Separation of Sun

The separation of the Sun is a crucial event in the development of the Earth. The Sun separated from the Earth+Moon body in the second Hyperborean epoch, or more specifically "during the time of transition from the second to the third epoch" (1905-05-25-GA093), in order to obtain the appropriate speed of evolution for remaining human beings on Earth. Other beings who were at a more advanced level of development went with the Sun.

The spiritual forces or influences now started to work on the Earth from without, totally changing the environment on Earth. The Earth began to turn on its axis giving periods that the Sun would shine or not shine upon Earth, thus (long) day and night periods began.

After the separation the Earth knew its darkest and hardest era as desolation and hardening of all life took place, and souls that wanted to incarnate could not find bodies fit to receive spirit and soul. During that time the majority of beings that should normally have incarnated on the Earth ascended to Mars, Jupiter, Venus or Saturn. See more on Planets hosting beings at various stages of evolution

When Man will have spiritualized himself further in the next great Sixth epoch, there will be Reunion of Sun with the Earth.

Aspects

timing:
- takes place at the beginning of the Hyperborean epoch (1905-03-18-GA090B, 1905-10-25-GA093A) the moment that corresponds with the start of the Book of Genesis in the Bible (1910-08-17-GA122)
- see also: Hyperborean epoch#Separation of the Sun
process:
- the withdrawal of the Sun was brought about by the Sun spirits (1909-08-26-GA113)
- during this separation, planets Venus and Mercury were still within the Sun as the Earth alone separated off (1912-06-12-GA137)
- only a small number of human beings remain behind; others go up to the planets to return again later on (1912-06-12-GA137)
- with the sun also went spiritual beings, their leader being the Christ (1912-06-12-GA137)
consequences:
- this is what enabled and caused the solid element - what we today call matter - to begin to condense on Earth (1910-08-17-GA122)
- we now get two kinds of spiritual beings: certain spiritual beings remained connected with the Earth, others remained with the Sun (because they had evolved beyond earthly connections and could not complete their further evolution on Earth) and sent their active forces down to Earth from the Sun. The spiritual part and higher ethers left the Earth also. (1910-09-12-GA123)
  - Six of the SoF (or Elohim) went with the Sun, one (known as Jehovah) stayed with the Earth for some time (upto separation Moon) (1908-06-23-GA104)
- at time of departure of the Sun, the Earth began to turn on its axis giving periods that the Sun would shine or not shine upon Earth, thus day and night periods began - albeit much longer than today (1908-09-09-GA106)
the fish symbol or Ichthys:
- The Christ was one the highest of the guiding Sun Spirits who went out with the Sun; up to this time Man - who then had the fish shape, was united with the Christ. The initiates of the first Christian period preserved this in the fish symbol representing the Man-Christ-form. (1908-09-10-GA106)
- The symbol appears in Christian art and literature around the 2nd century AD and its use as a sacred symbol spread widely upto the 4th century AD.
evolutionary context
- the Sun separated from the main sphere already on Old Saturn (see Schema FMC00.413) and also on Old Sun stages of evolution (1923-06-24-GA277), and also on Old Moon (1904-GA011, and Schema FMC00.181 and FMC00.182)
- for context on why the Sun separates, see Schema FMC00.427A and Schema FMC00.413.

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.317 is a BBD by Rudolf Steiner of the Earth before the separation of the Sun: the Sun was a much larger body that contained the Earth with the Moon.

FMC00.369 shows the esoteric fish symbol, ichthys in Greek, used by the early Christians in the roman cultural age. It represents the Man-Christ-form, as Man had attained the physical form of the fish when the Sun separated from the Earth, and he had attained that stage of development through the workings of the Sun that was still one with the Earth and Moon, and included the Christ as the highest of the guiding Sun Spirits. The symbol sometimes also refers to the Earth before (or at the time of) the separation of the Sun.

Lecture coverage and references

1904-GA011

What in theosophical literature is called Kama — the body of wishes — became connected with earthly man. The objects of the senses could now become objects of desire. Through his body of wishes man became tied to earthly existence.
This fact coincides with a great event in the universe, with which it is causally connected. Up to this point there had been no material separation between sun, earth, and moon. In their effect on man these three were one body. Now the separation took place; the more delicate substantiality, which includes everything which had previously made it possible for the soul to act in an immediately vitalizing manner, separated itself as the sun; the coarsest part was extruded as the moon; and the earth, with respect to its substantiality, stood in the middle between the two others.
This separation was of course not a sudden one; rather the whole process proceeded gradually while man was advancing from the stage of reproduction by division to the one described last. It was indeed by the universal processes just mentioned that this development of man was brought about. The sun first withdrew its substance from the common heavenly body. Thereby it became impossible for the soul element to vitalize the remaining earthly matter without mediation. Then the moon began to form itself. Thus the earth entered the condition which made possible the capacity for perception characterized above.
In association with this process, a new sense developed. The temperature conditions of earth became such that bodies gradually took on the fixed limits which separated the transparent from the opaque. The sun, which had been extruded from the terrestrial mass, received its task as light giver. In the human body the sense of seeing developed. At first this seeing was not as we know it today. Light and darkness acted upon man as vague sensations. For instance, under certain conditions he experienced light as pleasant, as promoting his physical life, and sought it, strove toward it. At the same time his soul life proper still continued in dreamlike pictures. In this life, colored images which had no immediate relation to external objects arose and vanished. Man still related these colored images to spiritual influences. Light images appeared to him when he was affected by pleasant soul influences, dark images when he was touched by unpleasant soul influences.

1905-03-18-GA090B

mentions explicitly that at the beginning of the Hyperborean epoch, the Sun split off, which brought about a terrible catastrophe on Earth

1905-05-25-GA093

see Epochs in Earth physical round#1905-05-25-GA093

1905-06-05-GA093

When the sun separated itself from the earth, the Word became entombed in the earth. It will be resurrected again when the earth has advanced as far as the sixth Root Race. Man will raise this Word from the dead, out of the earth; but first the spirit must live in him that will enable the Word to strike a chord in him. This was attained by the apostles at Pentecost.

1905-10-25-GA093A

During the Hyperborean Period the whole again divided: one part severed itself and the Earth emerged out of the Sun.

1906-09-GA095 Q&A

Why did the first Christians have the Fish as their symbol, besides the Lamb?
Among the fishes, especially Amphioxus, the spinal marrow began to take form. Man was once at the stage when he had the fish nature still within himself; he was wholly a soul-being and worked on his body from outside. Then he separated the fishes from himself. Later on the brain was formed out of the spinal marrow.
[Goethe already knew this. Dr. Steiner found the relevant pencil sketch drawn in a notebook while he was working in the Goethe Archives in Weimar.]
In this way man becomes a Self. But the Self is ennobled by Christianity and hence the Fish is the symbol for the early Christians. The story of Jonah indicates the same thing. Jonah — Man — is at first outside the fishes: this means the soul working on the body from the outside. Then he becomes a Self and enters into the fish — the physical body. Through Initiation the physical body is again left aside.

1908-03-16-GA102

note the below is only a partial extract, see lecture for continuation (incl. the arising of ash)

Now something extremely peculiar came about on this human formation, the rudiments were added for making use of the surrounding air. This was further developed later and the beginnings of a breathing process were formed. Thus we see a sort of breathing process added to the previous warmth process. It is important to be clear that with the deposit of air in the Earth the breathing process appeared, and that this in fact was the addition of air to the warmth-matter, permeating the warmth with little bubbles of air. This, however, is connected with something else, the effect of the light is there too and is manifested in the first beginnings of a nerve-system, an inner nerve-system. Not indeed a physical nerve-system, it is more a case of lines of force which have developed to densification. You must think of the whole as airy and only very fine air-currents can be there as lines of force. Thus we have now a rudimentary human being which in all fineness was still etherically a being of warmth and air and in which the first signs of a nervous system were shown. That was the stage of our earthly evolution when the Sun was still in the Earth. Imagine how this cosmic body appeared in universal space.
Imagine that someone looked across at this cosmic body from outside. All the beings which we have just described as the human beings radiated an individual light, and this light became the total light that shone out into the universe. If you could have examined the Saturn-condition you would have found that you could approach without seeing it; it could only be perceived through its warmth. But now you have to do with a Sun-body, inwardly warmed but sending its light out into space.
Now gradually came the time which I have described to you as the departure of the sun. All the higher beings who were connected with the sun and who gave the human beings the capacities of which we have just spoken, detached themselves, together with the finer substances. The sun went out. It no longer shone and spread out light, it went out of the earth.
So then we have a cosmic body which consisted of earth and moon, for the present moon was at that time still in the earth. And something very remarkable came about. Since all the finer forces had gone out with the sun, a very rapid — relatively rapid — densification resulted. What were earlier only lines of force took on a thicker form. And as the finer substances went away we see how the gaseous condition condensed to water. The whole body now consisted not only of fire and air but of water, too. The force of illumination had gone out with the departing sun and there was again darkness on the earth; the beings had kept for themselves inwardly only a portion of the light-force. This was an interesting stage of humanity's evolution. I. have shown that the light laid the foundation of the nervous system. The nervous system is a creation of the light. In all your nerves you have the original streaming-in of the light. Now the light, the sun, went out into cosmic space and substance therefore densified very rapidly. It was not yet the same as the nerve-substance of today, but it was denser than before, it was no longer a fine etheric substance. And the important thing was this: formerly it shone out-wards, now it became luminous inwardly. That means that man's first nerve-system had the power of creating inner light-pictures, visions; clairvoyant consciousness arose.
Thus the sun went out of the Earth, left the Earth without light, but the beings created an inner light. Formerly they had shone out to the light that shone towards them; now they had lost the power of shining. The earth was no longer sun; but their inner consciousness was illumined as today in sleep you illumine your consciousness with the whole world of dreams. This inner shining consciousness, however, was at that time infinitely more significant, more living. And now we come again to an important matter.
Just as light had arisen when the air arose, so now with the densification of air to water there likewise appeared a counterpart. As air is related to light, so is water related to sound, tone. Sound can of course pass through air, it sets the air vibrating and in that way it becomes audible. On the earth, however, sound arose — sound as such — side by side with the forming of water. And exactly as the action of light streamed through the air, so now the whole of the water to which the air had condensed was vibrated through and through by the currents of tone. The earth consisted then of warmth, air, water. The parts of the earth which had become fluid were in particular permeated by sphere-harmonies, by tones which streamed into the earth from the universe in every possible harmony. The result of this action of sound in the water-element was a very, very important one. You must picture to your-selves that in this original water, this fluid-earthly water, were contained all those substances which exist separately today as metals, minerals, and so on. It is extremely interesting to look back with spiritual vision to this ancient time and see how most varied shapes were formed. Tone created forms in the water. It was a quite amazing period of our earth's evolution. Something took place then on the grandest scale similar to what happens when you strew fine sand on a metal plate and stroke the plate with a violin bow. The Chladni sound-figures are formed and you know of course what regularly-shaped figures and formations appear. Thus the instreaming music from cosmic space gives rise to most manifold forms and figures, and the substances dissolved in the water which were them-selves watery, they listened to the cosmic music and arranged themselves in conformity to it. The most important formation of the dance of the substances to cosmic music is albumen, protoplasm, the foundation of all living growth. Materialists may think as they will of the mechanical construction of albumen from oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and so on; the original protoplasm was formed of cosmic substance that had been formed from the harmonies of cosmic music. And thus the substances in the living were organized according to the world-music. The albuminous substance, protoplasm, now surrounded and entered into the fine structures, penetrating everything. The water, congealed to albumen according to cosmic tone, took its course along the lines which I described as lines of warmth and gradually passed over into blood formation. The congealed water established itself as albumen in the lines of the nerves. And in the first place the albumen formed a kind of sheath, cartilaginous gluten, one might say, as a protection from outside. All this actually took form from the dance of substances to the music of the spheres.

1908-06-23-GA104

At one time there was, in fact, such a nebula; and in this all the parts of our solar system were as if dissolved. But, bound up with this nebula, so that they belonged to it, were all the beings mentioned in the course of our observations yesterday. For example, all the beings who passed through the human stage in the twenty-four Rounds were connected with this cosmic nebula. Other beings too were bound up with it. They all dwelt in this nebula which, if not thought of in connection with these beings, is a fantastic abstraction. In the way the materialistic chemist imagines this nebula, it is impossible; it exists only in thought, there is no reality. In reality, the nebula only exists because it is inhabited by a number of spiritual beings. For when this nebula again became visible, there were connected with it all the beings who once inhabited Old Saturn, who then passed through the various stages of evolution through Old Sun and Old Moon right on up to Earth, when after a long intermediate pause the Earth-nebula arose, so to speak. The other beings also with whom we became acquainted on the Sun, were connected with this nebula. It is the whole choir of these beings, who filled the nebula, who produced the movements. For it is beings who create their field of work.
For example, there were beings who needed a dwelling place quite different from that of man if they were to undergo the evolution suited to them. The men who lived upon the ancient Moon as the ancestors of the present men had only physical body, etheric and astral bodies. With these three members of their being they came out of the so-called pralaya again like a plant from the seed. Thus when the entire system began it was unsuitable for the beings who had brought with them the germs for the present man. Had the speed of development been maintained which our solar system had at the beginning when it came forth from the cosmic twilight, man would have been unable to find the path of his evolution. It would have been as if you were now to be born and then in a very short time become old. If the speed of evolution natal to the Sun had been maintained, man would have grown old quickly; he would be unable to take the slow course through the decades which he now actually does; after a short time he would have white hair, he would be old almost before he was a child.
But this was not to be. There were beings who needed a quicker tempo. These only went through a part of evolution with man, then they took out the heavenly body which now stands as the sun in the heavens and made it their dwelling place. They drew out the substance of the sun together with their own being. For the sun which sends its light to us today is inhabited by spiritual beings, just as our earth is. With every sunbeam descending to the earth come the actions of those spiritual beings who in the course of the evolutions of Saturn, Sun and Moon had progressed so far that they were able to participate in the rapid development taking place on the present sun. High, exalted beings were connected with this sun existence at the beginning of our earth development. These separated from the earth; and that which then remained you must imagine as if you had mixed together the present moon and earth in a great cauldron, and this mingled earth and moon circled round the sun for a time.
Thus before we reached the point described yesterday as human incarnation, we have first to recognize the separation of the sun from the earth, that is, the present earth plus the present moon. Upon the sun remained the beings who are the spiritual directors of earthly events. When they came over from Old Moon there were seven such beings; in Genesis they are called Elohim, Spirits of Light. For a time they went through their evolution together with the earth, then they drew forth the sun so that they could now work upon the earth from the sun. These Elohim, these Spirits of Light, were seven in number.
Six of them united their existence with the actual cosmic sun, and one, known in the Old Testament as Jehovah, separated from them and remained at first united with the earth. He guided and directed the earthly evolution from within, while the others worked upon it from without. That was the position for a time.
But after what was pointed out yesterday concerning Old Moon, you will understand that with the withdrawal of the sun was connected a condensation of all that emerged as earth plus moon. There came a period in the earth's evolution when not only the substance, but all beings, underwent a coarsening. For example, the beings who later became man, who at that time were very soft and delicate, underwent a coarsening through taking on horrible instincts. A coarsening of all life took place.
[ leading to separation of the Moon]

1908-08-05-GA105

with illustration (similar as the GA090A drawing on Schema FMC00.600)

We consider that point in time, in which sun and earth are still connected in a biscuit shape (an unusual type of biscuit made at that time), actually in such a way that one part, the smaller sphere — namely the earth and the moon — is still linked with the sun

1908-09-10-GA106

[Separation Sun, incl Christ – symbol of the Fish]
Now the great beings, the leaders of evolution, departed as they shaped their sun, to reunite with the earth only at a much later time. One of the Spirits, one who went out with the sun, the highest of the guiding Sun Spirits, was the Christ. We feel a deep reverence when we realize that up to this time Man was united with this Being who, as the noblest spirit, once departed from the Earth with the sun.
One felt that through the form of the fish one could characterize the time of the sun's departure from the earth, and also the forms given through the Christ himself. Earlier, Man on Earth was united with the sun, and as the latter departed he saw, preserved in the fish-shape, the form that he owed to the sun spirits. As he progressed further, the sun spirits were no longer with him.
The Christ departed from the Earth when Man still had the fish-shape. The initiates of the first Christian period preserved this form. In the Roman catacombs the fish appeared as the symbol of Christ, to remind men of the great cosmic event in evolution when the Christ was still united with them in the earth.
Man had progressed to the fish-form when the sun split off, and the first Christians felt a reference to the Man-Christ-form in the fish symbol as something of great profundity. Such a significant sign, which we view as a symbol of an epoch of cosmic evolution, is far removed from the external explanations that are often given. The true symbols refer to higher spiritual realities. They did not merely “mean” something to the early Christians. Such a symbol is a picture of this or that which one can really see in the spiritual world, and no symbol is rightly interpreted unless one can point to what can be seen in the spiritual world in connection with it. All speculation is at most preparatory, and the expression “it means” does not touch the point; for one first really understands the symbol when one shows how a spiritual fact is portrayed in it.

1908-09-09-GA106

[Turning axis, begin of day and night] At the same time that the sun went out from the Earth, the Earth began to turn on its axis so that at one time one side of the Earth would be shone upon by the sun, and at another time it would not be shone upon; thus day and night began. But at that time, the days and nights were much longer than today.

1909-05-15-GA104A

Then there was a time when the Earth had shed Old Saturn but the sun, moon, and earth remained together as one body. At that time human beings were present in their bodily nature as forms made of air. All the power that comes from the sun came forth at that time from within the earth. Everything came from within outward.
Only after the sun had separated from the Earth did it begin to shine upon it from outside. Therefore, we have a second epoch in human evolution when the human being had an existence as a form made of air as well as a plantlike form.
[Here there is a gap in the manuscript. The Moon condition and the Polarian and Hyperborean ages are described.]
Then the third age comes, the Lemurian age, when the moon leaves the earth and the beings of the moon work into the earth from outside it.
...

The Polarian age was followed by the Hyperborean age, with a race of human beings who had airlike bodies. The sun had separated from the Earth and now worked from outside. [editor: what is described is after separation sun]

1909-06-09-GA109

After the severance from the sun a difficult, sombre period now began for the earth, in a certain respect its darkest, hardest era. While still united with the moon, the earth drew into itself all the forces that were retarding evolution. To obstruct life is characteristic of the forces principally active in the moon. During this period, these obstructive forces were working far too strongly in the earth. If the earth had remained connected with them, life would not have taken its course in the right tempo. Man would have hardened to the stage of mummification. The earth would have become a veritable cemetery, one vast graveyard containing statues of mummified human bodies. No procreation would have been possible.
When the sun had left the earth, fearful desolation and hardening of all life took place. So already at that time there were periods when the human physical body was abandoned by its spiritual members, just as today the physical body is abandoned by its spiritual members at death.
In that past era, withdrawal and emergence of the being of spirit and soul from the physical already took place and a new search for the physical body began, as happens today when incarnations are to take place. But more and more frequently it happened that when the being of soul and spirit desired, while the moon was still united with the earth, to find a human body again, none was to be found, because bodies were no longer fit to receive the being of spirit and soul.
Just imagine that great masses of human beings were to have died today and because of the character of the physical substance these bodies had become so decadent that the souls would have said: We cannot make use of these bodies, they are too decadent for us, they offer no possibility of further evolution. Suppose that because of an extensive spread of alcoholism, for example, successive generations had gradually become so degenerate that the bodies were simply useless for the descending souls. This is more or less a picture of the state of the earth at that time, before the exit of the moon. Everything that should have been habitable down below was often hardened, crusted, withered, mummified. There was actually a period when souls were seeking in vain for bodies for their own evolution on earth. The consequence was that certain beings simply could not at that time have returned to the physical plane as men. They could not have incarnated again on the earth.
These beings then went to other cosmic bodies that had separated from the sun, namely, to Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. There was a time when the majority of these beings who should normally have incarnated on the earth according to their nature and their stage of evolution, placed themselves under the protection of the beings of Mars, Jupiter, Venus or Saturn, having ascended to and populated these cosmic bodies. Only the strongest souls found it possible to cope with the stubborn bodies and keep them flexible. Please understand me well. It was only the best soul material that then came again to the earth, because its power to master the stubborn bodies was the greatest. But under such conditions evolution could not have progressed.
The beings of the highest rank belonging to our solar system now adopted a new procedure. The most impermeable substances were extracted and separated from the earth; the severance of the moon was brought about. The result of this was that the forces that had remained behind were no longer frustrated in their evolution. But it was not until later that this moon became what it is today. The time had now come when the physical and etheric evolution of man could find the tempo befitting its stage. The forces both of the sun and the moon now worked upon the earth from outside, maintaining the balance. Gradually, while the moon was emerging, a kind of softening, an amelioration of the bodies of men, again took place. The period just described is called in occultism the Lemurian epoch, the epoch of the separation of the moon during the physical embodiment of the earth. The epoch when the sun left the earth is called the Hyperborean age, and the epoch when the sun, moon and earth were still united is called the Polarian age.
During the whole period when the sun was separated from the earth and the moon produced a hardening process on the earth to begin with and then left the earth during the whole of that period, sublime beings were influencing the differentiation. Their most important servants were the Spirits of Form, called the Exusiai in Christian esotericism, also Spirits of Revelation, Powers.

1910-08-17-GA122

During the Old Moon existence there takes place this separation into a part which is Sun and a part which retains the Old Moon nature. It is only when we come to the fourth stage of our planetary evolution that the earth element is added to the earlier warmth, gaseous and watery elements. In order that this solid element could come into existence, the division which had taken place previously during the Old Moon evolution had first to repeat itself. Once again the sun had to withdraw. Thus there is a certain moment in the evolution of our planet when, out of the universal complication of fire and air and water, the denser, more earthy element separates from the finer, gaseous element of the sun; and it is only in this earthy element that what we today call solid is able to form Let us concentrate on this moment, when the sun withdraws from its former state of union with the rest of the planet and begins to send its forces to the earth from without. Let us bear in mind that this was what made it possible, within the Earth, for the solid element — what we today call matter — to begin to condense. If we fix this moment firmly in our minds we have the point of time at which Genesis, the creation story, begins. This is what it is describing.

1910-09-12-GA123

talks about the separation of the Sun

To understand this in connection with our spiritual evolution on earth, we must recall how in the time of its early beginnings the Earth was united with the Sun, from which it is now separated. Anthroposophists know, of course, that this does not refer merely to a separation of the substance of the Earth from the substance of the Sun, but with the going forth of divine beings who were associated with the Sun or with the other planets.)
After this separation of the Sun, certain spiritual beings remained connected with the Earth, while others remained with the Sun, because they had evolved beyond earthly connections, and could not complete their further cosmic evolution on the Earth. Thus we have the fact that

one kind of spiritual being remained connected with the Earth,

while other spiritual beings sent their active forces down to Earth from the Sun.

After the departure of the Sun from the Earth we have, as it were, two spheres of activity, that of the Earth with its beings and that of the Sun with its beings. The Spiritual Beings who served mankind from a higher sphere are those who chose the Sun as their dwelling-place, and from this realm come the beings who have united themselves from time to time with earthly humanity so that they might aid the further evolution — both of Earth and man.
In the myths of various peoples we constantly find reference to such ‘Sun-heroes’ who have descended from spiritual realms to participate in human evolution; and a man who is filled by such a Sun-being is something far more than from outward seeming he would appear to be. The outward appearance of such a man is deceptive — it is Maya; but behind the Maya is the real being who can only be guessed at by those who can penetrate to the profoundest depths of such a nature. In the Mysteries people knew, and still know, of this twofold fact concerning the path of human evolution.
People distinguish now, as they distinguished in the past,

divine beings who descend to Earth from spiritual spheres, and

men who strive upwards from the Earth towards initiation into spiritual mysteries.

and then the paragraph about the spiritual part leaving also

.. at the time when the earth was separated from the sun, and the beings whose supreme Leader is the Christ withdrew from the earth, there were beings who let their influences spread gradually over the earth, just as the Christ, in the course of time, has allowed His influence to be felt on earth.
But we must not forget something else, which is, that

the nature of Old Saturn as regards substantiality was relatively much simpler than that of the planetary bodies that arose later. It consisted of fire or warmth, there was neither air nor water there, neither was there light-ether.

This light-ether came with the Sun-evolution.

Then, when later this passed over into the Old Moon stage, the watery element appeared as a further densification, on one hand, and sound or tone-ether as a further refinement on the other.

Solid substance was added to these during the evolution of the Earth; this condition arose as a further densification; life-ether being added at the same time as a further refinement.

We have therefore on the Earth: warmth, air or gaseous substance, water or fluid substance, and solids or earthly substance. Opposed to these as finer conditions we have light-ether, tone-ether, and life-ether, this last being the finest etheric condition known to us.
Now with the departure of the Sun from the Earth, not only the material part of the Sun left but the spiritual part left also. It was only later, and by degrees, that this returned to the earth, and it did not return entirely.
[I spoke of this at Munich when lecturing on the Six Days of Creation, so I will only touch on it here.]

Of the higher etheric substances man is only aware of warmth and light-ether. What he perceives as ‘sound’ is but a reflection, a materialization, of the real tone that is in tone-ether.

When tone-ether is spoken of we refer to the bearer of what is known as ‘The harmony of the spheres,’ and is only to be heard clairaudiently. The Sun certainly sends its light to the earth, in so far as this is physical, but a higher condition also lives in the Sun. In Goethe's FAUST — Prologue in Heaven we read: ‘The sun-orb sings, in emulation, Mid brother-spheres, his ancient round: His path predestined through Creation, He ends with step of thunder-sound.’ This refers to sphere-harmony, to that which lives in the sound-ether, and can only be heard by man when he has attained initiation, or when a Sun-being descends in order to hold intercourse with one who has been chosen to become an instrument for the further evolution of others. For such a one the Sun begins to resound, and the sphere-harmonies to be heard.

Above the tone-ether lies the life-ether. Just as the ‘word’ lies within mere tone, as something possessing an inward soul-like content, so associated with the meaning of the life-ether is that which in later Persian times was called ‘Honover.’ The writer of the Gospel of John calls this the ‘Logos,’ which as meaning-filled tone belongs to the Being of the Sun.

...
That which as organizing quality lay here at the foundation of a new kind of fellowship is contained in the Life-ether, which organizes life, and which streamed into the Earth in the deed of Christ.
...
.. the mission of Spiritual Science is to help us to understand that the aura of the Earth has been united with the Sun-aura, and that it can be seen by those whose spiritual eyes are opened, that this Sun-aura, in the Earth-aura, which was visible to Paul, can also be heard when our inward ears are opened to hear the Sun-word as it was heard by Lazarus, he who had been initiated by Christ Jesus Himself.

1912-06-12-GA137

You must here call to mind the description in Occult Science of the beginning of Earth evolution,—how, after the interval between Moon and Earth, the Sun was re-united with Earth and the other planets, and how they all then separated again, being shed, as it were, like a husk or shell one after the other. There was, therefore, at one time the condition in which the Earth was united with the Sun. Then Earth and Sun separated, and you know that after that came the separation also of the Moon, and the strengthening of the Earth through souls coming from other planets.
Let us now fix our attention on the point of time when the Sun has just separated from the Earth.
When this separation took place, the two planets Venus and Mercury — I am giving them their astronomical names — were still within the Sun. The Earth alone separated off, Venus and Mercury remaining within the Sun. We have therefore now Sun and Earth. On Earth, evolution continues. Only a small number of human beings remain behind; others go up to the planets, to return again later on.
With the Sun went also Beings; for the world does not consist just of external matter, but of Beings. Beings went with the Sun when it separated from the Earth. And their Leader is the Christ.
For at the time in Earth evolution when the Sun separated from the Earth, what one may call the taking precedence by the Christ over Lucifer and the other planetary Spirits had already come to fulfilment.
Then later on, Venus separated, and Mercury. Let us consider for a moment the exit of Venus from the Sun.
Together with Venus are beings who had also at first gone with the Sun but were not able to remain there. These break away and inhabit Venus. Among them is the Being who stands behind the later Buddha. He went as a messenger from the Christ to the dwellers on Venus. The Christ sent him to Venus, and here on Venus Buddha passed through all manner of stages of evolution.
Later on, souls came back from Venus to Earth. The ordinary human souls were of course but little developed.
Buddha, however, who also descended to Earth with the Venus souls, was a highly evolved being, so highly evolved that he could at once become a Bodhisattva and afterwards early a Buddha. Thus we have in Buddha one who had long ago been sent out by Christ and had the task of preparing the work of Christ on Earth. For his mission to the Venus men had this meaning, that he should go to Earth beforehand, as a forerunner of the Sun.
And now you will be able to understand that Buddha, having been with Christ for a longer time than the other Earth men—for the Earth separated off earlier—needed only that portion of the Christ Impulse which he still had in him from the Sun, to enable him to follow the Christ Event from the spiritual world. For Buddha that sufficed.Other human beings had to await the Christ Event on Earth.
further see also: Individuality of Buddha#1912-06-12-GA137

1923-06-24-GA277

We know that once Earth and sun were one body. Of course this is long ago, during the Old Saturn and Old Sun stages of evolution.
Then there was also a short repetition of those periods during the Earth stage.
But something remains behind which still belongs there. And this we bring forth again today. And we bring it forth from the repetitious Condition on Earth not only by heating our rooms with coal, but we bring it forth by using electricity. For, what remains from those times after Old Saturn and Old Sun, when the sun and Earth were one, that provided the basis for what we have today on earth as electricity. We have in electricity a force which is sun-force, long connected with the Earth, a hidden sun-force in the Earth. … Electric light is actually light retained from Old Sun.