Esoteric Lessons 1904–1909

GA 266I

Meditations that Grasp the Essence of the Hierarchies

Sayings to the respective spirits of the day, the so-called sayings of the day, with which the esoteric hours were begun from a certain point in time.

”... seven sayings that are distributed over the seven days of the week. You practice them by immersing yourself on Friday in the saying for Saturday, on Saturday in the saying for Sunday, and so on. You can do this several times a day and try to absorb the depth of each saying for 20 to 30 minutes. You will gain a great deal from it in terms of connecting with the mystery of the all-pervading seven." —Rudolf Steiner to Michael Bauer
August 4, 1907 (GA 264)

Friday evening for Saturday — Saturn

Great all-embracing Spirit,
You who filled endless space
when not one of my limbs was still present:
You were.
I lift up my soul to You.
I was in You.
I was a part of Your power.
You sent forth Your forces,
and in the earth's earliest beginning,
my body's first archetype was reflected.
I myself was in your sent out powers.You were.
My archetype looked at you.
It looked at myself,
who was a part of you.
You were.

Saturday evening for Sunday – Sun

Great all-embracing Spirit,
many archetypes sprang from Your life,
back then, when my life forces
did not yet exist.
You were.
I lift up my soul to You.
I was in You.
I was a part of Your powers.
You connected Yourself
with the earth's primeval beginning
to the sun of life
and gave me the power of life.
In Your radiant life forces
I was myself.
You were.
My life force radiated in Yours
into space.
My body began its becoming
in time.
You were.

Sunday evening to Monday — Moon

Great all-embracing Spirit,
in Your life forms, feeling shone,
when my feeling
did not yet exist.
You were.
I lift up my soul to You.
I was in You.
I was part of Your feelings.
You connected Yourself
with the earth's primordial beginning,
and in my body began
the radiance of my own feeling.
In Your feelings
I felt myself.
You were.
My feelings felt your essence within itself.
My soul began to be within itself,
because you were within me.
You were.

Monday to Tuesday – Mars

Great all-encompassing Spirit,
in your sensations lived realization,
when realization had not yet been given to me.
You were.
I lift up my soul to you.
I moved into my body.
In my sensations I lived myself.
You were in the sun of life.
In my feeling
lived your being as my being.
My soul's life
was outside of your life.
You were.
My soul felt its own being within itself.
Longing arose in it.
The longing for you,
from which it became.
You were.

Tuesday for Wednesday – Mercury

Great all-embracing spirit,
in the knowledge of your nature is knowledge of the world,
which shall become mine.
You are.
I want to unite my soul with you.
Your cognizant leader
illuminates my path.
Feeling your leader
I stride through the pathway of life.
Your guide is in the sun of life.
He lived in my yearning.
I want to absorb its essence
into mine.
You are.
My strength absorbs
the strength of the guide within itself.
Bliss draws into me.
The bliss in which the soul
finds the spirit.
You are.

Wednesday to Thursday – Jupiter

Great all-embracing spirit,
in Thy light the life of the earth shines,
my life is in Thine.
You are.
My soul works in Thine.
With Thy guide I go my way.
I live with Him.
His essence is an image
of my own essence.
You are.
The guide's essence in my soul
finds You, all-embracing Spirit.
Bliss is mine¹
from the breath of Thy being.
You are.

Thursday to Friday – Venus

Great all-embracing spirit,
in Thy life I live with the earth's life.
In Thee I am.
Thou art.
I am in Thee.
The leader has brought me to you.
I live in you.
Your spirit is
the image of my own being.
You are.
Spirit has found
the all-embracing spirit.
Divine bliss strides
towards new world-creation.
You are. I am. You are.

[Following the Previous Verses for the Day² ]

Great all-embracing Spirit,
my I rises from below upwards,
may it intuit You in Your all-embracing.
The spirit of my being may be illumined
with the light of Your messengers,
the soul of my being may be kindled
by the fire-flames of Your servants
The will of my ego may grasp
the power of Your creative word.
You are.
Your light shine in my spirit,
Your life warm my soul,
Your essence permeate my will,
that my ego may grasp
Your light's radiance,
Your life's loving warmth,
Your essence's words of creation.
You are.