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them too, in our German sagas and myths: the Ravens of
Wotan, the Ravens who fly around the Kyffhäuser. At the
second degree the disciple was led from the portal into the
interior of the temple. There he was made ready for the third
degree, the degree of the Warrior who went out to make
known before the world the occult truths imparted to him in
the temple. The fourth degree, that of the Lion, was reached
by one whose consciousness was no longer confined within
the bounds of individuality, but extended over a whole tribal
stock. For this reason Christ was called "the Lion of the stem
of David." To the fifth degree belonged a man whose still
wider consciousness embraced a whole people. He was an
Initiate of the fifth degree. He no longer bore a name of his
own but was called by the name of his people. Thus men spoke
of the Persian, of the Israelite. We understand now why
Nathaniel was called a true Israelite ; it was because he had
reached the fifth degree of Initiation. The sixth degree was
that of the Sun Hero. We must understand the meaning of this
appellation. Then we shall realise what awe and reverence
surged through the soul of a pupil of the Mysteries who knew
of the existence of a Sun Hero. He was able in the Holy Night
to participate in the festival of the birth of a Sun Hero.
Everything in the cosmos takes its rhythmic course: the stars,
as well as the sun, follow a regular rhythm. Were the sun to
abandon this rhythm even for a moment, an upheaval of
untold magnitude would take place in the universe. Rhythm
holds sway in the whole of nature, up to the level of man.
Then, and only then is there a change. The rhythm which
through the course of the year holds sway in the forces of
growth, of propagation and so forth, ceases when we come to
man. For man is to have his roots in freedom; and the more
highly civilised he is, the more does this rhythm decline. As
the light disappears at Christmas-time, so has rhythm
apparently departed from the life of man: chaos prevails. But
man must give birth again to rhythm out of his innermost
being, his own initiative. By the exercise of his own will he
must so order his life that it flows in rhythm, immutable and
sure; his life must take its course with the regularity of the
sun. Just as a change of the sun's orbit is inconceivable, it is
equally inconceivable that the rhythm of such a life can be
broken. The Sun Hero was regarded as the embodiment of
this inalterable rhythm; through the power of the higher Man
within him, he was able to direct the rhythm of the course of
his own life. And this Sun Hero, this higher Man, was born in
the Holy Night. In this sense, Christ Jesus is a Sun Hero and
was conceived as such in the first centuries of Christendom.
Hence the festival of His birth was instituted at the time of the
year when, since ancient days, the festival of the birth of the
Sun Hero had been celebrated. Hence, too, all that was
associated with the history of the life of Christ Jesus; the Mass
at midnight celebrated by the early Christians in the depths of
caves was in remembrance of the festival of the sun. In this
Mass an ocean of light streamed forth at midnight out of the
darkness as a remembrance of the rising of the spiritual Sun
in the Mysteries. Hence the birth of Christ in the cave again
a remembrance of the cave of rock out of which life was born
life symbolised by the ears of corn. As earthly life was born
out of the dead stone, so out of the depths was born the
Highest Christ Jesus. Associated with the festival of His
nativity was the legend of the three Priest-Sages, the Three
Kings. They bring to the Child: gold, the symbol of the outer,
wisdom-filled man; myrrh, the symbol of the victory of life
over death; and frankincense the symbol of the cosmic ether
in which the Spirit lives.
And so in the whole content of the Christmas Festival we feel
something echoing from primeval ages. It has come over to us
in the imagery belonging to Christianity. The symbols of
Christianity are reflections of the most ancient symbols used
by man. The lighted Christmas Tree is one of them. For us it is
a symbol of the Tree of Paradise, representing all-embracing
material nature. Spiritual Nature is represented by the Tree of
Knowledge and the Tree of Life.
There is a legend which gives expression to the true meaning
of the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. Seth stands
before the Gate of Paradise, craving entry. The Cherubim
guarding the entrance with a fiery sword, allow him to pass.
This is a sign of Initiation. In Paradise, Seth finds the Tree of
Life and the Tree of Knowledge firmly intertwined. The
Archangel Michael who stands in the presence of God, allows
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