4. The Hierarchical Beings of our Solar System and the Kingdoms of the Earth

We can put it this way, then: During the day the human being is awake—that is, he inhabits his physical and etheric bodies; at night he is asleep—that is, he is outside his physical and etheric bodies. During the night the Gods or other extra-terrestrial beings watch over man's physical and etheric bodies. That is expressed half figuratively, yet it is entirely pertinent. Thus we know whence come the beings who must enter our physical and etheric bodies at night, and this links up our two points. But we shall presently see that these beings are not only important for our life at night, but are gradually gaining in significance for our daytime life as well. First, however, we must consider a few other matters if we are clearly to understand the whole import of the moon's withdrawal from Earth evolution. Today we will occupy ourselves with the genesis of other beings that surround us.