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| Copy by Stephen Hawks |
Albrecht Durer's woodcuts of the seven seals were published in 1498.
The Second Seal of Durer:
And, behold, a Throne was set in Heaven, and One sat on the Throne. And He that sat was to look upon like a Jasper and a Sardine-stone: and there was a rainbow round about the Throne, in sight like unto an Emerald. And round about the Throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty Elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on the their heads crowns of Gold ... And round about the Throne were four Beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first Beast was like a Lion, and the second Beast like a Calf, and the third Beast had a face as a Man, and the fourth Beast was life a flying Eagle.
On His knees lies the Book with seven seals; the Lamb, who alone is worthy to open the seals thereof, standing upon it.
It's hard to see the beasts here, so prominent in the Arild Rosenkrantz version.
"Four of the trumpets have already sounded, and the plagues that follow their sounding have stricken the earth. The rain of fire, mingled with blood, falls on the grass and the trees; the mountain of fire is cast into the sea ; the star named Wormwood is about to fall into a well of water; and the third part of everything is smitten and destroyed.
"In Dürer's representation of this vision, God the Father sits on a throne at the top of the cut, dealing out the trumpets to the angels, who have received all but two, which He is in the act of handing to the two angels nearest the throne. The angel with the censer, containing the prayers of the saints, stands at the altar immediately in front of the Father. The two principal angels, with their long trumpets at their mouths, occupy the central space of the picture, together with the darkened visages of sun and moon.
"The landscape on earth is partly river or sea, and partly shore. Two great cities doomed to destruction lie on either side of the broad water, in which numerous vessels of all descriptions are suffering shipwreck. An eagle flying over the earth utters the cry of ' Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels which are yet to sound !'
- Mrs Charles W Heaton (The History of the Life of Albrecht Durer of Nurenberg with a Translation of His Letters and Journal and Some Accounts of His Work: Seeley, Jackson and Halliday, London; 1881)
A keen observer has noted:
"But the clearest clue hidden in plain sight is the eagle-which is NOT an eagle. First of all, the eagle, according to the storyline, is supposed to be swooping upwards in the sky, Dürer has the bird swoop down.
"Secondly, it’s not an eagle, and we know this by the shape of the tail feathers. Bird tail feathers are used for giving signals or messages to other birds and Dürer ’s bird gives us a message. An eagle’s tail is not forked like the bird Dürer depicts as we can see in this picture.
http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a05/k9/3h/purpose-bird_s-tail-feathers-800×800.jpg
"So what kind of bird is this with a forked tail? It’s what’s known as a European kite or goshawk. And in Hungary, the land of Dürer ’s ancestry, the goshawk was known as the Turul, a very important mythic image. It was the great bird resembling a falcon that was sent forth by Isten to guide the creation and destiny of the Magyar people. The first Hungarian kings after St Stephen I were the hereditary of the Turul (“Turul nemzetség”)
For more on the Hungarian Turul, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turul
You can read more about the fourth seal (and the others)
here:
http://wn.elib.com/Steiner/Lectures/OccSigns/19070916p01.html
The above is Rudolf Steiner's lecture Occult Signs & Symbols.
The following are versions by Clara Rettich (1911):
.jpg)
The mystery of the holy grail. It is that astral experience which renders the universal meaning of human evolution. The cube represents the world of space, not yet mingled with any physical being or event. Out of the three space dimensions grow first of all the lower human powers, illustrated by the two serpents; these again bring out of themselves the purified higher spiritual nature, represented in the world spirals. The upward growth of these higher powers makes it possible for mankind to become the recipient, or chalice, of purely spiritual cosmic being, expressed in the dove. The motto and truth of spiritual science is inscribed here: I am born out of the Godhead; I die in Christ; I am born again through the holy Spirit.
***********
Arild Rosenkrantz painted the Apocalyptic Seals for the first time in 1923 under the personal guidance of Rudolf Steiner. They were published in 1924 in black and white in an English portfolio edition: “Occult Seals and Columns”.
The mystery of the creative word represents comprehensively the entire earthly evolution of man. The images in this and the other seals can be found in “The Revelation of St. John” or the Apocalypse. “And I turned to hear the sounds which reached me; then I saw seven golden lamps, and in the midst of the lamps one like unto the Son of Man, in a long garment… with eyes as a flame…and feet of living fire… and a voice like the sound of many waters. And in his right hand were seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”
“Here,” Steiner writes, “in general images, most far-reaching mysteries of human evolution are indicated… Every sign and form in the seals is significant… This continous development from the beginning to the end of the earth reveals itself to the seer, when he sees on the astral plane the archetype of evolving man, as it is reproduced in the first seal.”
"The group soul represents one of the first evolutionary states of earthly humanity, with all that belongs to it. In the remote past humans had no individual soul but were part of a group-soul. On the astral plane this may be reduced to four fundamental types: the lion, ox, eagle and that form, which as a group soul comes closest to the individual soul of human beings today. But as yet, as Emil Bock writes in his “Apocalypse of St. John”, everything is filled with divine calm and solemnity. Creation still rests in the sphere of perpetuity; the wheel of time is not yet revolving. The hierarchical realm which contains the creatures is full of wonder and worship, absorbed in contemplation of the creative cosmic centre. In the centre Rosenkrantz has placed the lamb – the only one worthy of opening the seals."
"The four riders represent the mysteries of the so-called harmony of the spheres. You experience these mysteries, Steiner says, in the interval between death and a new birth. The angel blowing the horns represents the spiritual primordial essences of world-phenomena.The apocalyptic riders represent the main points of development, through which a human individuality passes in the course of many incarnations and which are represented on the astral plane in the four riders on horses: a shining white horse expressing a very early stage of soul development; a flamecoloured horse indicating the warrior stage of the soul's development; a black (or blue) horse corresponding to the stage when only the soul's outer physical perception is developed, and a gleaming green horse, the picture of the ripe soul, which has gained mastery over the body."
The Second Seal of Durer:
And, behold, a Throne was set in Heaven, and One sat on the Throne. And He that sat was to look upon like a Jasper and a Sardine-stone: and there was a rainbow round about the Throne, in sight like unto an Emerald. And round about the Throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty Elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on the their heads crowns of Gold ... And round about the Throne were four Beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first Beast was like a Lion, and the second Beast like a Calf, and the third Beast had a face as a Man, and the fourth Beast was life a flying Eagle.
On His knees lies the Book with seven seals; the Lamb, who alone is worthy to open the seals thereof, standing upon it.
It's hard to see the beasts here, so prominent in the Arild Rosenkrantz version.
"Four of the trumpets have already sounded, and the plagues that follow their sounding have stricken the earth. The rain of fire, mingled with blood, falls on the grass and the trees; the mountain of fire is cast into the sea ; the star named Wormwood is about to fall into a well of water; and the third part of everything is smitten and destroyed.
"In Dürer's representation of this vision, God the Father sits on a throne at the top of the cut, dealing out the trumpets to the angels, who have received all but two, which He is in the act of handing to the two angels nearest the throne. The angel with the censer, containing the prayers of the saints, stands at the altar immediately in front of the Father. The two principal angels, with their long trumpets at their mouths, occupy the central space of the picture, together with the darkened visages of sun and moon.
"The landscape on earth is partly river or sea, and partly shore. Two great cities doomed to destruction lie on either side of the broad water, in which numerous vessels of all descriptions are suffering shipwreck. An eagle flying over the earth utters the cry of ' Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels which are yet to sound !'
- Mrs Charles W Heaton (The History of the Life of Albrecht Durer of Nurenberg with a Translation of His Letters and Journal and Some Accounts of His Work: Seeley, Jackson and Halliday, London; 1881)
A keen observer has noted:
"But the clearest clue hidden in plain sight is the eagle-which is NOT an eagle. First of all, the eagle, according to the storyline, is supposed to be swooping upwards in the sky, Dürer has the bird swoop down.
"Secondly, it’s not an eagle, and we know this by the shape of the tail feathers. Bird tail feathers are used for giving signals or messages to other birds and Dürer ’s bird gives us a message. An eagle’s tail is not forked like the bird Dürer depicts as we can see in this picture.
http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a05/k9/3h/purpose-bird_s-tail-feathers-800×800.jpg
"So what kind of bird is this with a forked tail? It’s what’s known as a European kite or goshawk. And in Hungary, the land of Dürer ’s ancestry, the goshawk was known as the Turul, a very important mythic image. It was the great bird resembling a falcon that was sent forth by Isten to guide the creation and destiny of the Magyar people. The first Hungarian kings after St Stephen I were the hereditary of the Turul (“Turul nemzetség”)
For more on the Hungarian Turul, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turul
You can read more about the fourth seal (and the others)
here:
http://wn.elib.com/Steiner/Lectures/OccSigns/19070916p01.html
The above is Rudolf Steiner's lecture Occult Signs & Symbols.
The following are versions by Clara Rettich (1911):
.jpg)
***********
Arild Rosenkrantz painted the Apocalyptic Seals for the first time in 1923 under the personal guidance of Rudolf Steiner. They were published in 1924 in black and white in an English portfolio edition: “Occult Seals and Columns”.
The mystery of the creative word represents comprehensively the entire earthly evolution of man. The images in this and the other seals can be found in “The Revelation of St. John” or the Apocalypse. “And I turned to hear the sounds which reached me; then I saw seven golden lamps, and in the midst of the lamps one like unto the Son of Man, in a long garment… with eyes as a flame…and feet of living fire… and a voice like the sound of many waters. And in his right hand were seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”
“Here,” Steiner writes, “in general images, most far-reaching mysteries of human evolution are indicated… Every sign and form in the seals is significant… This continous development from the beginning to the end of the earth reveals itself to the seer, when he sees on the astral plane the archetype of evolving man, as it is reproduced in the first seal.”
"The group soul represents one of the first evolutionary states of earthly humanity, with all that belongs to it. In the remote past humans had no individual soul but were part of a group-soul. On the astral plane this may be reduced to four fundamental types: the lion, ox, eagle and that form, which as a group soul comes closest to the individual soul of human beings today. But as yet, as Emil Bock writes in his “Apocalypse of St. John”, everything is filled with divine calm and solemnity. Creation still rests in the sphere of perpetuity; the wheel of time is not yet revolving. The hierarchical realm which contains the creatures is full of wonder and worship, absorbed in contemplation of the creative cosmic centre. In the centre Rosenkrantz has placed the lamb – the only one worthy of opening the seals."
"The four riders represent the mysteries of the so-called harmony of the spheres. You experience these mysteries, Steiner says, in the interval between death and a new birth. The angel blowing the horns represents the spiritual primordial essences of world-phenomena.The apocalyptic riders represent the main points of development, through which a human individuality passes in the course of many incarnations and which are represented on the astral plane in the four riders on horses: a shining white horse expressing a very early stage of soul development; a flamecoloured horse indicating the warrior stage of the soul's development; a black (or blue) horse corresponding to the stage when only the soul's outer physical perception is developed, and a gleaming green horse, the picture of the ripe soul, which has gained mastery over the body."
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