Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 131
physical body during sleep. They ―wind their way, in spiral form, out of the physical body‖
into the cosmic community of spiritual beings, returning to the physical body upon waking
(Steiner, 1959, p.104). While united with planetary beings, the astral body drinks the forces
of beings associated with Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Sun etc. These planetary beings
give the astral body what it needs to exist. During sleep, the astral body is in ―union with
the starry world, the astral world‖ (p. 105) and returns to the microcosm when the person
wakes.
Spiritually advanced man has an individual ―I‖ body. This separates him from animals and
lower humanity, making him divine. The ―I‖ leaves the physical body and accompanies the
astral body during sleep. The ―I‖ is the body that can be trained to remember past lives in
Greece and Atlantis, etc. The spiritually advanced will develop ―I‘s‖ that can remember past
lives, and, after death, this body will be able to locate those that it worked with during a
previous life on Earth. ―The anthroposophical movement is to help and guide people to
remember in the right way‖ (Steiner, 1990, p. 14). Anthroposophists who have developed
their ―Is‖ reincarnate in core groups that have been spread around the globe and will
instruct others who have not developed their ―Is‖ in what they may ―think, feel, will and
do‖. The ―earth and all it can yield will belong to those‖ who develop their ―Is‖ (pp. 23-24).
One of the more influential yet eccentric medieval alchemists to embrace the micro-
macrocosmic theory of ancient Greece was Paracelsus (1493-1541). His writings have
exerted an influence for centuries right up to modern branches of Theosophy and
Anthroposophy (Roob, 1997, p. 15). Claiming to have visited with magicians in Egypt and
Arabia, he is said to have traveled to India before settling in Basle, Switzerland, where he
taught medicine at the university and developed his version of alchemy which incorporated
Cabala, astral magic and Christian mysticism. All Cabalistic signs, according to Paracelsus,
could be reduced to two—the macrocosm and the microcosm. He taught that the sign of the
macrocosm is a six-pointed star the sacred symbol of Solomon‘s Seal. The microcosm, a
five-pointed star or pentagram, represented man and all occult forces. These signs had
magical power over supernatural beings. (Spence, 1996, p. 257 &p. 276). Likewise, Steiner
taught his pupils about star magic as documented in the book Rosicrucianism and Modern
Initiation: Mystery Centres of the Middle Ages. In the lecture recorded in chapter five he
claimed that once, while on a spiritual journey in the spirit world, he became aware of a
lonely occult school in Central Europe that imparted the ―overpowering‖ and great wisdom
of the meditation known as Solomon‘s Key. According to him, this wisdom goes right back in
history through the Middle Ages to Aristotle in Greece: the tradition originated in Asia and
Alexander the Great brought it to Greece via Macedonia. This symbol played a major role in
the Central European mystery school that Steiner clairvoyantly discovered while in the
spiritual world. Supposedly, the master of the occult school would instruct pupils to make a
star with their bodies by standing with their feet apart and their arms stretched out above.
By assuming this position the pupils ―became conscious that they really do exist‖ (Steiner,
1965, p.64). After deep meditation the pupils learned that they could write themselves into
space and feel the very marrow in their bones. They went so far inside of themselves that
they left their bodies and they learned to know the lines of force that the gods had drawn to
establish and found the world (p. 67). Having discovered the paths to the gods through Man
and by placing themselves in the spirit-being of man, the pupils learned to look back into
past Atlantean times and even further (p. 68). ―The teacher would say to the pupil: ‗Behold,
Man is a Microcosm he imitates in his organism what goes on in the great Universe‘‖
(p.69). This concept of man as pentagram was a favorite topic of study for medieval wizards
and alchemists. The image is found in numerous Renaissance magic textbooks and
alchemical sources. It reappears in Steiner‘s Anthroposophical teaching today, and,
remarkably, in the lesson books and classroom rituals of Waldorf pupils.
physical body during sleep. They ―wind their way, in spiral form, out of the physical body‖
into the cosmic community of spiritual beings, returning to the physical body upon waking
(Steiner, 1959, p.104). While united with planetary beings, the astral body drinks the forces
of beings associated with Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Sun etc. These planetary beings
give the astral body what it needs to exist. During sleep, the astral body is in ―union with
the starry world, the astral world‖ (p. 105) and returns to the microcosm when the person
wakes.
Spiritually advanced man has an individual ―I‖ body. This separates him from animals and
lower humanity, making him divine. The ―I‖ leaves the physical body and accompanies the
astral body during sleep. The ―I‖ is the body that can be trained to remember past lives in
Greece and Atlantis, etc. The spiritually advanced will develop ―I‘s‖ that can remember past
lives, and, after death, this body will be able to locate those that it worked with during a
previous life on Earth. ―The anthroposophical movement is to help and guide people to
remember in the right way‖ (Steiner, 1990, p. 14). Anthroposophists who have developed
their ―Is‖ reincarnate in core groups that have been spread around the globe and will
instruct others who have not developed their ―Is‖ in what they may ―think, feel, will and
do‖. The ―earth and all it can yield will belong to those‖ who develop their ―Is‖ (pp. 23-24).
One of the more influential yet eccentric medieval alchemists to embrace the micro-
macrocosmic theory of ancient Greece was Paracelsus (1493-1541). His writings have
exerted an influence for centuries right up to modern branches of Theosophy and
Anthroposophy (Roob, 1997, p. 15). Claiming to have visited with magicians in Egypt and
Arabia, he is said to have traveled to India before settling in Basle, Switzerland, where he
taught medicine at the university and developed his version of alchemy which incorporated
Cabala, astral magic and Christian mysticism. All Cabalistic signs, according to Paracelsus,
could be reduced to two—the macrocosm and the microcosm. He taught that the sign of the
macrocosm is a six-pointed star the sacred symbol of Solomon‘s Seal. The microcosm, a
five-pointed star or pentagram, represented man and all occult forces. These signs had
magical power over supernatural beings. (Spence, 1996, p. 257 &p. 276). Likewise, Steiner
taught his pupils about star magic as documented in the book Rosicrucianism and Modern
Initiation: Mystery Centres of the Middle Ages. In the lecture recorded in chapter five he
claimed that once, while on a spiritual journey in the spirit world, he became aware of a
lonely occult school in Central Europe that imparted the ―overpowering‖ and great wisdom
of the meditation known as Solomon‘s Key. According to him, this wisdom goes right back in
history through the Middle Ages to Aristotle in Greece: the tradition originated in Asia and
Alexander the Great brought it to Greece via Macedonia. This symbol played a major role in
the Central European mystery school that Steiner clairvoyantly discovered while in the
spiritual world. Supposedly, the master of the occult school would instruct pupils to make a
star with their bodies by standing with their feet apart and their arms stretched out above.
By assuming this position the pupils ―became conscious that they really do exist‖ (Steiner,
1965, p.64). After deep meditation the pupils learned that they could write themselves into
space and feel the very marrow in their bones. They went so far inside of themselves that
they left their bodies and they learned to know the lines of force that the gods had drawn to
establish and found the world (p. 67). Having discovered the paths to the gods through Man
and by placing themselves in the spirit-being of man, the pupils learned to look back into
past Atlantean times and even further (p. 68). ―The teacher would say to the pupil: ‗Behold,
Man is a Microcosm he imitates in his organism what goes on in the great Universe‘‖
(p.69). This concept of man as pentagram was a favorite topic of study for medieval wizards
and alchemists. The image is found in numerous Renaissance magic textbooks and
alchemical sources. It reappears in Steiner‘s Anthroposophical teaching today, and,
remarkably, in the lesson books and classroom rituals of Waldorf pupils.
