PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNALS ONE

Toward A New Astrosophy
(August 1965 ~ May 1968)

By
Willi Sucher

Published by

ASTROSOPHY RESEARCH CENTER, INC.

P.O. Box 13
Meadow Vista, CA 95722
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I
STAR JOURNALS ONE
TowardA New Astrosophy

ISBN 1-888686-04-9

© ASTROSOPHY RESEARCH CENTER, INC. 2006

P.O. Box 13
Meadow Vista, CA 95722

Phone: 530-878-2673
E-mail: arci@bigvalley.net
Website: AstrosophyCenter.com

Editors: Roberta van Schilfgaarde

Darlys Turner

10987654321

All rights reserved. No pat of this book may be

reproduced in any form without the written permission
of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied
in critical reviews and articles, or for copies
that are not for sale but for private use.

Printed in the United States of America

Auburn, CA
 CONTENTS

FORWARD 4
INTRODUCTION 6
Star Calendar: October 1965 9
November 1965 14
December 1965 19
Star Journal: January 1966 24
February 1966 29
March 1966 34
April 1966 41
May 1966 47
June 1966 53
July 1966 59
August 1966 65
September 1966 71
October 1966 77
November 1966 83
December 1966 90

January 1967 97
February 1967 103
March 1967 110
April 1967 116
May 1967 122
June 1967 128
July 1967 134
August 1967 140
September 1967 146
Ovtober 1967 153
November 1967 159
December 1967 165

January 1968 171

February 1968 177
March 1968 184
April 1968 190
May 1968 197
Bibliography 204
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

FORWARD

“In the many years of astrological investigation, we have come to the conclusion that, unless
definite and precise questions are formulated, a chart can become a veritable ocean of facts in which the
mind of the investigator can easily be drowned and lose all capacity of useful interpretation. An
incarnation asterogram is a part of the great cosmos; it cannot possibly be exhausted by the human
mind. But we can approach it with well-formulated questions and problems and expect relevant and
productive answers.” Willi Sucher

This is the first of a three volume study series in astrosophy. These monthly journals and
letters were written by Willi Sucher and mailed to subscribers over a nine year period, and this
is the first time that they have been republished in their entirety. The Star Journals were origi-
nally published—beginning August 1965, with a preliminary issue, to October 1970—as a
monthly periodical for the practical application of the star events in the heavens. The first
three issues were called the Star Calendar; however, this was changed to Star Journal with the
publication of the fourth issue and remained so throughout.
There was a previous publication of the first 14 issues in a booklet titled Star Journals in
1986, but the remaining 18 issues in this publication have not been published since they were
originally written. The journals have been reproduced in their original text and form, with
minor editing. All significant changes or additions from the editors will appear in [brackets].
Most of the monthly calendars and commentaries have been excluded, unless they contained
information relating to the subject matter of the journal or to research information.

The Astrosophy Research Center was founded in 1984 by Willi Sucher, along with a few
friends. Born August 1902 in Germany, he was inspired already in his teens to create a new
astrology. With the impulses of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, he began work at age 27 to develop
astrosophy—a new star wisdom. In those early years he worked with Dr. Elizabeth Vreede, and
he continued this work with many others for the next 57 years until his passing in May 1985.
The Center is a non-profit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the gain of
any individual. It is a place for study and research and is open to anyone with an interest in this
pioneering work. Accommodations are available upon request, please contact the Center for
room rates and further information. If you wish to make a tax deductible donation toward
future publications, please send a check payable to the Astrosophy Research Center. All contri-
butions, large or small, will be very gratefully received.

On page 5, there is a list of the planets, signs/constellations, and other phenomena with
their symbols, which are used throughout the series in the graphics and diagrams.

4
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Planets

Sun Mercury Saturn

Earth Venus Uranus

Earth Mars Neptune

Moon Jupiter Pluto

Sign - Constellation

Aries-Ram Leo-Lion Sagittarius-Archer

Taurus-Bull Virgo-Virgin Capricorn-Goat

Gemini-Twins Libra-Scales Aquarius-Waterman

Cancer-Crab Scorpio-Scorpian Pisces-Fishes

Other Symbols

Ascending Node Conjunction Midheaven MC

Descending Node Opposition Midnight IC

Aphelion Epoch Julian Calendar

Old Style o.s.
Perihelion Birth Gregorian Cal.
New Style n.s.
Ascendant Asc Descendant Desc

5
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

INTRODUCTION

The Star Journal is intended to serve as an introduction and guide to a new star wisdom, or
astrosophy. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the traditional approaches and methods
of astrology no longer gives modern humanity what it needs.
Why should the traditional astrology not be what our present age needs? Some people will
maintain that it is so simple and easy to grasp and, therefore, should appeal to our present age.
Yet, we must realize that simplicity does not always tally with the truth. The more sublime
perspectives of human existence, to which a star wisdom would want to speak, are compli-
cated. Furthermore, our consciousness and our position in the world has changed completely
since the ages that saw the establishment of the old astrology. These facts demand reassess-
ment and fundamental changes in every detail; otherwise, we are judged and treated by stan-
dards that no longer apply to us. Therefore, it may be appropriate that the author of this
journal describes the stages of his search for new approaches and ways toward a new star
wisdom, or astrosophy.
Today, we can easily come to the conclusion that in ancient times the cognition of the
connection between the human being and the stars was simple, even primitive. However, we
should not overlook the fact that ancient humanity had a natural, instinctive clairvoyance that
provided a much deeper insight and perspective than our modern intellect does with all its
scientific approach. The Earth and all its inhabitants, including the human race, were experi-
enced as being guided and ruled by the cosmos of the stars. If we go back far enough, we find
an astrosophy that recognized the starry heavens as the expression of the invisible spiritual
world of the hierarchies, of divine beings who created the universe and all that exists in it.
They were experienced as constantly working and re-enacting the creation, and it was this that
ancient humanity saw expressed in the rhythms and movements of the stars. Later on, when
this capacity to realize that the stars were only the expression of the deeds of divine creative
beings was gradually lost, the notion increasingly gained ground that humanity and all nature
were ruled by the external stars. This was the moment when what came to be called astrology
was born, replacing the lost ancient astrosophy. In a certain sense, this can even be seen as a
betrayal of the sacred mysteries that were cultivated in the great ancient temple centers.
Thus a conception gained ground, over the centuries and milleniums, that came to regard
the human being as being ruled in all concerns of life by the stars. There existed relatively little
inquiry into the reasons, the explanations why this should be so. Most of the doubts arising
with the modern scientific attitude were countered by the answer that the astrological asser-
tions, in connection with prognostication, proved themselves correct by near statistical investi-
gation. The possibility that human beings may be able to change and break through the laws of
star lore, seemingly proposed by the statistics and the like, hardly occurred. The pronuncia-
tions of this kind of astrology became a matter of almost infallible and unalterable fate.
In the meantime the modern age arrived and with it the science of nature. We demanded

6
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

to know. We could not accept the ancient beliefs any longer. It was one expression of the fact
that we had stepped onto the road toward spiritual freedom from all the bonds that previously
were unquestionably accepted. This was a justified step in evolution; although the means to
attain healthy emancipation, as it turned out, were not always efficient.
In the course of these developments, ancient or traditional astrology began to be rejected,
because it could not support its assertions on a strict scientific foundation. It is true that the
great inaugurators of modern astronomy, like Kepler for instance, were preoccupied with as-
trology too, but it is just this kind of attachment that modern science holds against them.
As a matter of fact, astrology was already regarded by certain sectors of humanity as some-
thing detrimental, even godless and sinister, which had to be avoided by all means. It is docu-
mented that in 1108, the Archbishop of York was refused Christian burial, because a book on
astrology had been found under the pillow of his deathbed.
These are the reasons why we recognize the necessity for going in search of a new star
wisdom, or astrosophy. We want to find the truth about the relationship between the worlds of
stars and the human being—even all beings and objects in nature—with strictly scientific meth-
ods. We have convinced ourselves that this can not be done with a science of nature alone, but
with its healthy and congenial combination with a science of the spirit.
It may be of interest to know a little about the author’s endeavors in the field of astrology
and toward a new astrosophy. Actually, Dr. Elisabeth Vreede, an anthroposophist and co-
worker of Rudolf Steiner, gave the impulse toward an intensive investigation of these matters.
One day she drew the awareness of a larger audience to remarks of Rudolf Steiner on the
significance of the heavenly configurations at the moment of the passing-over of a human
being into the spiritual world. He had pointed out, on the basis of his spiritual research, that
the stars—particularly the planets—at that moment reflected the past biography of that hu-
man being in detail. This was like seeing light in a world of darkness, that here a perspective
arose that no longer depicted the human being as a helpless object of the rhythms and move-
ments of the stars. It was our soul and spirit being that became significant for the stars. In a
sense, they were even waiting for what we had to bring to them as the fruits of our Earth
experiences. This was worked out and confirmed on the basis of an objective comparison of
the biography of Leo Tolstoy and the astronomical, mathematical facts of the star configura-
tion at the moment of his death. A ray of hope that seemed to shed light on our quest for
spiritual freedom fell on the complex of astrology.
Subsequent researches, on the basis of the mathematics of planetary rhythms, fully con-
firmed that hope. Indeed, the biographical rhythms of a great number of historic personalities
proved to coincide perfectly with the configurations of the heavens at the moment of their
passing. The experience that we were just creatures of the cosmos and no more, into the
prospect that we were on the road toward becoming co-operators, even with the cosmos,
shaped itself persistently. This also gave hope that similar constructive viewpoints may even-
tually be found with regard to our association with the stars at the moment of our incarnation.
Later discoveries proved that this also wasn’t a vain hope.

7
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

The road of research was never easy. Grave dangers beset it right and left. For human
egotism, following strong patterns of tradition, is all too easily inclined to misuse any knowl-
edge of this kind in ignorance and dilettantism. However, all through the years, the shining
beacon of Rudolf Steiner’s wisdom was an unceasing encouragement and consolation. There
is particularly one passage in Rudolf Steiner’s lecture-cycle, Christ and the Spiritual World (28
December 1913 to 2 January 1914), which can be taken as light on the path: “...It became
clearer and clearer to me, as the outcome of many years of research, that in our Epoch there is
really something like a resurrection of the astrology of the third Epoch, the Egypto-Chaldean
civilizations, but permeated with the Christ Impulse. Today we must search among the stars in
a way different from the old ways, but the stellar script must once more become something that
speaks to us…” (Lecture V, January 1, 1914.)
On such foundations was the research work carried forward. The guiding impulse was the
idea to create the foundations for an astrology/astrosophy that clearly and scientifically recog-
nized our connection with the stars and yet fully respected the domain of our spiritual freedom
and dignity. Thus things gradually shaped themselves. It became ever clearer that to speak of
a connection of the human being with the stars in a general sense is not enough. Wide expe-
rience has shown that our organism is shaped by the cosmos before and at the time of our
incarnation. It also became evident that one had to distinguish between the principals of the
organism in order to form an accurate and efficient picture. The physical body, the life organ-
ism or ether body, the consciousness organization or astral body, all have their particular con-
nection with the world of the stars. They must and can be distinguished sharply, but all these
associations need not bind us any more and make us “unfree” as they did in ancient times.
They constitute the “tools” and “vehicles” that we must acquire to accomplish our earthly
sojourn. The crucial and decisive question is always: how will we use our “tools”. This is
where we must and can become “free”, just as efficient craftsmen must not be ruled by their
tools if they want to perform a “good job”. This capacity is not given to us from the outset.
We must acquire it, and the eventual ability “to use our stars” properly and efficiently must be
prepared in us already in the childhood years of education; certainly not by making us study the
stars in this sense but simply by evolving the dormant creative capacities of the child. Later in
life, in years of independence, this “working with their stars” can and, perhaps one day in the
future, will become a “scientific” capacity. In such like perspectives can we see the eventual
justification for a new astrosophy.

Willi Sucher July/August 1965

8
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR CALENDAR - October 1965

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

[Ed. note: This first issue contains a few {bracketed} blocks of text that were included in a
previous, unnumbered, preview issue of August 1965, which contained much of the same information
included in this first “official” issue.]

The writer of these pages intends to meet a need that has existed for a number of years.
Since the publication of his earlier Drama of the Universe and Isis Sophia, the problem has be-
come more and more urgent not only to study theoretically, as it were, the interrelationship
between cosmos, Earth, and human being, but to put such knowledge, as far as we are permit-
ted to obtain it in our present age, to practical use in a fashion in accordance with the spiritual
dignity of our modern age.
The Drama of the Universe took its first steps into the world in 1958. In the meantime a great
number of new developments and discoveries have occurred in this field. They seem to imply
the need for an intensive enlargement and elaboration of the ideas that were mapped out in the
Drama. A number of scientists have made rather important discoveries concerning the interre-
lationship between Earth magnetism and similar fields and events in the solar universe. Also,
extensive investigations were carried out associated with cosmic factors correlating to meteo-
rological data. We ourselves added many tangible observations in these spheres. Apart from
this, we made extensive comparative studies of embryology and cosmology. We did this par-
ticularly from the viewpoint of a possible combination of the heliocentric approach (as in the
“Drama”) with the geocentric aspects of classical astrology.
Furthermore, we investigated the ethical implications that beset the whole area of astrol-
ogy, the question of our freedom of thought and action in view of our undeniable association
with the universe of the stars. All this material we want to bring gradually to the knowledge of
those who are interested.
The cosmic events of the present time are extremely interesting. In fact, the years 1965
and 1966 are conspicuous on account of the dramatic configurations that occur in the solar
universe. Most of them fall in with the main pattern of events at present, i.e., all kinds of
angular relationships will occur between the planets with the oncoming conjunctions of Ura-
nus and Pluto (two latecomers in astronomy, Uranus having been discovered in 1781, and Pluto
in 1930), which are rare in history. The latter will happen exactl— from the geocentric view-
point and projected onto the ecliptic—on October 9, 1965, April 5 and June 30, 1966. It will
happen three times because of the retrograde movement of the two planets during winter and
spring 1965-66. [From the geocentric, the planets will at times appear to move backwards or in
loops, and this is what is meant by retrograde movement. When the planets move direct or
forward again, it is a rectograde movement.] For instance, the retrograde movements, or loops,
of Mercury happen three times during one year, always in different sectors of the ecliptic.
Heliocentrically the same aspect will happen once on January 6, 1966.

9
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

[The interval which is discussed in this present Calendar and Commentary corresponds to
the time during which the Sun (geocentric) moves through the so-called “sign” of (Virgo) of
astrological usage, and of the Earth (heliocentric) moving through 330° to 360° of its orbit.
Thus the period that we are discussing starts geocentrically with an opposition of Saturn to
Uranus on August 27. This was preceded by an opposition of Saturn to Pluto on August 17.
Saturn is at present in a retrograde move; therefore, it was in opposition to the two planets
involved already earlier in the year, when it was moving directly forward in the ecliptic. Now, as
it moves backward, it will come to stand in opposition a second time, and the same con-
figuration will be repeated once more when Saturn will move forward again. These opposi-
tions, happening a third time, will not occur before 1966. The Sun will join in with this pattern
on September 6, with an opposition to Saturn, and September 7 and 8 with a conjunction to
Uranus and Pluto. Following this, Mercury will be in opposition to Saturn on September 15,
and in conjunction to Uranus and Pluto on September 17. (Pluto’s angular correlations are
calculated on the basis of its relation to the corresponding ecliptic longitude. Pluto is, in fact,
far above the ecliptic and its angular aspects with the other planets will find it about 13° North
of the Sun’s apparent yearly orbit).]
In connection with the first of the three geocentric conjunctions of Uranus and Pluto, i.e.
on October 9, there will occur a number of squares or 90° angular aspects. In October, Venus
will move into such angular configurations with those two planets, and later Mars will do the
same. According to the heliocentric calendar, Mercury will be in square aspects to Saturn,
Uranus, and Pluto in October.
[These planetary inter-associations will even be more pronounced in the heliocentric calendar.
Particularly the time around September 5 will display an almost perfect space-cross, with the
Sun in the center while the four arms will be occupied by planets. In fact, all the planets except
Neptune will be engaged in this. The arm pointing toward the constellation of Aquarius will
accommodate the Earth and Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury will be found in Taurus, Uranus and
Pluto in Leo, and Mars and Venus in Scorpio.]
Another remarkable feature during October will see Neptune close to its aphelion. The
planet is, therefore, farthest away from the Sun—an event that has been going on for years
because of the ever fluctuating position of the aphelion. This will also be accompanied during
October by aspects from other planets. Geocentrically, Mercury will come into conjunction
with Neptune on October 25. According to heliocentric coordination this same aspect of
Mercury to Neptune will occur on October 11, and Venus will move into a square aspect (90°)
to the Neptune on October 14.
In view of this pattern of events it seems imperative, for the sake of interpretation, to get
a clear conception of the conjunctions of Uranus and Pluto. We are fully aware of the prob-
lems involved during 1965-66, which present a maximum of possible oppositions and squares.
Many people will watch these events with great awe and might be led to the most gloomy
astrological prognostications. However, it must be pointed out that numbers of contemporary
astrologers endeavor to get away from such concepts as “good” and “bad” in view of the

10
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

angular correlations and try to suggest more constructive ideas. We have come to the conclu-
sion during decades of experience that the time has come when humanity must find new
avenues with regard to its relationship to the cosmic world. We must find them, indeed, on the
basis of the recognition of our potentially being spiritually free individuals. We do imagine that
this is possible and can be cultivated. An artist would confront the material offered with a
mind of intuitive creativeness. Likewise do we conceive of our potential relationship to the
stars, as one which also calls forth our intuitive creativeness in any situation of life, leading in
the ideal case toward fulfillment of “our stars”. Of course the impacts of planetary configura-
tions, for instance on the kingdoms of nature, present a totally different proposition. As far as
we are a physical material being we belong also to the kingdoms of nature. If we do not rise to
the status of a spiritual individuality, we too, are bound to become subject to possibly violent
impacts from the cosmic world.
First, we must have a clear conception of the astronomical facts involved. Conjunctions
of Uranus and Pluto, which occur in approximately similar areas of the ecliptic, take place in
intervals of about 253 years. They can happen, because of the relative periods of revolution,
in only two positions of the Zodiac at a time, presently in the constellations of Aries and Leo.
The one that is the great landmark of 1965-66 occurred before in 1712 and 1457—both also in
Leo—and in 1203, apparently in Cancer. (There is enough astronomical evidence to suggest
that both planets existed already at those earlier dates, although they were discovered only
much later.)
The dates mentioned have been significant road marks in the history of more recent hu-
manity. The year 1712 saw a lot of important developments in Eastern and Western Europe,
and in 1453 the Turks conquered Constantinople. The time around 1203 saw the rise of
Temuchin, the leader of a relatively small Mongol tribe, to the position of Genghis Khan,
meaning Ruler of the World. This too became the focus of subsequent historic developments
that brought the conquering Mongol armies into the heart of Europe.
Simultaneously with these external happenings, cultural developments took place that were
mostly hidden in esoteric-occult schools of western humanity. Nevertheless they had a pro-
found impact on western civilization. For instance, 1457 was followed by “1459”, the year
mentioned in the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, one of the principally inspired mes-
sages of classical Rosicrucianism. The year 1712 was the germination point of much of the
spiritual culture of the 18th century. Goethe, for instance, was closely associated with 1712,
although he was born later in 1749.
About 82 years after these conjunctions, there followed oppositions of the two planets; for
instance, in 1794 Uranus was in Leo and Pluto in Aquarius-Waterman. It is remarkable that, if
we follow up the oppositions—the last one happened in 1794—we come to one such event in
1 BC, or year 0 in astronomical tabulation. This is the year during which Jesus was born,
according to biblical tradition. Although historical science has since cast doubts on the reliabil-
ity of this date, we still think, on esoteric grounds, that it is correct as far as the events recorded
in the Gospel of St. Luke are concerned.

11
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

We will now concentrate on the occurrences of 1711-12. While this conjunction hap-
pened, the famous French philosopher and writer Rousseau incarnated. It was not until 1749
that he really made a mark as a writer. This date was preceded by an extraordinary experience
of sudden inspiration that shook him to the foundations of his being. When it happened,
exactly 37.2 years had passed since his birth, which correspond to two cycles of the Moon
nodes.
The concept of the Moon nodes probably needs some elucidation. The Earth completes
a circle around the Sun in the course of one year (or from the onlookers point of view, we can
say that the Sun apparently describes a circle around the Earth during the same time). This
circle is called the ecliptic and within it lies the plane of the ecliptic. On the other hand, the
Moon moves around the Earth and completes one orbit in 27.3 days. However, the latter orbit
does not coincide with the ecliptic. The circle and the plane of the Moon’s motion are ob-
liquely set in the plane of the ecliptic, so that one half of it is “above” and the other half
“below” the ecliptic. Thus the Moon’s circle cuts in two points through the ecliptic plane. In
one point the Moon “ascends” as it travels along its path. This is called the ascending Moon
node (1 in Fig. 1). In the opposite point it descends and is, therefore, called the descending
node (2 in Fig. 1).

Figure 1

The matter is further complicated by the fact that the plane of the Moon’s orbit—and with
it the nodes—do not stand still. They move or rather rotate in the opposite direction to which
the planets move. After some time the position will be as indicated by the nodes 3 and 4 in Fig.
1. One complete rotation and return to the original position takes 18.6 years, or 37.2 years for
two rotations as we mentioned above.
Why should these Moon nodes and their rhythms be so significant? If we study the dia-
gram more closely we will realize that the Moon is the last stepping-stone from the spheres of
the solar cosmos to the Earth. Its orbit signifies the extent of its own sphere. Therefore, we
can see in the Moon and its domain the grand finale, as it were, of all the realms of the planets
through which we must move when we descend into incarnation and from whose ingredients
we built up the dynamic principles of our earthly organism. The orbits of the planets—
indicators of their spheric grandeur—are, more or less, lying on the plane of the ecliptic. The

12
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

plane of the ecliptic is, so to speak, the great field of inter-communication in the solar universe.
The orbit of the Moon, or its sphere, touches it along the line that connects the two Moon
nodes. Therefore, we can see the Moon nodes as the nearest points of communication be-
tween the great universe: the Sun, the planets. and the Earth. This viewpoint coincides with
Rudolf Steiner’s suggestion that the Moon nodes are gateways from the astral realms of the
cosmos to the Earth. On this foundation we can understand the importance of the rhythms of
the Moon nodes in human life.
The most profound connection with the event of 1711-12, we can find in the life of
Goethe, the famous German poet and scientist of the 18th and 19th centuries. Certainly he was
born later in 1749, August 28, and one can not conceive at first that he should have anything to
do with 1712. Yet, an occult-spiritual insight into his being comes to acknowledge the exist-
ence of his soul entity long before incarnation. He accomplishes the latter in stages until he
finally dives into the realm of matter. These stages are something like birth experiences, only
on higher, cosmic levels. Thus an exact scientific, occult investigation would not only speak of
a “nativity” at the time of birth but also of “spiritual nativities” of the human being which
need not coincide with the moment of birth. Rudolf Steiner suggested already near the begin-
ning of the 20th century such avenues of approach. He also intimated that these spiritual
nativities might be more significant than the actual configuration of the heavens at birth.
In Goethe’s case the event of 1711-12 happened 37.2 years before his incarnation. Again
we meet here a node rhythm similar to Rousseau. Only here that conjunction of Uranus and
Pluto falls into the time of Goethe’s approach to birth. Therefore, we realize in this association
one aspect of the “spiritual nativity” of Goethe. It indicated profound characteristics of this
great individuality and also connections with preceding incarnations.
Much of the spiritual essence of Goethe that was expressed in the event of 1711/12 (such
kind of “nativities” cannot be interpreted along traditional astrological lines) came to the fore-
ground in Goethe’s life during the years 1794-95. Uranus and Pluto had then moved into the
opposition which was mentioned above. Goethe had at that time settled down again in Ger-
many after a prolonged visit to Italy and he wrote one of his most significant works, the Legend
of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. It was and still is the most profound revelation of his
spiritual genius.

13
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR CALENDAR - November 1965

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

Last month we introduced what we call the “great pattern” of events during the present
and next year that build up on the conjunction(s) of Uranus and Pluto. This pattern also plays
strongly into the occurrences of the present month. In the geocentric calendar, Mercury comes
twice into a square (90° distance) aspect to Pluto. This happens because Mercury is entering
into retrograde movement on November 23. Thus it comes to stand at a distance of 90° to
Pluto a second time on November 25, after the first square had taken place on November 19.
(There will be a third square aspect between the two on December 30, when Mercury will
become “direct” or move forward again.)
In the heliocentric calendar, events referring to the “great pattern” are more strongly ex-
pressed. Saturn will come into opposition to Uranus on November 17. On the same day
Mercury will be in conjunction to Saturn and, therefore, also in opposition to Uranus and
Pluto. Furthermore, Saturn will move into opposition to Pluto on November 30. These latter
oppositions, to Uranus first and then to Pluto, are significant because they happen only once in
the heliocentric calendar during the period of the “great pattern”. On the other hand, we also
find trine aspects (120° angular relationships) of the Earth to Uranus on November 8 and to
Pluto on November 9 from the heliocentric viewpoint.
On account of all these happenings, it seems highly necessary to continue with the theme
of the historic implications of the Uranus-Pluto conjunctions. We can only learn from the
ways of an earlier humanity how these impacts were confronted. On the other hand we will
not forget that our modern age faces totally changed conditions and will have to find its own
original solutions and reactions to the corresponding cosmic events.
Last time we introduced Goethe’s connection with the conjunction of Uranus and Pluto in
1712. We saw a glimpse of Goethe’s “spiritual nativity” in it. This appears to have come to
fruition, as it were, in 1795, time-wise in close proximity to the opposition of Uranus and Pluto
in 1794 that followed the earlier conjunction in 1712. Here we have an example that shows
how aspects or angular correlations between planets can work out, provided the human being
develops the potential of spiritual morality. The conjunction of 1712, when the two planets
concerned were close together, can be likened to a flower bud, containing the foundations for
later developments. Then in 1795, when the two were still opposite each other, we see how
Goethe, by the formulation of his Legend, transformed what is demonstrated in the earlier
conjunction as his spiritual heritage. Then the flower bud had opened up. This is a demonstra-
tion of how we ought to creatively resolve our relationship to the stars.
Why do we attach so much significance to Goethe’s Legend? The answer for us is the fact
that it appears to describe and announce hope for a humanity that is involved in a long, drawn-
out struggle. It is the quest for the redemption of the age-old misery of being estranged and
separated from the invisible spiritual world, the world of the real causes of all physical material
existence.

14
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

The story concerns a number of beings who find themselves in a geographical region
where a wide river separates two different countries. Their main problem is how to establish
means of communication from one country to the other. The one in which the beautiful Lily
lives is described in the course of the events as a region that is synonymous with the world we
normally enter at the moment of death. “Living” beings from the other shore, which would
represent the domain of material existence, die if they are accidentally touched by the beautiful
Lily. Yet, all the beings of the community involved endeavor to establish a connection between
the two realms that would redeem the fate of death. In other words, the central motif of the
Legend is to find means by which mortal beings are enabled to enter the invisible or spiritual
world without having to contend with the seemingly inevitable death experience.
Finally, after long labors in which the whole community is involved, the great work is
completed. One of their number, the Green Snake, decides to sacrifice herself and to build a
bridge across the river by spanning it with her own body. The Green Snake is like a symbol of
the patient labor of the human soul. She has great wisdom and knows of sublime secrets
hidden deep down in the clefts of the Earth. She also knows that by evolving spiritual poten-
tial and capacity for sacrifice out of love and compassion, we will eventually be able to establish
a bridge from physical material existence to the spiritual world. Yet, with all her great wisdom
the Green Snake remains humble, which is expressed in her horizontal posture.
The importance of human community and of all helping together to achieve the great aim
is strongly emphasized in the Legend. In this sense, it is an antithesis of the contemporary
French revolution which was on the point of failing. Once the bridge is built, human beings
can freely communicate between the two countries. In that moment there rises up out of the
subterranean regions of the country, which appears to represent the physical material world,
tremendous treasures that redeem its earlier fate of exclusion and limitation. A temple arises in
which are seated three kings: one consisting of gold, one of silver and the third one of bronze.
They can be regarded as the spiritual treasures that are dormant in our soul and which we can
evolve even in the limiting Earth existence.
In the wake of 1457 followed 1459, the date that is attached to the Chymical Wedding of
Christian Rosenkreutz. We must assume, therefore, that the personality whom we know only as
Christian Rosenkreutz went through a tremendous inner experience at that time. The story
was written down much later, in the beginning of the 17th century, by Valentin Andreae, then
still a young man who acted obviously out of spontaneous inspiration. It is described as taking
place in the course of seven days, starting with the eve of an Easter Sunday: Christian Rosenkreutz
is invited to a royal wedding in a remote castle full of the most wondrous treasures and secrets.
The central event turns out to be the act of beheading of three royal couples, which was not, as
Rosenkreutz himself remarks, exactly a joyful and festive occurrence. However, after this,
things develop in strange directions. Known only to Rosenkreutz, the bodies of the beheaded
are taken to a lonely island. There, in a tower and in the course of seven stages of work, they are
completely transformed. Here the description conforms to the language of medieval alchemy.
In the end the carefully prepared derivative of the work is molded into two human forms and

15
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

ensouled by two spirits that descend from the heavens, as it were. Again, these proceedings are
made known only to Rosenkreutz and two of the wedding guests. The newly created beings
grow up very fast and are then brought back to the castle as the new royal couple.
There is a seemingly strange coincidence between the Legend of Goethe and the Chymical
Wedding. In both stories three kings appear; in the Legend three kings who dwell at first in a
subterranean temple, in the Chymical Wedding three royal couples who are integrated in an al-
chemical process of sacrifice and transmutation into one couple. This is no longer strange if
we realize that Goethe, according to his own testimony in the poem The Mysteries, had a con-
nection with what one might call classical Rosicrucianism.
The Chymical Wedding, like the Legend, was intended to bring a definite message, though in a
pictorial mythological language, to modern humanity. Both can be interpreted (there are sev-
eral possibilities) as manifestos calling on us to break through to the cognition of a divine
spiritual world, where the original causes of physical material existence can be found. The
alchemical process described in the Chymical Wedding can even be regarded as a presentation of
the creation of the human corporeality from spiritual cosmic resources before incarnation.
However, in both stories the emphasis seems to be on the assumption that this breakthrough in
cognition is no longer a matter of outstanding individualities in history alone but possibly of
the whole of humanity as a spiritual community.
During the year of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of 1203, events happened that can be
put in line with those of 1459 and 1712-1795. This was the time of the “Minnesänger” (Trou-
badours). A good deal of their interest and attention centered around the tradition of the Holy
Grail and Parsifal. One of the most elaborate and complete versions of this whole complex
was written down by Wolfram von Eschenbach about 1205, in his long poem Parsifal.
Parsifal, a young lad who has grown up in seclusion and inexperience, is led by his destiny
to a castle where a knightly order guards the Holy Grail. The most sublime events happen
before his eyes, but he fails to ask for their meaning, although they appeal strongly to his sense
of compassion. Thus he, of whom the cosmic principles of destiny intimated that he was
chosen to become the king of the Holy Graal, loses all and is chased out into the wilderness.
There follow long years of wandering, of strange adventures, of loneliness and even despair.
These stories appear, on a human level, almost like equivalents of the tale of the alchemical
transmutation in the Chymical Wedding, only that they are clad in the language and habits of
medieval chivalry. Finally, after a long catharsis, as it were, Parsifal comes to the castle of the
Graal a second time, but now he is spiritually so mature that he can manage to take over the
kingship of the Graal.
It is no easy matter to discern in most of the old writings on the Graal the nature of this
sacred object. The most comprehensive description speaks of it as the ever-feeding dish or
cup that Christ used on the occasion of the Last Supper and in which Joseph of Arimathea
collected the blood of Christ that was flowing from the Cross. Other sources suggest that it
existed already long before Christ and that it was made from a jewel which had fallen from the
crown of Lucifer, the adversary, during a fight of the latter with the Archangel Michael. This

16
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

version would suggest that the Graal was of cosmic origin. This coincides with the assertion
of Wolfram von Eschenbach that he received the content of his story from a master Kiot who
himself had found it written in a very old volume in Spain. The author of that book was
Flegetanis, a member of the Jewish community in pre-Christian times who said that he had
read the story in the stars.
This seems to be an important aspect for us, and we will try to investigate it more closely. It
might help us to get more actuality into our considerations of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction[s)
of 1965-66. Looking back into the past and trying to discern what generations before us did in
order to face up to the events in the heavens cannot exclusively help us to get nearer a solution
in the present situation. It can only lead us onto the road of investigation and decision.
The story of the Graal is not just an ephemeral myth of an isolated part of humanity in the
Middle Ages. It is indeed, as Wolfram von Eschenbach asserted, written in the stars and con-
cerns all humanity of all ages. “There is no philosophy, no religion that is not superseded by
the Grail, for the Grail embraces them all,” wrote Dr. W. J. Stein, a historian and great scholar
of Graal research.
In order to find the story of the Graal in the stars we will now study the principle features
and the structure of the solar system, because only then can we hope to find the full “script”.
The Sun is now regarded as the central entity of our solar universe. We say it is a fixed star.
How is this Sun capable of emitting the tremendous amount of energy of which that light and
warmth, felt on the Earth, are only a part? A lot of thought and speculation has been given to
these problems. At one time in the past, the Sun was imagined to be a solid piece of material,
burning away on the surface. This was superseded by the picture of a gigantic globe of gas
which was, likewise, eaten up on the surface by a mighty process of combustion. The atomic
age replaced this by the idea of uninterrupted atomic reactions that are supposed to happen on
the Sun. All these ideas present tremendous problems: One is the replacement of the sub-
stance that is, according to earthly physical conceptions, disintegrated on the Sun.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, offered quite a different suggestion. He
regarded the interior of the Sun as a place in the solar system that is absolutely void of any
material or substance, a kind of super vacuum. The vacuum that we employ in the principle of
the pump, for instance, can never be made completely empty, but if we imagine that this was
achieved, then we would be near Rudolf Steiner’s idea.
Such a cosmic entity would exert a tremendous impact of suctional nature on its environ-
ment, reaching far out into cosmic space. The Newtonian idea of the gravitational pull of the
Sun might be affected by this idea. Most important for our approach here is the perspective
that there might be a constant stream of cosmic substance of some kind: particles, etc., toward
the surface of the Sun and motivated by the suction of the latter. We know that the space of
our solar universe is not “empty”. Furthermore, we can imagine that the replacement of the
substance which is disintegrated on the surface of the Sun stems from the environment of the
latter. It would be, if one can use this comparison at all, a furnace that is not fueled from inside
the enclosure but from the “outside” and burning away like a big grill.

17
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

All this would then create the picture of a double action of the Sun, a kind of inhalation
engineered by the suctional function of our fixed star and something like an exhalation through
the emanation of energy, for instance, light and warmth, etc. The two streams would collide
particularly strongly in the places where the planets appear to stand at a given time in their
orbits around the Sun. This might one day even become the basis for an explanation of the
coming into being of substance of some kind on the planets, for instance, of mineral matter
on the Earth. Scientific experiments appear to have proven lately that crystals are made by
light.
These latter ideas find some support in the scale of so-called weights of the average mate-
rial of which the planets are made, as far as modern astronomy could measure them. We take
this scale as an expression of the density or state of aggregation of the planets.

One gallon of average material would weigh:

49 lbs. on Mercury
52 lbs. on Venus
55 lbs. on Earth
39 lbs. on Mars
14 lbs. on Jupiter
6 lbs. on Saturn
13 lbs. on Uranus
13 lbs. on Neptune

In the next commentary we shall combine this scale with the average distances of the
planets from the Sun. This will make an interesting graph that will tell us a lot about the
function and meaning of the solar universe in which we live.

18
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR CALENDAR - December 1965

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

In October we pointed out that the “great pattern”—planetary events related to the con-
junctions of Uranus and Pluto—will continue for some time, because the last conjunction will
happen on June 30, 1966, according to geocentric computation. Thus we find, for instance, on
December 8, a trine (120°) aspect of Mars to Pluto. Furthermore, on December 10 and 11,
square aspects (90°) of the Sun to Pluto and Uranus will take place. Finally, on December 30
and 31, squares of Mercury to Pluto and Uranus will happen, all according to the geocentric
perspective (the positions of the planets as seen from the Earth point of view).
There is much more to be said about these and similar events than we can afford at present.
We cannot but ask for patience. All will be explained and worked out in future commentaries.
Now, we can do no more than start with the essentials in order to build a solid foundation.
According to the heliocentric viewpoint (the positions of the planets as seen from the Sun
point of view) similar events take place: squares of the Earth to Uranus and Pluto, and trines
of Venus to the same planets on December 8. On December 20, Mercury will step into
conjunction with Uranus and Pluto, and also into an opposition to Saturn. This will be fol-
lowed up by squares of Mercury to Jupiter on December 22 and to the Earth on December 23.
In view of all these aspects, we will continue with the trend of thought at the close of our
last commentary. We regard the story of the universe in the image of the Holy Graal, which
we see “written” in the stars, as we said last time, as an essentially positive and healing approach
in a world that is so very much troubled by the events associated with the “great pattern” of the
present moment. We consider it to be a noble task of our present age, instead of capitulating
before the cosmos, to meet it with constructive ideas that can also lead to creative deeds.
We closed the November commentary with the scale of the relative weight of average
material on the planets of our solar universe. To this we add a table of the mean distances of
the planets from the Sun. We use as a measuring rod, as it were, the mean radius of the Earth’s
orbit around the Sun, regarding it as value 1.0.
Mean distance of: Mercury = 0.39 Earth radii
Venus = 0.72
Earth = 1.00
Mars = 1.52
Jupiter = 5.20
Saturn = 9.54
Uranus = 19.19
The orbits of the planets are arranged, according to the Copernican conception, in near-
circular and near-concentric fashion around the central Sun. On the basis of the preceding
table, we come to the following diagram in Fig. 2 of the solar system. However, we cannot
include the orbits of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto because they are relatively too large.

19
PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Figure 2

20
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

If we combine both relative weights and relative distances, we arrive graphically at the
second diagram (see Fig. 2, bottom) representing, in a sense, the image of a wave on an ocean
beach.
First there appears a long slow rise that reaches its culmination of density in the point of
the Earth, and there it breaks down in the relatively small space between Sun and Earth. This
curve can easily be explained on the basis of the idea of the suctional activity of the Sun that
we spoke about in the last commentary. At the fringe of the solar system, in the ancient sense
at the orbit of Saturn, we would find a low ebb, as it were, represented by the relative weight on
that planet of only 6 lbs. of average material. (In comparison, a gallon of water weighs about
8½ lbs). There we would find the lowest state of aggregation, but as this substance is drawn
into the solar system, it is very gradually condensed by the suctional impact of the Sun, as we
can imagine. The planets moving along their orbits would constitute something like cosmic
roadblocks or assembly-points standing in the pathway of the “stream” toward the Sun. We
have referred to such a possibility already in the November commentary.
Important for our considerations is the obvious fact that the Earth constitutes a turning
point in this process, because here seems to be the culmination of densification and at the
same time the start of a breakdown of the latter. Similar occurrences we can imagine to
happen on Saturn, the point of “low ebb” in the “stream”—beyond Saturn, on Uranus the
relative “weight” of average “material” is supposed to be higher. Also on the Sun where the
“material” (these terms can only be relatively correct) is disintegrated, we imagine such a turn-
ing-point, as we suggested following the ideas of Rudolf Steiner.
We experience that two-sided process of densification and following breakdown constantly
on our planet. On the one hand as human beings we are inevitably involved in existence in
matter of all degrees of modification, right down to mineral-chemical composition and crys-
tallization. In human terms we call this “getting involved” the event of birth. On the other
hand we witness on our planet also the opposite throughout the kingdoms of nature—loss of
material coherence, pulverization, decay, death. From a superficial point of view this might
appear as a senseless waste of energy. Can we discern any tangible results of realistic meaning
in this process of gradual accumulation of cosmic substance to the point of mineral consis-
tency, followed by disintegration? We do notice that the mineralized substance we find on our
own planet is permeated temporarily by various agents, chiefly life and consciousness. We find
life as a modifying element in all three kingdoms above the mineral realm and consciousness in
the animal and human kingdoms. But in the human realm we discover a unique factor which is
developed within the orbit of living in a body of mineral components. It is the thinking
capacity on the basis of an awareness of self. Each one of us stands between an environment
whose impact reaches us via our perception, and a world of inner response, at first in the form
of concepts and ideas. A lot more ought to be said about this particular position of ours in the
world process. It has been most efficiently and extensively treated in Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy
of Spiritual Activity. For us here it is important to see that, in and through our thinking activity,
an element enters obviously at the point of highest condensation on the Earth, adding a new

21
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

essence to the world process. It is not only that thoughts or ideas enter, but that they are
grasped by the ego. The universe, as far as it is a human environment, is first experienced by an
ego as idea and later by faculties that transcend thinking but take their start from the latter.
These transcending faculties have been described by Rudolf Steiner from many aspects as
Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition. They can be attained by every human being in the
course of a careful and well defined inner training. Rudolf Steiner has given precise advice on
these matters. It is not our task to enter into any detail, but it is important for us is to realize
that with and on the basis of what we called the “stream” toward the Sun, and consequent
densification and disintegration, such like developments are possible. The practice of these
capacities, once they are attained, does not only lend a hand to ever deeper comprehension of
the existing universe, but they open the gate toward new creation.
In these aspects of human existence, on the background of the totality of what we call the
cosmic process, we do see written the fact and the story of the Holy Graal, or Grail. If we
study once more the two diagrams of the present issue, we come to regard the rising wave to
the heights of densification on Mars and Earth as the momentum of the creation of the
“vessel”. The latter is simply the mineral body in which all the inhabitants of the Earth are
living. The process of disintegration between Earth and Sun can be symbolized as a kind of
“hollowing out” of that vessel. In the case of the human race, we can distinctly see that the
disintegration process becomes the basis of the stages of consciousness of which we are ca-
pable and which we tried to characterize briefly. This is done by all manner of work. Without
work, and sometimes very exacting work, we do not really achieve anything of lasting cultural
and spiritual value. But it is just these efforts that eat up, as it were, our corporeality.
The “healing and sustaining” content of the Holy Vessel, the Graal, then must rise from
what we as an ego can consciously make of ourselves. This making of ourselves is facilitated
by our standing between the perception of the environmental world and that inner, or spiritual
world which enters into us from the other side, first as idea and furthermore as higher faculties.
As a matter of fact, we reunite in ourselves the two worlds of perception and idea. The
seemingly passive process of perception by the senses becomes, through “higher perception”,
an active recreation of the world. Through such processes the world can be transformed just
as it has been calcified and petrified, as it were, in past evolutions.
The importance of such ideas for an Astro-Sophia, or wisdom of the stars, is that they give
us a basis of understanding for the working of the various planets, their contribution to the
great work, and not least, they can help us to formulate a creative attitude toward the impacts
of the stars—so to speak, to define our possible contribution toward the spiritual completion
of the great work—of realization of the universe by and in our self.
We have the impression that such, and similar, ideas should be evolved by the individual in
this pressing moment of world history. And not only should they remain somewhat life-
embellishing ideas but become real deeds, soul deeds at least. Wolfram von Eschenbach did
not write his Parsifal in order to add a nice piece of work to world literature, nor were The
Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, or the Legend of Goethe produced for similar pur-

22
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

poses. They were intended to become, sooner or later, deed-inspiring realities in human souls.
We have come to the conclusion that there is at present such a moment when the provoking
events in the heavens need to be met by constructive human thinking if they are not to play
havoc in souls. It is certainly not only a matter of merely remembering and reciting how past
centuries tried to grapple with these problems, but they can be taken as signposts and chal-
lenges on the road to that great work of soul transformation, even transubstantiation, which
we can only perform in the sanctuary of our inner life.
We will now concentrate on a delineation of the properties of the planets and their impacts
on the Earth and its inhabitants, especially the human being. We will do it on the basis of our
views on the solar system that we developed earlier. We can divide the planets into three
categories. In the middle sector are Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, which are associated with the
slow rising of the “wave” (see the diagrams). Then we have the inner group of Venus, Mer-
cury, and eventually the Sun. The Earth stands in between the two, so to speak, paying homage
alternately to both. In this activity the Moon of the Earth plays an important part. By its
rotation around the Earth it moves at times in the space allotted to the “inner” planets, i.e.
Venus and Mercury, and at other times it enters the space toward Mars, etc. Therefore, it can
act as a mediator for the Earth between the nature building and the disintegrating, yet con-
sciousness facilitating spheres of the solar universe.
The third group keeps, as it were, “outside the pale”. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto belong
to it. Nevertheless, they exert a tremendous influence on the planets “inside”. They build, in
a sense, bridges between the solar system and the greater, fixed star universe. We are, thereby,
confronted with another, very important factor for any star wisdom, or astrology, which is
represented by the Zodiac of the 12 fixed star constellations.
Thus emerge the basic principles of our further studies. Three aspects we have to con-
sider. There is first the fixed star universe, chiefly represented by the Zodiac of the constella-
tions. This is like the fundamental framework in which our solar system is set. It is like the
static feature, or common prototype of the human physical body. Within the greater universe
we find the planets moving along their orbits. They are somewhat similar to the functions
within the human body. All the planets form correlations to the various regions of the fixed
star sky, particularly to the zodiacal constellations, as they move along their orbits. (Study once
more the first diagram. Seen from the Sun the planets obviously alter constantly their spatial
coordination to the peripheral world of the fixed stars). Thereby their nature is constantly
modified. They cannot help being permeated by the different impacts from the fixed star
environment of the solar system. Finally, we want also to relate all the happenings in the
universe to the Earth. There we also face a world of constant change and modification; and
there exist ways and means to correlate it all in a mathematical logical fashion to Earth events.

23
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - January 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

First of all, we will concentrate on the three planets of the middle group of the “wave” in
the solar universe: Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. They are obviously associated with the “rising
tide”, or wave toward gradual condensation and densification, in short, with those creation
processes that finally result in the fashioning of the “vessel”. This happens on the Earth where
the densification reaches its culmination in mineral matter. The latter is the foundation of
corporeality: of all objects and beings of the kingdoms of nature including the human being.
In this terrestrial complexity we see the “vessel” or carrier of higher principles, for instance as
in the human being, but not a purpose in itself. Thus we find the story of the Holy Vessel, or
Graal written in the stars, first of all in as much as the planets of the rising tide contribute to
the material necessary for the fashioning.
The ideal positions of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars would then appear to be a moment when
they all stand in a row together with the Earth, i.e., along a line from the center of the Sun,
through the Earth and out into extra solar space. In this case the “stream” of building sub-
stance coming from the fixed star world would hit the Earth with full impact. The impact
would be especially strong, because the sidereal substance would have been “upgraded”, as it
were, on the way by the planets for final mineralization on the Earth. (With regard to these
arguments consult always Fig. 2 in the December Journal. Mark even the positions of the
planets suggested here and otherwise with pins stuck into the orbits for an additional help).
Thus the Earth could assimilate a maximum of facility creating cosmic elements. This does
happen in the course of cosmic history but relatively very rarely, and even then one still has to
take into consideration the direction of the fixed star sky to which that common line would be
pointing. However, the opposite can also happen, that these planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars
stand in a line away from the Earth. Then the “stream” going through them would not con-
dense into Earth matter but rather remain in a state of non-mineral, archetypal potentiality. It
would, in other words, not be condensed and compressed into natural Earth objects but stay in
a state of “spiritual” foundation or essence of material objects. (The cosmic situation in No-
vember-December 1901, came close to such a configuration.)
We see from this that a planet cannot be considered on the merits of its own position
alone, but that its impact on the Earth is modified according to its relationship to the other
members of the solar family, particularly to the Earth and the Sun.
What then are the essential properties of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars? Certain spiritual be-
ings who reside on them hold the archetypes—“thought” prototypes of all that we find in
material manifestation on the Earth. Normally, we do not realize this while we are in a physi-
cal-material body. Only when we hand back, as it were, the vessel of this body and withdraw
for a while from the Earth world, i.e., after death we gradually get acquainted with that world
of spiritual archetypes. Rudolf Steiner has described these experiences of the soul, from the
viewpoint of his spiritual investigation, in his book Theosophy, and he has elaborated on it in his

24
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

cycle of lectures Life Between Death and New Birth in its Relationship to the Cosmic Facts (Berlin,
Winter 1912-13).
As Steiner indicates in this material, after death we first enter spheres of purification and
dissociation from earthly affairs. These spheres, called Soul World in Theosophy, are synony-
mous with the astronomical spheres of the Earth, Moon, Venus, Mercury, and the Sun. Then,
after we have attained sufficient emancipation from our affinities to Earth existence we ascend
to still higher regions which are called Spiritland in Theosophy. They correspond to the astro-
nomical spheres of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Very briefly, in the sphere of Mars, a soul would
be confronted with the thought, or idea archetypes, of all physical objects; in the sphere of
Jupiter, with the corresponding archetypes of all that manifests as life on Earth; in the sphere
of Saturn, the archetypes or prototypes of soul experiences and existence. (Later on we shall
have to work a lot more with these perspectives.)
We are fully aware that in the foregoing we introduce a new concept: that of the spheres of
the planets. What do we mean by it? We recognize in the near-circular field around which the
planet moves, its sphere. The planet itself would be like a Moon, as it were, a catalyst for its
spherical activity.
One can argue endlessly about what was first, the sphere or the planet. A mechanical view
of the coming into being of the solar universe would insist on the planets having been first,
after ejection, for instance, from the Sun. This view cannot prevent us from recognizing the
possibility that the spheres were first, reaching out as fields of force from the Sun. Further-
more, we can imagine that the planets might have settled down in the fringe of the spheres
later on, adopting them as their orbits.
However, what business have we to concern ourselves with the concept of spheres if we
want to investigate the influences and workings of the visible planets? And, furthermore, how
can we lay our hands on such seemingly intangible cosmic facts as the spheres?
Our answer is that we see in the planets reflections of what is fundamentally working as
spiritual impulses, even beings, in their invisible spheres. We would also find it desirable for our
researches to go to the root of matters. With regard to the second question, we contend that
for years we have suggested ways and means by which the element of the spheres can be
gauged, as it were. This was first published in the author’s Drama of the Universe.
The planets and their spheres take up a definite relationship to the Earth via their nodes.
Furthermore they express an objective pronunciation on their inner state by the lines of the
apsides (perihelion-aphelion). The nodes of the planets rest on principles similar to those of
the Moon nodes, which we mentioned and demonstrated (by diagram) in the October issue.
Heliocentrically, we can speak of the ecliptic plane, the plane in which the orbit of the
Earth around the Sun lies. The orbits of the planets are almost resting on the same plane but
not quite. There are in all cases some angular deviations. Therefore, all the orbits of the planets
cut through the extended ecliptic plane. These cutting points are called nodes. The nodes and
the nodal lines that connect them obviously establish contacts between the ecliptic plane, which
we can regard as an expression of the sphere of the Earth and the sphere of the corresponding

25
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

planet. (The sphere of the Earth would not be limited to the space within its orbit but extend
beyond). If the corresponding planet, or any other planet, would step in the course of its
revolution into this line of communication, or its extension in space, we would expect some
special impact on the Earth and its inhabitants. This is actually the case as we shall see later.

Figure 3

Similar to the nodes of the Moon, the nodes of the planets are not standing still. They are
also shifting their positions in relationship to the fixed star constellations, but their movements
are infinitely slower. Their present approximate positions (about January 1, 1966) are as fol-
lows (see The American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac):

Ascending node of:

Mercury 47° 55' of the ecliptic = constellation Aries
Venus 76° 22' “ “ Taurus
Mars 49° 18' “ “ Aries
Jupiter 100° 06' “ “ Gemini
Saturn 113° 24' “ “ Gemini
Uranus 73° 49' “ “ Taurus
Neptune 131° 25' “ “ Cancer
Pluto 109° 46' “ “ Gemini

The descending nodes are in the opposite points of the ecliptic, respective fixed star Zodiac.

26
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

The inclinations against the ecliptic plane are at present:

Mercury = c. 7° 00' Saturn = c.2° 30'
Venus = 3° 24' Uranus = 0° 46'
Mars = 1° 51' Neptune = 1° 46'
Jupiter = 1° 18' Pluto = 17° 46'
We have repeatedly mentioned that the orbits of the planets are not exact circles. Indeed,
the planets are at certain times farther away from the Sun than at others. For instance, if we
take the diagram of the nodes in this issue we could imagine that the planet was in the top part
of its orbit closer to the Sun than in the lower part. The actual orbit would then make an ellipse
with two foci and in one of the latter we would find the Sun. The point of near distance is
called perihelion, the farthest distance aphelion, and the connecting line is called the line of the
apsides. They are also slowly changing their positions with regard to fixed star directions.
Those of the outermost planets are oscillating relatively the most. The present approximate
positions of the perihelions are as follows:

Mercury = 76° 56' - Taurus Saturn = 90° 46' - Gemini

Venus = 131° 06' - Cancer Uranus =168° 24' - Leo
Mars = 335° 26' - Aquarius Neptune = 50° 44' - Aries
Jupiter = 13° 28' - Pisces Pluto =223° 12' - Libra

The aphelion positions are approximately in opposite fixed star constellations. If a planet
is in the perihelion position of its orbit, or sphere, we can discern an intensified interest or
conformity to the affairs of the solar universe, in the aphelion correlation approximately the
opposite. However, we shall have to establish more detail later.
With this equipment we will now try to work out the characteristics of the planets, based
on their thinkable spiritual reality and open to spiritual research, as the case of Rudolf Steiner’s
description of the life of the soul after death proves. He says in his Theosophy: “One finds in the
sphere of Saturn the archetypes of desires, wishes, feelings, etc. But here, in the spirit world,
nothing of self seeking clings to the soul. Like all life (in the other regions), in this third
(Saturn) region all longings, wishes, all likes and dislikes form a unity… All that a person has
carried out in life on Earth, in the service of the community, in selfless devotion to others, will
bear fruit here... The great benefactors of the human race, the self-sacrificing natures, those
who render great services to communities, have gained their ability to render them in this
region, after having acquired for themselves the readiness for a special relationship with it
during their previous earthly careers.”
This, then, would be our relationship to Saturn and its sphere in the life between death and
new birth. In passing through it on our way to incarnation we would acquire, metaphorically
speaking, our soul backbone, the general direction of inner motives with regard to the oncom-
ing life in the physical body. And all this he would work out on the basis of the soul essence,

27
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

the fruits of experience through destiny, the deeper reaching teachings of past earthly careers.
Then, when we finally enters Earth existence through gestation and birth, Saturn in its simulta-
neous position in the heavens would pronounce in abbreviation the sum-total of those experi-
ences and soul motivations in the sphere of Saturn long before birth. Of course, we have long
forgotten by then the facts about our sojourn in that sphere. Therefore, the manifestation and
working out of the soul motivations might appear as an objective power of destiny, possibly
imposing seemingly incomprehensible burdens and strange ways of events. Then Saturn might
be mistakenly regarded as a “great evil”, as it is done by some astrologers, whereas there is
hidden behind it that great will of soul which we acquired in the sphere of this planet long
before birth. Even the worst blows of destiny are thus willed by our prenatal soul for the sake
of acquiring definite faculties. These facts we will have to verify in connection with historic
work.
Thus it would emerge, already at this point, that our connection with the stars, as in the
case of Saturn, is not one of merciless and overwhelming domination. Rather would it seem
the task of a spiritual astrology to raise to such a level of self-knowledge and comprehension,
that we realize in the so-called nativity, and all that is associated with it, a reflection of the
greater being we are if we see ourselves in the context of reincarnation and life in the spirit
world between incarnations.
Quite different is our association with the stars in the moment of death and all that is
connected with it. The fact of this connection was well-known by an ancient humanity. For
instance, Tibetan lamaism is aware of it and uses it as a means of finding out in what condition
the soul entered the higher spheres of existence. In modern times Rudolf Steiner has saved
the knowledge of this association for the western world from oblivion.
The configuration of the heavens at the moment of death of a human being presents in a
symbolic fashion the sum-total of the past incarnation. Here appears in the heavens an image
of what one was as a human being on Earth, what one achieved, what one did for the commu-
nity, etc. Of course, also one’s failures become apparent. This is then further elaborated
during life between two incarnations.
In that moment Saturn becomes the great reaper of the harvest of an earthly life. This is
probably one of the reasons why this planet was depicted still in the Middle Ages with a scythe.
Later on, when the souls enter the sphere of Saturn, they meet the cosmic archetypes of their
involvement in earthly soul motives and direction of will. Out of this meeting is then woven
the “soul backbone” of the following incarnation.

28
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - February 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

In the January Journal we attempted to describe the working of the planet and sphere of
Saturn on the basis of a realistic spiritual cognition of our relationship to the latter. We do, of
course, realize that we, on Earth or in the cosmos, are always inside these spheres. However,
the difference is that our souls move in life between two incarnations right out, as it were, to the
periphery of the sphere of Saturn. In a sense one can even say that we become identical with
the latter and look at it as we would look at our body while on Earth. Thereby, we gain a
remarkable comprehension and universality enabling us to perceive the archetypes of all soul
motivation of which we spoke earlier.
In contrast to this, we are still associated with the spherical element of Saturn, but are
compressed and contracted into a point, the point of our physical body. Thus we can under-
stand that this contracted one-pointedness manifests in the organs of the human body. For
instance, the element of Saturn appears condensed into the dynamic function of the skeleton
and the spleen, among other concerns.
This perspective fits perfectly into the picture of the function of the totality of the plan-
etary system which we suggested in the December issue of the Star Journal. We carry in our
body the sum-total of the solar universe. It has been shrunk and condensed into the physical
organs. Thus we carry all that we experienced in the spheres between incarnations in our
physical and dynamic characterological form. This is, in a broad sense, the “destiny” that we
have built ourselves through past incarnations, and through their spiritual scrutiny, as it were,
between incarnations. Now, in our new life on Earth, it is left to us to resolve, to redeem, to
ethically enlarge or improve further what we built as a “living monument” of the past, as our
own corporeality.
The planet Saturn, which we actually see at the moment of birth, is then like a sign that
indicates where the cosmic clock stopped at the end of our prenatal “spherical” existence. As
the planet, together with its relationship to the other planets, is an integral part of the sphere by
which we can judge the condition of the latter at any moment, we expect from it correspond-
ing information about the individual human being’s association with Saturn. In other words,
we study, or at least try to study, our individual destiny—karma in Eastern esoteric terminol-
ogy—that we have prepared ourselves and that is lowered, as it were, right into a dynamic and
factual physiology as characterology in the broadest sense.
Thus we can visualize the perspectives of a spiritual astrology. We are never released from
the cosmos of the planetary spheres. They always permeate us, but at definite times of our
cosmic entelechy or career we change our relationship to them. Speaking figuratively, by mov-
ing from the periphery toward the center, we pass through varying degrees of aggregation, and
at one point of transition, at birth, the configuration of the planets stand out in the heavens
like a complicated dial-plate, marking our momentary position on the road of our own inter-
incarnation career.

29
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

By thinking along such lines, we arrive at such perspectives as we expressed in the last issue:
we acquire, by passing through the sphere of Saturn on the way to a new incarnation, our soul
backbone, the general direction of inner motives with regard to the oncoming life in the body.
The position of the planet Saturn around birth would then indicate, apart from its association
with the skeleton, spleen, etc., our inner, psychological skeleton of destiny formation around
which it built up the course of the new incarnation. At the same time, present in this position
of Saturn, would be the results of our involvement and motives in the past incarnation and the
resolution following thereupon in life between death and the present new birth. The innumer-
able possible modifications in individual soul life would come to expression in the varied posi-
tions of Saturn, according to the fixed star constellations and also by the angular relationships
or aspects to other planets. We shall work over these perspectives after a thorough investiga-
tion of the twelve fixed star groups of the Zodiac.
Saturn was called in Greece, Cronos, or Chronos—Omnipotent Father of Time. This has
a very far-reaching esoteric significance. The planet that we see in the sky is a kind of cosmic
memory of a stage of evolution in the dim past, called in esotericism Ancient Saturn (see
Rudolf Steiner’s Occult Science). Time came into being then, as it were, out of a condition of
timeless duration. That universe in which this happened consisted at a certain moment of one
unified planetary entity only, filling a volume as big as the present sphere (or orbit) of Saturn.
On this background we can also understand that the rhythms of Saturn imprint themselves
significantly into earthly life. The planet needs 29 years and 167 days to go once through its
orbit and return to a line from the center of the Sun to a particular fixed star. This is called a
sidereal revolution and it coincides, approximately, with the time span of one generation. Also
with regard to historic developments, the cycle of 30 years, and particularly twice the time
interval of 60 years, is of great significance. Sixty years is the rhythm of the return of the so-
called Great Conjunction, that is the periodic return of these moments when Saturn and Jupi-
ter seem to move close together in approximately the same position of the ecliptic or Zodiac.
These rhythmic events are like the hands on a big cosmic clock which indicate that definite
intentions and inspirations become activated within the solar universe. In this sense Saturn
acts as a time keeper in the timetable of the individual human being, challenging us to ever
more enhanced, free spiritual response to the situations and opportunities of life. If we do not
respond in freedom, then Saturn can also become something like an avenger and announce
punishment for human laziness and indifference.
The sphere below, or inside that of Saturn, is Jupiter’s; it is much smaller, as the diagram in
the December issue shows. The soul passes through that sphere after death, before it enters
the one of Saturn.
Jupiter takes a middle position between Saturn and Mars. The three together form a unity.
As we pass through the spheres between two incarnations, we meet in them the creative thought
or idea archetypes of the three stages of manifestation that we experience in earthly existence:
mineral-physical being, life, and soul being or consciousness. (The latter we have described
already in connection with Saturn.)

30
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Rudolf Steiner describes the sphere of Jupiter in his book Theosophy as follows: “The sec-
ond region of the Spiritland” (Mars being the first and Saturn the third) “contains the arche-
types of life. But here this life forms a perfect unity. One could describe this second stage of
the Spiritland as “flowing life”, formed of thought material... Of this, also, only a reflection
appears to us during earthly life... We (after death) become aware” (in the sphere of Jupiter)
“of how far the all-embracing meaning of existence does not lie in what is transitory and
separate. We regard the transitory as a ‘similitude’, a likeness of an eternal, of an harmonious unity.”
Therefore, we would experience there the futility of any narrowness and self-centeredness
in which we might have been involved in earthly life. All that in our earthly career that was not
directed and inspired by the greater aspects of cosmic life, for instance by great visions of
spiritual evolution, as true religion would express them, finds here its admonishing challenge
and re-integration into the stream of cosmic existence.
Then, when we descend toward a new incarnation, we would again move through the
sphere of Jupiter and gather important ingredients in order to build up a new life on Earth; for
instance, we will need the dynamic quality of this planet so that we can develop much later,
during the gestation, the organ of the liver. We certainly need the latter in order to preserve the
balance of our health in a physiological sense. Apart from this, we also need the dynamic
invisible forces of this organ in order to convert ideas into real deeds.
Thus Jupiter would indicate through its position, etc., around birth, what relationship we
found in prenatal, cosmic existence to the beings and facts of the sphere of this planet. Im-
plied by it would be the degree of capacity and direction that we acquired toward the greater
aims and ideals of humanity, the potential to work for them within the stream of evolution and
according to the situations in which destiny would put us.
This requires diving into the streams of earthly reality and to let oneself be guided in one’s
actions by the larger and smaller time rhythms of evolution. Therefore, Jupiter at birth would
be connected with the individual power of expansion in earthly life. All degrees are possible,
but the fundamental urge would be toward spiritual, ethical expansion. However, it is then left
to the freedom of all individuals to cultivate their fields of capacities or to leave them unat-
tended. Likewise, we can learn through the development of our Jupiter potential to con-
sciously use the vehicles of earthly life that are the rhythms of time: Jupiter is associated with
cosmic wisdom and one who is a pupil, as it were, of this wise planet, knows to act at the right
time; that is, one has learned to be aware of the rhythms of a definite development. Because
the stages of evolution can only be achieved “in time”, and in order to know the “right time”
one must penetrate to the secrets of the rhythms in the cosmos. To be able to do this means to
cultivate in full consciousness the heritage of Jupiter. As we have pointed out earlier, this
association of Jupiter with the rhythms of life, whether they are rhythms in evolution or rhythms
in organic life, stems from the periodic association of the planet with Saturn. However, Saturn
has much more the tendency of looking back in time, whereas Jupiter concentrates on the
future, on becoming and the potential powers of the life or ether forces in the universe. This
is the reason why Jupiter was called in ancient Greece, Omnipotent Father Ether.

31
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Therefore, Jupiter has also a closer association with space, expansion in space, filling of
space, etc. This is expressed by Jupiter’s sidereal revolution (return to the same fixed star)
which is 11 years, 315 days—nearly 12 years. Thereby the planet needs 1 year to move through
each one of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac, and thus it establishes a plain relationship to
that great circle in which our solar universe is embedded and which is the spiritual foundation
of cosmic space.
The orbit of the planet Mars lies within that of Jupiter; therefore, it is already much smaller
and Mars needs only 687 days for one complete revolution. Its sphere constitutes the first
region of Spiritland. Rudolf Steiner describes it in his Theosophy as follows: “... The first region
contains the ‘archetypes’ of the physical world in so far as it is not endowed with life. The
archetypes of the minerals are to be found here, also those of the plants; but the latter only in
so far as they are purely physical... During life on Earth we learn to know only the shadows of
those archetypes that we grasp in our thoughts… We move (after death) among thoughts, but
these thoughts are real beings… We are, as it were, in the thought workshop where earthly
things are formed and constructed…”
The sphere of Mars is the last one through which the cosmic sidereal-stream of substance
moves before it enters the highest degree of densification in the physical objects of the Earth.
(See December issue: Fig. 2). On this background we can understand the apparently aggressive
connotation that is associated with the name of Mars. In order to bring about the final pre-
cipitation into physical matter on Earth the spiritual-cosmic origin must be, as it were, muted
and lead into a process faintly similar to freezing. This is done in an act that is, in a sense, a
dying process and the forces of Mars would promote it.
However, the aggressiveness of Mars has still another background. For instance, in the
story of the Trojan War we hear that the God or Intelligence connected with that planet was,
according to human conceptions, utterly unreliable and without principles. One day Mars
fought on the side of the Greeks, but the next day Mars was quite capable of assisting the
Trojans. The other Olympian gods had to interfere in order to let events come to their preor-
dained course.
Why these seemingly strange characteristics? The Greeks obviously realized that a power
had to work in the universe whose task it was to create obstruction and confusion. It had and
has to work, because only through this course could consciousness and finally even conscious-
ness of self be promoted in the human race. Eventually, the existence of a physical material
world serves this process. We knock, figuratively speaking, our head against the objects around
us and thereby we “wake up”. It is a hard school, but we must concede, a most effective one,
and Mars has, as we have seen, a decisive hand in its creation.
This same constellation of facts served and still serves also the coming into being of speech.
In the process of observation we must push, as it were, the objects back and away from our-
selves in order to create the concept of a thing and eventually the corresponding word. This is
a Mars activity taking place in us. We can perform it because we accumulated corresponding
experiences in the sphere of Mars before incarnating.

32
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Mars at our birth is a cosmic symbol that indicates these kinds of experiences. It indicates,
in very broad outlines, the capacity we bring along for the confrontation of the physical mate-
rial world, starting with learning to speak as a child and right up to the conceptual compre-
hension of this world. However, a spiritual astrology will always endeavor to cultivate and
refine these qualities and to take the sting out of the original aggressiveness and the materialis-
tic tendencies easily combined with this activity. Much of the materialism in all fields of
human life in our present age is caused by one-sided realizations of certain impulses residing,
as it were, on Mars. This planet [and its sphere] is going through a tremendous transformation.
In a sense, forces following the impulse of a spiritualized, one can even say a christianized
Buddhism, seek to permeate Mars with redeeming and healing qualities. These and similar
developments on this planet reflect themselves into the working out of “our” Mars heritage
while we are on Earth. A spiritual astrology will have to take careful account of this fact.
The rhythms of Mars that are made by the planet’s periodical meetings with the Earth—
conjunctions, or Mars standing together with the Earth in a line extending from the center of
the Sun out into space—are important. They are associated with the impact of this planet on
the life of the Earth and its inhabitants.
It takes our own planet about 780 days to catch up with Mars in one such conjunction.
Thus they happen once within two years but always about 45 days later in the year than the
previous one. The effect of this rhythm is that the conjunctions march, within an interval of
about 15-17 years, steadily forward in the Zodiac and eventually return, after eight such meet-
ings with the Earth, to the zodiacal locality of the first one.
A similar rhythm is involved in the oppositions of Mars and Earth, or conjunctions with
the Sun, when the two planets stand on opposite sides of the Sun on a line going through the
center of the latter and extending into space on either side. Within an interval of 15-17 years,
nine such oppositions take place, and the ninth returns to the approximate zodiacal locality of
the first one.
Thus we arrive at the interesting discovery that these conjunctions and oppositions “draw”
significant patterns into cosmic space. In the case of the conjunctions with the Earth, we see
an octagon, or eight-cornered (though irregular) “star” coming into being which is close to the
Earth. In fact, these conjunctions bring Mars closest to the Earth. The oppositions establish
another eight-cornered “star”, but this one is much further away from the Earth and, therefore,
bigger in a sense. In times of oppositions to the Earth, Mars is furthest away from our planet
in the course of its career. Seen from our own planet (in other words geocentrically), we thus
discover two eight-cornered, or octagonal “stars” made by the meetings of the two planets.
One of them, which is smaller, is set within the other bigger one.
These patterns caused by cosmic rhythms are also important for the cognition of the plan-
ets’ nature. We will come back to them with practical suggestions.

33
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - March 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

In the December issue we discussed the apparent three categories of planets of the solar
system. Of these, we have described in outline the middle triad: Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. As
soon as we have established a comprehension of the Zodiac in later issues, we can then work
out also the nature and varied impacts of these planets.
We will presently discuss the “inner” planets: Mercury, Venus, and the Earth with its Moon.
Of course in geocentric astrology we are used to dealing also with the Sun as an important
factor in this field. These concerns will, however, be elaborated in connection with a descrip-
tion of our own planet.
Mercury is the planet which is closest to the Sun. In the December issue, we gave the mean
distance from the Sun as 0.39 Earth radii. It is also the smallest of all the planets, apart from
the planetoids. These facts make it rather difficult to observe this member of the solar system.
Seen from the Earth it appears never to be further away from the Sun than 28° at the utmost.
If under such circumstances atmospherical conditions are favorable, it can be seen as morning
or evening star.
Mercury completes a sidereal revolution around the Sun within 88 days. In the course of
this journey it stands, at one point, in a common line with the Earth, reaching out from the
center of the Sun [and passing through the Earth] into cosmic space. This is called, astronomi-
cally, an “inferior” conjunction. Mercury stands then between our planet and the Sun. On
certain occasions it can even happen that Mercury appears to move right across the face of the
Sun and can be observed as a tiny black dot.
Let us assume that the Earth and Mercury have been standing at a certain time in one
common line passing through their bodies and also through the Sun. After that the two planets
move apart because Mercury is the faster one. Yet, because it is faster and also its orbit is
smaller than that of our planet, it will catch up again with the Earth after 116 days. Only their
common line will then point in a different direction from that of the first meeting. Thus there
comes about a very interesting rhythmic relationship between Earth and Mercury that we will
explain with the help of the diagram in Fig. 4.
We take our starting point in E1 and M1. Both planets are in conjunction and their com-
mon line passes through the center of the Sun. After 88 days Mercury returns to the same
position on its orbit (M2). This is called a sidereal revolution. The Earth has moved in the
meantime to E2. Therefore, Mercury now has to make an extra effort to catch up with our
own planet. It succeeds in doing that after an additional 28 days (E3-M3). Thus it needed 88
+ 28 = 116 days. Again Earth and Mercury are now standing in one common line, but it points
in a different direction from that of M1-E1. The game repeats itself after a second revolution
of Mercury. After 176 (2 x 88) days it is back in M1 and M2 (M4), but now the Earth has
moved from E3 to E4. Therefore, Mercury has to make a still bigger effort; only after 56 days
does it succeed in getting in line with our Earth. This happens in E5-M5, 232 days after the

34
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

start. Again the common line of the two planets points in a different direction. Thus it
happens that in the course of one year, only three conjunctions can occur and likewise only
three oppositions, which take place approximately halfway between the conjunctions: They are
called in astronomy “superior” conjunctions because Mercury appears on such occasions to
stand behind or “above” the Sun.

Figure 4

Thus we have here another sequel of “star patterns”, made by conjunctions and opposi-
tions, similar to the “octagon star” of Mars (see February issue). Only in the case of Mercury
it is a triangular star that slowly rotates in the ecliptic. As the interval from conjunction to
conjunction of 116 days falls short by about 17 days in one year (3 x 116 = 348 days) the
triangle seems to rotate, or in other words, the conjunctions fall gradually back within the
rhythm of the seasons of the year. For instance, on March 21, 1966, an “inferior” conjunction
of Mercury will take place when the latter will stand between Earth and Sun. In 1967 the same
event will happen on March 4. The same applies to the other two conjunctions during the year.
Thus it is quite obvious that they fall back in the ecliptic, against the direction of all the planets.
After a full rotation, which takes about 20 years, they return approximately to the initial posi-
tions.
In Rudolf Steiner’s cosmology, the spheres of the “inner” planets and that of the Moon
belong to the soul or astral world. This is the world we enter first after death. Within this
setting the sphere of Mercury would correspond to the sixth region of the Soul World. Rudolf
Steiner says that what happens there after death is… “the purification of that part of the soul

35
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

which thirsts for action.” This sphere is important for “souls whose activity does not bear an
egoistical character, but springs, nevertheless, from the sensuous satisfaction which action af-
fords them... Many artistic natures and such as give themselves up to scientific activity because
it pleases them, belong to this class”… (From Theosophy, by Rudolf Steiner).
This gives us an idea of the heritage that the soul obtains from Mercury when it returns to
a new incarnation. After death we are confronted with whatever clings as egotism to our active
soul forces, so that it may be purified. Then, when we descend again to an earthly life, we will
acquire in that particular sphere the capacity and inclinations to participate actively and intelli-
gently in the flow of human civilization on Earth. Of course, into all this Mercury heritage,
there will be integrated and inscribed the karma evolved out of past incarnations. The mood
and the intensity of will with which we will partake in the preoccupations of humanity, we will
prepare already in the sphere of Mercury.
When we take the last steps that coincide with our embryonic development, Mercury ap-
pears, about the time of conception and birth, to indicate in a last summing-up the individual
tendencies toward life in activity, implying also enough room for broadness and flexibility.
Nevertheless, it would indicate in the case of Goethe (born 1749), for instance, a tendency to
use the idea and the power of the word as a poet and writer, whereas Henry Ford’s (born 1863)
Mercury reveals more an inclination toward so-called practical, even manual, and engineering
work. However, in both cases the planet did reveal a direction of the active soul force and
intelligence toward willingness to face and react upon the deeper spiritual situation of this
present humanity. If both Mercury and Saturn together are studied during the time of gesta-
tion, they can give information about the dormant will potential of a human being, because
Saturn adds to Mercury the archetypal orbit of the soul or astral capacity born out of karma.
Of course, all these observations will have to be substantiated in later issues.
Between the Earth and Mercury, Venus is moving. In contrast to Mercury this planet can
be observed at certain times very well, when it appears after sunset as the Evening Star or
before sunrise as Morning Star. On account of its greater distance from the Sun it can move,
apparently, to a distance of up to 48° West or East of the latter.
The fact itself and the changing phases of visibility of a celestial body depend to a high
degree on its apparent size and its nearness to the Sun. In order to get this clear, as far as Venus
is concerned, we want first to concentrate on the rhythms of the revolutions of this planet
around the central focus of the solar system (see Fig. 5).
As in Mercury’s case, we start from a conjunction of Venus and Earth, that is, the occasion
when both planets are standing in one common line passing through the center of the Sun
(V1-E1). In this position we cannot see the planet, because that side of it on which the rays of
the Sun are falling is turned away from the Earth. Venus is moving faster than our planet; also
its orbit is smaller. It needs, therefore, only 225 days to start from one definite point of its orbit
and to come back (V2). In the meantime the Earth has moved to E2 and Venus must make a
mighty effort to catch our planet in another conjunction. Before that happens something else
takes place. After 292 days from the start, Venus has moved into V3. At the same time the

36
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Earth is in E3. Again the two are standing in one common line that passes through the center
of the Sun, but this time they occupy opposite ends of this line. This is obviously an opposi-
tion of Venus to the Earth. In this position we cannot observe Venus because it is hidden by
the rays of the Sun. In certain exceptional cases, it may even be hidden behind the Sun’s disk.

Figure 5

After that the chase goes on. After 450 days (2 x 225), Venus has returned to the original
position (V4) but the Earth is not there. It has moved into E4. Now there is a better chance
for Venus to catch up with the Earth and indeed, 584 days after the conjunction in V1-E1, both
planets are standing in a common line (V5-E5), though the line points in a different direction.
Thus these conjunctions between Venus and Earth repeat themselves once in 584 days.
They take place in five different directions seen from the standpoint of the Sun. If we start,
for instance, with V1-E1 then the next one will be in D (see diagram) followed by others in B,
E, C and again in A. This will need 5 x 584 days = 2920 days, or 8 years. After that the cycle
is repeated over another 8 years, and so forth. Always halfway between two conjunctions an
“opposition” will take place between Venus and Earth, like the one in V3-E3. In the course of
these cycles, the common lines of both planets inscribe two pentagons into the orbit of Venus.
They are fairly equilateral.

37
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

These pentagons are also rotating in the course of time, like the triangle of Mercury, which
is caused by the fact that the revolutions of Venus and Earth are not exactly synchronized.
However, this rotation is far slower: It takes the pentagons about 1200 years to perform one
complete revolution. Similar to Mercury they rotate contrary to the direction of the move-
ment of the planet in its orbit.
This rhythm of about 1200 years is closely linked to certain rhythms in history. For in-
stance, just at present (exactly in January) an inferior conjunction of Venus took place that is
always, observed from the geocentric position, associated with an apparent retrograde move-
ment of the planet in the ecliptic. As a matter of fact, if one would have plotted the course of
Venus between 5 January and 19 March, one would find that it performed a perfect “loop” in
the heavens.
Furthermore, we observe that a similar loop in the same place of the ecliptic, or Sun circle,
took place eight years earlier in 1958, and another one will happen in 1974. In between these
intervals of eight years, there will occur four more inferior conjunctions in the four remaining
corners of the pentagon-pentagram star, described above. However, we notice one important
fact: the conjunction in 1958 was further forward in the ecliptic, about 2½°, and the one in
1974 will have fallen back behind the one in 1966.
Thus we come to the conclusion that the pentagon star is rotating, which is born out by an
investigation of the conjunctions over the centuries. The one in 1966 took place in the same
portion of the ecliptic exactly in the years 711 AD. This is an interval of 1255 years. (One year
got lost, as it were, in the process of rotation, when the conjunction fell back over the point of
New Year into the proceeding year.) The year 711 AD was an important moment in European
history. Musa, the Calif ’s governor of the Mohammedan Arabs, who had by then conquered
the whole of North Africa, sent his field marshal, Tarik, to Spain. The Visigoths, who settled
earlier in Spain, were disunited among themselves and divided into hostile factions. Thus they
became an easy prey for the Arabs and were decisively defeated in the battle of Xeres de la
Frontera, in July 711. During the following years the whole Pyrenean peninsula was conquered
by Musa and soon the Arabs crossed the Pyrenees and descended upon the region of present-
day Southern France, which was then Frankish domain. It demanded of the Franks strenuous
efforts to hold the Arabs back and to finally drive them out of France and back into Spain. The
wars lasted right into the time of Charlemagne.
The Arabs developed a powerful and refined culture in Spain, the traces of which can still
be discovered there in architectural remains, etc. It had a tremendous influence on the devel-
opment of European spiritual culture of the Middle Ages. This influence was not regarded as
beneficial and wholesome by all great spirits of Europe. Scholasticism and particularly its great
exponent Thomas Aquinas, fought back at the teachings of Averroes. He was an Arabian
philosopher who had translated and interpreted the philosophy of the great Greek, Aristotle,
in a fashion that gave the impression as if the latter had denied our imperishable, spiritual
being. This was an inference that was wrong and regarded as dangerous for the development
of the human individuality in a European Christian sense.

38
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

The coincidence of the conjunctions of Venus with the Earth in 711 AD and the corre-
sponding historic events would not be enough to establish a connection between the two.
However, there is the fact that the invasion of the Ottoman Turks in Europe coincided with
the time when the present conjunction of Venus-Earth had arrived exactly in the opposite
point of the ecliptic, and also was opposite the one of 711 AD. (This happened in the course
of the rotation of the pentagon-star that we spoke of earlier.)
In 1326, Orkhan I, son of Osman I, became Ottoman sultan. That was the moment when
that corner of the Venus pentagon, activated in the beginning of 1966, was exactly opposite.
About 28 years later, (3½ x 8, which is associated with the Venus pentagon rhythm) in 1353-4,
one of his sons crossed the Dardanelles. Thus the invasion of Europe started, which found
one of its culminating events in the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

March Commentary
One of the most important aspects, according to the heliocentric view, seems to us the
position of Jupiter in the constellation of Gemini. By the end of May it will stand in its own
ascending node (see January issue). This means that the planet will ascend in that moment
above the ecliptic, coming from below the latter.
Of course, this event is not exceedingly unique. It repeats itself within a rhythm of about
12 years. In fact, it coincides with the other feature in the heavens that we have been talking
about—the conjunction of Uranus and Pluto. Both planets are relatively close to the apsidal
line of Uranus. This is the direct line connecting the (slightly fluctuating) points of the perihe-
lion (nearest distance to the Sun) and the aphelion (farthest distance) of this planet.
Both events, Jupiter being close to its own ascending node and Uranus (but not Pluto) in
the proximity of its perihelion, were in these positions during the year 33 AD. (The conjunc-
tion of Uranus and Pluto is, of course, an additional emphasis). The year 33 AD was, accord-
ing to ecclesiastical writers and also in the view of Rudolf Steiner, the year of the Crucifixion
and Resurrection of Christ (3-5 April), possibly one year later, also the conversion of St. Paul.
We see in these coincidental occurrences not only just similitudes to anniversaries in his-
tory. The same cosmic chord, as it were, is touched now as when it happened at the time of
Christ, and we see in this a sign or signal in the heavens, or a reminder that a similar world hour
is with us, according to the rhythms of the cosmos. The cosmic clock will do no more than
remind us. But it will be on us to gauge carefully the demands, the possibilities, the expecta-
tions of this world hour. Failure to do so might mean that we miss an important opportunity
in the timetable or curriculum of humanity and are maneuvered into the danger of becoming
drop-outs, as it were. For we are not only on this planet to follow our own desire for leisure and
self-preservation, we have a task to fulfill.
What would be the human answer to those events in the heavens? If we only look, for the
moment, at the position of Jupiter in Gemini, we can experience in ourselves a mighty inspira-
tion. Gemini, the two Twins, have developed from older, totally different humanity proposi-
tions, to a picture of our modern exposure to the two adversaries—as the modern esotericism

39
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

of Rudolf Steiner describes them: Lucifer and Ahriman. Lucifer is the power working in us
that gives us the capacity of enthusiasm, of a sense of beauty and realization of ego. But
Lucifer would, if given sole power over us, lure us away from Earth reality, letting us hover in
dream existence and estrangement from our earthly tasks and problems. Ahriman gives us the
solid ground under our feet, an awareness of gravity and, therewith, the necessity for Earth
existence in its manifold manifestations of life experience. However, if Ahriman had sole
power over us, we would be dragged down ever more deeply into darkness of Earth, making us
forget any notion of the existence of the spiritual world, even letting us forget, through corre-
sponding social and educational institutions, etc., that we are individualities and not animals.
These powers are the real danger of our modern age and we must, and can, find the
strength to maintain our spiritual integrity between the two adversaries. This will, then, also be
a human answer to that cosmic challenge we see in the heavens. How this is possible in this
present age, we shall have to discuss in future.

40
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - April 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

In the last issue we had arrived—via the rhythms of Venus—at a common cosmic back-
ground of the invasion of the Moors in Spain, and of the Ottoman Turks in Europe. In both
events: in 711 and after, as well as in the course of the 14th century, we see a kind of pincer
movement of the Mohammedan world against Europe. First the one in the west was activated
and then, at “half-term”—as it were—the eastern end of the Islamic crescent Moon pushed
into Europe. There it took much longer, actually hundreds of years, to press the Turks back to
the narrow foothold that they still have on the European continent.
We expect the question: What has all this past history got to do with the present moment
when the pentagon-star is back in the original position? We certainly can’t expect that history
just repeats itself. This would be too simple. However, we have the impression that the situa-
tion has only shifted to a different level of experience. The original impulses are still active
though they have completely changed their external countenance. We shall reserve our argu-
ments concerning this until later, when we have established more cosmic foundations for a
sound judgment.
The orbit of Venus lies between the one of Mercury and that of the Earth (with its Moon).
Therefore, it has a somewhat middle position, expressed in the character of the planet and its
function in the solar cosmos. Similar to the other planets, we can learn a lot about it by
studying our experiences in this sphere of Venus after death.
Rudolf Steiner describes it in his Theosophy as the 5th sphere of the soul or astral world. The
soul ascending to spiritual, cosmic heights has attained already there a certain measure of
purification. “... In it sympathy with others has already reached a high degree of power. Souls
are connected with it in so far as, during their physical lives, they did not lose themselves in the
satisfaction of lower necessities, but have had joy and pleasure in their surroundings, which
seeks for the spirit that reveals itself in the things and events of nature.”
Thus we can more easily comprehend that our soul picks up on the way to incarnation in
the sphere of Venus our individual pre-dispositions concerning our relationship to the envi-
ronment and to other beings. Then at the time of gestation and birth, Venus reveals, in a kind
of cosmic shorthand script or hieroglyph, the individual coloring of our world of relationship.
This, of course, does not exclude the possibility that we, in Earth life, cultivate the karmic
heritage that we brought along and also transform our ways of contacts with the environment.
On this background we can understand why some sectors of contemporary astrology nar-
rowed the apparent influence of this planet down to, for instance, love affairs, etc. However,
this is only a tiny region of our association with Venus.
Next we will discuss the properties and capacities of the Moon of the Earth. It might
appear that this is an irrelevant approach, because the Moon is only a satellite of our planet and
therefore, seems to be only of secondary significance within a solar universe that we have, so
far, discussed, i.e. the planets orbiting the central focus, the Sun. However, the Moon is the

41
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

bridge, as it were, from the Earth to the planetary universe and therefore, must be of impor-
tance in matters concerning existence on our planet. Furthermore, we must not forget that our
Moon has a unique position even as a planetary satellite. It is only a little smaller than the
planet Mercury. The latter has a diameter of about 3000 miles, whereas the diameter of the
Moon is 2160 miles. Thus we can, in any case, not dismiss it as insignificant.
Since we have entered the age of space exploration and space flight, we have acquired a
good deal of information about the Moon, particularly about its surface, distance, size, etc.
Therefore, we do not want to burden the Journal with a repetition of these facts. Of course,
we realize that much of the so-called information is still in a state of speculation, for instance,
concerning the consistency of the Moon’s surface. We will concentrate on the elements of the
Moon’s orbit around the Earth which we need for later work.
It takes our satellite 27.32 days to complete a sidereal revolution or sidereal month, or
return to the same fixed star. If we observe the phases of the Moon, from New Moon, first
Quarter, Full Moon, last Quarter, and back to New Moon, which can easily be accomplished,
we notice that this takes about two days longer. This is called a synodic month (synod or
conjunction; in the case of New Moon, when Sun and Moon appear to stand close together)
which comprises 29.53 days..
The orbit of the Moon is inclined toward the ecliptic or apparent orbit of the Sun. Thus
the two circles cross each other in two points. These are the nodes of the Moon, which we
discussed in the October issue. They are basically associated with the rhythm of 18.6 years, or
one orbit of the nodes regressing through the ecliptic. The Moon also moves in the course of
one sidereal month through a point of maximum (apogee) and minimum (perigee) distance
from the Earth. These points progress through the ecliptic completing an orbit in 8.85 years.
It is well-known that the Moon’s daily movement across the sky of any place of the Earth
and its phases are connected with the rhythm of the tides. Any of the bigger encyclopedia will
give extensive information on this. We need not repeat it. But it all demonstrates that there
exists an intensive relationship between our satellite and the water economy of the Earth,
whatever the welter of technical explanations may be.
To this has been added in latter years, statistical computerized evidence that the phases of
the Moon are also associated with widespread precipitation all over the Earth. For instance, a
graph of rainfall statistics for 50 New Zealand stations over 25 years shows that the heaviest
rains occurred during the first week after New Moon and Full Moon, and the lowest precipita-
tion was at the time of New Moon. Similar data have been collected in other places, for
instance, in the United States. This was followed by the discovery that the phases of the Moon
are also associated with the incoming meteor rate, showing a curve similar to that of wide-
spread precipitation. Furthermore, graphic charts of geomagnetic disturbances reveal a coin-
cidence with the ups and lows of the precipitation tables.
The association of the Moon with the tides and precipitation can be explained as a working
in the sphere of life. It is quite obvious that water is the carrier of life on the Earth. Where
there is no water no life can exist. This too was instinctively well-known by an older humanity;

42
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

the peasants of old tilled their soil, sowed and planted in harmony with the phases of the
Moon. It seems to have been done out of an awareness of the life-giving moisture of the soil,
the germinating and sprouting power of the plant saps and their falling in with the phases of
the Moon.
Thus it cannot be surprising that the Moon and its rhythms should play into everything
where cosmic life is infused and embodied into Earth matter. For instance, the processes of
conception and gestation are closely associated with the workings of the Moon. An older
medical knowledge was aware of this, for it did not count the period of embryonic develop-
ment according to calendar months but gauged it following the rhythm of sidereal Moon
“months”, that is 27.3 days, regarding 10 such months (27.3 x 10 = 273 days) being the equiva-
lent of a gestation period. These facts and perspectives will form an essential foundation of our
later investigations concerning the association of the human being with the cosmos of the stars.
Furthermore, it cannot be surprising that the Moon is also connected with our capacity of
ideation, fantasy, imagination, and thinking. These are all qualities that enable us to bring
cosmic essence and forces into material existence.
Taking into account the manifoldness of these aspects, we can well understand what the
spiritual investigations of Rudolf Steiner have to say about our affiliation with the Moon and
its sphere after death. There the souls experience (see Rudolf Steiner’s Theosophy) the first four,
crucial regions in the soul or astral world after death—Kamaloka in eastern terminology or
“fire of purification”. Step by step we are confronted with our own selfish, even greedy nature
out of which we conducted our earthly existence, which to a degree, we employed instinctively
while still in the body in order to maintain our physical identity. Now, in lower Kamaloka, or
the sphere of the Moon, there no longer exists organic means to satisfy these lower, instinctive
affinities to the material world. The result is soul suffering, and through the suffering a gradual
weaning away from all that still clings in the soul to matter and to satisfaction provided by the
physical senses. Thus we will slowly step out of the orbit of those Moon forces, whose task it
was to immerse us deeply into material existence shortly before each birth.
At birth the Moon stands in the heavens like a hieroglyph that pronounces and enacts our
individual degree of affinity and mode of final submergence in our physical, sense-bound
body. It is, as it were, an imagination of the vessel in which we finally glide down to Earth.
After death this vessel and its imagination has to be dissolved in order to free our soul from
earthly bondage and to prepare us for the great task which awaits us in the spiritual world of
getting again into line with the implications of cosmic life. Only out of these can we then build
up the vehicle of a new incarnation.

Earth and Sun

Heliocentric astrology seems to be, at first glance, in contradiction to classical geocentric
astrology, because it insists on the significance of the changing position of the Earth as it
moves along its orbit. The meaning of the Sun moving in the course of one year through the
12 “signs”, or constellations, of the Zodiac has become the mainstay, as it were, of astrology as

43
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

it developed over centuries, particularly popular astrology. Many people inclined in this direc-
tion might feel lost if a heliocentric astrology suggests considering the positions of the Earth,
which are always opposite those in the ecliptic of the Sun at any given moment.
However, this contradiction is only apparent, it is not a real problem to someone who tries
to search a bit deeper. The Earth is the place in the universe where we incarnate to live in a
physical-material body. From the foregoing descriptions of the spheres of the planets, we have
seen what a tremendous cosmic effort is needed in order to make this possible. Finally, all this
work of recollecting the great archetypal idea, or divine imagination of the human body is
lowered, as it were, onto the Earth by the activities of the Moon, chiefly during gestation.
Thus, we should expect that the movement of the Earth, during gestation, is rather important
as the place where our soul has to “get used to”. In the moment of birth, the final position of
the Earth on the ecliptic would find us again in the cosmic locality where we have been before
in incarnation. As a baby first, then as a child, and finally as grown-up, we must pick up the
threads of earthly existence, metaphorically, where we left off the last time.
Thus we have found through our researches that at birth the Earth is a pictorial recapitula-
tion of the last incarnation. This can be followed up into great detail. The position of the
Earth at the time of the epoch reveals much more the intentions of the soul toward the on-
coming incarnation, to pick up the tools for the earthly journey. The epoch is the cosmic, or
Moon conception, not necessarily coinciding with the physical conception. Ancient Egyptian
star wisdom speaks of the epoch as a fact that can be found with the assistance of the so-called
Trutina Hermetis—the Hermetic Rule.
The meaning of incarnation on our planet, a place of apparent numbness and estrange-
ment from the cosmic spiritual world, is to develop the power of the ego, against the resistance
of the physical in its manifold forms of appearance. It is quite obvious that the ego can only be
evolved in the constant battle of life against persistent non-ego forces. Human biography
demonstrates this seemingly never ending contradiction at every point. Life does not let us rest
in false peace on what we have acquired as corporeality in the process of incarnation. The
means by which destiny constantly urges us on to set ourselves into opposition to our purely
physical entity and, in this sense, to contradict our corporeal being, are innumerous and some-
times very painful.
This, then, is the solution with regard to that apparent contradiction of geocentric and
heliocentric astrology over the significance of Sun and Earth. The Earth is the final focus
toward which all efforts during the life in the spiritual world between two incarnations were
directed, of building up a new material, corporeal existence. One should expect that people
can regard this complex as a very useful means on the road to the acquisition of self-knowl-
edge. The Sun, however, is that focus of the solar universe which, as we said earlier, is the place
where finally the substances and materiality within the planetary system are dissolved and are
spiritualized in the process. Therefore, we can look upon the Sun as a cosmic symbol of the
potential of our physical existence—of what we can, in an ideal sense, achieve by it as a fully
awake individuality.

44
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Of course, these distinctions cannot be reduced to simple rules. The whole configuration
of the heavens at the time of birth has to be studied carefully before one can attempt any
conclusion. However, it can happen, for instance, that a person was born when the Earth was
in the ecliptic sign of Pisces. Correspondingly, the Sun was then in the sign of Virgo. This
might indicate that such a soul built up the new incarnation, particularly, under the helping
auspices of Jupiter, for this planet has a special association with the sign of Pisces, where the
Earth was at birth (Jupiter is the “ruler” of Pisces). However, once incarnated and grown-up,
the individuality might endeavor to bring that tremendous Jupiter wisdom right down to earthly
and intelligent comprehension; in other words, evolve the heritage into a Mercurial capacity.
Mercury is the “ruler” of the ecliptic sign of Virgo, where the Sun was at birth in this case. The
latter would appear rather like a challenging vacuum that should be filled in, as it were, by our
moral potential.
We shall have to substantiate all these ideas in later studies, once we are able to proceed to
the investigation of nativities of historic personalities.
We have, finally, to discuss the planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and their spheres. They
are relative newcomers in modern astronomy and were found only on the basis of the develop-
ment of modern means and methods of scientific investigation. Thus, for instance, Uranus
was discovered by the English astronomer Herschel, after the telescope had become powerful
enough to discover such a small object as this planet in the heavens. The astronomical symbol
that we use for it, a converted H, still reminds us of its discoverer, Herschel.
Neptune was detected in 1846 by the astronomer Galle. First, it was found on paper, as it
were. Certain irregularities were observed in the orbit of Uranus. This led to the conclusion
that another, hitherto unknown celestial body disturbed it, according to the law of gravitation.
Several astronomers got down to work and calculated the position of the suspect disturber on
the basis of the known aberrations of Uranus. Then, one day in 1846, Galle directed his
telescope toward the spot where the unknown entity was supposed to stand. And, indeed, he
found it. The difference between calculated and actual position was less than one degree.
Furthermore, observations revealed that it was moving— a new planet had been discovered.
In 1930 Pluto was detected in a similar fashion. First, one suspected another celestial body
being the cause of certain irregularities in the movements of certain comets. Again, the posi-
tion was first calculated and then confirmed by actual observation.

Commentary
The conjunction of Mars with the Sun on April 28-29 in about 9° of the sign of Taurus
(constellation of Aries) is of special rhythmical interest. We pointed out earlier, when we
discussed Mars in February, that these conjunctions (and oppositions in the geocentric sense)
take place in two irregular octagons whose corners lie in the ecliptic. Thus it happens that
these conjunctions return to similar positions in the Zodiac in the course of about 16 years. It
seems to suit the nature of Mars that these rhythms carry an element of irregularity with them.
The one coming closest to the present one was in 1919, also in sidereal Aries, 47 years ago

45
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

(about 3x16). This was preceded by a conjunction in 1887, which took place nearly in the same
portion of the Zodiac as the present one.
The latter two dates are most instructive. In 1887 there were decisive preparations on all
sides, but particularly on the part of English policymakers, for the war that started in 1914. It
was, indeed, a “well prepared war”. In 1919, the “temporary” conclusion of the struggle came
in the signing of the so-called Peace Treaty of Versailles. The conjunction took place in May
and the Treaty was signed in June. The Treaty was only an instrument for the continuation of
the war using “different means” until it could be resumed again as an actual war.
Now, we face this conjunction of Mars again, after having had one in this approximate area
in 1934. How will humanity react to it? One has the impression from a multitude of instances
that the western world is again moving through a phase of long-range planning. Will the
planning lead to results of evolutionary progress or to destruction? Those are questions that
we ask with a burning heart, but in this moment it is essential to know and understand the
background. Only deepening knowledge can make the individual spiritually free.
Easter Sunday is on April 10. We know that this event reminds us of the most central event
of the whole Earth evolution, the event on Golgotha, that opened the road to a meaningful
spiritual future of the Earth and humanity. But this festival is not only a reminder, it is a fact
that potentially works on in history as a silent but most powerful companion. It works within
a rhythm of 33 years, in accordance with the 33 years of the life of Christ Jesus. (Under the
circumstances, we must leave the substantiation of these profound facts to a later occasion.)
Thus we are led back from 1966 to 1933, following this rhythm. There we are confronted
with one of the many often painful stages on the road toward the manifestation of the Christ
Impulse as the true spiritual integrity of humanity. Looking back to the events in 1933, we
realize that the road began particularly painfully. The year 1966 seems to prepare another
octave of the “Golgotha” of the Christ Impulse. We look forward from this year’s Easter to
the cycle of the 33 years ahead, which will bring us to 1999, the end of the century. It will
compare with the preceding cycle like the years of the conversion and missionary deeds of St.
Paul to the life of Christ Jesus. They will not be easy and will demand our extreme spiritual
wakefulness. For, during the oncoming phase, the demons will constantly raise their heads
against the spirit of the true Christian Mysteries. We must realize that the age of materialism
has not reached its culmination, and the decision of present humanity for or against the spirit
is still to come.

46
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - May 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto continued
These new planets might have been associated with our solar system for a long time. Nev-
ertheless, they show certain features that can be interpreted as signs of their joining the solar
universe relatively late. There is a great probability that they have been comets at one time,
coming from so-called outer space. Pluto definitely shows such features in its orbit. It is rather
elliptical, its eccentricity being 0.2486, that is, in its greatest distance (aphelion) from the Sun it
exceeds the mean distance by 25%, and likewise in its nearest point to the Sun (perihelion) it
falls back behind the mean value by 25%. By this alone it reminds us of a typical orbit of a
comet. Furthermore, the orbit is inclined by 17.14° toward the common plane of the other
planets’ orbits.
The aberrations of the orbits of the other two planets are far less drastic, but their Moons
show unusual features. In both cases they move against the otherwise uniform direction of
motion in the solar universe. For instance, if our Moon no longer moved as it does from the
West toward the East, but would proceed from the East gradually toward the West, then we
would have an example of what the Moons of Uranus and Neptune are actually doing. Apart
from this, the orbits of these Moons are set at tremendous angles in the common planetary, or
ecliptic plane of the solar system. In the case of Uranus they achieve angles up to 90° and also
the one of Neptune stands at an angle of about 35° on the ecliptic plane.
It takes Uranus almost exactly 84 years (84.02) to complete a sidereal revolution around the
Sun. Thus it needs 7 years to move through one of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac and,
thereby, reveals one of our associations with this planet. The seven year periods in a human life
are most important milestones of our gradual development into life and of our unfolding as an
individuality and creator of a definite biography. Particularly with regard to education are these
periods significant and conclusive in view of a healthy sequence in educational practice. So to
speak, our greater cosmic ego can come to manifestation along the stepping-stones of the
seven year cycles in human life.
We can comprehend this association still more if we listen to the descriptions of Rudolf
Steiner in Theosophy, concerning the Fifth Region of Spiritland which is the sphere of Uranus:
“... What we are here (after death) is really our “selves”: that which receives an external exist-
ence in the numerous and varied incarnations. In this region the true “self ” can freely live and
expand in all directions... The “self ” that has sought to realize the purposes of the spirit during
earthly life through an active thought life or through wise love expressed in deeds, will establish
a strong claim upon this region... The “self ” can feel itself (in the Fifth Region) to be a member
of the divine world order.”
Therefore, we must expect that when we incarnate, Uranus appears in the heavens as a
cosmic symbol of our individual association with that sphere where we were confronted with
our true spiritual “self ”. Of course, after having arrived in an earthly life we have forgotten

47
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

everything we experienced in those lofty spheres of spiritual existence. Now it remains to be

seen how far we consciously realize “the purposes of the spirit” during our earthly sojourn.
They are then our decisions and here lies our freedom. Even so, whatever we decide, we
cannot eradicate those prenatal experiences in the sphere of Uranus. Neither can we circum-
navigate the decisions for or against the spirit. The invisible beings of that sphere will always
be with us. If we ignore or reject them, which we are free to do, we will have to acknowledge
the consequences nevertheless. Then the forces and beings of the sphere of Uranus will work
through sudden and unexpected events, almost like “electrical” charges, and individual catas-
trophes and accidents. We have set them down, so to speak, in the pattern of our destiny, in
order not to let ourselves rest and stagnate in complacency and indifference. Thus will Uranus
work in an individual’s life step by step toward the realization of the spirit, against the inevi-
table forces of obstruction and denial. The latter are, of course, of vastly different and varying
nature in each individual case, caused by experiences and attitudes in past lives. All this comes
to expression in the position and interrelationships of Uranus around birth.
Neptune needs 164.77 years for one sidereal revolution. This is more than twice the aver-
age human life span. Therefore, this planet and the forces connected with it are at present still
“far above” the individual human being, though they work in our life as unconscious impacts,
which chiefly concern our integration and setting in the greater perspectives of humanity.
The sphere of Neptune would correspond to the Sixth Region of Spiritland which Rudolf
Steiner describes in Theosophy as follows: “In the Sixth Region we will fulfill in all we do, that
which is most in accord with the true being of the world. For we cannot seek after what profits
ourselves, but only—and alone—after what ought to happen according to the right course of
the world order.”
Thus we see that the sphere of Neptune is of still higher, super-personal significance for
the human being than Uranus. The experiences and inspirations that we receive here before
birth might work out in earthly life as associations with the great “revolutions” in human
history in all fields of existence. The degrees of participation are infinite, the nature as wide as
the whole range of human experience, from the highest forms of realization of the spiritual
worlds down to the establishment of adequate social conditions, or revolutionizing science and
technology. For instance, at the time of the great political revolutions, from the French Revo-
lution in 1789, to those during the 20th Century, the sphere of Neptune (represented astro-
nomically by the nodes and perihelion-aphelion of the planet) was always heavily involved. On
the other hand, such revolutionizing discoveries as electricity and its practical applications, the
steam engine, the discovery of radioactivity and its unfortunate applications happened under
the same accompaniment. Even the decisive stages in the development of modern astronomy
display a similar cosmic background. However, also the great cultural and spiritual leaders of
more recent humanity had such associations with the sphere of Neptune, which came to ex-
pression in their nativities.
In a still more lofty sense, Pluto affects the Earth and also, in a very super-personal fashion,
the human being. Drastic changes in the physical countenance of the Earth seem to be asso-

48
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

ciated with this planet and its sphere—events like earthquakes, volcano eruptions, etc. As
catastrophes they can present the most tragic occurrences for humanity, but in a higher
sense they bring about physical changes that are necessary for the evolution of the Earth
and humanity.
Also the great events changing, as it were, the cultural face of the Earth are somewhat
connected with Pluto and its sphere. Such examples are the discovery (or rediscovery) of
America by Christopher Columbus, or the beginning of the Reformation as represented by
Luther’s rebellion against the Roman Church in 1517.
Another example of this category of impacts is Lenin. When he incarnated the sphere of
Pluto was especially heavily engaged. This demonstrates clearly that it is always a question with
this planet whether its essential forces can be controlled and used by us for the highest perspec-
tives of progress, though they might sometimes necessitate drastic changes and innovations, or
whether they are left to steer the world into absolute destruction. They are, in a sense, the
perfect antitheses of physical material existence. Their aim is the highest degree of spiritual-
ization of the physical. Rudolf Steiner describes this activity in connection with the highest,
Seventh Region of “Spiritland” (see Theosophy). Therefore, it can happen that if we submerge
into material existence exclusively, in other words, if we betray our own spiritual entelechy, we
alone provoke the clashes and battles between cosmic retardation and spiritual progress, in the
course of which material being might be broken up abruptly and completely.
We have come to the end of the foregoing, brief description of the impact and functions
of the planets in the universe and on the Earth. In later issues of the Star Journal, we hope to
be able to go into practical details in connection with historic events and also historic nativities.
For the time being we might summarize the nature of the planets on the basis of Rudolf
Steiner’s description of the higher principles of the human being. This will offer plenty of
opportunity for studies in addition to what we are able to present on these pages. However, we
cannot emphasize strongly enough that any scheme of cosmic workings can never pretend to
comprise the absolute totality. For that, the cosmos is too great to be caught, as it were, in
necessarily limited human thinking. What we suggest in the following can only be road signs
that we hope will lead us to ever greater understandings.
Rudolf Steiner speaks of the inner planets—Mercury and Venus, including the Moon of
the Earth—as the demonstrators of the seven regions of the cosmic soul world. We have a
connection with this world after death through our own soul being. Thus we can associate—
all the time being conscious that this can only be one side of the picture—these planets with
the following soul activities:

Moon: The physiological organization of the human being needed for the process
of reflection and thinking. Of thinking, the brain and nervous system are
one part but not the whole. The deeper capacities of this soul realm, for
instance, fantasy, etc., are also associated with the working of the sphere of
the Moon.

49
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Venus: Feeling and its tool our rhythmic organization, breathing, and in a deeper
sense, also the circulation.
Mercury: Willing and its physiological foundation, the limb and metabolic system.

The “outer” planets, starting with Mars, can be associated with the cosmic archetypes of
our higher principles. For instance, in the sphere of Mars we are confronted with the arche-
types (or spiritual prototypes) of all physical objects. Among these physical objects we would,
of course, also find the physical body. Thus we find the following connections:

Mars: The cosmic archetype of our physical body, also with regard to its setting in
the totality of the physical world.
Jupiter: The archetype of our etheric or life body, in its integration into the whole
world ether.
Saturn: The spiritual prototype of our astral or soul body. This too we would find
here in the great panorama of all the astrality of the cosmos.

After that we come to the outer limits of the solar universe in the sense that ancient hu-
manity saw it. Only our modern age with its highly developed instruments of observation
became aware of the outermost planets; Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. It is still an open ques-
tion whether Pluto will be the last one discovered in this fashion.
However, we are convinced that there is validity in the ancient conception that Saturn is the
last one of the actual solar cosmos. The outermost planets are, so to speak, “joined” onto our
universe, they are still “in the making”, as some of their features suggest.
We would, therefore, see in the totality of the universe, as far as the sphere of Saturn, the
actual “solar cosmos”. We have pointed out earlier that the Sun, which we see in the sky, is only
a focus. Mighty impacts radiate from the Sun into space, and also, other impacts are moving or
welling in the opposite direction, toward the surface of the visible Sun. Therefore, we will
regard this totality as the “Sun” in an occult sense, in which case the Earth would be “in the
middle” of that greater “Sun”. In this sense only, would we consider the following association:

(The greater) Sun: The cosmic archetype of our ego (in a comprehensive and higher
sense). This would coincide with Rudolf Steiner’s description of the Fourth
Region of Spiritland in his book Theosophy. How this “Sun” can be evaluated in
a practical sense must be left to later explorations.

After having established our bearings with regard to the outermost planets, we can go on
to tentatively discerning their concerns:

Uranus: The spirit home, as it were, of our 5th principle, the Spirit-Self, or Manas, our
transformed and purified astral body. It is described in Rudolf Steiner’s Theosophy in

50
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

connection with the Fifth Region of Spiritland. As a rule it appears in us only in

germinal form. Only during long ages of evolution still to come, will we transform
through the power of our ego the untamed forces of the astral or sentient body and
thus create the foundation for the Manas. Thus it is a principle that will be fully
developed only at a future time, and in this sense we look upon the spheres of the
outermost planets as being associated with an element “still in the making”, as we
said earlier.
Neptune: A still higher region of Spiritland where we would find the spirit home of the
Life-Spirit, or Budhi, our 6th principle; it is also in a germinal condition, so to speak,
the focus around which everything will collect that we will be able to create through
the transformation of our ether, or life body and that will in the dim future blossom
forth into the 6th principle. We find a brief description of it in Rudolf Steiner’s
Theosophy together with a picture of the Sixth Region (or sphere) of Spiritland, like-
wise, in the book Occult Science and many others.
Pluto: The sphere in which we would find the home of our highest 7th principle, Spirit-
Man, or Atma. This is developed as we work through the power of our ego upon the
physical body. It is not difficult to comprehend that this is an extremely sublime task
whose accomplishment is almost beyond the reach of earthly time concepts. Never-
theless, this principle has been implanted in the dim past into our being. It is a very
silent, but effective companion that confronts us when we enter Spiritland after death.
There is its home, in the Seventh Region of Spiritland. But in earthly life these forces
…“remain unconscious under ordinary circumstances. They work in their uncon-
scious depth upon the bodily organs, which bring about the consciousness of the
physical world.” (From Theosophy.)

Thus we can find in our nativity, particularly in all that which happens in the heavens during
our embryonic development, a reflection, a kind of grand imagination of our background as a
sevenfold entity. By no means would we see in that setting a deterministic imposition from the
outside on us, rather a kind of indication or “account” of where we have arrived on the long
journey through our incarnations. We choose this moment when the heavenly clock is, as it
were, in accord with our own spiritual being. Of course, the heavens would display in this
account not only the “assets” but also the karmic “debts” and self-incurred obstructions against
full self-manifestation.

Commentary
As we mentioned in the March Commentary, a similar event [Uranus conjunct Pluto] oc-
curred during the year 33 AD, the year of the Mystery of Golgotha. In between, the rhythm
returned once during the 9th and 10th centuries—874 AD and 958 AD. The present recurrence
was preceded by an approximately similar situation in 1883, and will not be followed by one of
the same order with remote similarity until 2049-50. The closest to 33 AD will be in 1966.

51
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

We have a demonstration here of how the events and facts in the external cosmos should
ideally be related to our world of inner, spiritual experiences. This inner world we experience
apart from mere physical existence. When we return to the latter, we can find in the external
cosmos—in events of the order similar to what we are discussing—a kind of memory picture
confirming what we were confronted with in our inner world. (See Rudolf Steiner’s, Cosmology,
Religion, and Philosophy.)
In the March and April Commentaries we referred to the connection of the present mo-
ment with the Mystery of Golgotha. Much more needs to be said about this, which we hope to
be able to do in the future. About the significance of the Christ Events for the cosmic history
of the Earth and its humanity, Rudolf Steiner has given ample suggestions and advice for
individual study. However, we see in the recurrence of this rhythm, during the 9th and 10th
centuries, a remarkable amplification.
The idea of the Holy Grail (see December Journal) became a historic reality during the 9th
century. Parsifal was an historic personality, not only a literary fiction. This whole world of
soul experiences, which we find described, for instance, in Eschenbach’s Parsifal, coincided
with the events in the heavens and the three occurrences during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries
mentioned above. This would suggest that a similar potential of spiritual soul experience is
open to us at present, and all the more as it coincides with the rhythm of the conjunction of
Uranus and Pluto in Leo.
The knowledge of this puts a tremendous responsibility on human beings at the present
moment who endeavor to live an existence carried by full consciousness. We seem to have
entered a spiritual situation where we are challenged to take decisive steps with regard to the
world historic implications of esoteric Christianity and the Christ Impulse. For this would be
implied in the last but one cycle of recurrences of this rhythm—the one in 33 AD—though, in
the Grail’s events we would also see a decisive stage in the development and realization of
Christianity in humanity. The vessel of the Holy Grail that is ever filled anew with healing
sustenance (December Journal) is the imagination, in a general sense, of the creative power of
Christ in our soul. In the Grail’s story we see, however, this manifestation of the Christ Im-
pulse taken one step further. In the November issue, we pointed out that, according to the
story, the vessel was fashioned from a jewel that had fallen out of the crown of Lucifer. It
came from heaven, and this then seems to be the present challenge to a further evolution of
the Grail idea: to fill the vessel made of the forces of the cosmos as it comes down to the Earth
with the Christ Impulse. We are called upon to evolve a Christian astrology, and we are con-
vinced that it can be done. Such ideas will provide us with a lot of opportunities for future
work.

52
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - June 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

Ecliptic and Zodiac
We have arrived at a preliminary conclusion as far as the planets are concerned, and now
we will turn our attention to the Zodiac. Here we are at once faced with a problem that besets
contemporary astrology, which speaks of “signs” through which the planets move and that
bear the familiar names of Aries, Taurus, etc. Yet, these signs are obviously not identical in
space with the fixed star constellations of the same names. Why this contradiction?
In order to find a satisfactory solution, we must come back once more to the fact of the
“common plane” of the solar system. We said earlier that most of the planets’ orbits are
situated as near-concentric circles, in one plane but with small, significant inclinations. Fur-
thermore, we decided, since our temporary home is on the Earth, to take our own planet’s orbit
as the basis of that “common plane” of the solar universe.
Into this plane the axis of the globe of the Earth is set at an angle of about 23°. Therefore,
the equator, the biggest circle between North and South Pole, forms an angle of 23° with the
plane. Consequently, the equator cuts in two points through the common plane. One is the
vernal point or vernal equinox (VP in diagram), the other the autumnal point (AP). Within
reasonable time limits they appear always to point, throughout the year, toward the same fixed
star, far out in space. There is not much appreciable change, at least for the naked eye, because
the fixed stars are so far away that even the changes of position of the Earth along its yearly
orbit do not matter.

Figure 6

53
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

If it happens in the course of the year that the Sun apparently steps into the line of the
vernal point, then we know that it is the commencement of spring in the Northern Hemi-
sphere of the Earth. We take this point as zero of the “sign” of Aries, or Ram.
Now, here emerges the problem we mentioned: If we actually look in that direction of
zero Aries the ”sign”, we discover that far out in cosmic space appear fixed stars belonging to
the constellation of Pisces. In fact, we would notice that those fixed stars belong already to
that end of Pisces, bordering on Aquarius. In other words, the “sign” of Aries and the
constellation of the same name seem to be out of focus by almost the length of a whole
constellation.
This divergence will even increase in times to come, through the effect of the so-called
precession of the vernal point, which we demonstrate in the diagram below. The axis of the
Earth is not standing still. For instance, the North Pole of the Earth describes a circle, relative
to the fixed stars, which one can trace if one prolongs the northern end of the axis out into
cosmic space. The movement is very slow—at present it needs about 72 years for one degree
of the circle and a full revolution takes a little less than 26,000 years. This is called a Platonic
year, or a Day of Brahma.

Figure 7

Thus it happened that 2000 years ago, about the time of Christ, the vernal point was
directed toward the fixed star constellation of Aries, next to Pisces. It was then that the tropi-
cal “sign” and the sidereal constellations coincided. After that moment they moved apart and
will continue to do so in the future.
One can now easily jump to the conclusion that to work with the tropical “signs” is a
fallacy and that we ought to concentrate exclusively on the sidereal constellations. However,

54
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

we cannot suggest this on the basis of our experiences. There is justification in both aspects, if one
takes the trouble of discriminating between the dynamics of the tropical and sidereal Zodiacs.
The tropical Zodiac, or ecliptic (orbit of the Earth around the Sun) is divided into 12
sectors of 30° each. The division starts above, or beyond the point where the Sun appears to
stand on March 20-21. No matter to which region of the fixed star Zodiac this point of
commencement of the ecliptic, or vernal point seems to be related, whether it is Pisces, as at
present, or Aries, as in the past, the date when the Sun happens to be there is the commence-
ment of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Likewise, the other subdivisions of the ecliptic,
or rather the times when the Sun appears to stand in them, are associated with the seasons of
the Earth. And nobody can deny that this is a reality concerning the life of the Earth. There-
fore, we can safely say that the ecliptic, with its 12 “signs” or subdivisions of 30° each, is a
cosmic manifestation of life in general, and if we relate individual planets to these “signs”, we
recognize their particular impacts or imprints into the world of the life or ether forces.
On the other hand, if we coordinate planetary and other cosmic phenomena to the fixed
star constellations we relate them actually to that tremendous world which in ancient times
found expression in the sidereal mythology of all peoples of the Earth. There we are con-
fronted with a domain of interplay between divine cosmic intelligences and earthly beings in
the process of physical-spiritual evolution. A world of cosmic soul and spirit speaks through
the constellations as if they were mouthpieces, or gateways. This ancient world of great imagin-
ations and inspirations we have to re-conquer as a modern humanity because its meaning has
been vastly lost during the last milleniums. However, we are here confronted with a back-
ground of cosmic soul or astral being, distinct from the etheric potential of the ecliptic signs.
With this background we can imagine that during the age when they coincided, the ecliptic
signs received—approximately at the time of Christ—something like new inspirations, so to
speak, provisions on the road into the oncoming Platonic Year of about 26,000 years. Thus it
happens that many of the characteristics of the ecliptic signs correspond to those of the con-
stellations, as that’s where they have their origin; however, this essence has been translated
from astral into etheric manifestation. Therefore, we will now concentrate on the meaning and
impacts of the constellations in order to get to the source of things.

Zodiac
The perfection and the increase in visual power of the modern telescope has produced an
overwhelming amount of facts and results concerning the world of the fixed stars. Modern
astronomical textbooks and publications in periodicals are strongly preoccupied with the riddles
of the greater universe beyond our own solar system. It has been possible to penetrate deeper
than ever into the remotest spaces of the cosmos. Stars and whole systems of giant universes
have been discovered, of which the civilizations of earlier ages seem to have had no know-
ledge. In one sense we have learned a lot, but from another aspect the discoveries have made,
in some of the scientists’ own opinions, the universe around us infinitely more complex and
more mysterious than it was in the world conceptions of bygone civilizations. Myriads of

55
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

unimaginably big star communities, fantastic conditions of velocity, gigantic processes of trans-
mutation, and other facts have been perceived through the telescope or deduced from the
observations. Many answers to old questions have been found, but it seems that every solution
has produced a host of new and still more formidable problems in its trail.
One thing has definitely emerged: Our own solar system has become, in the eyes of
modern astronomical conception, an insignificant grain of dust and even less, as far as quantity
is concerned, to say nothing about our poor little planet Earth. The danger is, if one thinks the
conclusions through to the end, that life in our small and smaller world appears increasingly
meaningless within the greater setting. However, is it really a matter of quantity?
With the introduction of homeopathy by Hahnemann (1755 - 1843) there has at least
entered a challenge on the scene that might help us to solve this problem. Homeopathy main-
tains and has proven that substances are still active in dilutions and high potentizations in
which their presence can no longer be detected by the usual means of chemical investigation.
It seems that the dynamic qualities of the substances are freed to the extent that their quantita-
tive mass is reduced. Hahnemann was convinced that the continuation of the process of
potentization and trituration develops a spiritual, curative agency by which health can be re-
stored. Is it then an impossible idea that our tiny solar system is a dynamically integral entity in
the tremendous choir of “greater universes” just because its mass and expansion in space is so
very inconspicuous? Is it not possible that there exist other systems that also exert, on the
whole, a dynamic influence rather than make an impression by sheer quantity and size?
It will be our next task to find the principles of relationship between the greater universe
and our solar system. Earlier we have pointed out that, apart from certain deviations, all the
planets belonging to our solar family are moving on one common plane. Now we imagine this
plane theoretically going out in all directions into so-called infinite space. There it would
ultimately meet a number of fixed stars that, seen from the center, would be arranged perspec-
tively in a circle. The outer edge of this common plane is composed of the well-known twelve
constellations of the Zodiac. This division into twelve groups is very old, and the partition of
the year into twelve months rests on this foundation. They are determined by the (apparent)
journey of the Sun through the twelve constellations in the course of one year.
However, we have not always combined the fixed stars at the edge of the plane of the
ecliptic according to uniform principles. The Chinese and the Tibetans also have Zodiacs of
twelve constellations that seem to originate in the very dim past, but the groups and their
names differ radically from those adopted for the Zodiac of western humanity. This is under-
standable, because the fixed stars are also moving, though exceedingly slowly; in fact the ex-
pression “fixed star” is misleading. It is well-known, for instance, that thousands of years ago
the seven main stars of the Great Bear, or Plough, formed a pattern totally different from that
of the present time, because they have in the meantime moved to different places. Thereby,
they have changed their relative groupings. Likewise, also the fixed stars of the constellations
of the Zodiac have changed their positions so much that the forms that they compose today
are not the same as those several thousand years ago. Therefore, the imaginations they evoke in

56
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

humanity differ according to the age in which they are conceived. The important point, how-
ever, is that there existed twelve constellations as far back as we can trace the history of cos-
mology. They evolve in the course of time, and this is expressed in the external changes.
Nevertheless, a knowledge of what they have been and what they conveyed, as well as an
intuitive fathoming of what they aimed at (as far as that is possible under prevailing circum-
stances) can help us to discern their impacts and propositions, as it were, at the present mo-
ment. Therefore, the necessity might well arise to amplify, even to rectify, some of the notions
concerning the constellations of the Zodiac in order to obtain an insight into their present
stage of evolution. On the one hand we certainly do not suggest bending tradition lightheart-
edly, because, in a sense, it is a sacred heritage we need, but on the other hand we must also
realize that nothing in this universe of ours is built to remain static for eternity.
The Zodiac generally known in western humanity was slowly developed in Asia Minor
during the last few millennia BC. It came via Greece and Rome to present humanity. One can
find the essential aspects of it already in Sumerian, Phoenecian, and Egyptian civilizations, yet,
one does not really know where its birth took place. It might have been in the highlands of
Iran, because the word Zodiac is possibly a distortion of “Zaruana Akarana”. He was the great
Father deity of Ancient Persian mythology. The God of Light, Ahura Mazdao the Sun Aura,
was externally represented by the constellations through which the Sun moved during the
spring and summer part of the year; Ahriman, the intelligence associated with darkness and
Earth gravity, was externally represented by the “winter Sun” constellations. Zaruana Akarana
made Himself manifest through the integrated totality of the zodiacal constellations. He is, so
to speak, a higher octave of cosmic spiritual reality, in whom the unavoidable conflict between
light and darkness in a lower realm is resolved and redeemed.
The twelve groups of the western Zodiac are the well-known:
Aries or Ram Libra or Scales
Taurus “ Bull Scorpio “ Scorpion
Gemini “ Twins Sagittarius “ Archer
Cancer “ Crab Capricorn “ Goatfish
Leo “ Lion Aquarius “ Waterman
Virgo “ Virgin Pisces “ Fishes
Associated with these groups were magnificent mythological conceptions that have their
origin in the great religions and philosophies of the peoples of Asia Minor and Egypt, of
Greece and Rome. The orbit of the Nordic civilizations also harbored the most wonderful and
illuminating cosmological mythology. These sidereal aspects intended to express, in pictorial
conceptions, the influence of the various constellations. Astronomy at that time was still closely
associated with astrosophy—then a complex of highly intuitive knowledge about the impact
of the heavens on earthly affairs, on nature, or on the destiny of nations and communities, and
the stars were still considered to be only the external expressions or gestures of the divine
world.

57
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Commentary
In view of the fact that we have reached a kind of half-way position between the second
and last third of the present century, we might have a glance at the overall situation as it is
manifest in the heavens. From the viewpoint of the planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, we
either have already entered or soon will enter a kind of universal “autumn” or “fall” situation.
By this we mean that these planets will step into the place of the ecliptic where the Sun is in the
moment of the autumnal equinox about the 22-23 of September, or in 180°, which in the
tropical Zodiac is called 0° of Libra. Neptune moved through this degree already in October
1942, Uranus will step into this place for the first time [this century] in September 1968, and
Pluto will follow in October 1971.
Thus we find the situation in the sky that all three planets will have moved through this
point of commencement of autumn, or fall, within an interval of about 29 years. This is rather
rare. The last time these three planets came so close together was during the 15th century. In
about 1451, Neptune was in 180°, in about 1465 Uranus followed, and in about 1477 Pluto.
How can we look at these events? Have they any meaning at all for the inhabitants of the
Earth, beyond mere astronomical coincidence? First of all, we see them similarly to the pas-
sage of the Sun through the equinoxes and solstices, year by year. Nobody can deny that this
is associated with the rhythms of the seasons. These rhythms are important for the life of the
Earth and its inhabitants. They regulate the growth of plants that sustain the life of the ani-
mated creatures of our planet. We might say that we are dependent on them and that this is a
domain of nature that keeps us in bondage. Of course, we know that our ingenuity, in a sense
also the instinctive ingenuity of animals, can circumnavigate the inevitable limitations set by
nature. By technical means we have learned to even out the effects of irregular or failing crop
supplies. Within the margins of powerful cosmic necessities, we create for ourselves a sphere
of relative freedom.
However, this knowledge teaches us not to oppose the rhythms of nature caused by cos-
mic cycles. Calendars tell the farmer when to sow and when to expect the harvest. In a similar
sense we look at the rhythms of those outermost planets, which we have mentioned. Of
course, they do not influence the cycles of plant life, for instance, but far deeper reaching
concerns of the Earth and, particularly, of the human race. Also in these rhythms the human
being can achieve a relative freedom with capacities that are normally still dormant in us and, if
developed, represent an enhancement of our spiritual qualities. In other words, also in the
realm of spiritual realities must we reckon with “seasons”, as it were, when it is wise to “sow”
or expedient to “reap” and prepare for the future. But through the unfolding of our inner
qualities, we can become independent of such “cultural” cycles caused by cosmic rhythms.
Then the rhythms will become signposts and time signals only, not factors of oppression. We
will continue along these lines in the July issue.

58
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - July 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

The Zodiac (continued)
In the rhythms and movements of the celestial bodies, the great priest sages of long by-
gone civilizations read the will of the deity. Only relatively lately was the complex known as
astrology developed from the original astrosophy. With the advent of the individual and ego-
istic personality, rose the suggestion that it is also subject to the influence of the cosmic world.
It is obvious that much of that magnificent mythological conception of the starry universe
has come down to us in distorted and misinterpreted form. Thus it happened that we have a
welter of mythological tradition which does not seem to convey the picture of an integrated
whole. One might even arrive at the impression that the sky of these sidereal mythologies has
been arranged at random. In speaking of these constellations, one hears sometimes the expres-
sion “Sky-Zoo”, implying that the names were chosen rather arbitrarily, and that their arrange-
ment was possibly the outcome of caprice and not of wisdom. However, if one enters more
deeply into the dynamic and esoteric background of the ancient zodiacal mythology, one can
discern that it was the result of a very disciplined and logically comprehensible order of inner,
or spiritual experiences of intuitive nature. Certainly, the extra-zodiacal constellations also
have their proper places in that majestic cosmic edifice of ancient star wisdom. They are like
assistants and heralds of the effigies of the Zodiac. Those imaginations and intuitions stood
on a foundation that was totally different from the aspirations and even tasks of modern
astronomy. But this need not prevent us from realizing that they gave ancient humanity a
means of going through an existence on Earth that made sense.
On this basis we will consider, together with the zodiacal constellations of Pisces, Aries,
and Taurus, the whole complex of the effigies of Perseus-Medusa and Andromeda above the
Zodiac and those of Cetus-Whale and Eridamus, the celestial river, below. Although they are
figures associated with ancient mythology, they still carry a message for our modern age and
can well amplify the meaning of the neighboring zodiacal constellations.
Taurus and Gemini, in the Northern Hemisphere, are associated with the Charioteer, or
Auriga, and its fixed star, Capella—in some mythologies also conceived as the Divine Smith.
Below, in the southern part of the sky, the Greater Dog with the brilliant Sirius, the Lesser Dog,
and foremost, Orion the Divine Hunter, come to our assistance in order to form conceptions
of the zodiacal constellations above them.
There follow in the Zodiac the constellations of Cancer, Leo, and Virgo, most important
stages of the “great circle”. The Bootes, or Bear Driver, with the star Arcturus, his two Hunt-
ing Dogs, and the Greater Bear, or Plough form a magnificent addition to their understanding.
They occupy a large part of the northern sky. Below the Zodiac we find the Hydra, a long
stretched-out constellation who has her head below Cancer, whereas her body stretches almost
as far as the constellation of Libra. On her back stands the Crater or Cup, and also Corvus the
Raven is perched there.

59
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Very helpful interpreters of the constellations of the Libra-Scorpio-Sagittarius complex

are Ophiuchus, who carries the Serpent, and particularly Hercules, high in the Northern Hemi-
sphere. He kneels or stands on the Dragon. Above his head is the Serpent which is held by
Ophiuchus. On one side is the Northern Crown and on the other the Lyre. Below the Zodiac
are the Centaur, the Wolf, and Ara, the Celestial Altar.
Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces are accompanied by the Eagle with the star Altair, Cygnus
the Swan, and the big constellation of Pegasus, all in the north. Below, in the Southern Hemi-
sphere, we find the Southern Sea, with the Southern Fish and other effigies of significance.
With the help of these companions of the zodiacal constellations, we will be able to dis-
cern much better the great ancient imaginations and intuitions and also find ways and means to
translate them into modern concepts, without clouding over the old traditions.

The constellation of Aries or Ram: We find Aries on medieval star maps depicted as a ram,
resting on the ground and turning his head back toward the Bull and the other constellations
which follow him. This seems to intend to express that the Ram is the first of the twelve
constellations, or the “Leader of the Host of the Zodiac” and may go back to the time about
2000-3000 years ago when the vernal equinox was actually situated in it. However, it is also
correct from a deeper viewpoint.
Apparently Egyptian sidereal mythology often associated Aries with the bird Phoenix. Ac-
cording to the fable it was a most beautiful bird that lived a long time, according to some
statements thousands of years. When it felt its end coming, it built itself a nest of twigs and set
it on fire as its own funeral pyre. Then, out of the ashes rose a new bird. The life time of the
Phoenix was possibly a pictorial mythological representation of definite cosmic rhythms. Some
say it was the so-called Sothis period. Ancient calendars had to struggle with the fact that the
year, or apparent orbit of the Sun takes 365 ¼ days. For this reason the modern calendar has
to insert a leap-day every fourth year (4 x .25 : 1 whole day); otherwise, it would come into
conflict with the seasons. In certain ancient calendars, however, one let the year circle, as it
were, through the seasons. This rectified itself within a cycle of about 1460 years, or a Sothic
period. In this sense, the association of Aries with the Phoenix would mean the end and the
new beginning of a cycle of time.
In Greek sidereal mythology, Aries was associated with Zeus, or Jupiter. Jupiter was the
head of the Olympian gods. They had come to power against the Titans who were led by
Zeus’ father Chronos. The struggle of the son against the father took a long time and the
fortunes of the war swayed several times. On one occasion the Olympians were almost de-
stroyed by the Titans. They had to flee in all directions to save their skin. Zeus-Jupiter went in
a ram’s disguise to Egypt and stayed there until the tide had changed. In this disguise he was
called Zeus, or Jupiter-Ammon.
There is deep wisdom in this myth. The flight to Egypt wants to depict a connecting up of
the young Greek civilization with the stream of evolution as it had been manifested in Egypt.
Zeus was the inaugurator of that culture that deliberately turned for the first time toward the

60
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

world flowing into the human being through the senses. “Rather be a beggar in the world of
the living than be a king in the realm of the shades” was the basic philosophy of the Greeks.
The human brain had reached by then the present perfection, after a long evolution. This fact
was depicted in the ram’s horns of Zeus-Jupiter-Ammon of the myths. They were an indica-
tion of the convolutions of the brain. Out of this newborn brain-senses-thought capacity, the
Greek civilization was able to create that wonderful world of the plastic arts and philosophy.
There is a welter of additional mythological associations concerning Aries. They all point
to an inaugurative, initialing, or sponsoring spiritual, divine element working in Greek civiliza-
tion and also in other settings. In Norse sidereal mythology, Aries seems to have been con-
ceived as Gladsheim, the “glad home” of Odin, the head of the Aesir gods, dwelling in Asgard.
As we said earlier, the constellations in the neighborhood of the zodiacal effigies are a great
help in the interpretation of the latter. Above and below Aries are assembled constellations
which are connected with the Perseus-Andromeda complex. (They concern, as we shall see
later, also Pisces). Particularly Perseus in the sky turns his gaze across Aries down to the effigy
of Cetus, the Whale. Perseus is one of the 12 great Sun-heroes of Greek mythology. He is the
son of Jupiter and Danae. Therefore, he is half divine; one can even say, a messenger of the
gods. He has taken upon himself a great task for the benefit of growing-up humanity. Equipped
with the winged sandals of Mercury, according to another version, with the winged horse
Pegasus, he worked his way through to the home of the Gorgons. They were three sisters, one
of them being Medusa, who had the terrifying capacity to petrify and transmute everything
into stone that looked into her eyes. Perseus, being well aware of this, approached the three
sisters not frontally, but rather, he turned his back to them and watched them in the polished
surface of his shield. Discovering Medusa asleep, he quickly raised his sword and cut off her
head. Forthwith, he flew away holding the head of the Gorgon in his hand, before the other
two sisters could realize what had happened. Thus he delivered humanity from this menace.
(We shall hear later that on the way home he comes to the rescue of Andromeda, who is in
bitter plight.)
The story of the petrifying qualities of Medusa appears to indicate a danger of a hardening
that threatened humanity and which the gods wanted to eliminate through the half divine
messenger, Perseus: It seems to be the danger arising from the newly conquered capacity of
full use of the brain and the senses, which incurred, and still incurs in our present age the
possibility of completely losing any awareness of the divine spiritual world. It is the age-old
battle on the plane of thinking, which in the Middle Ages raged as the battle between nominal-
ism and realism, and in modern terms is fought as the war between materialism and human
endeavors to break through anew to the experience of the reality of a spiritual world.
We can also understand that an older cosmology regarded Aries as the region of the cos-
mic archetype of the head and particularly the brain, though not the earthly reproduction there
of. Furthermore, on this foundation we can comprehend the symbol that is used by tradition
for Aries . From a superficial viewpoint it is, of course, the ram’s horns, but from a wider
perspective it can be conceived as a sign standing for initiative, for inauguration, for com-

61
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

mencement of a cycle of development or evolution. An element that has come to rest and
completion earlier, which is stagnating, is permeated by a new impact from the “outside”, or
possibly even attacked and invigorated by a novel impulse. A world at rest and satisfied with
temporary completion can be fittingly expressed by a circle, the new impulse by a symbol
similar to an arrowhead. Then we come to the following cypher: for Aries.
From this aspect we can also understand that Mars ( ) was considered in ancient times to
be the “ruler” of this sign, and, as far as our investigations go, also of the constellation. Of
course, the affinity of Mars to “signs” and constellations must be interpreted with discrimina-
tion.

The constellation of Taurus or Bull: This group of stars, together with those in its neigh-
borhood, lead us straight into the ancient Egyptian Mystery civilization. One of the mainstays
of Egyptian religion and world conception was the cult of Apis, the bull-god. He was also
called Osiris-Apis, or Serapis, because he was conceived as an image of the soul of the god
Osiris. At some time the latter was identified with the constellation of Orion, south of Taurus.
The mythology of Osiris is of the most inspiring help for the interpretation of Taurus and
the associated groups of stars. Osiris and Seth were brothers and were at first in full harmony
with each other. But later Seth became hostile toward his brother. He decided to destroy him.
The legend tells in detail how he succeeded indeed. He threw the corpse into the river Nile
which carried it out into the sea. Isis, the sister, or wife of Osiris, found it and brought it back
to Egypt. Seth got hold of it a second time and cut it up into pieces. These pieces were again
collected by Isis and buried in several localities. Later, temples dedicated to Osiris were built in
these places.
Who was Osiris? In the Egyptian image of the universe, he was the representative of the
creative forces of the cosmos. Isis was, as it were, the Earth Mother, who received these forces
of creativeness into her being. In Seth (or Typhon) we can see the image of an awakening
power in the human race toward independence, acquired by gradual emancipation from the
divine spiritual world. This power in the awakening human being “destroys the god”. A god
cannot actually die, but can die in human consciousness. After his death Osiris became the
ruler of the underworld and judge of the souls of the dead. Even though he died in human
consciousness, he still works as cosmic forces into the Earth. But we no longer recognize the
cosmic divine origin of Earth matter. Therefore, the body of Osiris is “buried” in the Earth.
It is the stupendous energy that becomes apparent in the “splitting” of the atom, although this
carries the “death of Osiris” even one step further, into total destruction. Thus the constella-
tion of Taurus appears to have been experienced in bygone ages as a cosmic region that was an
expression of the descent of a divine impulse and its amalgamation with the Earth being or
even Earth substance. The divine impulse that bestows a new beginning on inert existence we
saw in the manifestations of Aries. In Taurus this has now descended one step further and is
active as an organizing principle in matter. This is also expressed in a Greek myth concerning
Taurus. Zeus, whose task it was to inaugurate Greek culture and, thereby, give a lead to the

62
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

unfolding of European civilization, once saw from his heights—so the legend says—Europa,
the beautiful daughter of King Agenor of Phoenicia. He decided to take her to his realm. To
achieve this he assumed the shape of a snow-white bull and mingled with the herds of Agenor.
Europa approached to caress the animal, finally sitting on its back, whereupon the bull raced
with tremendous speed down to the beach, plunged into the sea and took Europa swiftly
across to the island of Crete. Thus Zeus was associated in Greek mythology with Taurus, the
Bull, as before we saw him as Zeus-Ammon in the form of the Aries-Ram fleeing to Egypt.
The Taurus principle of creating and organizing the physical realm is very vividly expressed
in the story of the constellation Auriga, with the fixed star Capella, situated above Taurus. The
effigy is presented on ancient star maps as a charioteer. According to some Greek sources he
seems to have been regarded as Hephaestos, the Divine Smith of Greek mythology, or one of
his sons. Egyptian legends give us more tangible information. It is well-known that the Egyp-
tian sanctuaries were orientated, at the time when they were built, to definite fixed stars. The
long axes of these temples, leading through gates, inner courtyards, and temple chambers into
increasing darkness, acted like observation tubes. Certain stars, rising on the axes or passing
over them, could thus be observed in the innermost sanctuaries, even in bright daylight. One
has found that such an edifice at Karnak, dedicated to the great Egyptian Ptah, was probably
oriented toward the fixed star Capella in Auriga. Another temple of Ptah at Memphis was also
oriented to the latter already as early as about 5000 BC.
Ptah was the divine artificer who was identified by the Greeks with Hephaestos (whom we
have already mentioned) and by the Romans with Vulcan, the Divine Smith, living and working
in his forge in the depth of the Earth. (See Proctor, Legends of the Stars). According to the
legend, he has forged the vault of the heavens and also the golden Scarabaeus, the winged Sun
Beetle. The chief priest of his sanctuary at Memphis called himself “director of the artists”.
Ptah was regarded as the father of the gods and he is called in one text: “Lord of Thebes, the
great God of the First Beginning”. He was venerated as the creator of the gods, the origin of
everything that entered into (physical) appearance, the creator of the heavens, the founder of
the Earth, lord of life. (Uehli, Kultur und Kunst Aegyptens.)
With this background, we can understand the symbol which tradition bestowed on us: .
It can, of course, easily be interpreted as the head of a bull , the animal which, in a sense, is
like an expression of the heaviness and yet of the astral volition, as it were, of Earth existence.
However, it seems to us that there is more: the inert lower existence, expressed by a circle
(see Aries), is permeated gradually by cosmic being or a cosmic order indicated by the
upper circle.

Commentary
We will now continue with the greater perspectives in the starry heavens during the last
two-thirds of the 20th century. In the last issue we spoke of an “autumn-fall” situation, signi-
fied by the outermost planets. The first one was Neptune, passing through the point of the
autumn equinox in 1942. This coincided with the height of the Second World War. Earlier,

63
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

during the years 1901 and 1902, the planet moved through the point of the summer solstice,
between sidereal Taurus and Gemini. Some time later Neptune approached its own ascending
node (see January Journal) in Cancer, which it actually reached in 1920. This is obviously con-
nected with the aftermath of the First World War.
We have a case here that clearly demonstrates what we mean by an “autumn” condition in
a cultural sense. In 1901, Rudolf Steiner started to speak about his particular message, chiefly
to western humanity. Who was Rudolf Steiner and what was his mission in a few brief words?
He came as one who had a deep insight into the spiritual requirements of the modern age: the
need for new capacities of cognition, transcending those of intellectual thinking, which an
earlier age had acquired. He saw this as an urgent necessity in view of the change of human
consciousness since the dawn of the present civilization, particularly in connection with our
endeavor to attain spiritual freedom. Thus, Rudolf Steiner was, from the beginning of the
present century till his death in 1925, an untiring and valiant fighter for this breakthrough in
consciousness, giving advice and demonstrating in almost every sphere of modern life, the
possibility of the development of new capacities. He also warned abundantly of what would
happen if humanity would not take the leap forward with courage and determination.
Rudolf Steiner was born in 1861. During that year Neptune was moving through the point
of the vernal equinox. Following our trend of thought, which we earlier suggested, we would
regard this as a “spring” situation, as far as Neptune is concerned. Thus Rudolf Steiner incar-
nated with a special view on this cosmic situation (we are convinced that for reasons of karma,
each individual selects particular associations with the stars) that was further emphasized by a
conjunction of Mercury and Neptune (geocentric) at the time of his birth. He lived and
worked out that “spring” situation as his message of Anthroposophy. This will appear plau-
sible if we recall the spiritual workings of Neptune and its sphere. In the May Journal, we
pointed out, on the basis of Rudolf Steiner’s descriptions in Theosophy, etc., that Neptune is
associated with the “true being of the world” and with a spiritually evolved and responsible
humanity, seeking “only and alone after that which ought to happen according to the right
course of the world order”.
Then from 1901 and 1902 onward, when from Neptune’s viewpoint it was midsummer,
the first “admonitions” came. Warnings of such a nature, but also positive advice for correc-
tion, sounded forth through Rudolf Steiner’s work. The planet moved, meanwhile, toward the
autumn equinox. “Harvest time will come soon, and you will harvest that which you have
sown, in either sense. It will represent the crops of your own deeds and thoughts.” This was,
so to speak, the message of Neptune.

64
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - August 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

The Zodiac (Continued)
The mysteries of “spirit in matter” are connected with Taurus-Bull. In the ancient myths
we hear the story of the submergence of cosmic spiritual essence in the material world. A
future humanity, which is possibly not very far away from our age, will have to evolve a new
“mythology” concerning this constellation if it decides to stand in spiritual freedom and spiri-
tual moral activity before Taurus. It will have to evolve, of course, on a scientific foundation,
a real science of matter and the spirit essence contained in it. Atomic physics alone can obvi-
ously not do it. Rather it seems to lead to total destruction, if it is not countered by a realistic
insight into the elements that we meet in this field. The stages of the development of atomic
science were strongly accompanied by planetary configurations in the constellation of Taurus,
which is rather illuminating.
Taurus-Bull was in ancient cosmology the archetypal region from which the larynx and the
whole organism devoted to production and perception of sound and speech are created. This
connection of the Taurus with the cosmic origin of the Word is clearly expressed in the de-
scription of the capacities of Ptah (see July issue). Everything that exists originated in him as
thought; and his thought, like all his plans and ideas for building and artistic creation, needed
only to be expressed in Words in order to become “real” objects. Thus is Ptah the Creative
Word, some kind of pre-Christian conception of the creative Logos (see J. H. Breasted, History
of Egypt). This, too, can give us an idea of the hidden potential in Taurus that we will be called
upon to evolve one day as a spiritually free being.

The constellation of Gemini or Twins: The perspective of divine creation through the
sacrifice of the divinity that we meet in Taurus is taken one step further in Gemini. There the
created world enters a kind of rebellion against its origin. Thus a contradiction comes into
being, manifesting as world polarity, for instance, light and darkness, day and night, heaven and
Earth, etc. Even such a polarity as is displayed in positive and negative electricity is connected
with this constellation.
In Greek mythology, Gemini-Twins is associated with the story of Castor and Pollux, whose
names are actually borne by the two main stars in the constellation. They were twin brothers, but
Castor was a mortal being, whereas Pollux was immortal. Once they attended a wedding feast
which ended in a fight among the guests. Castor was killed, but Pollux survived because he was
immortal. He was deeply grieved over the separation from his brother and implored Zeus to
restore him to life so that he could again live together with him. Zeus was so moved by their
brotherly love that he consented to Castor’s restoration to life, under the condition that both
stayed together alternatively half the time in the underworld and half in the light of day.
Another story that expresses an element of even stronger contrast is the Norse myth of
Balder. Balder’s home was Breidablik which corresponds to Gemini. He was called the Beau-

65
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

tiful and his hair shone like sunshine. He was full of wisdom, exceedingly mild and eloquent.
Once there was great consternation in the realm of Asgard, the dwelling of the gods. Balder
had dreamed that his life was in dire peril. Odin, the All-Father consulted a Vala, a prophetess,
and she confirmed the forebodings of Balder. Then the gods sent forth messengers to take
oaths from all living creatures, from metals and stones, not to hurt Balder. All things promised,
but the mistletoe was forgotten because it was, in any case, considered to be part of a tree.
There was great feasting in the halls of the gods after the messengers had returned. They
threw all kinds of things at Balder because they knew that nothing would hurt him. Hodur,
Balder’s blind brother, stood aside, for he could not see what was going on. In that moment
Loki, the Evil One, saw his opportunity to take revenge for earlier mistreatment by the gods.
He crept up to Hodur and offered to help him take part in the great sport that was going on.
He pressed a bow and an arrow made of mistletoe into his hand and guided him to shoot at
Balder. The arrow pierced Balder’s body and he fell dead.
In this story the opponent against the god of light, in a sense an equivalent figure in Norse
mythology to Seth in Egypt, uses the handicap of blindness to realize his evil schemes. The
blindness of Hodur can be interpreted as an expression of the beginning estrangement of the
created world from its divine origin. This fact of the moving apart of the worlds of creation
and of the creators was strongly experienced in ancient Persian civilization, inaugurated by the
great Zarathustra. Originally the universe was united in the Father Deity Zaruana Akarana,
whose external manifestation was the Zodiac. (As we suggested earlier, the word Zodiac might
be a corruption of his name). But then a division occurred. Ahriman became the Lord of
Darkness, and he dwelt in the interior of the Earth. In the heights of the cosmos dwelt the
forces of Light under the leadership of Ahura Mazdao, the Aura of the Sun. And humanity
was called upon to bring light into darkness by tilling the soil. Organized agriculture had its
foundation in this mighty cosmic imagination.
This mythology, upon which a whole civilization had been built, is clearly associated with
the constellation of Gemini. The vernal point—i.e., the crossing point between the equator of
the Earth and the ecliptic, projected into the heavens—or in other words, the locality in the
fixed star Zodiac in which the Sun appears to stand at the commencement of spring, was then
in the direction of Gemini. Experience demonstrates that this ever-changing association of
the spring Sun with the zodiacal constellations exercises a decisive impact on the march of
civilizations.
There was, however, also consolation in the great conflict indicated in Gemini. Below the
latter is Canis Major, the Greater Dog, with the well-known fixed star Sirius. In Egyptian
mythology we find Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, identified with this star. She was the great
Mother deity, who remained after the death of Osiris, with the Earth. Even as the spiritual
darkness spread on our planet, caused by the growing estrangement from the divine world, Isis
still preserved the spark of divine wisdom in humanity through the cultivation of the myster-
ies. She nursed and brought up Osiris’s son Horus, who became the avenger of his father’s
death by the hand of Seth, and destroyed him in mighty battles.

66
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

For the Egyptians this star Sirius was the guarantor that, even in the spirit-estranged chaos
of the Earth, there was cosmic order and relief ever present. Whenever Sirius rose in the
course of the year before the Sun, they knew that the river Nile would begin to rise and bring
life-giving flood to their parched fields.’ Sirius, which was also called Sothis, was also used to
keep the calendar of the Egyptians in harmony with the heavenly rhythms caused by the fact
that the return of the Sun to its original position, or the “year”, needs 365.25 days. Their
nominal year moved ahead of the seasonal year by a quarter of a day annually. (Our modern,
Gregorian Calendar effects the correction by the institution of the leap day). After 1460 years
it had gained a complete year, and nominal and seasonal year corresponded again. This was
called a Sothis period.
Just as all things and beings in the universe develop and, thereby, change their nature, so do
also the constellations. Already the great Zarathustra perceived that the “Twin” in the heights
of heaven, Ahura Mazdao, moved down toward the Earth. In fact there exists in ancient
Persian literature a prophecy that seems to point to the Incarnation of Christ. In other words,
the ancient Persian saw in Ahura Mazdao the cosmic Being of Christ. He left his lofty abode,
the Sun, in order to perform on Earth the Great Deed of Redemption. Then Lucifer took over
the Sun, which until then he had shared with Ahura Mazdao. Thus, the constellation of Gemini-
Twins came to signify a most dramatic Triad: Lucifer in the Heights, Ahriman in the dark
depths of the Earth, and Ahura-Mazdao-Christ between them, keeping them in their bounds,
even redeeming them. This, then, became an Earth historic reality in the Temptation scene
described in the Gospels, following onto the Baptism of Christ Jesus.
In ancient cosmology Gemini-Twins was associated with the polarities in the human body,
as right and left side of the body, right and left arms, and also the head-limb polarity. This was
still the aspect of the unequal, asymmetric Twins that nevertheless are inseparably united.
Thus we can understand the symbol used for this constellation, a “higher” and a “lower”
world joined together by a “backbone” or “spinal cord”.

The constellation of Cancer or Crab: Although this is a relatively small constellation with
few conspicuous stars, it seems to have been regarded in ancient cosmology as important. In
Greece it was considered to be the gate of our incarnation, whereas the opposite constellation
of Capricorn was the Gate to the Gods, after death. This perspective appears to be a logical
continuation of the spiritual implications concerning Gemini-Twins. There we encountered
the great estrangement of Heaven and Earth, manifesting in countless spheres of human exist-
ence. Here, in Cancer-Crab, the two worlds have now come completely apart, which is also
expressed in the symbol we use for this constellation: . The two spirals move away from each
other and leave a gap, or abyss between them. In the symbol for Gemini-Twins, the two worlds
are still connected with each other.
According to the perspective of this constellation, souls descending from a world of divine
spiritual being enter through the gate of birth into an earthly existence in which they have at
first no recollection of prenatal experiences. They are deeply involved in building an earthly

67
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

“house” in which to fulfill the tasks of Earth life. Therefore, Cancer is associated in astrology
with the “house”, meaning everything that facilitates the incarnation: parents, home, environ-
ment, etc. This was also expressed in the association of Cancer with the archetype of the chest
of the human physical body. It is the “house” of the heart and of breathing.
However, we enter the physical world through incarnation following a definite aim. This is
expressed in another myth of Greek origin, although its meaning is difficult to discern. Cancer
was connected with Bacchus or Bacchos, the god of wine. The introduction of wine for
human consumption in ancient times was intended to help the awakening of the human ego.
In the impact of alcohol on the blood, the awareness of self was called forth as a reaction.
This self-awareness was the meaning of the temporary severance of humanity from the divine
world by incarnating. Of course, our modern age must seek the realization of our “self ” with
different means. The old methods and practices provoke intolerable obstruction of the devel-
opment of egohood in a modern humanity. This is also indicated in Cancer. About this
change we shall speak later.
The separation of humanity from the spiritual world was expressed in Norse mythology by
mighty imaginations that were also connected with Cancer. This is the story of the great
Guardian Heimdal and the Bifrost Bridge. Once upon a time there existed a bridge that was
built of air and water and protected by flaming fire on its edges. Bif-rost means “rainbow”. It
led from Midgard, the dwellings of the human race, to Asgard, the abode of the Aesir, the
gods. Heimdal, son of the waves, was its guardian. He dwelt in Himinbjorg, “the ward of
heaven”, or the highest point of the bridge.
Then the Twilight of the Gods occurred, the great battle of Ragnarok was fought, when all
the sinister enemies of the gods rushed up in open rebellion against Asgard. The fire giants,
the Muspel, stormed over the bridge to invade the dwellings of the gods, and the bridge was
burned down. Heimdal, who destroyed the evil Loki, was killed by the latter in turn—like
most, the Aesir died at the hands of their enemies.
Therefore there was no longer a bridge between the human world and the realm of the
gods, or spiritual world. After a certain moment in history, we were unable to reach out to the
reality of that spiritual world. This is what the story wants to tell us. And the connection with
the dynamics of the constellation of Cancer, as it is expressed in the symbol we use , is
obvious. There still existed then, however, an awareness of these higher worlds that had with-
drawn from our reach. We can see this expressed in the upper one of the two spirals of the
symbol. This can be seen in the connection of Cancer with the Scarabaeus in Egyptian
mythology.
The scarab is a beetle which makes perfectly rounded pellets of dung in order to deposit its
eggs in it. The unceasing labor of this insect appears to have become a symbol for the Egyp-
tians of the ever-recurring victory of life over the forces of death and decay in the universe.
Stone images of the scarab were laid on the mummies to make sure that the souls of the dead
could advance to new life. The little pellets made by the beetles were conceived as symbols of
the cosmic forces that cause the Sun to rise every morning anew.

68
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Thus is the constellation of Cancer also connected with the life-renewing cosmic powers
and beings which manifest themselves, for instance, through the workings of the Sun in the
universe. This was not just a kind of lyrical beautification of what the Egyptians saw in the sky.
They still had the capacity to experience hidden, or spiritual realities in the heavens. Along
such lines it must also appear plausible when we hear that the leading spirit of the universe
entered material Earth existence. This happened in the Incarnation of Christ.
Even as a humanity acknowledges the history of the Christ Events, it is nevertheless di-
vided in opinion concerning the dates. However, we see good reasons for joining those, among
them Rudolf Steiner, who advance the idea that Golgotha took place on April 3, 33 AD. In
that moment Saturn had moved to the eastern edge of the constellation of Cancer. Mars had
also moved into this group of stars, and Jupiter was to follow at Whitsun of the same year.
Thus we would have found Saturn in Cancer during the major part of the “three years” of
Christ’s ministry. We are also aware of the fact that in Christ there appeared on Earth, in a
human body, the mighty spirit of the Sun, who had hitherto guided evolution from that lofty
abode and whom Zarathustra had perceived and called Ahura Mazdao. Humanity had lost,
before the advent of Christ, contact and access to the spiritual world. Christ came as the
Redeemer and Builder of a new bridge, in the place of the old Bifrost Bridge that had perished,
according to the story of the Twilight of the Gods. Thus the history of the heavens became
Earth history, and the visible configurations in the sky appear as the reflection and confirma-
tion of spiritual facts and realities.

The constellation of Leo or Lion: In contrast to Cancer the Leo group is a very conspicu-
ous constellation, which figured as a lion in all ancient civilizations of the Near East and the
Mediterranean space. It was associated in ancient cosmology with the heart and the totality of
the circulation of the human body. This was expressed by the symbol which is used: . It was a
gesture starting from a center and moving in a majestic sweep toward the periphery. Thus the
periphery was conceived to be intimately connected with the center, and vice versa. The rhythms
of the great cosmos reflected themselves in the rhythms of Earth events and creatures. This
was a certain consolation for a humanity that had to live with the perspective of the “broken”
bridge of Cancer, as described in Norse mythology. The life of the cosmos was still pulsating
through Earth existence. It was realized by actual experience that, for instance, a cycle of time
such as that of day and night on the Earth corresponded to, or reflected one cycle of a year in
the cosmos.
Thus we can understand what the Prophet Ezekiel means (Ezekiel IV, 6), concerning the
prophecy about the fate of the Hebrew people and Jerusalem. “I (Jehovah) have appointed
thee each day for a year.” Likewise, they also conceived the movements of the planets through
one degree of the arc of their orbits as being reflected or represented in one year of Earth
time. This was born out of the ancient clairvoyant perception of the relationship between
cosmos and humanity. There is still a certain validity in this. We shall come back to it later.

69
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Commentary
In the July Commentary, we spoke of the movements of Neptune in the ecliptic since 1901-
2. We said that it was descending since that time toward the autumn equinox. It might happen
all too easily that people regard the simultaneity of the “spring position” of Neptune in 1861
with Rudolf Steiner’s birth, and the “midsummer position” in 1901-2 with the commencement
of Rudolf Steiner’s work as a “warner” and most helpful spiritual and cultural adviser, as mean-
ingless coincidences. However, we are in a position to point out at least one similar occurrence
in history. In 1371, Neptune was in 0° of the ecliptic and in the “spring position”. Seven years
later, when the planet was still in the ecliptic sign of Aries, Christian Rosenkreutz was born,
recognized by many as the mysterious founder of the Rosicrucian movement during the 15th
century.
In earlier issues we have already pointed out the significance of Christian Rosenkreutz and
of this movement for European culture, particularly as it was expressed in such revelations as
The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, Anno 1459. This impulse intended to endow the
new age, moving toward the awakening of a scientific consciousness in humanity since the
beginning of the 15th century, with a deeper spiritual understanding of its own historic dynam-
ics and tasks. Although Rudolf Steiner’s message of Anthroposophy is not the same, it never-
theless wanted to renew, in a contemporary form, the spiritual intentions of genuine, medieval
Rosicrucianism, according to Rudolf Steiner’s own words.
Before the “autumn position” of Neptune in 1942, something else took place. As we said
earlier (July issue), Neptune passed through its ascending node toward 1920. In such a mo-
ment the working of the planet is particularly significant, because it steps into an important
alignment of its sphere with the Earth, which is signified by the nodes and the lines connecting
them. This coincided with the end of the First World War, having been caused by worn-out
and unhealthy social conditions in central and eastern Europe. (See the outbreak of the war
and the problems of the Austrian Empire.)
In that moment, and before, would have been an opportunity to effect a healing change in
the prevailing social conceptions of humanity, following the advice of a person like Rudolf
Steiner. However, the response in politically leading strata of that time was very small, even
hostile. Instead, one tried to mend the dilapidations that a war, fought with astronomical
expenses in material and human beings, had caused with the old worn-out capacities of an
intellectual thinking that proved, in the following years, utterly helpless and even disastrous. In
the last resort, it was this kind of apathy of mind that was responsible for the catastrophe of
national socialism in Germany. Also eastern Europe was overrun by the deadening impact of
modern materialism and theories grown on its soil that had been developed particularly by
western humanity. An objective observer, who also knew of the “seasons” as indicated by
Neptune, could perceive already in 1918 and later that some bad, even evil fruit was ripening
on the tree of human evolution. Yet, there was and still is hope, but wisdom must learn where
to seek the good crop and sustenance for future “seasons”.

70
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - September 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

The Zodiac (Continued)
In Greek mythology Leo was associated with one of the twelve labors of Heracles, the
destruction of the Nemean Lion. This animal had jumped down from the Moon and was
destroying beasts and men of a huge part of the Earth. What made it worse was that it was
invulnerable against any weapon in human hands. Heracles simply crushed the animal in his
mighty embrace and thus strangled him. Then he stripped off the skin and clad himself in it.
This is how he is usually depicted: clad with the lion’s skin and carrying a mighty club.
This myth wants to tell us more than meets the eye. The lion came down from the heavens,
as it is a cosmic power. We can even think that it had a connection with the constellation of
Leo. Heracles overpowers it. He masters these forces by the strength of his own ego capacity.
This is the meaning of using the lion’s skin as a cloak. He has become a “lion” (of cosmic-
human power) himself. This is also the meaning of the lion in coats-of-arms of royal person-
ages, etc.
The suggestion of the Heracles-myth of the Nemean lion would then be that a heroic
human being can still reach out to cosmic spiritual power and sustenance, even if the bridge of
direct access (see Cancer) is destroyed. To be heroic means, in this setting, to be in full control
of self, to have acquired this control by occult training, or to have attained initiation. This is
further amplified by the characteristics of the main fixed star in Leo, Regulus, according to
ancient conceptions. Already very early we find proof that it was considered to rule all the
affairs of heaven as an absolute monarch. It kept the other stars in order. In Babylon it was
Sharru the King, in India Maglia the Mighty, in Persia Miyan the Center. There is the sugges-
tion that the name Regulus is connected with the concept of regal power.
In the association with regal spender and ritual, still prevailing in certain coronation cer-
emonies, etc., we see a definite Leo manifestation of ancient order. All ritual and ceremony,
particularly in connection with the institution of royalty, was originally meant to be representa-
tive of cosmic spiritual power on Earth. Hierarchical order of royal courts, even as it still
appears in connection with some religious institutions, was supposed to evoke in the human
being mighty imaginations of the divine hierarchies in the heavens. Thus was regal power
originally meant to establish cosmic order in human society and thereby maintain its inte-
gration. Also the Round Table of King Arthur is an imagination of the transplantation of
cosmic order into Earth conditions. The famous round table at Winchester in England is a
table-top of 18 ft. in diameter, divided into 25 sectors, one for the King and 24 for the Knights
belonging to the Order of the Round Table. It is obvious that the 24 seats were representative
of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac (twice twelve). In fact a myth of King Arthur tells that
once he ascended to the Seven Kings of the Septentriones (the stars of the Greater Bear) and
was taught by them the secrets of cosmic order with the commission to establish the same
order also on the Earth.

71
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

We said earlier that the constellations grow and evolve in the course of time. The great
turning point in their evolution, similar to the Earth and to humanity, was the Mystery of
Golgotha. From then on it appears increasingly difficult to connect, for instance, the ancient
meaning and interpretations with the constellations of the Zodiac. Leo is no exception to this.
The gradual transformation of the constellations, which must be contemplated and established
with extreme esoteric tact, will come chiefly through matured human spiritual-moral inspira-
tion and intuition.
When we discussed the constellation of Cancer, we said the main part of the Three Years’
ministry of Christ was accompanied by Saturn moving through this constellation. Immedi-
ately after Golgotha it entered Leo. By the time of Whitsun it was already there, and it stayed
there for about 2½ years. This was the time when Saul-Paul persecuted the young community
of Christians until the mighty experience of his conversion, which is described in chapter 9 of
the Acts of the Apostles. After that he became the great apostle of Christianity in the western
world.
The story of Paul is like a new prototype of the spiritual potential of Leo. At the gates of
Damascus he experienced the divine cosmic Being, the Head of the hierarchies of the Sun and
of the whole universe, who had entered the physical world through the body of Jesus. He
recognized then, the One who will step more and more, as the representative of all the spiritual
hierarchies, in the place of the ancient manifestations of cosmic power as it was, for instance,
implied in Leo. Through the direct experience of that renewed cosmic power in himself (“Not
I, but Christ in me”), he had the strength to bring the message and the conviction to his
contemporaries and to posterity on his journeys through the Mediterranean area. Thereby he
gave a new meaning to the ancient symbol of Leo , probably not at all by doing it consci-ously
and deliberately. From the strengthened center of his own being he moved toward the periph-
ery.

The constellation of Virgo or Virgin: This configuration of stars is represented on most

ancient star maps as a winged, angelic figure. In the famous Zodiac of Denderah in Egypt it
appears as Isis or Hathor, holding or receiving her infant son Horus into her arms. In Greece
she was associated with Demeter-Ceres and Persephone. In the right hand she holds the fixed
star Vindemiatrix, which means grape gatherer, and in her left hand she carries the star Spica,
a sheaf of wheat.
Below the constellation is the long stretched-out effigy of the Hydra the Serpent. Its head
is below Cancer and from there it reaches as far as Libra, the Scales. Upon its back stands the
Crater or Cup and the Corvus-Raven.
Above is the constellation of Bootes with the star Arcturus. It was often regarded as the
Bear Driver, because it seems to chase the Great Bear in the northern sky. But it has also been
represented as a Herdsman or Ploughman. This would coincide with the fact that in some
parts of the world the Great Bear was conceived as the Plough. This aspect is of great impor-
tance. We will presently discuss it.

72
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

We add to this background another important fact: During the ancient Persian civilization,
which was inaugurated by the great Zarathustra, the summer solstice (highest position of the
Sun during the year) took place in the constellation of Virgo. The vernal equinox then still
showed the Sun in the constellation of Gemini.
It is not easy to integrate the welter of mythological association of Virgo and the constel-
lations in its neighborhood into a congenial and comprehensible whole. They convey the
appearance of an agricultural community but this is only the surface. The deeper concerns are
not of a “commercial” nature, as it were, but a matter of transformation, even of transubstan-
tiation. This is already expressed in the connection of Virgo with the summer solstice of
Ancient Persian civilization. The summer solstice was experienced in bygone ages as a great
turning point. From the moment of winter solstice, the Sun was rising ever higher in the space
above the horizon. The ever more ascending disk of the Sun seemed to support, enhance, and
accelerate the life of the Earth and its living creatures. Then, from midsummer onward, when
the Sun fell back in space day by day, the life processes on the Earth appeared reversed. We had
to rely on our own capacities, feeling we had to awaken and develop our own consciousness,
particularly toward Michaelmas. Of course, these rhythms still work today into our life, but
they are obscured to a great extent by the artificiality of modern urban conditions.
In ancient Persian times this turning point in the year was ruled, as it were, by the dynamics
of Virgo. Earlier we have pointed out that this civilization was inspired and organized by the
Zarathustrian world conception of the polarity of Ahura Mazdao, the Great Sun Aura of the
light-filled cosmos, and the dark forces of Ahriman dwelling in the interior of the Earth. The
ethical implication resulting from it was to overcome the darkness by letting the light stream
into it. This could be done by tilling the soil and thus organized agriculture came into being.
But it has also the deeper meaning that each single plant we cultivated was a shaft of that
cosmic light streaming down to Earth from Ahura Mazdao. Thus the ancient Persians experi-
enced agriculture and all that was connected with it as a means of transforming the Earth.
This is even more strongly borne out in the myth of Horus. We mentioned already that in
this portion of the Zodiac of Denderah, there appears the effigy of Isis receiving Horus into
her arms. Horus is the son of Osiris, who was “killed” by his brother Set, or Seth (Typhon).
Set was identified in the heavens with the constellation of the Hydra, below Virgo. After
Horus was grown up he fought against Seth-Typhon. In mighty battles he defeated and de-
stroyed him. But several times Set rose again, always in new disguise. Finally he transformed
himself into a terrible serpent (the Hydra), but now he met his definite destruction by the hand
of Horus. In the course of these battles Horus, who was then called Hor-hut (Horus of the
city of him who spreads his wings), received the symbol of a winged Sun-disc, which was
affixed to all temples as a sign of the overcoming of the Evil in the world.
The story of Ceres-Demeter and her daughter Persephone describes a similar conflict
which was, however, resolved in different ways. Persephone, or Proserpina, played once with
her friends, the nymphs, in a meadow. Suddenly Pluto, the sinister lord of the underworld
appeared and took her away by force to his dark underground abode. Long did Ceres (Virgo)

73
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

search for her child, Persephone, until she learned from a river god where she was retained.
But Ceres also realized that Pluto would never let Persephone go. In her grief she neglected
the task of permeating the Earth with the streams of cosmic life. Nothing grew anymore on
the planet, and famine threatened the dwellers of the Earth. Zeus had to step in, and he
decreed that Persephone should return from her dreadful abode to the upper world. But, alas,
she had already eaten of the food of the underworld. Thereupon she was permitted to return
only half the time, some say only during the six light months of the year, and then return again
to the sinister palace of Pluto for the dark season. Demeter-Ceres instituted the Eleusinia,
festivals held at Eleusis in honor of her daughter and herself, to commemorate her long search
for Persephone.
A helpful contribution to the comprehension of the dynamics of Virgo is the mythology
of Bootes and neighboring constellations. Bootes meant “ox driver”, not bear driver, as it is
very often interpreted. According to Greek mythology he was the son of Demeter. After all
his possessions had been stolen by his brother, he was forced to support himself by cultivating
the soil. For this purpose he invented the plough. Thus he now stands in the heavens with his
two oxen, which according to other versions are his hunting dogs (Canes Venatici) and the
Plough (also known as the Great Bear or Ursa Major). Thus we find here a motive that we met
earlier in connection with the Ahura Mazdao and Ahriman perspective of Ancient Persia: the
forces of evil are overcome by “tilling the soil”, by letting the life-giving light of the heavens
stream into the darkness, even by turning the evil away from its path of destruction and using
it for the good. For in ancient Egyptian mythology, Ursa Major belonged to Set-Hydra. It was
called the “Thigh of Set” (Lum, The Stars in Our Heavens).
All this is very well corroborated by Celtic star mythology. There the Great Bear was called
“the Chariot”, or “Arthur’s Chariot”. It was and still is also called the “Plough”. King Arthur
was definitely associated with the Great Bear, or Plough. The name “Arthur”, like that of his
Gaelic equivalent, “Airem”, means “Ploughman” (see Charles Squire, Celtic Myth and Legend).
On the other hand, the name “Arthur” might well stem from the Welsh “Arth-Uthyr” which
means “Great Bear”. Arthur is not the name of a single individuality but is rather a title, or
degree of initiation. There seems to exist an ancient legend according to which “Arthur”
received a kind of initiation by the seven kings who are represented by the seven main stars of
the Great Bear (see Fiona Macleod, The Septentriones). Arthur and those around him destroyed
the ferocious monsters still populating the Earth as remnants of watery, vapory Atlantean
conditions in bygone stages of evolution.
The complexity of the mythology of Virgo is best resolved by studying its archetypal
connection with the physiology of the human body. This constellation has been considered,
since the most ancient times, as the cosmic origin of the digestive system, particularly the
intestines. There the mysterious transformation of substances, which we take into our or-
ganism as food, takes place. We certainly need these processes of breaking down and con-
version of the physical-material for the maintenance of our earthly existence, but we also
perform at the same time a kind of etherizing service with regard to the substances of the

74
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Earth. The amount eaten by the human race and thereby transubstantiated in some fashion,
since it is obliged to do this, must be colossal in sheer quantity. In this context the transform-
ing, ever changing dynamics of the constellation Virgo is unmistakably apparent.
However, all the transformation enacted in the human body and in the world, emanating
originally from the spiritual regions beyond Virgo, aim at the accomplishment of evolutionary
goals. Mythology expresses this by the imagination of the child, which often bears representa-
tive characteristics of the soul of humanity on its journey through the vicissitudes of earthly
life, invariably getting into conflict with the evil in the world, and finally overcoming it. Thus
the road into the future is freed from obstructions. The great imagination in Chapter XII of
the Revelation of St. John presents such a perspective. The “woman clothed with the Sun, and
the Moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” is an image of what we
can become in the future, if we have fully realized ourselves as a “self ” and the spiritual poten-
tial hidden “behind” the region of Virgo. Then our spiritual fruit or essence will be born; our
once material being and limitation will fall away. “And she brought forth a child who was to
rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne.”
The dragon with seven heads and ten horns stood before the woman to devour her child and
thus obstruct the road into the future. But he and his host were defeated by the Archangel
Michael and his angels.
With all these mythological implications we can now make an attempt to understand the
symbol that is used for this constellation . In all the other symbols which we have encoun-
tered so far, we can detect a meaning, but this one seems at first impenetrable. However, this
is understandable if we realize that we are here facing the deepest mysteries of existence and
life on Earth, the perspective of slow evolution toward a non-material future, the existence of
Evil constantly trying to obstruct the forward road.
In ancient times when the Mysteries—the cognition of the spiritual secrets of humanity,
Earth, and universe—were still intact, a human being who endeavored to approach them was
obliged to take a long and often tedious road of cognition and moral preparation. In a general
sense, one can say that three stages of inner evolution had to be ascended, or advancement
through “three gates” of revelation to ultimate initiation. These three gates seem to be indi-
cated in the symbol of Virgo but have been somewhat distorted in the course of tradition.
What did the neophyte meet upon entering through the third gate? The serpent. In the
case of meeting the material and yet so mysterious reality of Virgo in the human form
as the region below the diaphragm, the imagination is quite obvious. The intestinal
tract can appear like a big and long serpent. With regard to the mystery of life, as
meaning and aim of existence and evolution, we meet the serpent of wisdom, but we
also meet the serpent of destruction and evil. We need only think of the serpent of
paradise. This was Lucifer who can lead us to enthusiasm and exalted wisdom, but also to
rebellion against the Godhead and downfall, experienced in human sickness and death. The
realization of truth through the Mysteries of Life and cosmic evolution was, and is, the protec-
tion of the human being.

75
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Commentary
In the commentary last month, we spoke about the career of Neptune during the 20th
century. The time toward 1920, when the planet passed through its ascending node seems to
have been particularly important. This was the time of the aftermath of the First World War,
the Peace Treaty of Versailles, etc. Then came the moment when Neptune moved through the
point of the autumnal equinox. That happened in 1942, when humanity was already in the
middle of the Second World War. Then the “crop” that had been sown and planted earlier had
ripened. For instance, at the conclusion of the First World War, nationalism had remained in
western humanity as the only means to rebuild a shattered world. No new constructive ideas
were introduced. Then in the 1920s, nationalism demonstrated what it means to do, namely
destroy the individual human being. Similar developments occurred in other fields. Material-
ism, which scornfully rejected any notion of the spirit or spiritual world but became tremen-
dously aggressive in the technological sphere, created the Atom Bomb, and then dropped it on
Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Neptune was then still near the autumnal equinox and was
joined by Jupiter, according to the heliocentric perspective. (It coincided with other events,
which we will discuss later.)
The Atom Bomb and many more such developments, such as the immense pollution of
the soil, the water, the air, have brought home to humanity the fact that all is not well with
regard to the “crop” resulting from the civilization of the latter half of the 19th and the first of
the 20th century. It is quite obvious that the concentration of the human mind on material and
materialistic developments, almost exclusively, has created enormous “power houses” of de-
struction. And it seems that this kind of crop does not even decay like a bad crop in nature
would do, but appears to harass our modern age to an ever increasing extent.
Where will all this lead to and what can we do as a positive and redeeming contribution
toward evolution?
In 1984-5, Neptune will move through the point of the winter solstice, when winter be-
gins, from this particular viewpoint. It may seem strange that this should coincide with two
dates: George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in 1949) and the expected return
of Halley’s Comet in 1986.
Orwell’s novel describes a super-dictator, Big Brother, who will come by 1984 and, assisted
by the most ingenious technical means, will have absolute control and insight into the private
lives of all human beings in their domain. Thereby, he will completely eradicate human indi-
viduality. Only human automatons will be left. Why Orwell had chosen just the date of 1984,
we do not know. Something like knowledge of the expected return of Halley’s Comet might
have influenced him.

76
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - October 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

The Zodiac (continued)
The constellation of Libra or Scales: We said that Virgo can be conceived as a representa-
tion of the portal to the mysteries. It points in two directions. If we follow the constellations
backward from Virgo to Aries, we find, so to speak, the reflections of the mysteries of the
cosmos. These are expressed in mythological pictures of the kind that we described in connec-
tion with Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, mainly the destinies of the deities, as it were. In Leo
we find mainly an enumeration of the requirements that the human being needs to fulfill in
order to go on that journey.
On the other hand, Libra represents the threshold that we have to cross in order to pen-
etrate to the mysteries of the lower world, that is, of our soul and of the mysteries of the
Earth, of the elements, etc. In order to enter this world he must practice balance of soul,
because in the depth of our own being we meet, apart from our immortal entelechy, also
destructive forces. At a certain stage we are confronted with the Mysteries of Death, which
will lead to resurrection in everlasting spiritual life. This is the stage of Scorpio, the constella-
tion following Libra-Scales.
Libra is a relatively small constellation. It does not contain particularly bright stars. This
might be the reason why its mythology is not very distinct. At one time, before Julius Caesar,
who reintroduced it into the calendar, it seems to have been ignored altogether, or combined
with Virgo. There are suggestions that long before this it was regarded as an Altar, a Lamp, or
even an image like the Tower of Babel. This is rather interesting and would, in a sense, confirm
what we said earlier. An altar on which an act of religious ceremony is performed, is a portal or
threshold to an invisible, divine world. A ritual is a presentation of spiritual facts.
Likewise, the Tower of Babel was such a threshold of gigantic measures. We know that
these “towers”, or Ziggurats, were, in a sense, the equivalents in the valley of Mesopotamia of
the Egyptian pyramids. But these towers were a kind of step-pyramidal buildings or terraces
leading up to a top terrace on which a sanctuary stood, and they were dedicated to the planets
according to their varying colors. This was a kind of astronomical observatory. From there the
priest-sages followed and calculated the movements of the planets, which were regarded as
gestures of the gods. Thus the “Tower of Babel” was indeed a threshold to the divine world.
The employment of this symbol for Libra would suggest that this constellation was experi-
enced as a “threshold”.
This aspect of Libra was also expressed in Egyptian mythology. There it was represented
by a feather against which the souls of the dead were weighed. They were brought by the dog-
headed Anubis into the presence of Osiris, who sat in the judgment seat before the scales—
where souls were weighed in order to find out whether they could proceed to the higher realms
of spiritual experience. This might be the background of the symbol which antiquity has
bequeathed on us for Scales: .

77
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Above Libra is the head of the Serpens (or Serpent) which is carried by Ophiuchus, a
mythological complex about which we shall speak later. Still higher is the Corona Borealis.
According to the myth, this was the crown that was presented by Bacchus to Ariadne, the
daughter of Minos, a King of Crete. In his domain was the famous labyrinth that harbored the
ferocious Minotaur. Crete was so powerful in those days that it exacted tribute from Athens.
Every year the latter city had to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete to be fed to the
Minotaur. Theseus, the son of the King of Athens was once one of the victims to be sent to
the island. However, before he was taken to the labyrinth, King Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, fell
in love with him. She decided to save him from the terrible fate of being imprisoned in the
maze where the Minotaur was housed. Once the victims were in that subterranean structure
they could not find their way out and eventually the monster caught up with them. Ariadne
gave Theseus a ball of thread and a sword. He was to drop the end of the thread as he entered
the labyrinth and unwind the ball as he went along through the passages. Soon he was con-
fronted by the monster which he killed with his hidden sword. Now he was able to find his way
out of the subterranean maze by following the thread of Ariadne. On the way back to Athens
the triumphant Theseus abandoned Ariadne. According to another version he had to yield her
to Bacchus who demanded her as his bride. Bacchus presented her with the crown as a wed-
ding gift, which today appears in the northern sky.
Represented in this myth is the deeper, spiritual significance of the Grecian civilization.
The latter was associated with Aries, for the vernal point was in that constellation during the
Grecian Age. Opposite it was Libra, then in the autumnal equinox. The preceding civilization
of Egypt and Chaldea was guided by the vernal point in Taurus, as we said earlier, and the
Mino-Taurus of Crete was, so to speak, the image of a terrible remnant of the earlier impact
into a later age where it was no longer justified. The Minotaur lived in the labyrinth, because
the Aries potential of the new capacity of thinking and use of the brain was at first bewilder-
ing, and we were in danger of losing our way. We needed the thread of logical thinking, of the
right sequence and co-ordination of perception and concept. Greek thinking was different
from what we generally call thinking today. From what we have as heritage by such thinkers as
Aristotle and Plato, we can surmise that they still had in their thoughts a strong and direct
awareness of the reality of a spiritual world. In this sense, the Crown of Ariadne, Corona
Borealis, is an amplification of the nature of Libra being a portal to the world of the spirit. She
who saved Greek thinking from being overwhelmed by the atavism of the Taurus, had earned
the crown, because she had saved what was supposed to be developed ever more into a new
approach to the spirit, congenial to the newly conquered power of egohood.

The constellation of Scorpio or Scorpion: We pointed out earlier that, having come from
Virgo which represents the Mysteries of Life and through the threshold of Libra, we face now
in the heavens the representation of the Mysteries of Death. The symbol which we use for
Scorpio is . We can understand the arrow which is attached. It was probably an
image of the scorpion’s sting. However, the prefix looking like the letter “m” is a mystery. We

78
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

found the same symbol being used for Virgo, and there we suggested that it can represent three
gates or portals leading over three stages of an inner, esoteric development to spiritual truth and
reality. Thus we can read the symbol of Scorpion. The soul would find a double perspec-
tive beyond the last gate. The arrow or spear that points upward wants to lead on to the
realms of the spirit. The arrow pointing downward warns of death as an end in itself.
Both aspects were expressed by ancient mythology concerning Scorpio. In Egypt it was
associated with the commencement of the reign of Typhon, or Set, the murderer of Osiris. It
was then the constellation in which the autumnal equinox took place.
The fixed star Antares in Scorpio was looked upon as the rival or equal of Mars. The latter
was, and still is, considered to be ruler of Scorpion. In Central Asia, Antares was known as the
Grave Digger of Caravans (see Lum, The Stars in Our Heaven.)
This association of Scorpion with the experience of rising to the reality of spiritual, or
eternal life is not so obvious. It is understandable, because these concerns were closely guarded
secrets of the mysteries and of initiation. The neophyte who proceeded, after a long prepara-
tion to the final stage of initiation, had to go through a three day death experience that was
brought on by physical means. Afterward he was led back to life and now had a direct knowl-
edge of those spiritual realms that we enter only after death at the end of our life in the body.
This knowledge enabled him to master the problems and tasks of life through inner enlighten-
ment, which was in keeping with the great spiritual perspectives of world evolution.
Particularly the constellations above the Scorpion express this aspect. There is, first of all,
the effigy of Ophiuchus, which means “the man that holds the Snake”. In Greek mythology
he was connected with Aesculapius, the son of Apollo and god of healing. Holding the Ser-
pent, he is a living representation of the caduceus, the wand of the healer-god Hermes and the
ancient symbol of the medical art. Thus Ophiuchus-Aesculapius was, so to speak, the great
god initiate of the mysteries of healing. His skill was so great that he restored many to life who
had already died. Thereupon the ruler of the World of the Shades complained to Zeus, be-
cause he did not receive enough human souls into his realm. Zeus destroyed Aesulapius by one
of his thunderbolts, but he placed him in heaven where he can still be seen as the constellation
of Ophiuchus. His life-restoring capacity is in its proper place in heaven, not on the Earth.
Still higher in the Northern Hemisphere is the constellation of Hercules. He steps or
kneels on the Draco or Dragon who has the pole of the ecliptic in his grip. Next to his right
hand are the head of the Serpent, which Ophiuchus holds, and Corona Borealis. In his left
hand, as one finds on old star maps, is Cerberus the three-headed Hound of Hell, a monster
that Hercules brought up from the underworld in the course of one of his famous twelve
labors. Also the Lyra is on the left side of Hercules.
To be quite correct, this is the Hercules who was transplanted to heaven by the gods after
his death, according to the myth. Thus we find here again the motive of death and its transcen-
dence. However, we detect more. We are learning by way of mythological imaginations how
to transcend death. As we said, Hercules stands on the head of the Dragon, like a pre-Chris-
tian St. George. The Dragon in mythology and legend is always the representation of that

79
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

element working in us that attempts to hold us bound to the Earth and its gravity exclusively, to
make us a servant of matter and, above all, to eliminate with every conceivable means, all
notion of the reality of the world of the spirit. If this power succeeded, then death would
persist beyond the end of our earthly career. On the other hand, Hercules holds off the
Serpent above his head with the club in his right hand. This is the power in us that would
misuse our egotism, pride, and arrogance, to rebel against the divine world, to seek to establish
our own kingdom in the universe, apart from and against the great aims of cosmic evolution
which the divinity holds out since the beginning of creation. If this power were to succeed, we
would die an eternal death in utter isolation.
If we decide to transcend death, we must ward off the two powers that are lurking in our
own being, working to destroy us and build on our destruction their own divinity-estranged
cosmic kingdoms. This was age-old knowledge and wisdom of the ancient mysteries. For
those who had learned to “read”, it was even visible in the heavens, in the effigy of Hercules.
Rudolf Steiner depicted it in the great 30 foot high wooden statue he carved. It shows in most
expressive forms the anti-powers of Lucifer and Ahriman (their ancient names). Between
them stands a mighty figure, whom Rudolf Steiner called the Representative of Humanity, in
whom one can see the Christ as Archetypal Being. His gesture seems to be one of assertion of
the greater individuality of humanity, of that individuality identifying itself in full conscious-
ness and spiritual freedom with evolution as the divinity holds it out. Through this gesture
Ahriman and Lucifer are banned to the domains in which it is their allotted task to work.
Lucifer, the proud spirit, falls to the Earth; Ahriman is banned under the Earth, into the realm
of gravity. This statue can be experienced as a modern, christianized representation of Her-
cules in the sky.
Hercules, or the Representative of Humanity, would then identify himself with the aims of
cosmic evolution. Indeed, this identification is implied even in an external sense in the constel-
lation of Hercules, because in it lies the so-called solar apex. Modern astronomy has found
that our Sun is not standing still. It moves in space and takes the solar system along on the
journey. The aim of this movement seems to lie in the constellation of Hercules, in the near
neighborhood of the fixed stars Omicron Herculis and Lambda Herculis. and this is the solar
apex. (see Richardson’s, The Fascinating World of Astronomy, page 209-10).
To the left and right of Hercules are Corona Borealis and the Lyra, which we mentioned
earlier. They explain, in a sense, how Hercules can meet the two dangers he confronts, Draco-
Ahriman and Serpens-Lucifer. Corona Borealis, the crown of Ariadne, we discussed earlier in
connection with Libra. Ariadne symbolizes those soul forces that give Theseus the capacity to
find his way and maintain his integrity in the labyrinth of the newly conquered potential of the
brain and the senses. There is destruction lurking if we rely only on what is inside the orbit of
this physiological domain. To meet this attack of Lucifer, we must develop capacities that
transcend intellectual, statistical thinking.
The Lyre or Lyra, to the left of Hercules, not only concerns the complex of Scorpio but
also Sagittarius, which we shall have to discuss later. It tells how Hercules meets the danger

80
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

coming from Ahriman. Certainly, in the heavens Draco’s (the Dragon’s) head is held down
under the foot of Hercules, and his hand has a firm grip on Cerberus, the three-headed Hound
of Hell, another symbolic representation of Ahriman. But the Lyre can tell us how to meet
these attacks constructively.
The Lyre is said to have been invented by Mercury. Later on it came into the hands of
Apollo who passed it on to his son Orpheus. The latter played upon it so masterfully “that
even the most rapid rivers ceased to flow, the wild beasts of the forest forgot their wildness,
and the mountains came to listen to his song” (Proctor, Legends of the Stars). The nymphs came
to listen and one among them, Eurydice, was particularly enchanted. Orpheus made her his
wife. But one day she was bitten by a snake and died. The unhappy Orpheus ventured with his
lyre into the sinister regions of Hades, in order to effect her release. Pluto, the lord of the
underworld, and those around him were so enchanted by the music streaming from the magical
lyre that they permitted Eurydice to return to the living. There was, however, one condition;
she was to follow Orpheus on the way to the upper world, but he was not allowed to look back
to her. He saw daylight in front of him when, forgetting the condition to which he had agreed,
he glanced back to make sure Eurydice was really following him. As he did so, she shrank
further and further away, irresistibly drawn down again to Hades. After the death of Orpheus
his lyre was carried to the heavens and this is the constellation of Lyra. Here we meet the
motive of the overcoming of death. Although Orpheus does not appear to have fully suc-
ceeded, he at least pacified the sinister power of Pluto with his instrument. In this sense, the
Lyre also belongs to the complex of the constellation of Scorpion and its environment.
Why had this Lyre such tremendous magical qualities? It was no ordinary instrument; it
had been invented by Mercury and possessed by Apollo. In other words, it was a cosmic lyre,
upon which sounded the Harmonies of the Spheres. And this was the secret of its power, of
its death transcending magic. Thus it is placed on the left side of Hercules, indicating that with
it he overcame the Ahrimanic danger, for Ahriman is, in a sense, the lord of death.
What are the Harmonies of the Spheres? In earlier issues we tried to work out a concept
of the spheres of the planets. They are the areas contained within the orbits of the planets.
The latter are, in this sense, only the visible messengers of the invisible spheres that were
experienced in ancient times, still in Greece, as the dwelling and working places of divine
spiritual beings. We can know that also the souls of the departed live in these spheres. As we
have pointed out earlier, the spheres are set one within the other in perfect harmony, which
expresses itself in the harmonic mathematical progression of the distances of their orbits from
the Sun. This then is the Harmony of the Spheres. To know and realize their spiritual reality
and their inhabitants is the meaning of the Lyre, or Lyra, of Apollo-Orpheus. Over the one
who possesses it, death has no power.

81
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Commentary
In last month’s commentary, we referred to the fact that Neptune will move through the
point of winter solstice in the ecliptic in 1984-5. We also mentioned that this event appears to
coincide with significant future dates, for instance, the expected return of Halley’s Comet in
1986. As a matter of astronomical computation, this comet is supposed to be on its way back
toward the Sun already and in 1966 is outside the orbit of Neptune.
Comets are, as a rule, beneficial for our solar system, and therefore one might say, also for
humanity. Many of them turn up unexpectedly. Although their orbits can be calculated, rela-
tively few have actually come back regularly. For this reason they can, or many of them can,
inject new impulses into the solar universe. In a sense, they break the monotony and compla-
cency of the planetary system, which seems to be incapable of producing more than a per-
petual repetition of similar positions of the planets along their orbits. One might even be
inclined to regard the latter to be in a state of stagnation and frustration, although this is not
quite correct to say. However, compared with the characteristics of the planets, the sudden-
ness and incalculability of most of the comets is the exact opposite. Therefore, they can have
a refreshing and rejuvenating influence on the solar system. However, if a comet like Halley’s
has taken on planetary characteristics, by having become a regular visitor of our solar universe,
then it might be worse in character then a planet. In fact, Halley’s Comet has been observed for
centuries on its rhythmic returns. Therefore, its benefits might be somewhat of a garbled
nature. Indeed, Rudolf Steiner has indicated, on the basis of his spiritual research, that Halley’s
Comet was associated with the phases of our descent into materialism. In this sense, the
comets in the past had a real task, because it was, from the viewpoint of the conquest of ego
consciousness, a necessity for humanity to get a firm grip on the physical material world.
We have seen very little or no evidence during the last 50-odd years that humanity has taken
the least notice of this and similar warnings. Therefore, we should surmise that such warnings
are all the more timely with regard to the expected return of Halley’s Comet, which is only 20
years away from the present moment. The fact that we have now an “autumn season”, and
then in 1986 “deep winter”, as far as Neptune is concerned, need not discourage or depress us.
All too easily we are inclined in this age to falter when we confront cosmic facts, like the one we
mentioned, by succumbing to notions such as, “if the world is coming to grief anyway, why
bother”. This would be self-abdication and betrayal. There is no doubt that it is just the
autumn-fall and winter seasons of the ordinary yearly cycle that can be the most fruitful and
constructive times in a spiritual sense, although many of the crutches of nature fall away from
us. We need only think of the tremendous spiritual uplift a consciously experienced and cel-
ebrated Michaelmas festival at the commencement of autumn (September 29) can give to the
individual. Likewise, Christmas stands at the commencement of winter. If we genuinely seek
an enlightened connection with Christmas, it can evoke in our soul life the most profound
realizations of the spiritual meaning and potential for ourselves and all humanity. Therefore,
we insist that such a moment as Neptune’s commencement of winter need not give rise to
pessimism but should call forth a sense of responsibility and awakening.

82
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - November 1966

Toward a New Spiritual Astrology

The Zodiac (Continued)
The constellation of Sagittarius or Archer: This constellation is depicted on classical star
maps as a centaur, a mythological being, with the body of a horse but a human upper part. He
is usually armed with bow and arrow, and seems to aim at some object in the neighborhood of
Scorpio. There exist, however, also other representations which show him carrying a lyre.
Another centaur can be found in the Southern Hemisphere, the Centaurus, a rather large
and conspicuous constellation. Unfortunately, it is so far south that it cannot at all be, or only
partly, seen in northern latitudes. It is below the Hydra and surrounds the famous Southern
Cross on three sides. In Greek mythology this constellation seems to have been associated with
Chiron, the great centaur who educated most of the heroes of Greek antiquity. He was an
adept of medicine and music. The Sagittarius was connected with the centaur Nessus who
played a decisive part in the story of Heracles. He was killed by Heracles for attacking his bride.
Who were the centaurs? Centaurus, the ancestor of this race, was the son of Ixion and a
cloud. Therefore, we should not imagine him as an ordinary human being. He, and also his
descendents, carry the heritage of the ethereal element of the clouds and the peripheral atmo-
sphere in their bodies. On the other hand, their ancestor Ixion had been banned by Zeus to the
darkest part of Hades, Tartarus, for an unpardonable offence against Hera or Juno. There he
was bound to a constantly revolving wheel of fire.
Thus the centaurs unite an amazing contradiction in their bodies. On the one hand, an
almost heavenly element and cosmic wisdom (as in the case of Chiron) lives in them. This we
see represented in the horse-body. The earthly part, as it were, appears in the image of the
upper human form and, particularly, the head. In other words, we realize in the centaur an
image of an early stage of the human being’s cosmic biography, which then was still permeated
very strongly by the cosmos and its rhythms. In a sense, it is implied that the body of the horse
still reached far out into the cosmos and moved on the firmament. He only submerged a small
part of his being in earthly substance. This is the centaur’s head.
In the myth, Heracles is constantly involved in the destiny of the centaurs and is always
obliged to fight against them. On one occasion he accidentally kills Chiron, his own tutor. We
have mentioned already that he also killed Nessus. Once Heracles came with his newly won
bride, Deianeira, to a river. Nessus, who lived there, used to carry travelers to the other shore.
Deianeira sat on his back to ride across when the centaur decided to gallop off with her as soon
as he had reached the opposite bank of the river. Heracles, who had stayed behind, soon
became aware of Nessus’ intention. A moment later Heracles brought the centaur to the
ground, pierced by one of the hero’s deadly arrows that he had dipped in the blood of the
Hydra, or Lernean Serpent.
This was, however, the cause of Heracles’ own death some time after. On one occasion he
was entreated to robe himself in the blood stained garment of Nessus, not knowing its origin.

83
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

No sooner had he put on the gown when the poison of the Hydra, which had been mingled
with the blood of the centaur began to eat into the body of Heracles. The torments became so
unendurable that he decided to end his life. He burnt himself to death upon a mighty pile of
wood. But his noble soul was caught up to heaven by Zeus, where it is now visible to all as the
constellation of Hercules.
Thus is Sagittarius, the Centaur, a dynamic representation of early stages of human be-
coming. Heracles, whose effigy in the sky stands like an external reminder of a human cosmic
prototype and future spiritual aim, as we said when we discussed Scorpio, kills or overcomes
the centaur in himself. He does this because his task is to become an Earth dweller who
realizes his egohood. For this reason, he must sacrifice his own cosmic heritage, the body of
the horse, representing our deep ancient and egoless involvement in the cosmos.
However, he has also to pay for his achievement of egohood by emancipation from the
cosmos. The death of the centaur in him becomes the cause of his own earthly death, though
he is raised afterward to the heavens, but now he is a member of the cosmos as a being con-
scious of his own higher “self ”. This is the tremendous evolution implied in the story of
Sagittarius-Nessus-Heracles. It is at the same time the eternal interpretation of this constella-
tion: the ascent to cosmic egohood over long stages of sometimes painful catharsis and cease-
less endeavor. Thus we can also understand and accept the symbol which is used for it .
Furthermore, we can also comprehend why it was regarded since ancient times as the cosmic
archetypal region of the thighs of the human body. From Aries to Virgo we see a gradual
turning to an inner world, in a physiological-archetypal sense, until in the Virgo region of the
human body we are confronted with a sphere that reaches a culmination of isolation from the
external world. After that we find already in Libra the beginning of a turning again to the
external world, and in Sagittarius the physiology of the human body definitely orientates itself
through the thighs toward the surface of the Earth.

The constellations of Capricorn or Goatfish, and Aquarius or Waterman: The two effigies
are closely interconnected. Capricorn appears to have inherited some of the twofold aspects
of Sagittarius. It is usually depicted as an ibex, a rare animal that lives only in the highest
mountain regions of the world, but instead of hind legs, it has a fish’s tail. This indicates that,
although it lives in extreme altitudes, it nevertheless reaches down into the watery element.
The fishtail lies under Aquarius, in fact it is submerged in the water which flows from the urn
of Aquarius-Waterman. This water forms the “Sea”, as it was known in Chaldean astronomy.
It is composed of the constellation Eridanus the river, the Southern Fish (Pisces Australis), and
Cetus or Whale.
In Greek mythology we find Capricorn regarded as the Gate of the Gods; the opposite
constellation of Cancer was the Gate of Birth, or descent of human souls [into material exist-
ence]. In Norse myth it was associated with Alfheim, the dwelling of the elves, or dwarfs.
They were divided into white elves and black elves, both being great artificers who were even
employed by the Aesir gods. They made such wondrous things as the sword of Odin, the ship

84
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

of Balder, etc. However, the black elves were enemies of the Aesir gods and were want to
work destruction. In India this constellation was depicted as the Makara, a sea-monster, which
was the steed of the great god Varuna.
In all these mythologies we discover the double aspect that we mentioned above. Thus we
can well say that this constellation appears as a connecting link, or a kind of mediator, between
heaven and Earth. Indeed, the horns of the Ibex are like antennae that receive the elements of
the cosmos, and the body, particularly the fish’s tail, transmits them to the “waters of the
deep”.
The nature of the heavenly gifts that the Capricorn-Ibex receives from above is well repre-
sented by Cygnus the Swan and Aquila the Eagle, in the sky above this part of the ecliptic. The
latter constellation was the Eagle of Zeus in Greek sidereal mythology. Cygnus the Swan,
seems to have been simply the bird living high above Earth weightiness. With this background
we can understand the traditional symbol or of Capricorn and also its association with the
knee of the human body. The knee-pan carries the full weight of the upper part of the human
frame, and it also makes a flexibility possible that allows us to walk gracefully and in a harmo-
nious rhythm. Whereas we have in Capricorn a representation of the portal to the cosmos, so
does Aquarius-Waterman reflect something of the splendor of the cosmos itself. In Indian
cosmology this constellation was Varuna, the great Indian God, who was second only to Indra
in importance. He seems to have been the same who was recognized in Ancient Persian world
conception as Ahura Mazdao, the great Aura of the Sun. He was the guardian of Rita the
cosmic order, and had created the rhythms in the universe, like day and night, the seasons, etc.,
which are all made by cosmic rhythms. The opposite, “Nonrita”, or An Rita, became in later
days “one of the most common words for untruth and sin” (Basham, The Wonder that was India).
Likewise, the opponent of the cosmic order of Ahura Mazdao, Ahriman, was regarded as the
father of the lie.
In Greek mythology, Aquarius was associated with the goddess Hebe, who provided the
Olympian gods with nectar and ambrosia, the heavenly, or cosmic food which gave them eter-
nal youthfulness. For some reason Hebe lost her high office. Some say this happened because
she became the bride of Hercules after he had ascended to heaven. Therefore, Zeus had to
look for another cup-bearer. The Eagle (constellation Aquila) was sent down to search for a
substitute. He found Ganymede, the son of a King of Troy, and carries him on his wings up to
Olympus to take over the office of Hebe. Thus a mortal had become the caretaker of the food
of the cosmos, a tremendous change and perspective of a future relationship between all hu-
manity and the cosmos.
Above the Aquarius is the head of the constellation of Pegasus, the winged horse. He had
been created by Neptune from the foam of the salty sea. Thus he rises in the heavens from the
part of the sky that the ancients called “the Sea”. He lived in the sacred grove of the Muses,
where he had kicked open the fountain of Hippocrene, the fountain of poetic inspiration.
The horse in mythology is an image of intelligence. For instance, the four horses in the
Revelation of St. John (chapter VI)—the white, red, black, and pale horses—are perfect illus-

85
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

trations of the divine intelligence that will manifest in corresponding future ages of evolution.
The winged Pegasus belongs to a similar category of cosmic intelligence. It will endow all who
turn to him with inspiration. Human deed, not only poetic creation, rising from such inspira-
tion, is a manifestation of the cosmos on Earth. In actual content and effect, as well as timing
and rhythm, an inspired action of this nature can become a humanized and individualized
realization of the cosmos of the stars and its functions. Often we might not even be aware of
it; however, the future will demand more and more conscious action from us as a preparation
for distant stages of human and cosmic evolution. This is the message of Aquarius-Waterman.
Thus we can also understand the symbol of Aquarius ( ) as the waters of the deep reflect
and become even one with the waters of the heights. Furthermore, we find the dynamics of
this constellation at least indicated in the corresponding physiological counter image of the
human body. In the opposite constellation of Leo we found the archetype of the center of our
circulation, particularly of the heart. In Aquarius this stream of the circulation is brought to
the periphery of the body—to the “cosmos” of the environment.

The constellation of Pisces or Fishes: Like the opposite constellation of Virgo, the Pisces
in Greek mythology is connected with that divine element in the cosmos that is represented as
a female being. However, here it is a story of persecution and oppression, and following
rescue. Once when the Olympian gods, Venus and her son Cupid, had to flee from the wrath
of the giant monster, Typhoeus or Typhon, they changed themselves into fish in order to
escape the persecution. These are the two fish of the corresponding constellation in the heav-
ens, connected with a ribbon of stars.
The most illuminating information we obtain from the story of Andromeda, whose con-
stellation is above Pisces. She was the daughter of King Cepheus of Ethiopia and his Queen
Cassiopeia. Both their constellations can be found in the northern sky above Andromeda.
Cassiopeia was beautiful, and one day she claimed that she was more beautiful then the Nereids,
the daughters of Neptune. The Nereids complained to their father who rose in anger from the
sea and sent a monster, the Cetus or Whale, to Ethiopia. (This constellation can be seen below
Pisces-Fishes). The ferocious creature soon laid waste to the country. King Cephus had to
consult an oracle and was told that the only way to appease Neptune’s anger was to sacrifice his
daughter Andromeda to the monster, the Cetus. The suffering of the population became so
great that the reluctant King had to give his consent. Andromeda was brought to the seashore
to be chained to a rock. The Cetus approached already to devour her when Perseus came flying
overhead on his way back from the expedition in which he had killed the Medusa. (See descrip-
tion of the constellation Aries). He realized at once the plight of the maiden and, exposing the
severed head of the Medusa he still carried in his hand, he swooped down on the sea-monster.
It was instantly turned into a huge rock, for Medusa’s head still had the power to petrify every-
thing that met its gaze.
As always in mythological representations, the female element is an expression of soul
forces, either of human nature or cosmic beings. Andromeda is obviously associated with the

86
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

human soul element, because her parents are humans who attract, as Cassiopeia, even the
wrath of the divinity. However, she is of outstanding qualities as her effigy in the heavens
demonstrates. She stands there with outstretched arms, chained to a rock. But the fixed star
Alpheratz, which marks her forehead, belongs also to the body of Pegasus. Thus the latter
constellation seems to rise up out of the head of Andromeda.
We have pointed out earlier that the image of the horse in mythology represents intelli-
gence. The Pegasus, however, is winged or divine cosmic intelligence. Thus Andromeda
appears in the heavens as a representation of human soul forces that are the bearers of cosmic,
not narrow earthly, intelligence. They are chained to the rocks of material Earth existence and
threatened by monsters who dwell in the twilight of an atavistic, watery element. But they are
rescued by the half divine hero Perseus who has overcome the powers of petrifying Earth
experience. This is indeed a tremendous picture of the situation in which the human soul
found itself in ancient times. But at the same time it contains also a mighty perspective of
future stages of human evolution.
In the preceding constellations we saw the possibility of a magnificent rise for all of us to
a new relationship with the cosmos and the spiritual world beyond it. In Sagittarius we are
confronted with the mighty battle for the realization of our egohood. In Capricorn we witness
the struggle to find the right relationship between the human microcosmos, endowed with
selfhood, and the macrocosmos. In Aquarius we are witnessing the beginnings of our new
union with the macrocosmos (see the story of Ganymede, the human cup-bearer on Olympus).
Now in Pisces we face simply the questions of why this evolution should take place, what its
cosmic purpose is supposed to be. By submergence in the physical material element, by being
chained to the rock, by suffering greatly, we will be called upon in the end (Pisces is the “end of
the Zodiac”) to transform the Earth and to redeem its inhabitants who were drawn into our
destiny in the kingdoms below us.
We have heard this message of transformation once before in connection with Virgo. But
there it was the transformation inaugurated by the gods in order to make of us the instrument
that we are expected to become. Now, in Pisces we stand alone. Along a painful road we have
come to the realization of our “self ” and the cosmos. As much as we can unite ourselves as a
“self ” with the cosmos, so much can we enact and perform that great deed of redemption and
transformation. This is the story and the potential of Pisces.
On the background of all this, we can discern a meaning in the traditional symbol for this
constellation. #10b. In Gemini we found the world above and below, the heavens and the
Earth, the division into the manifoldness of beings and objects of what once was
united. This must “in the end” become brotherhood of universal love, standing
side by side to achieve the goal. We can, thus, understand the association of this
constellation with feet and hands, because these are the periphery or “ends” of the
body; and also, with our hands we will be able to accomplish that great work of
redemption.

87
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Commentary
In the last commentaries we spoke about Neptune, who leads the march of the outermost
planets into a kind of super autumn and winter season. The next one to follow will be Uranus.
In 1968, it will enter the point of the autumnal equinox and in 1988 the point of winter
solstice. During the fall-autumn cycle, Uranus will step into its own descending node in 1984.
Last month we mentioned that those years between 1980 and 1990 might be crucial times
requiring a maximum of spiritual wakefulness. However, to study similar occurrences before,
can give us strengthening thoughts. Uranus moved through its ascending node in 1861. This
was the year when Rudolf Steiner was born. Thus this event in the heavens was accompanied
by something like a spring morning call from the cosmic spiritual world. And indeed, someone
who has studied and lived with Rudolf Steiner’s message to our modern age, Anthroposophy,
will realize that it is a science that wants to provide human beings with methodical means of
finding their own free and knowing access to the reality of the spiritual world.
Then, about the turn of the century, Uranus moved into its descending node, which it
actually reached in 1901. This was the time when Rudolf Steiner found the opportunity to
speak for the first time about Anthroposophy. It was a late autumn season from the point of
view of Uranus. It was also, in Rudolf Steiner’s own judgment, a bleak spell with regard to
spiritual culture. Into this “wintry” season he introduced the message of the possibility and the
urgent need for the awakening of the spiritual potential that we all have. This is how any such
autumn and winter, particularly in the sense of the outermost planets, should be met by hu-
manity. Just in moments when the external supports and crutches fail, as they do in nature
when autumn comes, we can find an opportunity to unfold and develop our own creative
capacities. This is the meaning of the Michaelmas and Christmas festivals, transcending their
significance as festivals of remembrance only.
On this background one should expect that the return of Uranus to its ascending node in
1945 brought a kind of recurrence or reaffirmation of the morning call that entered the world
in 1861. It is, of course, too soon to arrive at a definite judgment, because we are only 21 years
away from that event in 1945. But we have witnessed that there weren’t exactly healing deeds
introduced into modern humanity. It was the year of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Thus, we see a mighty perspective unfolding itself in modern history. A tremendous battle
has obviously been raging for decades. We are, of course, fully aware that not all people are
inclined to see the events in this light. It must be admitted that this picture does not give much
support to the idea of material comfort but, rather, calls forth a sense of individual responsibil-
ity. However, to see the cosmic circumstances that accompanied the birth of a man like Rudolf
Steiner and the commencement of his ceaseless efforts to lead humanity out of the materialis-
tic impasse, answered one Uranus cycle later by the introduction of the practical possibility of
total annihilation, should make us think twice.
It was not easy in the past to define the battlefronts and the opposing armies in this great,
modern conflict, because the war is fought on a multitude of fronts, and mostly those involved

88
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

are oblivious of what is really attempted. However, the latest developments show clearly that
events are more and more maneuvering toward a final decision. On the one hand, the idea of
a human as being only an animal, emerges ever more strongly, or of a mechanized and comput-
erized society, which wants to eliminate the uncomfortable, allegedly crisis-causing ego and all
that it stands for, by all kinds of means—technologically and by drugs. Thus a “happy ant-
heap” humanity is supposed to be created. Against this there are the old religious beliefs, all
kinds of old philosophies, convention, and tradition etc., in rather helpless counter-front that
could be activated and made invincible by a “spiritual cognition” of our real being as an eternal
entelechy of decisive cosmic significance in future times.

89
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - December 1966

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

The Star Journal has reached a certain conclusion with the November issue. In numbers
one to fourteen we have built up an outline of the essential properties and functions of the
Zodiac, with the surrounding fixed stars and the planets of the solar system. Thus we have
gathered the necessary building stones for further detailed investigations. Now it will be a
question of practicing our approach. Therefore, we will direct our attention in future issues to:
a) the current events in the heavens with concurrent events in history and b) the star events at
the time of the incarnation and death of historic personalities. Thereby, we hope to provide a
comprehensive presentation of the connection of Earth and individuals with the cosmos, as
we see it from the background of a spiritual science. We also hope that this will serve as a
practical introduction into our vistas of a spiritual astrology, both in a factual and in an ethical sense.
We shall in time elaborate all the details of these diaries of the cosmic events; thereby, we
hope to establish a foundation for a constructive confrontation of the occurrences in the
heavens as spiritually free human beings. We read so often in astrological almanacs of conno-
tations such as “good” or “bad” attached to the aspects of the planets among themselves, etc.
This can be frustrating to the point of no longer feeling that we are making own decisions and
actions. There is no need for this, and it must be said that many of the contemporary astrolo-
gers have moved away from such approaches and have come to regard the so-called “evil” or
“bad” cosmic influences as challenges that can, with certain provisions, even be helpful.
We select, to start with, the position of Mars in its aphelion for an investigation of the
possible meaning of this event. This is the moment when the planet is farthest away from the
Sun along its orbit (see January ’66).
The first question is, how and where can we find this kind of information? There are
several ways and sources. For instance it is mentioned in Raphael’s Astronomical Ephemeris of the
Planet’s Places for 1966 (geocentric), (published by W. Foulsham & Co. England), under “Phe-
nomena, 1966” on page 29. It can also be found in The American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac
for the year 1966 on page 4, under “Heliocentric Phenomena”. As the latter (US Government
Printing Office, Washington DC) is a joint publication with Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac
Office at London, the information is probably also contained in the English Astronomical Ephemeris
of the same year.
The event can also be calculated with the help of astronomical tables, for instance, with the
Planetentafeln füer Jedermann by Karl Schoch, republished by Ebertin Verlag, Aalen, Württemberg,
Germany. The calculations with these tables are relatively simple. They do not involve work
with logarithms and trigonometrical functions. On the other hand they comprise a span from
3400 BC to 2600 AD. To find, for instance, the position of Mars in December, 1966, we
would calculate it for intervals of, perhaps, 10 days.
[Note: Although Willi used the methods described below for all of his historical and
heliocentric research, he indicated that working in this way—spending more time and effort—

90
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

opened up many more insights than the methods that became available later. This has also
been the experience of others who have worked in this way.]
Since the original publication of the Practical Approach, heliocentric and geocentric eph-
emerides for the 20 and 21st century have become available. These comprehensive day to day
ephemerides provide all the planetary positions, the nodes, and apsides. The mean and true
Moon nodes, apogee, and perigee are also give in addition to other pertinent data (Sidereal
Time, etc.). With the use of these tables, the calculations can be eliminated for the period of
1901 and beyond. The American Ephemeris (Geocentric) and The American Heliocentric Ephemeris
are both compiled and programmed by Neil F. Michelsen and published by Astro Computing
Services, P.O. Box 16297, San Diego, CA 92116. They are available through, among other
sources: The American Federation of Astrologers, P.O. Box 22040, Tempe, AZ 85282.]
Thus, for December 16 we would discover the following data, according to the figures in
the corresponding tables: Arg. L Arg. N
Tables for: -Century 1900 283.1 5.0
Table A -Year 66 33.3 139.8 = L
-Month December 175.0 144.8 for adj.
-Day 16 8.4 L+N
499.8
- 360.0
139.8
Table B + 11.2 = adjustment
Table C .0
151.0° = helio. Mars

The heliocentric position of Mars is 151° in the ecliptic. We can see that it is close to its
aphelion, which is 155.44°. The latter information is contained in The American Ephemeris
for 1966, mentioned above (perihelion of Mars is 335.44°, therefore, the aphelion is 155.44°).
As the next step we must find out when Mars is exactly in its aphelion. Therefore, we carry
on with our computations and try the position on December 26.
Arg. L Arg. N
-Century 1900 283.1 5.0
Table A -Year 66 33.3 145.0 = L
-Month December 175.0 150.0
-Day 26 13.6 L+N
505.0
- 360.0
145.0
Table B + 10.4
Table C .0
155.4° = Mars in its aphelion

91
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

How do we now evaluate this fact? There are also various ways, but we will chose the
evidence that historic humanity itself has provided by its simultaneous association with the
position of Mars in its aphelion. For this purpose we study the lives of great pioneers of
human civilization and their connection with the stars.
We detect (by calculations similar to the one above) that the great Renaissance painter,
inventor, and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, died when Mars was close to its aphelion (May 2,
1519). At the same time, we discover that about the time of his conception (he was born April
16, 1452), Mars was also approximately in that position. (Why we draw the time around con-
ception into our considerations, not only the time of birth, will be discussed later). We thus
have the striking evidence that Leonardo must have had a special affinity to the sphere of Mars,
which we can understand if we study the properties and effects of that sphere. (See Star
Journal, February ‘66). This side of Leonardo becomes particularly lucid if we study his unique
position in history as a pioneer in natural science and technology.
However, a mere statistical accumulation of facts, as it were, does not satisfy us, we want to
understand what possible association this has with the event of December 26, 1966. For, only
if we understand this will it make practical sense. For this purpose we will now concentrate on
the moment of death of Leonardo. In Fig. 8 we reproduce the geocentric position of the
planets on May 2, 1519. In this chart Mars appears in the constellation of Cancer and not Leo,
where its aphelion is. This is caused by the shifting of the planetary coordinates as we look at
the planets from the Earth. We know from ordinary life that if we look at objects from various
positions in space, they appear to be located in varying landmarks of our skyline. Thus, from
the heliocentric viewpoint on May 2, 1519, Mars was in fact in its aphelion, although it appears
from the geocentric perspective somewhere else. The possibility and significance of drawing
up a chart for the moment of the death of a human being has been pointed out in brief terms
by Rudolf Steiner. However, it was known in ancient times, for Tibetan lamas used it to gain
information about the conditions that the soul of the deceased meets after death, what must be
done in order to ease the purgatory period, even in what fashion the bodily remains should be
disposed of.
Following the advice of Rudolf Steiner, we discovered many years ago that the chart, or
asterogram as we will call it in future, of the moment of death contains a tableau of the totality
of the past life of a human being. In order to appreciate this fact fully we will now recall the
experiences of a soul during the first three days after death. As long as a person is alive, life
forces permeate the physical-material body. They organize the latter so that in the first part of
life, growth and development can take place “in time”. In the second half of life they gradually
withdraw and at the moment of death they completely separate from the physical body. Thus
the life forces, which appear for a higher, spiritual perception as an integrated organism, are
connected, one can even in a certain sense say, identical with time. This life or ether body
makes it possible for the human being to exist “in time”. However, this existence in time is
certainly terminated in the body at the moment of death but it is not lost as an integrated entity.
It still holds its integrity during the first three days after death and carries in itself the

92
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Figure 8

full continuity of the past life “time” but now freed from physical bodily functions. Due to this
fact is the well known experience of people who went across the threshold of death but were,
by some fortunate circumstances, brought back to life in the body. They recall that they found
themselves confronted, during their “death”, with a kind of tableau that contained the details
of the past life in one grand composition, details otherwise having been drawn out over the
whole span of life. Every human being experiences this after death. In other words, immedi-
ately after death we live in our ether or time body, which contains our living biography as an
Earth dweller.
Then, after about three days the ether or life body is “dispersed” in the cosmos where it
originated from. During the lifetime of a human being it works against and constantly over-
comes the gravity forces that are manifest through the physical-material body. We could not
use our physical organization if the gravity forces worked in us unopposed. (In the plant and
animal the ether body has similar functions). Thus after death, the ether body, which is now
released from its obligations toward the material body, moves away from the Earth gravity-
world, and it goes back to the cosmos. But it still contains the biography or time essence of
that human being’s life that it served, and this potential unites with the stars—chiefly with the
planets.

93
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

It is almost inconceivable for the ordinary human mind, how it is possible that the death of
a human being occurs, as a rule, at such a moment when the outgoing and expanding ether
body of a human being fits, with regard to its inherent time essence or “biography”, into the
positions of the planets as they occur in that moment. This is a fact that has been proven ever
so often since its discovery, and we will demonstrate it presently. We are confronted here with
the spiritually ingenious working of the forces of destiny or karma, a kind of higher arithmetic
that far transcends the however-evolved human intellectual kind of arithmetic.
One branch of conventional astrology occupies itself with the so-called transits of the
planets, in later life, over the positions in the birth chart. We did the opposite with regard to the
positions in the death asterogram of Leonardo and have inserted the dates in the outer circle
when Saturn, during his life, was standing relative to the places of the planets at death (see
diagram). Thereby, we get a mighty cosmic tableau, something similar to a photographic nega-
tive, of the life of Leonardo. Into this negative, the ether or time body of Leonardo was
expanding, we must imagine, filling chiefly the planets with humanized ether essence, as it
were. Surely, a multitude of human beings died with this same configuration of the planetary
world and imbued it with a great variety of individualized ether or biographical substance.
At this point we feel obliged to give information on how we compute or ascertain the
geocentric positions of the planets in previous centuries, which we obviously need for a con-
templation as the one above. They can relatively easily be obtained by a little additional com-
putation following onto the one which we demonstrated before with the help of the Planetentafeln
by Schoch. There have lately, however, also been published ephemerides that give the plan-
etary positions already calculated within definite intervals of time. They are Solar and Planetary
Longitudes; for years 2500 BC to 2000 AD by William D. Stahlmann and Owen Gingerich (The
University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1963) and Planetary, Lunar and Solar Positions, 601 BC to
1649 AD, 2 volumes, by Bryant Tuckermann (the American Philos. Society, Independence
Square, Philadelphia, 1964).
The retrospect transits of Saturn over the asterogram of death of Leonardo give us an
interesting “tableau” of his life. We can well imagine that it is Saturn’s particular task to paint,
as it were, the “tableau”, because it is, in any case, the visible expression of Omnipotent Father
Time (see Star Journal, February ‘66). Thus Saturn at the time of Leonardo’s birth, 1452, was in
the place into which Jupiter stepped in the moment of death in 1519. About the time when he
entered apprenticeship with Verrocchio, about 1470, Saturn was in Aries-Taurus, where Mer-
cury, Sun, and Venus were in 1519. Then Saturn came back a second time to the later location
of Jupiter of 1519, and this time it coincided with the end of the master’s first Florentine era
and the beginning of his sojourn and work at Milan in 1482-3. In 1490 Saturn stepped into the
same position of the ecliptic that it occupied in 1519. During the preceding years, Leonardo
was involved in great architectural and engineering plans for the reconstruction of Milan. Then
in 1490, we hear that “he enjoyed some months of uninterrupted mathematical and physical
research in the libraries and among the learned men of Pavia” (Encyclopedia Britannica). This is
important for our investigations concerning the properties of Mars in this asterogram of death,

94
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

for Saturn was [geocentrically] opposite the place of Mars in 1519. [At the same time, Mars
was in 153° heliocentrically and in its aphelion.] After that, Saturn moved into opposition of
the location of Jupiter at death. This refers us to 1497, when Leonardo was involved in paint-
ing his most famous “Last Supper” (1494-1498). In the meantime the political constellation at
Milan had become precipitous, and Leonardo left the city in December 1499. Saturn was then
in the place of Mercury at death. In 1501-3, he was in the service of Cesare Borgia as chief
engineer. Saturn was then close to the location of the Moon and Mars at death. In 1504 he was
back at Florence, which was the same time that Michelangelo worked there. Saturn was then
entering the constellation of Cancer, where Mars was at death. Soon after that, Leonardo
returned a second time to Milan (1506) and stayed there till 1513, when Saturn moved into the
place opposite the position of the Sun at death. About an orbit of this planet earlier, in 1483,
he had come to Milan the first time; now, in 1513 he finally left this city after his second
sojourn.
This relationship of human beings to the cosmic world, particularly to the planets, is unique
and opens up entirely new vistas of contemplation and ethics. The connection at the moment
of incarnation is, unfortunately, overlaid by complex, and in many instances, completely mis-
conceived ideas of our dependence, one might even say, of our frustration by the stars. The
perspectives at death speak a different language. Here we do not appear to be a passive recipi-
ent of cosmic forces; rather, we seem to step into the position of a donor toward the cosmos,
inasmuch as we offer up the substance of our ether body at death (later on also the principle of
the soul or astral sheath) to the cosmic world. Of course, it is difficult for our present mentality
to conceive that much is changed in the cosmos through this influx of humanized essence into
it, coming from this tiny human being on the tiny planet Earth. However, just the vastness of
the universe that surrounds us and the relatively minute distribution of tangible, yet most
potent, stars in it, lends a hand to the idea that this universe is operated on somewhat
“homeopathical” principles. In this sense, the question might be ventured whether we, just on
account of our minuteness, are not on the way to becoming a potent factor in the planetary
universe.
Our experiences in this field have proven that our essence, with which we endow the
planetary cosmos, is not lost or submerged in an ocean of indifference. Other human souls on
their way to incarnation might pick up, long after, perhaps even centuries later, as they move
through the spheres of the planets, the essence of humanly saturated ether and astral forces
that others before them had deposited in these spheres. They might then incorporate this
essence in their own organization, although it appears never just as plain copy of the earlier
events, ideas, and intentions. Rather, it seems we pick up this human essence in order to evolve
it ever further and to purify it. Thus the wonderful picture emerges, that the struggles, part
achievements, even failures of one generation are taken up by following generations and ages
in order to be carried ever more toward perfection or redemption.
To return to our original question, we can say that into the position of Mars in Leonardo’s
asterogram have “flown” the greatness and universality of this soul. In all his endeavors he

95
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

sought to fathom, as a modern person, the secrets of nature and of the mind. Even as an artist
he evolved the attitude of a scientific investigator and experimenter. This impulse “to take all
knowledge to be his province” (Francis Bacon) permeated that Mars, which was in its aphelion
[heliocentrically]. The association of Mars with the archetypes of the physical world (see
February ‘66) was then in the aphelion, or furthest from the Sun; it was not narrowed down to
material existence but was open to that ingenious grand sweep of thinking in Leonardo to
penetrate the secrets of existence as a person of the modern age. This Mars heritage worked
on in humanity. Many picked it up and evolved it further along different lines. Among them
were the great astronomer Kepler (1571-1630), the discoverer of homeopathy Fr. Hahnemann
(1755-1843), and Henry Ford (1863-1947). They all incarnated at moments when Mars was,
either at birth or around conception, in its aphelion. They all evolved a similar universality and
ingenuity in the fields of science or technology that intends to make one a knowing and free
citizen of the universe, as also Leonardo attempted it.
Such kind of thoughts and impulses we ought to evolve at a moment when Mars is again,
as at present, in its aphelion. This would be the foundation of a positive and spiritually practi-
cal astrology. However, we shall have to establish many more details and facts of this order in
order to get under way toward such aims.

96
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - January 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

Similar to the December Journal, we will select one particular, interesting feature of the
diary of events in the heavens in order to work our way still deeper into our approach to
astrology. On January 25, Mars and Venus will oppose each other from the heliocentric view-
point. Mars will be at the tail end of Leo and Venus in Aquarius. On the same day Mars will be
closest to the perihelion of Uranus, and Venus closest to the aphelion of Uranus. Further-
more, Venus will be in opposition to Pluto, projected onto the ecliptic or apparent path of the
Sun. However, in actual fact, Pluto is about 15° north of the opposition point on the ecliptic.
Nevertheless, this event can be regarded as an opposition.
On the following day, 26 January, Mars will step into conjunction with Pluto, again in
projection onto the ecliptic. Pluto will be, on this occasion, about 13° north of Mars.
The 25th of January is, according to old church calendars the Day of Damascus, the festival
of the Conversion of St. Paul, which is mentioned already in several calendars and missals of
the 8th and 9th centuries. It was celebrated in memory of that “perfect model of a true conver-
sion”. Whatever one thinks of the historicity behind the assignment of names to the days of
the calendar, we do consider this particular Day of Damascus as having a realistic cosmic
background from the viewpoint of the position of the Sun in that part of the ecliptic.
In order to assess the possible impact of the events in the heavens, we naturally look for
similar events in history. There were, of course, plenty of conjunctions of Mars and Pluto
associated with historic personalities. But it is difficult to find one that happened approxi-
mately in the same portion of the Zodiac. The one coming closest to it is in the complex of
the heavens at the time of the incarnation of Copernicus, born on February 19, 1473. Round
about the time of his conception Mars was in conjunction with Pluto, in the head of the
constellation of Virgo, not far away from the present conjunction. A little later Venus stepped
into opposition to Pluto, all heliocentrically. Also the incarnation asterogram of Machiavelli,
born 3 May, 1469, shows similar features. Mars round the time of his conception was with
Pluto, still in Leo. At birth Venus was opposite to Pluto, both events heliocentrically.
Of similarities with asterograms of death we have found two striking examples. When
Nostradamus, the famous French prophet and astrologer, felt death approaching about two
weeks before his actual demise on July 1-2, 1566, Mars in the head of Virgo was in opposition
to Pluto in Aquarius-Pisces. Napoleon I died on May 5, 1821. Weeks before that his health had
been deteriorating, and he was forced to stay in bed. During the last few days, Mars had been
in conjunction with Pluto in the constellation of Pisces, very approximately opposite the point
where the conjunction will be taking place in 1967. The interesting fact is that in both cases the
events in the heavens happened shortly before death. It demonstrates that such a conjunction
can work out as a process of disintegration of some kind. This we found occurring even in
history, for instance, in connection with the social revolutions during the present century, so to
speak, as “delayed action impacts’’ following such conjunctions. Nevertheless, we do think

97
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

that this need not happen in such fashion. They can also be realized as highly spiritual-
izing events.
We will now concentrate on the full asterogram of the incarnation of Copernicus in order
to come to a comprehension of the conjunction of Mars and Pluto mentioned above; for the
singling out of such an event from the whole complex of an asterogram does not, as a rule,
lead to satisfactory conclusions.
As the readers will notice we introduced above an unusual viewpoint in astrology, when we
said, “Round about the time of his conception...” How can we ascertain such a time? We
could, of course, work with the medically acknowledged average of 273-280 days for an em-
bryonic development. However, we prefer to employ the “Trutina Hermetis”, the Hermetic
Rule, a very ancient rule of Egyptian origin, which appears already in documents dating about
1200 BC. It maintains, following the wisdom of priest-sages of a high order, that with the
elements of an asterogram of birth, one can find the date of the so-called epoch by astronomi-
cal computation. The epoch happens, in the average, 273 days or 10 sidereal Moon cycles
before birth but is shortened or lengthened according to certain properties of the birth chart.
However, the Rule in the original wording does not suggest that the epoch is synonymous with
the conception.
Then what does the concept epoch signify? We must bear in mind that it stems from
Egyptian priest wisdom and, therefore, has its roots in the mysteries attained by initiation. It
might even go right back to the mysterious founder of Egyptian civilization, the Hermes
Trismegistos or Thrice Great Hermes. We can comprehend it only if we understand the deeper
spiritual secrets of conception, for instance, as Rudolf Steiner described them.
Whenever a conception takes place, the soul of that human being is not yet knitted, as it
were, into the physical body. Only about the third week of embryonic development does an
amalgamation take place. However, the conception, or rather, the approximate time is accom-
panied by definite cosmic experiences of the soul in the sphere of the Moon where it still
resides. The counterpart of the physical body, the ether or life body of that particular human
being is formed out of the cosmic ether into an individual ether organization. Before this
happens the soul has already obtained, as it were, an astral or soul body. (For details see Rudolf
Steiner’s book Theosophy.) This entity of soul, astral body and ether body combines with the
physical body some time after conception.
We can, therefore, speak of a kind of “cosmic conception” as far as the ether organization
or “body” is concerned. In the course of our investigations over decades, we have come to the
conclusion that this ether organism is reflected in the configuration of the heavens at the time
of the epoch, in fact, in the totality of the cosmic rhythms and events during the time from the
epoch to the birth. In connection with the asterogram of death (see December ‘66) we pointed
out that the ether organism of a human being acts as a time body. Similarly, imprinted in the
ether body that we receive at the time of the epoch is a kind of ground-plan, a preview of the
oncoming life, as far as karma from past incarnations works into the present one. This has
been discovered empirically.

98
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

The asterogram of the birth of Copernicus, according to Geocentric conception, is shown

in Fig. 9a. It shows the constellation of Leo rising in the East (the so-called ascendant of
astrological tradition, in this case through information from Junctinus, an astrologer of the 16th
century. We will concentrate on the method of calculating the ascendant, etc., at a later stage)
and Aquarius setting in the West. In the meridian, above the south point of the horizon, is
Taurus. Of immediate importance for us is the fact that the Moon is in a waning phase in
Scorpio, below the horizon of the birth. We need this in order to calculate the date of the
epoch.
The Trutina Hermetis distinguishes four possibilities:
1. If the Moon is waxing at birth and above the horizon, then the Moon at the
time of the epoch was in that point of the ecliptic marked by the ascendant or
rising point at birth. The time from epoch to birth is therefore shorter than
273 days.
2. If the waxing Moon at birth is below the horizon, then the Moon at the epoch
was also in the point indicated by the ascendant but the time from epoch to
birth is longer than 273 days.
3. A waning Moon at birth and above the horizon would indicate that at the
epoch it was in the point marked by the descendant, or setting point, and the
interval from epoch to birth is longer than 273 days.
4. A similarly waning Moon but below the horizon suggests that at the epoch it
was in the point of the descendant but the epoch took place less than 273 days
before birth.

The fourth position would then apply to the asterogram of Copernicus. In fact, the Moon
was in Aquarius, the place of the descendant at birth, on May 29, 1472, which happened 266
days before birth. We have inserted the Geocentric epoch positions of the planets in Fig. 3 in
the outer circle and added the movements of the planets and the Sun between the epoch May
29, 1472 and February 19, 1473.
In Fig. 9b we have drawn up the heliocentric equivalent of the preceding geocentric chart.
(All the calculations were done with the astronomical tables mentioned in December ‘66, especial-
ly with Schoch’s Planetentafeln.)
Our next question now is: What does such an asterogram mean and how can we interpret
it? The simple assumption that we are under the unalterable “influence” of the stars, and that
the complex of the heavens at the time of incarnation delineates this “influence” unfailingly, is
obsolete. In any case, only few believe in this anymore. Many of this present age have, deep
down in their souls, a notion that the connection between the cosmos and the human being
must stand on a higher ethical level then just plain domination by the stars. We caught a
glimpse of this when we discussed the asterogram of death in the December issue. It was no
more than a glimpse, and a lot more evidence has to be added to it in time. But we realized that
in the moment of death we rise to the position of a “donor” when we confront the cosmos in

99
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Figure 9a

Copernicus
Geocentric: Epoch to Birth

Figure 9b

Copernicus - Heliocentric
Outer circle - Epoch
Inner circle - Birth

100
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

the course of that experience. We hand back to the universe our ether body, which is saturated
with our biography. It is no longer the same as it was when we received it at the time of our
incarnation. We have transformed it through the joys and sufferings of our life, through our
achievements and also our failings.
The question arises whether our active and possibly constructive relationship to the stars
can be cultivated during our lifetime, at least as much as they are present in us as the gift of the
heavens at incarnation,. One can even suspect that we might be dominated by “our individual”
stars as an unresolved and possibly tormenting burden, unless we cultivate this heritage con-
sciously and spiritually. Of course, we fully realize that many reject such an idea of a cosmic
heritage right out, and not a few for fear that it might be so as we suspect. However, in decades
of research, we have accumulated enough evidence which clearly shows this idea that we sug-
gest is not merely theory, but a fact.
Our practical researches coincided with the investigations of Rudolf Steiner and were
actually inspired by him. Toward the end of his life he stated the results of his spiritual insight
in these matters. In Letters to the Members of the Anthroposophical Society, which are col-
lected and published under the title Michael Mystery, Rudolf Steiner speaks in Letter VI of our
association with the stars: “... Michael (the Archangel)... endeavored also to keep humanity as
close (to the divine spiritual) as possible, and he continues to do so. It was his purpose to
preserve humanity from living all too intensely in a world that was only the workings, not the
being and not the revelation, of divine spirit... When humanity has accomplished their life
between death and new birth and is on its way down to take up a new existence upon Earth,
they endeavor, as they come down toward this new existence, to establish a harmony between
the course of the stars and their own Earth lives... That this is so, is the act of Michael, and this
act gives him such deep satisfaction, that a great part of his life element, his life energy, his
radiant sun like life will lives in this satisfaction...”
Rudolf Steiner suggests that our connection with the stars does not exist for our sake but
for the purpose of integration and inclusion of the cosmic worlds in the process of spiritual
evolution. One might even venture to say that it exists for the purpose of training us in future
times to become an integral spiritual factor in the universe of stars. “...The divine spirit being
from which we first sprang, spread abroad as human being throughout all the worlds, will then
have power to fill with light that cosmos that now exists only in the wrought likeness of divine
spirit. It will no longer be the same being which once was cosmos but will then shine forth in
light through the human being. Divine spirit, in its passage through humanity, will realize a
quality of being that it had not brought to manifestation before.” It was this perspective of
which we saw a glimpse when we discussed the asterogram of death. But it seems obvious that
life on Earth itself must become the preparation, the training ground for this great cosmic
work of humanity in the future.
What do we actually see in the asterogram of incarnation, for instance, of Copernicus?
From the viewpoint of the ideas that we expressed above we cannot simply expect that the fact
of the Moon having been in conjunction with Jupiter (see Fig. 9a), or Saturn between the

101
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

constellations of Taurus and Gemini, etc., have made the person Copernicus and caused the
destiny he experienced. This would be too cheap and utterly incorrect.
The configurations of the heavens at the time of the incarnation of human beings is a
picture of their prenatal decisions on the basis of previous Earth lives, with a view on the
oncoming incarnation. In the course of long investigations we have come to the conclusion
that the stars at birth are more associated with the past life and those around the epoch with the
intentions formed concerning the present earth existence. But this is already an oversimplifica-
tion that needs much more detailed elucidation.
We thus have, during our life on the Earth, a silent “star companion” next to us, made of
the details of the celestial configurations between epoch and birth, who participates in every-
thing that we do or we fail to do, who looks upon us as a being of whom is expected answers
and spiritual, moral deeds in facing the issues concerning existence in a physical-material world
in relationship to a spiritual cosmos.
The movements of the planets between epoch and birth contain pictorial reflections of
the experiences of the soul between the last death and the new life. In other words, we arrange,
as a rule, our descent at a time when our past lives and decisions for the new one coincide with
the rhythms and the script of the planets. We would meet other souls who had just left the
Earth or who were also preparing for another incarnation. In the spheres would also be present
the memory pictures, the “biographies” of past generations, in the sense that we discussed it in
connection with the asterogram of death. Apart from these, we would also meet the great
memories of past stages of evolution; in fact, we would face the story of the creation of the
universe, from the very first beginnings and of the divine beings who inaugurated the stages of
creation. All this the “star companion” carries, as it were, in a cosmic, metaphorical memory
picture.
However, as soon as we arrive on the Earth, through the portal of birth, all these grand
perspectives seem to be completely forgotten. They have been lowered by then, as it were, into
the complexity of our organization, being dormant in so-called unconsciousness. In other
words, we as individual egos are not directly influenced or bound by them. They well up in
destiny, but even so they wait to be realized and redeemed consciously by us. Thus destiny, for
instance, would present us, in a kind of metaphorical language, with memories of our past or
experiences in the spheres of the planets before birth. But we are then expected to create
answers and solutions out of our own spiritual activity that might not exist any where else in
the universe.

102
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - February 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

In the January issue we referred to a number of happenings around the 25th-26th of Janu-
ary: Mars and Venus in opposition to each other from the heliocentric viewpoint. We noticed
that at the same time they were standing in the apsidal line of Uranus; and on 26 January Mars
was in ecliptical conjunction to Pluto. (This later event led us then to the investigation of the
incarnation asterogram of Copernicus.)
Now, right at the beginning of February we notice a remarkable continuation of this trend
of happenings, and again in the heliocentric calendar. On the 1st of February, Mars will move
into conjunction with Uranus (conjunction is 0° angular distance; opposition is 180° distance).
On this occasion Uranus will be less than 1° south of Mars. On the same day Mercury will
step, heliocentrically, into opposition to Pluto, Uranus, and Mars. Likewise, Venus will be in
conjunction to Saturn. On the 3rd of February, Mercury will come into conjunction with
Saturn and on the 4th into conjunction with Venus, thus placing Venus between itself and
Saturn.
This gives us all the more occasion to return once more to the asterogram of incarnation
of Copernicus. We found already that in his heliocentric chart Mars was in conjunction with
Pluto around the time of his epoch (near date of conception). Of course, in the geocentric
chart Mars was not at the same angular distance because the planetary coordinates are different
from those which are valid from the Sun’s point of view. As a matter of fact, the Mars of the
geocentric perspective came into conjunction to Pluto only toward the end of the second
month after the epoch.
Here we might as well indulge for a moment in a discussion about the difference between
the geocentric and the heliocentric perspectives, their merits and their limitations, even their
permissibility as far as astrological practice is concerned. There are many people who will say
that, as we are concerned with happenings on the Earth, we must also relate the cosmic events
to the Earth, i.e., look at them from the geocentric viewpoint. This is certainly a valid ap-
proach which justifies a geocentric astrology within limitations. However, the Earth is also a
part of the solar cosmos and, therefore, we expect it to participate in the concerns of the solar
universe as a whole. We know there are even people who would be inclined to regard the
heliocentric perspective as being wrong. It is certain: the Copernican world conception has put
a final end to the ancient world view of a living universe of spheres, apart from the visible
planets, in whom divine beings lived and moved. Copernicanism has indeed denuded the
universe from all notions of the presence of spiritual beings behind it and in it. It has become,
in our modern view, a gigantic mechanism. However, we make a sharp distinction between
Copernicanism and a heliocentric world conception. There is no need to mix them up, and
even the elements of spheres, with all possible aspects of spiritual reality working in them and
through them, can be maintained in the heliocentric perspective, and in our eyes, even more
effectively than in the geocentric. We are, of course, fully aware of the claims of Christianity

103
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

wanting to see the Earth, and with justification, in the center of the universe in view of the
Deed of Christ. However, we still contend that our planet is not yet the center, that we can
only hope that it will in future step into that place once the Deed of Christ is raised to realiza-
tion in the hearts and deeds of the human race. On the other hand, we can imagine that our
planet occupied, at some past stage of evolution, a different position in the universe and that it
sank from it for the very reason that Christ’s Deed of Redemption became a cosmic necessity.
However, we feel we cannot just arbitrarily bypass more than 400 years of scientific astronomi-
cal development and simply assume that it had all been wrong.
We have experienced that both views are of value in the interpretation of cosmic events
and that one supports the other. In the heliocentric picture we gain the perspective of the
relationship of the planets to their own spheres, by their positions and movements with regard
to their own nodes and lines of apsides, as well as to those of the other planets. Thus our
conviction has grown that, together with the “breathing” rhythms that we see in the geocentric
approach as they are indicated, for instance, by the loops and conjunctions with the Sun, we
can again break through to a realistic and yet spiritual conception of the spheres of the planets.
In other words, we can apply the geocentric aspect in all those concerns that intend to find the
realization of cosmic events in matters of Earth life, both with regard to Earth space and time.
The heliocentric approach will lead us to perceive how these events are related to the life of the
solar universe, dynamically and spiritually.
We will now return to the asterogram of Copernicus, in order to demonstrate what we said
before. Readers will remember (see January ‘67) that we were drawn to it because the heliocen-
tric chart of the epoch of Copernicus showed a conjunction of Mars and Pluto, similar to the
one on January 26, 1967. Since this conjunction took place from the viewpoint of the Sun, we
must regard it as an event that concerned the totality of the solar system in which the Earth
participates. We will have to find ways and means to gauge how it inserted itself into the life of
the Earth, particularly into the life of Copernicus. According to our experiences such conjunc-
tions of Mars and Pluto seem to work out often as revolutions in the history of humanity,
whereby the accent appears to be on “revolution’’ and not on “evolution”.
In any case, we now have the task to find a method by which we can relate events in the
prenatal chart to later life. Can we expect any relationship between the prenatal world of a
human being and life after birth? It should not be too difficult to conceive of such a possibility,
since the human body, which is developed during the embryonic stage becomes the vehicle of
the personality after birth. Therefore, much of our potential, at least as far as it concerns the
bodily orbit, must have been evolved in germinal form before birth.
The connection between the embryonic development and the cosmic, time-wise counter-
part is rather striking. The chart in Fig. 9a of January ‘67 demonstrates this clearly. Take the
orbit of the Sun in that picture. It looks, on a big cosmic scale, like the typically inverted form
of an embryo. We see in the open space between the Sun of the epoch (E) and the Sun of
birth (in Aquarius) the counterpart of the head of the embryo, and in the curve of the Sun
during the 9 months, the trunk and the limbs.

104
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

This spacial, corporeal aspect of the prenatal chart has proven to be very useful and helpful
in the treatment and education of retarded children in curative education. Apart from this
perspective that will receive one day much more detailed attention by us, there is also a time-
wise relationship of the prenatal chart. When we discussed the Hermetic Rule (see January
‘67) readers will have noticed that we worked actually with a triplicity: Sun, Moon, and Earth, in
order to establish the date of the epoch. The four possibilities we mentioned were dependent
on whether the Moon was waxing or waning. This is a relationship between Sun and Moon.
But, furthermore, we also had to consider whether the Moon was above or below the horizon
at the time of birth. This is a relationship of the Moon to the Earth. Thus the coordination of
the Moon between Sun and Earth became important for the calculation of the epoch, the
Moon being, so to speak, the mediator between the two.
On this basis we can also understand that the Moon plays a decisive part in the whole of
the prenatal development, that it acts as mediator between the totality of the surrounding
cosmos and the embryo, and helps to build it into the growing organism. Thus it must also be
understood, as our empiric experience has revealed, that the cycles of the Moon are associated
with the rhythms of life after birth. In fact it has been proven in the many historic cases we
investigated that each cycle of the Moon of 27.3 days—the return of the Moon to its original
position at the epoch—reflects a seven year period in the life of a human being. Thus the first
cycle of the Moon, and all that happens in the planetary world during it, mirrors the first seven
years, the second cycle the time from 7-14 years, and so on. Of course, this cannot and should
not be taken as an absolute determination of the human being. Rather it is a kind of ground
sketch of the karma, or destiny, working from a past incarnation into the present. The whole
prenatal chart would then contain an average of 10 Moon cycles (10 x 7 years or 70 years). On
account of the four variations of the Hermetic Rule, the time would be slightly shorter or
longer in the individual case.
On this foundation we have produced here in Fig. 10, a graphic presentation of the prena-
tal chart of Copernicus. On the left side are the divisions of the ecliptic (signs, not constella-
tions). Along the top line are the indications of the Moon cycles during the prenatal develop-
ment. (The tenth cycle was not completed because the time from epoch to birth was, in this
case, shorter then the 10 cycles, of 273 days). By inserting the positions of the planets and the
Sun during the 9 months, and by relating them to time we get their curves as they appear in the
diagram. Thus we can easily gauge their association with the corresponding Moon cycles and
with their reflection in life after birth. The events in the first sector or first Moon cycle would
refer to the first seven years in the life of Copernicus, and so on.
Now we want to know when that solar event (heliocentric) of the conjunction of Mars and
Pluto (which naturally appears in the geocentric differently because the planetary coordinates
are different) was built into the organism of Copernicus and when it made itself noticeable in
the life of Copernicus. We said earlier that the Sun in this kind of chart represents the human
form and it is the Sun which would build, in a certain moment during the 9 prenatal months,
this event into the organism. Therefore, we look now for the moment when the Sun stepped

105
PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Figure 10

Constellations

106
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

into conjunction to Pluto and later to Mars, because the two planets were involved at the
epoch. For, we expect that in a conjunction it would converse, as it were, with the planets.
We find that this conjunction of Sun and Pluto took place during the fourth Moon cycle
(see Fig. 10), about the middle of it. This would mean that we have to seek the reflection
during the 24th to 25th year of Copernicus (3 x 7 = 21 years, plus fraction of the 4th seven year
cycle). As Copernicus was born in 1473, we would thus be led to the year 1497 in his life. What
happened then?
Copernicus had moved to the university of Bologna in Italy in 1496, chiefly for the pur-
pose of studying Canon Law. Before he left his northern homeland he had been made Canon
of the Ermland Chapter of the Roman Church of that region. Even before he entered Bolo-
gna he studied, apart from law, also philosophy, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy at
Cracow in Poland. Now, in Italy he found teachers of astronomy, among them Brudzewski
and Mario Novara, who held the view that the Earth was moving in cosmic space and not
standing still, as western humanity had accepted on the basis of Ptolomey’s conception of the
universe (2nd century AD). They built their teachings on some Greek astronomers, among
them the great Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Aristarchus, and even Nicolas of Cusa (1401-64), who
lived at the commencement of the modern age. They had expressed, somehow, the idea that
the Earth was in motion although they did not promote views similar to those of Copernicus
and his followers in modern astronomy.
Thus we must expect that in 1497, Copernicus met the full impact of these conceptions
which he obviously took deeply to heart and would never let go in his later life. For us, it is now
interesting and instructive to study the reflection of these events in the prenatal chart a bit
closer. Referring to the time of 1497, the Sun was in conjunction with Pluto near the “head”
of the constellation Virgo. The ancient Isis (according to the Zodiac in the temple of Denderah),
or Queen of Heaven—the Virgin of the Revelation of John the Divine, chapter XII—is crowned
with a crown of stars. Thus we have here the reference to the science of wisdom of the stars.
At the same time Venus and Mercury, the latter having just come out of retrograde (see Fig.
10), were in the constellation of Leo. The latter constellation is particularly associated with
cosmology. (See the mythological background of Virgo and Leo as described in Star Journal
Aug. & Sept. ’66). The very symbol that we use ( ) confirms this, descending from the
periphery or ascending to it. On this ground we can now see that the combination of Mars and
Pluto in the heliocentric chart of the epoch, indeed, reflected a revolution. The connection
with the star-crowned head of the Virgo, furthermore, suggests a revolution concerning as-
tronomy. However, the question of why it was just Copernicus who became the instigator
cannot be answered on this basis alone, because numberless other souls had, so to speak,
inherited this same conjunction. This needs more.
Thus we can follow the movement of the Sun through the prenatal chart and detect some-
thing like a biographical ground plan or reflection of the destiny of Copernicus, as far as his
life was determined by karma or destiny, resulting from past incarnations. Toward the end of
the 4th Moon cycle, we see Mercury in superior conjunction with the Sun (the planet was then

107
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

on the far side of the Sun). This brings us to 1499, and we can imagine that it was associated
with a time of elevating intellectual experience for Copernicus, while he was still at Bologna.
We give in the following a brief table of events in following years and the corresponding
happenings in the prenatal chart.

1503: Promotion to Doctor of Canon Law at University of Ferrara. Relates to Mars in

conjunction with Uranus at the feet of Virgo (5th Moon cycle).
1506: Return from Italy to Heilsberg (Poland), as physician of his uncle, the Bishop of
Heilsberg, probably a time of most varied experiences. At Heilsberg he seems also to
have laid down the main lines of his astronomical work. Between 1510 and 1514, he
wrote an outline of it, the Commentariolus that was, however, circulated only in manu-
script form.
Relating to about 1506, Mercury in conjunction with Uranus (5th cycle). Relating to
about 1507, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter in conjunction in constellation of Libra, fol-
lowed by conjunction with Neptune (5th cycle). Relating to about 1510, Venus in su-
perior conjunction with the Sun, also in constellation of Libra (6th cycle ). It is interest-
ing to see that Mercury and Venus, which we mentioned above in connection with the
decisive years after 1497, and Mars, associated with the root configuration at the epoch,
are involved in the prenatal reflection of this time in the life of Copernicus.
1512: His uncle died and Copernicus resorted now to Frauenburg. There he supple-
mented his astronomical theories by observation of the heavens though it seems it did
not amount to very much. Relates to conjunctions of Venus and Sun with Jupiter and
Neptune in conjunction very close to them (6th cycle).
The following years must have been a time of great involvement in all kinds of
matters. He apparently also found opportunities to employ his medical skill. This is
demonstrated by Mars and Venus passing through the nodal line of the Moon and their
following meeting in a conjunction, then the Sun in the Moon node and Mercury in
retrograde movement (7th cycle).
1530: Copernicus might have completed the manuscript of his great work De revolutionibus
orbium coelistium around 1530, as far as the scanty notes go. However, he hesitated till
the last moment to have it published as a printed volume. In fact, the first copies left
the press in the moment of his death.
The year 1530 would, in the prenatal chart, coincide with a superior conjunction of
Mercury with the Sun (beginning of 9th cycle). Prior to this we see the conjunction of
Mars with the Sun (beginning of 8th cycle)—as it were, the initial aspect of the con-
junction of Mars and Pluto, as heliocentric solar event—now comes near practical
realization, mirrored in the meeting with the Sun. Also, Jupiter moved during the 8th
cycle through the nodal line of the Moon.

108
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

This whole complex of the prenatal asterogram of Copernicus now gives us all the more
reason to study and evaluate the meaning and language of the individual planets in this particu-
lar case. Thereby we hope to supplement the quantitative, time-wise, destiny skeleton that is
revealed here by a qualitative picture of the meaning and spiritual potential of such a destiny.
Only then can we expect to find access to an astrology that does not only confine itself to state
what “the stars tell” but can provide creative ideas with regard to the cultivation and evolution
in spiritual freedom of our star heritage.

109
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - March 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

Among the events in the heavens during March, there stands out the retrograde move-
ments of Mercury and Mars. Mercury went retrograde already in February, and now it will
come into inferior conjunction with the Sun, which means that it will stand approximately in a
line between Sun and Earth on that day.
Mars will become retrograde on March 8th (Raphael’s Astronomical Ephemeris), but it will
extend it’s retrograde movement right into May. These aspects to the Sun recur according to
definite rhythms, as we pointed out earlier. For instance, the retrograde movements, or loops,
of Mercury happen three times during one year, always in different sectors of the ecliptic. The
last one took place in November 1966, and the one following the present loop will occur in
June-July, 1967. The retrograde movements of Mars occur more seldom. The one preceding
the present feature of 1967 happened in January-April, 1965 and returns according to a rhythm
that is little more than two years. These rhythms bring the planets back, after a time, to repeti-
tions of similar positions between Sun and Earth. Thus, inferior conjunctions of Mercury
with the Sun in approximately the same positions of the ecliptic happened in March 1947,
1954, 1960; in other words, they occurred in intervals of 6-7 years. The yearly three inferior
conjunctions inscribe a triangle into the orbit of Mercury, as we have demonstrated in Fig. 4 in
March ‘66. This triangle is falling back in the ecliptic year by year. Thus it happens that M3 is
gradually moving into the position where M1 is at a given time; likewise, will M1 come into M5,
and M5 into M3, by the rotation of the triangle. This will take about 6-7 years. Apart from this,
a whole rotation of the triangle will bring back M3 in the course of 20 years to the initial
position, by going through the full circle. This accounts, for instance, for the fact that the loop
of Mercury in March 1967 was preceded in 1947 by a loop in the same sector of the ecliptic, as
we said above.
All these rhythms—there are plenty more—are excellent means of taking stock or evalua-
tion of one’s inner growth. For instance, diligent and objective investigation will reveal that
there exists an inner connection between the present moment and the years mentioned above:
1960, 1954, 1947. As this is a Mercury rhythm, it is associated with attempts of permeating
actions and expressions of will by individual intelligence of a definite character and direction.
Thus one will be able to gauge how far one has succeeded in realizing an impulse or where one
has failed. By no means are we ruled or imposed upon by these rhythms. They only offer us a
chance of self-fulfillment. It might even happen that we have to go back another rhythm of 20
years, that is to 1927, to find the relevant “ancestor” of the loop of Mercury in 1967 and at the
same time another root event of a definite impulse.
The corresponding rhythms of Mars we will discuss in the April Journal because the actual
opposition of the planet to the Sun will take place on April 15.
As to the other events in the heavens during March, attention might be drawn to the hap-
penings around New Moon, March 11 (GMT = PST March 10, 20h 30m). During that day the

110
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Moon will be in opposition to Pluto and Uranus, whereas the Sun will be in opposition to Pluto
on March 10, and in opposition to Uranus on the 13th. These events are associated with a kind
of conclusion of the ecliptic conjunction of Uranus and Pluto that we discussed in the Oct.
and Nov. ‘65 issues. Now, since the cosmic time keepers have announced the “hour”, in the
sense of historical memory, it will become a matter of human awareness and decision to re-
spond by corresponding deeds.
We might also mention the fact that Venus will move through its ascending node on March
21, and Mercury on the 22nd. (About the nodes of the planets, see Jan. ‘66). These transits of
the planets over the nodes and other sensitive points of the planetary spheres will be discussed
in future issues.
We return now to the asterogram of Copernicus, in order to demonstrate how all the
preparatory work that we did earlier can be applied in a practical sense. First we concentrate on
Saturn.
During the time of gestation Saturn moved through the head portion of the constellation
of Taurus or Bull. The epoch, around the time of conception, took place a few days after the
conjunction of the Sun with Saturn. That moment was the beginning of the building of the
“earthly house” in which Copernicus was to dwell. As the Sun is closely associated with the
cosmic “embryo image” (see Feb. ‘67), the nearness of Saturn to the epoch Sun seems to
indicate a certain prominence of this planet in the chart. This appears to be further empha-
sized in the heliocentric perspective. There Saturn is in its own perihelion shortly before birth,
i.e., the point in the planets’ orbit where it comes closest to the Sun.
Thus we now have several factors that can be used for the interpretation of the nature of
this particular Saturn. First, it stands in the perihelion sector of its sphere. In other words, it
reflects that part of its sphere which can, on a grand cosmic scale, be likened to the head
organism of a human being. Thus this Saturn would reflect the fact that Copernicus tended—
caused by experiences in previous incarnations and during his life in the spiritual cosmic world
between the last death and the present birth—to be entrenched in his head, as it were, at least
as far as his Saturn capacities are concerned. (If a planet is in its aphelion line, then the
opposite would be indicated, because the aphelion sector of a sphere can be likened to our
limb organization.)
To this we add, furthermore, the fact that Saturn is moving during the gestation time from
the constellation of Taurus toward Gemini or Twins. From the geocentric perspective the
planet could not quite make it, but from the heliocentric aspect it, indeed, entered Gemini at
birth. In order to evaluate this indication we will have to take recourse to our description of
the nature of Taurus and Gemini in the July ’66 issue.
What are the capacities and dynamics of Saturn and its sphere? In Feb. ’66 issue, we said
that we acquire in the sphere of Saturn between the last death and the new birth, our “soul
backbone”, “…our soul’s inner psychological skeleton of destiny formation, the results of the
soul’s involvements and motives in past incarnations, and the resolutions following thereupon...”
Indeed, Saturn is Omnipotent Father Time who preserves for each individual the thread of

111
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

identity running through the incarnations; however, it does not prevent the individual from
facing this complex objectively and in inner freedom. Thus Saturn works particularly in the
upper part of the human soul or astral body, from where we inaugurate our instinctive upright
function and relationship to the environment via the senses.
The individual configuration of this whole complex of Copernicus’ organization would
then be indicated by the position of Saturn in the Zodiac. From the description of Taurus,
where Saturn was in the earlier part of the prenatal development, we gather that this constella-
tion is somewhat of a tremendous cosmic chronicle of the drama of creation, especially the
creation of that world where humanity dwells now, at this present greater age of evolution.
Through the sacrifice of the Deity, the Logos of Ptah, for instance, the world of material
objects, even the vault of heaven came into being. The “body” of Osiris, the spirit essence,
was buried in the earth and thus are constituted the mysteries of “spirit in matter”. The
Ancient Egyptian-Chaldean civilization is particularly associated with Taurus because the ver-
nal point was there during that age.
Much of this, we imagine, was present in the soul of Copernicus, possibly even as an
afterglow of a incarnation far back in Egypt. Copernicus’ decision to enter the career of a
priest might be connected with such affinities. Ancient Egypt was essentially a priest civiliza-
tion. Also the quite unique association with astronomy that he had found seems to rest on such
foundations. From the scanty evidence we have, we know that the Egyptian priest-sages had,
essentially, a heliocentric view of the universe, although they did not conceive the planets as big
material balls, rolling through cosmic space. They still had powers of consciousness that en-
abled them to see the cosmos of the stars as the dwelling places of invisible but real divine
beings. However, they were aware of the death of Osiris. Certainly, gods can never perish as
beings but they can perish from human consciousness; and this cultural trend into the future of
humanity the Egyptians must have divined. They must have realized it as an unavoidable
necessity, that of the human race moving away from the ancient natural gift of a dreamlike,
clairvoyant perception of the reality of the divine spiritual world; and in the end, a temporary
but complete emancipation by one-sided materialistic conceptions, so that we could find our
independent self and return in freedom to a new realization of the divine-spiritual. This pro-
cess seems to have been even deliberately accelerated by the practice of mummification, by
which a part of the soul, the “Ka”, was kept after death close to the body of the deceased
human being and thereby close to the physical material world.
This whole complex we can thus see working as an individual “drama of soul”, and possi-
bly as destiny from previous incarnations, in the life of Copernicus. He had a deep connection
with the cosmos and the study of astronomy, but it was for him a world in which the God was
“dead”. Therefore, he laid the foundation of an astronomy that could and can conceive the
cosmos only as a colossal, yet lifeless and soulless mechanism, in which even the appearance of
life tends to break down into being regarded as electrical, magnetic and like phenomena.
The mythology of Gemini, which Saturn approaches at Copernicus’ birth, further empha-
sizes this complex. In Norse Mythology the “death” of the God Baldur (see July ’66 issue) is

112
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

brought about by the craftiness of the evil Loki through the hand of the blind Hodur. “Blind-
ness”, which means our increasing incapacity of awareness of the divine, spiritual reality be-
hind the physical, “kills” the divinity within our own being. And this “blindness” has become
in the modern age—inaugurated by deeds like that of Copernicus—a widely cherished ideal of
scientific investigation and experiment. Thus stands Copernicus at the threshold of an epoch
of civilization in which we plant our feet in a realm that is accessible to our physical senses,
whereas all that referring to soul or spiritual existence is, at best, relegated to the spheres of the
unknowable and religion and, at worst, to disreputable superstition. Thus does this civilization
live in a kind of universal schizophrenia that is, from another viewpoint, also reflected in
Gemini. This is, of course, only one side of the asterogram of Copernicus, so to speak, his
karmic connection with the drama of the human race during the present, greater age of evolu-
tion, and it would be wrong to see Copernicus only in this light.
The question that must rise with necessity is: If such a relationship of Saturn to Taurus and
Gemini can be deciphered on the background of mythological interpretation, are then all hu-
man beings who seek a similar relationship through Saturn at the time of their birth, involved
in similar experiences and destinies? One can, of course, never standardize human biogra-
phies. Numbers of human beings might have affinities of destiny which express themselves in
similar cosmic metaphors, but each individual will certainly live and manifest them in unique
and individual fashion. Only common trends can, at best, be discerned as a rule. Indeed, an
historical investigation reveals a veritable battle in that part of humanity, which is by birth, etc.,
associated with facts and events similar to the above. However, in any case the battle is con-
cerned with that drama of human consciousness which we sketched.
Among the most outstanding examples is that of Francis Bacon, the statesman, philoso-
pher, writer, and scientist. He was born on January 22, 1501. Saturn was then, heliocentrically,
just in the point of transition from the constellation of Taurus to Gemini. Therefore, around
the epoch it was in Taurus. As a scientist and philosopher Bacon was certainly involved in that
long drawn-out drama of the “death” of Osiris in human consciousness, and also in the “death”
of Balder by the hand of his blind brother. His philosophy marked a decisive step in our
modern relationship to the physical, external world. Metaphysical knowledge of the intercon-
nections in nature is probably denied to humanity, according to Bacon. The knowledge of
nature must be conquered by experience through the senses and by experimental methods.
Bacon is, so to speak, the father of experimental, inductive science.
The spiritual battle that is indicated, as we said earlier, in the constellations of Taurus and
Gemini comes to light especially in the latter. When the two scientists Pierre Gassendi (1592)
and Herschel (1738) were born, Saturn was in Gemini. Gassendi was an empiricist who main-
tained “that there is nothing in the intellect which has not been in the senses”, although he was
not always consistent in his empirical realism. Herschel perfected the telescope to the point
where he was able to discover the planet Uranus. A little earlier, in 1709, De Lamettrie was
born. Saturn was then also in Gemini. He was one of the founders of theoretical, philosophi-
cal materialism. One of his principal works was L’Homme machine (man is a machine). Much

113
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

earlier, around the epoch of Augustine of Hippo (354), Saturn was also in Gemini. His life and
teaching stood on his realization that the immediate, spiritual revelation that inspired early
Christianity had come to an end and that the Scriptures were essentially the only means of
certainty of faith.
On the other hand, there were men like Michelangelo (born 1475) and Tolstoi (born 1828)
during whose epoch Saturn was in Gemini and whose work proves that they broke through to
some, however limited, realization of the spirit, though it obviously meant for them tremen-
dous inner battles. We thus see that it is not wise to judge the implication of the planets
according to preconceived, fixed ideas. The totality of an asterogram must be carefully taken
into consideration and, apart from this, we must also be prepared for changes of the basic
“temperaments”, as it were, of the planets, which like everything else in the universe, go through
changes in time.
Such slow but inevitable evolutions of the planets become chiefly apparent in connection
with the asterogram of death. When the well-known Augustinian monk Thomas à Kempis
died in 1471, Saturn was in Taurus. Contrary to the indications in birth asterograms, which we
mentioned before, we see here a man with refined spiritual qualities, even so much so that he
was considered in his own monastery not to be fit for more practical and mundane duties.
Nevertheless, by his Imitation Christi, which is ascribed to him, and by other writings and letters,
he has become a shining beacon for many in their religious and mystical endeavors. Nearer to
our time is the German philosopher Schelling, at the time of whose death Saturn was also in
Taurus (1854). Schelling started out as a pupil of Fichte and Hegel and built, thereupon, his
own nature philosophy. Later in his life he advanced to a metaphysical philosophy of mythol-
ogy and revelation. There are other examples that would, however, require a lot of biographi-
cal and literary amplification.
In Gemini we find, from the viewpoint of death asterograms, contradictions similar to
those in connection with birth charts. Thomas Hobbes, the English philosopher, died in 1679
when Saturn was in Gemini. He came to the conclusion that everything in nature happened
according to mechanical laws, even the sensations of living entities are caused by all kinds of
movements in matter only. The state and also the single individual are nothing but more
complicated machines than the man-made ones, but nevertheless machines. Another scientist
who died when Saturn was in Gemini was Laplace (1827). He was a mathematician and as-
tronomer who particularly endeavored to find mechanical explanations for the movements in
the solar system.
Against them stands William Blake who died also in 1827, when Saturn was in Gemini. A.
E. Abbot’s Encyclopedia of the Occult Sciences (Emerson Press, 1960) says of him: “…he fought
materialism and sought his own spiritual regeneration… He saw in simple everyday happen-
ings a transcendent significance which he transmuted into apocalyptic visions...”
As we pointed out earlier, the implications contained in the death asterogram herald a new
association of human beings with the world of the stars, which will come to full fruition only
in future ages. In this new connection, we will take an active part more and more in the

114
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

transmutation and permeation of the cosmic factors with human, spiritual essence (see also the
January ‘67 issue).
How would we then imagine that a person of this modern age should meet a Saturn in
Taurus or Gemini, whether it appears in the asterogram of incarnation or plays into a specific
epoch of life? Principally, we should regard cosmic implications of this nature as an indication
of the material we decided to work with already before birth. Just as an artist would assess the
materials that are offered to him in order to gauge the possibilities that they present over and
against his ideas, just so would we imagine that we, ideally speaking, should view the cosmic
potential with which we associated through incarnation. It might constitute real challenges,
even in their so-called bad aspects, but even in the worst case they should never be regarded as
depressing or hostile fate.
Thus, for instance, we would see in a Saturn in Taurus a challenge to try and break through,
in the sphere of cognition (Saturn is also associated with “Gnosis”), to the real nature and
spiritual origin of matter and the material world. This was expressed as a challenge, one cannot
yet say as a solution, in the conjunction rhythms of the extra-saturnine planets of Pluto and
Neptune toward the end of the 19th century. The two were in conjunction, heliocentrically, in
the constellation of Taurus in 1892. The last time this happened was at the beginning of the
15th century at the threshold to the new age of scientific and technological development, and
also in Taurus. The challenge in the heavens during the last decade of the 19th century was met
in humanity by the discovery of x-rays and radio activity. Suddenly the nature of matter, which
had been conceived by humanity as unchangeable and well behaved, reared up in a totally new
image. It gave reason to look at matter as having two sides: solid and stable matter, and energy.
One scientist exclaims: “...The old materialism is dead, and even the electrons, which for a
time replaced particles of matter, have become but disembodied ghosts, mere wave-forms...”
(Dampier in A History of Science, Cambridge 1948). Yet, this is only the beginning, so to speak,
an opening of the door for a breakthrough to the cognition of the nature of matter, not only
in the sphere of scientific approaches and books but even in concerns of so-called daily life.

115
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - April 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

Among the most outstanding events during the month are the occultations of some of the
planets by the Moon. The waning, last quarter Moon starts out as a from the constellation of
Sagittarius, ecliptic sign of Capricorn. It comes into conjunction with Mercury, close to the
opposition point to Uranus. Then it an occults Saturn after moving though its apogee, furthest
distance from the Earth, and then it will move through its ascending node, meaning it will
ascend above the plane of the ecliptic or apparent path of the Sun. It will then conjunct and
occult, or cover, Venus in the constellation of Taurus.
Later in the month the Moon will conjunct and occult Mars near the fixed star Spica in the
constellation of Virgo. At approximately the same time the Moon will be in its perigee, i.e., it
will be closest to the Earth and will appear bigger than usual. Later the Full Moon will come
under the shadow of the Earth and thus cause a total Moon eclipse.
The question must arise, what do these occultations of planets by the Moon mean for the
life on the Earth, if anything at all? It certainly isn’t an answer to regard them as good or bad,
according to the information in some almanacs, and then arrange our daily life according to
them. This is an attitude that constitutes a direct insult against the dignity of the human being
of the present age, and we see full justification in the rejection of such notions and practices by
the greater part of humanity. In our view, it behooves our present age to meet the cosmic
events with a heightened sense of spiritual freedom, of which every human being is capable,
and to exert on such occasions the capacity of presence of mind and spiritual constructiveness.
Only in this sense is the information meant that we give in this Journal.
Certainly one essential thing is that we must always endeavor to gain a clear perception of
what is happening in the heavens. For instance, the three occultations of Saturn, Venus, and
Mars, simply mean that the light beams from these planets to the Earth are blotted out and
darkness steps into their place. Thus we can speak of a Saturn darkness or a Venus darkness
prevailing in such moments, however minute the shadow beam might be, in place of the light
beam. (Possibly the minuteness, or homoeopathic “dilution” must be regarded as a particularly
effective agent). Then dark or sinister Saturn or Venus beings might storm up from the center
of the Earth and out into the cosmos. For instance, Rudolf Steiner implies that in the case of
a Sun eclipse, when the shadow of the Moon fails on the Earth, it happens that such demonic
beings move out into the cosmos and continue their mischief there. On the reverse occasion,
when the shadow of the Earth falls on the Moon, demonic beings can enter the Earth from the
cosmos. They use, as it were, those corridors of darkness for their passage, always moving in
the opposite direction from where the shadow falls.
On such occasions, or before they happen, we can do one of two things. We can either
succumb to notions of woe and possibly pending disaster, and thereby renounce the spiritual
dignity of our modern age, or we can prepare to stand in front of such events with construc-
tive, spiritual ideas, ever ready to let them flow into deeds, when opportunities are offered. The

116
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

“eclipse” of Saturn can mean, for instance, that the spiritual “atmosphere”, or aura of the
Earth, is filled with elemental beings that want to exert depressing, hypochondriacal, and like
influences, for this is the negative and dark side of Saturn. It would be a challenge and a noble
task for us to stand erect in such a moment in full and unerring awareness of our evolution and
of the universe from the dim past into the equally far future. The spiritual responsibility that
would accrue from such perspectives would be a healthy antidote against depression and simi-
lar attitudes. The cosmology in Rudolf Steiner’s book Occult science, for instance, can become
the departure point for such perspectives.
Likewise can the occultation of Venus be indicative of the presence of entities in the aura
of the Earth that intend to throw souls into whirlpools of feeling, bounded by materialistic
ideas and notions. There too, a knowledge and experience of our real and spiritual being can
be the only healthy reaction. The confrontation of the occultation of Mars should consist of
inner firmness and the unshakable presence of the idea of our spiritual dignity against at-
tempts, for instance, of derogation and degradation which might come from the environment.
There is certainly no better method of acquiring constructive attitudes of soul than an occupa-
tion with spiritual science and a gradual growing into it. About Sun and Moon eclipses we shall
speak later, because they need more elaborate elucidation.
We will now return to the asterogram of Copernicus. In the last issue we established a
delineation of Saturn, at least in a sketchy form. According to the historical evidence, it is
connected with that tremendous step of humanity toward emancipation from the old spiritual,
magical consciousness that amounted, in a sense, to our mental bondage, and toward spiritual
freedom. We know, and we have experienced it in history, that this is a precipitous path which,
eventually, led to the establishment of materialism, both philosophical and practical. However,
we pointed out in the last issue that this materialism appears to be heading for a course of self-
defeat, for instance, dawning on the scientific horizon in nuclear physics. If the modern
scientist can proceed to clear concepts about those “disembodied ghosts” of the “old materi-
alism”, manifesting, or rather vanishing, in the smallest “particles of matter “, then half the
battle will already be won. Then that tremendous expense of the gradual divorce from the
divine spiritual world will have been worth the cost, because we will have an opportunity to
find our way back in full freedom to the experience of the reality of spirit in the universe.
The work of Copernicus was one of the corner stones along that road of emancipation. It
became the foundation of modern astronomy that did conceive of the universe of the stars as
a purely material structure. In this world aspect, there was no longer room for a cosmos
permeated and motivated by spiritual beings, as in ancient cosmologies. But just for this reason
we can have the hope that the so-called Copernican world conception will eventually lead to a
new perspective of the universe that is again seen as being permeated by cosmic, divine intel-
ligence. Our realization of it will then rest on the foundation of modern scientifically trained
perception and thinking. Signs of such a possible development have already appeared on the
horizon. The great pattern of individual and humanity evolution has been established through
the Mystery of Golgotha as a going through death—all kinds of death experiences, not only

117
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

the cessation of the function of the physical body—and thus advancing to a resurrection in the spirit.
This potent pattern seems to be apparent in the deed of Copernicus, as in all modern sciences.
All this is borne out by the script of Jupiter in the asterogram of Copernicus. In this planet
we behold the wisdom of what, otherwise, appears as a reflection of destiny and karma in
Saturn. We said in the Feb. ’66 issue: “Jupiter concentrates on the future, on becoming, and
the potential powers of the life or ether forces in the universe” and in the May ’66 issue: “We
find (in Jupiter)… the archetype of our etheric or life body (the formative body or builder), in
its integration into the whole world ether.”
In the prenatal asterogram of Copernicus, Jupiter moved through the constellation of Libra
and arrived in Scorpio at birth. At the beginning it was in conjunction with Uranus, during the
embryonic development in conjunction with Neptune, and at birth close to the Moon.
We came to regard Libra as the cosmic symbol of the threshold to the reality of the spiri-
tual world (see Oct. ’66 issue). In Egypt it was regarded as the scales of Osiris in the realm of
the shades, on which the souls were weighed to find out whether they were fit to proceed to
higher planes of existence. Therefore, this constellation can also be regarded as a sign of
catharsis, which must precede the final act of initiation of the neophyte. In this sense, we
would look upon the Jupiter of Copernicus as an indication that the deeper life-wisdom of the
deed of this individuality was catharsis, humanity catharsis on the threshold to the new age of
consciousness. Indeed, if we compare the Copernican world conception with the colorful and
tremendously spiritual cosmologies of ancient humanity, then the conceptions of modern
astronomy appear abstract and impoverished, deserted by the divinity, a mere machine without
apparent meaning and moral aim. We can understand that some contemporaries of Galileo,
one of the first modern scientists who had adopted the Copernican view, fought with all might
against this new world conception. They as human beings felt insulted and degraded by the
fact of the planet Earth, on which they lived, being thrown out of its traditional central posi-
tion and grace-filled view of the divinity. Yet, Copernicanism carries also a tremendous poten-
tial in itself, and this is depicted in the Libra wisdom of Jupiter. Modern astronomy, based on
Copernicus, arrived at its conclusions by countering the welter of observations by thinking.
This thinking became more and more directed toward the material world exclusively; therefore,
the universe of the stars was conceived as a continuation and transposition out into cosmic
space of the material properties of the Earth. However, we can have the hope that with the
cultivation and spiritual conviction born of thinking, a future humanity will penetrate to new
and self-conquered spiritual conceptions of the universe that will not be founded on the atavis-
tic remnants of the ancient magical consciousness. The guarantee that this is a potential pos-
sibility is contained in the development and conclusions of atomic physics, of which we spoke
in the last issue. If this should happen, then the deed of Copernicus will have been truly a
stepping-stone on that long, painful road of human catharsis toward spiritual freedom through
thinking.
This is still more emphasized by the conjunctions of Jupiter of Copernicus with Uranus
and Neptune. These planets represent the cosmic “homesteads” of the highest principles of

118
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

the present (April-May ‘66). Neptune on this occasion was close to its own aphelion, which
means that it reflected strongly the spiritual potential of its whole sphere. According to the
description in Rudolf Steiner’s Theosophy, the higher beings in this sphere work for the accord
of human doings with the true being of the world... “the right course of the world order.”
(May ’66 issue). From a more superficial viewpoint, it might appear that a conjunction of
Neptune and Jupiter would offer an enhancement of the described qualities. However, it is
more realistic to see in this aspect an absorption of the Neptune impacts by Jupiter. The latter
would then indicate a modification toward a higher degree of materialization. (This planet
altogether reflects tendencies of spatial and “prosperity” directed expansion, or the opposite
under corresponding circumstances). Thus this Jupiter would indeed indicate a world evolu-
tionary background of Copernicus’ deed but wrapped, as it were, in apparently “materialistic”
concepts at first. Similar aspects would then also apply to the initial conjunction of Jupiter
with Uranus in this asterogram. However, they would be more connected with the entelechy,
the spiritual thread running through the incarnations of this soul. This Uranus displayed an
inner, aspect-wise connection with Saturn at the beginning of the embryonic development, or
epoch. The two planets were then at an angular distance of 135° in the circle of the ecliptic.
At this point we must introduce certain concepts concerning these angular relationships of
the planets among themselves, apart from conjunctions and oppositions which we have en-
countered already. These relationships are technically called aspects and are built on regular
geometrical shapes inserted into the ecliptic. Thus, for instance, conjunctions and oppositions
are built on the shape of an equilateral square. Conjunctions are aspects in which two or more
planets meet in one corner of a square (position 1 in Fig. 11), oppositions if they stand in two
diametrically opposed corners (180° angular distance, position 2). Now it can happen that two
planets, or more, stand in two successive corners of a square. Then they are at an angular
distance of 90°, which is technically called a square aspect (position 3). However, it can also
happen that two or more planets move into a position like 4. Then they are at an angular
distance of 135°, and we must insert another equilateral square into the first one standing at an
angle of 45° to the latter, in order to demonstrate the relationship graphically. The squares in
the diagram can, of course, be rotated in the ecliptic (likewise the triangles in Fig. 12); they are
not bound to the given positions.
These aspects simply mean relationships between planets on the basis of their individual
and momentary positions in the ecliptic or the Zodiac. The twelve ecliptic “signs” and the
twelve constellations have characteristics that can be likened to the four elements: fire, air,
water, and earth, and to the four temperaments: the choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, and melan-
cholic. These we have inserted in the diagram, whereby we must not be tempted into generali-
zations; nevertheless, each constellation manifests a degree of individual “color”.
Now, in the case of a conjunction, it happens that planets meet under the impression of
the same elemental or temperamental color. Then it can be that they enhance each other’s
workings. They can also frustrate each other to the point of ineffectiveness. In order to decide
what they might do, one has to study the nature of the planets involved and their setting in the

119
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Figure 11
Phlegmatic
Water
Choleric
Fire Sanguine
Air

Melancholic Melancholic
Earth Earth

Sanguine Choleric
Air Fire

Phlegmatic
Water Phlegmatic
Water

Choleric Sanguine
Fire Air
Figure 12
Melancholic
Earth

totality of the cosmic configuration at the time of the aspect. A totally different matter, of
course, is the reaction of the human being. The latter cannot be foreseen, according to pre-
scribed formulas, but will be in accord with our moral and characterological disposition. For
instance, rain is an objective fact in nature, but individual human beings react differently to it.
Likewise, our reaction to cosmic events is a matter of the moral stamina that we acquire in life,
which can even be consciously cultivated.
All the other aspects constitute the most varied combinations of these “colors”. Opposi-
tions bring about confrontations of “kindred colors”, in a sense, like the choleric and the
sanguine or the phlegmatic and the melancholic temperaments. Squares would confront un-
congenial temperaments, in a purely cosmic sense, such as Fire/Choleric (Aries) and Water/
Phlegmatic (Cancer) or Air/Sanguine (Gemini) and Earth/Melancholic (Virgo). However,

120
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

their initial lack of compliance can be transformed into constructive cooperation, in one way
or another, depending on the presence of mind of human beings involved in them. Therefore,
the still much feared oppositions and square aspects need not work out in a detrimental or
irredeemable sense. The same applies to the aspects built on two equilateral squares inter-
secting (see Fig. 11). There it can happen that, for instance, Fire (Leo) and Earth (Capricorn)
are confronting each other (called sesquisquare of 135°), under somewhat modified circum-
stances, or Air (Aquarius) and Water (Pisces), which is a semi-square of 45° distance. [For
example: 5 to 20 .]
The aspects which are built on the shape of the equilateral triangle are of a totally different
nature. For instance, the so-called trine, or 120° distance, combines elements or temperaments
of the same category. For instance, planets in Aries and Leo, or Aries-Sagittarius, Leo-Sagit-
tarius would be impressed by the choleric temperament, always in a cosmic sense, and/or by
the element of Fire. Therefore, these aspects constitute initially a harmony, as opposed to
most of the aspects built on the square. However, this can lead to stagnation, even to a kind of
inefficient “unworldliness”, whereas those of the square lead right down to the physical mate-
rial world where, for instance, the four elements rule and sharp corners might have to be
negotiated. It is interesting to note that conjunctions can apply to both geometrical figures, to
the equilateral square and triangle.
The sextile aspect, an angular relationship of 60°, stands on similar grounds. However, in
order to demonstrate this aspect graphically we have to insert two equilateral triangles into the
circle of the ecliptic. Then planets that form this relationship would occupy corners of each
triangle nearest to each other, for instance A and B in the diagram. Thus there would come
into being combinations of naturally more congenial elements, like Fire-Air or Water-Earth,
which on the surface might sound desirable and good, but in actual fact could lead to frustra-
tion if they are not employed constructively.

121
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - May 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

At the beginning of the month, another occultation of Saturn by the Moon will take place.
This is one of a whole series of occultations, the first one happened in April (see April issue)
and will recur every month during this present year and once more in January 1968. It is
noteworthy that this is connected in time, in a wider sense, with Saturn’s crossing of the vernal
point on March 3. Earlier, at the beginning of the year, Saturn entered the constellation of
Pisces. This combination of events seems to be pointing out that the human being should
exercise at the present moment, more than before, presence of mind and inner wakefulness. A
superior (behind and out in space beyond the Sun) conjunction of Mercury with the Sun will
follow. The planet will at the same time be in its own ascending node, meaning that it will
ascend above the plane of the ecliptic. This can be regarded as the height of a cycle of Mer-
cury, when the planet was in inferior conjunction with the Sun (in front of the latter, between
Earth and Sun), which will come to a conclusion with another such inferior conjunction in July.
The Sun will be in opposition to Neptune, which appears in the heliocentric as a conjunction
of the Earth and Neptune. This will approximately accompany the transition of Neptune
from the region of the constellation of Libra and its moving toward Scorpio, after being in
Libra a good many years. Mars will then become direct (D in the ephemeris) after having been
retrograde below the constellation Virgo. It did not perform a loop on this occasion, as Venus
and Mercury mostly do when they come between Earth and Sun, but rather a hairpin curve.
We pointed out in the Star Journal for Feb. ‘66 that these oppositions—in connection with
the retrograde movements of the planet—march through the Zodiac in the course of succeed-
ing, similar events. This takes a time of about 15 to 17 years. They alternate during the same
interval with 8 conjunctions of Mars with the Sun, which always happen approximately in the
opposite part of the Zodiac. Thus we can follow up the career of the present opposition of
Mars to the Sun. It happened before in:
1950 (March 23) in 182° 1920 (April 21) in 211°
1935 (April 6) in 196° 1903 (April 20) in 210°
1918 (March 15) in 174° 1888 (April 11) in 202°
All these dates were potent moments in modern history and are worthwhile to study. Par-
ticularly the last one, in 1888, was associated, for instance, with certain political changes in
Germany that were largely responsible for some of the events in 1914 and later. During the
same year of 1888 and the following, the final mental breakdown of the German philosopher
Nietzsche occurred.
We will now go still further with the description of possible angular relationships, or as-
pects, among the planets. First, we will insert into Fig. 12 of the April issue, another two
triangles and thus get Fig. 13. The corners of all four triangles touch the twelve “signs” of the
ecliptic, or the constellations of the Zodiac. It can now happen that planets occupy two neigh-
boring corners of two triangles, for in stance, A and B. This is technically called a semi-sextile

122
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

which constitutes an angular distance of 30°. It would combine succeeding elements or, tem-
peramental colors, such as Fire-choleric and Earth-melancholic or Earth-melancholic and Air-
sanguine, etc. (Compare with Fig. 11 in April issue). Thus tensions might be created that
could, nevertheless, be worked out harmoniously, if properly handled. The apparent contra-
dictions could even complement each other. The redemption might lie in a consequent evolu-
tion, for instance, from Cancer to Leo.

Figure 13 Figure 14

Astrology recognizes still more aspects. One of them, an angular distance of 150°, rests on
a combination of the square of 90° and the sextile of 60°. We simply go along from one corner
of the equilateral square to the following one, and still further to the corner of an equilateral
triangle, which has been erected in one of the four points of the square as it is done in Fig. 14.
Thus we have obtained between the objects A and B an angle of 150°. The traditional name of
this aspect is quincunx. It combines elements that are, on the surface at least, uncongenial and,
therefore, need extra efforts for handling.
Figure 15
There exists another family of aspects that can be devel-
oped from an equilateral pentagon, or pentagram. This creates
angles of 72° and 144° (Fig. 15). In astrology they are called t
this geometric shape is the spatial principle underlying the con-
junction cycles of the planet Venus with the Sun. (See Star Jour-
nal, March ‘66.) Therefore the quintile and the bi-quintile as-
pects have characteristics somewhat similar to the planet and its
sphere.
According to the heliocentric world conception the orbit of Venus lies inside that of the
Earth, next to the latter. Therefore, Venus is the planet, coming closest to the Earth on the
inside, in the case of an inferior conjunction. On the other hand, the orbit of Mars is outside
that of our own planet. It comes closest to the Earth on the occasion of an opposition of
Mars to the Sun. Thus the Earth is carried, as it were, by the orbits of Mars and Venus. With
these facts, two dynamic principles are connected that are decisive for the whole evolution of
our planet. If we study the properties of the sphere of Mars closely, we become aware that it

123
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

has a hand in the precipitation of the essence of the spirit into physical-material consistency
(see Feb. ’66 issue). This happened chiefly during what one might call the first half of the
Earth evolution and creation of nature.
The sphere of Venus lies, however, already on the road toward dissolution of the physical-
material condition. (See the “wave” theory in Dec. ’65 issue). Therefore, we associate this planet
and its sphere with the gradual spiritualization of Earth existence, which has barely begun and
is potentially a matter of the future or the second half of the evolution of our planet.
This is the reason why the aspects built on the pentagon, the quintile and bi-quintile are
chiefly associated with matters of the mind and the spiritual development of the human being
and the human race. (These aspects are not used very much in classical astrology.)
An efficient knowledge of the aspects and their workings is an excellent instrument for the
investigation of a cosmic configuration. It becomes obvious for one who tries to enter more
deeply into these matters, that the exclusive study of one single planet is not enough. For
instance, in the case of an asterogram of incarnation, all the planets sound together like a
symphonic structure. The general motive that might be inaugurated by one planet, usually
Saturn, is taken up by the other planets and modified into details reflecting the karma of a
person. In order to identify the general score of this symphony, as it were, we need the science
of the aspects as expression of interplanetary relationship.
In the last issue, we pointed out that Uranus in the epoch of Copernicus was at an angular
distance of 135° from Saturn (sesquisquare). Jupiter was drawn into the same aspect a little
later, when it came into geocentric conjunction to Uranus.
The relationship between Saturn and Uranus we find particularly illuminating with regard
to the “greater ego” of Copernicus, that ego which never really enters the single incarnation
but accompanies the soul through the repeated Earth lives, as it were, as a guardian of the
spiritual continuity in them. Now, we notice that the aspect connection between Saturn and
Uranus spells out, symbolically, a difficulty between them. They are, so to speak, at “cross-
purposes”, if we contemplate once more the geometrical foundation of the sesquisquare. The
two squares (April issue, Fig. 11) are at right angles.
How did this manifest in the life of Copernicus? Here we have a striking illustration of a
cosmic fact that Rudolf Steiner described on the basis of his spiritual insight. Why did
Copernicus lend a hand to the creation of a world conception ending up in materialism, as it
happened to many other souls of the present age? This is due, Rudolf Steiner explains, to the
fact that on Mars, and in its sphere, a great decline had set in that became apparent during the
Middle Ages, just about the time of Copernicus. Big wars raged on the planet, of a spiritual
kind though. Souls who had scientific inclinations and descended into incarnation might have
aggregated in moving through the sphere of Mars’ materialistic impulses. (Recall what we said
in the Feb. ’66 issue about Mars and its connection with the physical-object world; and also Dr.
Steiner’s Life between Death and a New Birth in Relationship to the Cosmic Facts 1912-13, lecture V.)
Copernicus was one of these souls, Rudolf Steiner explained. We find it illustrated in the
chart by the conjunctions of Jupiter with Uranus and Neptune during the gestation of

124
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Copernicus. They happened close to the descending node of Mars, particularly the conjunc-
tion with Neptune. This is further emphasized by the sesquisquare (135°) of Uranus to Saturn,
to which was added a quincunx (150°) aspect of Neptune to Saturn at the time of the epoch.
We indicated earlier that also this aspect reflects certain difficulties. Thus Jupiter indicates, by
its involvement in the two conjunctions close to the Mars node—a very pertinent element
expressing the life of the sphere of Mars—that prenatal experiences on Mars of the nature
described above played into the life of Copernicus. This is an example describing the signifi-
cance of the aspects between the planets and the relationship of planets to the spheres that can
be discerned in the heliocentric chart with the means of nodes and also perihelion and aph-
elion positions.
However, we want to study that Jupiter of Copernicus, and also Uranus and Neptune,
more closely. Of the many historic examples which we have collected we mention two, Harun
al-Rashid and Henry the Navigator. When Harun al-Rashid, Caliph of Baghdad, died (March
24, 809), Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus were all standing close together in the constellation of
Scorpio, at some 20° distance from the descending Mars node but still close enough to be
considered essential. Thus we are reminded of the Jupiter of Copernicus, but also of Saturn
because it was about opposite the Saturn of Copernicus. But, what had Copernicus to do with
Harun al-Rashid? Rashid was not only an aggressive leader of Mohammedanism in his realm
but also a great scholar. He patronized, among other things, the kind of Arabic science that
sprang up amidst Mohammedanism. It favored a scientific approach that later on became
apparent among the Mohammedan Moors in Spain, whose main representative was Averroes
(1126-1198). It was an approach in science which, one might say, transported the aggressive-
ness of early Mohammedanism into scientific endeavors and created world conceptions, or
apparent leanings, that introduced intellectualism and rudimentary materialistic ideas before
humanity was ready to cope morally with them. As a matter of fact, personalities like the
Prophet Mohammed, Harun al-Rashid, and Averroes, had at the moment of their deaths es-
tablished close relationships to the sphere of Mars, which was indicated in corresponding
relationships of the planets to the nodal and perihelion-aphelion lines of that sphere. We can,
therefore, imagine the kind of etheric biographical essence that Harun al-Rashid handed on at
the time of his death to the cosmos. This was not lost. It lived on in the universe and might
have been picked up again by kindred souls at the time of their incarnation. (We refer to our
description in the December ’66 issue). Something of this order seems to have come to ex-
pression in the relationship between the asterogram of the death of Harun al-Rashid and that
of the incarnation of Copernicus, and became one of the foundations of the world concep-
tions of Copernicus—an association with declining Mars forces. An additional illustration is
the fact that Uranus in the chart of Copernicus was in the same sidereal position where it had
been at the time of the death of Mohammed in 632. After 10 orbits it had returned there.
The connection with the Jupiter of the death of Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) is of a
totally different nature. That Jupiter was exactly in the nodal line of Mars, similar to the Jupiter
in the incarnation asterogram of Copernicus. This leads us to very significant viewpoints.

125
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Henry the Navigator was Grandmaster of the Order of Christ, which was the successor of
the Templars in Portugal after their destruction in the beginning of the 14th century. He was
the inaugurator of a number of expeditions along the West Coast of Africa that penetrated
deep into the south. The idea was chiefly to find the seaway to the East Indies. His ships were
usually flying the flag of his Order. Thus he carried the spirit of the Order of the Templars
forward in his days. The Templars were, indeed, a kind of precursors of the exploring and
inventive impulses of our present age. Through their East-West associations (Asia Minor and
Europe) they established, for instance, the first rudiments of an international trade and bank-
ing system. They had imbued the heavens with the heritage of their impulses at the time of
their painful destruction. Much of this heritage was taken up again by the great pioneers of
discovery and investigation of our age. Henry the Navigator was one among them. This can
indeed be discerned in his asterogram of incarnation. He, in turn, had bequeathed this impulse
to the heavens at the time of his death, through the medium of Jupiter in the node of Mars,
and much of this seems to have been remembered, as it were, by the Jupiter of Copernicus,
who realized it in his life. We certainly do not imagine that it was a personal memory but a
universal impulse of discovery. It is interesting to realize that the Neptune of Copernicus’
chart, which was in conjunction with Jupiter during his gestation, was indeed in a similar zodia-
cal position as at the time of the destruction of the Templars, about 1310-1314. The two events
were just one orbital interval of Neptune apart. Here too we can trace a kind of spiritual lineage.
With all these interconnections in the history of humanity, expressed in the image of the
heavens, the old question rises again: Are we bound by these affiliations? Is there no escape
possible from them? Certainly, all these connections are manifestations of our karma, means
of achieving the gradual catharsis of our individuality and of the human race. However, they
are not made to subjugate us but to provide chances of redemption of the past and of evolu-
tion to ever greater perfection. This can be practically demonstrated in connection with an-
other conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in history (like the one in the chart of Copernicus)
that happened in 1900, only one constellation further on in the Zodiac, in Scorpio. It is asso-
ciated with two asterograms of death, that of Soloviev (August 13, 1900) and Nietzsche (Au-
gust 25, 1900), and with an important event in the life of Rudolf Steiner.
Nietzsche, the German philosopher, was born in 1844. A short time after his birth a
conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus took place in the constellation of Pisces. He was a mighty
fighter against the cultural and religious shortcomings and abuses of his age. For a long time
he was regarded by the spiritually searching German youth as a kind of prophet. However, in
the experience of all-inundating materialism, he eventually broke clown and became insane
(1889). He was faced with a similar proposition as Copernicus, expressed in part by the con-
junction of Jupiter and Uranus. But as Copernicus responded to the challenge by laying the
foundation of an astronomy of purely material celestial entities, Nietzsche was unable to break
through materialism and find a congenial spiritual world conception.
Soloviev, an inspiring Russian philosopher, lecturer, and writer, was born in 1853, when
Jupiter was in Scorpio 4 cycles earlier. He had decisive spiritual experiences that he described

126
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

in a poem entitled Three Visions. As a child he had a vision of the Hagia (Saint) Sophia, the
Divine Sophia, during a religious service in a Russian cathedral. This experience repeated itself
while he was a student of theology at London. Shortly after that, he had a vision in the desert
of Egypt, as he says, of the unimaginable glory and heavenly beauty of the Divine Sophia. All
three visions are connected in some way with that Jupiter in Scorpio. Here, then, was a human
being who countered the materialism of his age with direct spiritual experience.
Rudolf Steiner’s great deed was that he did not reject the science of nature, as possibly
mysticism might do; rather, he promoted the idea that it needs to be enhanced and accompa-
nied by a science of the spirit. Thus he actively evolved spiritual science, with regard to ap-
proach and method, in great detail over a span of 25 years through intensive work and advice.
From the beginning he emphasized that he intended to continue and evolve the work of Goethe
as a scientist. Thus it is significant that one of his first lectures as a scientist of the spirit, in
1900, was on the subject of Goethe’s Secret Revelation (published in 1933 by Percy Lund Humphries
& Co., Ltd., London). This revelation is contained, foremost, as a grand imagination in Goethe’s
so-called Legend of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. In essence, he describes a community of
human beings who eventually build a bridge over a huge river separating two countries. These
can be likened, on the one hand, to the land of the spirit that we normally enter only through
death, the domain of the beautiful Lily, and on the other hand to the material world, in whose
ground tremendous treasures and beings of great wisdom are hidden. Through the labors and
the sacrifice of the small community involved, the bridge could be built and, from that day on,
human beings were enabled to freely pass from one country to the other.
Rudolf Steiner fulfilled Goethe’s imagination and opened up for this present age the pos-
sibility to build the bridge and enter the “other country” in free self-consciousness and full self-
control. Furthermore, it is interesting and illuminating to see that it happened with the accom-
paniment of a star configuration that played into the life of Copernicus with completely differ-
ent tendencies. We have a connection in life with the stars in order to constructively answer
their challenges as a spiritually free being.

127
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - June 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

We continue with the asterogram of Copernicus. Now that we have discussed the implica-
tions of Saturn and Jupiter, also Uranus and Neptune, we go on to Mars. At the time of the
epoch (see graph in Feb. ’67 issue) Mars entered the constellation of Leo. If we now recall
what we said earlier about this constellation (end of Aug. ’66 and beginning of Sept. ’66), we
can easily discern the association with astronomy. Thus Mars emerges as a cosmic symbol of
the active force and tendency in Copernicus with which he confronted the physical material
world in the special manner and direction that he did. (Compare also with our characterization
of Mars in Feb. 66 issue). The uniqueness of these facts as they appeared in the life of Copernicus
as an individual is furthermore emphasized by a quincunx aspect, or 72° angular distance be-
tween Mars and Jupiter at the time of the epoch. Thereby, a deeper, one can even say a
spiritual, relationship is symbolized between the Mars quality of Copernicus and the complex
expressed by the associations of Jupiter that we enumerated in April ’66 issue.
Earlier we pointed out our impression, gained in many years of study, that the positions of
the planets at birth express connections and reflections of incarnations of earlier personalities.
This seems to be borne out in the position of Mars at the birth of Copernicus. It was then,
heliocentrically, in the constellation of Capricorn, which coincided with almost similar posi-
tions of this planet at the time of the death of Mohammed (632) and Harunal-Rashid (809).
Thus we see that the motive revealed in Jupiter (see Apr. ‘67) was indeed taken up by Mars and
carried further.
However, one should not underrate the significance of the impulse in history that was
expressed by this Mars. The latter was in the same position as in the case of Copernicus at the
time of birth of the following personalities. We bear in mind that in all these nativities Mars
had about the same prenatal career, that means from epoch up to the moment of birth. All the
following data refer to heliocentric positions.
Paracelsus (born 1493, when Mars was in 316°), the famous physician who still had a
profound knowledge of the connection of our illnesses with the stars; on the other
hand, he also insisted that the physician read the “book of nature” and study the
manifold elemental interconnections in order to be a good healer.
Galileo Galilei (born 1564, when Mars was in 300°), the scientist and astronomer who
followed the ideas of Copernicus, which led to his prosecution by the Inquisition.
Goethe, born 1749, with Mars in 314°.
Hahnemann (born 1755, Mars then in 308°), the founder of homeopathy and propo-
nent of the idea that high dilutions of physical substances for medical purposes
liberate the inherent spiritual potentials.
Tolstoi, the well-known Russian writer, born 1828, Mars in 323°.
Soloviev (born 1853, Mars in 308°), another Russian writer and philosopher (see Apr.
’67 issue).

128
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

These associations do support the idea that the deed of Copernicus, as much as it must be
seen in the light of his personal destiny, at least as a set of potential possibilities, was not just a
freak accident in history, as many people might be inclined to think, but that it was in line with
the, sometimes painful, road of cultural development of modern humanity. It was a necessity
that cleared the vistas into the future, although it eliminated finally the last remnants of the
wonderful, ancient spiritual proximity of human beings to the stars.
On such a basis one can now proceed to delineate the many implications of Mars with
regard to the time element in the life of Copernicus. The graph in the Feb. ’67 issue quite
obviously implies that Mars constantly changed its position and relationships to other planets
during his embryonic development. Since the time between epoch and birth is associated, as
we said, with the seven year rhythms in life, we must also accept the possibility that the Mars
forces constantly changed their characteristics in the life of Copernicus, according to the move-
ments of the astronomical Mars. We could, for instance, draw up a heliocentric equivalent of
the prenatal chart of Copernicus. Thus we would discover interesting facts that would amplify
what we said already about this asterogram. For instance, we would find that Mars came into
conjunction with Uranus during the 4th Moon cycle and stepped into its own descending node
and conjunction with Neptune around the middle of the 5th cycle. This would coincide, in
terms of projections of the Moon cycles, with the time approximately between 1497 and 1505,
i.e., Copernicus’ sojourn in Italy when he acquired the idea of the heliocentric universe.
Thus, at Copernicus’ incarnation this Mars was an image of his, one might say, professional
and vocational involvement in the physical material world. Even his preoccupations with medi-
cine are reflected in it, indicated by the similarity with the Mars at the birth of Paracelsus,
although he was by no means such a dynamic and revolutionary character as Paracelsus in this
field. He was rather conservative and stuck to the ancient medical authors and prescriptions.
However, one of his biographers (see Arthur Koestler, Sleepwalkers) says that he was far better
known in Erinland, where he lived, as a physician than as an astronomer.
Venus is of a totally different character. We said already in the last issue, that the potential
and the beings associated with this sphere are of a spiritualizing, and even redeeming nature,
against the precipitating quality of Mars. The details of Venus and its sphere reflect possible
confrontations of a human life with our total, not only human, environment. This is, of
course, caused by karma or destiny, rooted in earlier incarnations, and certainly not for the
purpose of any kind of punishment but for catharsis and evolution of self.
The geocentric prenatal curve of Venus is very illuminating (see January ‘67). It started in
the constellation of Aries and arrived at birth in Pisces. In fact it was in the ecliptic projection
point of the fixed star Alpha, or Alpherat, of Andromeda, which is above that portion of
Pisces. Thus one might say that this Venus “left out or untouched” the concerns of Pisces and
the whole complex of Andromeda (see Nov. ’66). How did this reflect itself into the life and
destiny of Copernicus?
The story of Andromeda, together with Pegasus, is the story of the fate of our present age,
starting in 1413 AD with the rise of a new consciousness in humanity. The vernal point, i.e.,

129
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

the point where the Sun appears to stand in the ecliptic on March 21st, had by then moved (it is
in constant movement, amounting to about 1° in 72 years) into the middle of the constellation
of Pisces. The latter constellation consists of the effigies of two fish. One is turned toward
the constellations Aries and Andromeda, the other one swims toward Aquarius. They are
connected with each other by a ribbon made of faint stars.
The double faced aspect of Pisces is of greatest significance; it is particularly revealing
with regard to the character of the present age of Pisces. The fish which is swimming toward
Aries signifies the innate tendency in this age to fall back, i.e., stand on the tenets of the
preceding age of Aries when the evolution of humanity was inspired by the vernal point in that
constellation. What was the character of that age (747 BC, foundation year of Rome, till 1413
AD)? A new capacity broke into human consciousness at that time, the faculty of thinking,
particularly philosophical thinking. Before that, humanity of the leading Egypto-Chaldean
civilizations still had a degree of clairvoyant consciousness. This faded out more and more,
caused by the change of the human organization, which became increasingly accustomed to
the physical material world. Particularly the brain became fully developed, up to the standards
and capacities of the modern age. This is actually expressed by a myth concerning Zeus and
his association with Aries (see July ‘66 Star Journal). Once, so the myth says, Zeus had a split-
ting headache. Someone in his Olympic environment had the idea to split his skull open with
an axe, in order to cure him. Among humans this would be an intolerably rough handling of a
patient, but Zeus was relieved, because out of his brain ascended Pallas Athene, the Goddess,
in full armor!
Myths of this order intend to describe the secrets of the physiological development of the
human race. Minerva, whose Greek name was Athene, seems to imply the meaning of “to
wake” and “to know” (see H. A. Guerber The Myths of Greece and Rome, George G. Hatrap &
Co.), whereas the name Minerva appears to be connected with the Latin word “mens”, the
Greek “menos” and the English “mind”. Thus she would stand for the spiritual origin of that
power in the human being that came to expression in the development of Greek philosophy,
of the realistic attitude toward physical existence on the Earth, manifesting in Greek art. Fi-
nally, the organizational and down-to-Earth attitude of the Romans became a striking manifes-
tation of the Aries qualities, at least, one possible manifestation. It is the development of a
thinking that came to rest and depended increasingly on the senses and the world we can
contact and grasp through them.
Thus the meaning of the fish that swims toward Aries is the obligation of our modern age
to cultivate the heritage of the preceding civilization of Aries further. This is the foundation
of the sciences of nature which came strongly to the foreground soon after 1413, the com-
mencement of the modern age. However, if our thinking stands only on the impressions that
we receive through our senses, then civilization develops the tendency to slip more and more
into materialism, which fails to bring a positive meaning into our lives and the whole universe.
In order to prepare for the needs of future humanity, this present age must also comply with
the development of capacities that are implied in the fish swimming toward Aquarius.

130
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

This western fish actually lies on the back of the Pegasus, below the latter’s wings, accord-
ing to the ancient star maps. We have already introduced the significance of the constellation
of Pegasus, the image of “winged intelligence” (see Nov. ‘66). How can we imagine in our
present age the realization of “winged intelligence”? It was precisely defined in Rudolf Steiner’s
Philosophy of Spiritual Activity as intuitive thinking: “In the perception only a part of reality is
present, and... the other part that belongs to it and first allows it to appear as full reality, is
experienced in the act of permeating the perception with thinking... What arises in conscious-
ness as thinking... (is) not a shadowy copy of some reality but spiritual reality itself… it be-
comes present in our consciousness through intuition. Intuition is a conscious experience of a
purely spiritual content, taking place in the sphere of pure spirit...” (Chapter IX.)
The publication of the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity (1894) is also directly connected with
the constellation of Pisces and, thereby, also with Pegasus. At the time when Rudolf Steiner
must have prepared and written it, Jupiter was in Pisces (1892) and Saturn opposite in Virgo.
In fact, the two planets were in exact opposition before Easter 1892, and Jupiter on that occa-
sion was relatively close to the fixed star Alpha-Pegasus, in the wing of the horse.
This, then, characterizes the spiritual, cultural situation that humanity will have to face to
an ever increasing measure during the Age of Pisces (1413 AD-3573 AD). On the one hand,
by the development of thinking during the preceding age of Aries, humanity had achieved a
high degree of emancipation from the heritage of an ancient connection and awareness of the
reality of the spiritual world but which had sunk more and more into religious dogma. How-
ever, at the same time the danger grew of complete detachment from the spirit. This is only
too apparent in our modern age. A thinking that can accept only sense impressions as sole
reality divests us of our spiritual dignity and takes all sense out of existence. We must learn to
develop the capacities which are indicated by the western of the two fishes in that constellation
and use our spiritual freedom to find new access to spiritual reality by our own efforts. Every
human being is capable of such efforts, and Rudolf Steiner has given plenty of advice on this.
We have thus a foundation for the delineation of the Venus in the chart of Copernicus. At
the time of the epoch it started in the constellation of Aries. Thus we can assume that
Copernicus, in the realm of relationship to environment and reality (which would be the indi-
cation implied by Venus ), had a connection with the kind of thinking consciousness that the
Greco-Roman Aries culture developed. Some of the Greek astronomers, like Philolaus (about
5th century), Heraclitus (about 375-310), and Aristarchus (about 310-230) ventured already
then (in pre-Christian times), to conceive the universe as heliocentric, although for their vision
it was still somewhat permeated by spiritual forces. For such a kind of association of Copernicus’
thinking, also speaks the fact that Venus was in superior conjunction with the Sun in the Libra-
Scorpion region of the Zodiac during his gestation (the Scorpion would refer us back even to
Egypt which cultivated essentially a heliocentric worldview (also see March ’67).
At birth Venus was in the constellation of Pisces, as we said earlier, below the head-star of
Andromeda. Without doubt, the suggestion (and no more) here was to develop “intuitive
thinking”. Copernicus was not able to do this. He combined his perception with a thinking in

131
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

which only a shadow of the glory of Greek thinking was left. He lived at a time when western
humanity had lost the old kind of spirit awareness. The last evening glow of Scholasticism had
died, as it were, into the inwardness and Knowing Unknowingness (De docta ignorantia by Cusanus)
of medieval mysticism, and human beings of the modern age had not yet grown so mature that
they could reach out for the new cognition of the spirit of which Rudolf Steiner’s message
speaks. The result was a thinking about the universe that opened the door to the conception of
a cosmos of material balls rolling through space, controlled by purely mechanical laws.
Yet, we said earlier that Venus and its sphere is associated with spiritualizing and redeeming
cosmic impulses. Where can we find it in this chart? There is a promise for the future in it but
apparently not an element that Copernicus was able to work out during his incarnation.
The superior conjunction of Venus, mentioned above, did not always take place in that
part of the Zodiac. We explained in the Mar. ‘66 Star Journal that these conjunction points, five
in number, are steadily moving backwards in the ecliptic. The one in 1472 is at present just
entering the constellation of Taurus (superior conjunction in 1968, 1976, and so on). This is
that part of the Zodiac through which Saturn moved during the gestation of Copernicus. We
would see indicated in this fact the future possibility of a release of the so-called Copernican
world conception from its banishment into materialistic perspectives. In fact, a number of
signs point toward such a possibility during coming decades, or even centuries, when that
conjunction point will move into Aries and finally, into Pisces. This would bring us up to the
21st and 22nd centuries. It is possible that humanity will have by then evolved the capacity to
recognize again a spiritual world working behind the external appearance of the universe, and
will even bring about a practical reconciliation between the Ptolemaic (geocentric) and the
Copernican (heliocentric) conceptions.
The heliocentric positions of Venus in this asterogram are very illuminating. At the epoch
the planet was close to the perihelion (nearest point to the Sun) of Mars. Shortly after that it
came into opposition to Mars itself. Then, at birth it was standing almost exactly in the ascend-
ing node of Mars. This explains from another angle, the karmic difficulties that Copernicus
carried in himself. Venus was, in a sense, rather oppressed by the elements connected with the
sphere of Mars. It would indicate that he harbored in his being affinities stemming from a past
incarnation that would not let him fulfill the implications of Venus in connection with the
constellation of Pisces in the geocentric chart.
The position of Venus at the time of the epoch was similar to Venus at the time of the
death of Harun al-Rashid (809), whom we mentioned before in connection with Mars. We see
in this no more than a pointer to the cultural setting where this soul might have acquired certain
tendencies of soul attitude. However, we should very emphatically state that we do not, and
cannot, suggest any direct, or personal connections of Copernicus with the historic personali-
ties mentioned here, in the sense of earlier incarnations of this soul.
The planet Mercury and its sphere is connected with our astral organization and, particu-
larly, with that part of it which finds its expression in the will and in limb activity (see Mar. ’66
issue). However, over such unavoidable generalizations, we must not forget that this cosmic

132
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

element also works into the intellect of the human being and into the middle sphere, the
feeling. In the cosmos the spheres of the planets interpenetrate each other, and also the vari-
ous functions in the human organization interpenetrate.
In the geocentric chart of Copernicus, Mercury started out close to the positions of Sun
and Saturn at the time of the epoch. Therefore, we would expect that all the deeper karmic
implications of Saturn (Mar. ’67 issue) lived strongly as will impulses in Copernicus and keenly
reflected themselves into the intellect. What this must have meant comes, furthermore, to
expression in the fact that Mercury was almost exactly in the vernal point at birth. Copernicus
in his time was a “modern” human being. He was well aware of the “modern” character of his
ideas on astronomy and also that this kind of modernism didn’t stand much of a chance
against the powers of tradition, particularly the powers that were represented by the Church of
which he was a member. Up to the last moment, he resisted the desire of some friends in his
environment to have his work on heliocentric astronomy published. The story might be true
that only on his death bed did he receive the first copy of his book into his hands. He knew
how the influential people of his Church would react, because he was aware that they would
feel as though they had lost the ground under their feet if the Earth were no longer the safe,
fixed center point in the universe as in bygone centuries. And indeed, other adherents of the
heliocentric view after him, like the famous scientist Galileo, had to suffer intensely from that
bitter antagonism.
We have not yet discussed our approach to a delineation of Sun (Earth) and Moon in such
a chart. These are rather complicated and involved matters that we must leave for a later
occasion.

133
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - July 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

The Earth on July 5 will be farthest away from the Sun. This happens once every year,
about the same time. This rhythm of our planet being nearest to the Sun (beginning of Janu-
ary) and farthest away (July) is associated with definite life processes of the Earth. The perihe-
lion-aphelion axis of our planet is very slowly moving through the ecliptic, and, of course, also
through the constellations of the fixed star Zodiac. Far back in time, the perihelion (nearest
position of the Earth) took place in midsummer. This coincided with the last Ice Age.
In the course of our delineation of the birth chart concerning Copernicus, we frequently
referred to positions of planets in preceding centuries and in connection with historic person-
alities. We followed, thereby, the idea that the generations of humanity prepare and cultivate,
as it were, the “soil” of the cosmos by their own involvement at birth and death, so that
following generations can build their own existences on the heritages and evolve them ever
further. Of course, underlying such ideas is our realization (by working with the asterogram of
death) that nothing of what a human being establishes as a complex of experiences and achieve-
ments is lost and forgotten in the universe.
In order to build up something like a practical repertory of positions of the planets in
historic incarnation and death charts, we will now follow the planets through the ecliptic and
the fixed star Zodiac. We will start with Saturn in the Constellation of Aries from the heliocen-
tric viewpoint and in connection with asterograms of death:
Dante, death 14 September 1321, Saturn in 28° of the ecliptic. Here we must take into
consideration that, in order to find the position in the fixed star Zodiac, we must
add about 8½° for the precession of the equinox. Thus we arrive at about 36½° of
the present ecliptic, beyond which we would find the stars of Aries. Concerning
the precession of the vernal point or equinox and the apparent discrepancy be-
tween “signs” of the ecliptic and fixed star constellations of the Zodiac see Jun.
’66. Dante wrote a good number of works, but the best known is the Divina Comedia,
the very detailed description of the poet’s visionary journey through hell, purga-
tory and celestial paradise under the guidance of Virgil, the Roman poet. He de-
scribes the sufferings and experiences of the souls of the dead in the various spheres
of the spiritual world in truly cosmological perspectives. Dante gives, as the date
of the inner experience that became the basis of his great poem, the Good Friday
before Easter 1300. In that moment the planet Jupiter was in the constellation
Aries, in the place into which Saturn stepped at the time of Dante’s death. Thus his
Saturn “remembered” and eventually “received” the imperishable ether substance
of the Divina Comedia. Other souls met, as it were, this monumental substance.
They met also many other imprints of a similar nature that were embedded in this
region of Aries because of these souls’ affinity to it. This happened in the process
of their descent from cosmic heights into earthly incarnation. It inspired them to

134
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

corresponding deeds. One such soul was the German philosopher Schelling. When
he prepared for his incarnation (1775-1854), Jupiter was in Aries in the place where
Saturn was at the time of Dante’s death. Schelling wrote, among many other works,
a Philosophy of Revelation and a Philosophy of Mythology, and moved somewhat in a
similar direction of world conceptions as Dante, though on an entirely philosophi-
cal level. We will meet other great spirits who had similar connections with the
constellation of Aries.
Savonarola’s martyrdom took place on May 23, 1498, when Saturn had just entered the
constellation of Aries (28° of ecliptic). He was executed as the result of his con-
flict with the Pope. Indeed, the two Roman commissioners who conducted his
trial and torture had orders from the Pope that Savonarola was to die “even if he
was a second John the Baptist”. He had preached and protested against papal
corruption and thus was, in a sense, a forerunner of the Reformation, though he
had never renounced his faith in the dogmas of the Roman Church. Subsequently
the impulse with which he died was kept alive in the spiritual cosmic world, and we
find the stages of the Reformation and following historic events connected with
the place of Saturn in Aries at the time of Savonarola’s death. When Luther posted
his 95 theses of protest against the abuse of indulgences in 1517, which marked
the beginning of the Reformation in Germany, Uranus was in Aries and was op-
posed in the same moment by Mars (heliocentrically). Later, at the time of the
outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War, Pluto was in Aries and Mars in conjunction with
it. The Bohemian Protestants who negotiated at Prague with two counselors of
the Roman Catholic Majesty, the German emperor at Vienna, became so exasper-
ated that they took the two and threw them out the window. This affront naturally
led to the commencement of open hostilities.
Albrecht Dürer, the famous German painter, draftsman and engraver (died 6 April
1528) was another great spirit, at whose death Saturn (34° of ecliptic) was in Aries.
This Saturn carried with it the memory substance of the years 1513-14 in the life
of Dürer (in the sense, of earlier Saturn transits as we described it in connection
with the death asterogram of Leonardo da Vinci, see Dec. ‘66). In 1513-14 he
produced his three most famous copper engravings: Knight and Death, Melancholia (a
figure surrounded by a welter of instruments and treasures, yet apparently sub-
merged in a deep melancholic apathy), and St. Jerome in His Study. The three can be
regarded almost as an ingenious vision of the drama of the modern age of science
and invention. First the Knight moves forward in spite of the attacks of Death and
the Devil; then the modern intellect breaks down in helpless defeat, though it has
all the means of scientific investigation around it; and finally, the inspired genius in
his study breaks through to a world of spiritual illumination.
Thus we can already recognize the pattern of destinies associated with Saturn in Aries. It
appears usually connected with human lives who, on the one hand, were focii of the character-

135
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

istics of the particular age and human communities in which they were incarnated, and, on the
other hand, who struggled to infuse a sense of eternal human principles into it. Sometimes
they succeeded, possibly up to a point, sometimes they failed. Of those who succeeded, their
works stand out as beckoning beacons to seek the timeless, spiritual archetypes and perspec-
tives of humanity. And in this sense their impulses do work on in humanity, even if their
individual bearers were separated, to a certain extent, from such incarnations at the moment of
death. However, we should not deceive ourselves that only the great and illustrious who found
their way into the history books are representatives of these struggles. Many apparently insig-
nificant lives have manifested them in their small and, from a superficial viewpoint only, incon-
spicuous ways, by associating at death with Saturn in Aries.
We find more historic individualities connected with a Saturn in Aries at death:
Shakespeare, died 23 April 1616 (Saturn in 30°). He was one of few examples of
manhood who strikingly displayed what we said above.
John Locke, English philosopher, died 28 October 1704 (Saturn in 33°). The begin-
ning philosophic materialism of his age found an expression in him. He insisted
that only what can be physically observed could be recognized as a permissible
foundation for a philosophic world conception.
Percy B. Shelley, the English poet, died 8 July 1822 (Saturn in 33°). He was born on 4
August 1792, when Saturn was also in Aries, 26° of ecliptic, one cycle of the planet
before. Shelley was a resolute fighter against outer authority and “despotism of
custom”. Yet, “...no one had a more authentic or vivid sense of universal charity.
The same radiant enthusiasm which appeared in his poetry as idealism stamped his
speculation with the conception of perfectibility and his character with loving emo-
tion...” (Encyclopedia Britannica).
Nicolai V. Gogol, the Russian novelist and dramatist, died 21 February 1852 (Saturn in
36°). The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him “... He was a great artist and though
both the comedy and the novel were ‘events’ in the history of Russia, they are what
they are because of the imaginative genius of the author. Gogol the man found
himself the hero of those who would regenerate Russia...”
F. M. Dostoievski, another famous Russian writer, died 28 January 1881 (Saturn 29°).
He searched into the deepest foundations of the Russian soul and tried to connect
them with the higher ideals of humanity. This Saturn accumulated in its position at
death Dostoievski’s experiences around 1851, when he was imprisoned at Omsk in
Siberia for supposedly having conspired against the government. This had a tre-
mendous influence on his character and brought him to find a new realization of
Christianity, akin to the deep Christianity of the Russian people.
Charles R. Darwin died 19 April 1882 (Saturn 45° and conjunct Neptune). This Saturn
accumulated in cosmic memory, among other experiences, Darwin’s participation
as a naturalist in the surveying expedition of the “Beagle” and the time immedi-
ately afterwards. This was a profound preparation for his later work. His pocket

136
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

book for 1837 contains the words: “In July opened first notebook on Transmuta-
tion of Species. Had been greatly struck from about the month of previous March”
(while still on the voyage and just over twenty-eight years old) “on character of
South American fossils and species on Galapagos Archipelago. These facts (espe-
cially latter) origin all my views.” (Encyclopedia Britannica).
Joseph M. W. Turner, the famous English landscape painter and romanticist, died 19
December 1851 (Saturn inn 33°).
Henry W. Longfellow, the American poet, died 24 March 1882 (Saturn in 44°).
Ralph W. Emerson, the great American transcendentalist, died 27 April 1882 (Saturn in
46°). Both Longfellow and Emerson are towering, in their spiritual strength, so
much above the rest of humanity that we feel we need not add any further com-
ment.
Count Leo Tolstoi died 8 (21 n.s.) November 1910 (Saturn in 34°). He presented
humanity with a wonderful description of the nature of the Russian folk-soul, and
yet his message, and particularly his battle for ideal manhood, concerns the whole
of humanity.
Mark Twain died 21 April 1910 (Saturn in 26°).
Sigmund Freud died 23 September 1939 (Saturn in 26°). We hope to speak one day in
greater detail about the latter two great personalities. At present we feel we could
not possibly characterize satisfactorily their impact on civilization with just a few
remarks.
In contrast to these imprints into the realm of the constellation of Aries by human souls
who entered the spiritual world, we will now study a few asterograms of personalities who
incarnated at times when Saturn was in that constellation, going back as far as the 16th century:
Johann V. Andreae was born on August 17, 1586 (Saturn 28°). When he was 17 years
of age, in about 1603, he wrote down in a moment of profound inspiration, The
Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, Anno 1459, which describes the tremen-
dous inner experiences through which the mysterious founder of medieval
Rosicrucianism, whom we know only by the name of Christian Rosenkreutz, was
led. We see in the Saturn of Andreae’s nativity an indication that he had a deep
connection with cosmic initiative in his prenatal experience as expressed by Aries,
which manifests in humanity as an impulse of spiritual rejuvenation as it worked,
for instance, in that medieval Rosicrucian movement.

A study of transits, that is, of planets moving through the constellation of Aries, will reveal
the progress and development of this Rosicrucianism even in modern times. For instance, the
Great Conjunctions and oppositions of Saturn and Jupiter indicate on the cosmic clock, as it
were, such times. In 1881 there was one such conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Aries.
Thirty years later, in 1910-1911 Saturn was again in Aries, and Jupiter was exactly opposite. In
1940-1 the two planets returned to a conjunction in Aries. All these dates were deeply associ-

137
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

ated with the unwritten spiritual history of humanity, when human beings went through pro-
found experiences and “initiations” in those great spiritual impulses which lived also in esoteric
Christianity as it presented itself to humanity in Rosicrucianism.
Nicolo Machiavelli, 3 May 1469, another Saturn in Aries (Saturn in 33° of ecliptic),
brought a totally different impulse, one might even say the opponent of the one
described before, at the time of his birth. He was the author of Il Principe, in which
he proposed that political crises in modern humanity, as the ones which he wit-
nessed in Italy in his own days, could be solved only by the intervention of power-
ful despots. These ideas were the exact antithesis of the impulses of esoteric Chris-
tianity, suggesting self-education and self-development in a spiritual and also in a
practical sense, as constructive solution of problems in the social sphere.
Thomas Hobbes, who was born on April 5, 1588, brought another version of similar
views, but in this case founded on the science of nature in the modern age, through
his philosophy. During his embryonic development Saturn moved through Aries
(at birth in 49° of ecliptic). Through “…long life experience and intensive
contemplation”… he came to the conclusion that everything in nature happened
according to mechanical principles. Also human society and the individual human
being are nothing but machines or other “more complicated machines”.
Nicolas Culpeper, the English herbalist, was another personality at whose birth on 18
October 1616, Saturn was in Aries (37° of ecliptic). He had a remarkable destiny
and, although he died at the age of thirty-eight, he compiled seventeen books of
which his English Physician Enlarged is best known. Perhaps his greatest deed, which
is not yet very well appreciated by modern humanity, was his endeavor to recognize
the cosmic dynamic forces working in plants that are used for medication. He
contemplated the connection of these herbs with the planets. A future humanity
might discover constructive use of such associations of the plant world with the
cosmos.
Benjamin Franklin was a person who displayed the characteristics of cosmic spiritual
initiative in his life, as it appears connected with Aries. During his prenatal devel-
opment (born January 6, 1706 o.s.), Saturn moved through the constellation of
Aries (at birth 48.5° of ecliptic). A. E. Abott writes in his Encyclopedia of the Occult
Sciences (Emerson Press) of him: “He was an initiate of the will, a characteristic one
for the American people. His Poor Richard’s Almanack was an expression of the
truly American spirit. He was deeply versed in the Kabbalah. Some believed that he
was instructed by the Compte de St. Germain (the famous European occultist of
the 18th century) during his stay in France. Franklin united two streams, the Quaker
stream (of William Penn) and the Free Masonic stream that he encountered in
London. His scientific achievements began in his 42nd year. He founded the Acad-
emy of Philadelphia, the foundation stone of all learned academies in America.
His electrical experiments caused a stir in European scientific circles and set the

138
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

electric age in motion. He invented the lightning conductor. Franklin affirmed his
belief in reincarnation.”
James Watt was a person who was born one Saturn cycle later, on 19 January 1736—
though Saturn was only in Aries at the time of his epoch at 47° of ecliptic (see
January ’67 issue). By completing and improving the principle of the steam engine,
he too made one of the decisive contributions to modern civilization. In 1763 he
had to repair an older model of a steam engine and already then he conceived some
improvements. Saturn entered the constellation of Aries in that year. He had an
idea that remedied certain wastes of the conventional model. In 1768-9 he had
gone so far with his experiments that he was able to have his improvements pat-
ented. Uranus was then in the constellation of Aries. This then made the commer-
cial production of steam engines possible in later years.
Two people who were born nearer our age, when Saturn was moving through Aries,
were Ulysses S. Grant (born 27 April 1822, Saturn in 30°) and the Dutch painter
Vincent van Gogh (born 3 March 1853, Saturn in 49°).
Although we see in the position of Saturn, in the complex of a chart, the externally visible
reflection of the deeper (astral) motivating forces in a human incarnation—we said in the Jan.
’66 issue, the “soul backbone”—we must not lose sight of the fact that to single out one planet
for a delineation has its problems. The other planets in such an asterogram might substantially
modify the perspectives that are expressed by Saturn. However, certain principles can always
be discerned, and it remains then a matter of human initiative to develop during life the poten-
tial present in the one or the other direction.
In this sense, we will confront in the next issue the asterogram of Vincent van Gogh with
that of another individuality at whose birth Saturn was also in the constellation of Aries, Vladimir
Soloviev, the Russian philosopher and writer. He was born in the same year, on January 16,
1853, only a few weeks prior to Van Gogh. Nevertheless, the two personalities had totally
different destinies and life experiences. Therefore, we will attempt to recognize how these
differences were expressed in their asterograms.
Two notable scientists of the modern age were also affiliated with a Saturn in Aries around
their births:
Alfred L. Wegener, born 1 November 1880, with Saturn in 26° of ecliptic. He was
involved in geological expeditions to Greenland and became known for his theory
of continental displacement. The continents of the Earth in their present forms
came, according to these views, into being by the land masses breaking up and
sliding over a kind of common substratum into their present positions.
Sir Arthur St. Eddington was born 28 December, 1882. At his epoch Saturn was still in
Aries (44° of ecliptic). He was a professor of astronomy at Cambridge and made
many important contributions to knowledge of the evolution, motion, and struc-
ture of the stars, and tried to bring about in his writings a reconciliation between
science and religion.

139
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - August 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

The inferior conjunction of Venus with the Sun interests us from an historical viewpoint.
In the Mar. ‘66 Star Journal, we explained how these conjunctions, both inferior and superior,
inscribe the pattern of a pentagon into the ecliptic. Conjunctions of the same nature and in
the same, approximate, location of the ecliptic repeat themselves in intervals of eight years.
Starting from 1967, we would thus find inferior conjunctions of Venus around the same sea-
son, (but occurring gradually later in the seasons) as we go back into past decades. At present
Venus will meet the Sun in the constellation of Leo, but in 1879, for instance, this took place in
the constellation Virgo, just a few days prior to Michaelmas. It is illuminating to check the
years of these inferior conjunctions in Leo-Virgo against the scientific and technological devel-
opments during the last ninety years, starting with conjunctions prior to 1967:
1959: Russia launches satellite that circles Earth and photographs Moon.
1951: Television sweeps United States.
1943: [Italy surrenders—WWII.]
1935: Color motion pictures developed.
1927: Lindbergh flies Atlantic.
1919: First transatlantic flight.
1911: South Pole reached.
1903: Wright’s airplane flies. Motion pictures developed.
1895: X-rays (and radio-activity) discovered.
1887: [The Reinsurance Treaty—a secret pact that allied Russia and Germany.]
1879: Edison’s incandescent lamp. (21-X)
We gave, in the Jul. ’67 issue, as two examples of a Saturn in the constellation of Aries:
Vladimir Soloviev (born 28 January 1853 n.s.) and Vincent van Gogh (born 3 March 1853). We
also emphasized that we should not let ourselves be tempted into judging a nativity on the basis
of a singled-out planet only. Therefore, we will now investigate how the other planets were
built around Saturn, so to speak, in each of the two charts in order to recognize how these
apparently totally different destinies are represented in them.
Depicted in the inner circle of Fig. 16 are the geocentric positions of the planets at Van
Gogh’s birth, in the second circle those at Soloviev’s birth, and in the third the positions of
some of the planets at important moments in the lives of the two individualities. We realize, of
course, that the facts given here might be regarded insufficient in the traditional sense, but even
so we will arrive at significant conclusions.
The two nativities have one striking factor in common, the closeness of Pluto, Uranus, and
Saturn in the constellation of Aries. The conjunctions of Uranus and Pluto took place during
1850-1 (several of them). They were also eventually joined by Saturn. These were unique
events in the history of cosmic rhythms and were equal to the conjunctions of Uranus and
Pluto, combined with oppositions of Saturn during these last few years, though the conjunc-

140
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Figure 16

Inner circle: Birth of van Gogh, 3 March 1853

Middle circle: Birth of Soloviev, 28-29 January 1853
Outer circle: Transits of planets during life.

tions took place in the constellation of Leo and in the space between Leo and Virgo. These are
in fact the two locations in the Zodiac in which these conjunctions of Uranus and Pluto have
been happening exclusively since the later Middle Ages—in Aries and Leo and in intervals of
about 252-3 years each.
The conjunctions in Aries, like their partners in Leo, are associated with important stages in
the spiritual, cultural history of humanity. (We wrote about the one in Leo in the Oct. and Nov.
’65 issues). For instance, we find that a Uranus-Pluto conjunction occurred in about 332 AD,

141
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

but it was still in the constellation of Pisces. That was an important moment in the develop-
ment of Christianity, among other events. Shortly before those years, Christianity had been
recognized and accepted by Constantine the Great. Although this signified for the early Chris-
tians the end of the incessant persecutions by the Roman emperors, it also coincided with a
crisis of Christianity in a spiritual sense. Approaching the year 332, in 325, the Council of
Nicea took place, bringing to the surface such divergences on the conception of the nature of
the divine Trinity and of Christ, as that of Athanasius and Arius. These spiritual battles were
the result of the fact that humanity by that time had already lost to a high degree the direct
insight, even clairvoyance, that the early Christians still possessed. This crisis followed the
history of Christianity all through the Middle Ages, chiefly in connection with those particular
conjunctions (and oppositions) arriving in 1598 in Aries. Soloviev was, in a deeper sense as we
shall see, connected with it, but also Van Gogh, strange as it might appear, shared in this
destiny.
Thus we can understand how the impacts, which both souls exerted on modern civiliza-
tion, were expressed in that Saturn in Aries at the time of their incarnation. But where is the
difference indicated between the two destinies?
First of all, we must work our way a bit deeper into the biographies of the two individuali-
ties. Soloviev experienced a fundamental religious crisis already at the age of fourteen, when
he destroyed his own icons. At seventeen he entered the faculty of science. He regarded
Darwinism as the new religion. It was the time when Saturn moved past the positions in the
Zodiac where Jupiter and the descending Moon node had been during the prenatal period.
However, in 1872 he broke away from this and began the study of philosophy. In 1873 he
graduated and attended lectures at the Theological Academy of the Monastery of St. Sergius,
at Moscow, which caused a great scandal. In 1874 he wrote his Ph.D. thesis called The Crisis of
Western Philosophy, in which he repudiated philosophical positivism and materialism. Then, in
1875, he went to London for studies concerning the Divine Sophia, the Wisdom of God, in a
state of expectancy of some important revelation. London itself, “its people, sights, churches,
and museums, all seemed unreal and shadowy”; nevertheless, the expected revelation hap-
pened to him, indeed. One day when he was sitting in the reading room of the British Mu-
seum, the Divine Sophia, whom he calls “Hagia Sophia”, approached him and gave him certain
directions.
We quote now from a translation by Mr. George Adams of a poem of Soloviev, the Three
Meetings, in which the inner experience in the British Museum is described: “Flower of God, I
feel thy presence here. Why didst Thou not appear since childhood’s days unto mine eyes?”
(Already at the age of nine he had the vision of the “Hagia Sophia” while he was attending
divine service in a Moscow cathedral). “And hardly had I thought these words, when suddenly
the space was filled with golden azure-blue, and once again she shone forth before me... It was
her countenance alone, her countenance... I spake to her: Thy countenance Thou hast un-
veiled, yet all of Thee I wish to see. What to the child Thou didst not stint to shew, to full
grown youth Thou’lt surely not deny. ‘In Egypt it shall be’, the inner voice resounded.”

142
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

He went to Egypt in 1876, waiting there for things to happen until one day “...’twas in a
silent hour by night, like a cool zephyr breeze I felt her voice: ‘Out in the desert seek me, there
I am’.” So he went on foot into the desert, in the black overcoat of the student of theology and
over-high black top-hat. He barely escaped death when some Bedouins mistook the strange
figure for the Devil. When night came he lay down on the ground and tried to sleep in spite of
the bitter cold and the baying of jackals around him.
“Long lay I thus in anxious slumber. Then suddenly the words were breathed to me, ‘Sleep,
sleep, poor friend!’ I fell asleep, and when at last I wakened all aware, fragrance of roses filled
all the Earth and Sky, and in the Ether light of Heaven’s glory, Thine eyes aflood with azure
fire, Thou didst shine forth, like the first lightening of eternal Day… Whatever is, whatever
was and will be through the ages—all, all was one within Thy silent gaze. In the blue light
beneath me, seas and rivers sparkled; then distant forests, snow-capped mountain heights…
All I beheld, and all was One – One picture vast of fairest Womanhood. The limitless was
within its limits, before me and within me all wert Thou! O light of Sunrise Glory! Thou didst
not deceive me, for in the desert I beheld Thee all. Nor ever in my soul shall these roses fade,
where’er the waves of life may bear me… One instant only, and the vision closed. The Sun’s
disk rose on the horizon. The desert silence and my soul in prayer, filled with the song of
blessing, without end.”
He returned to Cairo with empty stomach and big holes in his shoes, but his soul was filled
with the echo of the great experience.
In the chart of the heavens we find this inner event corroborated by the return of Jupiter
to its position during the gestation of Soloviev (1875-6) and by Neptune, which had in the
meantime moved into the position where that conjunction of Uranus and Pluto (and Saturn)
had taken place.
After Soloviev’s return to Moscow he lectured a good deal but found also a lot of opposi-
tion. In 1881 he was even restrained from lecturing in public. Before that, in 1878, he had
written his Treatise on Godmanhood. He also started to work for Church unity and made contacts
with the Roman Catholics (1884). In 1888 he went to Paris and wrote his manuscript Russia and
the Universal Church. However, he met with sharp opposition from his own Church and with
coolness from the French Catholics and Jesuits. The opposition was directed particularly against
the third part of his Russia and the Universal Church, which spoke of the Trinity and Sophia, as
the divine revelation of the unity, harmony, and beauty of the created world. Soloviev was
convinced that belief in a personal God implies that the cosmos also has a personality, and to
this personality he gave the name of Hagia Sophia, or the Divine Wisdom: “...Each human
being can become a living reflection of the Absolute, a conscious and independent organ of
the cosmic life. Christianity is the revelation of a perfect God in a perfect person.”
Soloviev wrote later in his life The Meaning of Love and The Justification of the Good. In 1898 he
visited Egypt a second time. On his return he wrote the Three Meetings, of which we quoted
above, and the Three Conversations that also contain the story of the coming and downfall of the
Antichrist. He died in August 13, 1900.

143
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

We discover (see outer circle in the diagram) that all these dates coincided with transits
(conjunctions and oppositions) over the positions of the planets at Soloviev’s birth. However,
what interests us most is the return of Jupiter in 1875-6 to its original place during the gestation
of Soloviev. It was then, in 1852, exactly opposite Saturn at birth, at the moment it stepped out
of its retrograde movement (13° sign of Scorpio, July 11). As the birth of Vincent van Gogh
was only 5 weeks after that of Soloviev we should expect that also in Van Gogh’s life the return
of Jupiter in 1875 to the root position during gestation signified an important time. In 1876 he
was art teacher at Ramsgate in England, “and then determined to follow the religious voca-
tion” (Encyclopedia Britannica). This was about the same time of Soloviev’s great vision in Egypt.
In 1877 Van Gogh went to Amsterdam, to study theology, “Imbued with ideals of Christian
communism and seeking practical work, he went to live among the miners at Wasroes, in the
Borinage (on the border between France and Belgium).” He then went to Brussels in 1880 to
take up the study of painting. However, in 1888 he broke down mentally and showed serious
symptoms of sickness. On July 29, 1890, he died after shooting himself. Here, too, we detect
that all these dates corroborate with transits, oppositions, and square aspects of Saturn with
respect to planetary positions at the birth of Van Gogh. Yet, the question remains to be
answered, why did his life end in disaster, apparently so very different from that of Soloviev?
Of course, we realize that the comparisons, which we arranged in the diagram, are of a rather
generalizing nature and that in actual practice we can employ much more precise means of
distinction between charts.
It is interesting, nevertheless, to see that both personalities, Soloviev and Van Gogh, obvi-
ously went through decisive inner developments of a religious nature in that moment when
Jupiter came back to the positions where it had been in the gestation charts. This was, approxi-
mately, opposite the points in the Zodiac where the conglomeration of Saturn, Uranus, and
Pluto had occurred and we have the impression that we can get an idea here of what kind of
karma a Saturn in Aries might reflect. The fact that Venus, Mars, Sun, and Mercury, with
Neptune in the background, at the time of Van Gogh’s birth (inner circle in diagram) were in
square aspects (90° angles) to Jupiter from the epoch to birth reflects, furthermore, the karmic
difficulty of Van Gogh to follow through the religious vocation, which he envisaged around
1876, and the subsequent breakdown.
We can get a deeper insight into the workings of individual karma, if we study the chart of
Soloviev closer. The fact is that Jupiter at the time of his epoch was in the same position in
which this planet was at Raphael Santi’s death (6 April 1520). Here we see into the inner
connection of Soloviev with his experiences of the “Hagia Sophia”.
Similar to Leonardo da Vinci (see December ‘66) we can also find the biography of Raphael
imprinted in his asterogram of death. Jupiter, then in 225.7° of the ecliptic (Libra-Scorpio),
received and carried the imprint of the years 1514-15, because Saturn had occupied this place
during Raphael’s lifetime. During that time he painted the Sistine Madonna, the crowning presen-
tation of all his many Madonna pictures. He achieved a simplicity with it that surpassed all his
previous, though wonderful, paintings of the divine Virgin, and yet expresses the supreme,

144
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

even cosmic, Majesty of the Virgin in a manner that no painter before nor after him attained.
Whereas in preceding pictures Raphael presented the Virgin Mary in partly very realistic earthly
settings and landscapes, the Sistine Madonna barely touches the globe of the Earth beneath her
feet. Only the two figures to the right and left below her remind us of earthly reality. The
figure of the Virgin herself reaches up from the Earth into cosmic space where innumerable
angel-like beings are indicated. And yet all the attributes of the “Heavenly Queen” that were
so often used by painters, such as crown and royal attire, are missing here. It seems to be this
simplicity that weaves an invisible cloak of cosmic, unsurpassed Majesty around the Virgin.
Raphael has, indeed, uplifted in this picture the imagination of the divine Virgin, the soul of
the world and of humanity, to cosmic dimensions.
In 1514, when Saturn was, as we said above, in Libra-Scorpio, Jupiter itself was opposite its
position at death in Aries and, therefore, in an opposition to Saturn. Thus, also Jupiter was
involved in the “imprint” of this great event in Raphael’s life into the cosmic ether. This
“bequest” by one of the greatest of the Renaissance did not get lost. It lived and lives on in the
cosmos, and souls who descended later into incarnation might have taken up the experience of
it, while they were still in cosmic spheres of existence. This can, of course, only happen if they
have spiritual affinity to such ideas and inner comprehension, rooted in previous incarnations.
Others might be “blind” to them.
One such soul was Soloviev. He probably had an earlier incarnation in a connection with a
mystical-religious experience, in a sense, similar to the sphere of realization out of which Raphael
painted his Madonna pictures. When he then moved through the heavenly spheres of the
planets, particularly that of Jupiter, he beheld the cosmic spiritual essence of the Sistine Ma-
donna and made the resolution to meet Her on Earth. This was expressed in the position of
Jupiter in Libra-Scorpio during the time from the epoch to birth. As a matter of fact, Uranus
was also involved in this; it was in Aries during the same time, where it had been once before,
at Raphael’s death.
Thus we can see that planetary positions in a birth chart are expressions of spiritual facts
concerning karma and reincarnation. Indeed, that Jupiter of Soloviev was a descriptive pre-
sentation, so to speak, of his soul mainstay, so much so that at the time of his death it appeared
again in Scorpio.
Van Gogh apparently had no such affinity indicated in his Jupiter of epoch and birth. The
whole complex of his chart of incarnation points more to the possibility that he had, in the life
between the last death and the new birth, an affinity to inner attitudes and soul struggles as they
were expressed by such individualities as Pascal (died August 19, 1662) and others. This prob-
ably brought a longing for deeper religious experience into the life of Van Gogh, but it obvi-
ously could not sustain his fight against the rising materialism of the 19th century.

145
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - September 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

The Sun will come into conjunction with Pluto and Uranus about the middle of the month
and about the same occasion it will also move from the constellation of Leo into that of Virgo.
Mercury will be in conjunction with Pluto and Uranus during the beginning of the month, and
at the same time the Moon will also be there. In fact Mercury will come as close as 0.3° to
Uranus. Thus we face an activation of Uranus and Pluto during September, and it is well to
remember what we worked out in earlier issues about these two planets and the association of
their rhythms with the esoteric history of humanity.

Saturn in the constellation of Taurus: In the preceding issue, we brought our consid-
erations concerning Saturn in Aries to a preliminary conclusion. In quite a general sense, we
see reflected in such positions: initiative and inauguration impulses in history and in common
life. What might appear only in the realm of the Idea in Aries is taken one step further toward
terrestrial and practical realization in Taurus. We find here an element of inception and articu-
lation in every possible sense and direction. We can understand this if we realize that the
constellation of Taurus is the portal to the cosmic archetype of the human larynx. It is also, as
we said earlier, associated with the Logos, the divine creative word. In contrast to this, Aries is
connected with the cosmic spiritual archetype of the human head and brain. First, we name a
few personalities whose Saturn was in Taurus heliocentrically at the time of death:
Byron, the famous English poet, died April 19, 1824, Saturn 56° of ecliptic.
Christian Morgenstern, the German poet and Anthroposophist, died March 31, 1914, with
Saturn at 79°.
Richard Wagner, the composer, died February 13, 1883, Saturn 55.8°.
Angelus Silesius, a German religious poet and philosopher, died July 9, 1677, Saturn 61.2°.
Friedrich Smetana, Czech composer and pianist, died May 12, 1884, Saturn 73°.

These personalities were quite obviously associated with the manifestation and cultivation
of the human Taurus region, orientated toward speech and tone. However, we find here also
other individualities who were connected with this sphere of the Word in a wider sense, for
instance:
Philip Melanchton, German Protestant theologian and collaborator with Martin Luther.
He was called the scribe of the Reformation, but moreover he clarified and solidi-
fied much of what came through this Reformation as an original impulse. He was
in a broader sense a mouth-piece of Luther. He died on April 19, 1560, Saturn in
69°. Earlier, on August 8, 1471, Thomas à Kempis died, when Saturn was in 64°.
He is known as the author of the book The Imitation of Christ, which has been
translated “into more languages than any other book save the Bible, and which has
moved the hearts of so many” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Apart from this there exist

146
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

a good many tracts about the monastic life and discipline by this Augustinian canon.
Friedrich W. J. Schelling, the German philosopher, died August 20, 1854, Saturn 69°.
He postulated: “To philosophize about nature means as much as to create nature”.
And Rudolf Steiner wrote about this sentence in his Riddles of Philosophy: “All that
of which Goethe and Schiller were convinced, that creative imagination ought to
have its share in the creation of world conception, has found in this one sentence a
monumental expression: What nature gives us voluntarily when we perceive and
observe it, all this does not contain its deepest meaning. The meaning of it we
cannot receive from our environment. We must create it.”
Spinoza, who died February 20, 1677, Saturn 56°, was a philosophic predecessor of
Schelling, whom he transcended in his own conclusions. Rudolf Steiner says of
him in The Riddles of Philosophy: “Spinozism is a world conception that seeks in God
the ground of all happenings in the universe, and therefore derives all occurrences
from eternal laws of necessity, similar to mathematical truths that can be deduced
from the corresponding principles.” Here the Old Testament line of thinking of
the Law and domination by the deity found a vivid expression.

At the opposite portal of human earthly existence, or birth, we meet a great number of
individualities who were directly associated with Taurus as the gate to Word and Tone. From
among them we mention:
Franz Schubert, born January 31, 1797, Saturn at his epoch was in 76°, famous Aus-
trian composer.
Anton Bruckner, born September 4, 1824, Saturn at birth 61.3°, also a famous Austrian
composer.
Konrad F. Meyer, the Swiss novelist, born October 11, 1825, Saturn in 76°, Thomas
Carlyle, the British essayist, historian and philosopher, born December 4, 1795,
Saturn in 70.3°, John Keats, the English poet, born October 29 or 31, 1795, Saturn
69°. A much earlier master of the word was Dante, the poet of the Divina Comedia
(see July ’67 issue), born about May 1265, Saturn about 62°.
Joan of Arc was another historic personality who was born when Saturn was in 55°
(January 6, 1412). She maintained that she was guided in her actions, which so
strongly influenced the course of the historic events of her time, by the voices of
divine beings coming to her.

A number of scientists drew near their incarnations when Saturn was in Taurus. We
mentioned two of them in the Mar. ’67 issue, Copernicus and Francis Bacon.
Galvani (born September 9, 1737), the discoverer of Galvanism, had Saturn in 69° at
the time of the epoch. This probably indicates that these souls originally intended
to seek the creative “Logos”, although their later careers might have turned them,
for certain reasons, into somewhat different directions.

147
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

James Watt, who perfected the steam engine, was born on January 19, 1736, when
Saturn was in 57°.
Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist, born May 23, 1707, also had Saturn in 67°.
Auguste Piccard, born January 28, 1884, Saturn in 69°. He was the Belgian physicist
who is well-known for his balloon ascents into the stratosphere for the study of
cosmic rays.
Thomas H. Huxley, born May 4, 1825, Saturn in 70.2°, is an example of how an im-
pulse, which might have been associated in the soul’s spiritual existence before
birth with the creative Logos of the World, can be bent by earthly circumstances.
The Encyclopedia Britannica writes of him: “His great desire to be a mechanical engi-
neer, ended in his devotion to the ‘mechanical engineering of living machines’.”

Saturn in the constellation of Gemini: is associated with any kind of polarity in humanity
and in the universe. Heaven and Earth, day and night, darkness and light, beauty and ugliness,
gravity and levity, even positive and negative electricity, and many more contrasts have a con-
nection with this constellation. In ancient times this was expressed by the imagination of the
(unequal) twins Castor and Pollux. In the human form we find the dynamics of Twins repre-
sented in the contrast of head and limbs held together by the spinal cord. Also the so-called
symmetry of the human countenance and the whole human body, which in reality is asymmet-
ric, has its archetype in this constellation. If we study this vertical and horizontal twin-propo-
sition in the human organism, we come to see it as a cross whose beams intersect between the
shoulder blades. This is the point where the realization of personality, or ego, has a hold, in as
much as physiological uprightness—harmonious, and without undue force—is an expression
of the participation of the ego in Earth existence. Thus is Gemini connected with the stand
and experience of the ego in the contrast of heaven and Earth, even in a spiritual sense, and in
meeting the “brother”, right and left. Naturally, also the exaggerations and failures write their
stories into this constellation.

Beethoven was a human being who experienced such a Gemini contradiction but mas-
tered it in a heroic fashion. When he died, March 26, 1827, Saturn was in Gemini,
about 96°. He who lived so very creatively in the sphere of music and tone was
denied, since his 30th year, actual perceptive participation in this world on account
of his deafness. His world had fallen apart for him into an unreachable domain of
perception and a tremendously active sphere of inner conception. Yet, even so, he
succeeded to combine the two worlds, at least for humanity, by his magnificent
creations.
William Blake died August 12, 1827, when Saturn was still in Gemini. He had experi-
enced in life a duality, akin to the corresponding constellation, of a different nature.
He maintained that much of his artistic creation was due to the inspiration coming
from his younger brother who had died in his youth. Here, then, was a man who

148
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

lived actively with what for most human beings of the present age appears, at least,
to be an insoluble enigma—heaven and Earth in intimate communion.
Max Stirner, in complete contrast to this, was a German philosopher who died June 26,
1856, with Saturn in 94°. His chief publication was his book Der Einzige und sein
Eigentum (The Individualist and His Privilege), in which he presents his view of a radical
individualism. Only the individualist, if not egoist, is for him the only reality. It
appears as if he was caught in the crossing point of the Twin beams of the vertical
and horizontal of which we spoke above.
Pestalozzi, the Swiss educator, who died on February 17, 1827, Saturn in 95°, was
another great personality who demonstrated the exact opposite attitude. He sacri-
ficed his life for his small “brothers” and “sisters” of a needy humanity, who re-
quired all the educational ingenuity he could master to reclaim them from the con-
sequences of poverty and desertion.
Sir Arthur S. Eddington, who died on November 22, 1944, Saturn in 96°, tried to bring
about a reconciliation of science and religion. He was an eminent English astrono-
mer and physicist, who contributed immensely to the knowledge of the motion of
the stars and the evolution and structure of the universe. Obviously, the union of
that which was separated was his innermost ideal.
Pierre Simon de Laplace died March 5, 1827, Saturn in 95.4°, was another personality
who tried, though with the materialistic means at his disposal, to penetrate the
secrets of the heavens. He was a French scientist.
John Wycliffe, the English reformer, who died on December 31, 1384, Saturn in 87°,
found himself, long before Martin Luther, in opposition to the papacy, to the tem-
poral power of the Church, to the endowed clergy, and even to the teaching about
the transubstantiation. Such kinds of confrontations are also characteristic for the
constellation of Gemini.
Jan Hus died July 6, 1415, Saturn in 102.4°, was another personality who was involved
in a similar kind of controversy with the ecclesiastical powers. After he had been
ordained as a priest he became interested in Wycliffe’s writings. He preached on
them, naturally arousing the anger of the authorities. Eventually he was burned at
the stake as a heretic.
Both Heinrich Heine, the German poet, died February 17, 1856, Saturn in 89°, and
Victor Hugo, the French author, died May 22, 1885, Saturn in 87°, were at one
time of their lives forced to go into exile. This kind of enforced separation, for
instance from the mother-soil, can also happen with the accompaniment of events
in Gemini. Saturn was in Gemini at 98° of ecliptic, at the time of Heinrich Heine’s
birth (December 13, 1797). We see here that the implication of separation, etc.,
was much deeper rooted and was associated with the karma resulting from a previ-
ous incarnation.

149
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Altogether, positions of Saturn in Gemini around the time of incarnation seem to intimate
some kind of soul experiences of the great divisions and even contradictions which go through
the human and cosmic worlds, and which would, therefore, present themselves as the conse-
quences of attitudes, etc., in earlier incarnations.

Augustine, the early Church father, born November 13, 354, is one such personality.
At the time of his epoch Saturn was in 76°, which was, with consideration of the
precessional movement, already in the constellation of Gemini. Augustine found
himself in the midst of the deep experience of having lost the original, inner aware-
ness of the spiritual reality of Christianity. So to speak, the spiritual heaven of the
Christ Impulse was lost and only the earthly reality of the written scriptures was
left. Therefore, Augustine could only do one thing in order to “organize” Christi-
anity, namely, to fix it in dogmas.
Nostradamus, born December 13, 1503, when Saturn was in 104° (epoch 94°), was a
personality who tried to hold the threads connecting the earthly human world with
the mysteries of the stars in a strange fashion. He is the author of Centuries, very
veiled prophecies concerning the destiny of humanity following immediately upon
his age, which he attained on an astrological basis. The method which he employed
seemed indeed strange. Deep at night, when no one was around, he is said to have
seated himself close to a pool of water. Observing the reflections of the stars in
the water he tried to decipher their hidden script and compose his prophecies. This
was a very ancient method of penetrating to secrets behind the external appear-
ances by “breaking up” the direct sense impressions. It yielded, however, because
of its antiquity and obviously rather hazy results.
Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian poet and dramatist, was born March 20, 1828, Saturn in
110°. All his works and dramas grew out of his conviction of “the supreme impor-
tance of individual character of personality. In the development and enrichment
of the individual, he saw the only hope of a really cultured and enlightened soci-
ety” (Encyclopedia Britannica). This is precisely one of the qualities connected with
Gemini.
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was born May 6, 1856, with Saturn in
93°. His theory of the possible conflict between the conscious and subconscious
parts of the mind is a vivid description of a Gemini polarity perspective.

The impulse to unity and harmonized polarity and contradiction that can be conceived as
an ethical transformation of the prime qualities expressed in Gemini is also manifest in asso-
ciations with that constellation. Such an example was:
Amos Comenius (Komenský), the Bohemian educator who was born on March 28,
1592, with Saturn in 103°. He worked chiefly in eastern Europe as a reformer of
education and “he hoped to make education the means of world peace”.

150
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Saturn in the constellation of Cancer: is that region of the fixed star sky “behind” which
the spiritual beings dwell who created and maintain, for instance, the archetype of the chest of
the human body, the earthly “house” where the heart dwells (see Aug. ’66 issue). The founding
of this house of Earth existence or incarnation, can be a painful process of separation from
the divine cosmic world, from originally established oneness, for the sake of independence and
evolutionary, spiritual progress. If this road toward spiritual freedom and evolution through
inevitable catharsis is not consciously trodden by humanity, it can become a path leading into
chaos and disaster. One human being who stands out in history almost as a symbol of such
Cancer cataclysms was Rasputin, who died on December 15, 1916, when Saturn just entered
that constellation (116°). He was a Russian monk and became involved in the last days of the
Russian Court, before the revolution of 1917. By his attitudes and practices, he created an
atmosphere of chaos and moral destruction around himself that finally destroyed him too.
After an attempt by some Russian aristocrats to kill him with a strong dose of potassium
cyanide proved ineffective, he was shot dead. At the time of the commencement of the
Bolshevik revolution in Russia, November 7, 1917, Saturn had well moved into Cancer (128°,
all data heliocentric) and was still close to Neptune in the same constellation. Many human
beings perished in the course of those events, including the Czarist family in 1918. This was a
warning to modern humanity of the destructive forces rising out of the abyss of existence,
when at times the hands on the cosmic clock point to Cancer and find a humanity weak in its
resolve to respond to the calls for spiritual and social progress. A similar situation was indi-
cated in the cosmos after Pluto had moved into Cancer (after 1935). The events and horrors
during World War II were a reaction to humanity’s failings to put its “earthly house” in order
according to changed conditions.

Thomas More, who was beheaded on July 7, 1535, when Saturn was in 132° (eastern
end of Cancer), was the writer of Utopia. Although his work was a valiant effort
with suggestions to build “earthly houses” for humanity, it didn’t succeed much
further than a satire on contemporary social conditions.
George Washington died on December 14, 1799, Saturn in 125.4°. He was, indeed,
one of the great builders of an “earthly house” for humanity on the American
continent.
Robert Owen, the British reformer and pre-Marx socialist, died on November 17, 1858,
when Saturn was in 126.4°. He was a valiant fighter all through his life for the
improvement of the “earthly house” of that part of humanity that was involved in
the destiny of the industrial revolution. At an early age, when he was already
manager of cotton mills and similar factories, he worked for the amelioration of
the working, housing, and educational conditions of his workers, a good portion
of whom were children who were brought at the age of five or six from the poor
houses and charities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. He also tried to build up self
contained communities on the basis of what he conceived as improved conditions

151
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

in the USA, but they failed because of individualistic differences among the mem-
bers.
Henry Ford, who died on April 7, 1947, with Saturn in 128°, must also be counted
among those who tried to build a satisfactory “earthly house” for the humanity
involved in the industrial process that they had inaugurated.
John Calvin, the French reformer, died May 27, 1564, Saturn 124.7°, tried to establish
a seemingly strange kind of “earthly house”. After he had established himself as
religious reformer at Geneva, he introduced a kind of religious dictatorship that
managed all the affairs of the community and controlled the social and individual
life of the people.
Michelangelo was one of the greatest “earthly house” builders in the domain of art,
who died on February 18, 1564, with Saturn in 121.2°. As a sculptor who imposed
the living images of spirit and soul experience of Earth life on the lifeless marble,
he was surely connected intimately with that material of our planet that is sepa-
rated most strongly from the spiritual origin. This belongs to the property of
Cancer. In the cycle of philosophic world conception, Cancer is even associated
with materialism. However, as a painter, when he depicted the story of Genesis on
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, or the Last Judgment, he worked out of a grand
conception of the creation of the House of the Earth, and also its termination at
the end of the days of our planet. The fact that Michelangelo was also born at a
time when Saturn entered the constellation of Cancer (112.7°), on March 6, 1475,
demonstrates that he was connected with these impulses coming to expression in
this group of fixed stars in a very deep sense. Indeed, the emphasis is quite un-
usual; shortly before his birth Saturn was in opposition to Jupiter, the latter in
Capricorn. And at death the two planets were in conjunction in Cancer.
Robert Owen, whom we mentioned above, entered incarnation at a time when Saturn
was in Cancer. He was born on May 14, 1771, and nine months earlier, around his
epoch, the planet was already in that constellation.
Jean Jacques Rousseau’s embryonic development (born June 28, 1712), during which
Saturn moved through Cancer (at birth 136.4°), had experiences that, “…led him
to study the structure of society, government, and education... He preached de-
mocracy and with unanswerable arguments proclaimed the equality of humanity.”
(Cowles Encyclopedia) He was one of the spiritual fathers of the French Revolution.
Among the books he wrote are The Social Contact and Discourse on Inequality. He
belongs well to those who concerned themselves with building the “earthly house”
of humanity.

152
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - October 1967

A Spiritual Astrology in Action

We have now progressed in our studies so far that we feel we ought to devote more time to
a combined investigation of the geocentric and heliocentric features of contemporary events
in the heavens. As we have pointed out earlier, we see in the geocentric perspective a portal to
a symbolic representation of the interrelationship between planetary and earthly happenings.
One might even say that this is can be a portal to imaginative cognition of cosmic factors.
(Imagination in the sense of Rudolf Steiner’s definition as the first step of higher or spiritual
knowledge). The employment of the corresponding heliocentric perspectives can lead to a still
higher stage of spiritual insight, to inspiration, because it offers a realistic and modern concep-
tion of the (invisible but mathematically comprehensible) spheres of the planets, substantiated
by such elements as nodes and lines of apsides.
For instance, the so-called Middle East Crisis is an excellent example to illustrate this. The
actual hostilities started on June 5. We do not find much tangible indication in the simulta-
neous geocentric cosmic aspects of the heavens that would demonstrate a connection between
them and the terrestrial events. However, the story is at once different if we investigate the
heliocentric perspectives.
On June 4-5, Mars stepped into its own descending node. (Concerning the nodes of the
planets see the Jan. ’66 issue). At the same time the Earth moved through the descending node
of Uranus, i.e., the line from the ascending to the descending node, across the whole sphere
inside the orbit of Uranus.
We can imagine that tremendous events happened at that moment in the spheres of Mars
and Uranus, which were communicated to the whole solar universe. And if there did exist such
a precarious psychological situation on the Earth as it existed before June 5, those cosmic
impacts could act as an accelerating factor. We, however, do not imagine that the correspond-
ing cosmic events “made” the terrestrial ones. We would regard this as too primitive and
untrue a concept with regard to the present-day spiritual potential. The cosmos cannot be
made responsible for our reactions and actions, but it can happen that we are influenced by
events and impulses in our (cosmic) environment, particularly if we are ignorant of the latter—
in other words, if the ego is not fully at the helm of our earthly ship. This is, of course, at once
complicated if situations involve dealings with smaller or larger human communities.
The events in the sphere of Mars—the planet in its descending node, and Neptune stand-
ing quite close to the nodal line of Mars—can then provoke aggressive, war-like emotions, if
they meet corresponding conditions in human beings. Mars has one point of access, through
the gall bladder. The occurrences in the sphere of Uranus—the Earth being in the nodal line,
supported by Uranus and Pluto still standing close to the perihelion of Uranus—added a note
of suddenness and reactions similar to an electric charge.
We have observed effects of such impacts, associated with the interplay of the planets with
their spheres, on nature and human history for more than a decade, and we have reported on

153
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

this in different places. Therefore, we think that it is essential that we corroborate the events in
the geocentric ephemeris with their heliocentric counterparts, because we obtain, thereby, an
insight into the working of the spheres. For instance, Venus is moving toward the end of
October (in the geocentric chart) into the neighborhood of Pluto. This is accompanied
heliocentrically by Venus stepping into the nodal line of Uranus on the 30th and then into its
own ascending node. We attain, thereby, an amplification enabling us to meet such an event
like the conjunction with Pluto with presence of mind and inner preparedness. This alone
often alters the nature of the impact in the life of the individual to the better. The sphere of
Venus, which is here involved, has one of many points of impact on our organization in our
feeling relationship, as it were, to our environment, especially our human environment. A
similar situation existed in the beginning of July of the present year. Venus moved then into
the nodal line of Uranus, but it was the descending end of that line, and on then it stepped into
its own descending node. The difference between ascending and descending nodes can be
characterized as cosmic similitudes to the qualitative difference in us between head and limb
activities. The ancient Chinese cosmologists, who surely drew from a deeper traditional in-
sight, called the ascending node of the Moon the Dragon’s Head, and the descending node the
Dragon’s Tail.
Before Venus will move through its own ascending node, it will stand in the ascending lines
of Mercury and Mars. (The nodal lines of Mercury and Mars are at present almost identical.
They will come still closer during the next three centuries). Having an idea of the possible
impacts of the sphere of Mars in connection with the events around June 5 and of the sensi-
tiveness and stabilizing tendencies of Venus on the other hand, we can form a picture of what
kind of inner attitude this event will require in order to meet it constructively. In addition to
this, Mars will move through the line of the apsides of Venus—through the aphelion part
where Venus is farthest away from the Sun when it steps into that part of its orbit. There is
indicated a kind of tug-of-war between Mars and Venus, in all these events. It is up to us to
react to it in a positive fashion.
Mercury’s swift movement leads it through a number of nodal lines during October. First,
it is in the descending node of Jupiter, then in the descending node of Pluto, and finally in the
descending node of Saturn. It will also step into the aphelion of Venus, as Mars will later.
Mercury is associated with the intelligence that is, as a rule, dormant in our will-limb organiza-
tion and which can enter our consciousness in a thinking that is not reflective but permeated by
will (see Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy of Spiritual Activity).
One more cosmic phenomenon deserves our attention. We mentioned already that on
October 18, a total Moon eclipse will take place. Can we discern a, possibly, historic meaning
to this occurrence? As a rule such eclipses belong to the more critical events in the heavens and
demand our “special” presence of mind. In the case of a Moon eclipse, such as this one, a very
long cone of shadow falls from the Earth upon the surface of the Moon. Certain beings of the
invisible world who are connected with “darkness”, in a spiritual sense, can in such a moment
ride, as it were, on that cone of shadow and enter the Earth.

154
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

All these eclipses recur according to a definite rhythm, the so-called Saros Period of 18
years and 10-11 days. Thus we can assume that a Moon eclipse must have taken place in
October 1949, as indeed it did on October 7 of that year. We can now go much further back
in time, for instance, nine such Saros Periods which bring us to 1805. According to the ephem-
eris a Moon eclipse happened on July 11 of that year which is precisely the predecessor of the
one in October 1967.
But why did we go back just 9 Saros Periods? We did it because this coincided with another
occurrence in the heavens. For years the planet Neptune has been close to its aphelion, the
position furthest away from the Sun. (The perihelion-aphelion positions of the outermost
planets vacillate a good deal with regard to the positions in the Zodiac toward which they
point. In other words, one of these planets can be in either perihelion or aphelion a long time.
The precise data can be found, for instance, in the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac).
Neptune was in its aphelion once before around 1799. This was the year when Napoleon came
to power, and by 1805, when the predecessor eclipse of the present one occurred, Europe felt
this power pretty well; it was then irresistible.
We do not want to suggest that similar events must happen now. History never repeats
itself that precisely. However, we ought not to forget that another Saros Period brings us to
1985, and a Moon eclipse on October 28. Earlier we have mentioned that the date of Orwell’s
novel “1984” does not seem to be just empty fiction, and we think that at least a few human
beings should in these decisive times, stand guard in a spiritual sense. It is interesting to note
that Neptune was close to its aphelion two cycles further back, that is around 1633. On the one
hand this was a rather dramatic culmination of the Thirty Years’ War in Central Europe. It was
also the time when the great classical scientist Galileo had to face the Inquisition and was
forced to abjure his belief in the Copernican world conception. Certain forces tried to hold
back the freedom and progress of human consciousness by primitive external force.

Esoteric Astrology and Astrosophy

Saturn in the constellation of Cancer (continued): We return now to our investigation of
Saturn and its relationship to the constellations of the Zodiac in connection with the incarnation
and excarnation of historic personalities. The reason why we go into such great detail is our
experience proving that Saturn is the reflection of the backbone, as it were, of any such event.
This planet works in the human being, for instance, as the power of uprightness, that action in
the human organism giving us the distinct differentiation from the position of the animal on
the Earth. It lets us stand erect between heaven and Earth, and provides the foundation on
which we can move toward spiritual freedom. In a much deeper sense, it is the line that inter-
connects our incarnations, and not only in a metaphorical but in a practical spiritual sense.
Thus we can look at Saturn in a chart as the one which gives the fundamental motive of the
“symphony of life” perspective with which it is connected, and the other planets evolve this
motive according to their own dynamics. We have demonstrated this in our earlier description
of the charts of Soloviev and Van Gogh (see Aug. ’67 issue), as far as a Saturn in Aries was

155
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Figure 17

Geocentric
John F. Kennedy, born 29 May 1917
Epoch
1 Sept. 1916

on 1 March 1917
Between epoch and birth

concerned. The motivating impacts of Saturn in the constellations of Taurus and Gemini we
described in association with the chart of Copernicus (see Jan. ‘67 and f.). We will now go
further and work out the implications presented in a chart where Saturn is in the constellation
of Cancer. For this we have chosen the incarnation asterogram of the U.S. President John F.
Kennedy, born May 29, 1917, Brookline, Mass. (See also information in the AFA Bulletin of
January 1964.)
During the entire prenatal period in this asterogram, Saturn was in the point of transition,
or ingress, from Gemini to Cancer. Furthermore, we notice that at the time of the epoch it was
close to the position of the descending node of the Moon, and to Venus. Furthermore, at the
time of birth it was near the meridian, i.e., relatively high in the sky, above the south point of
the horizon.
We see here reflected again, in the position of Saturn in Cancer, the deep concern of this
soul with the “earthly house” of humanity. The indication is that this was a very dominant
factor, because the planet is at birth in mid-heaven (i.e., in the meridian and south). Yet, at the
same time it also intimates a precarious situation. The constellation of Cancer is the abyss, so
to speak, from a pre-Christian aspect. It revealed this aspect of itself once the ancient, “mat-
ter-of-course” connection with the spiritual world was broken, for then materialism began to
rise out of the abyss. Cancer is indeed associated with the world conception of materialism.
(The abyss is also expressed by the symbol we use for Cancer ( ) two spirals which are discon-
nected.)

156
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

This was further aggravated by the nearness of Saturn to Neptune. This Neptune brings
us back historically to about 1751, the year when De Lamettrie, one of the fathers of French
philosophical materialism, died and implanted this impulse into a similar position of Neptune.
We see also Venus at the time of the epoch close to Saturn, a combination of unequal cosmic
characters. Finally, we detect that also the descending Moon node at the epoch was near
Saturn, as we said already above. This node, like all the nodes of the planets, is a “portal for
astral forces” (Rudolf Steiner), forces that can inspire the human soul but which can also
combine with spiritual darkness and create formidable obstacles. It was forces of this nature,
rising out of the “abyss”, which destroyed John F. Kennedy.
The corresponding heliocentric chart is very illuminating. There Saturn started out at the
epoch from its own ascending node, which is still in Gemini. The full weight of the sphere of
Saturn—Omnipotent Father Time—and of karma is implicit in this. Altogether this sphere
stands out strongly: Venus was in the perihelion of Saturn at birth and Mercury in the aphelion.
Heliocentric: Epoch: 1 Sept. 1916
Figure 18 Birth: 29 May 1917
Saturn, as the “backbone”, held also a
strong hand over Jupiter and Mars. [Note:
Kennedy suffered severe back pain.] It was
at the epoch in a 90° square aspect to Jupi-
ter, and at birth in the same angular position
to Mars. Both planets were, at the corre-
sponding times, in the constellation of Ar-
ies. If we study the implications of Saturn
in Aries (July ’67 issue) we discover that much
of that humanitarianism must also have been
present in this soul, though in a totally
changed form. Jupiter works in the human
being, for instance, as the power of thinking.
It intends to transform the human organism
into a tool of thought. Mars endeavors to im-
plant into the human form the power of con-
fronting, of meeting the world of physical ap-
pearance, possibly even to oppose it, or facets of it,
just as the gall bladder and its secretion attacks the food
we take in, because it comes at first as a foreign impact.
The most interesting features in this chart reveal themselves in connection with the prena-
tal reflection of the time of the assassination. In the Feb. ’67 issue, we pointed out that the
prenatal Moon cycles (sidereal) are connected with the seven year periods in later life. Thus the
time of 46½ years in John F. Kennedy’s career was associated with the positions of the planets
on March 1, 1917. He was assassinated on November 22, 1963. The heliocentric chart shows

157
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

that Mercury at that moment was (as it was once during gestation) in the aphelion of Saturn.
Venus was almost opposite the whole complex of Saturn and Neptune in Cancer. The most
interesting feature, however, was an exact opposition of Earth and Mars, which was then in its
own perihelion. The emphasis of this Mars in that moment was on proximity to the affairs of
the solar world, the opposite of a spiritually elegant, sidereal swing which it can display in the
aphelion. Furthermore, Mars was in the place where the Earth was at the epoch (see chart)
and, so to speak, attacked the latter.

We add two more examples of incarnation asterograms with a Saturn in the constellation
of Cancer:

Beethoven, whom we mentioned in connection with Gemini, was born at a time (De-
cember 17, 1770) when Saturn was in Cancer (131°). His life, “though outwardly
uneventful, was one of the most pathetic tragedies” (Encyclopedia Britannica). One
can easily imagine that his deafness was an incessant source of anxiety. There were
other anxieties, such as those connected with his nephew. He was as if a person
suspended all his life above an unfathomable abyss. Already as a child he was
forced by his father to study the violin and piano so that he might earn money.
Strained circumstances of this kind never really left him. This can be one of the
characteristics of Cancer, reflecting the results of earlier lives, that is, the experi-
ence of incarnation as falling into or living in an abyss.
Count Leo Tolstoi, born September 9, 1828, Saturn in 116°, was another person who
experienced life from a somewhat similar angle. He led a life of rich experience:
first as the peer of a big estate, then in the army, and as a writer of a number of
novels that brought him great fame. Yet, about the age of 41, he also moved into
the experience of the abyss, which changed him completely. Reflecting upon the
style of life he had been leading until then, he became uneasy and desperate, full of
“disgust with unjust and fleshly life”. In subsequent years he built up a religion of
his own, mainly founded on the social implications of the Gospels. Attempts to
introduce his kind of Christian socialism into his estate and his relationship to his
workers and servants led him into severe conflicts with his family. In the end he
fled from home and died on the journey (1910).

158
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - November 1967

Geocentric
In the beginning of November, a total Sun eclipse will take place. These eclipses belong to
the most interesting features in the cosmos. As we said in the last issue, an eclipse at a certain
time recurs according to an interval of 18 years and 10-11 days. Yet, this is only partially
correct. They do not go on recurring for an eternity. They start, according to a special rela-
tionship between the orbits of Sun and Moon, as very partial eclipses. The cones of shadow
only graze, as it were, the edges of Sun or Moon, and furthermore, Sun eclipses taking place
near the ascending Moon node always start, or are being born, at the North Pole of the Earth,
wander in intervals of about 18.029 years south, cross the Equator, and “pass out” over the
South Pole. Eclipses near the descending Moon node start, or started at the South Pole and
perform the opposite movement. Thus eclipses have life cycles, like animated beings. They are
being “born” and they “die”. And such a life cycle of a Sun eclipse lasts about 1200 years,
containing about 65 eclipses—incidentally, as many eclipses as years in an average human life.
Moon eclipses have a shorter “life span”. Therefore we can speak, in a spiritual sense, of
eclipse beings in the universe, and we come to recognize about 40 Sun eclipse beings and about
30 Moon eclipse beings. Their life cycles coincide with definite historic events whose study is
one of the most inspiring experiences.
The eclipse of this month takes place at the descending Moon node, and it is visible mainly
in the Antarctic. Therefore, we assume that it is still rather “young”. Indeed we can follow it
back through intervals of 18.029 years, but already in 1787 we cannot, with the means at our
disposal, define with certainty whether it was then already “born”. (In 1805 it did take place.)
One of the previous eclipses of this “being” happened on September 18, 1895, in 26° of
the sign of Virgo. During that year, and in the beginning of 1896, radioactivity was discovered
and, thereby, the foundation was laid for what is now with humanity as atomic science. Some
skeptic might regard this as meaningless coincidence. However, the cosmos speaks a different
language. On August 6, 1945, the day of Hiroshima, when the principles of this atomic sci-
ence were for the first time employed for destruction, Jupiter was in that 26°-27° of the sign of
Virgo. It is interesting that the eclipse this month will be accompanied by a conjunction of
Venus with Pluto (about 22° Virgo) and then with Uranus (about 27° Virgo). Both are close to
that 26° degree of Virgo. There is no need to jump straightaway to the conclusion that this
forebodes something dreadful. It can be quite different, particularly if human beings follow
the events in the heavens with spiritual awareness.

Esoteric Astrology and Astrosophy

Saturn in the constellations of Leo: Earlier we said that Leo reflects our endeavor to come
from the periphery or environment, in whichever form the it manifests, to our own self, so
much so that possibly egotism—with all its attendant variations, such as pride, ambition, or
tendency to dominate—can result from it. This is also expressed in the symbol which we use

159
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

for Leo, . However, this is only one side of it. Particularly in our age, the material or building
stones of this constellation can be transposed into efforts of breaking through to the invisible,
spiritual “environment”, i.e., to penetrate to the mysteries of the connections with the universe
or to those of the Earth with the cosmos. This can also be seen expressed in the symbol,
moving from the little circle to the curve and out into the periphery.
First we start with examples taken from death asterograms, where we see the mirror of
human accomplishment, in either sense. (All Saturn positions, as before, are given according to
the heliocentric perspective):
Cesare Borgia died on March 12, 1507, when Saturn was in Leo (146.9°). He is one of
the extreme examples of a Leo egotism that knew no bounds. One of the typical
adventurers of the Renaissance, he succeeded in building up a political domain, at
least for a short time, for himself and the Borgia family, with vigor and with utter
ruthlessness and treachery.
Nostradamus, who died July 2, 1566 (Saturn in 152.3°), expressed just about the oppo-
site life attitude. We have mentioned Nostradamus earlier in connection with his
Saturn of birth (Sept. ’67 issue). This Saturn of his accomplishment, or death, is a
lucid description of his ability, whatever were his methods, to penetrate to the
mysteries of world and humanity karma as it was reflected in the movements and
rhythms of the stars.
Jakob Boehme died 17 November 1624 (Saturn in 145.9°). The well-known theoso-
phist was another soul whose connection with Leo at the moment of his death is
obvious. He wrote, among a number of works, Dialogues on the Supersensual Life, and
The Signature of all Things, all on similar subjects.
James I, King of England, died the year later on March 5, 1625 (Saturn in 149.8°). He
was obviously associated with certain esoteric streams and movements of his age.
Joh. Val. Andreae died June 27, 1654. His was one of the most striking human connec-
tions with the constellation Leo, as expressed by Saturn in that position (147.8°) at
the time of his death. He was the author of The Chymical Wedding of Christian
Rosenkreutz and other writings that demonstrate his association with the Rosicrucian
movement of his time. In the Nov. ’65 issue, we pointed out that The Chymical
Wedding could be interpreted as a description of the building-up of the human
corporeality as a spiritually dynamic potential in the divine cosmic world, long be-
fore actual incarnation. This then is one of the finest examples of a spiritually
moral cultivation and understanding of the dynamics of the “periphery” by the
power of an awakened Self, as it is suggested in the symbol of Leo.
Nicolas Culpeper, an English physician and herbalist, was another great soul who died
during the same year on January 1, 1654 (Saturn in 142.2°). He investigated and
catalogued a great number of medicinal herbs and their associations with the plan-
ets. His best-known work is English Physician Enlarged, which was published in 1653,
one year before his death.

160
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who died August 20, 1153 (Saturn in 141.6°), was another
personality who imparted at the moment of his death his imperishable principles
to a Saturn in Leo. He made a tremendous impression on the civilization of his
age. The great poet of the Divina Comedia, Dante, praised him as the “proclaimer,
or prophet of the mysteries of the fixed stars”. Here, too, we see the connection
with the “periphery”, or cosmos, in the widest sense.
Emanuel Swedenborg died on March 29, 1772, when Saturn was in Leo (148°). He was
a prominent natural scientist and engineer, who is still acknowledged by modern
natural science with regard to some of his discoveries. Around the years of 1743-
5, he had deep inner experiences that completely changed his life. He became,
thereafter, the great seer and visionary who wrote books such as Divine Love and
Wisdom, The Apocalypse Revealed, and Heaven and Hell. He tried, according to his own
approach, to draw awareness to the existence of a divine cosmic world and the
beings living and working in it. Thus he tried to create a bridge from the world
revealed by natural science to the world revealed by the spirit. However, he was
unable to close the gap. “...he applied himself to discovering the nature of soul and
spirit by means of anatomical studies. He traveled in Germany, France, and Italy,
in search of anatomical knowledge... In no field were Swedenborg’s researches
more noteworthy than in physiological science...” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Yet, it
seems that the fact of not being able to discover the nexus between brain function
and activity of the soul drove him finally out of his career as a natural scientist and
into becoming the famous visionary. His destiny shows the magnitude of the task
that is expressed, as a moral, spiritual expectation, in the symbol of Leo: to hold
fast to the achievement of ego consciousness in Earth existence, and yet, learn to
realize again the existence of a spiritual cosmic world of divine beings.
Novalis, the German poet, was another soul who demonstrated the possible achieve-
ment of this aim with an apparent ease, which may seem surprising. When he was
born, May 2, 1772, Saturn was in Leo (149.0°), and at the time of his death, March
25, 1801, it was again there (142.2°). Novalis displayed, particularly in the last few
years of his life, a most intimate relationship to the divine spiritual world and the
beings, also to souls of deceased human beings, therein. This is expressed in one of
his many Sacred Songs: In countless pictures I behold thee
Maria, clothed in form divine;
But none so wondrously enfold thee
As in my soul I see thee shine.
I only know the world is flowing
Away from me like restless dreams;
A Heaven more sweet than mortal knowing
Within my soul forever gleams.
(Translated by Eileen Hutchins, for the Camphill Press, Aberdeen, 1956.)

161
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

Yet, Novalis was not a man of wooly mysticism. There exists a collection of more
than 3000 small apercus or conspectuses—kind of diary entries—containing the
most inspiring ideas about any field of human civilization, about art, religion, math-
ematics, cosmology, the most complicated problems of natural science, etc. It
appears that he was almost permanently standing in the stream of inspiration from
his invisible “periphery”, or the spiritual cosmic world.
Goethe is one of the most profound examples of a Saturn in Leo, imbued by the life
essence of a human being of this nature. When he died on March 22, 1832, Saturn
was in 163°. In the December ’66 issue, we demonstrated how the human ether
body imprints the essence of life memory of that particular incarnation into the
positions of the planets. If we study the Saturn of Goethe’s death from this per-
spective, we find—to our surprise—that it is connected with the beginning and
conclusion of his labor over his greatest work, his Faust. At the time of the first
transit of Saturn over its position at death, in 1772-3, Goethe conceived the idea of
Faust. At the time of the last transit, in 1831 (Saturn moved over this point twice,
in 1831 and 1832, i.e., at death, on account of its retrograde movement), he com-
pleted the second, last, part of Faust and had the whole work wrapped in a sealed
parcel.
In his Faust, Goethe has given a most intimate description of his experience of
the spiritual situation of a modern human being who attempts to fulfill the inner
calling of manhood. Faust is a person who travels through the mazes and also
vicissitudes of human life, all the time accompanied by beings of an invisible, spiri-
tual world. Even Mephistopheles, who constantly acts as the Devil, or Satan, in his
soul vicinity, is in reality a being of that invisible world. Finally, the struggle of
Faust, who battles to maintain the integrity of his own good self against the temp-
tations of Mephistopheles, becomes a struggle between the exalted good forces of
the universe against the down-dragging powers of evil and spiritual darkness. The
man Faust is not alone. His fight is recognized as a fight in which the universe of
spiritual beings is concerned, and in the end his never ceasing endeavor can redeem
him. We see here again a profound transmutation of the dynamics of Leo.
Gotthilf H. Schubert was an individuality who tried to carry on with the spiritual cul-
ture that had been inaugurated by Goethe, Schelling, and others of German Clas-
sicism. He died on July 1, 1860, when Saturn was in 148°. He was a scientist who
comprised, in a most profound fashion, human soul existence within the existence
of the universe. On the one hand he studied the mysteries of the psyche, which led
him to publish books such as History of the Soul (with an appendix The Diseases and
Disturbances of the Human Soul), Old and New Facts From the Domain of the Science of the
Soul; and on the other hand he was able to combine this with a formidable study of
the universe of the stars, etc., from which came such books as The Primeval World
and the Fixed Stars, The Edifice of the Universe, the Earth and the Ages of Man on Earth.

162
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

H. P. Blavatski, the founder of the Theosophical Society, died on May 8, 1891, when
Saturn was in 166.4°, beneath the tail-star Denebola of Leo. We feel it superfluous
to comment on her association with that constellation—in view of her connection
with esotericism it is only too obvious. However, we find Saturn in Leo already at
the time of her incarnation. Madame Blavatski was born on August 12-13, 1831,
when Saturn was in 154.7°.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an example in which a human soul carried through a transmu-
tation of the potential of Leo to a remarkable degree. He was born on May 25, 1803. His
incarnation chart from epoch to birth, according to the heliocentric perspective, is reproduced
below. We have chosen the heliocentric approach for reasons that will become obvious.

Figure 19 Heliocentric

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Epoch: 26 August 1802
Birth: 25 May 1803

We find in this chart a veritable assembly of planets in the constellation of Leo at birth.
Saturn, in the first place, moved from 161° - 170°. Jupiter started, at least, in the same constel-
lation; at the epoch it was in 165°. Mars (161°) and Mercury (168°) had arrived there at birth.
Important also, is that the Earth started at the epoch in the opposite part of the Zodiac, in the
constellation of Aquarius (334°) close to Pluto. This same place was then taken up by Venus
(332°) at birth.
The correlation of the biography of Emerson with events associated with this chart is
most illuminating. At the time when Saturn came—after one orbit—back to its original posi-
tion in Leo, a decisive turning point occurred in Emerson’s life. Early during that year, it was
1832, his wife died. Soon after that he got into disagreement as a Unitarian minister of religion

163
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

with his congregation, and he retired from his pastoral office. (This was the year during which
Goethe died.) Then on Christmas Day he embarked on a trip to England, where he met Landor,
Coleridge, Carlyle, and Wordsworth. All this made a tremendous impression on him, and the
Emerson was born as we know him in history. On his homeward journey he wrote such entries
in his diary: “... A man contains all that is needful to his government within himself... There is
a correspondence between the human soul and everything that exists in the world; more prop-
erly, everything that is known to man... The purpose of life seems to be to acquaint man with
himself... the highest revelation is that God is in man.”
Fifteen years later, in 1847, he traveled a second time to England and Europe. Saturn was
then opposite its position during Emerson’s gestation, in the constellation of Aquarius. In the
course of that trip he gave lectures, some of which were later published in Emerson’s famous
Representative Men. Rudolf Steiner expressed his opinion on it as follows: “...This book is one of
the greatest achievements of the spiritual endeavors of humanity.” Altogether he said of
Emerson that he was “one of the greatest spirits of the 19th century...”
The cosmological background of this book, Representative Men, interests us vividly, for it can
give us an idea of what the real sources of human inspiration can be. The book contains
inspiring essays on the lives of six great individualities in human history and their impact on the
spiritual history of humanity. They are: Plato or the Philosopher; Swedenborg or the Mystic;
Montaigne or the Skeptic; Shakespeare or the Poet; Napoleon or the Man of the World; Goethe
or the Writer.
How did Emerson come into a position to lecture and write what he did about these men?
A superficial answer would be to say that he studied their biographies and works after he had
chosen them at random. However, the astrosophical-astrological implications speak a differ-
ent language. Emerson had a real connection with the cosmic heritage that these men left to
posterity.
This kind of kinship expresses itself in positions of the planets in the incarnation chart of
a human being, epoch to birth, that are similar to positions of these planets in death charts of
individuals who died earlier. By being similar we refer mainly to conjunctions and oppositions.
In the December ’66 issue, we elaborated how the heritages of human biographies flow through
the emancipated ether bodies into the planets and their spheres and combine with them. Thus
nothing is lost of the essence, the endeavors, the achievements, and also the failures of human
Earth existences. It is all preserved in the planetary cosmos. Souls who descend meet it, and if
they have affinities to it out of their own soul nature, they might take up these impulses and
challenges to carry them further, to redeem, or complete them.
In the next issue we will compare positions of the planets in the death charts of the historic
characters in Representative Men with Emerson’s incarnation chart.

164
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - December 1967

Esoteric Astrology and Astrosophy

In the last issue, we set out to investigate the spiritual cosmic background of the associa-
tion of Emerson with the historic personalities of whom he wrote so inspiringly in Representa-
tive Men. The connections become evident if we compare Emerson’s incarnation chart (Fig.
19) with the death charts of those people:

Swedenborg: died 29 March 1772 Emerson during gestation

Venus 102° - Venus conj. Earth, 101°
Uranus 49.3° - Epoch, Neptune 231° (opp)

Montaigne: died 13 September 1592 Emerson Birth

Mars 156.4° - Mars 161°

Shakespeare: died 23 April 1616, o.s. Emerson Birth

Earth 223° - Earth 244° (near)
Uranus 99.3° - Gestation, Venus-Earth, 101°

Napoleon: died 5 May, 1821 Emerson Birth

Jupiter 10° - Jupiter 186° (opp)
Mercury 307° - Epoch, Mercury 130° (opp)

Goethe: died 22 March 1832 Emerson epoch

Saturn 163° - Saturn 161°
Venus 281° - Gestation, Venus-Earth, 101° (opp)

One can argue that Goethe and Napoleon were still alive when Emerson was born. But
even so, human beings can contact that “heritage”, coming from the so-called dead, in later life
through root positions indicated in their own charts.
The date of Plato’s death is too uncertain to compute the positions of the planets. If it is
correct that it occurred in 348 BC, we would find Saturn in 142° at the beginning of that year,
which would bring us—in terms of precessional change (plus 30° since the 4th century BC, to
about 1800 AD)—to about 172° of the ecliptic in relationship to modern positions of the
Zodiac. This was approximately the place where Emerson’s Saturn was at birth, 180°.
Thus all the planets in Emerson’s asterogram were engaged by “memories” of past biogra-
phies that had been elevated to cosmic existence. We found in our researches that this is a very
valid method of studying an incarnation chart. We even have the impression that this can
become an effective means of pedagogical and didactic self-guidance without hurting the spiri-
tual independence of a human being. It leaves, in any case, big margins for individual continu-

165
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

ation of the heritage of bygone generations, even the possibility of reasonable and spiritually
justified dispute and opposition toward it.
It is also illuminating to study the character of the planets involved. For instance, the
association of Emerson with Montaigne is expressed by the position of Mars in Leo. As we
have pointed out repeatedly, Mars brings an element of aggression and contradiction into the
world. This task is a necessity. For instance, in the human being it is necessary in order to give
us the power of discernment and mental distinction, etc., when we meet the world as our
environment. Thus the Mars of the death chart of Montaigne is an expression of his univer-
sality, in a sense, by its position in Leo, and at the same time it “blocks” this Leo quality by the
skepticism that Montaigne had developed.
The example of Emerson’s incarnation chart and its associations with the historic charac-
ters of Representative Men opens up a totally new perspective with regard to interpretation. It
demonstrates the great significance of work with death charts, beyond being a mere aesthetic
preoccupation which it might appear to be on the surface.

Here are more heliocentric examples of Saturn in Leo at the time of incarnation:
Sir Thomas More, the famous English scholar and humanist—in the medieval sense—
of the 15th century, was born February 7, 1478 (Saturn in 151.4°). He came into
contact with Erasmus of Rotterdam, and he also read the writings of Pico della
Mirandola. A number of these humanists were students of the Kabbalah, the Jew-
ish esoteric teaching, which means that they were occultists, and we can say with
reasonable certainty that also More was an occultist. This would coincide with Sat-
urn being in Leo at his birth, meaning a realization of the invisible in the periphery.
(The association of Saturn with Leo, as with any other constellation, can easily be
misinterpreted. Leo certainly has a connection with our relationship to our envi-
ronment via the senses. This is already expressed by the symbol for Leo. Philo-
sophically it is Sensualism or Sensism. However, Saturn can introduce into this a
note of gnosis or gnosticism, that is, spiritual knowledge of what is offered as a
world perspective gained through the senses.)
George Berkeley, the Irish bishop and philosopher (founder of Berkelianism), was born
on March 12, 1685, with Saturn in 164.4°. Rudolf Steiner writes of him in his
Riddles of Philosophy: “(Berkeley maintains) I do not know anything at all about things
in my environment except what I produce in myself as concepts of them. There-
fore, it is senseless to speak of objects that are supposed to be of a material na-
ture... What I call a rose is of an absolutely spiritual nature, that means a concept
experienced by my spirit.” This is commonly called subjective Idealism, which can
easily evolve out of a disposition, at least partially, indicated by a Saturn in the
constellation of Leo.
Louis Claude de Saint Martin, the French philosopher and occultist, was born January
18, 1743, Saturn 151°. Very early he had a connection with Freemasonry, Kabbalism,

166
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

and Mysticism. He studied Swedenborg and, very intensively, Jakob Boehme the
German mystic (see last issue); in fact, he translated some of the Boehme’s writings
into French.
Samuel T. Coleridge, the English romantic poet and philosopher, was born October
21, 1772, Saturn 155.3°. We need only point to his The Ancient Mariner and Christabel
to recognize that he was a seeker of a knowledge of the invisible and of the spirit.
Lord Lytton (Bulwer Lytton), born May 25, 1803 (Saturn in 170°—epoch about 160°).
Wittemans in his History of the Rosicrucians writes of him: “...According to Wynn
Westcott, he (Bulwer Lytton) was initiated into the Order (of Rosicrucians) in a
lodge... His romance Zanoni, said to be written in the cryptography of the
Rosicrucians and transcribed by him, is a most interesting book about initiation
and the occult faculties...”
Rabindranath Tagore, born May 6, 1861 (Saturn in 158.8°). The Encyclopedia Britannica
says of him: “...By his abundant writings, which are permeated by a sense of the
beauty of the universe, by a love of children, and of simplicity, and by a conscious-
ness of God, Tagore has done much to interpret for the West the more serious
reflections of the people of Bengal...”
Rudolf Steiner, born February 27, 1861 (Saturn in 156.3°, the founder of Anthroposo-
phy and spiritual science. He has, indeed, evolved the potential of a Saturn in Leo
to an unprecedented manifestation of a “gnosticism” or spiritual knowledge of the
real being behind that world presenting itself to humanity through the senses. He
saw the need for a collaboration between natural and spiritual science in order to
give humanity the opportunity to fulfill its spiritual calling on our planet.

Saturn in the constellation of Virgo: In the Sept. ’66 Star Journal, we spoke extensively
about this constellation and its connection with ancient star mythologies. Eventually we saw it
distinctly associated with the Godhead of the divine Wisdom, called in Egypt Isis and in Chris-
tianity, particularly in Eastern tradition, the Divine Sophia. The progressive evolution ex-
pressed in the sequence of the Zodiac reaches an exalted and flamboyant presentation in Leo
that is even manifest in the symbol we use for Leo ( ), in the curve that swings away from the
little circle and out into space. Virgo is, in contradistinction, a manifestation and potential of
consolidation and maturity, especially of the Leo impact.
The latter fact found expression in the Saturn positions in the death charts of two people
whom we have already met: Claude de Saint Martin died October 23, 1803, when Saturn was
in 175°; and Coleridge who died July 25, 1834, when Saturn was in 192°. At the time of their
incarnation, Saturn was in Leo, at death in Virgo. Since the birth chart reveals the potential that
a human being brings into an incarnation and the death chart the soul fruits of a life time, we
can well expect in both cases a spiritual progress expressed in the advance of Saturn from Leo
to Virgo. A study of their biographies bears this out very well.
Other personalities who died when Saturn was in the constellation of Virgo (consideration

167
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

of the precession of the vernal equinox is, as always, taken into consideration in these historic
examples) were:

Thomas Aquinas is a towering example of a manifestation of divine wisdom in a hu-

man being. He died on March 7, 1274, when Saturn was in 177.3°. Aquinas was
one of the great, one might well say the greatest, teachers of Scholasticism. In an
age when thinking was beginning to lose its power to reach out to the reality of a
divine spiritual world, which it had in ancient times, he was one of the last ones
who, in his Summas, brought down spiritual truth and wisdom into thinking.
Johann Tauler, who lived a few generations after Aquinas, died June 16, 1361. Saturn
(165°) was just crossing over from the constellation of Leo into Virgo at his death.
He was confronted with the loss of the thinking that still enabled a few of the
Scholastics to reach up to spirit reality. Yet, he was a soul searching with great
sincerity for the spirit, and thus he followed the mystical path of inner experience.
His sermons were expressions of deep soul wisdom.
Paracelsus, the great Swiss physician, was another personality who stood at the thresh-
old to the new age and experienced a similar situation. He died on September 24,
1541, when Saturn was in 209°, then near the star Lambda, the left foot of the
effigy of the Virgo. It is not easy to describe this remarkable individuality with a
few words. Already at an early age he went on long journeys to the Near Eastern
Asiatic countries and other parts of the then-known world in search of wisdom
and experience useful to his medical art. Rudolf Steiner writes about him in his
Riddles of Philosophy: “... Paracelsus is seeking a ‘Higher Nature’ behind nature. His
mood of soul is of a kind that does not want to experience things exclusively in
himself, in order to penetrate to the foundations of existence; so to speak, he wants
to screw himself, with the power of his ego, into the events in nature, to let the
spirit of those happenings below the surface of the world, which are imparted to
us by our senses, reveal itself. The mystics of ancient times wanted to penetrate to
the depths of the soul; Paracelsus, however, wanted to attempt that which leads to
meeting the roots of nature within the external world.”
Giordano Bruno, the Italian philosopher and scientist, was burnt at the stake by the
Inquisition on February 17, 1600, when Saturn was in 203.2°, mainly for his sup-
port of the Copernican heliocentric astronomy. However, his conception of the
universe was not of a materialistic kind, conceiving only of dead, material bodies
of the planets and stars rolling through space. He saw the universe permeated and
governed by spiritual entities, the so-called Monads. For instance, the human ego
was such a living Monad in his view.
Friedrich von Schiller, the German poet, playwright, and philosopher, died on May 9,
1805, when Saturn was in 194°. The Dictionary of the Occult Sciences by Lionel Stebbing
quotes from Schiller’s Aesthetic Letters saying: “…every individual person bears within

168
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

a second, ideal person and that it is the noblest task of existence to grow more and
more into this likeness.” This idea of people as an entities on the road to becom-
ing, rather than being perfect as they appear on Earth, sums up the spiritual poten-
tial that can reveal itself in and through Virgo—the divine being, whose external
image in that constellation, is the great Mother who holds in Her being the arche-
type of the spiritual human of the dim future, that which the divine world expects
earthly humanity to become.
In connection with incarnation charts we mention:
Prince Henry of Portugal (Henry the Navigator) was born March 4, 1394 (Saturn in
204.3°). He inaugurated the expeditions along the West Coast of Africa that even-
tually, after his death, led to the circumnavigation of the Cape of Good Hope and
the discovery of the way to India by sea. In order to achieve his purposes he set up
a real center of learning to have his pilots, captains, and other personnel instructed
in the art of navigation, making of maps and instruments, etc. The real source of
the inspiration motivating his endeavors was obviously the spiritual heritage of the
Order of Christ, of which he was Grandmaster. This Order was the successor of
the Templars in Portugal, after their destruction in France and elsewhere between
1306 and 1314. The Templars were able to lay the foundation of world-wide com-
munication among the family of humanity by their East-West activities, comprising
also trade and the beginnings of an intercontinental banking system. These im-
pulses were carried forward by the Order of Christ and matured into the establish-
ment of the sea passage to India and the discovery (rather re-discovery) of America,
etc. Their deeper background was the sublime mystery wisdom that they still pos-
sessed and which was also the source of inspiration of Henry the Navigator. (In
this connection see Sept. ’66 issue and what is said about Virgo and the Gateway to
the Mysteries.)
Leonardo da Vinci, born April 16, 1542 (Saturn in 195.6°), was a great soul who dis-
played a similar connection to Virgo through a Saturn in that constellation. His
universality of genius in many fields of human knowledge and also his inspired
wisdom does vie for equals in modern human history. He was a painter, sculptor,
and musician, but also an architect, mechanical engineer, and natural philosopher.
He tried to reach out to technical inventions, which became reality centuries after
him. If we study his painting, The Last Supper, we comprehend the cosmic spiritual
awareness of this mind. Each one of the twelve apostles is depicted in such a
fashion, that they display in their very gestures the twelve constellations of the
Zodiac. The Twelve represent a spiritualized and humanized Zodiac in this paint-
ing with the Christ as a spirit Sun in their midst.
Swedenborg was born on February 8, 1688 (n.s.), when Saturn was in 199.3°. We have
mentioned him already in the Nov. ’67 issue, in connection with his death chart.
The great change in his life which broke him away from his scientific career and led

169
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

to those tremendous inner experiences, happened at a time when Saturn approached

a third time the initial position in Virgo. That was around 1745, and Swedenborg
wrote about it to Oetinger, a German mystic and theosophist, that “he was intro-
duced by the Lord first into the natural sciences and thus prepared, indeed, from
the year 1710 to 1745, when heaven was opened to him” (Encyclopedia Britannica).
Pestalozzi, the famous Swiss educator, was born when Saturn was in Virgo (188°) on
January 12, 1746. His innate wisdom led him to build his educational method on
the “natural, progressive, and harmonious development of all the powers and ca-
pacities of the human being” (Encyclopaedia of the Occult sciences by A. E. Abbot).
F. W. J. von Schelling, the German philosopher, contemporary of Goethe and the Ger-
man Classicists and Romanticists, was born on January 27, 1775, when Saturn was
in 183.8°. He was first aligned to nature philosophy, but in his later years he turned
more and more toward a spiritual philosophy. He then wrote books like Philosophy
of Mythology, and Philosophy of Revelation. Though on a purely philosophical level, the
tremendous inner development of this individuality reminds us distantly of
Swedenborg. Rudolf Steiner quotes in his Riddles of Philosophy a sentence from
Schelling’s writings “To philosophize about nature means as much as creating na-
ture.” And Rudolf Steiner goes on: “This sentence is a monumental expression of
what Goethe and Schiller were convinced: That productive imagination must have
its share in the creation of world conception. What nature gives us voluntarily
when we observe it, contemplate it; all this does not contain its deepest meaning.
This meaning we cannot receive from our environment. He must create it.”
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, when Saturn was in Virgo (187°). At a decisive
moment of his life, when Saturn returned to the original position in 1892-3, he
built the first motorcar. Here we see the cosmic wisdom and intelligence streaming
into a mechanical creation. Incidentally, Jupiter was in the constellation of Virgo
during the gestation of Henry Ford and also at birth.
William B. Yeats, the Irish author and mystic, was born 13 June 1865 when Saturn was
still in Virgo (209.1°). Abbot says of him in the Encyclopaedia of the Occult Sciences:
“One of the greatest modern poets and one of the world’s clearest thinkers... Much
of his work has definite value to the student of mysticism…”

170
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - January 1968

Heliocentric
There are numbers of aspects between the planets heliocentrically that offer much material
for individual research. These aspects together with the phases of the Moon, which can well
be coordinated into the heliocentric perspective, have become the foundation of research by a
number of reputed scientists in various practical fields in past decades. It has been found that
the heliocentric 0°, 90°, and 180° (conjunctions, squares, and oppositions), particularly of the
outer planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars), are associated with the fluctuations of the so-called radio-
weather (radio waves). Earlier it was discovered that there is a statistical connection between
the “phases” of Venus—geocentrically, inferior and superior conjunctions; heliocentrically,
conjunctions and oppositions to the Earth—and the frequency of Sunspots. Furthermore, it
was found on a broad statistical basis that the phases of the Moon—Full Moon and New
Moon—fall in with widespread precipitation and the incidence of hurricanes. Also geocentric
magnetic activity, increase and decrease, appear to have some association with the Moon and
other planetary phenomena.
Naturally, these happenings also play into the life of individuals like a kind of cosmic,
“meteorological” background, so to speak. Objective awareness and watchfulness, certainly
not fear and apprehension, in this field can ward off a lot of otherwise unaccounted for “psy-
chological” pressures.
As for the heliocentric aspects, we shall in future add more of the relationships of the
planets to the nodes and apsidal lines—perihelion (nearest) and aphelion (farthest) positions
from the Sun. We have found in many years of research that just these events exert an influ-
ence on the “psychological meteorology”. Gradually, we will discuss these and other happen-
ings in greater detail.
The heliocentric relationship of the planets to the constellations (and also to the signs of
the ecliptic) are apparently not of such great importance as the features we mentioned above,
although they must not be neglected either.

Esoteric Astrology and Astrosophy

Saturn in the Constellation of Libra: We described this constellation earlier (see Oct. ’66)
as a cosmic locality of “soul-weighing” and decision concerning spiritual matters. This has
been demonstrated in a unique and broad sense by the Saturn positions in the death charts of
the three famous astronomers: Copernicus who died 24 May 1543 (Saturn in 227.8°), Tycho
Brahe who died 24 October 1601 (Saturn in 222.5°), and Johann Kepler who died 15 Novem-
ber 1630 (Saturn in 218.4°). All are connected with the advent of the Copernican heliocentric
conception of the universe and the arguments arising with it in medieval humanity.
We have written about Copernicus extensively in the Jan. and Mar. ’66 issues. His theories
were only possible because he already lived in the modern age, which has a tendency to think in
terms of material quantity and technological solutions. This trend ought to be balanced in the

171
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

present age with a new awareness of spiritual realities, free from traditional bonds. Naturally,
this will mean an incessant struggle to bring about a cooperation between natural science and
spiritual science, which is obviously a matter of a delicate equilibrium in our soul. Thus, impli-
cations of Saturn in Libra at the moment of Copernicus’ death are significant. Indeed, this
Saturn was connected, in the sense of earlier transits (see Dec. ‘66), with the years 1512-13
during the life of Copernicus. It was the time when he worked over his Commentariolus—a kind
of outline of his astronomical views (see Feb. ‘67).
Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer, was unable to convince himself of the validity of the
Copernican, heliocentric system. Inspired by a deep spirituality having its roots partly in pre-
vious incarnations, the Earth occupied the center of the universe in his view. However, even-
tually he tried to find a compromise between the geocentric and heliocentric theories. He
developed a conception of the solar universe in which the planets move in orbits around the
central Sun, but the Sun, with its whole cortege, circles around the Earth in the very center.
This view was never practically adopted by astronomy of the modern age.
An incident in Tycho Brahe’s life, which was connected with the earlier transit of Saturn
over its later position in Libra, demonstrates the kind of battle for an inner equilibrium in
which he was involved. This happened in 1571-2, about 30 years before his death. At that time
he was occupied with alchemistic studies, apart from his astronomical inclinations, in a labora-
tory that an uncle had provided for him. One evening he came up from the room, which was
deep down under the house, and saw a brilliant star in a place where he knew no planet or
bright fixed star was to be expected. What he beheld was a so-called Nova, a fixed star that
suddenly brightens up tremendously and, after a certain time, falls back into obscurity. They
are regarded in modern astronomy as stars that exhaust themselves in a colossal explosion.
This is significant for the spiritual attitude of Tycho Brahe, i.e., to search for the mysteries
of matter and for the mysteries of the heavens, which is what the medieval alchemists at-
tempted. There is a picture of him in his observatory, Uranieborg, on the island of Hveen near
Copenhagen, which shows him holding the balance, as it were, of this twofold impulse. He is
sitting there in the middle story of the building and directing the astronomical observations on
the top of the house, as well as the alchemical work that is going on in the cellar. It is also true
that he did make medications.
Kepler joined Tycho Brahe at Prague, toward the end of Tycho’s life. As a matter of fact,
Saturn’s earlier transit over its death position in the chart of Kepler occurred a few months
before Brahe’s death. Thus this event of Kepler’s career was cosmically remembered and
preserved. Kepler was inclined to accept the Copernican theory, but Tycho Brahe tried to lead
him away from it. Nevertheless, after Tycho’s death, Kepler became one of the foremost
scientific workers and fighters for the Copernican world conception. He wrote a number of
books on astronomy, but he was by no means a materialist who conceived the universe only as
a mechanical contraption. In fact, he tried to preserve the idea in his concepts of the musical
“harmonies of the spheres”, in relation to the orbits of the planets, that was the talk of ancient
cosmologists. He also attempted to find traces of spiritual harmony in the geometrical prin-

172
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

ciples of the orbits of the planets, which he conceived for the first time as ellipses. On the
other hand, he was a convinced astrologer, like Tycho Brahe, who still had spiritually tangible
things to say about the interconnections between heaven, Earth, and the human being, though
this was more like the last dusk of bygone ages of human insight into these matters.
Thus, these Saturn positions in the corresponding death charts are expressions, or rather
memories, of tremendous spiritual battles in the souls of that humanity of the 16th and 17th
centuries. On the one hand the traditional concepts and institutions were diminishing fast,
though they still carried the last shadows of a living, spiritual insight into the mysteries of the
Earth and the cosmos; on the other hand, breaking into the human mind was a world revealing
itself in ever increasing awareness through the activity of the senses. Between the two, was the
fight to find a balance with which we could live as a conscious being. In modern times this
problem of finding a healthy equilibrium has again changed. Now, it becomes more and more
the necessity to re-conquer, on an entirely modern and scientific level, that lost insight into the
reality of the spirit as a counterbalance against the deadening one-sidedness of a world built
only on experience through the senses and intellect. Another historic example will also tell of
this battle.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, died on March 30, 1925, when Saturn was
in 220° (heliocentric). This Saturn is the expression of the decisive battle of a single human
being toward the end of the last century, somewhat akin to that of the three cosmologists
whom we mentioned before, yet on a higher octave. Steiner writes about that time, around
1896 when he was 35 years of age (coinciding with the earlier transit of Saturn over its position
in Libra at death): “Associated with the revolution in my soul life were inner experiences of
grave import for me. I came to know in the inner experience of the soul, the nature of
meditation and its importance for an insight into the spiritual world... On such meditation,
practiced because of the inner requirement of the spiritual life, the consciousness gradually
evolves of an ‘inner spiritual person’ who, in complete detachment from the physical organism,
can live, perceive, and move within the spiritual... Thus I experienced at that time, from all
sides, the question: How can a way be found in order to bring that which is inwardly beheld as
true into forms of expression that can be understood by the age?... And this question became
inner experience: Must one become silent?” (Rudolf Steiner’s The Story of my Life, chps: 23-24.)
Rudolf Steiner did not become silent. All through the years, he built up his message of
spiritual science or anthroposophy to modern humanity step by step. He never tired of build-
ing bridges from “spiritual science” to “natural science” in almost every field of modern life.
These were deeds designed to hold the inner balance between the domain revealed in the
activity of the senses and that revealing itself in the perception of the spirit, and thus lead to a
catharsis that Rudolf Steiner regarded as indispensable for the progress of humanity into the
future. History has arrived, in the present moment of the 20th century, to a point that fully
proves the seriousness of the concerns of Rudolf Steiner. The chaos surrounding this age, in
every field of existence—without exception— forcefully demonstrates that the whole of hu-
manity stands at the threshold to the cognition of the spiritual world, which is needed to solve

173
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

the problems of the physical-material world in order to prevent the complete destruction of
human civilization. This is the new and, yet, age-old perspective of Libra. It is not a question
anymore of what “benefits”, if any, we can expect from the cosmos, but rather, how can we
answer constructively the challenges it poses?
Whereas positions of planets in death charts express accomplished facts in connection
with human biographies, those in birth asterograms describe the decisions that human souls
have made, long before incarnation, with regard to their oncoming lives on Earth. An excel-
lent example of such a prenatal decision and its working out during actual incarnation, is con-
tained in the birth chart of Goethe, born 28 August 1749. At the time of his epoch, Saturn was
already in Libra, and at the moment of birth still there, just on the point of moving into
Scorpio (221°, 231° heliocentric). We would expect, therefore, that living in Goethe was an
impulse somewhat in line with Rudolf Steiner’s ideas, which we described above. Indeed, this
was the case; so much so that Rudolf Steiner regarded Goethe as the forerunner of the impulse
toward the amalgamation of natural science and spiritual science.
However, let us investigate how this actually worked out in Goethe’s career. At a moment
when Saturn was exactly opposite its position at Goethe’s birth—in other words, when the
prenatal “decision” knocked at the door of his soul—in a kind of reflection, the following
event happened: Goethe and Schiller had attended a lecture on botany. On the way home they
were surprised by a thunderstorm and Schiller was obliged to take shelter in Goethe’s house.
They sat clown to a conversation on what they had heard in the lecture, and Goethe gave
expression to his ideas on botany. In fact, he even drew a picture of what he conceived as the
“archetypal plant”, which he considered the invisible but creative prototype of all physical
plant-hood. Schiller replied: “Yes, but what you have drawn there is not an experience, not
observation, that is an idea,” meaning that an idea had no significance for the actual coming
into being of the physically existing plant. Goethe felt obliged to reply: “If that is an idea, then
I see my ideas with my eyes,” meaning that for his experience, thoughts and ideas were not
abstract, unreal things in the mind but were objective and real entities capable of—even indis-
pensable for—the creation of the objects in nature that we perceive; and he realized in that
moment that he did “see” them.
In that moment Goethe became conscious of the interpenetration of the natural and the
spiritual world. This was a manifestation of the spiritual dynamics that are expressed in the
constellation of Libra. Rudolf Steiner was led by his own destiny to meet this Goethean
impulse during the last decades of the 19th century and carry it forward to the unique comple-
tion that he was able to accomplish.
It can also happen that a human being, who is connected with a Saturn in Libra at the time
of incarnation, cannot consciously establish a breakthrough to an equilibrium as in the case of
Goethe. For instance, Martin Luther, born on November 10, 1483, was associated with a
Saturn in Libra (220.4°). With his inauguration of the Reformation, he certainly threw a tre-
mendous challenge into the cultural life of modern humanity. It was originally born out of the
impulse to open the door toward spiritual freedom, against the fetters of external dogmas and

174
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

institutions. The Reformation did not succeed with the establishment of this aim; one can
even argue that very soon it was turned into the opposite, into a strengthening of secular,
feudal powers. Nevertheless, the impulse that was given birth by Luther’s deed, the search for
spiritual freedom, lives on since then and works inexorably in humanity, even as it goes through
all kinds of oppressions and deviations. This is also connected with the constellation of Libra,
for the equilibrium between the cognition of the natural world and the spiritual realms of
existence can only be built on the activity of the spiritually free human being.
Also Johann Kepler, who has been mentioned above in connection with the initial history
of Copernicanism, was born when Saturn in 218.5° had entered Libra (December 27, 1571).
One can ask the question: What made Kepler finally decide to accept, in that great battle, the
Copernican world conception rather than Tycho Brahe’s? In order to find the answer, we refer
back to his incarnation chart and discover that Jupiter had moved into the vernal point by the
time of his birth (heliocentrically), the point where the Sun appears to stand at the commence-
ment of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. This point, which is at present in the constella-
tion of Pisces, is gradually falling back in the fixed star Zodiac, according to the movement
called the precession of the vernal equinox (see June ‘66). Thus the vernal point and its con-
temporary position in the constellations of the Zodiac is an expression of the ever changing
evolution of the consciousness of humanity. For instance, this constellation of Pisces is a vivid
description of the present age and the stage of consciousness at which we have now arrived, an
“in-between” situation. On the one hand it inherited, for instance from Greco-Roman times,
the capacity of thinking (vernal equinox in Aries). As this became “old”, it deteriorated into
abstract intellectuality; on the other hand, this humanity yearns for a deeper comprehension of
the living reality behind the facade that nature presents to the human senses (vernal equinox in
Aquarius in times to come).
The position of Jupiter in Kepler’s chart, which was close to the vernal point, would indi-
cate that an impulse lived in him that wanted to live as a “contemporary”, as someone who for
the sake of the future decided to identify himself with the onward march of humanity together
with the spirit of the age. This spirit of the age works toward the emancipation of humanity
from ancient bonds, for instance, the Ptolemaic geocentric world conception. Certainly, the
road on which Kepler took his first steps led him into materialistic, mechanical views of the
universe, but it would eventually give humanity a chance to find a redeeming conception again
of the cosmos by the power of spiritual freedom. However, Kepler was aware at the same time,
according to his own words, that with the introduction of the heliocentric view, something was
revealed into the modern world as a challenge that existed already in Ancient Egypt, though in
the deep secrecy of the mystery temples. It was kept there as a knowledge of the spiritual
consequences of the Fall of humanity and the Earth from their original position closer to the
divine world and that which has to be redeemed in the future—what was future is now present.
Two people who were born on the same day (12 February, 1809), Charles R. Darwin and
Abraham Lincoln, had Saturn in the constellation of Libra (229°) around the time of their
epoch. At their birth it had moved into Scorpio.

175
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

If Saturn, or another planet, moved from one constellation to the following during the
prenatal development, we would see in the position at the epoch a reflection of the decisions
taken long before incarnation, while the soul was still in the spiritual world. As we look back
from the birth toward the epoch (around conception), we behold in the events and movements
of the planets a kind of abbreviated image of the path of the soul through the spiritual cosmic
world. As a rule, the epoch itself reflects the so-called Midnight Hour of existence, the time
between the ascent after the last death and the descent into the new incarnation. However, this
should not be generalized.
These two individualities certainly brought worlds of Libra challenges into Earth existence
and threw them into the modern age, which have not, even at the present moment, fully been
realized. Darwin was not responsible for what was later called “Darwinism”, being only one
conclusion drawn by a sector of people from his ideas. Others rose against these conclusions,
for instance, that man descended from the ape. However, Darwin had not suggested this
himself, but he was indirectly the cause of the spiritual battle which ensued. Thus he brought
the science of biology to the point of decision on those essential matters concerning the
existence of the human being. This is a typical Libra challenge.
Abraham Lincoln, as president of the US, made himself the focus of those vital decisions,
concerning the practical position of the human being in the community of American people,
as they were earlier visualized in the Constitution of the US. This came strongly to the surface
especially during the Civil War. Here one can indeed witness a tremendous struggle to incor-
porate the highest Libra qualities into Earth existence.
Naturally, it can happen that human beings have connections with the constellation of
Libra other than through Saturn. These will also work out according to the nature of the
planet and the spiritual weight of the individuality. For instance, Rudolf Steiner had such an
association (to be discussed at a later time), and toward 1894 the planet Uranus entered the
constellation of Libra. Thousands of human beings had such connections with Libra, even
though not much might have happened in their lives when Uranus tried to accelerate those
dispositions. Rudolf Steiner answered the challenge in a profound fashion. In 1894 he pub-
lished his Philosophy of Spiritual Activity (German title Philosophie der Freiheit—Freedom). This
book paved the road toward a new and active relationship to the spiritual world, without ne-
glecting the physical, and has been characterized earlier. This is an example of how we should
and can respond to the Libra potential, by creative thoughts and actions.
One cycle of Uranus earlier, i.e., when it was also in Libra in 1809, Schelling, one of the
greatest of the German classical philosophers, published his Philosophical Investigations About the
Nature of Human (spiritual) Freedom and Facts Connected With It. Rudolf Steiner comments on it:
“With the progress of his thinking, the contemplation of the world became for Schelling the
contemplation of God, or Theosophy. He already stood fully in the realm of such a contem-
plation of God when he edited... (the above book).” (From Rudolf Steiner’s The Riddles of
Philosophy.)

176
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - February 1968

Geocentric
Of the more significant events in February, we may mention the retrograde movement of
Mercury. On this occasion, the planet will perform a perfect loop in the space between the
Sun and the Earth. The conjunction with the Sun will take place just in the area between the
constellations Capricorn and Aquarius. This means that the Sun itself will enter Aquarius in
that moment.
A loop of one of the inferior planets, Venus and Mercury, signifies the termination of a
cycle, which in the case of Mercury comprises an average of 116 days. It can even be con-
ceived as a lemniscate, whose one branch is the loop and the other branch the far flung-out
part of the planet’s career behind or above the Sun and whose farthest point is the superior
conjunction with the Sun. Thus the cycle of Mercury, coming to a termination now, started
with the hair-pin curve—as it does not always perform a loop—in October-November 1967.
It reached its culmination (outer branch of the lemniscate) in the superior conjunction with the
Sun, in December 1967.
Quite naturally, these cycles affect the relationship of the planet to the Earth and, thereby,
also have a connection with human life. We leave the individual to investigate the experiences
associated with this particular rhythm. On such an occasion the tremendous value of a per-
sonal and general diary will become apparent. However, this is not the only perspective open
to investigation. Earlier we pointed out that these “lemniscates” of loops and conjunctions
shift forward in the ecliptic, and then they periodically come back to that initial position. Thus
a loop of Mercury happened almost exactly in the same position of the ecliptic (with the
inferior conjunction in 334°) on February 21, 1961. These seven, intervening years represent
another, larger cycle of Mercury, and it is very worthwhile to investigate this rhythm also in
connection with one’s own and other people’s life experiences. One will then discover that
these cycles are connected with inner development, with the realization of will-impulses within
the setting of external circumstances, perhaps also failure of realization—in short, the rhyth-
mic “pace” of a human being through life. Then it will become obvious that Mercury is
connected, among a multitude of other associations, with the life of will that is spiritually
hidden in the limb organization and which receives constant impacts from the world of thought.
It will then also be obvious that much of the free spiritual “handling” of Mercury depends on
a harmonious and well-disciplined cooperation between thinking and will.

Heliocentric
From the heliocentric events, we should like to draw attention to the conjunction of Mars
with Saturn in the constellation of Pisces and close to the perihelion of Jupiter. For checking
and comparing notes, we mention that a similar conjunction in the same position of the Zo-
diac occurred in the epoch chart of Oswald Spengler (born May 29, 1880), who became fa-
mous for his prophecies based on comparative, historical research, published in his Decline of

177
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

the West. According to a law of the rise and fall of civilizations throughout history, which he
maintained he had discovered, he suggested that western civilization would die and become
extinct in a “winter” season during the 22nd century. At present it would then already be deep
in its own “autumn-fall” season. Furthermore, he suggested that another young civilization
would step into its place and experience its “spring”. However, he was unable to create con-
structive views on sowing the “winter corn” for the new civilization, which one would think
was the indispensable necessity at this moment in history. This then would be the perspective
of such an event in the apsidal line of Jupiter in Pisces. As it concerns the sphere of Jupiter, it
is associated with a cosmic appeal to cognize (Saturn or Gnosis) in activated thinking (Jupiter)
an end, or “finale” (Pisces, the last of the 12 constellations) of a phase in evolution, or the like,
and a new beginning, or the need to “sow” (Mars) the winter corn for a future phase. In
Spengler’s case, this obviously stood out as a cosmic hieroglyph at the time of his epoch,
indicating the deeper cosmic spiritual will-impulses that led him into his incarnation. In actual
Earth existence, he did not quite live up to these prenatal intentions.
Thus it would be a fitting attitude, in meeting the conjunction of Saturn and Mars, to take
stock of the world situation, to recognize where humanity stands, and to prepare in construc-
tive thinking the ingredients for the future evolution of humanity—possibly in a totally changed
world—arising again from a mighty catharsis of some kind. This can be done, and messengers
of the spiritual world, such as Rudolf Steiner, have provided all methodical help that is needed
for it.
Significantly, this conjunction is accompanied by Mercury moving through its perihelion
on the same day. Recalling what we said in the geocentric commentary about Mercury, it is
obvious that the perihelion, or nearness of the planet to the Sun, further emphasizes what we
suggest above concerning the Saturn-Mars conjunction. For Mercury in its perihelion would
indicate a maximum concern of the planet and sphere about the affairs of the solar system as
a whole.
We should also like to draw attention to the position of Venus in its descending node. A
stronger influx of forces from the sphere of Venus can take effect at such a moment than at
other times. They could be experienced in the world of feeling and possibly transformed and
elevated to inspiration. Famous personalities who had combined with such a Venus in the
descending node at the time of their epoch were William Blake, Dostoiewski, and Ralph Waldo
Emerson, and at their birth were Benjamin Franklin and Hahnemann, the founder of home-
opathy. They were surely standing in the light of inspiration at certain times in their lives.

Esoteric Astrology and Astrosophy

Saturn in the constellation of Scorpio: In the Oct. ’66 issue, we pointed out that this
constellation is connected with the “mysteries of death”, which is also expressed by the symbol
we use for it , or . This particular association has been demonstrated by the position
of Saturn during the middle of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). Naturally, many human
beings died in the course of that war, but among them three leading personalities stand out.

178
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

The first was Count Tilly, the generalissimo of the troops of the Catholic League. After a
number of victories over the armies of the Protestants, he was killed in battle on April 30,
1632, when Saturn was in 234.8°. He was actually defeated in his last battle by Gustavus
Adolphus, King of South Sweden, who had come to the continent in order to defend the cause
of the German Protestants. However, he was also killed soon afterwards in battle on Novem-
ber 16, 1632, when Saturn was in 241°. Now another great general of the troops of the
Catholic emperor Wallenstein, came to the foreground. He had a strange destiny. Being a
capable army leader and Bohemian nobleman, he soon developed political ambitions of his
own. The imperial court at Vienna became suspicious of his loyalty, and as a result he was
finally assassinated by some of his own officers on orders from the emperor on February 25,
1634 (Saturn in 255°). With regard to his own political schemes, he had relied too much on
old-style astrological advice and had neglected caution.
The association with an unusual experience of death is, however, only one aspect of Scorpio
and stops short at the real meaning, which is to break through death and physical extinction to
resurrection in the spirit. In fact, in practical terms of occult development of the dormant soul
capacities, this is the progress to inspiration: to inner, spiritual “hearing”, to an indwelling of the
Word of spiritual being. This can be attained only by an act of momentary renunciation of the
results of imagination in which our soul receives a pictorial, but still veiled, impression of the
spiritual world. This possible progress, which need not depend on the efforts of one incarnation in
question, is also associated with Scorpio. Thus it is understandable that the lives of famous musi-
cians and composers appear reflected in the position of Saturn in their death chart:
Joh. Seb. Bach died on July 28, 1750, Saturn in 241.1°. Already at the time of his birth
(March 31, 1685), Mars was in Scorpio, geocentrically. This he transformed to the
greatness that was then reflected in Saturn at his death.
Haydn died on May 31, 1809, when Saturn was in 241°.
Paganini, the famous Italian virtuoso, died on May 17, 1840, Saturn in 258.2°.
Brahms died April 3, 1897, Saturn in 236.2°.

Great masters of the spoken and written word are also associated through their death
charts with Scorpio (all heliocentrically):
St. Dominicus, the founder of the Dominican Order, was one of the greatest and
noblest preachers of the Middle Ages. When he died, on August 6, 1221, Saturn
was in 248°.
Giorgio Vasari, an Italian painter and architect, has become famous by his publications
of the history of Italian art and particularly by his history of the giants of the
Renaissance, of the great painters, sculptors and architects. He died on June 27,
1574, when Saturn was in 246°.
Blaise Pascal died on August 19, 1662, when Saturn was in 245°. He was one of the
remarkable religious philosophers of the late Middle Ages. This he combined with
natural science and mathematics. He published a number of his writings, which

179
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

were based on real spiritual experience and inspiration. One such experience hap-
pened to him at the age of 31 years. He called it his “conversation”, implying that
it was somewhat in line with the great experiences of the mystics, even with the
Christ experience of St. Paul at the Gate of Damascus. His most inspiring book is
his Pensees.
Gotthold E. Lessing died February 15, 1781, when Saturn was in 253°. His work as a
critic and dramatist contributed immeasurably to the rejuvenation of the cultural
life of Germany during the 18th century. He even tried in his book, The Education of
the Human Race, to introduce the idea of reincarnation into European ethics. As he
was born in 1729, he lived and wrote like a spiritual forerunner of German classi-
cism, represented by Goethe and Schiller, and of German romanticism, repre-
sented in Novalis and the circle around him.
Rainer Maria Rilke, the German poet and author, lived nearer to the present time. The
Encyclopedia Britannica writes of him: “His writing is deeply artistic and deeply musi-
cal at once; a religious mysticism colors an extraordinarily rich and melodious style,
which absorbed the best influences of most of the important European litera-
tures.” And Abbot, in the Encyclopedia of the Occult Sciences, says of him: “...(his)
greatest works arose from a conscious meditative life and intuition bestowed by
grace.” When he died on December 29, 1926, Saturn was in 239.8°.

It would be a great illusion to think that all “masters of the word”, i.e., poets, writers,
dramatists, etc., died when Saturn was in Scorpio. The few we mentioned and many others
established, as it were, a rather simplified and obvious connection with this constellation.
However, this does not always appear immediately on the surface but is sometimes hidden in
truly esoteric astrological ways. This concerns, in actual fact, the stages of life after death that
represent for the human soul a growing together with the cosmos in an intimate, spiritual
sense. Still, these connections demand much more esoteric work than we have done hitherto,
and therefore, we must postpone their elaboration for the time being.
With regard to incarnation charts, we find also here a number of musicians and composers
connected with Saturn in the constellation of Scorpio:
Tartini was born on April 8, 1692, with Saturn in 247° at birth.
Mendelssohn was born February 3, 1809, Saturn in 237.2°.
Chopin, born February 22, 1810, Saturn in 249.5°.
Robert Schumann, June 8, 1810, Saturn in 252°, very close in time with Chopin.
Tschaikowsky was born May 7, 1840, Saturn in 258°.

Also a number of authors of profound influence on European civilization were connected

with Scorpio through Saturn:
Tennyson, born August 6, 1809, Saturn in 242.8°.
Gogol, March 31, 1809, Saturn in 239.2°.

180
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Gorki, March 28, 1868, Saturn in 241°.

Gotthill H. Schubert, born April 26, 1780, Saturn in 244, 4°—whom we mentioned in
the Nov. ’67 issue—was associated through Saturn in Scorpio at birth and in Leo at
death. This demonstrates a remarkable combination. By the leading impulses
guiding his incarnation, he was endeavoring to penetrate the mysteries of the soul
aspect of Scorpio, and in the course of his life he rose to be a forerunner of the
spiritual science concerning the relation between the great cosmos and the human
microcosm (Leo).

So far, we have described Scorpio as a constellation that can be transformed and made the
foundation of creative deeds, so to speak, leading to a breakthrough in the experience of death
to resurrection in the spirit. There is, however, also another side to Scorpio. In order to
discern this we will now investigate the birth chart of Lenin.
Lenin was born on April 9 (o.s.) or 22 (n.s.), 1870 (see Encyclopedia Britannica). During his
prenatal development, Saturn moved through the constellation of Scorpio—255.4° (263.4°
heliocentric). We have included a diagram for this date in Fig. 20.
To make a start with the delineation, we now pose a definite question that must arise: On
what background did Lenin become the revolutionary who shook the very foundations of the
complacency and indifference of modern humanity in matters of social evolution? In many
years of astrological investigation, we have come to the conclusion that unless definite and
precise questions are formulated, such a chart can become a veritable ocean of facts in which
the mind of the investigator can easily be drowned and lose all capacity of useful interpreta-
tion. An incarnation asterogram is a part of the great cosmos; it cannot possibly be exhausted
by the human mind. But we can approach it with well-formulated questions and problems and
expect relevant and productive answers.
Saturn in this asterogram was worked out in Lenin’s life as an expression of a great rebel-
lion. This leads us to the deeper history of evolution, which is contained in the fixed star
worlds like a great cosmic chronicle. In ancient times, when humanity had not yet descended
into the abyss of the present hard materialistic life standards and attitudes, Scorpio was con-
ceived as the image of an Eagle flying high above the Earth and possessing the absolute survey
of everything that happens “down here”. This is still present in the association of the origina-
tors of the Four Gospels of the New Testament with the Zodiac. St. John, the author of the
Gospel of St. John the Divine, is thus connected in tradition with the Eagle, whose cosmic
counter image is what we call Scorpio. The high, esoteric character of St. John’s Gospel is most
inspiringly expressed by the image of the Eagle. This aspect of the constellation leads us back
to the very beginnings of cosmic evolution, long before the present Earth existed, and is beau-
tifully and most esoterically expressed by the beginning chapter of that Gospel: “In the begin-
ning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The image of the Scorpion tells us of a later stage of cosmic evolution, when an event
took place that is reflected in our Fall from Paradise. The origin of that event, in the early

181
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

stages of the evolution of the Earth, is found by the spiritual investigator in the great (Luciferic)
rebellion during the so-called Ancient Moon incarnation of the Earth (see Rudolf Steiner’s An
Outline of Occult Science).
However, we want to know why Lenin developed just this side of the constellation Eagle-
Scorpio. Why didn’t he become like one of those great, creative artists, etc., whom we men-
tioned earlier? In order to find an answer, we will now investigate the prenatal asterogram of
Lenin. Earlier, in connection with Copernicus, we worked out the fact—found in many years
of research—that the prenatal Moon cycles are reflecting the seven year periods of life. There
are two ways of looking at this: the Moon cycles, starting from the epoch and moving toward
birth, are a reflection of the physical and so-called “psychosomatic”—to use a modern expres-
sion—development of a human being. This we presented in connection with Copernicus.
There is, however, also another approach feasible. We can also start from the birth and go
backwards with the Moon cycles toward the epoch and find these cycles also associated with
the seven year periods in human life. This is like looking back to the great decisions taken in
the cosmic spiritual world between two earth lives, with regard to the oncoming incarnation,
whereas the movement from the epoch forward represents the precipitation of all that into the
physical body, working as karma or destiny. Thus the consideration of the cycles, based on the
birth-to-epoch approach, can reveal the spiritual intentions toward self-evolution inherent in
karma, possibly also the failure to recognize these spiritual impulses conceived with the help of
the divine hierarchies of the universe, thereby stifling them.
In Lenin’s case we are led back, starting from birth, to a loop of Venus during the last three
months of the prenatal period. The inferior conjunction with the Sun took place on February
23, 1870, in 335° of the ecliptic, during the 3rd Moon cycle, counting backwards from the birth
date. Thus we would expect decisive events just then in the life of Lenin, so to speak, the
conclusion of a long cycle of destiny, similar to what we described in the present edition in
connection with the loop of Mercury during February.
We find such an event indeed, during the third seven year cycle in Lenin’s life. His older
brother, who had joined a revolutionary terrorist society, was caught and executed in May 1887
by the Czarist government. This was a terrible blow to Lenin. He was then seventeen years of
age, and he is reported to have murmured under his breath: “I shall make them pay for this.”
An unfathomable hate of so-called bourgeois society possessed him then and determined all
his later actions. Soon he started to systematically study Karl Marx and joined revolutionary
movements in Russia. He was imprisoned and sent to Siberia. Finally, he had to leave Russia
and live in exile in Switzerland.
It would certainly be a fallacy to attribute these events and experiences to the “influence”,
as it were, of that loop of Venus. This wants only to point the way of going into deeper
investigation. In the Mar. ’66 issue, we mentioned that these conjunctions repeat themselves in
intervals of 8 years, in approximately the same sector of the ecliptic, but over long intervals of
time (multiples of 8 years) they fall back in the Zodiac.

182
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Figure 20

Direction of entry

Lenin, born 22 April 1870, n.s.

(See Encyclopedia Britannica, biography by David Shub, and Buchder Zeit, Leipzig, 1960.)
Inner circle: Birth positions
Outer circle: Epoch positions

183
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - March 1968

Heliocentric
Heliocentrically, the planets Venus and Mercury will establish significant relationships to
their spheres. It is very instructive to study the heliocentric counter events to the geocentric
happenings. The latter relate to the Earth, obviously, and they pronounce these associations
more in a pictorial, imaginative language. The heliocentric aspects can reveal the dynamic
developments in the solar cosmos much more in the domain of inspiration, in as much as they
establish connections between the (invisible, and therefore more spiritual) spheres of the plan-
ets and their “Moons”, that is, their visible planets.
Thus, the conjunction of Venus and Mercury, according to the geocentric view, is accom-
panied by Venus moving through the aphelion (farthest distance to the Sun) of the apsidal line
of the Earth. On the following day, Mercury will move through its own descending node.
Gradually, we shall work in the journal toward a comprehension of these heliocentric events.
The position of Mercury in its own node interests us especially. From a number of histori-
cal and similar associations, we select two to get an idea of what it could mean. At the time of
the death of Johann Tauler, a German mystic, on June 16, 1361, Mercury was exactly in that
position. Tauler was one of the greatest mystics of that period. He had gone through tremen-
dous developments and inner experiences. His sermons, as a Dominican preacher, were so
powerful that listeners sometimes fainted, we read. What he said appealed obviously to the
will-nature, to bring about a catharsis of that sphere in people. This he “bequeathed’’ to the
cosmos and particularly to the sphere of Mercury at the moment of his death.
On February 11, 1858, Mercury was also in its descending node. That was the day when
Bernadette of Lourdes had her tremendous experience of the “Lady”, as she called her, in the
grotto of Lourdes, which subsequently became the famous place of pilgrimage and healing
(see Franz Werfel’s The Song of Bernadette). Experiences of this nature cannot be comprehended
without an intensive study and knowledge of the occult properties of the sphere of Mercury.
This does not mean that we only need to sit down and wait for similar things to happen on
a day when such an event takes place in the solar universe. Without corresponding human
efforts, nothing will happen. However, if we take our own inner development in hand, accord-
ing to methods such as those suggested by Rudolf Steiner in his book Knowledge of the Higher
Worlds and others, the “heaven can be open” for us in one way or another. It need not be the
experience of the “Lady”, as it happened to Bernadette, it might be “only” a guiding idea in a
difficult situation.
The position of Mercury in its own aphelion, on March 18, strikes a similar note, but it
appears to work somewhat deeper into the limb-will and intuition nature. Again we take two
death asterograms, because they indicate possible accomplishments, whereas birth asterograms
suggest potentials which, however, might never be evolved.
When Agrippa of Nettesheim died, February 18, 1535, Mercury was close to its aphelion.
He was “a writer, soldier, physician, and, by common reputation, a magician. One of his works

184
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

is De occulta philosophica, in which he defended magic as a means by which one may come to a
knowledge of nature and of God, and contains Agrippa’s idea of the universe with its three
worlds or spheres” (Encyclopedia Britannica). He lived a rather turbulent life, and more than once
he got into trouble with the Roman Church and with the Inquisition.
Thomas Vaughan was no less a “magician”. He died February 27, 1666 (o.s.), when Mer-
cury was also in its aphelion. He was an alchemist who sought the universal solvent and the
philosopher’s stone. In fact, he seems to have died from inhaling the fumes of mercury in the
course of alchemical experiments.
Thus we have in these two personalities rather striking demonstrations of what a Mercury
in its aphelion can provoke or imply. Of course, these are extreme cases, and we cannot expect
that this happens as a rule, but they can point the way to an understanding. As we have
repeatedly said, the sphere of Mercury is connected with the will as it is incarnate, one can also
say, dormant in the limbs. The aphelion part of the sphere is particularly associated with the
will. If the planet Mercury steps into this line, it can act like a “Moon”, reflecting into the
environment the nature of the sphere and possibly accelerate and activate, especially, the acqui-
sition of higher knowledge (in most situations, however dormant) through the doing, such as,
laboratory or research work. If it appears in a death asterogram, it might indicate that such an
attitude was carried through by the person concerned, and also that it might work on and
inspire following generations wherever there is preparedness and affinity to spiritual cognition.
Venus is in its own aphelion on March 26, suggesting rather some possible association with
the world of feeling, contact capacity through feeling, and in the highest sense with inspiration.
This is exemplified in the asterogram of death of Shakespeare, who died April 23, 1616 (o.s.),
when Venus was in its aphelion.

Esoteric Astrology and Astrosophy

Now we return to the interpretation of Lenin’s asterogram and follow up the genealogy, as
it were, of this particular loop of Venus, and we make interesting discoveries. For instance, we
are led back to the year 1414 AD, when a previous loop took place in the constellation of
Gemini. The inferior conjunction occurred on June 25, in 101°. This was the time when
medieval Christendom prepared for the Council of Constance in Germany (1414-1418) amidst
a truly chaotic situation. Three rival popes contested the chair of St. Peter. Thus, the so-called
Great Schism of the west occurred. The Council of Constance set itself the task to remedy
this sickness—which was not easy. The Council also effected the condemnation of the famous
Bohemian reformer, Johannes Huss (Jan Hus), for heresy and had him executed by the “secular
arm”. This was an unfortunate tragedy. Only by treachery was Huss induced to come to the
Council at all. He was supposed to have “spoken disrespectfully of the church, had even
hinted that Antichrist might be found to be in Rome... and continued to speak of Wycliffe (the
English reformer) as both a pious man and an orthodox preacher” (Encyclopedia Britannica).
We have the strong suspicion that the soul of Lenin was incarnated in the chronological
orbit of the Council of Constance. Three different astrological (time-wise) checks suggest

185
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

this, although we should not take it as an absolute proof of the validity of the idea. From
certain evidence in the chart, it seems even possible that this individuality was on the side of
those who condemned and destroyed Huss. If this should be correct, we would see in it a
possible explanation of the experience of an execution very close to him, as Lenin, in his own
family. As an experience of compensation, so to speak, to what happened in an earlier life, he
would have sought the possibility of such an incident in his Lenin incarnation. However, the
reaction, emerging as that fearful hate, was a momentary decision not included in his karma.
One could even imagine that the atheism that Lenin appropriated in later life arose out of a
reaction against a somewhat narrow ecclesiastic experience in a former life. Such inner devel-
opments have happened in our history.
These ideas are supported, for instance, by the complex of the Moon node associations in
Lenin’s chart. We have tentatively spoken already in the first journal about these aspects—in
connection with Goethe’s birth—and the conjunction of Uranus and Pluto in 1712. This
complex, we said then, is a reflection of the “spiritual nativity” of a human being. We will now
add a further element necessary for investigation, which is the position of the Moon in the
birth chart.
In past editions, we have repeatedly pointed out that we see the incarnation asterogram as
being a panorama of the descent through the spheres of the planets into an earthly existence.
Also the Moon can be regarded as a hieroglyph revealing significant secrets concerning the
descent. In fact, we have concluded in our researches that the Moon at birth signifies the
“direction”, as it were, from which a soul descended into incarnation. This would coincide, in
a certain sense, with the Hermetic Rule, which we mentioned earlier, and by which we decide
on the date of the epoch or cosmic counterpart of conception. The Rule says that the position
of a waxing Moon at birth is the “ascendant of the epoch”, and a waning Moon, that is, the
point where it appears at birth in the Zodiac, indicates the “descendant of the epoch”—the
“ascendant” then being opposite. Ascendant potentially means the line or bridge that connects
spheres or stages of cosmic importance. For instance, the ascendant of birth, that is the point
of the ecliptic that is rising at birth, signifies the interconnection between the (etheric) Moon
component and the Earth element with which a human being associates at birth. Therefore,
we regard the “ascendant of the epoch” as an indication of the line of entry of a soul from the
higher planetary sphere into that of the Moon. This has been borne out as a workable pro-
position in the course of our historical researches.
The Moon on April 22, 1870 was waning, in about 29° of the ecliptic sign of Capricorn
(Greenwich, noon). Therefore, the “ascendant of the epoch” was, according to the Hermetic
Rule, in the opposite position of the ecliptic. Of course, the hour of Lenin’s birth is not
known, but even so, the line of “entry into the sphere of the Moon”, under all circumstances,
would be in the constellation of Cancer.
We have described earlier the nature of the constellation of Cancer in the opinion of hu-
manity in ancient times (see Aug. ’66). It was associated with the Twilight of the Gods in Norse
mythology, with the breaking away of evolving humanity from the awareness of the spiritual

186
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

world and descent into materialistic conditions, which were becoming increasingly more dense.
The position of Lenin’s “ascendant of the epoch” in Cancer can thus be regarded as an indica-
tion of his appropriation of philosophical materialism as the world conception of Bolshevism.
All this seems to be further illustrated by the apparent sextile aspect between the Moon at
birth and Jupiter in the constellation of Taurus. The sextile aspect (see Apr. ’67) is an intima-
tion of a friendly cooperation between dynamics that move in different directions. Jupiter in
Taurus can lead us back to a disposition of thinking that is grounded, as it were, in ancient
Egyptian practices and life standards. Ancient Egypt saw the birth of the principle of theoc-
racy. As humanity broke away more and more from the awareness of the spiritual world and
developed increasingly a lack of response to direct moral guidance, the leaders of the Egyptian
and succeeding civilizations deemed it necessary to guide and rule by strict religious-moral laws
and codices. Thus the concept of dogma gradually came into being, and also the notion that
dogmas had to be enforced by severe regulations and the offender punished. Then in the
Middle Ages it seemed necessary to the upholders of the idea of theocracy to eliminate the
offender, the heretic, by capital punishment. Johann Huss, whom we mentioned in connection
with the Council of Constance, was one of the numberless victims of these theocratic in-
stitutions that sailed, not in the least because of such practices, into materialism.
On this basis, we can now clearly discern the roots of that seemingly strange phenomenon
in modern history: Bolshevism, that adopts the principles and habits of an ancient theocracy
and founds on such principles of dogma, a “church” and “religion” of strictest materialism,
including all the gauges of severest punishment for the offender and heretic. Apart from that
background indicated by the “friendly” cooperation of an ascendant of the epoch in Cancer
and a Jupiter in Taurus, it is not difficult to discern why the Bolshevist brand of socialism
should have sailed into this kind of ultra-dogmatic attitude.
To come back to our earlier remark that the secrets of the so-called “spiritual nativity” are
associated with the Moon node and the Moon, we can now go one step further. Our re-
searches have verified that this “spiritual nativity” is indicated in a moment when one of the
Moon nodes passes over the place where the Moon stands at birth. This can happen before or
after birth, and it needs a good amount of esoteric discernment to find the appropriate mo-
ment around the time of incarnation. In Lenin’s case, the ascending Moon node, in fact,
moved across the “ascendant of the epoch” (opposition to Moon at birth), either during Lenin’s
embryonic development, or possibly even at birth. Thus there is a strong likelihood that the
sextile between Jupiter in Taurus and epoch ”ascendant” in Cancer belongs to the complex of
the “spiritual nativity” of Lenin.
However, this is not the only perspective we have in mind. The descending Moon node
was also in that position before (with consideration of the precession), at the time of the
predecessor of the loop of Venus in Lenin’s asterogram. That was in 1414 shortly before the
commencement of the earlier mentioned Council of Constance. Jupiter was then in the con-
stellation of Scorpio, just opposite Taurus and where this planet entered during the embryonic
development of Lenin, and also where Saturn was at Lenin’s epoch. Thus we have more

187
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

evidence pointing to the possibility that the individuality was a contemporary of the beginning
of the 15th century.
Along the line of entry into the sphere of the Moon, indicated by the Moon at birth,
Lenin’s life pattern unfolded in its main outline. In May 1887, when his brother was executed,
Saturn approached that line in Cancer. As we said earlier, this was the moment when Lenin
appropriated that tremendous hate against the so-called bourgeoisie that guided all his later
actions. By 1917, when Lenin entered Russia in order to inaugurate the Bolshevik revolution,
Saturn moved through that line, indicated by the Moon, a second time. Now, the cultivation of
hate had borne fruit and the impulse of Marxist socialism, built on “dialectic and historic”
materialism, proceeded to be put into practice. This time it was not only one, Johannes Huss,
who was delivered into the hands of the secular arm in order to be eliminated.

Saturn in the constellation of Sagittarius: This constellation is opposite that of Gemini,

which is a manifestation of contradictions of all kinds (see Aug. ’66). Sagittarius represents the
endeavor to unify the extremes (Nov. ’66). For this purpose, the human beings engaged in this
endeavor must identify with ever increasing degrees of spiritual orbit and seek intuitive unison
with the contradictions and polarities in their own being, the kingdoms of nature, and the
cosmos. This can be accomplished only in time, and Sagittarius is therefore an expression of
evolution in any sense. The symbol we use for this constellation, the arrow, is a fitting sign for
this never ceasing endeavor that lives and works in us as a natural principle of our being,
manifest in the flow of historic evolution.
Luther, the German reformer, collected up the main stream of his life endeavor at the
moment of his death, into a Saturn just entering the constellation of Sagittarius.
He died February 18, 1546, Saturn in 258° (precession up to 20th century, plus 5°).
The Mogul emperor Akbar of India, died October 15, 1605 (Saturn in 266.7°), was
another individuality who combined, out of the realities of life, with such a Saturn.
His many years of warfare, for the sake of securing his empire, speak of a character
bent on pressing forward relentlessly. However, there obviously also lived more
profound impulses in him. He tried to create a deism, first for himself, that was
supposed to embrace the highly diverse religious creeds of his subjects, which be-
cause of their great diversity, bore the potential of constant conflict in them. Thus
“he gained for himself the title, ‘Guardian of Mankind’ for his tolerance and wide
sympathies” (Encyclopedia Britannica).
Geoffrey Chaucer, the English poet, died on October 25, 1400, Saturn in 277.9°. We
can understand that through his life he created a strong connection with Sagittarius
through Saturn, particularly in view of his well-known Canterbury Tales. The Encyclo-
pedia Britannica recounts the number of offices he held: the guardianship of two
Kentish wards, justiceship of the peace, representing the county of Kent in the
parliament of 1386, etc. Thus he seems to have gained a deep, one might say,
intuitive insight into human nature in all walks of life. This ability of intuitive

188
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

identification has made the Canterbury Tales, especially, a wonderful collection of

sketches of the most diverse characters on the road to Canterbury. It is a truly
constructive representation of the potential of Sagittarius.
Charles Dickens, the great English novelist, gives another fitting demonstration of
such similar qualities of Saturn (266°) at the time of death (June 9, 1870). In one
sense similar to Chaucer, but within the orbit of more modern settings and social
problems of his time, he described the characters of his human environment to the
point of intuitive identification with the souls and their problems. This capacity of
intuition, and especially the inherent potential of evolution of self in such a direc-
tion, is one of the more profound perspectives of Sagittarius.
Vladimir Soloviev died on July 31, 1900 (o.s.), when Saturn was in 274°. We have
written more extensively about some aspects of his incarnation asterogram in the
Aug. ’67 issue. He was indeed a personality who worked out that intuitive potential
of Sagittarius during his life, of which we spoke above. The great spiritual guide of
his work was the Being of the Divine Sophia, whom he had experienced, according
to his own words, three times.
Sir Christopher Wren, the famous English architect, died when Saturn was in the con-
stellation of Sagittarius (263.3°, February 26, 1723). This is an interesting astero-
gram, because it displays, compared with the birth chart, a progress of Saturn from
Scorpio at birth to Sagittarius at death. In between (Wren was in his ninety-first
year when he died) Saturn had completed three orbits through the Zodiac. Thus
we would expect that he brought into his incarnation a certain inspirational poten-
tial (Scorpio) that he transformed into an intuitive capacity. This was his way of
becoming an architect of the artistic and spiritual magnitude, which he achieved.
The story of the rebuilding of St. Paul’s Cathedral (London), after the great fire
of 1666, is a vivid description of the transformation and association of Wren with
Saturn in Sagittarius. The first design proposed a rotunda surrounded by a wide
aisle; however, the dean and chapter of St. Paul’s “objected to the absence of a
structural choir, nave, and aisles and wished to follow the medieval cathedral ar-
rangement” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Wren had to abandon his design, which appar-
ently followed the idea of a church serving “brotherhood”, in which the congrega-
tion was united in one community, without any actual differentiation according to
rank, etc., and prepare another scheme. Thus there must have lived in Wren an
impulse of attempting to identify the lay congregation with the events at the altar
by a possibly intuitive experience. For Wren, this was obviously a matter-of-course
experience, as a number of instances in his life show. For instance, in later years,
after the building of the new St. Paul’s had been completed, he could sit in the
cathedral and gaze with ever new amazement at the structure. He experienced
himself, the architect, in humility as an instrument who had, by the indwelling of
invisible forces greater than himself, accomplished this magnificent building.

189
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

STAR JOURNAL - April 1968

Heliocentric
Many years of our research have proven that not only are the positions of the planets in
their own nodes and apsidal lines significant, but also their associations with the elements of
the spheres of the other planets in the solar system. For instance, Mercury and Venus will
move through the aphelion of Uranus (farthest from Sun) during the second half of April.
Events of this nature make, as it were, the “climate” of the solar universe to which the Earth
belongs and responds correspondingly.
It is often argued—against the employment of the heliocentric view—that for us on Earth,
it matters where the planets appear from the perspective of our own planet, that is, the geocen-
tric aspect. This is certainly true up to a point and with regard to definite requirements. How-
ever, it is based on a simplified geometric approach that does not exclude the heliocentric view.
The two rather complement each other. The heliocentric perspective tells us of events that
concern the totality of the solar cosmos, particularly of the spheres of the planets (the spaces
set within the planets’ orbits), in which the Earth is also submerged. Similar to the human
organism where, for instance, a stomach disorder can cause discomfort in a totally different
region—such as causing a headache—so the Earth also participates in the woes, joys, and
“meteorological” conditions of the whole solar universe.
The elements (nodal and apsidal lines) of the planetary spheres do not stand still. They
also move in time, although their pace is very slow compared with that of the planets them-
selves. The progress is somewhat erratic, or at least uneven, especially the movements of those
of the outer planets. However, we can observe in their progress (often a regress with regard to
the positions in the fixed star constellations) large-scale rhythms that are very revealing in view
of evolution. For instance, Mars will be in its own ascending node on April 4. Three days
earlier it will be near the ascending node of Mercury, because the two nodes are only 1½°
apart, coordinated to the ecliptic. We extend the nodal lines—the lines from the ascending to
the descending nodes—through the center of the Sun and out into space beyond the actual
planetary orbits. Thus Mars can be in the nodal line of Mercury, although it is not moving on
the orbit of Mercury.
This was not always the case. On account of the movement of the nodal lines of Mercury
and Mars in time, the two were, for instance at the time of Christ, still about 10 degrees apart.
They come closer and closer together, and in about 300 years the two lines will be identical, or
in conjunction.
The rhythm that reveals itself in the coming closer of the two nodal lines is reflected in the
collision and amalgamation of two spheres of human activity and is characteristic of our present
age. We said earlier that we evolve the essential nature of Mars as the capacity to face the
physical material world, to recognize it, even to formulate this cognition in speech. Mercury
manifests in us as the impulse to meet this world with intelligence, which flows from the
invisible realm of existence, and it is also connected with our limb-centered will.

190
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

The cosmic facts, as far as the nodes of Mars and Mercury are concerned, reveal that the
two domains of human nature might be exposed to a certain development, one might even say
danger. The impacts that reach our soul as we face the physical environment, which can be
overwhelming to such a degree that we can only see the material surface of objects entering
our orbit, combine with our capacity of intelligence and will. Thus it can happen that our
capacities are completely overpowered and turned into materialistically orientated intellectual-
ity. We witness here a contributing factor that helped to accelerate the development of mod-
ern materialistic thought and practice. However, this has happened only because a certain,
possibly small, part of humanity has succumbed to the adverse aspects of this trend. We are of
the opinion that this need not happen, because the inference of the corresponding cosmic
event should not be taken in a fatalistic sense. It could become a tremendously enhancing
impulse if it is positively handled and evolved by the human being. Then it can be a balancing
factor (the two descending nodes are in the constellation of Libra or Balance), effecting a
constructive cooperation between natural science and spiritual science.
We, therefore, are not surprised that we find a great number of fighters for modern world
conceptions: scientists, discoverers, etc., connected with a Mars in its ascending node, both in
asterograms of incarnation and of death. The constructive development of this kind of cos-
mic impact seems to manifest in the sphere of speech and music which are, in any case, the
most cultivated expressions of the sphere of Mars. There were, for instance, mighty masters
of the word such as Dominicus (founder of the Dominican order) and Thomas Aquinas asso-
ciated with a Mars in its ascending node at the moment of their death, likewise a number of
musicians and composers.
The associations with Mercury in its own ascending node, which is close to the ascending
node of Mars, show slightly different characteristics, more toward the intellectual and literary
side. Great writers were connected with such a Mercury: Sir Walter Scott at death (September
21, 1832) and Bernard Shaw, the great dramatist, at birth (July 26, 1856).

Esoteric Astrology and Astrosophy

Saturn in Sagittarius (continued): In the field of Saturn positions in the constellation of
Sagittarius at birth, or epoch, we must expect a wide range of realization of such a potential,
owing to the double nature of this cosmic effigy. In actual life it is always a question of
whether the head-part of the Centaur is evolved, which in turn can tame and spiritualize the
limb- or horse-body-part. Our limb organism is essentially the most spiritual region of the
human organism. There dwells the will that can become, however, the source of uncontrolled
actions borne out of dormant instincts, if it is not lifted by incessant inner efforts to the level
of disciplined and day-wake consciousness.
King Henry VIII of England was constantly inclined to follow the ancient, one might
say, Centaurian pattern of conduct. If one studies his biography, one becomes
aware that his whole life was an incessant battle with his share in the Centaur’s
horse-body, which he received at birth. It was a never ending struggle between

191
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

political “raison d’etre” and entirely personal motives. Even the Encyclopedia Britannica
has to admit: “...The atrocity of many of Henry’s acts, the novelty and success of
his religious policy, the apparent despotism of his methods—or all combined—
have made it difficult to estimate calmly the importance of Henry’s work or the
conditions which made it possible. Henry’s egotism was profound, and personal
motives underlay his public action...” It is interesting to note that this Centaur
heritage was expressed at birth by the position of Neptune, which then (June 28,
1491) entered the constellation of Sagittarius. He died on January 28, 1547, when
Saturn was in 269.3°.
Pope Alexander VI, the famous head of the Borgia family, born (December 31) Janu-
ary 1, 1431, Saturn in 277.8°. (Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia are his best-known
children). The dimensions to which this unconscious instinct-directed will can
expand is displayed in his incarnation chart. He is called “the most memorable of
the corrupt and secular popes of the Renaissance.” Studying this epoch of history,
we experience that such an utterly undisciplined Sagittarius potential can eliminate
all realization of moral perspectives.
Frederick II, the German Emperor (born December 26, 1194, Saturn in 279.1°), had a
similar life story. His ceaseless quarrels and wars against the papacy were a mani-
festation of subconscious, restless Sagittarius forces. We take this as an example,
demonstrating that a person doesn’t have an incarnation chart in order to submit,
as it were, to extra-human cosmic influences, but to transform, cultivate, and el-
evate them to the level of humanized spiritual morality, which, we admit, is not
always an easy proposition in practical life.
Richard Wagner, the German composer (born May 22, 1813, Saturn in 285°), was a
man who fought this great battle with forces implied in Sagittarius all his life. Natu-
rally, in his earlier years the fight was most obvious and can be traced even in his
compositions. At one time (1849) he was involved so much in political rebellion
that he had to flee for his life and stay in exile many years. Yet, there was always
alive in him the search for the highest ideals of spiritual morality, and toward the
end of his life he was able to transpose that endeavor in his inner life into the
drama and music of his Parsifal. We hope to investigate and write one day more
extensively about this chart in the journal.
Baron Robert Clive (born September 29, 1725) is another great example of the vigor
that the intuitive Sagittarius can kindle in a human being. Saturn, during his embry-
onic period, was in about 282° and at birth in 291.5°, which was then the transition
from the constellation of Sagittarius to that of Capricorn. The story of the con-
quest and integration of India into the British Empire, which was his work, speaks
for itself as a manifestation of one possible Sagittarius potential. The Encyclopedia
Britannica says: “Young Clive was the despair of his teachers. Sent from school to
school... he neglected his books for perilous adventures. But he could read Horace

192
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

in after life; and he must have laid the foundation in his youth of that clear and
vigorous English style which marked all his dispatches…” His actions were simi-
larly filled with vigor and determination.
Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer, is an example of a totally different Sagittarius
manifestation, though somewhat akin with regard to temperament. He was born
December 14, 1546, with Saturn in 259°-268° during the embryonic cycle, which is
synonymous with the head-part of the constellation of Sagittarius. The restless
nature of the Sagittarius forces manifested in Tycho Brahe’s younger years in his
long journeys on the European continent in search for knowledge. Later, another
aspect of this constellation came to the foreground. Its intuitive potential emerged
in Tycho Brahe’s astrological preoccupations. He made some political prognoses
that afterwards proved strikingly correct. For such a capacity, truly intuitive quali-
ties are needed. Rudolf Steiner once expressed that astrology is an entirely intuitive
science, for which the highest possible degrees of super-sensual perception are
needed. The incarnation asterogram of Tycho Brahe is most illuminating, just in
connection with the mentioned facts in his life, but we must reserve its presenta-
tion and interpretation for a later occasion.

Saturn in the constellation of Capricorn: The very effigy used for this constellation in
ancient star maps betrays a lot about its essential nature and dormant potentials. The ibex lives
on the highest mountaintops. His horns reach out still further into cosmic space. He attempts
to keep aloof of all matters too mundane. His endeavor is directed toward the vertical, the
heaven-Earth axis, and he endeavors to reach the highest in the cosmos that can be reached.
Yet, the effigy of its region of the heavens is depicted with a fish-tail instead of hind legs.
Therefore, there must have existed in ancient times an awareness that this cosmic potential was
also somewhat associated with the watery element. What does this mean? An intensive inves-
tigation reveals that in its purest manifestation, Capricorn waits to be realized in the human
endeavor to establish a knowing connection between the macrocosm and the microcosm. The
most potent medium of the working of cosmic forces in Earth existence is the liquid element,
the water and certainly also the liquid substances of the human body. It is magnificent to
observe, in exact experiment, that the solid substances, once they are dissolved or liquefied in
water, become perfect reflections of cosmic events in the realm of the planets, etc. This then
is the meaning of the fish-tail of the Ibex-Capricorn.
Of course, this need not express itself in strictly formal cosmological research, etc. We
must not loose sight of the fact that the cosmos accessible to the senses is only a countenance-
like manifestation of spiritual cosmic forces and divine beings. Therefore, a human being can
work out such an association purely in the domain of awareness and devotion to the experi-
ence of a real spiritual world; for instance:
St. Francis of Assisi was surely not a cosmologist in a formal sense, but he was a
spiritual cosmologist by virtue of his unique realization of the Risen Christ, that is

193
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

the Cosmic Christ, in his life and his deeds. When he died, October 3, 1226, Saturn
was in 305.1° (constellation Capricorn). At the same time Jupiter was in 313° (still
Capricorn) and Mars in 308°, whereas Mercury was in opposition in about 125°.
Joan of Arc was vested in the cosmos in her own way, with similar Capricorn qualities
when she died on May 30, 1431. Saturn was then in 290.8°. (In regard to the
precession of the vernal equinox, this is equivalent to about 298° (291 plus 7°, for
about 500 years.) According to her testimony, she was in audible, spiritual contact
with the divine world, heard “voices” that guided her, and she felt directed by the
Archangel Michael. The horns of the Ibex-Capricorn are like “horns of plenty”
through which the sustenance of the spirit can flow down into earthly manifesta-
tion.
Leonardo da Vinci was another human being in whom we can detect the presence of
the divine cosmic Word in the form of inventive and constructive ideas. For in-
stance, his famous painting of the Last Supper is a pictorial description of the twelve
constellations of the Zodiac, which seeks an equal in magnificence. Each one of
the twelve apostles demonstrates, in facial features, in bodily movements, and ges-
tures, the spiritually dynamic nature of the one constellation allotted to him, partly
according to tradition. Thus through his death asterogram, Leonardo has bequeathed
to the cosmos a realization of the humanized qualities of the Zodiac, standing out
as a shining example in the spiritual history of humanity. When he died, May 2,
1519, Saturn was in 287°—plus about 6° precession would be 293-4° (see also Fig.
8 in Dec. ’66 issue).
Jacques de Molay and the story of his death, as the last Grandmaster of the Knights
Templars: at the end of the prolonged and painful trial by the bitter enemies of the
Order, can be taken as proof that he had a deep connection with the spiritual world
in all reality. Saturn was in 297.1° on the day of his death, March 11, 1314. The
impulse to prepare the globe of the Earth for the habitation of the Risen Christ
lived on in spite of the cruel extermination of the Knights Templars, for instance,
in the Order of Christ in Portugal.
Henry the Navigator, who was also a Grandmaster of that Order, tried to carry the
impulse to practical ends by the inauguration of the expeditions along the west
coast of Africa, with the aim of eventually reaching India along that route. He
decided on taking up the impulse already before birth, which is expressed by Mars
in Capricorn (314.2°) at birth and is, furthermore, confirmed by Saturn in the same
constellation at death in 291.3° (November 13, 1460).
Raphael Santi’s paintings, particularly his pictures of the Madonna with the Child, carry
such a tremendous aura of inner reality that one cannot but assume that the spiri-
tual world and the beings dwelling therein were for him a matter of direct experi-
ence. Of course, he might have taken living persons as models for his paintings,
but the execution and idealization of his work betrays that he saw more than only

194
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

that which the sense of physical sight would convey. When he died, April 6, 1520,
Saturn was in 297.4°.
Robert Fludd, the great English physician and Rosicrucian, was one of the few who
developed, in the course of his life, a most direct realization of the potential of
Capricorn and bequeathed it, as it were, to the cosmos at the moment of his death.
His writings and particularly his Utriusque costal historia betrays a magnificent knowl-
edge of the Mysterium Magnum—the relationship between the macrocosm of
fixed stars and planets and the microcosm of the human body and its functions.
When he died, September 8, 1637, Saturn was in 294°.
Samuel Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy, was the most striking example of an
association with Capricorn. When he died, July 2, 1843, Saturn was in 292°, just on
the point of entry into Capricorn. But also at the time of his birth, April 10, 1755,
Saturn was in 292.5°. Apart from the “law of similars” (i.e., diseases can and
should be cured by drugs that, when taken by the healthy, produce symptoms simi-
lar to those of the sickness), he discovered that substances in high potencies can
significantly accelerate their curative power. For potencies, quantities of liquid are
usually used in which minute quantities of the substance or drug are dissolved.
Thus potencies can be produced in which the actual substance cannot be detected
any longer with ordinary chemical means, and yet, they are effective. Here we see
the connection of the Capricorn dynamics with the watery element (the fish-tail),
which makes the curative properties effective. But even more significant is
Hahnemann’s own opinion on the mystery of these high dilutions. He regarded it
as a process in which the actual physical element is decreased to a point where the
spiritually (cosmic) dynamic power of the remedy is liberated and can work freely.

With this we have entered the sphere of associations of Saturn in Capricorn with incarna-
tion asterograms, and we find here some amazing examples of corresponding connections.
There was, for instance:
Bernadette of Lourdes (born January 7, 1844, Saturn in 297.8°), a peasant girl of the
south of France who, at the age of 14, had the experience of what she called the
“Lady” in the Grotto of Lourdes. The “Lady” told her what to do about the
healing properties of the spring water that emanated from the Grotto. This later
became the world famous focus of pilgrimage of numberless people who sought
and found healing there from physical ailment.
John Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, was born February 1, 1462, Saturn in about
305°. He was a great spiritual teacher that had an influence on his time. His
teachings also comprised the knowledge, and presumably experience, of the his-
torical law of the Archangel Ages. He saw intervals of about 355 years operating
in history that are under the spiritual guidance of the seven great Archangels. Thus,
for instance, he foresaw a change of “rulership” in 1879 when the Archangel of

195
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

the power of the Sun, Michael, would take over from the preceding Archangel of
the Moon qualities, Gabriel. Anyone who has a deeper insight into the dynamics
of history and civilization, understands that this is indeed a spiritual reality.
Ignatius of Loyola, born December 24, 1491, with Saturn in 310°, had a remarkable
connection with Capricorn. Originally he was a soldier, but in the course of one
campaign his leg was shattered, particularly the knee. Now, the knee is associated
with Capricorn, as far as the human body has its cosmic, archetypal foundations in
the Zodiac. And thus it happened that as the physical-material knee was damaged,
the archetypal, spiritual cosmic counterpart of it was set free, as it were, and be-
came an organ of higher perception of some kind. Through this, Loyola had those
higher or mystical experiences that led to the foundation of the Jesuit Order and
also to the conception of the “spiritual exercises” that became the core of spiritual
discipline for the members of the Order.

196
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

STAR JOURNAL - May 1968

Geocentric
Saturn will be in the ascending Moon node, according to the latitude of the Moon and not
to the mean positions of its nodes as they are given in the ephemeris. This is an event that
needs to be watched and met with full consciousness and with determined moral imagination.
These conjunctions happen every 5-6 years, and the last time it took place in this particular
portion of the ecliptic was the end of August, beginning of September, 1939. (It happened
twice around that time because of a retrograde movement of Saturn.) This was actually in the
first degree of the sign of Taurus and in the constellation of Aries, whereas this conjunction
will be in 19° of the sign of Aries but still in the constellation of Pisces—a difference that must
not be overlooked when it comes to gauging its impact.

Heliocentric
In May there will be a conjunction of Venus with Saturn that will be accompanied by a
square of Mars to Jupiter. This is the kind of configuration that John H. Nelson of RCA
Communications, Inc., employs to predict long-distance radio communication disturbances.
Thus forecasts are possible months in advance, and actually, Nelson is right 93% of the time.
This field of investigation proves that the events in the solar cosmos, as they occur from
the viewpoint of the Sun and not only as they appear from the Earth, have a mighty influence
on the planets as well as on the Earth. They obviously affect the electromagnetic conditions on
our planet and other regions. We are certain, from years of observation, that they also play into
the conditions of animated beings and also into our life, particularly where we are unaware of
what is happening. This is understandable, because our physical organization is woven into the
pattern of the domains of nature outside our own bodily orbit. This is also the reason why we
have the impression that it is essential in our age to create an awareness of these factors in order
to evolve methods by which we can eventually emancipate ourselves from these influences.

Esoteric Astrology and Astrosophy

An association with Capricorn can also lead to an over-estimation and excessive glorifica-
tion of self, arrogance, and all kinds of despotism. A study like the one we attempt here can
lead to the awareness that there is no guarantee that even the richest gifts of the cosmos
couldn’t be turned into the opposite if moral, spiritual leadership of the self over the lower and
subconscious regions of the human being is lacking. Here we find some striking examples:
King Henry VIII of England, whom we met already in connection with the Saturn of
his death in Sagittarius (see last issue). When he was born, June 28, 1491, Saturn
was in 304.6°. Here the spiritual loftiness of Capricorn was turned into a mate-
rialistic extravagance and despotism. But, even so, he rendered significant services,
inaugurating developments and institutions that met the modern impulse of indi-
vidualism and freedom.

197
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

King Louis XIV was born September 5, 1638, when Saturn was also in 304.6°. He was
the classical example of absolutism when he regarded himself as the “Roi Soleil”,
the Sun King, or when he ventured the statement “L’etat c’est moi” (“I—the King—
am the State”). As an external expression of this exaggeration, he had the royal
palace of Versailles built like a Sun from which the streets radiated like sunrays in
all directions, or one can also say that the palace constituted an ideal center to
which led all roads.
Queen Marie Antoinette, the wife of the French King Louis XVI, is one who’s attitude
of the absolute monarch reached a final conclusion with her tragic destiny. When
she was born, November 2, 1755, Saturn was also in Capricorn, 298.7°. Through
her extravagance, dissolute life, favoritism, etc., she contributed much to the down-
fall of the French monarchy during the French Revolution and was guillotined
herself.

Saturn in the constellation of Aquarius: Aquarius is opposite Leo and, therefore, comple-
mentary to it in a certain sense. We pointed out earlier that the very symbol that we use for Leo
indicates the potential to move from a periphery to a center (for instance, of our self) but also
to evolve from such a center toward the periphery. Aquarius, then, is this periphery; it is also
expressed in the association of the two constellations with the archetypal origins of the human
physical organism. Leo is thus connected with the human heart and circulation and Aquarius
with the periphery of circulation in the lower arms and calves of the legs. Folk-lore medicine
knew this and influenced the circulation and heart from these regions, as in the case of fever.
The final periphery is the cosmos, particularly the cosmos of the fixed stars, but there are
innumerable milestones in between before the outermost periphery is reached; therefore,
Aquarius can appear associated with impulses toward achievement of degrees of human one-
ness, unification, universal love. Altogether, it is rather difficult to express a clear-cut definition
of the challenges emanating from the constellation of Aquarius, also of Pisces, because they
are in a state of almost turbulent transformation. The reason for this is the fact that they are
closest to the present age and its humanity, via the precession of the vernal point.
Already in the Jun. ‘66 issue, we elaborated the principle of precession and the fact that
since the time of Christ, the ecliptic signs (used by classical astrology in almanacs etc.) and the
fixed star constellations of the Zodiac are slowly moving apart. At present we say, when the
Sun moves through the vernal point on March 20, it enters the ecliptic sign of Aries; however,
from the viewpoint of the constellations, it will then stand in front of the fixed stars of Pisces,
and soon in front of Aquarius.
Thus, we can readily see that the present and the coming age of human civilization is, in an
astral sense, under the impression of Pisces and soon of Aquarius. (We regard the fixed star
constellations, as we said earlier, as expressions of world astrality.) Much of the tremendous
upheavals, convulsions, and far-flung changes of our present civilization are due to the chal-
lenges of these constellations and the resulting changes in all humanity with regard to old

198
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

traditions and heritages. One can even speak, in this sense, of slow but incessant and tremen-
dous conversions of the mythological implications of Pisces and Aquarius. For instance, an
earlier humanity might have experienced the elements of Pegasus above the elements of Pisces
and of the water element of Aquarius below, as ingredients of never-ceasing and natural inspira-
tion. This has changed radically since the time of Christ and even before. In the meantime,
humanity has developed intellectuality, which gradually cuts it off from the spiritual, cosmic
sources of inspiration—though it has, thereby, achieved emancipation from dependence and
moved toward freedom. The spiritually free human being can regain access to these sources of
inspiration and intuition by determined, disciplined, and conscious efforts. This cannot be
attained but by suffering, and Pisces is particularly connected with suffering, loneliness, etc.
In the field of asterograms of death, we find two humanists connected with Saturn in the
constellation of Aquarius:
Pico della Mirandola (died November 17, 1494, Saturn in 344°) and Reuchlin (died
June 30, 1522, Saturn in 322.5°). Their affinity to Aquarius comes to light in their
association with the Kabbalah, the great complex of Hebrew esotericism. Particu-
larly the teachings of the Kabbalah on Emanation from the Godhead and the
Beings of the spirit world, as the foundation of world creation and evolution, is
typical for Aquarius. Thus it is a manifestation of the ancient and sacred properties
of this constellation. This is also the reason why the Kabbalah is almost a sealed
book for modern humanity, except for a few human beings. Unless our present
and future humanity makes decided and conscious esoteric and meditative efforts,
the doors to the mysteries of the spirit cosmos, in relationship to the earthly world,
will remain closed, and we will be deprived of the tools of cognition that we really
need in order to set our earthly house in order.
Nicolas of Cusa is another almost archetypal example who lived at the commencement
of the modern age. When he died, August 11, 1464, Saturn was in 334.2°. In his
time, medieval Scholasticism, which saw its culmination during the 13th century,
had come to its end. Scholasticism was able, at least in a few of its representatives,
to still reach out into the realm of inspired thinking, coming to that splendid ex-
pression we find in the Summas of Thomas Aquinas. But already in the 14th century
this capacity had faded away, and western humanity was only able to reach out to the
reality of the spirit in mystical experience. Mystics such as Master Eckhart, Johann
Tauler, and Heinrich Suso lived through similar endeavors. Then in the 15th century,
Nicolas of Cusa stands at the portal to the new age and seeks, in mystical experience,
an “unknowing knowledge” or realization of the divine, amidst a world in the process
of turning away from the awareness of the spirit. He is known by his Docta ignorantia.
As a cardinal of the Roman Church, he was also involved in efforts to overcome the
great schism between the eastern and western churches, although in vain. We see here
the Aquarius impulse of unification at work. On one journey in connection with this
mission, he had a deep mystical experience of unknowing oneness with the Godhead.

199
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

The painters Rubens (died May 30, 1640) and Rembrandt (died October 4, 1669) had
an affinity to Aquarius through Saturn at the time of their death (about 324°),
though just one Saturn cycle apart. Particularly in Rembrandt, we see an artist who
endeavored to penetrate to the mysteries of light and darkness in his work. We
witness here a tremendous struggle to redeem darkness in color by the purity of
light.
Ibsen (died May 23, 1906), the great dramatist, was another human being who associ-
ated with Aquarius through Saturn (338°) at the time of his death. He fought a life-
long battle in his artistic work with the problems of individuality on the one hand
and love on the other. Individuality tends, at least in the becoming stages, to be
egoistic and deny love. How to reunite the awakened individuality with the human
community at large, and yet retain the fruits of individualism, is the attempt of
Ibsen’s art.
In the domain of birth asterograms connected with Saturn in the constellation of Aquarius,
we find one great personality of the middle ages among the others:
Paracelsus (most likely birth date 10-11 November, 1493, Saturn 332°), the physician
and alchemist, stands as a shining demonstration of what one is, ideally speaking,
able to make of an association with Aquarius (also see, in this context, the Dec. ’67
issue, concerning Saturn in Virgo at the death of Paracelsus). In his alchemical
studies and practical medical work, he went right out to the periphery, which is
implied in this constellation. He had a deep insight into the interconnections be-
tween the human physiology and the cosmos of the stars, and he also suggested
that it should be possible to work consciously and practically with cosmic factors in
healing sickness. Looking at his birth chart from the heliocentric perspective, one
must grant that he had an exceptionally strong affinity to the line from Leo to
Aquarius, which implies a special potential for cosmology, obviously derived from
prenatal life and earlier incarnations. At the time of the given date, Jupiter was in
Leo, almost in exact opposition to Saturn. Furthermore, Mars was just on the
point of entering Aquarius, though not yet in conjunction with Saturn.
William Blake, the British poet, painter, and mystic, and another personality who dis-
played a high degree of evolving the possible potential of a Saturn in Aquarius, was
born 28 November 1757, Saturn in 322.2° (precession up to present plus about 3°).
The source of his strikingly cosmic imaginations and revelations was his connec-
tion with the soul of a brother in the spiritual world who had died at an early age. It
was his way of touching the far periphery—in this case the spiritual periphery of
those who had left the Earth. His chart is most illuminating and will also be one of
those we intend to study in much greater detail. We are fully aware that we can do
no more with our present investigation of Saturn in the constellations than discern
very general associations, because in the individual case they are highly modified by
factors indicated by the other planets.

200
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Edgar Casey, the “sleeping prophet” (born 18 March 1877, Saturn in 341°), is a striking
example of what a person can fathom in such a peripheral Aquarius experience.
He was a very simple man, having no medical training whatsoever. Yet, in a state
of trance-like sleep, he was able to pronounce the most complicated and scientific
diagnosis and also very potent therapeutic suggestions concerning sick people who
were brought into his presence. One can indeed ask oneself when studying this
unique human phenomenon: What will human beings who develop such capaci-
ties consciously—of spiritual, peripheral insight—be able to accomplish in the fu-
ture? We get the impression that such souls like Edgar Casey are sent forth like
messengers by a higher guidance to this present humanity, to shake the devastating
complacency that only materialistic intellectualism has the answers to the problems
and woes of our age.
Indeed, every further day of this present civilization proves that this intellectualism falls
short on all sides and lets humanity slide into prospects of fearful catastrophes. We bitterly
need the higher knowledge of the spiritual world, the winged intelligence, but as we said earlier
in connection with Aquarius, we must develop it consciously on the basis of a strict esoteric
discipline, as indicated by Rudolf Steiner.

Saturn in Pisces: The positions of Saturn in Pisces bring us right down to the problems of
our modern age, which we described above: stagnation in the intellect only or breaking through
the stagnation and complementing it with a new intelligence. In the field of death asterograms,
above all, we meet those great personalities who through their challenges—especially in the
realm of natural science and technology—enter into the ring of modern history:
Benjamin Franklin, a most universal character, statesman, diplomat, author, scientist,
and inventor died when Saturn was in Pisces (357°, April 17, 1790). His experi-
ments in the domain of electricity and invention of the lightning conductor are
well-known.
James Watt died when Saturn was in Pisces (356°, August 19, 1819). He perfected the
principle of the steam-engine to such a degree that it could be used for commercial
production. It became an integral part of modern civilization and determined
more of the history of the present age than we are usually aware.
Marconi died in July 1937, when Saturn was in about 359°. He invented the first
successful wireless telegraph.
Antoine H. Becquerel, the French physicist, discovered the radiation given off by ura-
nium in 1896. Thus he was, together with Pierre and Marie Curie, one of the
pioneers of atomic physics. He died 25 August 1908, with Saturn in 5° of the
ecliptic and in Pisces.
Ernest Rutherford (1st Baron Rutherford), the eminent British physicist, produced the
first nuclear reaction. When he died, October 1937, Saturn was in about 2° of the
ecliptic and in Pisces.

201
 PRACTICAL APPROACH I

One could easily be inclined to think that if these people had not bequeathed humanity
with their inventions and discoveries, many of the man-made big catastrophes in our age could
have been avoided; however, this would be faulty thinking. Humanity of the present has to go
to the end of the road to find the mysteries of space and matter by scientific and experimental
approaches. This is also expressed in the dynamics of the constellation of Pisces, the last of
the twelve, whose one fish swims toward Aries, the constellation of the preceding civilization,
and the other toward Aquarius, the civilization that is to come in the sense of the precessional
movement. The real problems and gravest dangers in this modern humanity arise from the
fact that the new breakthroughs in science and technology are grabbed by antiquated thinking
and attitude. Much of our modern practical life in the field of economy, politics, and culture is
dominated by ancient, sometimes very ancient, modes of thinking, or rather, intellectualized
habits and notions. For instance, there can be no doubt that a lot of our present social institu-
tions and general foundations of life are harassed by outmoded and devastating concepts of
“Roman” power politics in our age. It is very often the ghosts of the past (in this case of the
Aries civilization preceding the Pisces Age) that eagerly grasp the new breakthroughs in sci-
ence, in order to perpetuate their own shadowy existence. In the area of birth asterograms we
witness, at least to a certain extent, a similar spectacle:

Sir Isaac Newton, the famous British mathematician, scientist, and philosopher, was
born 25 December 1643 (o.s.), when Saturn was in 356°. There can be no doubt
that he was one who moved in line with the development of modern conscious-
ness. But just in connection with his concepts concerning the law of gravity, we
meet another of those ghosts of the past, dogmatism. Many of the concepts
formulated on the basis of experimental science are very often taken with a sense
of finality, of ultimate and unalterable conclusion, whereas if they would be re-
garded as stepping-stones to evermore enlightened insight, they would open mag-
nificent roads toward spiritual, and even material progress. An age like ours that is
in constant, and sometimes turbulent flux—possibly more than any other age be-
fore—cannot accomplish its tasks under unjustified domination by any dogma.
Michael Faraday, who was born 22 September 1791, also had chosen to incarnate un-
der a Saturn in Pisces (14.8°). He was the discoverer of electromagnetic induction,
which became one of the most important foundations of modern technology and
industry.
Albert Einstein, the German physicist, was born when Saturn was in 5.1°, Pisces (14
March 1879). He formulated the theory of relativity. However, after 1945—that is
after Hiroshima—he became a militant advocate of world government. This be-
trays, at least, a consciousness of the fact that the new scientific era needs also a
new approach to the problems of all our community structures. Eventually, this
can be mastered, but only by a new spiritual cosmic intelligence in fulfillment of
the new myth of Andromeda-Pisces.

202
 STAR JOURNALS ONE

Oswald Spengler was born one year after Einstein, on 29 May 1880, when Saturn was
still in the constellation of Pisces (20.3° of the ecliptic). He was the prophet of the
Decline of the West, a Piscean concept in one sense, as Pisces is, so to speak, the “end
of the road”. However, he was unable to give constructive ideas of how to go on
from this to a new beginning. The intellect alone, obviously, doesn’t have the an-
swer. It can only be done by an intuitive thinking borne out of independence and
spiritual freedom.
Dostoievski, the Russian writer and novelist, once gave a vivid description of the ob-
stacles on the road toward such a rebirth of the human inner faculties. He was
born 11 November 1821. During his prenatal development Saturn was in Pisces
(at birth about 24°, epoch 14°). His novel, The Brothers Karamazov, contains a re-
markable episode during the time of the Inquisition: Christ comes back and unex-
pectedly turns up in a Spanish town. The people flock to him, because they expe-
rience the wellsprings of that spiritual freedom that humanity needs for its salva-
tion. The Grand Inquisitor comes by and at once recognizes the Christ. He has
him imprisoned and in the deep of the night he confronts him. He reproaches
Christ for having come to disturb the work of the Church and those combined
with it. They gave the people bread and made them happy, according to the rulers’
ideas and requirements, by withholding any notion of inner freedom from the
people. That would only have led them into trouble and problems, so those powers
said. Finally the Grand Inquisitor releases the Christ with the admonition never to
come back again. This story is an ingenious description of the old power-ghost of
bygone ages that can only see the possible solution of the problems of the body
social of humanity, in the exclusive rule by strict power. And the novel also recog-
nizes where the real and constructive solutions lie.

With the present issue we come to the end of our journey with Saturn through the constel-
lations of the Zodiac. We attempted to demonstrate how a planet can modify the impacts of
the different constellations, although we are fully aware that there is always the danger present
of inaccurate generalization in such a demonstration. The presence and cooperation of the
other planets can completely alter such a picture. We intend to investigate individual charts of
historic personalities in the future, in order to enter more and more into the intricacies of the
relationship between the cosmos, the Earth, and ourselves.

203
 Bibliography

Publications by Willi Sucher

Isis Sophia I - Introducing Astrosophy (first publication)

Isis Sophia II - Outline of a New Star Wisdom
Isis Sophia III - Our Relationship With the Stars (formerly Man and the Stars)

Practical Approach I - Star Journals One

Practical Approach II - Star Journals Two
Practical Approach III - Letters Twoard A New Astrosophy

Cosmic Christianity and the Changing Countenance of Cosmology

Drama of the Universe

Living Universe - Studies in Astrosophy

For shipping and updated price lists, please contact:

Astrosophy Research Center, Inc.

P.O. Box 13
Meadow Vista, CA 95722

Phone: 530-878-2673
E-mail: arci@bigvalley.net
Website: www.AstrosophyCenter.com

Recommended Reading:
An Outline of Esoteric Science
How to Know Higher Worlds
Human and Cosmic Thought
Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path
Life Between Death and Rebirth
Cosmic Memory
Theosophy