Thirty three years rhythm

The duration of the life of Christ became a rhythmic cycle for humankind itself, a cycle which begins with Christmas each year and completes itself at Easter 33 years later.

In the yearly context, the number of days between Christmas to Easter varies, given the fact that Easter is a moveable feast (being defined as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox), However, historically, the number of years between the historical Christmas (Jesus's birth) and his Resurrection at Easter, is 33 years.

The birth of Jesus was like a seed which produced its fruit on Easter some 33 years later.

Hence historically, we can look for the 'Easter' of events whose 'Christmas' had taken place thirty-three years before.

The 33 year rhythm is regarded as the period for human generations and can be found in how individual impulses of an Individuality find their way into the world and humanity in the a number of 33-year waves, so after 66 or 99 years (re illustration with Goethe, see below).

The impact of an Individual of event is characterized as:

• the first period between [date of death] + [date of death+ 33 years] is of less influence
• the first wave between [date of death+ 33 years] and [date of death+ 66 years] represents a rising first wave of influence
• the second wave of influence is in the period between [date of death+ 66 years] and [date of death+ 99 years]
• the third wave of influence is in the period between [date of death+ 99 years] and [date of death+ 132 years]

Aspects

explanation of impact

• Rudolf Steiner uses 33 years as the period for human generations (one could also take 25 years), but also connects this to the life of Christ-Jesus and makes a Christmas-Easter link .. how seeds are planted and then carry fruits
• what is explained here relates to (1) Impulses from waves of reincarnating souls, and (2) Karmic relationships (do check the Schema illustrations on that topic page). Both are essential to study together with this current topic page - they go together.
  • see also positioning on Karmic relationships#Three timeline views
• furthermore, expanding and adding perspectives (study notes to develop one's imaginative insight), see also oa
  • ".. that which Man [in earlier times] had to learn through the Mysteries between birth and death .. he now learns today before he descends through conception or through birth into a physical body. He learns it according to his Karma, and according to the preparations he had gone through in a former life on Earth. What Man undergoes now in the spiritual world, between the great Midnight Hour of existence and his next birth, is something which also includes that spiritual instruction. .. Man today experiences something akin to the old Mystery instruction, before he descends from the pre-existence condition into his physical body."(from Planets hosting beings at various stages of evolution#1921-01-22-GA203)
  • another element to be considered concurrently, is the quote below 1919-12-14-GA194 in perspective of the quote and notes on Astrology#Inspirational quotes and Schema FMC00.593 below. This sketches how the in-breathing process of incarnation continues to work in Man after being born. The out-breathing into the astral world of an important Individuality can be characterized through a radiance or cellular multiplication, in that it is picked up by souls before they are born, as they build their astral body - see previous bullet point.
  • re the previous point, consider Man's relation with the Third Hierarchy (see sections 'food for') by contempating Schema FMC00.132A and Schema FMC00.472 together on how the angels and archangels are carriers of the higher astral wisdom of the spirit-self or manas .. which is a way how one can imagine that an important Individuality contributes and affects/influences all those connected ... (like it 'leaves a splash as a stone in the pond' .. the pond being or including all those connected).

Goethe example

• influence of Goethe (1749-1832) in the three periods of influence from 1865 onwards (1919-12-14-GA194)
  • see also reference to the 1914-10-07-GA156 on Impulses from waves of reincarnating souls, a.o. explaining how "Goethe, who had been physically dead since 1832 and who had almost been forgotten, was revived in the 1870s by Herman Grimm".
    • note: this is an intriguing lecture on Hermann Grimm, who also appears in a similar sketch in Steiner's last address 1924-09-28-GA238 (from another angle, in context of the Mystery of John),

various

• exact timing of the life of Christ-Jesus on Earth, see: Three years of Christ Jesus#Note 2 - Timing and chronology of Christ-Jesus life on Earth. Note that many of the sources listed cover the 33 years rhythms alongside the timing of the life of Christ-Jesus.
• note also 'coincidentally':
  • sunspots have a frequency of 11 years, see: Sun#sunspots
  • Comet Tempel–Tuttle, is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 33 years. Related meteor storms are the Leonids.The orbit of Tempel–Tuttle intersects that of Earth nearly exactly, hence streams of material ejected from the comet during perihelion passes do not have to spread out over time to encounter Earth. More on: Comets#1.2 - Comet Tempel.E2.80.93Tuttle and the Leonids
• on the side ..
  • Rudolf Steiner states in 1921-01-04-GA255B and 1924-07-21-GA319 and 1923-09-02-GA319 that it took him thirty years of reseach to come to the fact that one can regard the human organisation from three different aspects: the system of nerves and senses, the rhythmic system, and the metabolic and limb system.

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.496: illustrates the idea of karmic groups (Schema FMC00.495) expanded with the concept of generations, as people connect with a broad circle of souls of a number of generations during the various stages of life (see eg Schema FMC00.494).

For specific case illustrations to compare with this schema, see the tabular representations of the Florence renaissance group in Schema FMC00.493 and the German idealism group in Schema FMC00.497, both on the Karmic relationships topic page. These show how the impact of a human being is after the first period of say approx. 25 (or 21 or 33) years, in the next two blocks of 25 (or 21 or 33 years).

Also see: Thirty three years rhythm and Impulses from waves of reincarnating souls.

Schema FMC00.593: illustrates how the human being sheds off his lower bodies after death, and gives off the cosmos the fruits of the Earth. As a result of the incarnate life on Earth, Man contributes the seeds for future worlds, that are taken up and carried by the higher hierarchies. Thoughts and feelings create fields of activity for the Third Hierarchy (H3) and Second Hierarchy (H2).

The process of death like an exhaling out into the cosmos. A new birth is like an inhaling, bringing down the spirit germ into the physical body carried by the stream of heredity (see Schema FMC00.321 and Schema FMC00.331 and on Embryo in the womb).

During incarnated life on Earth, the forces from the higher worlds keep working in the human being - see also the double and the explanation in 1912-06-11-GA137 on Astrology#Inspirational quotes.

Schema FMC00.640: provides a high level timeline overview of the impulse of spiritual science and Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy against the thirty three years rhythm and the Impulses from waves of reincarnating souls as illustrated by Schema FMC00.496 on Karmic relationships which uses the same colour codes as on this Schema. For ease of presentation this view also uses three 25 year blocks for a human life.

The Schema also shows (on the lower left in the box between 1875-1900), the advent of spiritual science in the new Michael age starting 1879 with a number of key works by a.o. Blavatsky, Harrison, Tolstoj, and others. Rudolf Steiner's impulse is shown between 1900-1925, carried by generations one and two (lower left) that provided the anthroposophical foundation. The thirty three years rhythm is illustrated with the first rising and second main waves carried by the third, fourth and fifth generations. Indicators shown (above) are the growth of the Gesamtausgabe (published in multiple languages and also digitally online) and the rise of the number of Free Waldorf schools worldwide.

Also shown is the technological evolution and the attack on the consciousness soul in the period around 1998 with smartphones, games, social media impacting the development of GenY (period between 21 and 42 years is the development of the threefold soul), and GenZ. For more on this see also: Mineral plant like spiders#Note 2 - Commentary.

As always with dense Schemas, click the image multiple times to zoom and toggle to full screen.

Schema FMC00.643: provides a timeline overview of the generational impact of Franz Bardon's impulse and system of self-initiation centered around the book 'The way to true adepthood' known in English as 'Initiation into Hermetics' (IIH).

Rudolf Steiner explained how the impulse by important Individualities works after their death in periods of 25 or 33 years, carried by generations of incarnating souls, with a first rising wave and a second major wave in the second and third 33 year periods - see Thirty three years rhythm. This has been be confirmed by mapping the timeline history for impulses by for example Jacob Boehme, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Rudolf Steiner (Schema FMC00.640).

This view integrates available information to show that after a first period of 33 years after Franz Bardon's death (1958-1991; with publishing and translations, and key students picking up the work), the second period (approx. 1991-2023) indeed represents the 'first rising wave' of the impulse, with

• students coming forth as teachers and writing commentaries and supporting practitioners (with Rawn Clark as the best example)
• the forming of 'communities' of individual practitioners (especially thanks to the internet) sharing questions and experiences
• a pick-up in the number of publications, both books and online blogs.

The next period (approx. 2024 to 2057) can be anticipated to build on this as the 'second major wave', whereby the first preparatory rising wave pales in comparison in terms of impact.

As always with dense schemas, click the image multiple times to go full screen and download at full resolution.

Lecture coverage and references

1917-12-23-GA180

is the lecture that contains the key about the 33 year rhythm in events on Earth (SWCC), with title 'Et Incarnatus Est - the time cycle of historic events'

quote A

[introduction]

People of today tend to regard history as though the earlier were invariably the cause of the latter, as though in order to understand the events of the years 1914 to 1917 we need simply go back to 1913, 1912, 1911, and so on; historical development is regarded in the same way as evolution in nature, in which we can proceed from effect to impulse and in the impulse find the cause. From this method of thinking, that fable convenue which we call history has arisen, with which the youth of today are being inoculated to their detriment.

True Christianity, especially a reverent and sincere insight into the mysteries of Christmas and Easter, provides a sharp protest against this natural scientific caricature of world history. Christianity has brought cosmic mysteries into association with the course of the year; on December 24 and 25 it celebrates a memory of the original constellation of the year 1, the appearance of the sun in the constellation of Virgo; this date in every year is celebrated as the Christmas festival. This is the point in time that the Christian concept has fixed for the Christmas festival. The Easter festival is also established each year by taking a certain celestial arrangement, for we know that the Sunday that follows the first full moon after the vernal equinox is the chosen day, though the materialistic outlook of the present time is responsible for recent objections to this arrangement.

[key paragraph]

.. the period between Christmas and Easter is seen as a picture of the thirty-three years of Christ's life on Earth. Previous to the Mystery of Golgotha, with which I include the mystery of Christmas, the magi studied the heavens when they wished to investigate the secrets of human evolution or any other mysterious event. They studied the constellations, and the relative positions of the heavenly bodies revealed to them the nature of events taking place upon earth. But at that moment in which they became aware of the important event that was happening on earth, by the sign given to them through the position of the sun in Virgo on December 24 and 25, they said, “From this time onward the heavenly constellations themselves will be directly revealed in human affairs on the earth.”

Can the starry constellations be perceived in human affairs? My dear friends, this perception is now demanded of us, the ability to read what is revealed through the wonderful key that is given us in the mysteries of the Christian year, which are the epitome of all the mysteries of the year of other peoples and times.

The time interval between Christmas and Easter is to be understood as consisting of thirty-three years. This is the key.

What does this mean?

That the Christmas festival celebrated this year belongs to the Easter festival that follows thirty-three years later, while the Easter festival we celebrate this year belongs to the Christmas of 33 years ago. In 1884 humanity celebrated a Christmas festival that really belongs to the Easter of this year (1917), and the Christmas festival we celebrate this year belongs, not to the Easter of next spring but to the one thirty-three years hence (1950). According to our reckoning, this period — thirty-three years — is the period of a human generation, thus a complete generation of humanity must elapse between Christmas festivals and the Easter festivals that are connected with them. This is the key, my dear friends, for reading the new astrology, in which attention is directed to the stars that shine within the historical evolution of humanity itself.

How can this be fulfilled? It can be fulfilled by human beings using the Christmas festival in order to realize that events happening at approximately the present time (we can only say approximately in such matters) refer back in their historical connections in such a way that we are able to perceive their birthdays or beginnings in the events of thirty-three years ago, and that events of today also provide a birthday or beginning for events that will ripen to fruition in the course of the next thirty-three years. Personal karma rules in our individual lives. In this field each one is responsible for himself; here he must endure whatever lies in his karma and must expect a direct karmic connection between past events and their subsequent consequences.

How do things stand, however, with regard to historical associations?

Historical connections at the present time are of such a nature that we can neither perceive nor understand the real significance of any event that is taking place today unless we refer back to the time of its corresponding Christmas year, that is 1884 in this case. For the year 1914 we must therefore look back to 1881. All the actions of earlier generations, all the impulses with their combined activity, poured into the stream of historic evolution, have a life cycle of thirty-three years. Then comes its Easter time of resurrection. When was the seed planted whose Easter time was experienced by man in 1914 and after? It was planted thirty-three years before.

Connections that reach over intervals of thirty-three years are essential for an understanding of the time rhythms of historic evolution, and a time must come when people in the holy time that begins with Christmas Eve will say to themselves,

“What I do now will continue to work on, but will arise as outer fact or deed (not in a personal but in a historic sense) only after thirty-three years. Furthermore, I can understand what is happening now in the events of the outer world only by looking back across the thirty-three years of time needed for its fulfillment.”

When, at the beginning of the 1880's, the insurrection of the Mohammedan prophet, the Mahdi, resulted in the extension of English rule in Egypt, when at about the same time a war arose through French influence between greater India and China over European spheres of control, when the Congo Conference was being held, and other events of a like nature were taking place — study everything, my dear friends, that has now reached its thirty-three years fulfillment. It was then that the seeds were sown that have ripened into the events of today. At that time the question should have been asked: what do the Christmas events of this year promise for the Easter fulfillment thirty-three years hence? For, my dear friends, all things in historic evolution arise transfigured after thirty-three years, as from a grave, by virtue of a power connected with the holiest of all redemptions: the Mystery of Golgotha.

...

.. Just as we calculate the cyclic rotations of celestial bodies, so must we learn to calculate the cyclic rotations of historic events by means of a true science of history. The time-cycles of history can be measured by the interval that extends from Christmas to the Easter thirty-three years ahead, and the spirits of these time-cycles regulate that element in which the human soul lives and weaves in so far as it is not a mere personal being but is part of the warp and woof of historic evolution. ...

.. We must be able to speak of these things to children, for what we say to the child about the Christmas mystery will be celebrated by him as an Easter festival, it will reappear in his life when he has lived through thirty-three years. For in historical evolution the responsibilities of humanity are such that one generation can only express as Christmas impulse those forces that the next generation will experience as Easter impulse. If we could realize this with consciousness, one generation would think of its successor in the following way: in the Christmas star I teach you to receive into your soul as truth that which will arise as the Easter star after thirty-three years. If we were conscious of this connection of the present generation and its successor, each one of us could say, “I have received an impulse for work that extends far beyond the limits of the day, for the period between Christmas and Easter is not merely the weeks that lie between these festivals but is really a period of thirty-three years; this is the true cycle of an impulse that I have implanted in the soul of a child as a Christmas impulse, and that after thirty-three years will arise again as an Easter impulse.”

1917-12-24-GA180

There is an either/or in the present: either a commitment to spiritual life or the continuation of the life that led to the events of 1914/17 and so on. Each person must allow what underlies this to arise in their heart as their own realization of Christ, and also allow the will to want, the impulse for the courage not to seek some kind of salvation in partial compromises, but to go straight the way that must be gone: the way that must be shown through the realization of the spiritual life of humanity. Concrete impulses that can be linked to something like the Christmas mystery must be connected with this will.

What has been said about the thirty-three-year cycle of events – just as the realization that under certain conditions oxygen and hydrogen combine and that water cannot be recognized other than through electrolysis , which chemically examines the behavior of oxygen and hydrogen, so should the awareness come that one can only find social laws if one is able to see through such constellations in the course of time. To think into the day, to see only what is immediately around us, that is what humanity has gradually come to regard as salutary in the last four centuries. But to recognize the process of becoming in such a way that one says to oneself: What is happening now will arise again after thirty-three years, it is my responsibility to do the present thing under the responsibility that wells up out of this idea — that is what must be demanded in the future by those who want to intervene in life from any point of view of life.

Our time should completely dispense with the old phrases of Christmas. The Romans, who had the courage to make a god of war - Janus - only close the Temple of Janus when there was peace. It was closed only twice in the time of Numa Pompilius, under whose reign it was completely closed, for the entire 724 years until the time of Emperor Augustus. But the Romans had the courage to distinguish between war and peace in their service for one of the most important gods. One wonders whether today's world would have the same courage to perhaps close the places of peace, the places that were supposed to serve peace when the whole world is engulfed in war? One would only be able to speak of courage if there were so much creativity in the present that one could see a real difference at the places where peace is talked about, if this happens in such times as the present ones.

[calculating backwards from the start of WWI in 1914]

It is very instructive to look back in the sense of the thirty-three-year cycle: the catastrophic events that we are facing today began in 1914. I have already mentioned some events that are connected with the three- to four-year catastrophic events following the thirty-three-year cycle. Many others could be mentioned.

One need only think that thirty-three years before 1914, that is, in 1881, Alexander II came to power in St. Petersburg, the tsar under whom the persecutions began in the Baltic provinces, the tsar who is the incarnation of so much European misfortune. One could also look at more internal events, I do not mean “internal” in a spiritual sense. If you study the role that Gambetta played in 1881 during his two-month presidency at the time, you will find in it the signature of what was preparing at the moment when these catastrophic events broke out and what, as I have said here before, is now in the mood between northern and southern Russia, in the unleashing of the Russian-Ukrainian enmity, a symptom that shines much more meaningfully when one takes the events that are being prepared than all the things that people today, in their complacency, are so willing to accept as important events.

Much more could be said in this way. The question can be raised: How should a person, when he is in an important position, go about arriving at such conclusions that can bear fruit thirty-three years later?

He should only try to understand the events of the past thirty-three years under the influence of such an idea, and out of the true understanding will arise what he has to do in the present: then it will be able to arise in a worthy way in thirty-three years. That such a thing is in vain should only be asserted when it has happened.

But where has it happened? Where in the exoteric life of today is world evolution considered in accordance with its inner laws?

Official representatives of what is often called Christianity today are always objecting, especially in contrast to spiritual science oriented towards anthroposophy, that revelations from the spiritual world were possible in the time of Christ, but that the “fatal Gnosis” must not be allowed to resurface. Such things must not be interpreted with leniency. That these people mean well is something that unfortunately all too often crops up again and again as a fateful saying, even in our circles. It is a matter of really facing up to the truth. And above all we must have the will and the courage to take a stand against everything that is asserted today out of weakness against spiritual science.

...

1917-12-26-GA180

(SWCC)

We shall see the Mystery of Golgotha in the true light, if we recognise in it that which must compensate and balance the harmful forces which are arising from these quarters: All that the Mystery of Golgotha can bring about, is such as to counteract that which proceeds from these forces. ...

Christ Jesus is always present. The spirit and the outlook, recognising Christ as ever-present, is precisely that Christian spirit which can be gained through anthroposophical spiritual science. But this requires us to make ourselves acquainted in all detail with the real impulses that are connected with the Mystery of Golgotha, and learn to recognise that which lies hidden in the Mystery of Golgotha.

Whatever a man undertakes — not as concerns his own individual, personal Karma, but in the whole context of the social, ethical, historic working of mankind, is subject to a certain law of historic evolution, namely this: That which is done in a given year, when, as a thought, it springs forth from Man, has — so to speak — a Christmas character. This refers to the effects of our deeds in the whole nexus of the social life; not to our personal karma. If I manufacture a pair of shoes, needless to say there is something in this act that rays back, so to speak, into my personal karma. That is a stream by itself. But I manufacture the shoes for another human being; and inasmuch as I do so, I am already working socially. No doubt an elementary process; and it is a long way from this to the measures of political and social life on a large scale.

Nevertheless, everything that lies along this line belongs to the realm of those things which become effective after 33 years. And after the 33 years — when a seed which has thus been planted has had time, as it were, to ripen, — then it goes on working. A seed of thought or of deed takes a whole human generation — 33 years — to ripen. When it is ripened, it goes on working in historic evolution for 66 years more.

Thus the intensity of an impulse planted by man in the stream of history can truly be recognised in its working through three generations, that is, through a whole century.

1919-12-14-GA194

[reference to drawing of head]

Into this void, into what is being continuously destroyed, the soul and spirit enter. That is literally true: it is owing to our head that we have soul and spirit, because our head is already perishing. That is to say, in our head we are perpetually dying; and the undertone of willing, which is a quality of our thinking, lies in our head; but this undertone of willing is a continuous stimulus, a constant impulse to dying, to the overcoming of matter.

Now when we die, this willing really begins; and when our body is given over to the Earth, that which played its role in our head between birth and death is carried on through our whole body, even physically in the Earth-body. You carry your head on your shoulders, my dear friends, and in it the process goes on automatically which is accomplished when you are committed to the Earth by fire or decomposition, only in life this process is constantly being revived, and hence obstructed, by what is sent up from the rest of the organism. After death the same process continues which you carry on in your body between birth and death. It is continued in the Earth: the Earth thinks according to the same principles as the thinking you do with your human head, owing to the fact that your body becomes decomposed in the Earth, that corpses are put into it. When we pass through the gate of death, we carry into the physical Earth, by means of our decomposing corpse, the process which we seize for ourselves during our life between birth and death. That is a truth of modern science, and people must know such truths in the future. The science of the present time is childish regarding such things, for it does not even think about them, investigate them.

And inversely, what we have in our head as evolution through destruction, is the continuation of that which existed before birth, or before conception. The destruction begins only with birth, for only then do we have a head—before that there was no destruction.

Here we are really touching the edge of an extraordinarily significant mystery of cosmic existence. What exists in our head, through which we come into relation with other people and with external nature, is the continuation of something which exists in the spiritual worlds before we enter into the physical body.

If anyone understands that perfectly, then he comes to comprehend how forces play into this physical world from the spiritual worlds.

[for the statement in bold, see also the quote and notes on Astrology#Inspirational quotes]

That is most clearly seen when these things are considered concretely, rather than in the abstract. Let me give an example:

[Goethe - note there is a lecture BBD illustration with five years shown 1832-1865-1898-1931-1964]

In 1832 Goethe (1749-1832) died, then ..

• 1832-1865: [ripening]
  • The period belonging to the first generation after his death, that is, up to 1865, was not such that many forces from his spirit influenced it. (This is merely a representative example; of course the forces of other men are active also.) Thus, up to the year 1865 anyone who directed his attention to Goethe's soul would have noticed little influence coming from his forces to the Earth.
• 1865-1898: [rising first wave]
  • Then after the first thirty-three years the forces began to come from him out of the spiritual worlds into our Earth evolution; and they became stronger and stronger up to the year 1898. If we follow it further, beyond this period, we can say: The first period of influence of Goethe's super-sensible forces upon our Earth civilization is, then, 1865 to 1898 (as I have said, up to 1865 it was insignificant, then it began).
• 1898-1931 and 1931-1964:
  • After thirty-three years we have in 1931 the end of a further period, which would be the second; and 1964 would be the end of the third period.

From such an example it can really be learned how relatively soon after a Man has passed through the gate of death the forces which he then develops take part in what is going on here on Earth.

Only we must know how these forces take part. Anyone who works spiritually — really spiritually — knows how the forces of the spiritual worlds cooperate with the forces he uses.

1921-10-07-GA343

related to 1923-08-29-GA227 below

The funeral service is essentially one of the things that can be done ritually for the dead. Now it is the case that the funeral service should of course be read soon after the “death, and that is also good because the etheric body and the astral body still interact then. The etheric body is discarded very soon after death, so that the requiem, if it falls into the time when the person still has his etheric body or at least has not discarded it for long, still has a very strong subjective meaning for him.

Regarding the other question, I would like to ask you to take into consideration that a person, on the one hand, has to consider the objective facts and, on the other hand, his or her ability to perceive. Certainly, if someone died thirty years ago, he or she is no longer as intimately connected to the earth as if he or she died three days ago, that is certain. But there is a connection, and it is only a question of the fact that after thirty years it is difficult for a person here to establish the connection. I cannot find that it does not coincide a little with earthly development, because I have met a great many people in whom the first intense pain, which may have been stormy in expression, after they lost someone, was very subdued after thirty years, but I have never met anyone in whom the pain would have increased. Circumstances arise in the lives of those who have been left behind that are quite contrary to the fact that in later years the connecting bridge can still be as lively as in previous years.

But if someone asks me whether the dead person comes out of the earthly sphere completely after thirty years or after an even longer time, then I must always say no; there can be no question of that. The world is such that everything is together in it; it is quite the case that we could just as easily perform rituals or ceremonies for the dead after thirty or fifty years as we could earlier. This is to be firmly held.

1923-08-29-GA227

in context of Frequency of incarnation, one might deduce from the below that the astral seeds are diffused in the first cycle, and can be taken up then by descending souls that are incarnating - see also 1921-10-07-GA343 above

Now I said yesterday that on passing from the soul-world into the land of spirit, or, as we must express it today, from the sphere of the Moon-dwellers to that of the Sun-dwellers, a man proceeds more slowly in his journeyings through the cosmos. Whereas the circling of the Moon takes about a third of his earthly lifetime, the next rounds, the circling of Mars, of Jupiter, and of Saturn—I mentioned yesterday how these rounds are not completed—takes a more leisurely course, twelve times slower than the circling of the Moon.

If now we reckon up the actual time, we arrive at the following result. We must start from the original plan decreed for human beings by the Cosmos. Then we find that a Man goes through the Moon period in a third of the time he has spent on Earth. If we allow for the fact that at the beginning of life more time is spent in sleep, and add on the time given to sleep in later life, we find that a Man needs approximately thirty years to accomplish the first cycle, that of the Moon.

Each of the following cycles takes twelve times as long, or 360 years for each cycle. If we follow a Man in his further journeying through the worlds, we find him going through three cycles. He does not reach Saturn, but has to go through the cycles in the way originally decided. He then has to go backwards through the three again. Thus he completes three cycles in an outward direction and, on returning towards his next earthly life, another three backwards, making six in all. We then have the time originally intended for Man. I shall still have to speak of how things are different for human beings today; but according to the original cosmic decrees, the time was 2,160 years.

1954 - Willi Sucher

wrote (published in Vol 31 No. 4 of April 1954 of the circular published by the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain)

It is, however, not only the initial and the ending stages of this humanity-road of 33 years that have become the guiding pattern of evolution. The intermediate points also are of great significance.

• For instance, such a humanity-impulse may be at a certain time “12 years old” and one may then notice that it goes through experiences and developments which can only be compared with the story of the 12-years-old Jesus in the temple (St. Luke II). It would be of great benefit to humanity if some attention was devoted to these facts. A situation may be hopeless at a certain moment, but judgment on the foundation of the 33 years’ rhythm may give the consoling assurance that a crisis at a certain moment is the unavoidable pre-condition for further progress.
• The time when an impulse is 30 years old is an especially crucial point on the road to its fulfillment. In the archetypal 33 years of Christ Jesus this was the time of Baptism, for Jesus “was about 30 years old” when he went down to the Jordan, to the place where John the Baptist baptized (Luke III). It was the moment when the bodily sheaths were mature enough to serve as the vehicle of the cosmic Christ, in which He dwelled for “three years”. Rudolf Steiner has described the cosmic significance of this event for the whole future evolution of the Earth. If spiritual impulses grow and mature according to the 33-years’ cycle, then the point of 30 years must mean a decisive stage for them. It signifies a moment in which an impulse must prove itself to be mature enough to be accepted by the Sun Spirit, who united with the Earth during the events on Golgotha.

1986 - Johannes Tautz

says in the lecture of 1986-06 published in ‘The Meditative Life of the teacher’

Two generations have passed since the beginnings of the movement in 1919. Two 33-year periods - 1919 to 1952/3 and 1953 to 1986 - have elapsed. Today we are at the threshold of the third 33-year period, which will last to 2019.

Rudolf Steiner has pointed to this “Law of 33-Year Periods” as a tool to understand historical events (December 23, 1917, Basel, GA 180). This periodicity has been imprinted into the flow of history by the life of Christ Jesus, spanning 33 years, beginning with the birth at Christmas and ending with the Easter event. Since then there are “Christmas Years,” years containing seeds of future events, which will blossom forth after 33 years, in an “Easter Year.” The Mystery of Golgotha has thus created an archetypal form of social configuration. The implication for active men and women is this: That which now is responsibly intended and inserted into the will continues to work and becomes external fact in a historic, not a personal, sense after 33 years. Consequently, the thought and will seeds inserted into the time stream of history in 1986 will see their manifestation, their resurrection, in 2019.

In his lecture, Rudolf Steiner referred to the effect on three generations:

“One generation of 33 years brings to active maturity a seed of thought, a germ for deeds. Once it has matured, this impulse continues to work into the course of history. The intensity of such a historic impulse is recognizable for a duration of three generations — a whole century.”

How powerfully such an impulse manifests after three generations of metamorphosis depends on its original vigor.

2019 - Jos Verhulst

looks into the 33 year rhythm in his paper 'The three dates of Christmas' (2019) (p89)

.. a 33-year periodicity connects the diurnal rotation of the Earth to the tropical year. At the very start and at the very end of any time interval of precisely 33 tropical years, the Earth turns (to a good approximation) the same half of its surface (i.e. the same hemisphere) to the Sun.

At both moments, (a) the Sun is separated by the same angular distance from the vernal point and (b) the Sun also ‘sees’ the same half of the Earth. ... This 33-year period concerns the mutual positions of Sun and Earth, taking into account the diurnal rotation of the latter around its precessing axis ...

Apparently, Steiner’s claim of a 33-year periodicity starting to permeate human history means that the Verb, which is the ‘being Truth’, dived into the stream of earthly time (Greek: ‘chronos’, as opposed to ‘kairos’) by connecting to the astronomical 33 year-cycle which links Sun and Earth.

and Verhulst quotes from GA180:

the necessity

“... of reading the configurations of the temporal stars as they unfold in human history”

(die Konstellationen der Zeitensterne zu lesen im Werdegang der Menschheit)

"... the new astrology (…) studying these stars which are glowing in human history itself”

(die neue Astrologie (…) welche auf die Sterne, die in der geschichtlichen Menschheitsentwicklung selber glanzen, das Augenmerk hinlenkt)

Discussion

Note 1 - Illustrations on the 33 year rhythm

1/ Potential examples of impact in the second phase of 33 years, so only decades after the seed was planted.

• the music of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). The below is calculated from Mahler's death, so this is meant indicatively and not exactly.
  • period 1911-1944: Mahler's symphonies were not part of the commonly played music, even though there were the likes of Bruno Walter and Mengelberg who paid tribute.
  • first rising wave 1945-1968: Bernstein recorded the first cycle only in the 1960's, and by the 1980s the music became more mainstream.
  • second wave 1969-2002: In the second 33 year period between 1977 and 2000 Mahler's music really became established. worldwide.
• the self-initiation book of Franz Bardon - impulse of IIH written in 1954, only spread and became established in the period 1987-2020. In the below, the 33 years periods are counted from the death of Bardon in 1958. See Schema FMC00.643.
  • period 1958-1991: In the first period of 33 years (less influence) upto 1987 the books got translated (oa first english translation), published (Bauer Verlag, then also Moryason and Dieter Ruggeberg take up publishing) and spread, with seeds to people who would pick this up and spread later (such as Rawn Clark and William Mistele). But in terms of dynamic .. relatively little happened visible in the world.
  • first 'rising wave' 1991-2024 (second 33y period): In the 1990s these first hand teachers go public and online using the internet with forums and commentaries. A second generation stands up (eg Justin B, Virgil, etc) and by the end of the second phase 1987-2020 there are forums, books, and website with community interviews (re Falcon Books publishing). The dynamic is established
  • second wave 2024-2057 (third 33y period): exciting how adoption worldwide might and will grow now a foundation exists
  • third wave will be 2057-2090

2/ Within the anthroposophical community, the rhythm of 33 years is considered for major events such as the 1923 Christmas Conference, the Karmic Relationship lectures, the death of Rudolf Steiner, etc.

References can be found in a.o.:

• Hans Peter van Manen
  • in 'Transparent Realities' (p 46)
  • Versuch zum Geist-Besinnen. Der 33-Jahre-Rhythmus in der Geschichte der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft (1990)
• W.J. Stein on Rudolf Steiner after his death

Note 2 - The 100 year rule in rosecrucianism

1911-09-27-GA130

It was established that all the discoveries they made had to remain the secret of the rosicrucians for a hundred years, and that not until a hundred years had passed might these rosicrucian revelations be divulged to the world, for not until they had worked at them for a hundred years might they talk about them in an appropriate way.

1912-01-27-GA130

Now it is of the greatest importance for us to know that whenever the Rosicrucian inspiration is given, in each century, the bearer of the inspiration is never outwardly designated as such. His identity has been known only to the very highest Initiates.

Today, for example, it is only permissible to speak of happenings of a hundred years ago; for this is the period of time which must have elapsed before they may be spoken of openly. The temptation to pay fanatical veneration to authority vested in some personality—than which there is no greater evil—would be too great for men. This danger is already too near at hand. Silence is a necessary precaution not only against the wiles of ambition and pride—which it might be possible to resist—but paramountly on account of the occult, astral attacks which would be directed all the time against such an individual. Hence the rule that these things may not be spoken of until a hundred years have elapsed.

Such studies must help us to realise that the fulcrum of historical development is contained in Rosicrucianism.

Note 3 - How many periods?

Summary of statements in lectures

• In 1917-12-23-GA180 is described how an impulse need to ripen for one generation of 33 years, using the metaphoric image how an impulse born (<-> Christmas) sees its manifestation 33 years later (<-> Resurrection).
• In 1917-12-26-GA180 states that after this first period the impulse continues working in two more periods of 3 years, so over a total of three generations or a whole century
  • quote "after the 33 years, when a seed which has thus been planted has had time to ripen, it goes on working. A seed of thought or of deed takes a whole human generation or 33 years to ripen. When it is ripened, it goes on working in historic evolution for 66 years more. Thus the intensity of an impulse planted by man in the stream of history can truly be recognised in its working through three generations, that is, through a whole century."
• In 1917-12-24-GA180 the 33 year period is used to calculate backwards from the start of WWI in 1914 and look at what happened in 1881
  • Note: in March 13, 1881 – there was the assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia (13 March) and U.S. President James A. Garfield (shot 2 July)
  • PS: 1890 was the year of Bismarck's fall from power (after conflicts with Kaiser Wilhelm II), and the publication of the future map of Europe (see Schema FMC00.489). In 1923 there was:
    • The Occupation of the Ruhr (Jan 1923): France and Belgium occupied Germany's industrial Ruhr region to enforce reparations payments under the Treaty of Versailles. This led to German resistance, hyperinflation, and political instability in Germany.
    • Hyperinflation in Germany: The economic crisis caused by the war and reparations payments peaked in 1923, devastating the German economy and contributing to political radicalization.
    • The Beer Hall Putsch (Nov 1923): Adolf Hitler attempted a coup in Munich, fueled by postwar economic and political turmoil. Though it failed, it marked the rise of the Nazi Party.

• In 1919-12-14-GA194 the example of Goethe is given, describing the first ripening phase (1832-1865) and the first rising wave (1865-1898) and the second wave (1898-1931) and Rudolf Steiner wrote on the blackboard the years 1832-1865-1898-1931-1964 and stated .. "we have in 1931 the end of a further period, which would be the second; and 1964 would be the end of the third period".
  • note: in this lecture is also mentioned that the middle of the 20th century will be important. In other lectures the start of the Christ in the etheric is timed to 'from the 1930s onwards' (so 30 years after the end of the dark age Kali yuga).

Regarding this fourth period: .. it remains debatable, as Steiner did not explicitly say anything about that next phase .. but he did write the end year for the first year in the blackboard drawing of that lecture, so one can implicitly deduce or take the hypothesis he did consider it in scope of what he was explaining.

.

Notes

• see also for a comparative example: Jacob Boehme#Note 2 - Impulse wave Jacob Boehme - a tentative reconstruction
• in 'The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity - The History of the Michaelic Movement Since the Death of Rudolf Steiner - an Esoteric Study' by  Yeshahayu Ben-Aharon, in the foreword the author also considers a  fourth 33  year period  after  the 1923-24  Christmas conference  starting with the 2023-2024  Christmas Conference.

Related pages

• Three years of Christ Jesus#Note 2 - Timing and chronology of Christ-Jesus life on Earth
• Christ Module 2 - Nature of the Christ being
• Evolution
• Impulses from waves of reincarnating souls
• History
• Christ Module 11 - A new physics

References and further reading

Note: see also additional source overview (incl. some PDF downloads) on:

Three years of Christ Jesus#Note 2 - Timing and chronology of Christ-Jesus life on Earth

.

• D.N. Dunlop: Das Gesetz der zyklischen Wiederkehr (1911, re-published in 'Der Europäer' year 2 issue 9 of Juli 1998) (PDF downloadeable)
  • transcript of a lecture he gave on June 4, 1911 at the Blavatsky Institute near Manchester, of which he was a co-founder, so at this time Dunlop was still a Theosophist. The thoughts presented here about the cyclic return of thoughts are not taken from the Theosophical literature of that time but reflect Dunlop's original experiences.
• Max Stibbe: '33 jaar' (1950, special ssue of the magazine Proteus)
• Ernst Lehrs: Der 33-Jahre-Rhythmus (1956; in 'Mitteilungen aus der anthroposophischen Arbeit in Deutschland', Nr. 38, Weihnachten 1956) (PDF downloadeable)
• George Adams-Kaufmann: 'Weihnachtsjahr und Osterjahr' (1934, re-published in Der Europäer year 5 issue 6 of April 20) (PDF downloadeable)
• Walter Bühler: Vom 33-Jährigen Rhythmus
• Hans Peter van Manen: 'Versuch zum Geist-Besinnen. Der 33-Jahre-Rhythmus in der Geschichte der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft' (1990)
• Rudolf Steiner, editor Paul Heldens: 'Het 33-jaarritme' (2006)
  • contents:
    • Deel I - Rudolf Steiner voordrachten
      • Rudolf Steiner: Die Umlaufszeit geschichtlicher Ereignisse - Bazel 23-12-1917
      • Rudolf Steiner: Voordracht Dornach 24-12-1917
      • Rudolf Steiner: Voordracht Dornach 26-12-1917
      • Rudolf Steiner: Der Zusammenhang des Menschen mit der Geistigen Welt
      • Rudolf Steiner: Een sprong in de mensheidsontwikkeling in het midden van de 20e eeuw
    • Deel II - Andere auteurs over het 33-jaarritme (see also Three years of Christ Jesus#Note 2 - Timing and chronology of Christ-Jesus life on Earth)
      • D. N. Dunlop: Das Gesetz der zyklischen Wiederkehr
      • G. Adams-Kaufmann: Weihnachtsjahr und Osterjahr
      • W. Bühler: Vom 33-Jährigen Rhythmus
      • E. Lehrs: Der 33-Jahre-Rhythmus
    • Deel III - De duur van het Jezus-Christusleven (see more on this on Three years of Christ Jesus#Note 2 - Timing and chronology of Christ-Jesus life on Earth)
      • J. Schultz: Der 33-Jährige Sozialrhythmus
      • E. Schalk: Ein Beitrag zu Rudolf Steiners Christus-Jesus-Chronologie
      • H. Krause-Zimmer: Sternkonjunktion, Herodustod und die zwei Jesusknaben
      • H. Krause-Zimmer: Die Jordantaufe
      • J. Schultz: 33-Jährige Rhythmen und deren Abbild im Jahreslauf
    • Deel IV - De generaties van de 20e eeuw
      • M. Stibbe: De eeuw als tijdorganisme
      • H.P. van Manen: Jeugdgeneraties en jeugdprotest in de 20e eeuw
      • F. Benesch: De geestelijke impulsen in de generaties van de 20e eeuw
      • J. Gerretsen: Het jaar 1879
      • A. Henny: 1879-1979: drie generaties
      • H. Steutel: Deze jeugd wordt innerlijk verscheurd - interview met Henning Köhler
    • Deel V - Vrije School en 33-jaarritme
      • A. Strakosch: Vor 33 Jahre. Erinnerungen an die Gründung der Waldorfschule
      • J. Gerretsen: De oorspronkelijke impuls van de Vrije School
      • W.F. Veltman: Vrije School en sociale vraagstuk
• Frank Spaan: Der 33-Jahre Rhythmus im Werdegang der Menschheit (2022)