In this way the middle period of the Moon evolution is again divided into three epochs, which, with the two preparatory periods and the two during the ebb-tide make up seven Moon cycles, or rounds. It may therefore be said that the whole Moon evolution passes through seven cycles, or rounds. Between them are intervals of rest, which have been mentioned repeatedly in the above description. Yet we can approach a true concept of these facts only if we do not think of the changes between the periods of activity and those of rest, as sudden ones. For instance, the Sun-beings little by little withdraw their activity from the Moon. A time begins for them which, viewed from without, appears to be their resting period, whereas in reality [pg 188] an intense, independent activity still continues on the Moon itself. Thus the active period of one kind of being repeatedly extends into the resting time of another. If we take account of such things we may speak of a rhythmic ascent and descent of forces in cycles. Indeed, similar divisions are to be recognized even within the seven Moon cycles mentioned. We may then call the whole Moon evolution one great cycle, and the seven divisions, or rounds, within it, “small” cycles; and again, the separate parts of these, “smaller” cycles. This systematic arrangement into seven times seven divisions is also noticeable in the Sun evolution and can be indicated during the Saturn period. Yet we must bear in mind that the boundaries between the divisions are somewhat obliterated even in the Sun, and still more so in Saturn. These boundaries become more and more defined the nearer evolution advances to the Earth period.
At the close of the Moon evolution, which has been sketched in the foregoing pages, all the beings and forces connected with it enter upon a more spiritual form of existence. This is on quite a different plane from that of the Moon period, and also from that of the Earth evolution which follows. A being possessed of faculties so highly developed as to enable him to perceive all the details of the Moon and Earth evolutions need not necessarily be able to see what happens during the interval between the [pg 189] two periods. For one possessing such vision, beings and forces would, at the end of the Moon period, disappear, as it were, into nothingness; and after an interval they would issue forth again from the dusky twilight of the cosmic depths. Only a being endowed with considerably higher faculties would be capable of following up the spiritual events which take place during this interval.
When this interval is over, the beings who took part in the evolutionary processes on Saturn, Sun, and Moon reappear endowed with new faculties. Beings of a higher order than man have, by their former achievements, won the power of bringing man's evolution forward to a point at which he would be able to unfold in himself, during the Earth period, a form of consciousness which stands a step higher than the picture-consciousness he had possessed during the Moon period. But man must first be prepared to receive this gift.
During the Saturn, Sun, and Moon evolutions, he incorporated within his being the physical, etheric, and astral bodies. But those bodies were only endowed with such faculties and powers as enabled them to have a picture-consciousness; the organs and forms by means of which they could attain to a cognizance of a world of outer sense-objects, such as is requisite for the Earth stage, were still wanting. Just as the new plant unfolds only what is concealed in the seed originating from the old plant, so do the three principles of man's nature appear, at the beginning of the new stage of evolution, with such [pg 190] forms and organs as will enable them to develop only a picture-consciousness. It is necessary first to prepare them for the unfolding of a higher state of consciousness.
This takes place in three preliminary stages. During the first, the physical body is raised to a level at which it becomes able to undergo the necessary remodeling which is to serve as a basis for consciousness of outer objects. This is one of the preliminary stages of the actual earth evolution, and may be called a recapitulation of the Saturn period on a higher level. For during this period, as during the Saturn period, higher beings are working only on the physical body. When the latter has progressed far enough in its evolution, all beings must first again pass into a higher form of existence before the etheric body can also progress. The physical body must, as it were, be recast, in order to be able, in its remodeled state, to receive the more highly constituted etheric body. After this interval devoted to a higher form of existence, a kind of recapitulation of the Sun evolution on a higher level, occurs for the purpose of shaping the etheric body. And after another interval, a similar thing occurs for the astral body, by means of a recapitulation of the Moon evolution.
Let us now turn our attention to the evolutionary processes taking place after the close of the third recapitulation described. All beings and forces have passed again into a state of spiritualization. During that state they ascended into higher worlds. [pg 191] The lowest of the worlds, in which something of them is still to be perceived during this spiritualizing epoch, are the same in which contemporary man sojourns between death and a new birth. These are the regions of the spirit-world. Thence the beings and forces gradually descend again into lower worlds. Before the physical Earth evolution begins they have so far descended that their lowest manifestations are to be seen in the astral or psychic world.
Everything human existing at that period is still in its astral form. In order to understand this condition of humanity, attention should be paid especially to the fact that though man has within him the physical, etheric and astral bodies, yet the physical and etheric bodies are not present in their own forms but in astral form. It is not physical form that makes the physical body physical, but the fact that it embodies physical laws, although possessing an astral form. It is a being in a psychic form with a physical law of existence. The etheric body is in a similar position.
To spiritual vision the Earth at this stage of evolution appears at first as a heavenly body all soul and spirit, in which, therefore, even physical and life forces appear in a psychic form. In this world-organism everything which will subsequently be moulded into the creatures of the physical earth is contained in a germinal state. The globe is luminous; but its light is not yet such as could be seen by physical eyes, supposing even that they had then [pg 192] existed. The globe shines only in psychic light to the opened vision of the seer.
A process now takes place on this globe which may be designated “condensation.” The result of this is that after a time a fiery form appears in the midst of the psychic globe; this condition was similar to that of Saturn in its densest state. This fiery form is interpenetrated by the action of the various beings who are taking part in the evolution. The reciprocal action which is to be observed between those beings and the planetary body is like a rising out of and a diving into the earth's fiery globe. Hence the earth's globe is by no means a homogeneous substance, but has somewhat the character of an ensouled and spiritualized organism. The beings destined to become human on the earth in man's present form are as yet in a condition which renders them the least capable of sharing in the activity of plunging into the fiery globe. They remain almost entirely in the uncondensed environment. They are still living in the bosom of the higher spiritual beings. At this stage they come in contact with the fiery earth at only one point of their psychic form, and this causes one part of their astral form to be densified by the heat. Thus earth-life is enkindled in them. They therefore still belong to psycho-spiritual worlds with regard to the greater part of their nature, but by coming in contact with the earth's fire, vital heat plays around them.