Crystal Heaven

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In the Crystal Heaven, as it was later described by Dante in his Divine Comedy and equated with the Primum Mobile, the deeds of spiritual beings are stored according to the occult view, which do not belong to our planetary chain but to an earlier evolutionary series. As the ninth celestial sphere, the crystal heaven encloses the fixed star sphere of the zodiac, which in turn surrounds the seven planetary spheres.

„That which arrived at the beginning of our evolution on earth before the evolution of Saturn, we would have to place outside the zodiac. The primeval wisdom called it the crystal heaven, and in this crystal heaven were deposited the deeds of the beings of an earlier evolution. They formed, so to speak, that on the basis of which the new entities began to create.“ (Lit.:GA 110, p. 158)

In Christian tradition, the concept of the crystal heaven or crystal sphere was derived from Genesis, where, on the second day of creation, the firmament (Latin: firmamentum; Hebrew: רקיע Rakía, also called גַּלְגַּל Galgal "wheel" by the Kabbalists) is spoken of, by which the heavenly and earthly "waters" are separated from each other. The Greeks called him Uranos (Greek: Οὐρανός Ouranos; Latin: Uranus, Coelus or Caelum) and the Indians Varuna (Sanskrit: m., वरुण Varuṇa "the enveloper") (Lit.:GA 93, p. 48).

The Crystal Heaven in Dante's Divine Comedy

In the worldview of Dante's Divine Comedy, the crystal heaven forms the 9th heavenly sphere after the seven planetary spheres and the circle of stars, and is thus the exact opposite image of the ice hell, the 9th and deepest circle of hell. Just as there all life freezes in the ahrimanic icy cold, so here in the crystal heaven is the wholesome source of all living movement and at the same time the source of time. Crystal heaven is not to be found anywhere in space, but rests solely in God's spirit. Here is the boundary where the created world passes into the infinity of the Ain Soph (Hebrew: אין סוף "not finite"), the eternal, uncreated and unlimited source of creation. From here, the Unmoved Mover sets the world, the total of creation, in motion.

Schema del Paradiso dantesco, Natalino Sapegna

See here the circle's nature begun,
Through which the centre dwells in repose,
And all around the flight won.

In this heaven, which hastens most swiftly,
dwells but the spirit of God that kindles love,
That moves it - the power it dispenses.

A circle of light and embers of love
Him, like the others he; only he can understand
This circle who has rounded it.

Nothing lets us see the measure of its course;
By him only is that of the other spheres measured,
As by halves and fives the ten are measured.

How in this circle the roots nourish themselves
Of time, how their branches strive to change,
That you can now easily explain to yourself.

                            (Paradiso, Canto XXVII, 36 - 40)

Above this is the 10th sphere, the Empyrean, the actual seat of God and the blessed.

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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