Contemplating the Soul Mood of 2006
By
William Bento

Throughout the Ages poets, seers and sages have made reference to the majestic music of the heavenly spheres. Often these references were meant to evoke the quintessential experiences of communion with the Spiritual Beings who inhabit the heavenly spheres. Only a language of transcendence could convey their encounter with this realm of divinity. The speech of the Gods & Goddesses was made audible in the invisible movement of the soul. This movement was in actuality the movement of the micro-cosmos within the human being. It was the resonance of the planetary movements across the background of the zodiacal star world, like the sounding of strings on Apollo's celestial lyre. This is both the mythic and spiritual source of the music of the heavenly spheres!

Rudolf Steiner understood this phenomenon as the active life of the Logos articulated by the Spiritual Beings in accordance with the movements in the heavens. In Art in the Light of Mystery Wisdom (December 2, 1922) he makes this fact quite clear. As a gift to the early group of eurythmists who completed their fundamental training in 1915, Steiner offered the "Twelve Moods". Twelve stanzas with seven lines each were written to capture the cosmic speech of each constellation and planet. Each constellation has its own primary mood, its own cosmic disposition, if you will. It imparts the form and conditions we find in life upon the Earth. The planets animate aspects of the mood, bringing it into manifest expression within the soul life of humanity. In each verse the first line addresses the vitalizing power of the Sun; the second line leads us into the inner resources of the soul so aptly embodied by the planet Venus; the third line conveys the expressive response of the soul as it appears in the winged messenger planet of Mercury; the fourth line resounds with the will to action as is associated with the planet Mars; the fifth line reveals the wisdom of the activity set in motion as is reflected in the movement of the planet Jupiter; the sixth line sets the tone of profound contemplation as is the nature of the planet Saturn; and the last line echoes the first as the Moon calls for a creative affirmation of what streams from the Sun as logos, life, light, and love.

A strict literal use of the lines given by Rudolf Steiner can often appear abstract and lifeless. This is not only due to translation problems, but to a lack of conceptual understanding as well. Application of the formula for assembling the soul mood verse without an imaginative relationship to the constellations and planets is like painting color on a canvas blindly. The color may be evident, but the composition may not. It is for this reason I take the liberty to augment the lines where I see a need, yet I remain, as true to the intent of the line as is poetically possible. We will contemplate the mood of the year as it resounds on January 1st, 2006. Our context will be twofold: our personal life and the global condition humanity finds itself in today.

The Soul Mood for 2006

Becoming achieves the 'power to be'. May what has been, surmise what is yet to come. Achievements will resolve the desire to strive, So ray out awakening life, Pour out deeds that will unfold In the quiet and peaceful light streaming out the new from the old. What has come to be, may it feel what truly is!

The Sun carries the first line in the mood of Sagittarius. But before we decipher the mood let us focus our thoughts on the nature of the Sun. From the Sun we have our alignment to the starry world, for the Sun is indeed a star among stars. We, too, have a celestial spark of divinity within us, lodged in our heart as a fire of resolve, as a burning light of intention, as a powerful movement to incarnation. All of this lives in us as the activity of the spirit. The spirit of this activity in the constellation of Sagittarius can be related to its associated virtue---Control of speech engendering a feeling for Truth. Does this not underline our theme of the articulation of the Logos? Does it not reveal what lies at the foundation of every spoken word? To engender a feeling for truth is both a moral imperative and a human longing. Can there be anything more truthful than the line, "becoming achieves the 'power to be'?

Our question must be, what is it that we are becoming? This question can be taken in both its personal and universal sense. For each of us it is a question embedded in very specific situations. Being truthful with ourselves' is a necessity, but not always a pain free affair. For some of us the pain may be so intolerable that we might turn away from the truth and deny what we are becoming. In these instances we do not achieve the 'power to be' authentically who we can be. However, when we consciously unite ourselves with the highest intention of what we long to be and succeed in being honest with ourselves, then our becoming is a process that is driven by the power of the truth of that ideal. We become the living truth of the ideal inasmuch as it is humanly possible. This is the result of being authentic in our becoming. From a universal perspective this question has become troubling for many of us. It seems humanity is becoming more encumbered by the power of lies than at any other time in our lives. How long can we deny this fact without forfeiting the dignity of what it means to be the logos bearing species on the planet? The struggle for the existence of truth is at the same time a battle for the soul of humanity. How might we engage in this struggle, this ever-urgent battle? As Mahatma Gandhi once said, " Be the change you want to see in the world." The power of this "being" is the only truth that can really set us free from the lies that daily deceive and attempt to steal the vitality of our own soul life. Becoming the change we want to see in the world is reclaiming the power to be the co-creators that we, as humanity, are meant to be on this planet.

The second line takes us into the mystery of time itself. "May what has been, surmise what is yet to come." We move in our contemplation from attentiveness to the process of becoming as an active present moment to a survey of the past and an anticipation of the future. This is the fertile ground of the soul, the realm wherein our biography finds meaning. Venus in Capricorn suggests a time for self-reflection. From the mountaintop the Goat overlooks the path it has travailed, and so it is with each of us. How could it be more appropriate to do so than at the dawn of a new year? What can we see when we turn our gaze inward? The facts of our life are spread out before us like a landscape that is composed of memory after memory. The virtue of Capricorn asks us to forge courage in the face of those obstacles we have created. By understanding the facts of our life we learn to plan our journey toward our destination. We create a map that informs and prepares us to meet that which is yet to come.

This line can be read as more than a declarative statement. It can also be approached as a plea, a prayer, and a petition to be guided rightly into the future. Reading the signs of the times we can conclude that humanity is in need of forging the courage to redeem, that which has been created from the catastrophic events and consequences of 9/11. Must terrorism breed more terrorism? Can there not be a more positive outlook? I, for one, must empathetically say yes! There have been miracles and there will continue to be miracles. It need only that we collectively put our faith in its appearances. Venus stood in the sign of Capricorn at the time of the Wedding of Cana miracle. Jesus turned the water into wine at the request of his beloved mother. May we not request of the ever-present Christ to perform the miracles needed today? The cultural containers that once held the nourishing waters of life are now near to empty as the death toll rises all over the globe. In the name of the spirit holy wars are being fought as the soul of humanity continues to be forgotten in this frenzy to claim a righteousness that is far from the core of what is Godly, divine and sacred. Our task is to hold firmly to the faith that is capable of moving mountains. The human soul is formed in the image of that which is Godly. It is divine and sacred. It is capable of generating the momentum toward miracles in this world-not in the world of hereafter, but in the world of today and tomorrow.

With this hope before us we move into a contemplation of the third line. We return to the virtue of truth as we hear the speech of Mercury in Sagittarius. Achievement is not a given, but a created fact based on efforts to bring ideas into manifestation. We can ask ourselves what idea are we attempting to express in our lives. Are we clear on what it requires of us to do and to be? This endeavor for clarity must precede the expression of will, for if it does not we run the risk of allowing our desires to propel us into situations unaware. So often we can mistake desire for true striving. For a striving to be true it must be a will guided by thought. The resolution to the striving comes about when we have manifested the idea for the purpose it is intended to serve. Desires unchecked have the tendency to be insatiable, never satisfied, and therefore rarely ever resolved. The whole purpose of fostering a meditative life is to achieve this comprehension and act accordingly.

Imagine a world where this principle is truly understood. In such a world the ravenous appetite to possess and devour all the worldly goods would not exist. The pleasure and thankfulness for all that does exist would give moments of rest for the human soul---a quality of life so necessary for the spiritual quest. We have lost this in our post-modern world. Achievement is a word that is being equated with status, power and standards of greed. It only unleashes envy among men and women. We must reaffirm the true meaning of achievement, and that can only be done when we factor into the equation the good life as a life of spiritual undertaking. In such a life the true guiding principle is not taking but giving. In giving our striving to love is resolved. What greater gift is there to give one another?

Contemplating the fourth line brings us to the turning point of our verse. We gather our forces and turn them to the world around us. Mars in the sign of Aries strikes a potent tone to our verse. As Mars is at home in this sign it expresses its fundamental nature, the nature of will as a power to create or destroy life. If we have taken seriously the teachings given to us in the above three lines we will inevitably orient our actions to the ideal nature of Mars. This reveals itself as devotion capable of acting out of the power of sacrifice. As we curb the desire to satisfy merely our own wants and needs, we become more capable of being creators of life around us. It is an interesting riddle of how death begets life. A riddle answered by the Christ in his deeds at Golgotha. Are we devoted to becoming the change in the world we want to see? Will we have the courage to sacrifice our own ego identifications and strive to deliver the truth no matter how difficult it may be?

These questions are crucial to ask and ever more crucial to be answered in a world that distorts devotion into righteous zealousness and dismisses ideals as useless romantic notions. To speak up against this tide of arrogance, pride and cynicism is no easy task. Yet, unless we do, humanity will continue to sleep walk into an abyss. To ray out awakening life we need to stay awake to all that attempts to put a spell of somnambulism upon us. A devotion to life may at times mean a willingness to lay down your life for what is right and true. The costs may be high, but the cost to not do so is higher still.

As we take hold of our will to express our ideals, we must not leave behind our capacity to discern the impact of our actions. Line five serves this need. With Jupiter in the sign of Libra we are reminded of the significance of peace amidst the storms of agitation and conflict. We must walk and act out of a place of equanimity if our deeds are to unfold as we intend them to. The form our deeds take may not always be as we might have imagined, but if we remain steadfast to our intentions then the right balance will take shape before us. It does, however, require that we maintain mindfulness. This is the illumined wisdom of Jupiter. In the sign of Libra it directs our mind to considerations of what the social ramifications of our deeds are. How may our relationships with one another be affected by a calm and peace? This attitude in and of itself can be a deed that unfolds greater security in an unpredictable world.

Complications never cease to exist when we attempt to discern how one deed may effect the social configuration of a situation. Harmony, as an ideal, is not something one can impose on others. It must arise out of a common wisdom to achieve it. In the cultural, political and economic arena we can see how difficult a proposition this is to arrive at. What is a common wisdom? It is certainly not the wisdom any one person or group claims to possess. Common wisdom best arises when there is no fixed point of view, but when multiple views can be expressed. In this way deeds unfold. Deeds will flow into a consensus of knowing that surpasses any one perspective when there is no expected outcome, but only an open-ness for wisdom to arise. In this way common wisdom can be said to be the concerned embrace of the whole with all its parts.

Having achieved this peace a light may pour out into the world that puts everything into a new perspective. This is precisely what line six conveys. Saturn in the sign of Cancer is the portal of birth, the threshold wherein incarnation takes form. Like a mother nurtures and cares for the newborn infant, we must learn to do the same for the "new age" we have called into being. The Age of Sophia is dependent, vulnerable and barely able to articulate itself without our aid. We must learn to ask the question of what it needs from us now. Not as an abstract entity, but as a being that is attempting to embody herself in our own souls. We must be selflessly willing to undergo a catharsis of placing our brother and our sister's life before our own. This is not so much a call for individuation as it is for communalization! The last apocryphal events of Saturn in Cancer, following the Mystery of Golgotha, was the out streaming of light radiating from the Whitsun event. It led to the founding of the first Christian Communities. In this historical unfoldment we may find the conception of the Age we are now living in, the Sophianic Age. Out of the Old Testament a New Testament appeared as its fulfillment. Such is the nature of the time we live in, except now it may be more a matter of the New Testament finding its crescendo in the Apocalypse.

Religious and political leaders are boldly asserting that the Apocalypse is underway. Unfortunately, few of them define what this means. The popular consensus is one of doom. Bereft of any positive features this notion of the Apocalypse only evokes despair and panic. A deeper understanding of the Apocalypse imparts a sense of hope and preparedness in the future, for it is not about finalities but about a catharsis of consciousness, a cleansing intended to make all things new. This is the meaning of the "light streaming out the new from the old". It is about creating inner order from the outer chaos of our time, bringing inner justice to the atrocities of the current wars waged around the world, and creating sacred spaces wherein peace and conviction can illuminate the apparent darkness of our time.

We find a resounding echo of the first line in the last line as it expresses the Moon in the sign of Sagittarius-"What has come to be, may it feel what truly is!" The mystery of becoming, the mystery of time, the resolution of striving, the power of awakening life, the unfolding of deeds, and the streaming out of light are all condensed in this last petition. It is a line that emphasizes the acceptance of reality. This is something we each must come to terms with in ourselves. What have we become throughout the course of our lives? Have we accepted the facts of our biography? Does it inspire us to continue to strive toward the ideal? Taking these questions into our contemplation can help us find our center. From there we can respond to the world with our will to act out of an awareness of the significance our deeds can make in creating a greater peace. We can become the change we wish to see in the world.

By doing so we can add the secret eighth line to the soul mood verse. It is the line attributed to the Earth. We are its speech. Imagine this line as streaming from the position of the Earth, which in this configuration is in the sign of the Gemini. Perseverance and faithfulness to the wisdom expressed by Gandhi may be heard in the following line, "As we are becoming the change we wish to see in the world, the world is changed to become what it was intended to be." In this possibility let us proceed to make the year 2006 a year of change, a turning point to a decade of tribulation. It is within our power to change the conditions of our time from darkness and terror to light and peace, for that is the way the world was intended to be.