Twelve guiding spirits

Every planetary chain has twelve guiding spirits, acknowledged as regents in symbols such as the zodiac, with the sun moving through them.

With 'regents' is meant that the spirits change as part of the evolutionary dynamic of the Cosmic fractal as depicted in Schema FMC00.77A.

As Rudolf Steiner states in 1904-07-03-GA089: "the leaders themselves change ... our concepts belong to the spirit world so these spirits are beyond our ability to conceive; we thus speak not of one proceeding from another but of timeless relationships"

Hence: "In every planetary chain system we thus have not 7 but 12 sublime guiding spirits."

The spiritual influences coming from the twelve zodiac signs can be studied from various angles:

• the movement of the Sun through the zodiac, which takes about 25920 years or one platonic year
• the daily movement of the Sun (see the Sun's daily path in Rhythm of a day)

• there is a relation between these spirits and the forces descending and ascending to the zodiac, and the development of Man - see further Golden vessels interchanging and Schema FMC00.071.

Aspects

• terminology
  • Rudolf Steiner uses the term 'guiding spirits' at all levels of the spiritual hierarchies: "archangel as guiding spirit of the people" and "men are the instruments of the spirits who are the guiding beings of the great epochs" (1908-04-20-GA102) - see Spiritual hierarchies and their eigenperiods
• other: there is also - in general - a relationship between the number 12 and the numbers 7 and 5 (also regarding the 'good' or the 'misguided or evil' influences)

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.071: depicts the rotation schedule between the twelve guiding spirits in the seven planetary stages of one 'chain' of solar system evolution, see also its symbolic representation Zodiac.

The division of seven and five is explained in 1909-08-31-GA113; see also aspect Zodiac streams on Twelve as seven and five.

Note that the numbers in this Schema FMC00.71 are just an enumeration and not CoC-levels. Compare with Schema FMC00.077A and Schema FMC00.329 to see how the 'regents' are roles taken up by different spiritual hierarchies in each planetary stage of evolution.

Observe: these Schemas also illustrate the limits of twodimensional conceptual visualization of the complex spiritual reality (choice of distinction between CoC-levels or roles and spiritual hierarchies, and the fact that sequence - as a characteristic of time and space - does not really apply to the higher spirit world).

Schema FMC00.068 shows original drawings of the Mystical Lamb symbol by people who attended the lecture of 1907-04-22-GA104A.

See also variants and Discussion Note 1 - Symbol of the Mystical Lamb.

Schema FMC00.077A: is an extended version of Schema FMC00.077 from Creation of solar system, showing the evolution of spiritual hierarchies across the planetary stages of evolution and against the Conditions of Consciousness (CoC). It shows how the various spiritual hierarchies 'rise up' along the CoC ladder per planetary stage of evolution, showing 'roles' in colours. The nature of how each hierarchy goes through a given CoC is totally different and depending on the constitution of that planetary stage.

For a visualization of the spiritual beings in blue at CoC=8 to 10 on Old Saturn, see Schema FMC00.200 above. Observe CoC=8 versus the two above, taking place at the border of the second outstreaming and the pure emanation.

See also Schema FMC00.147 for a summary table on the roles of the hierarchies in relation to Man.

Schema FMC00.660: shows a high level view depicting the evolution of the Cosmic fractal, which consists of spiritual beings in constant evolution on a pathway of ever developing consciousness (see Twelve Conditions of Consciousness), in various grades of knowing one's self. Three simple pictograms:

Above left: the make-up of the cosmos or creation are various classes of spiritual beings, see Overview of the spiritual hierarchies and a.o. Schema FMC00.273 and Schema FMC00.661. The infographic is inspired on Homer’s Golden Chain.

Above right: the CoC-ladder of twelve conditions of consciousness, see e.g. Schema FMC00.048.

Below: the horizontal axis depicts the dynamic of the Cosmic Fractal along Three dimensions of evolution driven by the Cosmic breath of Brahma or the three Logoi. Only the large steps of the planetary stages of evolution are shown. When considering the cosmos from our current perspective and Earth stage of evolution, we are contemplating a 'snapshot' of the whole with our contemporary waking consciousness using our intellect and the faculty of thinking. This is just a conceptual map or representation of a spiritual reality that can be experienced through initiation and higher stages of cognition, see stages of clairvoyance.

The horizontal axis of the evolutionary dynamic gives rise to different worlds of consciousness and different (bodily structural) principles, but ultimately the cosmic fractal is made up of beings. Besides providing the 'big picture', anthroposophy also zooms into Man - the human being, in this spiritual scientific framework, describing bodily principles, subsystems, functions, rhythms, and more.

Lecture coverage and references

1904-07-03-GA089

the relationship between seven and twelve is explained, and why there are twelve guiding spirits for a planetary chain such as in our solar system. Note the published schema is not the one in the above schema, our working hypothesis is that an error slipped into completing the schema whilst the principle was being explained verbally. The schema above follows the logic from the lecture and appears more consistent. Quote (SWCC):

In every planetary chain we have twelve guiding spirits .. acknowledged as regents in symbols for instance in the zodiac, with the sun moving through them. .. Our concepts belong to the higher spirit world and are beyond our ability to conceive, we speak here not of one proceeding from another but of timeless relationships.

full extract

In thinking of the evolution of a planetary system we have to consider the following. Evolution happens in such a way that for every entity, two processes, evolution and involution, are always alternating. We therefore have to think of the seven as going through evolution and involution.

In the next planet, each of the rules has to advance by one level: 8 is the evolved 7. In evolving further, they evolve into the other.

When the 7th has been reached, the process cannot continue. If 7 were to become 8, the process would have existed before, it would be nothing but repetition of the first, or 7 at another level.

As we move on, we see that the leaders themselves change. We then have 12 'regents' and a 13th who is superfluous. This 13th takes the whole planet to a state, which is as it was in the beginning, only at a higher level.

We have to end with 12.

In every planetary chain system we thus have not 7 but 12 sublime guiding spirits. Among them, only the 8th is not in action in the first, and so on. (Our concepts belong to the spirit world, these spirits are beyond our ability to conceive; we thus speak not of one proceeding from another but of relationships - timeless).

These spirits have been acknowledged as regents in symbols, for instance in the zodiac, with the sun moving through them.

Enhancement of conscious awareness in microcosmic evolution also corresponds to the stages in the macrocosm. So that the number 12 has always been important and there have always been 12 guiding spirits everywhere: 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles, 12 knights of the Grail. Both macrocosmically and microcosmically, 12 is therefore the sacred number on which everything is based. 7 are in action, 5 have other work to do. For the physical planet, only 7 come into consideration, which is also why only 7 of the 12 principles of the human being are taught.⁹⁰

Mental derivation from spirits that lie beyond the mental.

We can best get an idea of how evolution relates to involution if we consider some aspects of history.

Evolution and involution always go together as opposites. Consider Greek sculpture. The form was brought out; the intrinsic essence remained inward. Let us now consider Renaissance painting. In Greek sculpture we had involution of colour, evolution of form. When we let painting develop from sculpture we have form in involution, colour in evolution. Something, which before had been involution changed later to become evolution.

The 16th century marked the beginning of personal mental and knowledge-related development. It was preceded by the age of painting (from Cimabue onwards) in the High Renaissance. In the work of Michelangelo, the personal kama manasic element is in involution, colour and sculpted form on the other hand in evolution. The kama manas principle applied, but not through itself; it was in involution. As development proceeded, kama manas, intelligence, had to evolve in the present age. We see, therefore, that the element, which called itself ‘science’, took over from painting. People were descending out of the paintings, as it were, and saying things themselves. The painters had foreseen future, as it were, but in form and colour. People [of the modem age] have transformed into science what was there in involution. If we let Michelangelo rise again, we have Galileo [1546–1642]. The rational mind was thus evolving, whilst wisdom was involving; it was evolving in creative writing. Creative writing became the guardian of the wholly wisdom-filled. The final element was thus given not with an initiate in theory, but in creative writing. [Goethe?]

Someone who knows his mission in the present age must therefore transform the wisdom, which is there in involution, into wisdom which is thought. These are the alternating periods of involution and evolution. We can only consider a phenomenon rightly if we take account not only of what is evolved but also of what has gone through involution.

Every evolutional state of the planets that follows thus signifies a state of evolution which preceded it. Everything which is rational mind on Earth today, was involution in the preceding planet. The element which today has been cast out and down is in evolution on the other hand; kama rupa [astral or desire body], sense-perceptible nature, played the same role then as kama manas [rational mind] does today.

Not all pitris reached the normal status. Their highest principle is still kama rupa today, therefore, and they seek above all to enhance kama rupa. If, therefore, our goal or ideal is to enhance kama manas to its highest peak, we cannot say that this goal comes from this world; it is only being evolved by us. Anything of this world is kama rupa; it is given. Kama manas is the ideal. The ideal of those who consider kama rupa to be the ideal is of this world.

Thus there are two things on this Earth, apart from all else: the human being whose ideal is not of this world. For him, tempters are those who say: Stay with the pleasures of this world. These spirits, whose highest nature relates to our lowest, are called ‘Satan’ or ‘wrongful prince of this world’ in Christian esoteric language. If one who [presents himself] as a guide, someone also called ‘one who goes with the Sun’, truly wants to show the ideal, he must wholly overcome the tempter. Hence the allegorical indication that the overcoming of the final evolutional stage is represented by the temptation. The spirit which is working its way out of involution and into evolution will always fight the one that has already evolved—knight and dragon, Siegfried and the dragon.

1909-08-31-GA113

the relation between seven and twelve is explained. See also Discussion area below.

But there is also an inner relationship of space and time which I can only indicate here in bare outline with which the numbers twelve and seven have something to do. And my illustration shall be made as was usual in the mysteries when the relations of twelve to seven in the cosmos was being portrayed.

It has been said that if we do not consider universal space in an abstract sense, but really relate Earth conditions to universal space, we must refer those Earth conditions to the circle described by the twelve essential points of the Zodiac, viz. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.

These twelve points of the Zodiac were not alone the real and veritable world symbols for the very oldest divine spiritual beings, but the symbols themselves were thought to correspond, in a certain sense, with reality.

Even when the earth was embodied as old Saturn, the forces issuing from these twelve directions were at work upon that ancient planet; so they were later on the old Sun, and on the old Moon, and are now and will continue to be in the future. Therefore they have as it were the nature of permanence, they are far more sublime than that which arises and passes away within our earth existence. That which is symbolised by the twelve signs of the Zodiac is infinitely higher than that which is transformed in the evolutionary course of our planet from old Saturn to old Sun and from that to old Moon and so on. Planetary existence arises and passes away, but the Zodiac is ever there. What is symbolised by the points of the Zodiac is more sublime than what upon our earth plays its part as the opposition between good and evil.

..

That which is the symbol of Gods in the twelve points in space, in the twelve points of permanence is above good and evil. Out in space we have to seek for the symbols of those divine-spiritual beings which considered in themselves and without reference to their effects upon our earthly sphere, are beyond the differences between good and evil.

But now let us conceive that which becomes our earth beginning to be active. That can only happen by a division as it were coming to pass in the permanent deities and that which takes place entering into a different relation to these gods of permanence, who are divided into two spheres, into a sphere of good and a sphere of evil. ..

...

Of the twelve points of permanence there remain belonging to the good, the five actually within the sphere of good and the two on the border, making seven. Therefore we speak of seven as remaining over from the twelve. When we wish to speak of that which is good and which acts as our guide in time, we must speak of seven wise men, of seven Rishis, for this corresponds to reality. Hence also comes the conception that seven signs of the Zodiac belong to the world of light, to the upper world, and that the lower five beginning with Scorpio belong to the world of darkness.

1910-03-26-GA119

also on: Zodiac clock#1910-03-26-GA119 and Christ Module 10 - Tenth Hierarchy#1910-03-26-GA119

And now we can realise that the comparison with a clock is by no means far fetched. We relate the heavenly bodies of our solar system to the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, and we can find our bearings in the World of Spirit only by viewing it in such a way as to be able to assert that spiritual beings and events are realities; we compare the facts with the courses of the planets but the spiritual beings with the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. If we contemplate the planets in space and the zodiacal constellations, if we conceive the movements and relative positions of the planets in front of the various constellations to be manifestations of the activities of the spiritual beings and the twelve constellations of the Zodiac as the spiritual beings themselves, then it is possible to express by such an analogy what is happening in the World of Spirit.

We distinguish seven planets moving and performing deeds, and twelve zodiacal constellations at rest behind them. We conceive that the spiritual facts—the courses of the planets—are brought about by twelve beings. Only in this way is it possible to speak truly of the World of Spirit lying behind the Elementary World. We must picture not merely twelve zodiacal constellations, but beings, actually categories of beings, and not merely seven planets, but spiritual facts.

Twelve Beings are acting, are entering into relationship with one another and if we describe their actions this will show what is coming to pass in the World of Spirit.

Accordingly, whatever has reference to the beings must be related in some way to the number twelve; whatever has reference to the facts must be related to the number seven.

Only instead of the names of the zodiacal constellations we need to have the names of the corresponding beings. In spiritual science these names have always been known. At the beginning of the Christian era there was an esoteric School which adopted the following names for the spiritual beings corresponding to the zodiacal constellations: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai, then archai, then archangels and angels.

The tenth category is Man himself at his present stage of evolution. These names denote ten ranks. Man, however, develops onwards and subsequently reaches stages already attained by other beings. Therefore one day he will also be instrumental in forming an eleventh and a twelfth category. In this sense we must think of twelve spiritual Beings.

Discussion

Note 1 - Commentary

• From 1904-07-03-GA089 (see schema) follows that the previous planetary stages had a guiding spirit that, considering 1908-01-27-GA102, would correspond to the table of principles to be developed per planetary stage. A few observations follow from contemplating this potential correspondence:
  • first, we observe that
    • the active and non-active zodiac sign mapping in the GA089 lecture does not map correspondingly to the zodiac signs as described in GA102 (see picture on the right, ascending/descending for the 5/7 zodiac signs),
    • nor does the GA102 quote (see Golden vessels interchanging#1908-01-27-GA102) referring to the change from Virgo to Libra in the Atlantean epoch (when Man started to think) correspond.
    • Note also this has nothing to do with the Zodiac clock and the movement of the Sun across the zodiac, about one sign per cultural age. A distinction needs to be made here between the guiding spirits, and the signs that Steiner is referring to in the GA102 lecture.
  • the guiding spirit for current planetary stage Earth would be Sagittarius. Interestingly, from this sign we observe the most intensivement bombardment with cosmic rays, it is also the location of the black hole for our galaxy.
  • maybe less interestingly (because probably not relevant) but still a side-observation: the current fifth epoch on Earth corresponds to Leo.
    • In 1906-10-04-GA091 we find the correspondence between Christ and the Lion

      Lion = budhi-force corresponds to Christ. The Lion is this Cherub. .. .. the Cherubim with the Lion-head .

• and in 1904-07-02-GA089, when describing the seven creative spirits before the throne:

Let us think of this spread among seven planets. In truth, all seven are present, but one of them always has the power (the others hold lesser offices). If we take the fourth orb, it is ours. The device for us is therefore: The Father principle veils itself in the Word and reveals itself to the Spirit. And that is Christianity. With this Cherub we have the key word and hence also the meaning of Christianity.

Note: 1909-08-31-GA113 lecture extract

This extract points to the difference of what lies above the spirit world (no evil in budhi and nirvana planes), and the fact that at some point time and space come in, as well as good and evil. The fourth akasha layer in the spirit world separates the formed (rupa, lowest three layers) and unformed (arupa, highest three layers) parts of the spirit world. See Planes or worlds of consciousness.

See also 1904-08-12-GA090A quote on the Evil page.

Related pages

• Zodiac
• Mystical Lamb
• Creation by three Logoi
• IAO
• Prajapatis
• Creation of solar system
• Twelve as seven and five