World of Wonder,
Orbiting sphere among spheres,
‘Neath the constellations of the stars,
Constituting a great Riddle.
 
Four-fold elements:
Fire as marker of sacrifice,
Air as marker of bestowing blessing,
Water as marker of spiritual renunciation,
Earth, new, as marker of death.
 
Minerals belong to their cosmic organism,
Plants belong to the organism of Earth,
Animals belong to their group souls,
And man only belongs to himself, an “I.”
 
Substance has been alienated from its origin,
Sacrifices rejected and held back,
Creating longing, questioning,
The need to understand
And relate to all that is.
 
Cain’s sacrifice is rejected.
Generations upon generations
Of humankind seek
To be reunited with meaning
And with other beings.
 
Only on Earth
The reality of death:
Substance torn from meaning.
 
Only on Earth
Christ becomes man
And triumphs over death:
Wonder of Wonders,
The Mystery of Golgotha,
Meaning of Earth,
The Turning Point of Time.
 
John stands as witness,
Paul at Damascus sees the living Christ.
Humankind begins to experience
The Etheric Christ on the astral plane.
 
Only on Earth
The understanding of Christ,
The path through resurrection.
Mankind regains its proper course:
Riddles will be resolved,
Resurrection will allow ascent,
And redemption will be realized.

Based on a lecture of Rudolf Steiner dated 12/5/1911, in GA 132, Inner Experiences of Evolution.

First, a remembrance of Ancient Sun,
A glowing planetary sphere with a ring
Composed of clouds of the substance of sacrifice,
Archangels raying light from the periphery of Space inwards.
Time and eternity part their ways
As certain Cherubim wrest themselves out of time and achieve permanence.
 
Transformation through metamorphosis.
Sacrifice manifests as heat.
Bestowing manifests as air.
Renunciation manifests as water.
The gaseous atmosphere condenses
Into a watery, rippling mass.
Changing weather flashes
With the enchanted lightning of the Seraphim.
 
Some sacrifices are not accepted
And the renounced will substance
Needs be is withheld in individual beings.
Egoity and opposition arise.
Selfhood, emptiness, torment.
Mighty meanderings of longing swirl about seeking satisfaction,
Seeking relationship.
 
In answer, the Spirits of Motion bring forth
A continuous, every-changing stream of pictures,
Offering new relationships and new remembrances.
Masterfully wielding the forces of attraction and repulsion,
Gravity and levity,
Joy and suffering,
Spheres of Beings are brought into harmony,
Resounding in constant interplay,
Received in dreamy picture consciousness.
 
Luciferic beings gain field of play,
Beings of freedom and independence,
Opposing cosmic will with self-will,
Granted as cosmic opponents
To create strength through opposition.
Maya, semblance, occults reality.
 
Human beings, without any “I”
Absorb surging deeds of good and evil,
Ensouling experience
As wealth of unconscious,
To carry forward as longing,
As search for meaning.
Seeking redemption
And reunion with eternity
Through Christ,
When Earth shall one day
Fulfill its purpose.

Based on a lecture of Rudolf Steiner dated 11/21/1911, in GA 132, Inner Experiences of Evolution.

Centered in a point,
Spirits of Wisdom, the great givers of the cosmos, surrender in devotion
To the vision of the Thrones, kneeling and offering their sacrifice to the Cherubim.
Their devotion glows and grows and billows as sacrificial smoke,
Streaming creatively in all directions, bestowing grace.
Clouds of wisdom condense at the periphery, amid the wafting air.
Archangels arise out of the clouds
And accept the sacrifice of the Kyriotetes,
Mirroring, raying it back in the form of light,
Illuminating the interior of the new-found globe.
 
The Spirits of Wisdom receive their inner being reflected now from without.
A sphere with inner and outer, point and periphery,
Glowing with inner radiance.
Time transformed into Space.
And with this give and take, cosmic memory.
 
Behold the birth of the Archangels, Beings of Beginning!
Created through the bestowing gifts of the Spirits of Wisdom,
Condensed and reflected back as light.
From out of Time, Space is born.
 
The Solar Soul, experiencing all
Will in later times call
To his radiant companions
And even the betraying one:
“This is my body, given for you;
Do this in memory of me!”

Based on lectures of Rudolf Steiner dated 11/7 & 14/1911, in GA 132, Inner Experiences of Evolution.

Without time, without space, without sound or sight or form.
Far beyond the abyss:
Warmth circulating, warmer and cooler,
A surging sea of courage.
Spirits of Will, beings of pure courage
Kneel, with utter devotion and strength of sacrifice
And offer up their flaming being to the winged Cherubim.
Shimmering radiantly, these enchanting beings of infinite wisdom
Stream wisdom through the sea of courage-warmth;
A relationship arises, and out of relationship, a birth:
The Cherubim gather up the smoke from the fire of the Throne’s sacrifice;
Pressed out and extruded as a cosmic Word,
Time is born, as beings: the Archai.
 
Behold the birth of the Spirits of Personality,
Forged through the joyous flaming sacrifice of the Thrones,
Offered up and accepted by the wise winged Cherubim.
From out of eternity, Time is born.

Based on a lecture of Rudolf Steiner dated 10/31/1911, in GA 132, Inner Experiences of Evolution.