# 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 mine[^1]  
> 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 Day*[^2] *]*

> 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.

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[^1]: In another transcript, the third-last line reads: “Bliss becomes mine.”

[^2]: This information, missing in the original, was added by Marie Steiner for the first printing in “Aus den Inhalten der Esoterischen Schule”, Book III, Dornach 1951.