Sorat

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Sorat (Hebrewסורת) is the occult name of the sun demon, who is at the same time the Earth demon, who wants to prevent the reunion of the Earth with the Sun, which is intended for the future (Lit.:GA 096, p. 314), and to bind man permanently to the then remaining Earth dross, the so-called eighth sphere (Lit.:GA 104a, p. 128). He thus becomes the greatest opponent of the Christ, who united himself with the Earth through the Mystery of Golgotha in order to initiate precisely this reunion and to enable man to participate in the spiritualisation associated with it. Sorat is the beast with the two horns mentioned in the Apocalypse of John, whose name is only given in code by the number of the beast - 666.

Sorat and the Separation of Earth and Sun in Hyperborean Times

In Hyperborean times, the condensing, hardening forces of Sorat caused the Earth, which at that time still carried the Moon within it, to separate from the Sun as an independent celestial body. As an abnormal Spirit of Form, it initially created an invagination on the periphery of the etheric Sun-Earth sphere, in which the initially purely spiritual form broke up and materialised as the physical Earth, similar to the other planets (cf. → planet formation). This was counteracted by the powers of Nachiel (Lit.:GA 101, p. 135ff), through which the Sun could further refine and spiritualise itself, thus enabling the Elohim to carry out their work of creation. The descriptions of the biblical Genesis begin at about this time (Lit.:GA 122, p. 35).

The Beast of the Apocalypse and the Mystical Lamb

In the Apocalypse of John, the two-horned beast appears immediately after the beast with the 10 horns and the 7 heads:

„11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the Earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the Earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to Earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on Earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.“

Sorat will be overcome by the Mystical Lamb, the Christ.

„They know that the Sun once separated from the Earth, but that in the distant future it will reunite with the Earth. The Being who enables men to spiritualise themselves in such a way that they can reunite with the Sun is called in occultism the Intelligence of the Sun (Mystic Lamb). This good Sun-spirit is counteracted by an evil one, the demonium of the Sun. Both forces not only work in the Sun, but they send their effects down to the Earth. The forces of the good Sun-spirit move into plants, animals and human beings, they call forth life on Earth. The opposing principle of the Sun demon, that force which opposes the union of the Earth with the Sun, works in the evil forces of man.

The septagram as a symbol of the mystical lamb
The septagram as a symbol of the mystical lamb

Since ancient times there have been occult symbols for this. A heptagonal sign is the symbol for the good Sun spirit. The seven corners symbolically denote the seven planets. The pentagram is the symbol for the human being. The occultist draws the stars in the shape of seven eyes in the figure [of the septagram]. Surrounded by a line, the forces are all intertwined. They bind everything together. This is also drawn by the occultists in the days of the week. If you follow this line, you have the names of the days of the week going in the direction of the line [...].

The good Sun spirit is also called the Lamb. We have already spoken of the pentagram as a symbol of man. The black magician uses the pentagram in such a way that the two "horns" go upwards and one, the tip, goes downwards [→ Drudenfuß]. After the completion of this development, the good have then developed seven "horns". This is the sign of the Christ-Spirit.

Read the passage where John receives the book with the seven seals, with this occult knowledge. Let us read it as it is described in the fourth chapter of Revelation. "And immediately I was in the Spirit. And, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and upon the throne sat one; and he that sat was like unto the stone of jasper and sardius.... And round about the chair were twenty and four chairs, and upon the chairs sat twenty and four elders" - which I have set before you in the twenty and four hours of the world day - day and night. And then what is further found in the fifth chapter. "And I looked, and, behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent into all the Earth." - This occult sign underlies John's reference in the Apocalypse to the mysteries of the world's existence. Only those who know these can guess how profound a book the Apocalypse is and what it means when the Lamb's adversary is portrayed as the beast with two horns. The symbol of the Sun demon is drawn in this way:

Symbol of the Sun demon Sorat
Symbol of the Sun demon Sorat

The Apocalypse is written entirely in occult script, expressed through words.

A secret is also hidden in the number of the beast 666, of which it is also said: It is the number of a man. - According to the Aramaic secret doctrine, this number is to be read like this: 400, 200, 6, 60. These four numbers correspond to the Hebrew letters Taw, Resch, Waw and Samech. In Hebrew, one reads from right to left:

400, 200, 6, 60
ת ר ו ס
Taw Resch Waw Samech


These letters symbolise the four principles which lead man to complete hardening if he does not succeed in transforming them. Samech expresses the principle of the physical body, Waw that of the etheric body, Resch that of the astral body, Taw the lower I, which has not risen to the higher I. The whole is called Sorat. The whole read together is called Sorat. This is the occult name of the sun demon, the adversary of the Lamb. This is the mystery that the newer theology has made of it: It is called Nero. One really cannot find a greater fable. He who invented the matter of Nero is esteemed as one of the greatest minds in theology. Thick works have been written about it. Thus is misunderstood what lies in the symbolic signs. Books like the Apocalypse can only be understood by him who is able to read the occult Scriptures.“ (Lit.:GA 96, p. 314ff)

Sorat and black magic

If one goes down the path of black magic, one approaches the two-horned beast. Today, this danger is still relatively small, since only a few people are capable of abusing spiritual powers in such a way. In the future, however, this danger will become greater and greater.

„Only when a person has begun to learn the Abc of black magic, so to speak, is he on the dangerous path to the abyss. And this Abc consists in the fact that a person who becomes the disciple of a black magician is urged to kill life in a quite conscious way, to inflict as much pain as possible on life above all in the killing, and to feel a certain satisfaction in this infliction of pain. If the intention is to stab or cut into a living being with the intention of feeling bliss in its pain, then this is the Abc of the black arts. What goes beyond that cannot be touched upon. But you will find it hideous enough when you are told that the black magic beginner has to cut and stab into living flesh, not as the vivisector cuts - this is also something bad, but the essence of vivisection finds its overcoming in the vivisectors themselves, but whoever systematically cuts into the flesh and derives satisfaction from it, begins to enter the slippery slope of black magic. And thereby the possibility is given for him to approach more and more that being, the two-horned beast.

This being itself, which we have characterised as the two-horned beast, we need only imagine that it is a seductive being of a quite different kind from man. It comes from other world-periods, has taken on the tendencies of other world-periods, and will feel deeply satisfied when it comes across beings such as these evil beings will be, who have refused to inwardly accept what can flow out of the Earth as good. This being could have nothing from the Earth. It saw the development on Earth coming, but it said to itself: I am not so advanced with the Earth that I can have anything from Earthly existence. - This being could only have had something of the Earth if it had been able to attain dominion at a certain moment, namely, when the Christ-principle descended to Earth. If this Christ-principle had been nipped in the bud at that time, if the Christ could have been overcome by the adversary, then, however, it would have been possible for the Earth in its entirety to have fallen to this Sorat-principle. This has not been the case, and so this being must be content with the waste that has not inclined itself to the Christ-principle, with those people who have remained stuck in matter. They will be his hosts in the future.“ (Lit.:GA 104, p. 239f)

„When the Sun will have reunited with the Earth, then man, having purified his impulses, desires and passions, will redeem the Luciferic beings. The luciferic beings who do not go with him to the Sun remain in the state in which they were; they then appear as ejected into the evil lower astral world. This is then the old serpent and the first of the dragons emerges. So when the Earth enters the Sun, a dragon appears. But there are other retarded things: such people who cannot quite help being retarded in animalism, who remain slaves to their animal instincts. While the other people go to the Sun, they form an evil power towards the others. They form the second monster, and the apocalyptic says in his exact manner: the luciferic dragon appears in the sky because he comes from higher worlds; the second beast rises from the sea - these are the retarded animal men. (Cf. Revelation 12:3–13)

Now we have a third manifestation: these are the black magicians. They do not remain in animalism, they develop spiritual abilities within themselves. They have turned away in full consciousness and give up the carnal incarnation for the Sorat; this will be the carnalisation of the Sun-demon. But now we see how once more in the future the Earthy will emerge from the sun. If spiritual men were to remain united with the Sun for ever, those who have remained in animalism without guilt would no longer be saved. So these spiritual people step out once more and unite with what has fallen out to try to save those left behind.

When the Earth began to be "Earth", it had to go through another brief repetition of the Saturn, Sun and Moon states. Thus it went through repetitions before it became the present Earth and now, while still in the actual Earth state, it must prophetically reflect ahead: Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. Thus within the actual state of the Earth it passes through seven states, which are usually called rounds. During the pre-mirrored Jupiter state, the Earth unites with the sun. On this Jupiter-Earth all the great cultures of time and the seven intermediate periods occur once more, only much less sharply indicated. On this Jupiter Earth many beings still have the possibility of being saved, even the black magicians.

It is the same again on Venus-Earth; there we have a sixth intermediate planetary state. But even there these retarded beings still stubbornly resist and this state is decisive.

On the Vulcan-Earth nothing can then be saved. On Venus-Earth, in the last sub-temporal epoch, the last moment for salvation has come. That is why the ancient Kabbalists formed the word "Sorat", because it contains the number 666. This is also the number of those people who, out of their free, refined will, have become black magicians by putting spiritual powers at the service of their egoism. The first dragon, therefore, is not a human being; he came from the spiritual world; the second dragon is reckoned to the animal nature, but in the most eminent sense the Bible reckons this number of the third group to human beings. Thus 666 is not the sign of an animal, but the number of a man.“ (Lit.:GA 104a, p. 120ff)

Sorat and the eighth sphere

„But those who proved immature in the time of Venus-Earth, who placed themselves under the dominion of Sorat, must now segregate themselves on a special globe, while the seven others go down and up again. Thus the colony of Sorat falls out. The black magicians inhabit this eighth sphere, which goes left, and the beast houses all that falls out: that is the eighth state. Thus we might find all the Theosophical teachings in the Apocalypse.“ (Lit.:GA 104a, p. 128)

Literature

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.