I-18 Human and other hierarchical and Trinitarian relationships to the zodiac

Steiner spoke often about the “Zodiac,” about how consciousness of its influence had gradually been lost as the human being descended from spiritual consciousness into materialistic consciousness, about how modern astrology was merely dilettantism, and about how the former consciousness would one day again be regained as knowledge. And he left many guideposts in that direction, so that now, after many decades of dedicated research by his disciples, we have the recent, amazing works of Robert Powell on “hermetic astrology.” The substance of these will be touched upon later. The foregoing is mentioned here only to awaken the reader to the fact of the influence of the Zodiac (the “fixed stars” beyond our Solar System) upon the human being. The truth of this is strewn through the Bible when the meaning of its passages is understood. We get an inkling of it when Yahweh tells Abram, in Gen 15,5 (according to a modern translation), “‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’”

From what follows, one can see that Christ, the “Mystical Lamb,” represents the highest of the twelve “animals” of the Zodiac, and as such is also called, “the Son.” Above him is the Father, so that the macrocosmic Word behind the Zodiac had 12 sons, and thus microcosmically Jacob had 12 sons, as did Ishmael, and Christ had 12 disciples. None of these are mere coincidence, but represent truth inscribed into all that we call “creation.”

“In the same way that Christ has the Constellation of the Ram as the source of His spiritual emanations in our cosmos [citing (ISBM), Lect. 2] . . . so does the Sophia have the Constellation of the Virgin as the source of her spiritual emanations in the macrocosm .. .” (Prokofieff, (THNS), Sec. 2, Chap. 1, p. 86). In the ancient Mysteries, known to the Magi, “there was a prophetic indication of the event that would take place when the sun stood at midnight between December 24 and 25 in the sign of the Virgin . . .” (EIE). Inasmuch as all spiritual beings are 7-fold (ISBM, Lect. 2 and Prov 9,1), Christ could only become an incarnated human being (i.e., descend to the physical state) by entering therein through the Constellation of the Virgin.

For now, it must suffice merely to set out certain tabulations from ISBM, Lect. 2 (esp. p. 32); SIS, Lect. 2; EIE; THNS, Sec. 1, Chaps. 1 and 2, Sec. 2., Chap. 1 (esp. p. 86).

The human being’s highest “fold” is represented by the cosmic sign of the Virgin, to be attained at the conclusion of the Venus Condition of Consciousness. The human being will then have attained to the state of the Cosmic Virgin “Sophia”—thus, “Anthropo-Sophia,” the Holy Virgin who gave birth to the Christ in the physical state.