connect into the FMC repository for more a more in depth coverage.

Related pages

• Overview influences of the spiritual hierarchies
• Golden vessels interchanging
• Homer's Golden Chain
• The two etheric streams
• The elementary kingdoms

References and further reading

• Maximilian Rebholz: three essays on 'Elementary Kingdoms' (1936 and 1950, all three translated to EN by Free Man Creator initiative)
• Ernst Hagemann: 'World ether, elemental beings, kingdoms of nature' (in EN 1993, 2008; partial extract from original in DE in 1963 as 'Von Wesen des Lebendigen')
• Oskar Kürten: 'Symphonies of Creation' (2018 in EN, original DE in 1990 as 'Über die Elementarreiche in der Darstellung Rudolf Steiners')