Qualitative patterns in the different phases of evolution

keywords: precession equinoxes - zodiac - world clock - evolution consciousness - ages epochs - ice ages - history

About this post

In Steiner's work on Evolution, eg in the chapters describing the Epochs and Cultural Periods, there are many reference to the recurrence of certain characteristics of consciousness. 

This post is about the question how this can be seen and explained in relation to the larger framework of Evolution that is sketched by Steiner, or in general - in the Universal Knowledge Body of Knowledge BoK-U (as in antroposophy, hermetics, theosophy, rosecrucianism). 

The goal of this post is to initialize the question by holding three sources against eachother: 

• Steiner's lectures (1), and 
• Wachsmuth's follow up work, specifically The Evolution of Mankind (2).
• Vreede's astronomical letters (3)

The trigger for this post was the fact that the evolutionary curves below and some statements by Steiner seemed to implicitly talk about some logical pattern and pointing at some (unspecified) 'law' behind these patterns.
When I first opened Wachsmuth book (2) it seemed as if that held the key to explaining this pattern. Hence this post started by exploring if Wachsmuth's book contained this explanation, a process which expanded to find the original Steiner's lectures, and the work by Vreede (3), which were the basis for Wachsmuth's book.

1. - Steiner's evolutionary cycles

(Source 1a) It appears throughout Steiner's lectures, that certain characteristics of man's consciousness experience and relationship to the cosmos, show similarities across different time periods.  
This idea is depicted in the following drawing (by Adriana Koulias):

Bottom line, Steiner describes that we can better understand the characteristics of a cultural period regarding man's consciousness and relation to the cosmos, by considering earlier cultural periods, as depicted above.

The same point is made for the Epochs:

The question now is: Does Steiner somewhere explain the above, on what underlying premise or mechanism this is based, or how it can be explained?

Annotations for update to post (to be added later):
- equal time frames versus speeding up, atlantean catastrophe effect, etc
- note below gives a qualitative explanation for guidance (see archangels 354 years), not an evolutionary 'cause'

(1b) Indeed, the 'technicality' of the above is explained in his lectures of 1910-06-07 and 1915-05-13 when he discusses the Spirits of the Age (or Archai, or Principalities) and their relationship to the Folk Spirits / Archangels.

Below are two sets of extracts from these lectures, to make it easier to read the relevant sections in sequence:

• Nevertheless behind the word Zeitgeist, or ‘Spirit of the Age’, there is concealed a real being, and indeed none other than one three stages above the stage of humanity. The Beings concealed behind this word are those who went through their human stage on the old Saturn, at the earliest epoch of the earth's evolution, and who at the present day are working at the transformation of the earth from its spiritual atmosphere, and in so doing are going through the last stage of the transforming of their physical body into Spirit-man or Atma. 

• We are here dealing with exalted Beings, the contemplation of whose attributes could well make man dizzy. They are the Beings who may be described as the actual inspirers — or we should here say, if we wish to use the technical expressions of occultism — the ‘intuitors’ of the Spirit or Spirits of the Age. 

• They work in such a way that they relieve one another in turn and extend the hand to one another as it were. From epoch to epoch they pass on their task to the next one.

• In each age we have one such Spirit of the Age; then at the end of the age he passes on his office to his successor, who again passes it on to the following one, and so on. The foregoing ones are in the meanwhile going through their own evolution, and then that one who has been longest absent, takes his turn again; so that, in a later age, while the others are then proceeding with their own evolution, the same one returns again as Spirit of the Age and gives to the progressed humanity, by means of intuition, that which he himself has in the meanwhile acquired for his higher mission. We look up to these Spirits of Personality, to these Beings who may be called by the otherwise meaningless name of Spirit of the Age, and may say: ‘We human beings go from incarnation to incarnation, but we very well know, that while we are ourselves passing on from epoch to epoch, that when we look into the future, we see ever different Spirits of the Age, regulating the occurrences of our earth.’

• But our present Spirit of the Age will return too, we shall meet him again. On account of this attribute of these Spirits of Personality, of their describing cycles, as it were, and returning again to their starting-point, and of working in cycles, they are also called Spirits of Cyclic Periods.
  We shall give further reasons to justify this expression. These higher spiritual Beings who give their orders to the Folk-spirits, are also called Spirits of Cyclic Periods.
  We refer to those cyclic periods which man himself has to go through, when age after age he returns in a certain way to earlier conditions and repeats them in a higher form. Now you may be struck by this repetition of the characteristics of earlier forms. If you examine carefully into the stages of the evolution of man on the earth according to spiritual science, you will find these repetitions of occurrences in many different forms.
  Thus there is a repetition in the fact that there are, so to speak, seven consecutive epochs following after the Atlantean Catastrophe; these we call the post-Atlantean stages of civilization.
  The Græco-Latin stage or age of civilization forms the turning-point in our cycle and therefore it is not repeated. After this comes the repetition of the Egyptian-Chaldæan epoch, which is taking place in our own time. After this will follow another epoch, which will be a repetition of the Persian epoch, although in a somewhat different form; and then the seventh epoch will come, which will be a repetition of the primeval Indian civilization, the epoch of the Holy Rishis; so that in that age certain things of which the foundations were laid in ancient India will re-appear in a different form. The guidance of these occurrences devolves upon the Spirits of the Age.

And in 1915:

• If we consider the development of the earthly humankind in such a way that we go back to the foundation of the ancient Rome, about eight hundred years before the Mystery of Golgotha, we find that there a certain spirit of the ages started his development. Another spirit of the ages was leading and steering the destiny of the earth before. This spirit of the ages who took over the leadership of the spiritual earthly development in those days was leading up to the 16th century. A spirit of the ages leads the destiny of the earth for such a period. 

• Now, however, the spirits of the ages regulate this whole course of the human destiny, as it were, by their subordinates. These are the archangels. Such archangels govern in subordinated positions for a much shorter time than the spirits of the ages.

•  While the spirits of the ages rule as long as I have stated just now, we can assume a spirit of the ages from the foundation of Rome up to the 16th century, the spirits we count to the hierarchy of the archangels rule only for three to four centuries. They alternate in such a way that about six or seven come one after the other, while a spirit of the ages is ruling. So that we have that archangel we call Oriphiel in the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. Then Anael, Zachariel, Raphael, Samael, Gabriel rule successively; and now since 1879 we have the government of that archangel we call Michael. So we have, if we look at the spiritual worlds, the higher government of the spirits of the ages and subordinate to them, the successive governments of archangels. 

When describing the Spirits of the Ages, Steiner focuses on the cultural ages, not really on the ('root race') epochs. In other words, the above describes a cycle of about 20.000 years.

(1c) To put the above in perspective, we take a small side-jump to the seven 354 periods corresponding to the sequence of alternative reigning archangels.

• Most sources reference this as describes by Johannes Trithemius in 1508 in his book: De Septem Secundeis (Seven Secondary Intelligences/Causes). 
• Steiner confirms this and covers the same topic when he starts to really focus on the age of the archangel Michael in the last seven years of his life, for example in the lectures of 1918-11-21 to 30 called The Mission of the Archangel Michael. A PDF version can be found here, it includes the Trithemius text and (see last page), even some scribblings from Steiner's notebook.
• Interestingly, seems Trithemius was not the first to write about this cycle, as we find a similar description dating back already from three centuries earlier in the work of  Pietro d'Abano (1257-1316). You can read for yourself online on pages 894 to 897 in the following book History of magic and experimental science by Lynn Thorndike.
• Note: around the period 1879, several authors have been discussing the impact of start of the new period for archangel Michael. I refer to eg Edward Maitland and his references to the works of H.G. Guinness.    

Why do we go there? Because Steiner and (see below) Harrison map the cultural ages of about 2160 years to the effect of the precession of the equinoxes and the Archai or Principalities. A 'time level below', these periods of 354 years are mapped to the hierarchy level below, namely the Archangels. And at least one source maps the hierarchy level above to the platonic year of approx. 25.000 years and the ('root race') epochs. We'll come back on this to put it in perpective in the Discussion under point 7 below.

2. Steiner and the zodiac

Steiner discusses the zodiac throughout his work, for an overview of lectures on the topic see for example the pages by Rick Bobbette.

• Parenthesis/Disclaimer: Steiner, Wachsmuth and others position zodiacal influences as spiritual influences of hierarchies beyond our planetary system, and most often it is left at that. Often this is where people 'go into the woodwork' with contemporary rational thinking, because - in our current worldview - the stars representing the constellations are known to be so far away. IMHO this is a typical 'trap' from the limitations of our current rational mundane consciousness. The cosmos is not limited to the dimensions of spacetime as we humans experience it; time and space are relative  concepts. It does not make sense to imagine spiritual hierarchies linked to the fixed stars in our physical sense .. because they are not to be positioned in spacetime.

Steiner positions the zodiac in a cosmic meta-perspective in the 27-Jan-1908 (GA102) lecture, and links the zodiac to the cultural ages in the 8-Jan-1918 (GA0180) lecture. In the latter he also introduces the term of the world clock, on which Wachsmuth built (see below).

  

Another more complete drawing of the cosmic world clock is given in the lecture of 9-Jul-1921. This shows the seven ages in the Atlantean epoch, followed by the five cultural ages of the current Postatlantean epoch.
 

3. Steiner and the yugas

For the sake of completeness: another way of looking at the cyclic phases and their qualitative differences is the classical Hindu concept of the ages or Yugas. Steiner only makes reference to the Yugas in a number of lectures, specifically: 1910-01-25 and 1910-03-06 and 1910-03-15 and 1912-05-20. It appears that after the split with the theosophical movement end of 1912, he never uses the concept of the Yugas any more.
In summary, he sketches the yugas or ages as follows:

• Golden Age — Krita Yuga — about 20,000 years
• Silver Age — Treta Yuga — about 15,000 years
• Bronze Age — Dvapara Yuga — about 10,000 years
• Dark Age — Kali Yuga — about 5,000 years;
  Kali Yuga began approximately in the year 3101 B.C .. came to an end in the year 1899
• Our Age embraces a future 2,500 years

Steiner mainly references these to (once more) describe the evolution of consciousness, and focus on the Dark Age where man is disconnected from the spiritual realms. No reference whatsoever is made to zodiac, platonic year, or the epochs he uses throughout his work. In the first lecture he emphasizes that the time frames given are very broad and  indicative.

• "I emphasise that these designations — Krita Yuga, for example — can also be applied to longer epochs, for before the Golden Age man experienced and participated in still higher worlds; hence all those earlier ages could be embraced by this name. But if, so to speak, demands are kept moderate and one is satisfied with the range of spiritual experience described, the periods can be divided in the way indicated. Definite time periods can be given for all such epochs. True, evolution progresses slowly and by degrees, but there are certain boundary-lines of which it can be said that prior to them such-and-such conditions of life and of consciousness predominated, and subsequently, others."

4. - Wachsmuth and the world clock

(Source 2) Guenther Wachsmuth started writing a number of volumes, also on incentive of Steiner, who gave him suggestions and guidance in the early days of this work. Although some volumes were published in the decade after Steiner had died, Wachsmuth continued his work for decades thereafter. We may assume that Wachsmuth got direct 'hints' from Steiner on some key concepts, and didn't start off on his own wild ideas, in fact he writes as much himself. From the 11 books he wrote between 1920 and 1956, there are seven volumes of interest. Here we focus on the 1953 book Evolution of Mankind (1961 English edition).
In Chapter 4, Wachsmuth describes the 'world clock' mechanism of the precession of the equinoxes and the relation with the signs of the zodiac.

In short, due to the position of the earth,the influx of energies from different parts of the cosmos is regulated as earth goes through a full platonic year. Wachsmuth refers to radio-astronomy study of our Milky Way galaxy, and the differentiation of cosmic energies in areas such eg Sagittarius. 
This approach of relating the earth axis and the influx from the different areas of the zodiac, followed by Wachsmuth here, may well be inspired by, or at least in my humble opinion it logically builds on, the Steiner lectures on 1920-04-17 and 'Cosmic Forces in Man' of 1921-11-24.

The following extract from the first reference illustrates:

• Try for the moment to consider Space alone, and out of the whole visible Heavens, let us consider the regions that are indicated by the Zodiac. I do not intend here to deal in detail with the several Zodiacal signs, but let us consider the directions to which we look in the heavens when we turn, for instance, towards Aries (Ram), in the Zodiac; then Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.
  All we have to note, in the first place, is that the space that lies before us as our visible Universe is divided in this way. The signs merely indicate the division, in so far as each of them denotes the boundary of a certain section of Space. Now we must not imagine that these directions of space can be treated in such a manner that one might say: ‘There is empty space, and I just draw a line somewhere into it’. There simply does not exist such a thing as mathematics calls ‘Space’; but everywhere are lines of force, directions of force, and these are not equal, they vary, they are differentiated. We can distinguish between these twelve regions by realising that if we turn in the direction of the sign Aries, the force we experience is a different one than it would be had we faced the sign Libra or Cancer. In each direction the force differs. Man will not admit this, as long as he lives merely in the world of the senses; but as soon as he ascends to the Imaginative life of the soul, he no longer experiences the directions in space as the same when facing Aries or Cancer, but feels their influence upon him as greatly differentiated.
  ... And now, without having regard to present-day astronomical theories, let us examine these phenomena which appear to our sense of vision. We know that either actually or apparently the Sun passes through the Zodiac in various ways; in its daily course, in its yearly course, and again in its course through the Platonic year, through the precession of the equinoxes. This points to the fact that the effects upon us of that absorbent ether ball called Sun vary greatly, as they come from the different directions of Space. At one time the Sun's workings impinge upon us from a part we call Aries, at another time from a different section and so on.
• Taking the case of an inhabitant of our own part of the globe, we can see that at any given time he has facing him one half of the Zodiacal signs, while the other half is obscured by the Earth. In other words, we are so placed in relation to this differentiation of Space, that we are turned directly towards the one part of the Zodiac while between the other and ourselves stands the Earth. Obviously this has nothing whatever to do with either an actual or an apparent motion; it is a simple fact that at any given moment we face one part of the Zodiac, while the other part is intercepted by the Earth. Now please try to imagine these sections of space with our Earth obscuring some of them. What does it signify for us? It is plain that the one half will influence us directly, the other not directly, but rather, shall I say, through its absence. At one time we have the direct working of these differentiated regions of space, at another time the working of their absence, the effect, as it were, of their non-presence. This fact is something which is active within us and enables us to some extent to bring into a kind of relationship that which is working directly upon us and that which is absent, from whose direct influence we are removed.

Whereas many authors cover the precession of the equinoxes, in this book Wachsmuth takes the systematic approach further than most. He defines three prototypes or possible variations, recurrent states with certain characteristics that connect to the typical phase of (approx. - and he explains why this varies) 2160 years for one zodiac sign. 

   

  

The rest of the book describes the chronology of the different phases of evolution (consistent with Steiner, of course), now systematically connecting historical and archeological facts and descriptions, into the above framework of the 'energies related to a certain precession-state and zodiacal-sign-era'. In other words, Wachsmuth shows and explains why certain Epochs and Cultural Periods have these specific characteristics. 

Once more in summary: the precession of the equinoxes implies that the earth's axis, the autumn and vernal points, and the sun's high and low points take different positions throughout the full platonic year cycle. Wachsmuth categorizes the different states into three prototypes. He then maps the different phases of evolution, and their 'zodiacal sign of influence', against this World Clock.

Take care when comparing the Wachsmuth clock below with Steiner's clock above, they go round in different directions and don't use the same reference axis for the zodiac signs. 
  

All the above assumes that the reader is familiar with Steiner's writings and lectures on evolution, and should really have read/studied Wachsmuth's chapter 4 referenced above. Because it is not broadly available, I have scanned it to make it available here (please click the links): the text of Chapter 4.

And here's the illustrations from the appendix

Note that Wachsmuth does not go into detail in explaining the logic underlying the synthetic schemes above, nor is he very explicit in discussing what underlies his three prototypes. More on this later in point 8 below.

6. Harrison

Also C.G. Harrison (1855-1936) links the cycles to the hierarchies, and makes the connection to the precession of the equinoxes and the ice ages. In the last of his six lectures delivered in 1893, he describes the 'law of cataclysms', that is .. why each (root race) epoch cyclically ends in a major discontinuity:

• "they occur at the end of every 'root race' because the Principalities (or angels of periods) (editor: Spirits of Time, in Steiner's nomenclature) of the succeeding one are then evolving at their minimum rate, having completed one-half of their minor cycle. At such times, the centripetal resistance to the attraction of the Eight Sphere is at its weakest.
  
  These periods coincide with the precession of the equinoxes, the last was the end of the glacial epoch in the northern hemisphere, and is preserved in the memory of a universal flood in the traditions of all nations."

7. - On the Platonic Year and Ice Ages

This section is added because whereas Steiner hardly or never goes into describing the actual course of the Platonic year (he just states this as the journey of the Sun between the stars), he does - on multiple occasions - refer to the recurrence of ice ages as key points for the evolutionary process on earth.

This section will be completed later. See the Astronomy course lectures 6,7, and 8. Popular summary in 1924-09-13.

One first reference from the 6th lecture of that course on 1921-01-06

• You know that the vernal point - where the Sun rises in spring-time gradually moves through the Ecliptic. Today the vernal point is in the constellation of Pisces; before, it was in Aries; still earlier in Tauraus, - that was the time of the cult of the Bull among the Egyptians and Chaldeans. Still earlier, it was in the constellation of Gemini, and then in Cancer; in Leo. This already brings us very nearly to the last Ice Age.
• Thinking it through to a conclusion, we know that the vernal point goes all the way round the Ecliptic, and that the time it takes is called the Platonic Year - the great Cosmic Year, lasting approximately 25,920 years.     
• A whole number of processes are comprised in these 25,920 years, involving among other things this rhythmic alternation on the Earth; Ice Age., intermediate period, Ice Age, intermediate period, and so on.
• At the time we spoke of, when there was that deep stirring of the spiritual life in mankind, the vernal point was entering the sign of Pisces. In the Graeco-Latin Age it had been in the sign of Aries, previous to that in Taurus, and so on. We get back to Leo or Virgo, more or less, during the time when glacial conditions prevailed over the greater part of Europe and in America too. Looking into the future, there will be another Ice Age in these regions when the vernal point reaches the sign of Scorpio. This rhythm is contained within what takes its course in 25,920 years. Although admittedly of vast extent, it is a true rhythm none the less.
• "About 10,000 years forward and 10,000 years back from this moment A, we reach the maximum development of the Ice Ages in these very regions. Ice Ages certainly would not allow of any outstanding development in human life and culture.

• Surveying therefore the evolution of these European regions we find an Ice Age — a laying-waste of civilization — 10,000 years before the Christian era, and we should find the same again 10,000 years after this time."

Now Steiner did link the cycles to the influence of the hierarchies, touching on this in the lecture of 1910-12-31 (Occult History: Lecture 5). The synopsis of this lecture covers:

• The Spirits of Form also manifest in the beings of the kingdoms of nature and thus work upon man. Crucial points in evolution: their connection with the position and movement of the earth in relation to the neighbouring celestial bodies, and with the position of the earth's axis in relation to the axis of the ecliptic. The Atlantean catastrophe and the impulses of the year 1250. Cycles of ascent and decline in the history of mankind; catastrophic happenings in nature and fundamental changes in the activities of spiritual Beings and of human souls. The onset and waning of these cycles; they are intersected by other powerful influences.

 After a discussion on the Spirits of Form, follows the extract below:

• Between the old influences in the Atlantean epoch and those in the Post-Atlantean, there was a boundary-period filled by the Atlantean catastrophe — by those events whereby the face of the earth was totally changed in regard to the distribution of water and land. Such periods and changes consequent upon them are connected with mighty processes in the constellation, position and movement of the cosmic bodies connected with the sun. In fact, such periods in the earth's evolution are determined and directed from macrocosmic space. It would lead too far if I were to attempt to describe to you how these successive periods are directed and regulated by what is called in modern astronomy the precession of the equinoxes. This is connected with the position of the earth's axis in relation to the axis of the ecliptic, with mighty processes in the constellation of neighbouring celestial bodies; and there are definite times when, on account of the particular position of the earth's axis in relation to these other bodies of the cosmic system, the distribution of warmth and cold on our earth is radically changed. This position of the earth's axis in relation to the neighbouring stars causes the climatic conditions to change. In the course of something over 25,000 years, the axis of the earth describes a kind of conical or spherical movement, so that conditions undergone by the earth at a certain time are undergone again, in a different form and indeed at a higher stage, after 25,000 to 26,000 years. But between these great periods of time there are always shorter periods. The process does not go forward in absolute, unvarying continuity, but in such a way that certain years are crucial points, deeply incisive times in which momentous happenings take place. And here, because it is of essential significance in the whole historical development of earthly humanity, we may point particularly to the fact that in the seventh millennium before Christ there was a very specially important astronomical epoch — important because, on account of the constellation brought about by the relative position of the earth's axis to the neighbouring stars, the climatic conditions on earth culminated in the Atlantean cataclysm. This happened six to eight thousand years before our era, and the effects of it continued for long ages. Here we can only emphasise what is correct, as opposed to the fantastic periods of time that are mentioned, for these happenings lie much less far behind us than is generally believed. During this period the macrocosmic conditions worked into the physical in such a way as to bring about the mighty physical upheavals of the Atlantean cataclysm, which completely changed the face of the earth. This was the greatest physical transformation of all, the most drastic action of the macrocosm upon the physical earth. Hence the influence from the macrocosm upon the spirit of man at that time was at its lowest; this epoch therefore provided an opportunity for the less powerful Beings of the Hierarchies to begin to exercise on man a potent influence, which then ebbed gradually away.
• Thus when the Spirits of Form were working powerfully to revolutionise the physical, they had less time to work also upon the spirit of man, with the result that the physical vanished as it were from under man's feet. But an the other hand it was precisely during the time of the Atlantean catastrophe that men were transported most completely into spiritual realms and only gradually found their way again into the physical world in the Post-Atlantean epoch. Now when you picture that at this time — six to eight thousand years before the Christian era — the least influence was exercised upon the human spirit and the strongest influence on the physical conditions of the earth, it will not be difficult for you to conceive that there may be another point of time when the opposite situation comes about: when those who are cognisant of such a matter experience the reverse of these conditions — namely, the least influence upon the physical and the greatest influence, precisely of the Spirits of Form, upon the human spirit. Hypothetically you can conceive that there may he a point in history where the reverse of the great Atlantean catastrophe applies. Of course it will not be so easily noticeable, for the Atlantean catastrophe, when parts of the very earth were blotted out, is bound to be a very striking event for people of our Post-Atlantean epoch, with their strong leanings to the physical. When the Spirits of Form are exercising a powerful influence on the human personality and have only a little influence upon what is taking place in the external world, the impression will be less vivid. The point of time when this condition — in the nature of things, less perceptible to men — set in, was the year A.D. 1250 This year 1250 is of momentous importance in history.

and in the conclusion:

• But these things become especially interesting if we connect them with another law, with such points of intersection in evolution as was the year 1250. At that time there was the strongest possible penetration into the souls of men — and that is not so readily noticed as the upheavals of continents. During the Atlantean catastrophe the Spirits of Form worked so little into the souls of men that the younger hierarchies held the field, as it were, at that time. Thus the activities of the different ranks of hierarchical Beings are distributed. And it is important to know that again in these cyclic movements certain laws of ascent and decline prevail. I indicated something of this when I said that in the year 1250 there was an impetus and then an ebbing away which manifested in the current of materialism. Such things are often to be perceived. And it is interesting to notice how cycles of ascent and of decline alternate in the history of mankind.

Annotations for update to post (to be added later): 

- include process of the changing earth, both expanding as softening/hardening

- this is link to future post on 25920 and path of the sun .. before going there in next posts, it makes consideration about the non-sense of reasoning (from a current human perspective) in multiple or beyond platonic years

For background reading, see also the article by Martha Keltz: 'The Atlantean Cataclysms and the Ages Following'

8. - Elisabeth Vreede's Letters

(Source 3) A century ago, people blogged by writing regular letters. Elisabeth Vreede wrote a monthly letter for three years in the period from September 1927 to August 1930. They are published as 'Astronomy and Spiritual Science: the Astronomical Letters of Elisabeth Vreede'.
Some of these letters appear to provide a missing link between Steiner's lectures and Wachsmuth's work. For me they represent some of the clearest and best writings I have ever read on the subject of this post.  I refer specifically to the following:

• Letters 11 and 12 of Year 1: The precession of the equinoxes
• Letters 10, 11 and 12 of Year 3 on: The movement of the apsides, glacial epochs, and the world ages.

It turns out that, whereas I initially thought that Wachsmuth had expanded the hints given by Steiner (in his 1920-21 lectures) to come up, nicely systematically, with his three prototypes (see above).. it appears that he may, actually quite probably, built literally on this Letter 11 of Jear 3 (July 1930) by Elisabeth Vreede who (seemingly) did all the groundwork. Indeed you will see that pages 364-371 corresponds to what we read in Wachsmuth decades later, see above.

Because this text is really key to the subject of this post, I have added the digital extract of this section here as I did with other key sources in my posts.You can download them by clicking the links above. With apologies for the orientation glitch in scanning the first doc.

Below is, for comparison, a summary of the perspectives considered by Vreede. As with all pictures you can right click and open in new tab for a larger version.

The legend below holds these against Wachsmuth's prototypes mentioned earlier.In grey are the three time periods that Steiner refers to as key points in the platonic year.

For the readers who have been interested to follow this blogpost, I do recommend this book as it offers essential material if one wants to develop an understanding for the matters touched on here.

 
9. - Comparison and discussion

Now holding source (2 - Wachsmuth ) against (1 - Steiner) one may have an expectation that Wachsmuth - with this systemic approach - offers information relevant to the answer on the question we started with. This however does not seem to be the case,  as the two don't quite correlate.

Below is a summary of the periods against Prototypes, based on (2): 

More visually represented, here's how Wachsmuth's three Prototypes relate to Steiner's picture.

From this the question: The above hypothesis being incorrect, then how to position the relationship pointed at in this post? Are Steiner and Wachsmuth not fully consistent in some way, is there something we did not take into account, or is it a way of incomplete interpretation?

10. - Discussion

In this paragraph I want to elaborate a short discussion of the above: on how sources (1) and (2) can be understood together as not being contradictory at all. So not really a conclusion, but just a bottom line and my take on this, from my current limited understanding (see title of my blog).

(10.1) - Mixing the influences of the Hierarchies and Maya perspective in considerations

Everything we can point at in our physical 'spacetime' reality experience .. can be - in our imagination, and just as a metaphor -  'double clicked' upon .. to show the cumulative effect of compounded spiritual hierarchies working at different levels 'behind the scenes'.

So the real question becomes what was leading Wachsmuth in his approach above, as he must surely have been aware of Steiner's description of the Spirits of the Ages.
Still he goes to show a correlation with precession of the equinoxes (which is also pointed at by Harrison).
It comes across as if his approach is more based on a type of 'physical thinking' (the axial positions of earth and man, radiation coming from the different signs of the zodiac, ..).

Now maybe both can be true and they don't have to contradict eachother, but just be interpreted differently. Therefore, let's stake a step back and keep in mind that anything we consider is the result of compounding influences from multiple spiritual hierarchies.

 

(10.2) - Multiplicity of influences

 

We have to take care and realize that Man as microcosmos, is much more complex than what we usually consider in simple thoughts and models. Hence, for perspective, the following short parenthesis.
Considering what is currently in what contemporary psychology calls our 'Subconscious', what Steiner calls Intuition, Inspiration and Imagination .. are compounding influences from indeed the fixed stars, but also the planetary system. So although the solar system is of course embedded in and spiralling in a complex fashion, the zodiacal influences are - although fundamental - not the only factors that influence consciousness. At a lower level these influences are modulated by the planets, as illustrated by the extract from the following lecture on the impact outer planets on consciousness.
From 'Cosmic Forces in Man' of 1921-11-24.:

 

• Man owes the consciousness of his head merely to the circumstance that the head is not permeated with life in the same way as the stomach. Lowered consciousness means that the forces of nourishment and of growth are acting with excessive strength in the head.
  On the one side, man is a dying being; on the other, a being who is continually coming to birth.
  The dying part — which, however, determines the existence of consciousness — is subject, in the main, to the forces working down upon the Earth from the outer planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars. That man is an integral part of the universe is not only due to the working of the fixed stars, but also to the working of the planetary spheres.
  Saturn, Jupiter, Mars — the so-called outer planets — contain the forces which work chiefly towards the pole of consciousness in man. (The forces of the inner planets — Venus, Mercury, Moon — work into his metabolic system and limb-structures. The Sun itself stands in the middle and is mainly associated with the rhythmic system.)
  Moreover the three first-mentioned are the three stages of life which rather represent the damping-down and suppression of life which is necessary for the sake of consciousness.
  ...
  When we study the human form, we are led to the spheres of the fixed stars, that is to say, to their representatives, the zodiacal constellations. When we study the life of man, to discover where it is a more thriving and where a more declining life, we are led to the planetary spheres.

(10.3) - Re-calibrating our perspective

Our 'physical-material sensory reality experience', or 'timespace', or 'maya', is generated by and the 'resultant vector' of compounding spiritual influences of the hierarchies. The latter are non-physical influences, we can regard the dynamic as being multidimensional, but in a very different way than we consider the dimensions of spacetime. They are vibratory levels of consciousness energy, and through these different forces of consciousness, the one overlaying and building on the other, and all happening concurrently in spacetime, through that hardly or un-imagineable dynamic, our current maya gets created. Or 'is' all the time .. for it's the very same thing whether we speak of physical reality as we experience it through or senses, or the hierarchies - which may be the only thing that really 'is'.

We, as human beings operating with a limited bandwidth of mundane consciousness, try to understand this higher level of complexity 'from within' timespace. It's a bit like the character on the screen of your television set that tries to figure out how he got there from the conception and recording of the movie to the broadcast system, into your living room TV set. 

So, we look at the boundaries of our sensory reality experience, our timespace maya, and we look at:

• with telescopes .. to the milky way, the galaxies, the very large
• with electron microscopes and particle accelerators .. to the atom, sub-atomary particles, the very small
  think - to talk actuality - string theory and the Higgs boson
• with radiotelescopes .. to the earliest phases of our universe, think astrophysics and background radiation

In other words, if we conceptually visualize the spacetime domain as a rectangle, then we try to reach out as far as possible to look for the boundary of the physical-material reality or cosmos. Through smart engineering, mastery over physical matter, we conceive, design and build, and use instruments to extend the limitations of our human senses. However behind this sense-extension, we stay with the same restricted 'thinking' of mundane human consciousness. And with a worldview that also limits itself to what it knows: the physical-material cosmos.

Hence, whatever we as humanity do in this venture, we will always bounce off on the limits of the maya territory. Maybe - we create there (what we are looking for) instead of discovering (what was there already). Bottom line we will never get out of the box.
On the side, David Bohm had a nice metaphor to illustrate how (his concept of) an implicate order creates the explicate order (of the universe we observe). The explicate order is the physical material cosmos, the implicate order the dynamic of the spiritual hierarchies.

Annotations for update to post (to be added later): examples research

• rhythms (eg Gunther Hildebrandt (1924 –1999) see also paper by Schad),

(10.3) - The above is a buildup for the following. 

1/ When with Wachsmuth, Frater Albertus, and other sources.. we look at the earth as part of the solar system, on its course through the galaxy, and the changing zodiacal effects due to precession .. we are really thinking in physical timespace - seemingly trying and  looking there for the reasons, the causes, of which we see the effect in the development of humanity. In other words we look for the causes of what we see in 'physical spacetime maya', we look for this within 'physical spacetime maya'.

This is tricky, and it represents an intellectual trap if we don't couple it to the worldview from which we are operating. See next point.

2/ What Steiner does systematically when he refers to elements of the physical realtity, is showing how we can observe the effects of the hierarchies. So he points our attention and says 'look, there' .. things you can note and witness for yourself if you pay attention, and then his point is: there you see the effect of the hierarchies. As 'matter in 4D spacetime' is embedded, made up, or generated by the 'x-dimensional hierarchies' (x for lack of a meaningful number here, because this thought transcends the concept of mathematical dimensionality) .. because of this, these effects are of course a bit 'all over the place', everywhere in the microcosmos and the macrocosmos.

So the important difference is that here we are not regarding the one as a cause for the other, although of course they are related. And this is how I believe we have to consider Wachsmuth's work. 

Once more the same but from a different angle. Steiner is considering the sun, and the galaxy, ..  each as a 'being' in the higher non-physical dimensions, in other words as a 'living' entity in the implicate order. Here we work from the worldview that everything in the cosmos is connected as part of a complex multidimensional fractal-like dynamic.

• Side note: this will be covered in a later post on the Cosmic Fractal. Steiner explains that for the Sun, one cycle of 25920 years presents 'a step, a unit' in its evolution. So the influence of the zodiac signs changes along this path and within such a cycle, a bit like the strength of the airflow also changes within one human in or out-breath.
  Well then, similarly as we changes during the lifetime of a human being (eg the cycles of 7 year), or in the lifecycle of the planet earth, it can be understood that the effect of the different layers of the spiritual hierarchy, working their contribution, can be seen as changes such as the different qualities of consciousness along the time-axis (that we currently use in spacetime as a yardstick for evolution).

When we look at the physical part, we can do so as a pointer, but is no more than a pointer or a label of what we can perceive with our senses in the physical-material cosmos. In other word we are just pointing at an extension of the implicate non-physical that blobs out into the explicate physical.

One of the lectures where Steiner points this out is the one on 'Spiritual Beings in the heavenly bodies' of  1912-04-08

This is, in my limited understanding, why it is a bit tricky to reason about these things.
When Steiner talks about the Spirits of the Ages he is discussing one level of the hierarchies, with a one-to-one mapping on what we can see in the evolutionary phases, as discussed above.

(10.4) - Warnings for causal thinking in Maya: 'Mind the Gap'

- Steiner points out that we should never look for the cause of what we see in maya, we should never look for this cause within maya itself. Relationships exist and can be found - nothing less than our dear causality, but not really the true underlying dynamic that causes manifestation .. that is the implicit order.   

Here are four lecture extracts and references, for example from 1920-04-16:

• "These considerations should enable you to realise the impossibility of investigating in a one-sided way the laws manifesting in the world. The modern materialistic thinker is in quest of a single system of natural laws. In this he deludes himself; what he should say is rather as follows. “The world of the senses is certainly a world in which I find myself embedded and to which I belong; it is that world which is explained by natural science in terms of Cause and Effect. But another world interpenetrates this one, and is regulated by different laws. Each world is subject to its own system of laws.” As long as we are of the opinion that one kind of system of laws could suffice for our world, and that all hangs upon the thread of Cause and Effect, so long shall we remain victims of complete illusions. "   

In the lecture of 1917-12-11 he expands on cause and effect with the metaphor of a mirror, of our Maya experience being a mirror image of what is really going on in the spiritual world

• "it is nonsense to speak of a causing necessity in the world of Maya — and it is also nonsense to speak of cause and effect in the course of history ..  Maya cannot be the cause of anything, it cannot be a real cause."

Or, an illustration of the same point in 1917-11-19

• "The experiences we encounter in the world do not spring from a single ground, but from diverse spiritual individualities, who all play a part in producing them. That is the essential point. " 

Last but not least, the nicest lecture is that of 1919-11-09, but this is so beautiful I let you discover for yourself. When you are intrigued by contemporary writers talking about the collective mind and the power of group prayer, you may want to contemplate on this a bit deeper.

(10.5) - Conclusion

The qualitative patterns in the different phases of evolution may show a certain recurrence due to the inherent structure and dynamic of the cosmos, which produces patterns we can see, witness, study in 'maya', our physical reality .. in structural patterns in time or space.

Examples in matter are obvious in eg the spirals in nature, the golden ratio and fibonacci series, etc.
Examples in time may be a little bit harder to spot, but we know for example that - on a shorter timescale - the effects of the planetary hours can be witnessed by experiments in the alchemical lab. Or that astrology gives a framework for the recurrence of time patterns, such as transits and progressions, which may be linked to waves of certain energies in the unfoldment of events.

On a longer time scale spanning centuries and millenia this becomes more difficult to check or validate, except through an understanding of how man expressed his life experience (read consciousness glasses) in signs of culture.
 

11. - Appendix: Related reading

(a) Now we're on this subject, for reference, some related free background reading on the topics also in the Chapter 4 of Wachsmuth's book.

First there is the work by Willy Sucher:
- Isis Sophia III: Our relationship with the stars (1952)
Part IV on Cosmic rhythms and evolution, the precession of the equinoxes and history
-  Isis Sophie II: Outline of a new star wisdom (1951-55)
Part II: Zodiac and stages of cosmic evolution
The PDF books are available as free downloads from the Astrosophy website

Contemporary researchers/writers on the topic are Robert Powell and David Tresemer. The paper 'Zodiacs and calendars - controversy about guidance from the heavens' by the latter gives references for further reading. 

(b) From a qualitative experiential perspective, ai the human experience of the qualities related to the zodiac signs (as mentioned in the work of Steiner, Wachsmuth, and Sucher), we refer to the contemporary work of:

- Paul Platt - Qualities of Time, also freely downloadable in PDF from his website
 
(c) Contemporary literature (from a perspective of the current/contemporary worldview and Body of Knowledge BoK-C, focused on the physical-material reality and the scientific way of looking at the world), approaches the above thematic of course from a different angle of perspective.

Namely, the link between 'precessional astrology', myths, and world history.

Authors such as Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung have approached myths from an archetypal angle and discussed the connection with zodiac signs in a historical perspective. Many authors, eg Rene Guenon,
have discussed it from an esoteric perspective.

The theme is really of all ages, eg the (1806) book by Charles-Francois Dupuis
'Mémoire explicatif du Zodiaque, chronologique et mythologique' which can be found in free PDF online.

An example of an author who - like Wachsmuth - takes the world clock as a key to understanding history and myths is John Lash, author of a.o. Quest for the zodiac. On his site metahistory he offers references to background reading on this field. He writes: 

• Precession became legitimate in academic research in 1969, due to the publication of Hamlet's Mill, but the book does not systematically apply precession to analysis of historical events. Most historians do not use Zodiacal timing to frame historical and pre-historical research, but Mary Settegast does so outstandingly in her extraordinary and little-known book, Plato Prehistorian.  Indologist and mythologist Alain Danielou and cultural historian William Irwin Thompson also adopt this technique. I myself have applied it extensively for over thirty years. In my own researches with the master tool of precession, the Dendera Zodiac, I have found that Zodiacal Ages correlate to known historical and archeological evidences with impressive consistency, and often in astonishing detail. 

 
  In modern 'popular' literature:

- A book which  raised quite a bit of interest is the (1969) book Hamlet's Mill, see the wiki page or the amazon page. 
 - Another author writing about this theme is Walter Cruttenden. As an introduction see eg the articles on History and celestial time and Ancient cosmology. He has written a number of books like Lost star of myth and time and The great year, and organized the Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge (CPAK).

(d) - There are many sources on the web on the 'zodiacal/precession world clock and how they link to the ages', not sure if it makes sense pointing to some interesting ones below? If you vote pro, just pass on links you'd like to share here and I'll add them. Here are a few examples:

• The Eternal Chronos
• David Pratt gives an overview and references from Theosophy mainly based on Blavatsky, de Purucker, and has a number of sections that are relevant to the thematic of this post (precession, zodiac), ao poleshifts and cycles 
• Edward R. Smith gives a summary from Robert Powell's info on the following page

12. - Postscriptum

This was my first post. In the first place it supports my own study, wondering about questions coming from exploratory journeys, with Steiner's work as the core. Secondly, it helps to keep together interesting links on a certain theme, so as to not loose track of everything encountered on the journey.

If you feel this page is useful, or have any kind of feedback, please do me a favor and share your thoughts or leave any comment below. 

Thanks for reading.