Twelve as seven and five
As described in the Book of Ten Pages, twelve is the number of the zodiac and the spirit world and has a relation with space, seven is the number related with the planets and the astral world and and human consciousness (see also Schema FMC00.551 below). Five is the number of Man, with as symbol the pentagram.
The division of twelve aspects or properties into seven and five corresponds to - or is often denoted by - the terms such as 'day and night', 'visible or invisible', 'enabled or latent'.
As with the deeper symbolic meaning of all numbers (see Schema FMC00.532 and Book of Ten Pages), there is never just one explanation or context, but each number is representative of various characteristics of the Cosmic fractal at different levels. Below follow a few of many.
This page covers various angles of perspective of the important twelve going from 'six plus six' to 'seven plus five' in the current Earth stage for humanity.
.
A first perspective:
Our current reality that the human being experiences with contemporary waking consciousness is really only a part of what is called the Cosmic Fractal, an emanation of spiritual beings working together, as also represented in what is called the Golden Chain, see Schema FMC00.141 an variants on that topic page. Hence, because our reality has its origin in the spirit and astral worlds, it carries the characteristics of twelve and seven just as it carries the characteristics of space and time (see Schema FMC00.532).
Space and time do not exist in the unformed or higher spirit world (also called arupa devachan in theosophy), but they appear as the flow of the Golden chain carries downwards through the formed or lower spirit world and astral world. See also Schema FMC00.472B.
A second perspective
The development of humanity in the current solar system evolution is studied in spiritual science as consisting of seven planetary stages of evolution, and what takes place in the dynamic between the different worlds between the higher spirit world and the physical plane. However, there are further planes of worlds of consciousness above, and also five levels of consciousness above the seven discussed in the context of current solar system evolution, see Twelve Conditions of Consciousness.
There are also seven states in a mantavara below the spirit world, and five states in the pralaya process in the higher planes.
For illustrations eg lower right on Schema FMC00.196, and Schema FMC00.414. For more on the pralaya process and the 'reversal' as described on 1904-11-09/11- GA089, see also Christ Module 7 - Cosmic dimension and FMC00.077A.
A third perspective
Aspects
general
- seven and five also appear in:
- the symbolic meaning implicit in the sign of the 'feeding of the five thousand', that Christ expected his apostles to understand.
- the seven incarnate and five invisible Bodhisattvas, see more on the topic page of the White Lodge
- twelve apostles appearing as seven and five in the Old Testament (seven sons of the Maccabean mother and five sons of Mattathias) and again as their reincarnated souls in the twelve apostles (1912-09-16-GA139) - more on Holy Supper symbolism - apostles
- the seven day and five night senses: twelve human senses as faculties of the Human I and related to the zodiac (spirit world), and seven life processes as related to the planets. (1916-08-12-GA170)
- the seven visible and five etheric colours
- the twelve cerebral nerves also consist of seven and five - see Nerve-sense subsystem#nervous system
- the symbol of the Mystical Lamb, see Schema FMC00.068 (and relate to Schema FMC00.551)
zodiac
The division of twelve zodiacal influences into seven ascending and five descending zodiac streams is described in 1908-01-27-GA102 and explained in 1905-02-02-GA091. It relates to the Golden Chain and the Creation by the three Logoi and the creation by conscious free Man and the Human 'I'.
This is one main occurence of the general concept of Twelve as seven and five where we see twelve entities arranged as two sets of seven and five. See also: Twelve guiding spirits (and the 1909-08-31-GA113 extract commenting on these zodiac streams).
- Rudolf Steiner links the seven and five to the constellations through which the Sun works by day and by night, corresponding to two states of human consciousness (1910-09-10-GA123)
- the seven and five ascending and descending zodiac streams
- James Morgan Pryce describes the kundalini force in Man as consisting of seven lunar forces working in the ganglionic system; and five solar forces pertaining to the cerebrospinal system. In the Book of Revelation these twelve forces are represented as the seven 'breaths' and the five 'winds', as corresponding to the twelve signs of the zodiac
- for more on the Sun and Moon influences, see oa The two etheric streams, Schema FMC00.190A on Lucifer and Jehovah, etc
- symbolism of the zodiac signs as a way to read the development of Mankind (1905-02-02-GA090B below, see also 1906-10-04-GA091), see also Schema FMC00.373A on Christ in the future cultural ages and next epochs, or Schema FMC00.020 on Holy Supper symbolism - apostles
various
- Athanasius Kircher (1601–1680) refers to Zoroaster's egg based on Plutarch's account of the Zoroastrian creation myth in 'De Iside et Osiride' (Ch. 46 & 47) where Ahura Mazda (Ohramzd or Orimazes) creates six gods born from pure light and Ahriman (Angra Mainyu or Arimanius) an equal number of rivals born from darkness. They then both created 24 other gods each into an egg, and the opposing gods pierced the egg (a.i. descent into matter). Observe the 6+6 streams as in Schema FMC00.042. See also Schema FMC00.627 and Adam Kadmon and Giant Ymir#Creation myths.
Inspirational quotes
1916-08-12-GA170
The more one presses on and achieves a vision of cosmic secrets, the more one sees that all this talk about the relation of seven to twelve is not just a game. This relationship really can be traced through all the manifestations of life. .. the relationship of the number twelve to the number seven expresses one of the mysteries of existence, the mystery of how Man, as bearer of the senses and faculties of perception, is related to Man as the bearer of life. ... The number seven is concerned with the mysteries of the astral body just as the number twelve is concerned with the mysteries of the human I.
Illustrations
Schema FMC00.551 illustrates what was taught through the ages as the mystery or secret of numbers, the esoteric or spiritual scientific significance of how the number relates to fundamental characteristics of the macrocosm and microcosm. See Book of Ten Pages.
In the lecture of 1906-09-GA091, Rudolf Steiner starts with Pi and develops the numbers 1 to 10, showing how 5 is a result of 3 (triangle, see Man's higher triad) and 4 (see Man's bodily principles) - see also Schema FMC00.095 on Lord's prayer - that combine into 5 and the pentagram as symbol of Man.
Five (5) represents the number of revelation as an expression of seven spiritual influences that worked during the descent. On Earth, Man is halfway in its development. Ten (10) represents the number of completion and will be the result of 14 forces, as Man will make the seven spiritual influences his own during his ascent.
During the evolution during the seven planetary stages of the solar system evolution, Man will go through seven stages or Conditions of Consciousness (CoC, see also Three dimensions of evolution), later Man will develop further as the Tenth hierarchy to five further stages and become part of active creation of the cosmos, and ultimately the Logos, see IAO. The Twelve Conditions of Consciousness can be related to manvatara and pralaya stages as seven and five (see also Twelve as seven and five). Twelve (12) relates to the spirit world, the Sun forces, the zodiac signs; as seven (7) relates to the Human 'I'; and five (5) with the pentagram the symbol of incarnated physical Man.
Zodiac streams: twelve as seven and five
Schema FMC00.042 represents the seven and five zodiac streams from the Mystical Lamb lecture 1908-01-27-GA102, but includes the blackboard drawing from 1924-01-08-GA316 and a more modern drawing for the GA091 lecture. The 1917-11-25-GA178 lecture refers to the daily path of the Sun.
Schema FMC00.042B is from Helena Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled, and represents Ezekiel's Wheel (as given in many works eg Hargrave Jennings' Rosicrucians). In Blavatsky, the left image is mentioned as exoteric, the right as esoteric.
Schema FMC00.559 describes the annual cycle of the Sun through the twelve signs of the zodiac.
Compare with Schema FMC00.042, and Schema FMC00.256 (three groups of four).
Illustration by Jean Dubuis from 'Fundamentals of Esoteric Knowledge' (Lesson 6).
Schema FMC00.559A combines the schema by Jean Dubuis with Rudolf Steiner lecture references, highlighting the opposing forces denoted by the zodiac signs Gemini and Sagittarius, and an illustration of the positive active 'day' forces and the negative passive 'night' forces.
Lecture coverage and references
1909-08-31-GA113
.. gives a high level introduction. Going back to beyond Old Saturn and the spheres of eternity, before time, and the zodiac:
quote A
But there is also an inner relationship of space and time which I can only indicate here in bare outline with which the numbers twelve and seven have something to do. And my illustration shall be made as was usual in the mysteries when the relations of twelve to seven in the cosmos was being portrayed. It has been said that if we do not consider universal space in an abstract sense, but really relate earth conditions to universal space, we must refer those earth conditions to the circle described by the twelve essential points of the Zodiac, viz. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.
These twelve points of the Zodiac were not alone the real and veritable world symbols for the very oldest divine spiritual beings, but the symbols themselves were thought to correspond, in a certain sense, with reality.
Even when the earth was embodied as old Saturn, the forces issuing from these twelve directions were at work upon that ancient planet; so they were later on the old Sun, and on the old Moon, and are now and will continue to be in the future. Therefore they have as it were the nature of permanence, they are far more sublime than that which arises and passes away within our earth existence. That which is symbolised by the twelve signs of the Zodiac is infinitely higher than that which is transformed in the evolutionary course of our planet from old Saturn to old Sun and from that to old Moon and so on. Planetary existence arises and passes away, but the Zodiac is ever there. What is symbolised by the points of the Zodiac is more sublime than what upon our earth plays its part as the opposition between good and evil.
In an early chapter I called your attention to the fact that on penetrating into the astral realm we enter a world of change — where something which from one point of view works for good, may from another point of view appear as evil. These differences between good and evil have their meaning in evolution and seven is the key number.
That which is the symbol of Gods in the twelve points in space, in the twelve points of permanence is above good and evil. Out in space we have to seek for the symbols of those divine-spiritual beings which considered in themselves and without reference to their effects upon our earthly sphere, are beyond the differences between good and evil.
But now let us conceive that which becomes our earth beginning to be active. That can only happen by a division as it were coming to pass in the permanent deities and that which takes place entering into a different relation to these gods of permanence, who are divided into two spheres, into a sphere of good and a sphere of evil. In themselves neither is good nor evil; but inasmuch as it influences the evolution of the earth it is sometimes good, sometimes evil; so that all that belongs to the one may be described as the sphere of goodness, and that which belongs to the other, as the sphere of evil. In order to obtain the correct conception, we must consider the civilisations of the post-Atlantean era, which had gone through the old Indian, the old Persian, the Chaldaic-Egyptian civilisations, and which will also go through the civilisations which are to follow these, up to the next great catastrophe, and beyond it.
quote B
As soon as that which in the spiritual world (which as I have said is permanent, eternal, having nothing to do with time) passes into time, it divides itself into good and evil.
Of the twelve points of permanence there remain belonging to the good, the five actually within the sphere of good and the two on the border, making seven. Therefore we speak of seven as remaining over from the twelve. When we wish to speak of that which is good and which acts as our guide in time, we must speak of seven wise men, of seven Rishis, for this corresponds to reality. Hence also comes the conception that seven signs of the Zodiac belong to the world of light, to the upper world, and that the lower five beginning with Scorpio belong to the world of darkness.
This is only a mere indication serving to show that space, when if forsakes its sphere of eternity and takes into itself created things which run their course in time, is divided into good and evil; and in bringing out the good, seven is raised out of the twelve; seven then becomes the true number for temporal conditions. For truths, which belong to time, we must take the number seven as our clue; the remainder, the number five would lead us into error. That is the inner meaning of these things.
1910 - James Morgan Pryce
in 'The apocalypse unsealed' (1910)
when describing the kundalini force:
quote A
[Zodiac - twelve as seven (lunar) ‘breaths’ and five (solar) ‘winds’]
The force, as specialized in the ganglionic system, becomes the seven tattvas, which in the Apocalypse are called the seven pneumata, "breaths," since they are differentiations of the Great Breath, the "World-Mother," symbolized by the moon.
Concurrent with these seven lunar forces are five solar forces pertaining to the cerebrospinal system, called the five pranas, "vital airs," or "life-winds," which in the Apocalypse are termed "winds" (anemoi) .
The Apocalypse represents these twelve forces, the seven "breaths" and the five "winds," as corresponding to the twelve signs of the zodiac, of which, therefore, a brief description will here be appropriate.
quote B
A scroll ("book") is the next symbol introduced. It is simply the human body, esoterically considered : it is "written inside and at the back," referring to the sympathetic and the cerebro-spinal systems, and "close sealed with seven seals," which seals are the seven major chakras. The sacrificial Lamb, the neophyte who has attained to the intuitive, noetic consciousness—which is symbolized by his having seven horns and seven eyes, that is, mental powers of action and perception - opens the seals (arouses the chakras) successively. As they are opened, however, they change to zodiacal signs, the zodiac being applied to the microcosm, Man, as shown in the diagram here presented, the Man being depicted as lying in a circle, and not standing upright as in the exoteric zodiac. The seven planets are assigned to the twelve signs of the zodiac in the order followed by Porphyrios, and, in fact, by all ancient and modern authorities. In Sanskrit works the planets are made to correspond also to the seven chakras in the following order, beginning with mdl'ddhdra: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Moon, and Sun. According to this zodiacal scheme, therefore, seven signs, with their planets, extend along the cerebro-spinal region, and correspond to the seven chakras, which are the focal centres of the tattvas, and have the same planets; while the remaining signs pertain to the five pranas.
1910-09-10-GA123
the excerpt below is just a short extract to point to this lecture where Rudolf Steiner links the seven and five to the constellations through which the Sun works by day and by night, corresponding to two states of human consciousness.
Read full lecture for more, and see also: Christ Module 16 - During sleep.
quote A
Thus the disciples lived in these two states of consciousness. Of the one they could say: In our waking state Christ brings us from the great Universe the forces of the cosmic worlds, communicating them to us as spiritual nourishment. Because He is an embodiment of the Sun's power, He brings down to us everything revealed by Zoroastrianism when understood in the light of Christianity.
He is the intermediary for the powers which the Sun can send forth from the seven day-constellations of the Zodiac, From thence streams the nourishment for the day-consciousness.
Of the night-consciousness the disciples could say: In this condition we become aware of how, through the power of Christ, the Sun that is invisible during the night while passing through the other five constellations sends the heavenly food into our souls.
With their Imaginative clairvoyance the disciples could feel:
- In our waking state we are united with the power of Christ, with the power of the Sun. This power transmits to us what is meet and right for men of the present (i.e. the fourth) epoch of civilization.
- And in the state of sleep the power of Christ conveys the strengthening forces of the nocturnal Sun from the five night-constellations. But this applies to the epoch that is to follow our own — to the fifth epoch of civilization. — That is what the disciples experienced. In what way could it be expressed? We shall go further into this in the next lecture. I want now to speak briefly about the following.
the lecture then continues and covers: quote B
- During the waking state we are aware of what Christ's power transmits to us from the Sun-forces radiating from the seven day-constellations; we receive the nourishment that is destined for men of the fourth epoch, the ‘fourth thousand’.
- And in our clairvoyant state during sleep we are made aware, through the forces radiating from the five night-constellations, of what applies to the immediate future, to the ‘fifth thousand.’
Food that is destined for men of the fourth epoch, that is to say for the ‘four thousand’, comes down from Heaven through the seven day-constellations, the seven ‘heavenly loaves’; and men of the fifth epoch — the ‘five thousand’ — are fed through the five night-constellations, the five ‘heavenly loaves.’ The point of division between the day-constellations and the night constellations is indicated by specific mention of the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes.
A secret is touched upon here. Indication is given of something deeply significant, namely the magical intercourse of Christ with His disciples. Christ makes it clear to them that He is not speaking of the old leaven of the Pharisees but is bringing down heavenly food to them from the Sun-forces of the Cosmos.
On one occasion He has at His disposal only the seven loaves of the seven day-constellations, and on another the five loaves of the five night-constellations. And between the day-constellations and the night-constellations stands the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes, indicating the division. Indeed in one place, for the sake of even greater clarification, mention, is made of two fishes.
Zodiac streams: twelve as seven and five
Blavatsky
discusses Ezekiel's Wheel in Isis Unveiled Ch. 9 p461-462, see Schema FMC00.042B above:
The diagram represents Ezekiel's Wheel, as given in many works, among others, in Hargrave Jennings' Rosicrucians: These signs are (follow numbers):
1, Aries; 2, Taurus; 3, Gemini; 4, Cancer; 5, Leo; 6, Virgo, or the ascending line of the grand cycle of creation.
After this comes 7, Libra — "man," which, though it is found right in the middle, or the intersection point, leads down the numbers:
8, Scorpio; 9, Sagittarius; 10, Capricornus; 11, Aquarius; and 12, Pisces.
While discussing the double sign of Virgo-Scorpio and Libra, Hargrave Jennings observes (p. 65):
"All this is incomprehensible, except in the strange mysticism of the Gnostics and the kabalists; and the whole theory requires a key of explanation to render it intelligible; which key is only darkly referred to as possible, but refused absolutely, by these extraordinary men, as not permissible to be disclosed."
The said key must be turned seven times before the whole system is divulged. We will give it but one turn, and thereby allow the profane one glimpse into the mystery. Happy he, who understands the whole!
1904-05-XX-090A
A paragraph in 1904-05-XX-090A adds that the reason why there is Scorpio instead of the Eagle in the Zodiac has to do with the balance between the good and the evil forces (and the fact the evil forces often may prove to be stronger)
1905-02-02-GA090B
At the end of 1905-02-02-GA090B, some light is shed on the seven and five zodiac signs. Below follows a concise summary, freely translated and rephrased. The terminology used is from a unified consciousness at the start 'ishwara' to an outspread distributed consciousness wherein all participate 'atwar' or 'atma'. [editor: This can be mapped to the development of the solar system with the seven planetary stages.]
The point where the ishwara consciousness splits, divides and shares [editor: the divine impuls into humanity] is called esoterically the point of the Libra 'where atma comes out of Ishwara'. The importance is then that there is a duality between the microcosm as an atma-embryo [humanity] whereas the being from which the I originated is the macrocosm with ishwara consciousness working from outside.
From that moment on there is a divide, the virgin aspect of the soul on the one hand (Virgo), and on the other the powerful that one can call willing, the Lion (Leo). These two elements now come together in Man, the hermaphrodite Man, Gemini.
For the transition from Virgo and Leo to Gemini however, the outer has to become the inner (Cancer). We then have in Man this duality that comes out the other side and what before was higher nature now becomes lower nature: Bull. And then the ascent begins again (Aries). The lower nature becomes representative of justice (the Jason saga), and next is that justice does not stay something outer but seizes the inner (kama, astrality, water). We have Pisces, this is the current time with the spiritual scientific movement. Then things continue: Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio and coming back to Libra. A new cycle from God to Man.
What lies between Libra and Aries is the open daily development of humanity on Earth. On the other side we have the hidden development in the divinity, between Libra and Pisces. Outerly visible development lies on one side, all the inner development lies on the other side represented by night or a southern half. Whereas the first includes science, the second is the contents of the mysteries. Of course wisdom shines on the whole. Spiritual science is the revealing of the other side of the night that now becomes day. That is why in Virgo the Sun rises, rises ever higher to Easter: the resurrection of Bull-Man to Aries, and then it goes further through Pisces to full Sun height.
from rsarchive as 1905-01-02-GA090B
If we follow the entire development of man, we will remember that initially we are dealing with Pitris, who come from the lunar epoch, because the Pitris are the actual people who came over in the seed and form the disposition to the earth. They have already shed the three realms, and we are dealing with moon Pitris.
That is the first factor. The second is where the Pitri are to incarnate, which comes from the earth itself, because the lunar forms are gone. There is a second current that must connect with the first. And the third is the one that came during the Lemurian epoch as manasic fertilization.
The soul comes from the moon, the body from the earth, it is formed from the earth. And the spirit comes from above as a divine impact. Thus the three limbs are composed.
These three currents are the representatives of three entities:
1. Human entity
2. Superhuman entity
3. Subhuman entity. We call the superhuman “divine entities”; the mystic also calls them “heavenly gods”. The second current from which the souls come, we call “star gods” or “planetary or sidereal gods”.
[gap in transcript]
Three groups, from which the body is built, we call elemental spirits. Thus we may say that man is built according to his body from elemental, underground spirits. They have gradually formed the bodies of minerals, plants, animals and humans to the point where he is glowing from the planetary [gap in the transcript] spirit. Only at the end of his development will he be spirit or logos.
We must also understand other characteristic features. We can characterize the elemental beings by saying that they have will, mind and thought in a single center. If we study all the elemental spirits that create in our evolution and ask, “What do you want?” there is no sense in it. For the common spirit has the will, the elemental spirit is the doer. Likewise, it has a common consciousness - you cannot ask, “What do you feel?” Like the hand in humans. Therefore, the activity of the elemental spirits appears in the form of necessary natural laws. They appear to be without feeling and will as necessities because consciousness is at the center of the whole macrocosm.
Now we come to the sidereal entities. When they have reached the highest level, they have their feelings for themselves and their thoughts for themselves, but not yet their will for themselves. When man has arrived at the end of the earth's development as a planetary Logos, he will be able to think and feel everything, but not to will. That will only come when he has spiritualized the next three planets. Then we are all-feeling and all-willing beings, but not yet all-powerful beings. However, the human being is now gradually acquiring will. The will element is what gradually emerges and has been developing freedom since the middle of the Lemurian period. An elemental being is not free, neither in relation to [gap in the transcript] plan. The Logos is free in relation to his thoughts when he has reached the highest point, and in relation to feeling; and a divine spirit being is free in relation to thought, feeling and will. This also explains why Christian esotericism does not ascribe free will to man, only to man to a limited extent. Angels carry out the will of God, are messengers. They see that thought and feeling are in balance in the mid [gap in transcript] sidereal beings. The two are not yet mastered by the will, therefore still in conflict;
They will bring them into full harmony through the will on the next planet. So that these planetary spirits in particular, which enter our earth, maintain balance in thought and feeling, thus still fluctuating back and forth, are not yet stable – hence Kama-Manas.
The third degree of divine beings has stable equilibrium through the will that holds them in balance. If you follow this, you will say to yourself: At the beginning of the first planet, we only see elementary beings at work, because the Pitris are still children. Then, in the middle of planetary development, the influence of the sidereal beings begins and continues, and from the middle to the end, the influence of the divine beings sets in.
From the beginning, therefore, we have only one center consciousness for the planetary cosmos; then a sidereal consciousness begins to develop, and then a heavenly one. In the beginning one is conscious, and at the end all partake of the consciousness of the one; in the beginning unity consciousness, in the end multiplicity consciousness. Now, we call the end product of such a being, endowed with consciousness, “Atma”. And the unity consciousness in the beginning we call “Ishwar”, so that we have to imagine the whole evolution as a transition from the unity consciousness, the Ishwara, to the unity consciousness of the “Atwar”. He keeps giving until symphony is achieved.
If you now imagine the development, you have to say to yourself: We are dealing with an undivided Ishwara consciousness at the beginning, which has divided somewhere until the dull ego consciousnesses emerge. This point is esoterically and astrologically referred to as Libra. So you can say: The esoteric meaning of the statue of Libra is the emergence of Atma from Ishwara.
And now an important moment in evolution occurs: that the being from which the I emerged is a duality; for it is, after all, a macrocosmic being. The microcosm is the Atma embryo and the macrocosm is what acts from the outside as Ishwara consciousness. So, after the constellation of Libra, where they then diverge, you have the duality: the virginal soul, Virgo, and what comes in from outside, the powerful. This can also be called will, Leo. And now we have already reached the point where Leo and Virgo, which previously only asserted themselves in the natural kingdoms, gradually come together in man, the hermaphroditic human being, Gemini. Of course, between Leo and Virgo and Gemini, the reversal must take place; what was on the outside must come inside, that is what Cancer means. We have now assessed it in the hermaphroditic human being, the duality that is now emerging on the other side. What used to be higher nature becomes lower nature: Taurus. And now the ascent begins again, it goes up to Aries. What was lower nature becomes the representative of justice - the Jason saga.
The next thing is that justice does not remain external, but takes hold of the inner being: Kama, the water. We have the constellation of Pisces. Present moment. The theosophical movement [gap in the transcript]
Then it continues. Future: Aquarius, Sagittarius, Scorpio, and then again Libra.
New cycle from God to Man. That which takes place between Libra and Aries – Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Pisces – is the openly apparent human development of our Earth.
On the other hand, we have the hidden development in the deity. It lies between Libra and Pisces. So everything that lies on the other side, externally visible development, can be seen through [gap in the transcript]. Everything else lies on the outer side when developing internally - night, southern half. The one, the visible, is in a comprehensive sense the content of science. The other half is the content of the mysteries. Of course, only the full science illuminates the whole. Therefore, the theosophical development is the unveiling of the other side, the actual night that becomes day for those who enter into it. Therefore, at Christmas, the sun rises in Virgo and rises higher and higher; at Easter, there is the rebirth from Taurus man to Aries ram; and then it goes through Pisces to the full height of the sun.
1909-08-31-GA113
provides a high level introduction (in full in spirhier).
We know that evil does not exist on nirvana budhi plane (ref), but only 'happens' below. The divine is higher than 'Man's cosmos of spirit land and below' and is good only. This is important because atheists often pose evil as a key argument against the existence of the divine, because of the contradition with god and the divine being the absolute good.
So going back to beyond Old Saturn and the spheres of eternity, before time, and the zodiac:
As soon as that which in the spiritual world (which as I have said is permanent, eternal, having nothing to do with time) passes into time, it divides itself into good and evil.
Of the twelve points of permanence there remain belonging to the good, the five actually within the sphere of good and the two on the border, making seven. Therefore we speak of seven as remaining over from the twelve. When we wish to speak of that which is good and which acts as our guide in time, we must speak of seven wise men, of seven Rishis, for this corresponds to reality. Hence also comes the conception that seven signs of the Zodiac belong to the world of light, to the upper world, and that the lower five beginning with Scorpio belong to the world of darkness.
This is only a mere indication serving to show that space, when if forsakes its sphere of eternity and takes into itself created things which run their course in time, is divided into good and evil; and in bringing out the good, seven is raised out of the twelve; seven then becomes the true number for temporal conditions. For truths, which belong to time, we must take the number seven as our clue; the remainder, the number five would lead us into error. That is the inner meaning of these things.
1911-01-19-GA060
full lecture, see: Persian cultural age#1911-01-19-GA060
When the Sun passes in summer through the light, his full powers fall upon the Earth; they are the forces of spiritual light sent forth by Ormuzd from his realm of light. The signs of the Zodiac through which Ormuzd passes in the summer or in the daytime reveal his activity unhampered by Ahriman. The signs of the Zodiac below the horizon are symbolical of the realm of shadow through which Ahriman passes.
What, then, are the expressions of Ormuzd (who represents the light part of the Zodiac) and of Ahriman (the dark part), in their activity on Earth?
Now there is a difference between the influence of the Sun in the morning and at noon time. When Ormuzd ascends from Aries to Taurus, the effect of his rays is not the same as when he is descending. His rays differ in summer and in winter and they differ with every sign through which the Sun passes. The course of the Sun through the signs of the Zodiac revealed to Zarathustra the many sides of the activity of Ormuzd, and he beheld here the expressions of spiritual beings who are, as it were, the servants, the “sons” of Ormuzd, who execute his commands. These subservient powers, each having their own special activity, are the “Amschaspands” or “Ameschas Pentas.” While Ormuzd represents the collective activity of the Zodiac, the Amschaspands have to perform the specialised activities expressed in the raying forth of the Sun from Aries, Taurus, Cancer, and so forth. The activity of Ormuzd is expressed in the raying of the Sun through all the light signs of the Zodiac — from Aries to Libra or Scorpio.
According to Zarathustra, Ahriman works from the centre of the Earth, from the darkness where his servants, the Amschaspands, dwell; they are the opponents of the good genii surrounding Ormuzd. Zarathustra distinguished twelve orders of spiritual beings,
- six or rather seven, on the side of Ormuzd;
- six, or rather five, on the side of Ahriman.
They are symbolised as good and evil genii, or subservient spirits, according to whether the Sun's course runs through the light or the dark signs of the Zodiac. Goethe was thinking of these helpers of Ormuzd when he wrote at the beginning of Faust, in the Prologue in Heaven: —
Senses
1916-08-12-GA170
at the end of this lecture, Rudolf Steiner concludes with:
What has been said is just a small, an elementary part of all that needs to be said to show that our account is not the product of arbitrary whims. The more one presses on and achieves a vision of cosmic secrets, the more one sees that all this talk about the relation of seven to twelve is not just a game.
This relationship really can be traced through all the manifestations of life. The relation of the fixed stars to the planets is a necessary outer expression of it and reveals one of the mysteries of number that underlie the cosmos.
And the relationship of the number twelve to the number seven expresses one of the mysteries of existence, the mystery of how man, as bearer of the senses and faculties of perception, is related to man as the bearer of life.
The number twelve is connected with the mystery of how we are able to carry an I. The establishment of twelve senses, each at rest in its own proper region, provided a basis for earthly self-awareness. The fact that the senses of Old Moon were still organs of life meant that Moon man could possess an astral body, but not an I; for then the seven senses were still organs of life and only provided the basis for the astral body.
The number seven is concerned with the mysteries of the astral body just as the number twelve is concerned with the mysteries of the human I.
In the lecture he covers the twelve senses as faculties of the Human I and related to the zodiac (spirit world), and the seven life processes as related to the planets.
1924-01-08-GA316
makes the link between the senses and the zodiac
Colours
In 'Rudolf Steiner - Recollections by some of his pupils', F.W. Zeylmans talks about his first meeting with Rudolf Steiner and how he presented his findings regarding colours and sat there spellbound as he couldn't believe that anyone could give the answers to questions he could not even formulate properly.
The spectrum with the seven colours is only one part of the whole spectrum, the part that is visible in the solar system. To understand the whole spectrum one must draw a circle, and then there are the seven colors of the solar spectrum and on the other side the five peach-blossom colours. You ought really to have taken your start from these twelve. One sees these seven colours because there the astral body swims, as it were, in the colours. But the peach-blossom colour is so subtle and ethereal that it hardly appears at all in external nature; there the 'I' is living in the etheric; peach-blossom is actually the colour of the etheric.
