Etheric Currents and Occult Training Exercises

GA 266I — 14 November 1906, Berlin

Esoteric Lesson

These considerations are intended to explain in more detail the exercises to be performed by those who are undergoing occult training. For those who have not yet had to perform these exercises, the explanations given here should serve as preparation for the time when they too will have to perform them. The great masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings guide us in our inner struggle for knowledge.

A well-known exercise is to first concentrate on the point at the root of the nose between the eyebrows inside the head, then on the point inside the larynx, then on the point stretched out in a line from the shoulders to the arms and hands, and the point stretched even further apart, which extends over the entire surface of the body. In esoteric teachings, these lines and surfaces are also referred to as points. We will now try to understand this exercise better.

To do this, we must go back in our minds to the Lemurian era. At that time, the earth looked very different. What are now solid rocks flowed like water. Air as we know it today did not yet exist; the whole earth was enveloped in hot vapors. Many metals that are solid today existed in vapor form or flowed like water; the vapor atmosphere was permeated by ether currents, just as air currents do today. Humans already lived on this Earth. But they were a kind of fish-bird creature that moved by floating and swimming. At that time, an important event occurred in human evolution: humans developed skin and thus separated themselves from the rest of the world as independent beings. Until then, humans had not been separated from their surroundings, but the currents of the whole world had penetrated into them; now, however, they closed themselves off through their skin. This closure was brought about by a very specific ether current. After a certain time, another significant event occurred. Humans stood upright, thereby giving their entire striving and actions a specific direction. Previously, the human body had been oriented in the same way as that of today's animals. Only now could humans develop their front limbs, their arms and hands, as they are today, that is, for work in the true sense of the word. Only now did humans begin to work independently; only now could they develop individual karma. No animal can do this. Only a being with an upright gait creates its own karma. A second special etheric current brought about this transformation. A third etheric current resulted in a third important transformation. Only now, when humans developed an upright gait, could lungs form as only humans have them, and connected with this, the larynx formed from delicate etheric substances. Now human speech could gradually develop. - A fourth etheric current formed the organ between the eyebrows at the root of the nose, and through this the human being awoke to self-consciousness: to self-consciousness; previously, he had only possessed self-awareness.

If one now focuses one's attention firmly and energetically on only one of the four points, i.e., on the root of the nose, or on the larynx, or on the hands and arms, or on the entire surface of the body, and combines this exercise with a very specific word that is only communicated from mouth to mouth, from teacher to student, one comes into contact with the etheric current that brought about the transformation in the human body. This is the essence of occult training: becoming aware of the processes that are unconsciously at work in our bodies. We are to enter into conscious contact with the forces of the cosmos.

If you cross your hands so that the right hand lies over the left and concentrate on the hands thus joined in connection with a specific word, you will soon notice, provided the exercise is done often enough with the greatest energy and perseverance, that the two hands strive apart and that the arms spread out quite by themselves. This is the position of the medieval saints. This exercise also has a specific meaning. Ether currents from the cosmos are constantly circulating through the human body. One such current enters through the head, travels from there to the right foot, then to the left hand, then to the right hand, then to the left foot, and from there back to the head. If we imagine a person standing in the position just described with their arms outstretched, the current takes the form of a pentagram.

It would be detrimental for humans if the energy flow did not enter through the head, but rather through the feet. All negative influences enter the human body through the feet. Black magicians exploit this. However, this current does not only circulate in humans when they are in this particular position, but always, even when the hands are folded or a leg is bent. There are five different etheric vibrations through the human body. One of them also circulates in solid matter and is therefore called “earthy” because it can also penetrate solid earth.

The five currents are called tattwas. The earthy tattwa is also called prithivi tattwa. You can also see it if you exhale in a very special way and let your breath flow onto a smooth mirror. Then, provided that all the necessary conditions are met, you will see the form in which the tattwa flows. A square appears on the mirror, or rather just the four corners of it.

You can also taste the Tattwas by focusing your attention on the tip of your tongue in a certain way. Prithivi Tattwa tastes sweet. The Tattwas can also be smelled. Prithivi Tattwa looks yellow. The second etheric current is called Apas Tattwa, so named because it no longer circulates in the earth but still in water, in liquids. Tejas Tattwa circulates only in the air, but this is not what we call air today. Vaju Tattwa is even finer. The finest current is Akasha Tattwa. This is the substance from which our thoughts are woven. The form of this Tattwa consists of two vortices that continuously coil into each other.

These five currents circulate constantly within the human being and connect him with the entire cosmos.

The human being is woven from spirit; we are born from spirit, descend into matter, and flow back to spirit. We must now become aware of the currents that were active in us during our descent into matter. We return the same way we came, but consciously. There is no other true development. What we are already awakening within ourselves through these exercises will only be developed by humanity as a whole in the sixth root race. In occult science, a root race is called a day of creation. We are preparing for the sixth day of creation; we are in the dawn of the sixth day of creation. The descent from the spirit, life in matter, and the return to the spirit are represented by three letters:

AUM

Record B

We should start with the description of meditation exercises that many of us already have and others do not yet have. For this purpose, Dr. Steiner spoke of concentrating on different points during meditation. In particular, in the exercise of concentrating on a point between the eyebrows at the root of the nose, then the larynx, then the arms and hands, with a meditation sentence given to the student by the teacher. This meditation refers to the fact that the physical body is first built up by the etheric body, which forms and permeates the physical organs.

A later exercise would be to place the right hand over the left, to direct the currents in the shape of a pentagram from the root of the nose through the body, i.e. from the head to the right foot, left arm, right arm, left foot and back to the head. The person would be the pentagram, and the currents would be directed through their body in this way. If the exercise were done very intensively, the arms would spread out involuntarily so that the person would form a +. But it is not necessary for the body to always remain within the lines of a drawn pentagram; rather, the etheric organs are not rigid, but supple and flexible, following the curves of the body. Instead of starting from the head, the black magician directs the currents from the feet into the body, thereby achieving a completely different effect by allowing the lower forces to flow into the human being. Therefore, the white magician never proceeds from anywhere other than the head (Goethe: the pentagram, which is open).

Another exercise is the breathing exercise that everyone who wants occult development must go through. Dr. Steiner went back to the time when humans lived like jellyfish in a water-like fluid consisting of the same thick matter as themselves; that is, before humans were enclosed by skin and were one with their environment. Gradually, humans developed into their present form. An important point in their development is the time when they learned to walk upright and when arms and hands formed from the front locomotive organs. Through the use of arms and hands for work and activity, humans differ from all animals, as well as through their upright gait. This gradually led to the formation of the larynx and lungs, and humans began to breathe as they do now. There are now different degrees of what humans inhale. If they take a mirror, those who are already further along in their development will be able to make all kinds of observations when they exhale and the air hits the surface of the mirror. Everything that now surrounds us as what we call air is called “earthy.”

Earthy = Prithivi Tattwa. Then comes the second, watery (in the occult sense) = Apas Tattwa, then airy (in the occult sense, fiery) = Teja Tattwa, then an even finer substance, Vaju Tattwa, and finally, as the finest substance, Akasha Tattwa. This is the matter from which thoughts are woven.

These individual tattwas also have forms, tastes, and colors, and appear as follows:

All these tattwas permeate the body. As humans evolve, the etheric currents become visible to them.

What is still hidden from ordinary people, what they only achieve when the sixth root race is complete, can already be achieved by those who want to develop quickly, in a time that the Masters of the White Lodge call the dawn of the sixth root race. We live in the fifth subrace of the fifth root race, but the dawn of the sixth root race is already breaking. The words given to us by the Masters have been translated into English as follows: Please ask for the words!¹

Record C

There are five different etheric currents flowing through the human body. One of them also circulates through solid matter and is therefore called “earthy” because it can penetrate solids, minerals, or, in occult terms, the earth. The earthy tattwa is called Prittvi Tattwa. It can also be seen if you exhale in a special way, allowing your breath to flow onto a smooth mirror. Then, provided that all the necessary conditions are met, you will see the form in which this tattwa flows. A square appears on the mirror.

You can also taste the tattwas by focusing your attention on the tip of your tongue. You can also see them. (If you close your eyes, you see the colors, not the complementary colors of the outside world. But they often change into the complementary colors by themselves. M. K.)²

The flow of the Apas Tattwa circulates not only in the earth, but also in water, that is, in everything liquid, esoterically speaking, including blood.

The third current, Tejas Tattwa, circulates only in the air, esoterically speaking. Vaja is even finer, and Akasha is the finest. This is the substance from which our thoughts are woven. The form of this Tattwa is two vortices that continuously coil into each other.

These five tattwas circulate continuously in the human body and connect it to the cosmos.