Moon

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The Moon, photographed from the Earth (2006)
Diameter comparison of Moon and Earth.
Planetary seal of the Moon.

The Moon (Old English: mōna, from Proto-Germanic: *mēnōn, derived from the Indo-European: *mē- "to measure"; Latin: Luna; Hebrew: לבֿנה Lavanah; astronomical sign: waxing and at the same time the sign for silver ☽, waning ☾) is from the spiritual-scientific point of view the residual slag of the so-called Old Moon, the third re-embodiment of our planetary system (see → world evolution). The sidereal period of the Moon is 27.3217 days, the synodic period of the lunar phases averages about 29.53 days. The surface of the Moon is littered with lunar craters, most of which were formed by the impact of meteorites; volcanic craters are relatively rare and small.

„The Moon's greatest power is moistening, clearly because it is close to the Earth and its moist exhalations. It therefore has a softening effect and produces mainly putrefaction in bodies, but also has a moderate heating power because of the light it receives from the Sun.“

– Claudius Ptolemy: Tetrabiblos, Book I, The Power of the Planets

Moon beings

The Moon is the seat of a number of spiritual lunar beings (or Moon beings), including the original teachers of man. The lunar sphere is the dominion of the Angeloi. The leading Archangel of the Moon sphere is Gabriel.

The separation of the Moon from the Earth

→ Main article: Lunar separation

According to Rudolf Steiner, the Moon came into being in its present form in the Lemurian period. At that time, the Earth was in danger of being completely frozen in its development by the hardening forces of the Moon. That is why the Moon was detached from the Earth and took the worst physical, etheric and astral forces with it from here. Since then a certain depressing influence has emanated from the Moon. In order to balance these forces, Yahweh, one of the seven Elohim, has united himself with the Moon and sends down his wisdom light from here with the reflected sunlight, thereby preparing love on Earth. At the end of Earth evolution, the inhibiting forces of the Moon will be overcome.

„Later, however, a state of affairs, an event occurred which was of very special importance. This history could have continued for a long time, but everything would not have turned out as it is now on Earth. Everything would have remained as it is now, with clumsy animals together with air-capable animals inhabiting a living Earthly body. But one day something special happened. You see, if we take this living formation of the Earth (see drawing), it happened that one day a young one really, one might say, formed from this Earth, which went out into the space of the world. This thing happened in such a way that a small outgrowth came into being; it withered away and finally split off.

Drawing from GA 354, p. 35
Drawing from GA 354, p. 35

And instead of this one, a body arose outside in the space of the world, which had the air-like substance that is in the surroundings on the inside, and the thick liquid on the outside. So an inverted body split off. While the lunar Earth continued to have its inner core thick and its outer air thick, a body split off that had the thick on the outside and the thin on the inside. And in this body, if one approaches the matter not with prejudice but with proper investigation, one can recognise the Moon of today. Today one can already know quite precisely, just as one can find, for example, the sodium in the air, what the air is made of. So one can know quite precisely: The Moon was once inside the Earth! What circles around out there as the Moon was inside the Earth and separated from it, went out into the space of the world.

And with that, a whole change occurred both with the Earth and with that which went out. Above all: The Earth lost certain substances, and only now was it possible for mineral substances to form in the Earth. If the lunar substances had remained in the Earth, the mineral substance would never have been able to form, but it would always have been a liquid and moving substance. Only the Moon's exit brought death to the Earth and with it the mineral kingdom, which is dead. But it was with this that today's plants, today's animals and man in his present form became possible.“ (Lit.:GA 354, p. 35f)

The separation of the sexes also came about through the exit of the Moon.

„When the soul left the body, the latter continued to live something like a continuation of life. - If development had progressed in this way, the Earth would have hardened under the influence of its solid element. To supersensible knowledge looking back on these conditions, it is evident how the bodies of men, being abandoned by their souls, become more and more solid. And after some time the human souls returning to Earth would have found no usable material with which they could have united. All materials useful to man would have been used to fill the Earth with the woody remains of embodiments.

Then an event occurred which gave the whole development a different turn. Everything in the Earth's solid matter that could contribute to permanent hardening was eliminated. Our present Moon left the Earth at that time. And what had previously contributed directly to the permanent formation of form in the Earth, now had an indirect, weakened effect from the Moon. The higher beings, on whom this formation of form depends, had decided that their effects should no longer come from within the Earth, but from without. As a result of this, a difference appeared in the bodily forms of man which must be described as the beginning of the separation into male and female sexes. The ethereal human forms which previously inhabited the Earth gave rise to the new human form, their offspring, through the interaction of the two forces within themselves, the germ and the vitalising force. Now these offspring reformed. In one group of such offspring the germinating power of the spiritual-soul was more active, in the other group the vitalising germinating power was more active. This was caused by the fact that with the departure of the Moon from the Earth the Earth element had weakened its power. The interaction of the two forces was now more delicate than it had been when it took place in one body. Consequently, the offspring was also more delicate, more refined. It entered the Earth in a delicate state and only gradually incorporated the firmer parts. This gave the human soul returning to Earth the possibility of uniting with the body again. It no longer revived it from outside, for this revival took place on Earth itself. But it united with it and made it grow. However, there was a certain limit to this growth. Through the separation of the Moon the human body had become flexible for a while, but the more it continued to grow on Earth, the more the solidifying forces took over. In the end, the soul could only participate in the structure of the body in a weaker and weaker way. This decayed as the soul ascended to spiritual-soul modes of existence.“ (Lit.:GA 13, p. 230ff)

Moon phases

Moon phase cycle during a lunation. As a result of Libration, both lunar poles become visible.

At new moon time the Yahweh forces act on the head man, at full moon on the lower man and in the intermediate phases on the middle man. The lunar forces have a very strong effect on the human brain on the one hand and on the reproductive organs on the other. The approximately 28 paired nerve cords emanating from the spinal cord correspond to the 2 x 14 = 28 lunar phases from new moon to new moon. Surplus nerve cords result from the difference between the lunar year and the solar year.

The phases of the moon have great significance for the choice of sex for the earthly incarnation of man. Men seek the new moon time for the descent to earthly incarnation. This does not mean that only at new moon men are born, but at new moon time they receive decisive impulses for their forthcoming male incarnation. Women accordingly choose the full moon time to receive fertile impulses from it.

In addition, the lunar phases also have great significance for the growth of plants and animals, as Lili Kolisko, but also Maria Thun could show.

Reunion of Moon and Earth

According to Rudolf Steiner, in the 7th millennium women will become infertile and in the 8th millennium (Lit.: GA 204, p. 244, S. 249) the Moon will reunite with the Earth:

„Now you know that the Moon will one day reunite with the Earth. This point in time, when the Moon will unite with the Earth again, has been postponed for thousands of years by astronomers and geologists living in abstraction; but that is only a delusion. In reality, we are not even close to that point in time. You know that humanity as such is getting younger and younger. You know that people are increasingly developing their physical and spiritual development only up to a certain point in time. At the time of Christ's death, when the event of Golgotha took place, people were generally capable of bodily and spiritual development up to the age of thirty-three. Today they are only capable until the twenty-seventh year. And there will come a time in the fourth millennium when people will only be capable of development up to the twenty-first year. Then a time will come in the seventh millennium when people will only be able to develop through their physicality until the fourteenth year. Women will then cease to be fertile; there will be a quite different way of life on Earth. It will be the time when the Moon again approaches the Earth, again incorporates itself into the Earth.“ (Lit.:GA 204, p. 240f)

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.
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