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EGYPTIAN MYTHS AND
MYSTERIES
Lecture 7
Evolutionary Events in the Human
Organism up to the Departure
of the Moon.
Osiris and Isis as Builders of the
Upper Human Form.
September 9, 1908
by
Rudolph Steiner
IN the preceding lectures we have brought before our eyes, in connection with
the nature of man, a long series of facts related to the evolution of the earth
and of the whole solar system. In the last two lectures we directed our
particular attention to bringing forward those facts of the evolution of sun,
moon, and earth which had a sort of resurrection in the Egyptian mysteries, and
which the pupil of these mysteries, as well as the whole Egyptian people,
learned to know. In his clairvoyant seeing the pupil actually learned to know
all the things mentioned here, as well as those that will be brought out today.
The greater part of the people, who were unable to raise themselves to
clairvoyance, learned about all this in a most significant picture. We have
often touched upon this picture, which was the most important one in the
Egyptian world-view. It is embodied in the myth of Isis and Osiris. We are all
acquainted with this picture, and no one who knows anything believes that it is
without
significance. 1 It was not only a picture for these people, but it was
much more. What was contained in the Isis myth was told approximately as
follows.
In earlier times Osiris long ruled the earth, to the blessing of humanity. This
continued up to a particular moment, later characterized as the point when the
sun stood in the sign of the Scorpion. Then it was that Typhon, or Set, killed
his brother Osiris by inducing him to lay himself down in a chest, which Typhon
then closed and committed to the sea. Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris,
searched for her brother and husband, and after finding him brought him to
Egypt. But the evil Typhon, still striving for the destruction of Osiris, cut
him in pieces. Isis gathered the fragments together and buried them in various
places. (Various graves of Osiris are still shown in Egypt.) Then Isis bore
Horus, who avenged his father on Typhon. Osiris was now again admitted into the
world of the divine spiritual beings and is no longer active on earth, but he
aids men when they sojourn in the spiritual world between death and a new birth.
Therefore in Egypt the path of the dead was called the way to Osiris.
This is the myth, which is one of the most ancient components of the Egyptian
conception of life. Although there were later additions and changes, this legend
pervaded all the cults of Egypt as long as any life remained in the Egyptian
religious views.
Having directed our attention to this myth, into which was compressed what the
pupil saw as a real event in the holy secrets of the mystery schools, we must
now turn our attention to what we began yesterday and try to gain a clearer
understanding of what was produced in man through the influence of the various
aspects of the moon. We have spoken of the twenty-eight nerves proceeding from
the spinal cord, which stem from the positions of the moon during the
twenty-eight days that the moon requires to return to its first form. We have
probed the mystery of how, through the cosmic forces, these twenty-eight pairs
of nerves were formed in man from outside. Now I beg you to heed well the
following.
So far as possible in a short discourse, we shall now describe, as precisely as
possible, what the Egyptian pupil learned about human evolution in a still
broader sense. Those who are too strongly infected by modern anatomy will say
that this description is pure nonsense from the contemporary point of view. They
may say this, but they should be aware that this is the doctrine that the
Egyptian neophyte not only learned, but clairvoyantly observed. I shall speak to
those who are perceptive enough to be able to follow. This teaching was not only
the result of the vision of the Egyptian in the mysteries, but it is also
accepted as true by the modern occultist of today.
Let us recall what was said in the last lectures about how the earth, while
still at the beginning of its evolution, consisted entirely of human germs,
which formed the primeval earth-mist. The Indian clairvoyant, as well as the
Egyptian, could see the entire subsequent human form sprout forth spiritually
out of this spiritual human germ. All that later grew out of this human germ
could be seen clairvoyantly at that time. But one could also look back on those
parts of man that first arose out of the germ. The first that arose out of this
germ, when the sun was still connected with the earth, was actually like a sort
of plant, which opened its chalice upward. These forms filled, so to say, the
whole earth as they shaped themselves out of the primeval mist. But in the
earliest time in which this arose, like a sort of flower corolla opening itself
into cosmic space, this corolla was scarcely visible; man would only have been
able to perceive it by feeling its presence as a chalice-shaped warmth-body.
This was present at first as a warmth-body. While the earth was still connected
with the sun, the inner part of this human formation began to light up and to
shine into cosmic space. If at that time one had been able to see with the eyes
of today, on approaching such a light-form one would have seen a sparkling
sphere, like a glittering sun, which cast its gleams into space in a regular
form. Today, one can hardly form a clear picture of what existed at that time.
This would only be possible if one could conceive of the pure atmosphere of our
earth as completely filled with fire-flies raying their light out into cosmic
space. Thus would the first beginnings of man have shone into cosmic space when
the earth was still connected with the sun. But this was not all that existed.
At about the same time a sort of gas-body took form, outside and around the
chalice form. Many substances were present in this, in solution, just as today
we find fluid and solid substances in the human and animal bodies. At that time,
however, they were air-forms. Soon after all this had arisen, other germs came
out of the common earth-mass, germs that were the first indications of our
present animal kingdom. Thus the human kingdom came forth first; then came the
germs that gave rise to the animal kingdom. The earth still consisted of an
air-mass, of gleaming light-disseminating bodies, which shone into cosmic space.
Within this air-mass emerged the first traces of sexless animals, which stood at
the lowest stage of the present animal kingdom. We shall see that these animals,
then arising in their first outlines, had a certain significance for man.
The important thing is that these animals, which then made their appearance,
composed the thickest of the gas-masses, like thick clots of gas. These animals
developed through most diverse forms to a certain level, and when the sun had
just gone forth from the earth, the highest animal form was the fish, although
not the fish of today. The form of the animals of that time was entirely
different from that of the present fishes, but it stood at the same stage. In
the course of evolution our fishes have retained what could be achieved while
the sun was still in the earth. Now the earth condensed to a water-earth and the
densest forms, the animals, swam in this water-earth. Something singular now
came about. Certain of the primitive fish-forms remained animals and troubled
themselves no further about the progress of evolution. Others, however, retained
a certain relation to the human shapes in the following way.
At the same time that the sun went out from the earth, the earth began to turn
on its axis so that at one time one side of the earth would be shone upon by the
sun, and at another time it would not be shone upon; thus day and night began.
But at that time, the days and nights were much longer than today. At the time
when the moon had not yet split off, whenever such a human form (already
considerably condensed) was on the sunny side, there was organized into this
gas-mass something of such an animal form below in the water-earth. Human and
animal forms were combined so that there was a human form above and an animal
form below. The upper part protruded toward the sun, but the lower parts were
weaker, and the animal body joined itself to them. The upper part protruded out
of the water-earth, and the sun influence, proceeding through the flower-men,
worked on the inner forces of earth and moon. Because here an animal form was
joined to the human body, which was then at the fish level, it was said that the
sun, which illuminated the human body, stood at the sign of the Fish. The first
hint of this formation actually coincided with the sun's being in the sign of
the Fish, but the sun passed many times through this sign before the next
formation took place. The beginning of this formation, however, was the time
when the sun stood in the zodiacal sign of the Fish, and this sign received its
name because beings at the fish stage united themselves with man at that time.
Now, as we know, evolution proceeded in such a way that moon and earth formed
one body. At the separation of the sun, Yahweh remained with the earth along
with the moon forces, and among his ministers was the godly form the Egyptians
called Osiris. Until the moon left the earth, evolution proceeded in a strange
way.
We know that the earth was a water-earth, and the formation in the water
attained an ever lower stage during the time preceding the departure of the
moon. When the moon withdrew, man's lower nature was at about the stage of a
great amphibian. This is what the Bible calls the serpent, and what is elsewhere
called the lindworm or dragon. During the time when the moon was withdrawing,
more and more of the animal kingdom had worked itself into the lower human form.
When the moon finally left, man had a hideous animal-like form in his lower
parts, although above he still had the last remnants of a light-form into which
the forces of the sun flowed from without. It was still possible for the
light-beings to work into man. He moved about in the primal ocean, floating and
swimming, with this remarkable light-form protruding out of the water-earth.
What was this light-form? In the course of time it had transformed itself into a
powerful and comprehensive sense-organ. When the moon withdrew, this
transformation was complete. When man swam in the primal ocean, if some
dangerous being approached him, he could perceive it with this organ. Especially
could warmth and cold be perceived with it. This organ later shriveled up, so
that today it is the so-called pineal gland. At that time man moved within the
earth-mass, floating and swimming, using this organ as a sort of lantern. In
very young children we still find a soft place in the head, and it was from
there that this organ protruded into cosmic space.
There were ever higher animal forms, which man took into himself. At one time,
what had developed out of the fish was called the Water-man, because it lived in
the water and contained the germ of the later man. A still higher form that
developed could be called the Goat. The singular thing is that what corresponded
to man in his lower members actually gave the name to the then prevailing
constellation. The feet are actually the original Fish; the calves or shanks are
the Water-man, which for a long time enabled man to steer while swimming; the
knee we find to be related to the sign of the Goat. The animal kingdom evolved
more and more, and what became the thigh was designated as the Archer. It would
lead too far if I attempted to explain this expression, but we shall try to give
a picture of how man looked when the animal kingdom corresponded to the Archer.
Man was an animal then, which for the first time could move about on the islands
that were forming in the water. In his upper parts he became ever finer, and at
the top he actually preserved the flower-form. He was illuminated from above by
an organ that he carried on his head like a lantern. The then human form is
rightly conceived if we see the upper part as etheric and the lower part as
animal-like. In older pictures of the Zodiac, the form of the Archer is shown as
an animal below and a man above. These signs portray the stage of evolution at
which man then stood, even as the centaur reflects an actual stage of
evolution-upward man and downward horse. The horse must not be taken literally,
but as a representative of the animal kingdom. This was the artistic principle
in earlier times; the artist portrayed what the clairvoyant described to him or
what he himself had seen. Artists were often initiates. It is said that Homer
was a blind seer, but that means that he was clairvoyant. He could look back
into the Akashic Record. Homer, the blind seer, was much more seeing in the
spiritual sense than were the other Greeks. Thus, the centaur was once an actual
human form. When man looked like this, the moon had not yet withdrawn. The moon
force was still in the earth, and in man was still what had formed itself during
the sun period, the shining pineal gland, which he bore like a lantern on his
head.
When the moon withdrew from the earth, sexuality appeared. The centaur-man was
still sexless. Sexuality appeared when the sun stood in the sign of the
Scorpion, and this is why we always connect sex with this sign. The Scorpion is
what in the animal kingdom corresponds to the stage of evolution at which man
stood when he had developed sexuality. In his upper half, man was turned toward
the cosmic forces, but in his lower half he was a bisexual being. He had become
a sexual being. When the clairvoyant pupil of the Egyptian mysteries directed
his gaze toward this period of earth-evolution, he saw the earth peopled by men
whose lower bodily form was becoming denser, in harmony with their baser nature,
but who had a luminous human shape above.
Then began the time when, through the forces of the moon, the nerve-filaments
appeared in the region where the spine now is. The formation above the spine,
the present head-region, had condensed and changed itself into the human brain;
that was the completely transformed light-organ. Attached to this was the spine,
from which the nerves proceeded, and attached to this in turn was the lower man
whom we have described. This was revealed to the Egyptian pupil, and it became
clear to him that any being wishing to incarnate on the earth would have to
assume the corresponding human form. Osiris, as spirit, often visited the earth
and incarnated as a man. Men felt that a god had descended, but he had a human
form. Every exalted being who visited the earth appeared in the shape that man
then had. This shape was then such that one still, saw that light-body, that
remarkable head-ornament, the
lantern of Osiris, 2 which has been described in a pictorial way as
the eye of Polyphemus. This is the organ, the lantern, which at first was
outside the human body, and which then transformed itself into an inner organ in
the brain. Everything in early art is a symbol of actual forms.
When the Greek initiates became acquainted with these mysteries of the
Egyptians, they had already learned many things. Basically, they had learned the
same things as the Egyptian initiates, but they gave them different names in
their language. The initiates of the Egyptians had developed the clairvoyant
gifts to a high degree, so that many of their pupils could look back
clairvoyantly into those most ancient times. The Egyptian initiate had a direct
connection with those mysteries, hence the Greek priests seemed to him to be
only childish stammerers. This is illustrated by the words that an Egyptian
priest once spoke to Solon, “O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes remain always
children, and there is not an old man among you. In spirit you are all young;
there is no old opinion handed down among you from ancient tradition, nor any
science that is
hoary with age.” 3 Thus did the Egyptian point out that his wisdom
stood infinitely far above anything that can be experienced materially. Only in
the Eleusinian mysteries did the Greeks progress equally far, but only a few
participated in them.
In his study of earth-evolution, the Egyptian initiate saw that the god Osiris
had separated himself from the sun and had gone to the moon, whence he reflected
the light of the sun. What this god did was also sacred to the Greeks. They too
knew that it was this god, Osiris, who formed the twenty-eight moon-aspects, and
thereby laid the groundwork for the twenty-eight nerves in man. Through Osiris,
the nervous system is built onto the spinal column, thereby forming the whole
upper body of man. For what appears as muscle can maintain its form only because
the nerves are its shapers. All we have as muscles, cartilage, and other organs
such as heart and lungs, maintains its form only through the nerves. Thus
through the earlier sun-activity appeared what took form as brain and spinal
column, and on this spinal column the twenty-eight aspects of Isis and Osiris
work from outside. Isis and Osiris are the shapers of all this, and in the
tentacles that the brain sends down into the spinal column, Osiris works upon
the spine. The Greeks experienced this also, and as they became acquainted with
the Egyptian mysteries they recognized that Osiris was the same as the god whom
they called Apollo. They said that the Egyptian Osiris was Apollo, and that,
like Osiris, Apollo worked upon the nerves so as to achieve a soul-life within
man.
Now in a simple way, let us try to view this formation. Let us think of the
brain as it might be sketched. This continues itself into the spine, and there
the twenty-eight arms of Osiris enter in; there Osiris with his twenty-eight
hands plays upon the spine as upon a lyre. The Greeks had a significant image
for this — the lyre of Apollo. We need only think of it as transposed. The lyre
is the brain, the nerves are the strings on which the hands of Apollo play.
Apollo plays on the cosmic-lyre, on the mighty work of art that the cosmos has
formed, and that causes to resound in man the tones that compose his soul life.
For the Eleusinian initiate, this was what the Egyptians had given in their
pictures.
From such a picture we can see that these things should not be expounded too
rigidly, or we shall merely be forcing fantasies into them. For as a rule, our
experience should be that these pictures are actually much deeper than anything
we can dream into them by means of the intellect. If the Greek clairvoyant spoke
of Apollo, he had before his mind the mystery of Osiris-Apollo and the human
musical instrument. Osiris stood before the Egyptian pupil when he was initiated
into the mysteries of earth-existence. Thus we must say that these symbols,
these pictures, which have been preserved for us and which characterize what has
been taken from the primeval mysteries, mean much more than can be expounded by
the intellect. This lyre was seen, the hands of Apollo were seen. The important
thing is that we should relate every symbol to some actual vision, to something
really seen. There are no symbols, no legends, that have not first been seen.
The Egyptian pupil could penetrate to such mysteries only after a long time. He
was first prepared through a definite course of instruction, which was somewhat
similar to basic theosophy. Then only was he admitted to the real exercises.
There he experienced a sort of ecstatic condition which, although not yet true
clairvoyance, was more than a dream. In this condition he beheld what he was
later to see in the form of pictures. The pupil actually beheld in a mighty
living dream the departure of the moon, and of Osiris with it, and Osiris's
working upon the earth from the moon. He dreamed the Osiris-Isis legend. Every
pupil dreamed this Osiris-Isis dream. He had to dream it, for otherwise he would
not have been able to come to a perception of the true facts. The pupil had to
go through the picture, the imagination. The legend of Isis and Osiris was
inwardly experienced. This ecstatic soul-condition was a preliminary to the true
vision, a prelude to his seeing what takes place in the spiritual world. What
has been described today could be read by the pupil in the Akashic Record only
when he had reached a high degree of initiation. Tomorrow we shall speak further
of this, and also of the other signs of the Zodiac and their significance.
Endnotes
1 In classical antiquity this feeling of baffling
importance was already present. See Plutarch, On Isis and
Osiris.
2 Pictures of this ornament may be found in E. A.
Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection
(London, P. L. Warner, 1911), pages 42 and 49.
3 See the opening passages of Plato's Timaeus.
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