Human History and the World Views of Civilized Nations

GA 353 — 17 May 1924, Dornach

About Comets and the Solar System, the Zodiac and the Rest of the Fixed Starry Sky

Mr. Pea: What do the comets that appear from time to time mean? And how does the zodiac differ from the other stars?

Dr. Steiner: This question will lead us a little into the understanding of astronomy. You are attending lectures on astronomy, and it will be very helpful if we can discuss this question from a certain point of view.

When we look at the starry sky, we have the moon as the largest star and also the one closest to us. The moon therefore also has the most noticeable influence on the people of the earth. And you have certainly already heard how the moon stimulates the imagination of people. That is something that everyone knows. But I have told you about other influences of the moon, which it also has on the reproduction of beings and so on. Then we see other heavenly bodies that behave in a similar way to the moon. The moon moves - you can see it move - and the other stars that are similar to it also move. We call these stars, which also move, planets.

Now it also appears that the sun moves. In reality it does move; but in relation to our Earth it does not move. It always remains at about the same distance and does not describe a circle around the Earth either. The sun is therefore referred to as a fixed star. And so the other stars, except for those that clearly change their position, are fixed stars.

If you look at the starry sky, you will see roughly the same view that the starry sky reveals every night – especially on nights when there is moonlight. But there are changes in the starry sky. Especially in certain weeks during the summer, you can see how one star after another – seemingly – moves quickly and then disappears: shooting stars. Such shooting stars can be seen in the sky at other times as well, but they are especially visible in certain summer weeks, when crowds of such small stars light up, quickly move across the sky and then disappear.

But in addition to these, there are the stars that Mr. Erbsmehl mentioned in his question: the comets. These comets appear only more rarely; they also differ in terms of their shape from the other stars. They show a shape that looks something like this, for example: they have a kind of nucleus, and then they have a tail that they trail behind them. Sometimes they also look like they are trailing two such tails. When you look at the other stars that are moving, they have a movement that is relatively regular and you always know at what point in time these other stars appear; at another point in time they are below the earth and do not appear, while with these stars, the comets, you perceive: they come and go away again, without you really knowing where they actually go. So within the other stars they show, so to speak, irregular movements.

Now, these comets were always understood differently by people than the other stars, and in particular these comets played a major role for superstitious people. These superstitious people believed that when such a comet appears, it means misfortune.

This is not particularly surprising, because anything that does not behave in a regular way causes people to be amazed and astonished. It need not be taken so terribly seriously, because people also find that even with quite ordinary objects, which otherwise always behave differently, it means something when they behave differently. For example, if you drop a knife, it usually does not get stuck in the ground but falls smoothly. It means nothing because one is accustomed to it. But if the knife does get stuck in the ground, superstitious people think that means something. When the moon appears – people are used to that, it doesn't mean anything special to them. But when a star like that appears, which also has a special shape, then yes, that means something special! So you don't need to get upset about it when superstitious people associate things with something.

Above all, we must now look at the matter scientifically. And in that respect, the following is true: In not very ancient times, people were more guided by what they saw in the sky and described the Earth as being at the center of the world. I will just tell you how it was imagined. And that the Earth is surrounded by the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun and so on, and that the whole starry sky, as you can see - every star rises and sets again - moves. So you can see the starry sky moving. If you stayed outside long enough, you would see how the so-called fixed stars apparently move across the sky. In the old days, people took it for granted because that's what they saw, and described it as they saw it.

Now, as you know, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Copernicus came along and said: No way! The Earth is not the center of the universe, but the Sun is the center, and Mercury, Venus, the Earth and so on move around the Sun. This meant that the Earth itself was made into a planet. A completely different world system, a completely different view of space emerged. And just like the Sun, the other fixed stars should now also be fixed. Their movement is therefore only an apparent one.

You see, gentlemen, the thing is this: I have already touched on this matter in answer to another question put by Mr. Burle, concerning the theory of relativity and whether there is any truth in these theories and in some of the others that have been put forward. For example, there was a theory put forward by a certain Tycho Brahe, who said: Yes, the sun stands still, but the earth also stands still, and so on. - So there have been other world systems; but we are looking at these two: the old one, which mainly goes back to Ptolemy, the Ptolemaic system, and then the Copernican system, which goes back to Copernicus. So these are two world systems. There is something right about each one. In particular, if you look at the facts very carefully, you cannot tell whether one or the other is right.

The thing is this, gentlemen: I told you at the time that there are people who claim that when I drive up from Villa Hansi to the Goetheanum in my car, for example, it is impossible to tell whether the car is driving or the Goetheanum is coming towards it! Well, it is certainly not possible to distinguish between the two by looking at them, but only by the fact that the car is worn out and needs petrol, whereas the Goetheanum does not. You can tell by looking at the inside. In the same way, when you enter Basel, you can tell whether Basel is coming out to meet you or you are going in because you are tiring. So you can only tell by looking at the inside.

From this it should be clear to you that every world system is actually such that it can be right from one side and wrong from the other. You cannot make an absolute decision. That is how it is! You really cannot decide in the case of a world system which is completely right and which is completely wrong. You will say: Yes, but the facts are calculated! Yes, you see, they are calculated, but the calculations that are made are never quite right! For example, if you calculate how fast a star is moving, you know that after a certain time it must be at a certain place in the sky. So you calculate where a star should be at a certain time, point the telescope in that direction, and now the star should be inside the telescope. Often it is not there, so you have to correct the formula again; and so it turns out that actually no calculation is completely correct. The situation in the world system is such that no calculation is completely correct! Where does that come from? Imagine you know a person quite well. Then you will say to yourself, if he promises you something, you can be absolutely sure of it. Suppose you know a person quite well; he has promised you that on May 20th at five o'clock in the afternoon he will be at such and such a place. You can also be there. You will be quite sure that he will be there because you know him. But now it may happen that he does not come! And so it is with the world system. If you look at small things, then you can say: You can safely rely on things happening as you know them. So if I heat a stove, it will spread heat throughout the room according to the laws of nature. It is not very likely that a fire will not produce heat in the room! But that stops, gentlemen, when the large-scale relationships in the universe begin. There, history is just as certain as it is for the individual human being, but also just as uncertain. So that everything you calculate always has a kink somewhere. And what causes the kink? The kink is not only caused by the fact that these solar systems do not depend on themselves alone. Suppose that on the way he came to you something particularly pleased the person in question. He was delayed. If these planetary systems were such that nothing could occur in them except what the sun, moon and stars do, then they could also be calculated; one would know exactly where a star is at a given time, to within a thousandth of a second, because calculations can be made very precisely. But, as I said, the calculations have a glitch. This is merely due to the fact that these systems are not allowed to be completely uninhibited in space, but comets now penetrate into it, passing through; and with these comets penetrating from space, space gives this planetary system something similar to what we get when we eat: The comet is a kind of nourishment for the planetary system! And the thing is this: when such a comet enters, there is always a slight change in the motion; and so one never arrives at a completely regular motion. The thing is this, gentlemen: the irregularity in the motion or in the rest of the entire planetary system comes from the comets.

Now the comets themselves. You see, people claim: Yes, a comet like that comes from so far away that you don't see it at first; when it comes close to the solar system, that's when you start to see it (it is drawn). So there you see it. Now it moves on; you still see it, then something else, and there it disappears. Now what do people say? People say: Well, that is above the earth, that can be seen; but then the comet goes across like that, becomes invisible and comes back again after a number of years. That is what people say.

If I draw the solar system for you, we have the sun; there are the planets. Now people imagine: the comet comes from far away, from outside the solar system, comes here into the area of the sun; and since you can no longer see it when it is down there, it is coming back again. So they imagine that the planets move in a short ellipse, but the comet in a huge long ellipse. And when it comes in and we have it above us, that you can look up, then it remains visible, otherwise it is invisible, and then comes back again. Halley's Comet, named after its discoverer, appears every seventy-six years.

Now, gentlemen, there is something in it, however, where spiritual science cannot go along with its observations: It is not at all true that the comet goes round like that! What is really true is that the comet is only just coming into being here, and there it separates, if I may say so, the cosmic matter together, there the cosmic matter collects; there it comes into being (pointing to the drawing), goes on like that, and here it disappears again, dissolves. This line (ellipse) here does not really exist. So you are dealing with a form that arises at a certain distance and disappears at a certain distance. Yes, but what is actually happening?

Well, you realize that it isn't true that the sun is standing still! It is stationary in relation to the Earth, but in relation to space it is moving at a tremendous speed. The entire planetary system is racing through space, moving forward. The sun is moving toward the constellation of Hercules. You might ask how we know that the sun is moving toward the constellation of Hercules? You know that when you walk down an alley and stand there, the trees that are in front seem further apart, and then they seem to get closer and closer. Isn't it true that when you look down an alley, the trees seem to get closer and closer; but if you now continue walking in that direction, it is as if these trees are moving apart. The space that you see between the two trees becomes larger and larger. Now imagine that if this is the constellation of Hercules, then the stars in the constellation of Hercules are at certain distances from each other. If our solar system is stationary, these distances should always remain the same. But if the sun moves with the other planets, the stars of Hercules must appear larger and larger, they must appear to move apart. And they really do! For centuries it has been observed that the distances in the constellation of Hercules are getting larger and larger. This shows that the sun really is moving towards the constellation of Hercules. And just as one can calculate here, when measuring with a sighting instrument, how close we pass and how fast - if one walks faster, the distance increases more rapidly than for another - so one can also calculate how the sun passes. The calculations are always very precisely executed. So the entire planetary system with the sun races towards the constellation of Hercules.

But this rushing along is something that affects the planetary system just as it would if you were working. When you work, you lose some of your substance, and you have to replace it. And so it is that when the planetary system rushes through space, it constantly loses some of its substance. This must be replaced. The comets roam around collecting the substance, and it is captured again when the comet passes through the planetary system. In this way, the comets replace the unusable, excreted substance of the planetary system. But at the same time, these comets enter the planetary system and cause an irregularity in it, so that the movements cannot be calculated in reality.

This also shows you that if you go far enough, the matter in space comes to life! Such a planetary system is actually a living being; it must eat. And the comets are being eaten!

What are these comets mainly made of? These comets have as their most important substance that which is needed from the sky within the planetary system: they have carbon and nitrogen in them. Of course they also have hydrogen and so on. But these two substances are particularly important: carbon and nitrogen. We need the nitrogen in the air, it must always be renewed; we need the carbon because all plants need it. And so the Earth really draws its materials from space! They are always replaced.

But the matter goes further. You know that when you eat, you eat things that are still large on the plates; but you chop them up, you bite them. First of all, you cut them up. And you have to do that because if you were to swallow a whole goose, if that were possible, it would not do you any good! You have to chop it up. Likewise, you cannot swallow a whole calf's head; only snakes can do that, humans cannot. That has to be chopped up. Now, the planetary system does the same with its food. Such a comet can sometimes - not every one, but some can be swallowed whole, like a snake. But there are also comets that are chopped up when they come in. Then the comet disintegrates, as for example in August the meteor swarm disintegrates into lots of little stars that come down as shooting stars. Because these shooting stars are nothing but tiny pieces of comets rushing down. And so you not only see the way in which the world's food enters the solar system, but at the same time you see how this world's food is consumed by the earth. So in this way you can really see what significance the comets, which appear so irregularly, have for the earth.

Now, you see, the thing is this – you have to disregard all superstition –: on the whole, what is happening on Earth, the comet has its extraterrestrial influence, which can also be seen. It is indeed remarkable: you know that there are good and bad wine years; but the good wine years actually come from the fact that the earth has become hungry. Then it leaves its fertility more to the sun, and the sun, after all, causes the goodness of the wine. If the earth has a good wine year, then one can be almost certain that a comet will come soon after, because the earth was hungry again and needs nourishment for the other. Then come bad wine years. If a good wine year comes again, a comet comes afterwards. It depends on the state of the earth's substances, together with the way the comets appear and do not appear.

Now the question was raised as to how the zodiac differs from the other fixed stars.

It is not true that if you simply look out into the vastness of the universe, you will see countless stars. These stars appear to be arranged irregularly. But you can always distinguish groups, which are called constellations.

Now, what you see there is actually closer or further away from the moon. If you look at these stars, you can see the moon, right, going through the starry sky. But there are certain constellations that the moon always passes through; it does not pass through the others. So if you look at the constellation of Hercules, for example, the moon does not pass through it. But if you look at the constellation of Leo, the moon always passes through the constellation of Leo after a certain period of time. And so there are twelve constellations that are distinguished by the fact that they are, so to speak, the path that the moon takes, which the sun also takes. They are therefore actually the indicators of the path that the sun and the moon take across the sky. So you can say: the twelve constellations Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, they are the path of the moon; it always passes through them – not through the other constellations. So you can always say: At a certain time, when the moon is in the sky, it is either in front of a constellation or between two, but those constellations that belong to the zodiac.

Now, gentlemen, just consider that every star in the sky has an influence on the earth in general and on people in particular. Man is truly not only dependent on what is on the earth, but man is connected with what is in the sky as stars.

Imagine any random star or constellation out there: It rises in the evening, as they say, and sets in the morning. It is always there, always exerting its influence on people. But imagine another constellation, let's say the twins or the lion, for example: that's where the moon passes. At the moment the moon passes, it covers the twins or the lion; I only see the moon, but I don't see the twins. So they cannot have any influence on earth at that moment either, because their influence is covered. So we have stars everywhere in the sky that are never covered, neither by the sun nor by the moon, but which always have their influence on earth; on the other hand, we have stars where the moon passes by, and the sun also passes by, apparently; they are covered again and again from time to time, and their influence ceases. And so we can say: Leo is a constellation in the zodiac, it has a certain influence on man. But when the moon is in front of it, it does not have it; man is free from the influence of Leo, the influence of Leo does not affect him.

Now imagine you are standing there and are terribly lazy and do not want to walk, but someone pushes you from behind and you have to walk; they are driving you forward, that is their influence. But now suppose I hold back the influence; they cannot push you – so the influence is not exerted on you; if you are to walk, you have to walk yourself!

You see, people need these influences. So what is the story, gentlemen? Let's get this right: the constellation of Leo has a certain influence on people. This influence is present as long as the constellation is not covered by the moon or the sun. But now let's move on. Let's make another comparison with life. Say you want to know something. Let us assume that you have a governess or a tutor who usually knows everything; as a young boy you are too lazy to think, so you ask the tutor; he tells you - after all, he also does your homework. But if the tutor has gone out, if you don't have a tutor and you have to do your homework, you have to find the strength within yourself. You have to remember.

Now, Leo has a constant influence on people; only when the moon covers it is there a lack of influence. But when the moon covers the influence of Leo, then people have to develop it out of themselves. So a person who, while the constellation is covered by the moon, can strongly develop this influence of Leo out of themselves is, so to speak, a Leo person. And someone who can develop the influence of the constellation of Cancer when it is covered is a Cancer person. Depending on their predisposition, some people develop one or the other more. But as you can see, the zodiacal constellations are particularly distinguished: with them, it is the case that the influence is sometimes exerted and sometimes not. The moon, which passes by the constellations every four weeks, also brings about the fact that within four weeks we always have a point in time when this influence is not exerted on any zodiacal constellation; and with the other constellations it is always the same. And because in ancient times people paid very close attention to this influence from the heavens, the zodiac was naturally more important to them than the other constellations. Because the others always have an influence; that does not change. But with the zodiac, one can say: that changes, depending on whether a picture in the zodiac is covered or not. And for that reason, the zodiac has always been particularly studied in its effect on the earth. And now you also see why the zodiac is more important for observing the starry sky than the other stars. But from all this you will see that mere calculation, as I said to you recently, cannot actually be the whole of astronomy, but that one must go into such things as I have explained to you here.

It is indeed the case that today, when one talks about such things, one is still regarded as a fantasist, as half a fool, because people say: Well, if you want to know something about the stars, you should go to the astronomers at the observatory; they know everything! You know that there is a kind of saying: Because man is also dependent on all kinds of external influences with regard to his gouty conditions, some people say that when someone has a twinge or has gout, he should go to the observatory and have the matter regulated there. Now, people look at you as if you were half-crazy when you want to say something from the spirit about these things. But the following things happen. Based on this knowledge, which arises from spiritual science, I succeeded in saying the following in a series of lectures in Paris in 1906: If it is all true about comets, if they really exist to fulfill these tasks, then there must be a connection between carbon and nitrogen in them. - This had not been known until then. And carbon and nitrogen together make up cyanogen, prussic acid. Carbon and nitrogen should therefore, I said, also be found in comets. That was said by me in Paris in 1906. At the time, no one was required to believe it who did not recognize the importance of spiritual science. But then, a short time later, I was on a lecture tour in Sweden – and a very surprising news item appeared in all the newspapers: that cyanogen had been discovered in the comet that had appeared at the time, using the spectroscope.

You see, people are always saying: Well, the anthroposophists should, when they know something, also say something that can be confirmed afterwards. Yes, countless such things have happened! Really, in 1906 I predicted this discovery that there is cyanogen in the comet! It was actually made right afterwards. And from this you can see that the things are actually true, because you can prove the matter afterwards if you only do it right. But of course, when something like that happens again, people keep quiet and hush it up because it doesn't suit them. But it is true. So from spiritual knowledge one can say about comets, right down to their material composition, that they contain cyan, and this is then confirmed. And that is such an example.

That is why I do not shy away from saying things that seem completely foolish to people: that the comets arise here and pass away there, that is, they collect their matter here and then disappear again when they come out of the planetary system. That is what spiritual observation reveals. In time, physical observation will also confirm this. Today, it can only be said on the basis of spiritual observation.

Much of what materialistic science says today is extremely fantastic. For example, people imagine that the sun is a kind of gas ball. It is not a gas ball at all, but is actually something quite different from a gas ball. You see, gentlemen, if you have a seltzer bottle, there are little pearls inside. Now, someone might think: well, there's the seltzer water, and there are the little pearls inside – there are things floating in it. But that's not how it really is, rather, there is the seltzer water, and there is the hollow space (it is drawn). There is less in it than in the rest of the water. Now that is carbonic acid gas and there is water all around it, but the gas is just thinner than the water. In relation to the water, what is in it is a cavity, and in relation to the water, all you need is the fineness of the gas. Now the sun is also a cavity in the universe, but it is thinner than any gas; it is very thin where the sun is! Yes, even more, gentlemen: when you walk through the world, you are in space. But where the sun is, space is also hollow. What does that mean: space is hollow? What that means: Space is hollow – you can see from the following: If you pump out an air pump until it is empty of air, if you now make an opening there, this airless space immediately draws in the outer air, and with a tremendous whistle the outer air shoots in. With the sun, it is the case that what is there is a cavity of everything; not only of the air, but also of the warmth – a cavity of everything. Now this hollow space is so that it is closed off spiritually on all sides and that only through the sunspots now and then something can shoot in. The astronomers, they would be very surprised when they really could go up there with a world car or something similar or with a world ship - it could not be an airship because the air stops up there, but with a world ship of matter. The astronomers would expect: Well, when we arrive at the top, when we arrive, we come into such a gas nebula, because the sun is glowing gas. And they only expect that this glowing gas would burn them, they would rise in the fire, because they received many thousands of degrees of temperature. But they don't have the opportunity to be consumed by the fire, because the sun is also hollow in terms of warmth; there is no warmth there either! They could endure all of that. They could even endure the heat if they could get up into the sun in a huge spaceship. But there is something else that cannot be endured: the situation is similar to when the air is let in with a whistle – not let out, let in – and you would quickly be drawn into the sun and immediately you would be dust, completely scattered, because the sun is a cavity that absorbs everything; you would be completely absorbed. It would be the safest way to disappear.

So materialistic science has a completely wrong view of the sun. It is a hollow space in relation to everything else; and that makes it, of all the stars closest to us, the lightest person out there in space, the very lightest. The moon is relatively heavy because it once went out of the earth and took with it the heavy substances that the earth could not use. So that the sun and the moon are also complete opposites in this respect: the sun is the lightest body in space, the moon the most material body. It is, of course, lighter than the earth because it is much smaller, if one were to weigh it, but in relation, which is called specific weight, it is heavier. From this it follows that in relation to the sun, because it is the lightest body in space, the most spiritual being emanates. And that is why I was able to tell you in relation to what Mr. Dollinger asked about the Christ-question: that from the sun the most spiritual being emanates when we are born, because the sun is the most spiritual being; the moon is the most material being. And if the moon is the most material being, then it has an influence on the human being that goes beyond the everyday in the material. You see, all the other stars except the moon naturally have their influence. And when we digest, when we see blood circulating, the stars have an influence on all of this. They have an influence on material processes. But if you imagine eating a piece of bread, the bread is gradually transformed into blood; something is transformed into something else: a part of the human being is created, blood is created when you metabolize bread. When you salt the bread, the salt goes into the bones and is transformed. A part is always created because these matters only relate to parts of the human being. Everything on earth can only give rise to a part of the human being; so what arises must then remain in the human being. But the moon has a strong material influence; therefore it has an influence on reproduction: and not only a part, but the whole human being arises! The sun has an influence on the spiritual, the moon, because it itself is the material, has an influence on the material. So that man produces himself or produces an image of himself under the influence of the moon. That is the contrast: the effects of the sun always, so to speak, produce our thoughts, our willpower anew. The moon has the influence of producing material forces anew, of bringing forth the material man anew. And between the moon and the sun are the other stars, which partly bring about the fact that other things happen in man.

All this can be seen. But when considering the astronomical, one must always take the human into account at the same time. You see, the astronomer says: What I see with the naked eye does not impress me; I have to look through the telescope. Then I rely on the telescope; that is my instrument. - Spiritual science says: Oh, what you see with telescopes! Of course you see a lot there; we want to acknowledge that too; but the best instrument that can be used to recognize the universe is the human being himself. You can recognize everything by looking at a person. The human being himself is the best instrument because everything is revealed in the human being. What is going on up there in Leo can be seen in the blood circulation of a person. When the moon is in front of Leo, you can tell from the blood circulation in the human body. What is going on up there in Aries can be seen in the hair growth of a person. And when the moon is in front of Aries, hair grows more slowly, and so on. So you can see everywhere in a person what is going on in the universe. If, for example, a person develops jaundice, then of course one must first look at the cause in the body, but why does a person ultimately develop jaundice? Because they are particularly predisposed when the moon covers the constellation of Capricorn, to develop the forces of Capricorn from within.

And so we can see everywhere: the human being is the instrument by which everything is recognized. If, for example, the human being becomes dulled to the influence of Aquarius, when Aquarius is covered by the moon and the human being cannot develop the forces of Aquarius from within, then he gets corns. In this way, one can see everywhere in the human being, as an instrument, what is going on in the universe, if one only does it scientifically, not superstitiously. And so, in this way, it is a real science that spiritual science pursues. Of course, as many people think, it is indeterminate, so you can't see anything from what they think. The saying applies: “If the cock crows on the dung heap, the weather changes, or it stays as it is.” It is indeed the case that many people think about the world: “If the cock crows on the dung heap, the weather changes, or it stays as it is.”

But if you really get into it, then it is not so; then you recognize in man, as the most perfect instrument that you can have, more perfectly than through all others, what occurs in the universe. So it is not the case that you are merely inventing the matter, but you are studying what is going on in the human being. Of course, you first have to know how it is with the corns, how they form out of the skin and so on, that you can figure out how it works when the constellation, Aquarius, is covered. But if you study the matter in man, you can study the whole universe in man.

The next lesson is next Wednesday.