by Eloise Krivosheia
"The Twelve Moods" are a cycle of twelve meditative verses linking the constellations of the zodiac to planetary rhythms and cosmic consciousness. In this cycle, the Cancer verse represents a resting brilliance and the engendering of life's warmth.
The meditation for Cancer reflects an unfolding and emphasizes spiritual growth. The traditional verse translation is structured as follows:
Sun: Thou resting gleam of light,
Venus: Generate living-warmth,
Mercury: Bring warmth to soul-life
Mars: To strengthen self-proving
Jupiter: To penetrate thyself with spirit
Saturn: In restful light-outstreaming.
Moon: Thou beam of light, grow strong!
The Cancer verse focuses on the feeling of ascending to a peak (like the summer solstice sun) where it comes to rest for a moment. This represents a moment of internal stillness, where the soul can generate and retain life-warmth before beginning its descent. This Cancer mood corresponds to the standpoint of Materialism, the recognition of the physical universe as existing through the nature of matter, seeking to understand its laws. In eurythmy, the Cancer sign is associated with the sound "F" and is connected to the chest and breathing, mirroring how the sign works upon human life and soul energy.
There are twelve main philosophical standpoints; the future of philosophy rests not upon defending one and refuting the others, but in learning to experience the validity of them all. What convinces us of the truth of a certain point of view? Why do we find it difficult to comprehend viewpoints that differ from our own? What are the inner foundations of our knowledge? An appreciation of the variety of possible worldviews not only sharpens and makes our own powers of thinking more flexible but also helps us to overcome narrow-minded biases while promoting tolerance of others and receptivity to their views. Each viewpoint is colored by a particular "soul mood" that influences the way we pursue knowledge.
In that we all need to become broadminded, “unstuck” from one-sidedness in thinking, it is not surprising that Rudolf Steiner first gave “The Twelve Moods” verses to eurythmists, artists of movement, for these verses seem meant to help all of us bring mobility into our thinking, into the sphere of the Spirits of Movement as we journey with planet Earth during the course of the day. In her article, “Thoughts on the Twelve Moods,” Roberta van Schilfgaarde first offers brief planetary characterizations followed by the planetary outlooks. May this help us appreciate more deeply these spiritual relatives.
The Sun leads us into our practical daily life and connects us with our higher being, when at night it gives us over to our cosmic self.
Venus lovingly integrates us into the world. “Without her, love all is naught,” is a line from one of Steiner’s verses, for it is her love that unites with the Christ, the power of becoming.
Mercury’s mercurial activity—more than three rapid revolutions around the Sun during the course of the year—brings down to daily life the underlying cosmic thought aspect of what we have prepared for our day. The verses over and over unite Mercury’s line in the verses with the Mars line.
Mars’ thinking, by itself, would tend to make us earthly thinkers only. It is a task of our present age to harmonize the thinking of Mercury and Mars. Mars recapitulates the ancient Moon evolution, during which we received our astral body. Mars has given us the capacity to know the spirit, which we can raise to a higher level with Mercury’s help, so that we can give expression to the Holy Spirit.
Jupiter, carrier of the Son forces, recapitulates the ancient Sun evolution, during which we received our etheric body of light. Jupiter is also preparing the future Jupiter evolution, hence its name. It seeks to bring its light into the darkness that through human error has crept into our etheric bodies. Jupiter works in every verse together with the Father forces of Saturn, emphasized in the rhyming of their end words.
Saturn, the Keeper of Karma, recapitulates the ancient Saturn evolution during which we received our physical body of will and warmth. United with Jupiter’s light, Saturn helps us bring forth our own colorful individuality into our creative daily work.
