Glossary

Ahriman; see also: Satan, Dragon rising from the sea

Alpha and Omega;  In the language of the mysteries, arrival at the sound of Omega, after going through the whole alphabet, means that man is including the whole divine world (R. Steiner, GA 346, p.51).

The image of Alpha and en Omega refers to the 7 vowels, which represent the seven spirits before God’s throne and the 24 consonants refer to the 24 elder around God’s throne. It shows that sounds represent creative forces of which man was still aware in the past (R. Steiner, GA 346, p.89).

Also see: Christ

Balaam; also called Bileam, is a black magician who uses the forces of matter for selfish purposes like practiced in the wisdom of Egyptian Hermes after it became decadent (R. Steiner,GA 104a, p.81).

Beast with seven heads and ten horns; see Dragon with seven heads and ten horns

Beast with two horns; see Dragon rising from the earth, Sorat

Beings, four, each with six wings, these are the four group souls of men in the Atlantic epoch (R. Steiner, GA104a, p.32)

Book sealed with seven seals, symbol of the Akashic Records which remain sealed for us mortals as long as we have not overcome seven obstacles (Dullaart, p.52)

Booklet to be eaten by John; The eating of the booklet by John points at his ascension to a higher spiritual world (R. Steiner, GA104a, p.32)

Christ; the Lamb, the collective I of man, that which is eternal and will not be deteriorated by death; he who is the First and the Last, which means that he was present at the start of creation of man and that he was at that moment already as complete as man will be at the end of creation. Christ leads the highest possibe individualisation of man. Christianity is world religion, it is not a community of religions but of people (R. Steiner, GA104a, p.31)

The being called Christ in Christianity is foreseen in all great mystical movements like the Messiah in Judaism, Osiris in Egypt, Ahura Mazdao in Persia and  Vishvakarman in the Indian Rig Veda (R. Steiner: Dornach, 18 August 1919).

Also see: Son of man; Alpha and Omega; Lamb

Community; the 7 communities of the Apocalypse represent 7 cultural periods of  2160 years each (the time in which the vernal equinox of the Sun moves from one zodiacal sign to the other, which requires 1/12 x 25,920 (the Platonic world year) = 2160 years, ). According to Steiner the Old Indian cultural period covers 7227 – 5067 BC and ends with Laodicea (5733 – 7893), the so-called American cultural period of the Post-Atlantic epoch. (Steiner, GA 180, 8 January 1918). The dating of these cultural periods varies among authors. Some see the year 2000 as the start of the age of Aquarius (see text of musical Hair of 1967) while Steiner and theosophical literature dates the beginning of Aquarius around 3500   (https://anthrowiki.at/Slawische_Kultur).  Also Schult positions the start of Aquarius around 2000, a difference of 1500 years with Steiner’s approach. The cause for this difference is that the vernal equinox has progressed some 25 degrees in the constellation of Pisces and at this point an overlap starts with the constellation of Aquarius. According to Gisela Gorrisen (p.18-28) this does not mean that the age of Aquarius has effectively started at present. This would explain the differences between e.g. Steiner and Schult.

Community, form of collective; in principle no more then 7 types of community do exist which carry the characteristics of the occult meaning of the numbers 1 till 7.

Cultural period; a period of 2160 years within an epoch; see also: Community

Diabolos, see: Lucifer, Dragon cast out of heaven, False prophet

Dragon cast out of heaven, concerns a group of angels staying behind in their development of becoming an angel during the Old Moon incarnation of the earth; this group ranks higher than man but lower than regular angels and could on Earth realize their further development by working in the astral body of men during the Lemurian epoch. They grant man freedom; when Earth and Sun are again united the further developed luciferic beings are redeemed together with men with purified souls . Those luciferic beings which have not used this possibility are cast out of heaven. That is why the first dragon appears at the moment that astral Earth enters the Solar sphere (R. Steiner, GA 104a, p.121).

Dragon, red, with seven heads and ten horns; see: Dragon rising from the sea; also see: Lucifer, who is at a certain stage mixed with the seven headed dragon

Dragon rising from the earth; is the appearance of a third group of deviating men. These are black magicians, not falling back in animistic behavior but having developed spiritual abilities which they use to serve their egoistic physical desires. By doing so they make a carnal incarnation of the demon of the Sun, Sorat, possible (R. Steiner, GA 104a, p.121).

Dragon rising from the sea; represents de retarding group of men unable to join in the astral solar sphere  because they remain slaves of their animal like desires. While the others move to the solar sphere, these represent an evil counter-force, the second beast with seven heads and ten horns. It rises from the sea, which represents the not purified passions (R. Steiner, GA 104a, p.121). Also see: Satan.

Dragon with seven heads and ten horns; see: Dragon rising from the sea

Elders, twenty-four; Leaders of man’s evolution in previous times; see: Number 24

False prophet; see : Lucifer, Diabolos, Dragon cast out of heaven

Gog and Magog, this means groups and larger groups following the dragon or beast rising from the sea; participating in such groups brings man back from individual consciousness to group- consciousness and is a step back, inspired by ahrimanic impulses (Steiner, GA 236, p.262)

Lamb; is the Christ. The Lamb follows after the four apocalyptic beings around God’s throne including lion, bull, man and eagle. The Lamb is in this context the fifth being and symbolizes man after his completion (R. Steiner, GA 104a: 22). The image of the Lamb refers to the zodiacal constellation Aries, which followed after the constellation of Taurus, which was worshiped in Egypt (R. Steiner, GA 104a, p.21).

The occult sign for the Lamb is the heptagram. This seven pointed star gives the rationale for the names of the week days and refers to the seven planetary evolutionary phases as symbolized in the seven stars in the right hand of the Son of man (text fragment 3).

Lucifer; see also Diabolos, Dragon cast out of heaven, False prophet

Mammon; the spirit of hindrances, ruler of the sub-physical astral world, who resists the spiritualization of man and Earth and the astral unification of Earth and Sun after the Trumpet epoch (R. Steiner, GA 104a, p.119).

Number 0; the number 0 means in occultism the completion of a cycle (R. Steiner,GA 104a, p.126). 

Numbers 1 to 7; see explanation under ‘About this project’ at ‘Frequently asked questions’.

Number 10;has amongst others the meaning of completeness and unity, because 10=1+0=1. The 10 is the original unity but at a lower, more concrete level. The unity of the Holy One (God) expresses itself in 10 emanations or qualities (called in Kabbalah sefiroth), which are the ‘vertical’ causes of everything existing. Man, as image of God, is a manifestation of all 10 qualities  (D. van Egmond, syllabus 1994-1995, p.21). Schult (p.45) also sees number 10 as representing completeness. Ten is in the Hebrew alphabet the Jod, the basic unity of all letters, the basic unity of cosmos. The tenth sefirah is Malkuth (Kingdom), the synthesis of all nine sefiroth in the Kingdom of God’s presence on Earth. It illustrates that ten is the number of completeness.

Number 12; is the number of space, the outcome of 3×4, like 7 is the number of time, the outcome of 3+4.  Twelve is the number of the larger whole. Number 12 refers to the 12 influences which resonate in the physical body as a result of the emanations from the 12 zodiacal signs. Through 7 developmental stages each seperate human I is carried through 12 different world views (R. Steiner, GA 104a, p.410). The 12 also comes back in the 12 months of the year, the 12 disciples of Jesus, the 12 knights of king Arthur, etc. At the end the I unifies these 12 views and overcomes the seperate points of view. The 12 protagonists in Steiner’s mystery drama’s are like the 12 fixed star constellations in relation to the 7 planetary spheres (JvH, 2017, p.19). During the Lemurean epoch Sun, Moon and Earth were still united and they moved collectively through the 12 signs of the zodiac, the ‘heavenly clockwork’.

Number 24; number 12 is at the basis of 24 as 24 = 2 x 12, representing the intermittent presence of a day and night period of each 12 hours, the external and the inner side of spiritual events. The 24 elders around God’s throne represent leading beings in the 24 previous evolutionary phases of man’s evolution, since the start of man’s creation at the Old Saturn incarnation of earth. They represent nuances in the spiritual development of man (Steiner, 1907 GA104a, p.22; 1908 ). The 24 elders are also related to the 24 consonants of the Hebrew alphabet (R. Steiner, GA 346, p.89).

Number 42; represents the trespassing of 6 x 7 periods; 42 is also the sum of 4+2= 6; 42 refers therefore to 6, the number associated with a decisive phase in development.

Number 333; the year 333 is the middle in the period in which the mental soul is developed (747 BC till 1413 when the development of the consciousness soul starts) and the moment when the I sinks in the mental soul of man (R. Steiner, GA 236, p.101 and 205). From this moment on man must find out himself how to refer to the divine world, which was self-evident before. The counter-forces have also a more direct influence on man from this moment on.

Number 666; in 666 we encounter the ultimate moment of decision after all cycles are at the sixth phase. It refers to the final phase of the Earth incarnation and to the final phase of the whole cycle of the creation of man. The number 666 represents the ultimate danger that man is trapped in a descending evolution as propagated by Sorat, the anti-Christ, in stead of an ascending one as inspired by the Christ (R. Steiner, GA 346, p.108). Also see: number 6, Sorat.

Number 1000; The number 1000 points at completion of cycles and does not refer to a reign of 1000 years but that we can nowadays only enter the spiritual world through our I. It is important not to let this opportunity pass by because we were asleep (R. Steiner, GA 118, p.183).

Number 2160; see Community

Number 144000; this is the number of fullness and completion, expressed by 12 x 12, a double cosmic number (Dullaart, p.54), and by the number 1000.

Satan; this demon is used in different meanings, such as the combined force of Lucifer and Ahriman, or as the dragon rising from the sea, or sometimes as the ultimate source of evil, Sorat. Most frequently Satan refers to Ahriman, who seduces man to not purify his soul of animal-like desires and passions and surrender to machine like exertion of power over others  (R. Steiner,GA 104a, p.49); Also see: Dragon rising from the sea.

Sefiroth; emanations of God in Kabbalah, see Number 10.

Son of man; image of the Christ as well as image of future man and of man as created by God at the beginning of evolution;

In the present cultural period we recognize this emerging Son of man in the sculpture of the Representative of mankind made by Rudolf Steiner and Edith Maryon, and which can be recognized in Goethe’s Faust  (JvH, 2017, p.151).

See also Christ; Alpha and Omega.

Sorat; demon of the Sun; this name is the outcome of the number 666 in Hebrew: 666=60+6+600: 60=Samech; 6= Resch; 600= 200+400 or 200=Daleth en 400=Tau. This delivers Soradt or Sorat, who is the ultimate opponent of the Christ; Sorat’s occult sign consist of two horns with a hook. The beast rising from the earth also has two horns, identifying it as Sorat (R. Steiner, GA104a, p.19; R. Steiner,GA 346, p.304). Sorat is also seen as the representative of a group of rebbelling spirits at the Old Saturn incarnation of the earth, known as Azura’s.

Wrath, vials of; the outpouring of the vials of divine wrath are the needed ultimate purification of the human soul before unification with God; divine wrath is how divine love is experienced by the soul which is not yet pure; divine wrath is a protection against all impurities that the consciousness soul of man will collect (R. Steiner,GA 346, p.217).

White garment; this attribute identifies men who have purified their soul (astral body) by means of purified thinking that they have developed their Manas, their fifth aspect of being; this aspect will be fully developed  at the next incarnation of earth, Jupiter, or heavenly Jerusalem.

Sword, two-edged; symbolizes the power of the creating word, the future ability of man to speak the divine creating word (R. Steiner, GA 104a, p.86). The sword is a symbol also used in the mystery schools; the initiate was frightened by the sword, representing the experiences otherwise occurring  during the transition of dying (R. Steiner, GA 8, p.119).