This planet is the one on which the dullest human consciousness develops (a deep trance consciousness). Together with this, the first rudiment of the physical human body develops.This development passes through seven subsidiary stages (smaller cycles or “rounds”). At each of these stages, higher spirits begin their work on the development of the human body, namely in the1st cycle, the Spirits of Will (Thrones),2nd cycle, the Spirits of Wisdom (Dominions),3rd cycle, the Spirits of Motion (Principalities),4th cycle, the Spirits of Form (Powers),5th cycle, the Spirits of Personality (Primal Beginnings),6th cycle, the Spirits of the Sons of Fire (Archangels),7th cycle, the Spirits of the Sons of Twilight (Angels).In the fourth cycle, the Spirits of Personality raise themselves to the stage of humanity.From the fifth cycle onward, the Seraphim reveal themselves.From the sixth cycle onward, the Cherubim reveal themselves.From the seventh cycle onward, the Thrones, the true “creators of man,” reveal themselves.Through the latter revelation, there develops in the seventh cycle of the first planet, the predisposition to the “spiritual man,” to Atma.
THE LIFE OF SUNThe Sun is the planet on which develops the second human condition of consciousness, that of dreamless sleep. The physical human body rises to a kind of plant existence through the incorporation of an ether body into it.This development passes through seven subsidiary stages (smaller cycles or “rounds”).In the first of these cycles, the stages of development of Saturn are repeated, with respect to the physical body, in a somewhat altered form.At the end of the first cycle begins the pouring out of the ether body by the “Spirits of Wisdom.”THE LIFE OF MOONThe Moon is that planet on which man develops the image consciousness with its symbolical character.During the first two cycles (rounds) the Moon development of man is prepared through a kind of repetition of the Saturn and Sun processes.In the third cycle, the human astral body comes into being through an outpouring of the Spirits of Motion.Concurrently with this process, the Moon splits off from the re-awakened unified Sun body and revolves around the rest of the Sun. The development of the beings connected with man now takes place on the Moon.In the fourth cycle, the Spirits of Twilight inhabit the human physical body and thereby elevate themselves to the level of humanity.The developing astral body is inoculated with independence by the Spirits of Personality (Asuras).In the fifth cycle, man begins to work in dullness on his physical body.
Thereby the “spirit self” (Manas) joins the already existing monad.In the ether body of man, a kind of joy and pain develop during the Moon existence, which have a passive character. In the astral body, on the other hand, develop the emotions of rage, hate, the instincts, passions, and so forth.The two former realms, the plant and the mineral realm, which are thrust down to a lower level, are now joined by the animal realm, in which man himself exists at this time.Toward the end of the whole universal era the Moon approaches more and more closely to the Sun, and when the time of rest (Pralaya) begins, again the two have become united in a whole, which then passes through the stage of sleep in order to awaken in a new universal era, that of the earth.In the middle of the second cycle, the work of the “Spirits of Motion” on this body begins.In the middle of the third cycle, the action of the “Spirits of Form” on the ether body has its beginning.From the middle of the fourth cycle onward, this body receives selfhood through the “Spirits of Personality.”In the meantime, the physical body has advanced so far through the action of the forces which have been working on it since earlier periods that from the fourth cycle onward the “Spirits of Fire” can elevate themselves to humanity through it.In the middle of the fifth cycle the “Spirits of Fire,” which have previously passed through the stage of humanity, take over the work on the ether body. The “Sons of Twilight” are active in the physical body at this time.Around the middle of the sixth cycle, the work on the ether body is transferred to the “Sons of Twilight.” Man himself now works on the physical body.In the course of the seventh cycle, the animated monad has come into existence.
The following presents itself to spiritual scientific research. On the Sun, the physical human body had in a certain respect moved up to the level of plant existence. At that time it was permeated only by an ether body. On the Moon it took on the character of the animal body, because it was permeated by the astral body. But not all organs participated in this transformation into the animal character. A number of parts remained on the plant level. On the earth, after the integration of the “I,” when the human body elevated itself to its present form, a number of parts still bore a decided plant character. But one must not imagine that these organs looked exactly like our present-day plants. The organs of reproduction belong among these organs. They still exhibited a plant character at the beginning of the earth development. This was known to the wisdom of the old Mysteries. The older art which has retained so much of the traditions of the Mysteries, represents hermaphrodites with plant-leaf like organs of reproduction. These are precursors of man which still had the old kind of reproductive organs (which were double-sexed). For example, this can be seen clearly in a hermaphrodite figure in the Capitoline Collection in Rome. When one looks into these matters one will also understand for instance the true reason for the presence of the fig leaf on Eve. One will accept true explanations for many old representations, while contemporary interpretations are, after all, only the result of a thinking which is not carried to its conclusion. We shall only remark in passing that the hermaphrodite figure mentioned above shows still other plant appendages. When it was made, the tradition still existed that in a very remote past certain human organs changed from a plant to an animal character.All these changes of the human body are only the expression of the forces of transformation which lie in the ether body, the astral body, and the “I.” The transformations of the physical human body accompany the acts of the higher parts of man. One can therefore understand the structure and the activity of this human body only if one absorbs oneself in the “Akasha Chronicle,” which shows how the higher changes of the more spiritual and mental parts of man take place. Everything physical and material finds its explanation through the spiritual. Light is shed even on the future of the physical if one studies the spiritual.
Cosmic Memory- Rudolf Steiner