Self-Knowledge and God-Knowledge I

GA 90a — 5 January 1904, Berlin

X. Description of the Rounds

Today I will simply describe the rounds to you. You will have to be patient because the facts will be manifold. I can therefore only sketch them. It is also extremely difficult to express and describe them in words because they are quite unlike our present circumstances.

I will try to describe what is called the first round. I will simply describe the actual events. If we want to describe the beginning of the first round, we have to imagine that a sphere separates from the dark space of the universe. This sphere has a reddish color for those who can see at such a high level, A reddish sphere separates itself from the darkness of space. This reddish sphere contains within itself all the beings and substances that will later appear on Earth, but in a completely dissolved state, as it were. At first nothing has a form in it. Everything is formless in this red mist, which is thinner than the thinnest ether, if one can imagine it at all. This red sphere therefore represents that which we receive as a drawing of the first Aupa sphere of our seven globes belonging to the earth.

Now I ask you to watch what is called the transition from one sphere to the other. It is not really a transition, but a transformation of the appearance of the sphere, which remains in the same place. The sphere becomes brighter and brighter and at the same time denser and denser, and there are perceptible lines in it that have a certain arrangement, emanating from certain points, like radiant lines. To the seer's open eye, the sphere gradually takes on an orange color. This is what we call the rupa sphere. There are conditions within which it darkens and then brightens again – the pralaya conditions.

Then it becomes denser and glows yellow; it now consists of astral matter, in which lines now go in all directions, forming figures. These are the forces that later compose the mineral kingdom as such. Then there are small pralaya states again. The sphere then enters a state in which it takes on a kind of greenish coloration. This is the first physical state that the whole first round then takes on.

Everything that was previously merely sensuous intimation has now progressed to a certain degree of density. The physical matter in which this earth is located no longer exists on earth at present. It is a kind of etheric air, but you can find a hint of this physical state in all those who know something. I am reminded of a passage in Goethe's “Faust”: “Macht ein wenig Feuerluft.” Fire air is the first physical matter, a fire air that is greenish and contains everything that came later [...] in which the globe presents itself in this state.

Now there is another small pralaya. The sphere now develops in such a way that it takes on a completely different form. In its next state, it can be compared to a mulberry. It separates into smaller spheres and now takes on a coloration that shimmers towards the bluish. The lines are now distributed over individual spheres, and what used to be active throughout the entire sphere – the elementary forces – is now active in the individual small spheres. Increasingly distinct forms appear. Cubic, dodecagonal forms and so on appear and become increasingly clearer.

The next state indicates how and when it begins to fall apart. The whole thing now has a coloration between blue and violet. It turns into violet and goes through the pralaya state like this. In this seventh state, all forms of minerals have emerged. While this formation was emerging, while this type of mulberry was emerging, the matter became thinner and thinner. First it was Arupa matter, then in the last state, fully developed mineral nuclei appear in it, where the Arupa sphere used to be. The entire mineral kingdom is now archetypally present.

And now it passes into a twilight state. So there have been seven successive states, they had the task of bringing the mineral kingdom to the archetypes of the minerals. I would like to emphasize that, in all this turmoil of facts, this is what has always come from the lunar epoch, as the developed entities of the lunar epoch. These are essentially the human souls that have gone through the entire conditions of the lunar epoch and are at the most diverse stages of development. Not all of them have achieved the goal that could be achieved. Some, on the other hand, have progressed further. There were also, if I may say so, 'Mosesses', 'Platons', 'Pythagorasses'. They are not yet able to participate in all the processes I have described so far. These processes are too low. On the other hand, the beings who have not reached the heights must now catch up. They have to participate in the formation of these forms. They have to catch up on the lessons, as it were, that they neglected earlier. That is kaleidoscopically the succession of conditions that I have described. It is as if you were looking into a kaleidoscope, and just as the different successions can be seen there, so it is to be imagined.

The second round of the first state shows up by the fact that we see a reddish ball shimmering again. But this is much more richly structured than the previous one. Above all, we see intertwining vortex systems in the ball that look like the well-known snake rod of Hermes. At first only in very light, bright suggestion. Such structures stand out. And after the sphere has returned to the pralaya state and glows orange, it becomes such that it passes into motion. The snakes, which were at first motionless around the axis, now begin to move around the axis. The formation enters into a state of complete motion within itself. Then there is another state of pralaya, and an astral sphere in a beautiful, bright yellow color emerges. And the formations I have described now appear at a higher level, in that what they used to show only as movement now shows traces of forms everywhere, so that astral cylinders, discs, lines and all kinds of formations of the most diverse shapes have now emerged from the coils, in magnificent beauty. Radial figures emerge that continually push new formations out of themselves. The whole is in great motion. Then there is another pralaya, and the greenish sphere is formed, the fourth sphere, the physical state.

This is again in a matter that no longer exists today. It is called the state of fire-air, and that is a critical state at the present hour. Then intermediate states are present. These are of a kind of form between the watery and the airy. Everything is in a foggy state of green color. You could only compare the whole structure to a water pond with all kinds of green aquatic plants moving and stirring. The entities that are in there all have the transparent glowing green color. Then another pralaya occurs and what I have described as the mulberry appears again. The state becomes astral. The individual is formed out of itself, whereas before the change only took place in the whole of the sphere. Then another pralaya occurs.

The indigo sphere emerges, and the entire formations now become mere devachan formations, mere mental formations, but of great certainty. The next state is that in which the archetypes of the entire plant kingdom are formed. It has become a violet sphere. The archetypes are formed, the whole disappears from view. A state of twilight sets in. This state now enables the consciousness of the Pitris, who are already a little higher or souls that have come over from the lunar epoch, to participate in the construction of these structures with their powers. We have now completed what we call the second round. Previously, the mineral kingdom had reached the second round. What I previously described as a physical state has now progressed so that it is as if you imagine snow figures in the great ice, but in distinct watery, fog-like formations. The minerals are now in this fog-like state. This is the case while the sphere has a greenish coloration. With that, we have described what was described as the second round, the actual conditions.

And now comes the third round. The state of eclipse occurs. And now I notice that during these pralaya states, which I will describe, with the archetypes of the mineral and the plant, when they pass into the twilight state, something also happens. But even for the seer's eye it is difficult to see anything. There is no complete extinguishing of the sphere. It is important to emphasize this. It is like seeing the moon, which is half illuminated, and yet the other dark side can still be seen. A reddish sphere now appears for the third time. In this sphere, what is called the boundary in occult language occurs. The beings delimit themselves from the outside, they cover themselves with skins. The result is that living beings appear that shed their skin. This is an aupa state. Then a pralaya state occurs. The orange-colored sphere appears. The forms become more distinct. They begin to move. A pralya state occurs again. The whole now becomes an astral sphere, a sphere of stellar color, in which all three types of formations are present. Regular forms of metals, of minerals, the archetypes of plants, take on the astral form again, and the formations, covering themselves with a skin, begin to collide, to become perceptible to each other. They sense each other, they feel that they are there.

Now another pralaya, and the fourth, the physical state occurs. This is again a critical state, which can be compared, in terms of its consistency, with what is seen in egg white. All the structures that have emerged also take on this protein-like matter, from the densest protein to the completely gelatinous protein. The whole has turned green, and the entities that have emerged with the boundary are so far that they show the mucus-like animal formation; in forms from radiating shapes up to ape-like shapes. The Pitris – souls – already have the possibility to initially incarnate in these forms – imperfectly. They are also called water people. These are people who can stand upright despite their swelling, gelatinous matter.

Now the bluish astral state comes again, in which the consistency is not so dense. It can no longer be compared to the mulberry, it can only be compared to the astral. There is just no intelligence in it. A pralaya is formed again, and the indigo sphere comes. All forms become more definite. They become more alive from within. They are thought beings. And then comes the violet sphere. The whole sum of entities has passed into archetypes. They have become germ-shaped and now merge into the archetypes of the animal world that have emerged. And after another pralaya has taken place, when the red sphere dawns again, what we call the fourth round begins. What can later provide the body for the actual human race is gradually being prepared: the archetypes of the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms. More and more definite forms emerge. The orange state occurs, the astral state. There are already certain entities that resemble the later animals and humans in form. Then there is another pralaya state, and the actual earth, our present earth, appears in what we now call etheric matter, within the fourth round, on which earth, in etheric substance, man is present. He is still an animal-man, but already guided and surrounded by the solar Pitris, the higher intelligences who have come over, who have reached a higher level of development and are also guided by higher intelligences, which are described in Genesis as the Elohim. They were all working to advance man in his development.

He then goes through the second race and condenses. Then comes what we call the third race, and which we have described several times.

The following is the process as it presents itself: