Try to keep a straight face while I tell you about the Seventh Epoch (Trumpets).
“This epoch completes the physical condition of form [sic] of the earth, which must then be entirely transmuted into astral form. But only in human beings is matter annihilated. So it must all be absorbed by us — we must not despise matter, but unite with it. Lemuria, when matter first solidified, is thus redeemed.” [1]
The Seventh Epoch entails a sort of gradual shutting down of the physical universe. We humans basically eat it all, thereby annihilating it. Matter, or the material universe, or reality, is a hindrance, according to Steiner. So ingesting it all will be a virtuous act. "Astral," for Steiner, is higher than "etheric." Real human beings (remember that some of us are not really human) wind up with three nonphysical "bodies" that sort of infuse and hover around the physical body: We get an etheric body (spiritual capacities drawn from the "ether"), an astral body (spiritual capacities drawn from the stars), and an "I" (or ego — but not in the bad sense: It is a spark of divinity).
Lemuria, as we have learned, was a really, really ancient place — a sort of proto-Atlantis. But note that Seddon speaks of Lemuria as a period of time, by which he means the years when Lemuria was up and running. We humans existed then, but in very different bodies (recollect the jelly-like bodies we once had). In Steinerspeak, the physical, the temporal, the imperishable, and the spiritual interweave, with the spiritual being the real goods. The stars, for instance, which are instrumental in the formation of astral bodies, are not lifeless balls of flaming gases. Rather, they are the manifestations of various "gods" or at least very high spiritual beings.
Steiner was big on astrology. The stars hold Great Britain and other islands in their places, for instance (islands float — they are not attached to the seabed). Or take the Sun. It is actually the perceptible indication of where Jesus is walking around. Further, the Earth does not orbit the Sun. Three planets proceed the Sun as it travels through the heavens; three other planets follow the Sun. That's six planets. Steiner sometimes added Uranus and Neptune, and sometimes not. But he compensated by adding Vulcan: "The last planet which can still be counted among the series of earthly transformations, and hence follows Venus, is Vulcan ... On this planet the provisional goal of the development of humanity is obtained." [2] We've learned some of this previously; other components of these teachings will emerge as we proceed.
Steiner got a little vague about the various ages of the Seventh Epoch. But each age will be a manifestation of “Spiritland”. [3] According to Seddon: “The fifth region marks the transition to the influences of Higher Spiritland, the descended realm of intentions and aims which form the archetypes for all lower regions.” [4]
Note that ages have become regions. Spiritual states, periods of time, and vaguely defined locations tend to be one and the same, in Anthroposophy. One strange bit, however, is that Seddon depends on Steiner’s book THEOSOPHY for some of these forecasts. THEOSOPHY is an early work. The religion called Theosophy contains errors, by Steiner's own account. Steiner broke away from the Theosophical movement in order to set up his own religion: Anthroposophy. Seddon apparently does not distinguish between Steiner’s early, Theosophical teachings, and his later, “mature” Anthroposophical remarks (which are fully as nutso and scurrilous).
(Einsteinian physics entails an interconnection between space and time, sort of like what we find in Anthroposophy, but not really: These concepts remain distinct for Einstein. Steiner blurs distinctions, "sees" what cannot be seen, and predicts what cannot be known. Science leads to truth; "spiritual science" leads to nonsense.)
“Moreover this Fruit Earth is connected by a sort of [equivocation] channel to a sort of hollow space in the uppermost layer ... ” [5] Note the weasel words. Increasingly, we suspect that, at least occasionally, Seddon didn't really know what Steiner was talking about (which may be Steiner’s fault, since his made little sense — which means Seddon may have understood him as well as may be).
Seddon says that the Ages or Regions of the Seventh Epoch are “sense-free thinking” (I remember being nudged in this direction at the Waldorf school I attended), “moral feeling” (I remember this, too), “sacrificial will” (not so much), “end of karma and physical body” (finally!), “purification” (ok, count me in), “sealing of ordeal” (this takes some explaining), and “silence.” Silence would be nice. (Seddon actually diagrams all this, and a great deal more, in his Appendix 2.) [6]
Now, as to the Trumpets: The trumps of doom. Steiner says: “Viewing the last epoch, that of the sounding trumpets, with spiritual vision, you would see that people consist of delicate spiritualized bodies [humans change their forms throughout the past and future as laid down by Steiner]; and that those who have hardened and compacted the material principle have preserved within themselves the most substantial constituents of matter; and that this will fall as husks to compose the material globe which will remain after the epoch represented by the sounding of the trumpets.” [7] Couldn’t have put it better myself. But notice that while the material universe was supposed to be snuffed out earlier, now there seems to be a material globe that remains. Maybe Seddon got Steiner wrong, above? Maybe he got him wrong in several places?
I think this makes an interesting point at which to conclude our discussion of the Seventh Epoch.
Addendum
Some folks find this statement by Steiner surprising: “Just as the leaders of the Sun’s evolution became the higher I ["I" is the highest nonphysical body] that worked in the life body of the descendants of human beings who had remained on Earth, this Jupiter leader became the higher I that spread like a common consciousness through the human beings who had their origins in the interbreeding of Earth offspring with humans who first appeared on Earth during the period of the air element and then moved to Jupiter. In the sense of spiritual science [i.e., Anthroposophy], we can call these the ‘Jupiter humans.’" [8]
P.S. There are also Saturn and Mars humans [9] among others (Moon humans, etc.). Note Steiner's near-mania for drawing distinctions between human "types" (and "races"). We've heard about the good races and the evil races; higher races and lower; humans who evolve toward spirituality and those who don't; etc. We haven't heard the following, but it is easy to find in Steiner's works: There are four (and only four) types of children: melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, and choleric (Waldorf teachers are supposed to segregate kids by these categories, and treat the categories differently) [see http://homepage.mac.com/nonlevitating/21.html ]. Now we learn that some humans are not of this earth, wholly or in part — there are Jupiter humans, etc. They of course are physically (and in other ways) different from full-fledged Earth humans. They are adapted to their environments without the aid of technology, which Steiner deplored.
So, consider: Jupiter humans exist on a globe (there's that word again) that has no surface; it is wholly made up of swirling gases; its gravity is vastly greater than Earth's, etc. Those people don't resemble us much, that's for sure. Moon humans, on the other hand, exist of an airless world of very lower gravity but immense temperature swings: during each 14-day day, the surface temperature is higher than boiling water on Earth; at night (which also lasts 14 Earth days) the temperature is colder than Antarctica. Makes you sort of quietly proud to be a human, doesn't it? Remember, too, that Steiner humans do not resort to spaceships for their interplanetary migrations — Steiner's teachings have to do with human evolution, not scientific/technological advancement. Man.
ENDNOTES
[1] Richard Seddon, TFOHATEAFBRS, p. 83.
[2] Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY: Prehistory of Earth and Man (SteinerBooks, 1986), p. 163.
[3] TFOHATEAFBRS, pp. 83-92.
[4] TFOHATEAFBRS, p. 87.
[5] TFOHATEAFBRS, p. 88.
[6] TFOHATEAFBRS, pp. 132-133.
[7] Rudolf Steiner, EVIL (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1997), p. 200.
[8] Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 238.
[9] Ibid., p.243.
