Lecture by Alan Chadwick in New Market, Virginia, 1979
Lecture 2: The Cycles and the Four Seasons, Part 3
An Introduction to Alan Chadwick's Lectures and a Glossary of Terms
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The moon exerts nine times more gravitational attraction than the sun on the moisture of the earth. This affects the tides of the oceans. The moon has a period of inclination and declination each month. At times the inclination of the sun and moon are in alignment, at other times they are in opposition. As the sun inclines, the period of inclination of the moon has more influence. Then, in the fall, when the sun declines, the declination of the moon is a powerful influence for all of life to go toward dormancy. The depths of the earth also play a part in counterpoint to the effects of the sun and moon keeping a balance among the forces. The tides of the spring equinox. (13:16)
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Lecture 2, New Market, Virginia, September 4, 1979
The Cycles and the Four Seasons, Part 3
...I am truly another. But in origin I am one, because I am out of the mind of Zeus. And here you must look upon the Moon. The Moon is out of the Sun, and yet it is the opposite. And here you will perceive how the Sun, as it were, seems all the time to push, whereas of course, the Moon pulls. This is not altogether true, but it is a way of looking at it.
But when I say that the Moon pulls, we must understand and survey the matter that the Moon is principally magnetic to the water element, and is drawing eight-ninths of all of the water of the world all the time, magnetizing. Why do all the springs begin in the tops of the mountains? Is it because the world tips upside down and the water runs up there?!! The Moon is drawing the water out of the very tips of the mountains, where it coagulates together and forms in little rills, and eventually forms into drips and little tiny streams, and eddies, and drops over the rocks, and joins together and forms the veins that become arteries, that become great rivers that run into the deltas that run into the seas that run into the oceans.
And that all of those rivers, that all of the oceans, and those great tides that we talked of, that every day do this (claps), and in some cases, twice a day. It’s the breathing of the oceans, governed by the Moon, governed by the sun. And that those oceanic tides are, of course, breathing in and out, in and out. And that the moon is eight-ninths responsible for this magnetism.
Now, let us take the Moon’s twelve inclinations and declinations, and later we will survey this with the horoscope, with the Twelve Houses. But on December the twenty-first, at some period during the month, into January, there are the twenty-eight days of the month, and there are the appearances of the New Moon into the Quarter into the Half into the Three-Quarter into the Full, into the declination. So you get the circuit each month of the Moon’s revolvement.
And therefore, with the Sun’s inclining in January, you get the first New Moon of January, and you get adhesion between the two in their inclinations. You get the moon agreeing with the sun. At night, and the sun by day, the moon by night is born, and says “Yes, come on, wake up!”, and it adds to that excitement of the sun. And as it increases to half, it becomes more excited. And as it comes to full moon it adds its full capacity at night, and says to everything all night long, “Come on, dance!” “Let’s Wassail, Let’s festival!”
And then suddenly, the moon goes into declination, and balances there, by turning night into sleep again, instead of waking. And in that period of declination demands total sleep. And so that exuberance in January, which is very slight, is prevented as an agreement. But here the adhesions take place because they are waves in the cycle. That therefore when February comes, the performance of the moon is still similar, but with the sun it has increased. And therefore you’ve got a new excitement entirely added to the sun’s excitement, that you have a new moon which has a different adhesion again, and an added.
Likewise in its declination it is more objecting to, and demanding of a different sleep during February. And that the last element of the water now enters the scene, and in March you get the sun and the moon in agreement, bringing about the equinox, with full velocity together. And therefore when the moon goes into declination in March, it is more sensitive still to the resultant of the turn, and that all the time, you realize, that the moon is pulling at night, and as it were, the sun is pushing.
And so this goes on through May and June, into July, with the moon agreeing with the sun and then opposing. And it opposes it more and more into June. The sleep becomes more focused in intensity because it is so opposite to the growing intensity of light, and the period of darkness being less. Therefore the intensity of the sleep in that darkness is increased.
When suddenly the sun goes into declination, you get complete turn of the whole presentment. For the moon, in July, comes into inclination, and suddenly says to what is happening “Did you think that you are all going to sleep? Well you’re not” “You come on, you keep going.” “There is very little difference at all, very little difference, I grant you. There is very little difference, you won’t notice it with my increasing of light.”
And suddenly the moon goes into declination, and it is in agreement now with the sun and you see it’s very slight, it’s minimal at first. But they’re agreeing. And it is sleep at night, and a sense of sleep all through the day, as well, is being suggested. And therefore you see, the sleep at night is not now quite what it was in May. It’s become lessened in its intensity of requirement. And as that goes through August, so in September you get this tremendous performance of this exceptional Harvest Moon, full, with this complete robustuous refutal of allowing the world to go into sleep and dormancy and death, and death. And the moon is saying, “Nonsense, come on, let’s dance!” It’s happening. We’re not asleep at all.”
And then suddenly in September, when the sun has passed and darkness is greater than light, the moon’s declination agrees with that, and suddenly you get the first real wave. And somebody says, “Oh, there’s a funny sense of Autumn today, isn’t there?” And it’s coming in; you’re aware of it. But all the time these changes are taking place that resuscitate again, and then the moon inclines again in October and saves the situation. But then in November it has very little impact, very little at all. And the whole of the huge matter of sleep and dormancy has set in together, until it is absolutely overwhelmed. And the whole world is completely overwhelmed.
Now, also perceive that during those periods that have been cooperating together has been a huge period that… As in January the sun and the moon both said: “Something’s happening. Something’s happening. Look out, wake up, get ready. Everything get ready to fall in love.” The excitement is increasing, it’s increasing, it’s increasing!
Yes, but, at night, with the moon declining, there is also the influence from the ground, right down, down in the Ahrimanic of the Earth. That the whole of that huge period, from June through July, when the sun was declining, and darkness took over over light, it entered the depths, the depths of the Ahrimanic, and they took over the great descents deep down. So that during this period of the cycle which has begun, the deep, deep down is saying, under a deep roar, deep down like thunder in caverns: “Don’t you believe it. It's bitter down here. It’s sogging wet, and icy cold. Don’t wake up yet, for goodness sake!”
And each day, they say: “Don’t listen to it. Come on. How exciting this is, isn’t it? You see it all happening up here?” And that goes right on, you see, until June. And eventually, even in March, the light has won. The whole Luciferic has overwhelmed the Ahrimanic, and it has won. And the Luciferic, the mind, has overwhelmed the lower part.
And therefore, during the whole of that declining, you have got from March to June until September which has said deep down in the earth, the Luciferic has entered and it has warmed up, and it is saying: “Don’t go to sleep! You see, what the moon says is right. Keep awake. Let’s dance, let’s drink!” And so it is keeping that opposition, all the time those balances are taking place overweighing each other, keeping a huge balance in the scales of Libra.
Now let us go back and survey this matter concerning the moon and the moisture and this love in spring and sleep in fall. Now you perceive that if you take any particular point in the ocean, and you happen to be a navigator, you would realize that in March, when the high performance of the moon and the earth adjacent to the sun at its nearest in March, you would find that any particular spot of the ocean that you took…