The Exusiai and Singing

In Rudolf Steiners book Occult Science, he describes the evolution of the world as having proceed in three previous phases which he called “Saturn” “Old Sun” and “Old Moon”. Our present evolution, which began with o repeat of Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions in miniature, is follewed by the present Earth Evolution, in which for the first time,solid matter appears. Saturn was warmth, Sun warmth and air, Moon warmth air and water.

The Foundation Stone does not refer to these, but refers to the Hierarchies

The Hierarchies as listed in the Foundation StoneMeditation number nine:-

Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones,

Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai,

Archai, Archangels, Angels.

They in three levels, and the Human comes as the tenth hierarchy as a start to a fourth level. Development continues however, and on the coming Jupiter evolution, [following our EarthEvolution], there will be other beings who exist on the “human” level of existence.

For our everyday thinking there is little that can help us to form a picture of the nature of all these heavenly beings. If you think of an angel as a being with wings, bending over us, whispering helpful advice in our ears when we need it, is about the closest that our modern life can give us to the true nature of the angels. However they are much more magnificent that this. The bible story in the gospel of Luke, of the shepherds in the fields, surrounded by a heavenly host of angels singing, is somewhat closer to a picture of them to comprehend the truth of their existence. Rudolf Steiner gives us some further glimpses into their true nature throughout his lectures to members. The best description that I have read, and can locate, is in Occult Science, where he describes the evolution of the Cosmos. He describes the coming into being of Saturn. There is first of all, the work that Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones carry out in bringing about the existence of something OUTSIDE of the spirit world of these three Cosmic beings.

The next existence after the Saturn existence is called the “Sun” existence. This is brought into existence with three Higher powers from the hierarchical beings:- Cherubim, Thrones and Kyriotetes. All one degree lower than the progenitors of Saturn. In this existence air is brought into existence on addition to warmth.

The third evolution of our cosmos is called the “Moon” evolution. The progenitors of this cosmos are Thrones, Kyriotetes and Dynamis. In this existence, water comes into existence. So on ancient Moon, there is Warmth, Air and Water.

Our present “Earth” existence comes into being under the Kyriotetes, Dynamis and Exusiai. In other words, it is the creation of beings entirely from the second hierarchy. A fourth condition starts its existence in this stage of evolution, the solid condition..!

It is interesting to reflect here on some comparisons. The Saturn condition is made entirely of warmth and is initiated from the Seraphim, who are essentially fire beings. The Seraphim and Cherubim [who are essentially beings of light] give rise to the “space” in which the Thrones pour substance…. that of warmth. This substance has will character as the Thrones are beings of will. I struggled with this idea for a long time. However, I got some help with a description in a lecture of Georg Hartmann’s, where he characterizes this as “condensed will” as like will “sweated” out.

In the second evolution it is initiated by Cherubim, beings of light. The Sun evolution.

The third evolution is the moon evolution, a water evolution. A will evolution, initiated by the thrones. Think of this. Water will NEVER, EVER stop trying to get to the sea. That is the picture of the strongest kind of will. It never gives up. Never.

I loved the stories of the Kalevala that my mother read to us when we were children. On the Kalevala is a hero named Vainamoinen. He sings the world into existence. In his further adventures he is able to bring about magic through singing. This picture lived strongly in my childhood imagination. It was a help when, as a teacher of chemistry, I struggle to comprehend the table of the elements. For many years I lived with this riddle, not knowing what to make of this table, when Rudolf Steiner, in Anthroposophy, gives us FOUR elements. However, repeated efforts to sort it all out led me to this. In Fire of Saturn there is only hot and cold, and varying degrees of these. On ancient Sun there is air;- thin air, thick air, warm air and cold air. On ancient moon there is water, airy water, bubbles, steam, hot water, cold water but not any ice. Only on earth there is there a multiplicity.

Here, in the solid condition, we find all the other elements. Calcium and iron, lithium and boron, sodium and chlorine all have their existence in the solid condition. But there still remains the riddle of their true existence. Scientists insist on a fable of nucleus, electron shells and the like, but never, at any point does all this theory give rise to the secret of the distinctive CHARACTER of the individual elements themselves. Iron, Scandium, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, all for example have similar electron configurations, with just a small change of one further electron. The character of the metals is Oh! So different.

At this point Vainamoinen came to my help with an imagination. I imagined a whole choir of brothers of Vainamoinen, standing assembled into a choir, each singing a different element into existence. Each element with the character of the hero singing it into existence. I have lived with this picture for a long time now. It still holds water. It has validity. So I imagine the choir of the Exusiai, the Beings of Form, singing into existence the characters that become the substances of the solid earth.

Christopher Bacchus

Letter 2

The Hierarchies

The Foundation Stone text contains references to the Hierarchies. They are enumerated as

First Hierarchy:- Seraphim, Cherubin, Thrones.

Second Hierarchy:- Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai.

Third Hierarchy:- Archai, Archangels, Angels.

It is very difficult to comprehend even the very least of these beings from everyday experience. We have to rely on Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy for descriptions of any kind. In fact, the greatest of these, the Seraphim are so mighty that anyone granted a glimpse of them unprepared would go mad. This is the task of the “Guardian of the Threshold”. He prevents us from any possible glimpse of the beings of the spiritual world that could be harmful to us.

 

Even so it is possible to form concepts that allow us to imagine who these beings are. Sergei Prokofieff in “The Foundation Stone Meditation’, in the second chapter, gives a characterisation. He characterises the third hierarchy as beings of truth.

The second hierarchy are creative beings who create, but whose creations are not able to become independent. The first hierarchy can create and whose creations can continue on in an independent existence.

 

Perhaps it is more helpful to characterise them in a way that relates them to human experience. Angels are like person to person guidance... individual guidance. Archangels guide communities. Where people combine in communities, Archangels can be incolved. Archai are “time spirits”. The give guidance to an age, a period of time in human history.

 

It is more difficult to conceptualise the second hierarchy and their activity. First, they are not so directly involved in human affairs, but they do have an influence. For instance, Exusaiai, as “spirits of form” have a relationship with any creation that has form, that is it is made of a material that can take shape or form. So naturally, that includes all ‘embodied’ creatures.... creatures with bodies. The Dynamis, or “spirits of movement” are connected to any creation that has movement. That would be any animal, but also water and air. The Kyriotetes are also called “spirits of wisdom”, which implies they have a connection with any creation that has wisdom secreted into its existence. So ...... everything?

 

What about the first hierarchy. These are beings so exalted that human words are rather inadequate to describe them and their activity. So bear with me as I stammer some totally inadequate words to this effect.
The Seraphim are the highest. They are beings of warmth. This warmth is so great that, in comparison, the sun is just a candle. They are connected in some magical way with the heart realm of man.

The Cherubim are next. They are beings of light. All the light of the world emanates originally from them. Space is filled with light. We see out into space at night and we see dark. We are in the earth’s shadow. The earth is the darkest place in existence. When we are out in space we are illuminated by the sun and the stars. Rudolf Steiner’s characterisation of the sun, is that is a being that reflects the light streaming in from around us, from the far, far, depths of space. If you have difficulty with this idea, so do I, but it is an exercise in keeping an open mind. TheCherubim are connected with mans head and nerve system.

The Thrones are the will beings of the first hierarchy. Will is very difficult to comprehend as the will proceeds in essence, beneath our usual consciousness. So for this reason, the activity of the thrones is difficult to form concepts of. They are the beings, who, in the beginning of all existence, poured out their will substance into the “space” created by the Seraphim and occupied by the Cherubim.

 

Part two:-

 

The Hierarchies as listed in the Foundation StoneMeditation number nine:-

Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones,

Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai,

Archai, Archangels, Angels.

 

They in three levels, and the Human comes as the tenth hierarchy as a start to a fourth level. Development continues however, and on the coming Jupiter evolution, there will be beings who exist on the “human” level of existence.

 

For our everyday thinking there is little that can help us to form a picture of the nature of these beings. If you think of an angel as a being with wings, bending over us, whispering helpful advice in our ears when we need it, is about the closest that our modern life can give us to the true nature of the angels. However they are much more magnificent that this. The bible story in the gospel of Luke, of the shepherds in the fields, surrounded by a heavenly host of angels singing, is somewhat closer to a picture of them to comprehend the truth of their existence. Rudolf Steiner gives us some further glimpses into their true nature throughout his lectures to members. The best description that I have read, and can locate, is in Occult Science, where he describes the evolution of the Cosmos. He describes the coming into being of Saturn. There is first of all, the work that Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones carry out in bringing about the existence of something OUTSIDE of the spirit world of these three Cosmic beings.

The next existence after the Saturn existence is called the “Sun” existence. This is brought into existence with three Higher powers from the hierarchical beings:- Cherubim, Thrones and Kyriotetes. All one degree lower than the progenitors of Saturn. In this existence air is brought into existence on addition to warmth.

The third evolution of our cosmos is called the “Moon” evolution. The progenitors of this cosmos are Thrones, Kyriotetes and Dynamis. In this existence, water comes into existence. So on ancient Moon, there is Warmth, Air and Water.

Our present “Earth” existence comes into being under the Kyriotetes, Dynamis and Exusiai. In other words, it is the creation of beings entirely from the second hierarchy. A fourth condition starts its existence in this stage of evolution, the solid condition..!

It is interesting to reflect here on some comparisons. The Saturn condition is made entirely of warmth and is initiated from the Seraphim, who are essentially fire beings. The Seraphim and Cherubim [who are essentially beings of light] give rise to the “space” in which the Thrones pour substance…. that of warmth. This substance has will character as the Thrones are beings of will. I struggled with this idea for a long time. However, I got some help with a description in a lecture of Georg Hartmann’s, where he characterizes this as “condensed will” as like will “sweated” out.

In the second evoltution it is initiated by Cherubim, beings of light. The Sun evolution.

The third evolution is the moon evolution, a water evolution. A will evolution, initiated by the thrones. Think of this. Water will NEVER, EVER stop trying to get to the sea. That is the picture of the strongest kind of will. It never gives up. Never.

 

I loved the stories of the Kalevala that my mother read to us when we were children. On the Kalevala is a hero named Vainamoinen. He sings the world into existence. In his further adventures he is able to bring about magic through singing. This picture lived strongly in my childhood imagination. It was a help when, as a teacher of chemistry, I struggle to comprehend the table of the elements. For many years I lived with this riddle, not knowing what to make of this table, when Rudolf Steiner, in Anthroposophy, gives us FOUR elements. However, repeated efforts to sort it all out led me to this. In Fire of Saturn there is only hot and cold, and varying degrees of these. On ancient Sun there is air;- thin air, thick air, warm air and cold air. On ancient moon there is water, airy water, bubbles, steam, hot water, cold water but not any ice. Only on earth there is there a multiplicity.

 

Here, in the solid condition, we find all the other elements. Calcium and iron, lithium and boron, sodium and chlorine all have their existence in the solid condition. But there still remains the riddle of their true existence. Scientists insist on a fable of nucleus, electron shells and the like, but never, at any point does all this theory give rise to the secret of the distinctive CHARACTER of the individual elements themselves. Iron, Scandium, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, all for example have similar electron configurations, with just a small change of one further electron. The character of the metals is Oh! So different.

 

At this point Vainamoinen came to my help with an imagination. I imagined a whole choir of brothers of Vainamoinen, standing assembled into a choir, each singing a different element into existence. Each element with the character of the hero singing it into existence. I have lived with this picture for a long time now. It still holds water. It has validity. So I imagine the choir of the Exusiai, the Beings of Form, singing into existence the characters that become the substances of the solid earth.

Christopher Bacchus

 

 

 

 

Letter 3

The Heavenly Choir

The “secret” of the elements that I discovered through the story of Vainamoinen is an imaginative picture of a choir of the brothers [and sisters] of Vainamoinen assembled into a choir and singing their hearts out. Their song and the resultant harmonies gives rise to the elements, in particular of the “solid” part of the earth’s substances. This imagination then leads to a question... the greatest part of the substances of the earth are made of a combination of elements. Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen. Methane of carbon and hydrogen, Silica is made of silicon and oxygen, hydrofluoric acid of hydrogen and fluorine. This was a puzzle I had to spend some years with. However, what is helpful is this:- the relationship of the elements in any combination [compound] is always set. Exactly set. With water it is hydrogen to oxygen two to one. In carbon dioxide, one of carbon, two of oxygen. Carbon monoxide is of carbon one, oxygen one.

 

The process of deciding how much a one of carbon or a one of oxygen or a one of any element was, took scientists many years and many different investigations of many investigations of the the chemical compounds of the earth. Many attempts were made to array the elements in a plan that made sense over a number of years. It was a Russian teacher who in the middle of the nineteenth century who published what became the basis for the current model of the periodic table. His name was Dmitri Mendeleev.

 

He began by ordering the elements in order of their “weight”. This was not simple as carbon is a solid and oxygen a gas, for example, so the combinations of the elements was very important in this analysis. It depended on giving each element a number. Then each element was given a “valency” which was used to decide what number to write when writing the formula of a substance. Example H2SO4 , sulfuric acid. It was not simple. But Mendeleev’ investigations and analyses was accepted by other scientists and is still used today.

 

The question of compounds and their nature and origin is more complicated. The elements are rarely found in the earth as elements in any great amount. Although many can be found, they are not found in significant amounts Oxygen and nitrogen are two that are found uncombined or “native” in the air. Native carbon is known, for example as soot or graphite. Sulfur is also known as an element in nature, it can be found, for example in hot springs, where it can be found as a yellow powder. Of the metals, copper has been found in moderate amounts as elemental copper, so too silver and gold. The inert gases are found as elements as well, in trace amounts in the air even. All the rest of the elements are found mostly as compounds. This seems to contradict the image I used before of mighty spiritual beings singing the elements into existence. The elements don’t exist alone. However, there is another experience that can help.

 

As a musician I experience the intervals. If the interval is not in tune, not true it is unharmonious. The intervals arise when a string, for example, vibrates in quite distinct fractional ratios. An octave, for example, occurs when each half or the string vibrates with a node of no vabration in the middle. When the vibrations that carry the sound through the air to our ears occur in set ratios to one another, we get harmonies. True harmonies occur when the relation between the vibrations are exactly mumerical ratios. So it is with chemicals. The compounds can only be formed from exact ratios by weight of the elements that they are comprised. We do not find H2.1 O1.7 but H2O1. [The explanation given by modern chemists includes a number of assumptions, so I will leave it aside.]

 

When we consider the experience of elements combining in set ratios by weight, we can compare it with music. Think of our experience of musical harmonies. We hear chords, or harmonies. Lets go back to the “Choir of brother and sisters of Vainamoinen” When two or three “stand” side by side and sing “harmony” with each other the compounds come into existence. The individual “singer” lends their character to the element they are singing and the “harmony” brings the compounds into existence.

 

I offer you this imagination of the origin of the elements and their compounds, for it has for me, original power, even after many years of living within me. It arises out of me feeling so strongly, the inadequacy of the current explanation offered by the scientists of our age, of the atom and its nucleus of protons and neutrons surrounded by a cloud of electrons. I can’t find in this picture, anything that leads to the “Character” of the elements.

 

By character, let me explain what I mean. Sulfur is an interesting element. It is a chameleon. Its physical is greatly varied. It CAN appear as yellow powder, but sulfur can also be found as “dirty” greyish plastic solid or as chrystals of a similar color. Its behaviour when heated is quite peculiar. When just melted, it is a runny liquid. As it is heated it congeals, losing its motiity, until it is a stiff plastic substance similar to bread dough. Then with more heating it becomes more runny again. It burns with blue flame. A cool color, which the flame certainly is not. With these few words I am trying to indicate what I mean by the “Character” of an element.

 

There is a group of elements who are listed in the periodic table in the same line as iron. They are Scandium, Titanium, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper and Zinc. With the exception of copper, these elements are to a greater or lesser extent used in conjunction with or instead of iron. Titanium not as is used where tough but light metal is needed, such as in aeroplanes. Like a light and strong steel. It is not used as component of steel. Vanadium is used to make tool steel, the steel that is used in lathes to cut steel. Chromium is used in stainless steel. Manganese was used by Henry Ford in his “Tin Lizzy”. These cars used less steel than other cars of the era, and were virtually indestructable. Cobalt is used, for example to make the blades of scissors used by hairdressers. They are amazing for their ability to stay sharp. Nickel is a versatile metal with many applications, especially valued as it is not so expensive as, say, cobalt, and it doesn’t rust like iron and steel.

Copper does not work in conjunction with iron. Zinc is used as a coating on iron to prevent its exposure to moisture which cases uncoated iron to rust.

 

The whole gamut of elements in the periodic table is a cast of amazing characters. Each element has unique properties, and it would take too long to enumerate the lot, so I will not try but end here, with a plea to find out how interesting these elements really are.

 

These are thoughts that arise out of the consideration of the Hierarchies mentioned in the foundation stone meditation.

Christopher Bacchus

 

 

 

Letter 5

Chromium, the “Colored One”

In the last letter I compared the nature of the Exusiai, known also as “Spirits of Form”, who are named in the foundation Stone text as “Spirits of Light”. These ”Spirits of Light” are named as Kyriotetes, Dynamis and Exusiai or as “Spirits of Wisdom”, “Spirits of Movement” and “Spirits of Form”. I wrote of the character of the first transition metals as offering an insight into the character of some of the “Spirits of Form”, with the aim of indicating the origin of the metals in the Universe as from the second Hierarchie’s “Spirits of Form”.

 

This is vastly different from the world of elements as pictured be Ernest Rutherford and his brother scientists of the modern age. Their work is truly a work of genius and offers a map with which you can negotiate your way around the periodic table and find your way into the modern chemistry books. It must, however, remain a brilliant theory in my mind. If I try to follow the Goethean path to an understanding fo the world, I find the Atomic theory goes too far in suggesting atoms as the nature of matter. It would take a few more essays to go into all the arguments around this, and I won’t do that here. I want to remain in the field of observation in which the nature and character of the elements remains the central question, and this is the path of Goethe in his scientific investigations.

 

We come in our journey to an element with the name “Chromium”. The name from the greek for color. The scientists who discovered chromium as an element were impressed by the many colors in compounds of this new element and decided to give it the name “Chromium” to reflect this fact. Chromium as a metal has a relationship to light. It is the most reflective element and compares with silver in this respect.

 

You find chrome plated bumper bars on American cars of the fifties, where chromium was used liberally to decorate the cars with many add ons that shone brightly. It is used an enormous amount as an alloy with iron to provide a form of steel called “Stainless Steel” of simply “Chrome Steel”. This steel has a surface that is shiny and resistant to weathering. You can make a kitchen bench of Chrome steel that can be washed and wiped, spilled upon and wiped many, many times without compromising its shiny surface. It the bench were iron, it would soon rust away with that kind of treatment.

 

It is amazing that such a useful element is not scarce. In fact it is often found together with iron in the soil and is extracted together with it, so that a metal alloy of more than 50% Chromium is obtained. This cannot be used in this form, so this alloy is “diluted” with more steel until the percentage of chromium is around 18%. This gives a chrome steel that is easier to work and to form, as well as being less costly. Many thousands of tons of chrome steel is made in the world today. Compare that to the millions of tons of iron produced each year!! This industry us HUGE.

 

In the next letter I intend to write about a little understood brother of iron, Manganese [ not to be confused with Magnesium], and to begin a study of iron itself.

 

Christopher Bacchus

 

 

 

Letter 6.

Manganese

In the last letter I ended with a short consideration of chromium, a metal that is often found with and combined with iron. In this letter I intend to bring into the discourse a metal that is very important in industry, but little considered by the person not directly involved in the steel industry. This metal is manganese. It is positioned just next to iron in the periodic table. It is in many respects very similar to iron. It is a dark grey metal, like iron, and forms a rather granular oxide coating on its surface, which inhibits “rusting”, or further oxidation. Technically, rusting is only used to refer to the oxidation of iron, so the reaction of manganese with air has to be referred to as “oxidation” not “rusting”.

The addition of manganese to steel is very important in the industrial processing of iron. It enables machine workshops to make tools that can process even hard steels. In particular, where steel is turned in a lathe, the tools used to cut the steel have to be very hard and stay sharp for long time. [Today, the use of manganese in cutting tools has largely been replace by tungsten carbide.] It is also used in the production of stainless steel. Quite large amounts of manganese is used in steel making each year as it is not an expensive metal to mine or produce. In fact it can be found as an “impurity” during the process of smelting certain iron ores, where its presence is not regarded as harmful.

Some compounds of manganese can be found in many households. In particular the use of potassium permanganate as a mild germicide has long been recognised.

The position of iron, manganese, cobalt and other transition metals near the middle of the periodic table, is something I have given quite a bit of thought to. If you consider the imagination of the ”Choir of Vainamoinen and his Brothers”, where Vainamoinen is a figure who stands amongst the ranks of the “Spirits of Form”, then iron is central. Around him stands a band of brothers who exhibit great strength and tenacity. They provide the substances from which we fashion the tools and machines of modern technology. It is of no consequence whether we use their contribution to the world for good or ill, that is a question for humanity to answer. They have provided us, out of their activity, the means for our technological inventions.

If you consider the availability of the various metals in the “brothers of iron”, it is striking to see how the production of irons dwarfs the production of any of the other metals. Iron is present in the earth’s crust in huge amounts. Where-ever iron is found, one or two of the other members of iron’s brotherhood can often be found, but the production of iron is so ubiquitous that it determines the prosperity of a country whether it is an iron producer of not.

Another question crosses my mind. When you consider the art work in the first Goetheanum, there are two figures portrayed where-ever there is a portrayal of Christus. On the one side is Lucifer, and on the other, Ahriman in much darker and colder colors. The characteristic of metals is that they are dark and cold. Or shiny and cold. Behind the shiny reflection of the light, which they are rejecting, they are dark. This image is an image that leads us directly to Ahriman. The creative powers that give us metals are somehow linked with Ahriman. It is different with the non-metals. They can be colored, are often flammeable, or, in oxygen’s case, almost always involved with fire and warmth processes; you can sense their affinity with Lucifer. We see Lucifer above Christus, Ahriman depicted below. So too the non-metals are more often gases than not. Nitrogen, oxygen, chlorine, fluorine for example. The metals are buried deep in the earth. We can see in the periodic table a clear relationship of the elements with the Ahrimanic on the metallic side and Luciferic on the Non-metallic side.

In pondering this question I come up again and again with a peculiarity of the elements:- they are not evil, nor are they good. How does that conflate with the Luciferic and Ahrimanic characteristics of the elements. More thoughts on this in letter 7

Christopher Bacchus

This is where ou

berberLetter Eight

Cobalt andNickel

Cobalt and nickel are often found together. Cobalt gets its name from the German word Kobbold, meaning mischievous elemental spirit. It was found as a problem mineral ore, in ores of copper and caused problems. The nuisance factor of the cobalt ore was attributed to the activity of mischievous “Kobbolds”. Interesting how German miners happened to be working in Russian mines.

 

Cobalt is not one of the cheaper “brothers of iron”. It is used in applications where a quality of hardness and long wear are required, as in the blades of the scissors used by hairdressers. They pay up to $400 for a pair of scissors that look no different to the scissors available on a supermarket shelf for les than $20. There is a good reason why a hairdresser is prepared to pay $400 for his/her scissors. They stay sharp.

 

Naturally cobalt is a very useful metal. Industrial machinery finds a place for it.

 

Nickel is more widely known in the household. Coins, for instance have nickel in them. Americans even name one of their coins a “nickel” after the metal from which it is minted. Anyone with silverware almost certainly has a nickel vessel plated with silver. Nickel plates better than iron, and “works” [can be shaped] just as well as iron.

Tin and zinc are also in the same period, adjacent to the “brothers of iron.” Their use is mostly confined to plating iron objects. Tin plating gives us “tins”, iron cans plated with tin to make them “food-safe”. Zinc gives us “roofing iron”, which doesn’t rust. Well, not for twenty years at least. Quality zinc plating that is used for modern vehicles gives us steel vehicles that don’t rust. ... in my vehicles case, for nineteen years.

 

The important point I wish to make is that these “brothers of iron” act like a collection of elements that belong together. If you like the image that I am using, they are related to “spirits of form” [Exusiai] who closely resemble each other. If you think of the image of Vainamoinen singing the world into existence, these spirits are members of a choir singing the “brothers of iron” metals into existence. The result of their singing is the formation of elements that resemble each other, in the same way as they resemble in character their creators. This is a possible meaning of the line in the foundation stone meditation, “What from the East is fired and in the West is formed”.

 

The foundation stone meditation has a relationship with the first Goetheanum. Can I leave a more detailed conversation about this to a future letter? For instance, consider how the mighty pictures on the ceiling in the big cupola show the development of mankind up to now. In the small cupola, we see images of the present and future stages of our civilisation, from the events at Palestine on the Golgotha hill to the sixth post atlantean civilisation, the one that is to follow our present one. These paintings show the result of the intervention of the heavenly hierarchies in the development of humanity.

 

It is from these pictures as well as the story of the Kalevala that I have obtained insights into the material I am presenting in these letters. The content may seem far removed from the text of the foundation stone, but it is closely connected to it by the route I have just outlined.

 

“What is the connection of the elements to Ahriman, Lucifer and Christus?” That is the question I would like to move onto in the next letter “Foundation Letter Ten”

 

Christopher Bacchus

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Letter 9

Carbon

Carbon is not an element that belongs to the “Brothers of Iron”. It belongs in the middle of the second period, which is the first period of 8. The actual first period has only two element; hydrogen and helium. Yet it is essential in the production of Iron.

 

Carbon has three forms as an element; soot, graphite and diamond. Soot is found in chimneys as a fine black powder. Graphite is another form of carbon, mined in the lake districts. It is used, for example, in pencils. It has many other uses, but pencil leads is the use which brings it into the family home. Diamond need no introduction because of its popularity in jewelry.

 

Carbons occurrence in nature is its most important. Every tissue of every plant and animal depends on a material containing carbon. Compounds cellulose, starch and sugars are the basis of foods for humans and animals. Every where it is found, carbon helps give structure and form. We can say it has the character of serving faithfully the being whose body it is helping to form. Al living things are served by carbon.

 

Our planetary existence began with warmth, then air, water and then solid. It is in the solid existence that carbon serves. One of the Grimm’s fairy tales tells of the nature of carbon.

 

Cinderella is found nestled in the hearth, the place where fire burns. In the hearth there is soot. Cinderella is found in the hearth, in the soot. She serves all the needs of her “Ugly stepsisters” faithfully and without complaint. When the moment comes where her true nature is to be discovered, she needs the help of a divine being. Her “Fairy Godmother”. In the moment of her discovery she is queen of all the elements.... [diamond].

 

In this respect, carbon and oxygen are the most selfless of the elements. Oxygen appears everywhere to sustain life. Carbon everywhere to sustain shape. Nitrogen where there is movement. Note how nitrogen appears in explosives. It is also found in dung, which fertilises soil, and aids the growth of plants. It is the element added to carbohydrates to make proteins, the building substance of animal tissue. These elements are characteristic of the four Greek elements fire, [hydrogen], air [nitrogen], water [oxygen] and earth [carbon].

 

In pursuing the question of the meaning of “Christ bearer” [Christophorus], I discovered the character of Christophorus to be like that of Cinderella, completely self-effacing. This connects, in my mind, the character of Carbon, Christophorus, and Cinderella to each other, like facets of a jewel.

 

In the First Goetheanum, there is only one picture of Christus on the ceilng, that is of the Christus himself. It is above the alcove where the statue of Christus, the Representative of Humanity was to stand.

 

The elements are hidden. Above the architrave, which is visible from the auditorium are three pictures. Above, “God’s Wrath and Melancholy”, in the middle, “Round Dance of the Seven” and underneath, “The O Motive”. This ocean being of the spirit.’depicts twelve faces, six in the light and six in the dark. Here I feel certain is an allusion to the periodic table of the elements. It is a depiction of the seven planetary beings and the twelve zodiacal beings.

 

In a lecture that Rudolf Steiner held in Dornach on the 30^th December 1917 he characterised the nature of the senses opening to the world. “ We pass as humans through the world, open ourselves to this world through the senses, carrying in us the Exusiai, the “Spirits of Form”, who reveal themselves to us to us as we take in the outer world through our senses. This outer world of the Exusiai, hides behind the veil of the sense world,”

 

This hints to the enormous importance of the Exusiai, the”Spirits of Form”, the Elohim, to the world of senses. This world of senses consists of the 91 elements of the periodic table. Seven times twelve plus seven. This is also spoken in the words of the Foundation Stone Meditation in the first verse:-

“You live in the limbs,

Which bear you through the world of space,

Into the ocean being of the spirit.”

In the second verse less directly

“Let there be fired from the east

What in the west is formed,”

 

The East is the spiritual world, the west the physical world.

 

It will appear that i am interpreting these pictures and word pictures , but I have to say, “Don’t believe what I say, understand it” Its truth [or not] will eventually reveal itself to you. I am merely putting before you what I have thought.

What I would like to add, holding the verses of the Foundation Stone in your mind imaginatively, contemplating the pictures and forms of the first Goetheanum, is a path.

Letter 11

Radioactivity?

In letter 10 I have made some statements about the elements that demand a little elucidation. The periodic table contains 92 elements in its original form. When Nuclear reactors were first built some new elements appeared in the reactor products. These were 93 Neptunium and 94 Plutonium. These exist, once generated, for some time. Neptunium has a half life of a year. For Plutonium, the half life depends on which isotope is measured. One isotope is hot to touch and has a half-life of 88 years. Another has a half-life in thousands of years, but is radioactive enough to be warm to the touch. Not much of Neptunium or Plutonium exist, and only trace amounts exist in nature.

 

The question of radioactivity has been on my mind for a long time. One writer described the radiation as a form of light that has weight. I do not remember who it was or in what document. However, this characterisation is apt. The radiations that are known vary. Alpha radiation was one of the first discovered and was given its name by Ernest Rutherford, who coducted pioneering work on radioactive minerals. The discovery of Radioactivity belongs to the time of the end of the nineteenth century, coinciding with the end of the Kali Yuga, the period of spiritual darkness that was need to bring mankind to the point where they could achieve spiritual freedom of a certain kind. The discovery of radioactivity came at a point in mankind’s development, where the was the greatest degree of materialism in the minds of men on the earth. This led advanced thinkers of the time, such as Ernest Rutherford, to propose a form of the nature of matter that was completely based on models that were atomistic. He proposed the atomic model with a nucleus made of protons and neutrons, with electrons flying around. It was 99% void... 99% empty space. Time will tell of this models endures into the future, in which people try to find a different model of the nature of matter. It is my attempt here to converse about matter without referring to this model at all. However, history demands a reference in conversing about radioactivity.

 

The alpha radiation is a very weighty radiation that has low penetration of, for example, air, of a few centimetres. It is not, therefore, very dangerous to humans. It is of great interest to nuclear physicists.

Beta radiation is considered lightweight and is stopped by a thin aluminium plate. It can have health effects, but is not very hazardous.

 

Gamma radiation is very intense in its penetration power, and is most like light in its behaviour. It is one of the reasons radioactive materials are so deadly. It kills. Relatively small doses can maim and lar\ter can kill. Many people called to help after the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor accident, were killed or made ill by gamma radiation.

 

Neutron radiation is a form of radiation whose discovery led directly to making nuclear reactors and eventually, the nuclear bomb. The first discovery of neutron radiation was an experiment in which beryllium was irradiated with alpha rays. The discovery of this neutron radiation led to a whole chain of discoveries that ended in the discovery of what we call nuclear fission. In the end this nuclear fission amounts to elements transforming form one to another in a chain of reactions. It would be strictly accurate to say, where one elements existed, another appears upon the disappearance of the first. It was found that this was accompanied by tiny losses of weight and the appearance of ENORMOUS amounts of energy. Albert Einstein proposed an equation of E=mc2. [that is how my computer attempts to write the symbol for squared]. The number represented by the speed of light squared is vast. Einstein must have known that there is no way of verifying his postulation, so you have to “believe” it. Nearly everybody does. It is a postulation, however. It has not been demonstrated and can’t be. The destruction involved is so great that nothing remains to be measured.

We have, in the Atomic Bomb, a glimples into the awesome power of the Serafim, the powers that were the actors at the beginning of the world.

The discovery of nuclear fission, the extraction of energy frm the radioactive decay of radioactive elements, had put mankind in an existential dilemma. We have the power to wipe out existence on the earth. We don’t want to do that, but threatening to use nuclear weapons gives us enormous power delivered through fear. There is one supersensible being whose objectives concern humanity. This being is not trying to further the progress of humanity. His objective is to build a realm where every-one and everything is held in his power, through lies and fear. The third myastery drama has one scene I remember most clearly, where this supersensible being is represented on the stage. He is quite agle to dtand in the middle of the stage and hold forth. Benedictus, who represents the human being of the future, enters. He is not afraid of this character, called in the play be the name “Ahriman”. He calls out to him,”I see you!” This is something very uncomfortable for Ahriman and he sidles backwards off stage. His power is overcome when it is recognised.

 

Our task of this period of evolution, is to see and recognise all that is going on and be a witness to it.

Letter 10

Two Periodic Tables?

I have to beg forgiveness if these letters have, for the moment, turn into letters on the elements of the periodic table. This may seem that I have strayed a long way from the “Foundation Stone” of the title of this blog. Not so. Let me explain.

 

The Foundation Stone is connected with the First Goetheanum. This building of carved wood had two interlocking domes. On the ceiling of the domes were pictures. On the roof of the larger dome there were ten interlocking scenes. Just above the proscenium were three scenes, on above the other. On top was the scene called “God’s wrath and God’s melancholy”. Below was “The Round Dance of the Seven”. Below these two scenes was the one entitled “The O motive. The Circle of the Twelve”, We have in the two lower scenes the numbers of the planetsm[7] and the number in the Zodiac. [12] The Zodiac twelve have six in daylight and six in the dark. In pondering these pictures I had a flash of light... “What of this is connected to the Table of the elements? Could it be?”

 

The periodic table is made up or two tables as I have shown here. There is a table of 44 in five lines of eight elements. Each vertical line is called a group. Each horizontal is called a period. I have separated these elements out from the original table, and we see a cohesive group of elements arranged much like notes in a scale. In Octaves, with an inert gas at the end of each octave. At the bottom corners of the table are four elements that are not actually part of the earth. They are so radioactive that they can only exist for minutes at a time. They are Polonium, 87; [half life of 138 days] Astatine, 85 [half life of 22 secs]; Radon, 86 [half life of 4 days]and Francium, 87 [half life of 22minutes]. These elements are included in the table, but they scarcely are part of the make-up of the earth, their existence is so fleeting. They make the table of elements look like picture whose far corners are blurred by old age.

 

There is a second table [the ones in the dark?] whose front row is the “Brothers of Iron”. Their number is 48. All the elements in this table are metals. They are all “mined”. That means they are dug out of the ground. They hide in the solid part of the earth. Each is very like its neighbor, yet each has its own distinct individuality. One could characterise these elements as the ones that are hard to find, like to hide in the earth. If they could be compared in any way with the first group of elements, they are like night to the day of the first group. This you see on the Goetheanum ceiling. Six in daylight, six in the night.

Here is the periodic table divided into two.

Periodic table

Table One [the daylight table]

H 1 He2

Li 3 Be 4 B 5 C 6 N 7 O 8 F 9 Ne 10

Na 11 Mg 12 Al 13 Si 14 P 15 S 16 Cl 17 Ar 18

K 19 Ca 20 Ga 21 Ge 22 As 33 Se34 Br35 Kr 36

Rb37 Sr 38 In 49 Sn 59 Sb 51 Te 52 I 53 Xe 54

Cs55 Ba 56 Tl81 Pb 82 Bi 83 Po 84 At 85 Rn 86

Fr 87 Ra 88

 

Table Two [the night table:- transition metals, lantinides and actinides ]

Sc 21 Ti 22 V 23 Cr 24 Mn 25 Fe 26 Co 27 Ni 28 Cu 29 Zn 30

Y 39 Zr 40 Nb 41 Mo 42 Tc 43 Ru 44 Rh 45 Pd 46 Ag 47 Cd 48

La 57 Ce 58 Pr 59 Nd 60 Pm 61 Sm 62 Eu 63 Gd 64 Tb 65 Dy 66 Ho 67 Er 68 Tm 69 Yb 70

Lu 71 Hf 72 Ta 73 W 74 Re 75 Os 76 Ir 77 Pt 78 Au 79 Hg 80

Ac 89 Th 90 Pa 91 U 92

 

 

The elements that fill the table are 92 in number, [including the ones that have such fleeting existences. I am excluding the ones such as Plutonium, [94] that are created in a nuclear reactor.]

 

Just above the twelve on the Goetheanum ceiling, are the dancing seven. For each of the twelve is there a seven? And another seven for the thirteenth in the gospels? 13 times 7 is 91. Astatine is one element of the 92 that doesn’t occur in nayure so 91. When I saw that I was dumbfounded, After element 92 there are no viable elements. 13 times 7! The periodic table and the pictures on the ceiling had a number connection. When I first pictured the choir of Vainamoinens, the 91 Vainomoinens singing in the choir of the Exusiai, singing the world into existence, it was just a picture. Now it was beginning to sing for me!

 

Think about it. Christopher Bacchus

Foundation Letter 7

The Story of Iron

In the last letter [6] I raised the question of Ahriman and Lucifer and their relationship to the elements. I suggested that the elements showed, on the metallic side, certain Ahrimanic characteristics, on the non-metallic side, affinity to Lucifer. Then I added that the elements are not in my opinion good or evil. Is there a part of the periodic choir of elements that is related to the figure of Christus? There are many things to consider in the study of matter.

 

We know from Anthroposophy, that Ahriman andLucifer are part of the evolution of the earth. In what way are they evil, and in what way are they merely part and parcel of evolution? This is a question I would like to come back to. As preparation for this discussion, I would like to refer to the Kalevala again. It is to do with the question of the nature of iron.

 

From the Kalevala:- Vainamoinen is hewing with an iron axe and his hand slips. The axe bites into his knee and he begins to bleed from the wound. To heal it he has to recite the history of iron. This he discovers from the smith Ilmarinen. He it is who first calls iron into existence in his forge. He tries many times, but each time he is unsuccesful. At last he calls on the assistance of the old witch of the north. She tells him he must use the venom of the hornet. At the right moment in the smelting of iron, he catches a hornet and takes the poison in the sting and adds this to the melt. So it is that the first iron is forged. Vainamoinen recites this to the blood of the wound and it is healed.

 

What a wonderful picture of the nature of iron. It is able to do, for man, all kinds of wonderful work…. But take heed, it can sting. The poison of the hornet gives it the possibility of harming the man who is meant ill from his fellow man. Iron can become a weapon.

 

In this imaginative picture, the story of the Kalevala gives us a wonderful insight into the true nature of iron. I am so grateful to the destiny that allowed me to receive this picture while still a child. It has resonated with me throughout my entire adult life.

 

Iron is indeed one of the most remarkable of the elements. More iron is made than any other metal. When looking through the statistics of metal production, I was amazed to see that its production dwarfs the production of other metals by in most case hundreds or even thousands of times. Iron production in 2025 was:-

Iron 2.5 billion tons

Copper 70million tons

Chromium 29m

Zinc 12m

Titanium 9.4m

Manganese 7.6m

Nickel 3.7m

Tin 300,000

Cobalt 190,000

Vanadium 100,000

Aluminium 73,000

Silver 26,000

Gold 3,300

Magnesium 3,000

Interesting to see we produce more gold than magnesium. You could make car wheels more cheaply from gold?!!!!! [Not…. at $US 4,000 an ounce]

 

The production of iron is more than three hundred times that of the next most produced metal, copper. In fact the amount of iron produced totals more than the total world production of other metals altogether. We still live in the iron age.

 

It is hard to think of anything we use that does not have an iron content [unless it is made of plastic]. Production of plastic, the “nemesis” of iron, requires iron molds. Interesting. We can’t get away from it. I’ve just checked world plastic production and it is only 1.3 billion tons, less than half the tonnage of iron. However iron has a density of more than 10 times that of plastic, so the volume of plastic is five times that of the iron produced each year.

 

World wood production is 4 billion cubic metres a year. About 2 billion tons, depending on the type of wood. As most wood is lighter kind, such as pine, this would equal or exceed the plastic production of 1.3 billion tons.

 

Cement production is currently running at 4.2 billion tons, making it one of the worlds most produced material. World oil production is currently at about 5 billion tons. This makes oil the second most used industrial product in the world. Coal at 8,8 billion tons beats the lot.
Coal>Oil>cement> wood> Iron>plastic. Interesting to see that ALL are liquids at some point in their lives. Coal and wood in the sap of the tree, for example.

 

It is instructive to see how important iron is in the modern world. We should not forget, in a world where the computer is progressing at such a great swiftness, that this is not as important as the materials that house and feed us.

Carbon is in the materials we use that come directly from plants and animals, such as carbohydrates, sugars and proteins, as well as their fossilized remains, coal and oil. Another large group of useful resources are connected with carbons immediate neighbor, silicon, which is the basis for cement and concrete.

 

That other useful material, iron, is so useful for a number of reasons. It’s ore is readily available. There are mountains of it, for example, in Western Australia. It is easy to smelt. It requires only “cheap” ingredients to make it:- coal, iron ore and limestone. [Not “expensive electricity”] The process of refining the raw iron into the steel is also relatively simple:- blast air through it. It can be turned into a metal with an amazing array of qualities through the process of alloying. The number of different alloys of steel that are in use to today is huge. The favored alloying materials are, of course, the brothers of iron; vanadium, chromium, manganese cobalt and nickel, as well as molybdenum and tungsten, [both group 6, Molybdenum period 5 and Tungsten period 6, so close to iron in group 8]

 

The surprising alloying material that almost always appears in steels, is carbon. This element is amazing in the way it transforms a relatively soft and pliable metal [mild steel, with a very low carbon percentage], into a hard and durable steel. The cost of this alloying is iron’s malleability, it becomes harder and more brittle the greater the percentage of carbon [up to the percentage found in freshly minted “pig iron”, 5%]. Pig iron, or “cast iron” has this percentage of carbon from the process of smelting. Carbon, in the form of coal, chemically removes the oxygen from the iron oxide in the blast furnace. [iron oxide is the ore most often used]. The process of steel making is that of removing this carbon down to the percentage desired for the particular purpose the steel is intended for. This process is not expensive and is achieved partly by the process of forging, [hammering red hot iron], partly by the bessemer furnace[or its modern equivalent] which blows air through the molten iron, burning off some of the carbon.

 

The steel, for example, for the Sydney Harbor Bridge, had to be made to a quite specific carbon content, and was rigorously tested before it was approved for use. When you consider the huge tonnage of steel used in this construction, there has to be a possibility of variations in the quality of the steel. That the Sydney Harbor bridge is still standing without any concerns about its stability, is proof of the effectiveness of the production process of making this steel.

 

Observant people of a certain age will have noticed a change in the rules concerning car repairs. Once you could get a damaged vehicle “panel beaten” back into shape. Modern vehicles have to have a damaged panel replaced, they are not beaten back into shape. The quality of the steel used to make the panels has changed. It is thinner and harder. Panel beating of this modern steel results in an undesirable weakening of the panel.

 

There are so many facts associated with such a ubiquitous material as iron [steel], you could write a large book on the subject. Iron’s position near the centre of the table and near the top [in the fourth period] gives cause for reflection. The Solid Earth is a place made up of 92 original elements. [The elements further than 92 listed in the modern table are all manufactured in atomic reactors and so don’t exist in the earth naturally] Many of the Earth’s elements are rare. The few elements that make up the major part of the earth’s crust are all located in the top four periods and mostly located in the centre of the table:- carbon, silicon, oxygen, iron, hydrogen and sodium. Well! Sodium is not in the centre of the table. Exceptions occur in even the best ordered “households”!

 

The point is that most of the earth is consisting of a relatively few elements. There are many elements that are not common. They have only a rare appearance in the earth’s crust. In the next letter [foundation stone letter 8] I intend to focus on cobalt and nickel to round out the brothers of iron, and then come back to the question “What is the relationship of the elements to Ahriman, Lucifer and Christus.” in letter nine.

 

Christopher Bacchus