I-17 Relationship of human evolution to the various planetary orbits

The Spiritual Hierarchies and Their Reflection in the Physical World (SH), Lect. 5 (p. 63); Hermetic Astrology II (HA2), Chap. 8 (pp. 294-5)

The entire descent of the human being from the spiritual world represents, in a manner of speaking, a condensation to ever denser states of existence, and the reascent will involve the volatilization to ever rarer states. Our solar system reflects this entire process. Leaving aside, for now, the more recently discovered planets of Pluto, Neptune and Uranus, none of which is visible to the naked eye, the structure of our solar system itself illustrates the progression of human evolution. The orbits of the planets represent the dimensions of the successive Conditions of Consciousness. Those from the periphery in toward Earth preceded the Incarnation of Christ, hence represented processes of densification. The Incarnation of Christ made it possible for humanity (to the extent it takes Christ into itself) to begin the reverse process. The ultimate objective, to the extent it lays within the 7 Conditions of Consciousness, is reunion with the Sun, which is itself a body of (rarified) spiritual beings.

The anthroposophist Robert Powell portrays the following scenario in HA2:

The manvantaras [periods of manifestation as opposed to pralayas, periods of rest] of Orphic cosmology and the stages of human evolution

Thus, according to Steiner’s cosmology, the 7 stages of evolution relating to the development of the human being are:

• Saturn (which took place within the orbit of planet Saturn)
• Sun (which took place within the orbit of planet Jupiter)
• Moon (which took place within the orbit of planet Mars)
• Earth (which is taking place within the orbit of Earth)
• Jupiter (which will take place within the orbit of planet Venus)
• Venus (which will take place within the orbit of planet Mercury)
• Vulcan (which will take place in the sphere of the Sun)

According to Steiner, in ancient times, due to a particular change in the perspective from which the order of the interior planets is observed (i.e., from Earth or from Sun), as Powell says, “the names of Venus and Mercury became interchanged, so that esoterically considered the orbit of the Earth lies between that of Mars and Mercury. In the light of this consideration the validity of the designation of the two halves of Earth evolution as ‘Mars’ and ‘Mercury’ can be seen.” (See I-8.)