Jordklodens dyreepoke – skærsilden

Symbol 80

A summary explanation of symbol no. 80 – The Earth’s Animal Epoch – Purgatory

General notes on symbols nos. 78-85
Symbols nos. 78-85 show the Earth’s various epochs of evolution. The Earth is a living being and, like all other living beings, goes through the spiral cycle. In the middle of the symbols we see the Earth’s physical body. The surrounding coloured rings of rays symbolise the Earth’s spiritual world or spheres of consciousness. The large ring of rays shows the Earth’s day-consciousness in the particular epoch of evolution. The circle of jagged figures in the middle of the large ring of rays symbolises the pole structure. During evolution the energies in the other areas grow and occupy the day-consciousness; they then degenerate and fade away into the inner rings.

The Earth’s spiritual world is populated partly by beings that are passing through because of reincarnation and partly by beings that are resident in this area.

Explanation of symbol no. 80
The symbol shows the consciousness of the Earth in the domain of the animal kingdom.

The mineral kingdom (indigo) and the plant kingdom (red) have degenerated.
Animal life has emerged. The orange ring of rays symbolises the culminating animal kingdom.
The jagged and straight dark structure with its spaces filled with white in the middle of the orange ring of rays symbolises the constellation of the poles. The beings have become one-poled. The different graduations of the dark tones indicate different degrees of pole development.
The dark area symbolises that the “Fall” has been brought about, and thereby envy and the struggle to possess and own the opposite sex.

In the comic sphere the spiritual area of the animal kingdom is termed “Purgatory” or the cosmic death that is the result of “eating of the tree of knowledge”. It is the domain of war, hatred or spiritual darkness, which, after death, constitutes the nightmare sphere of purgatory or bad conscience.

Martinus' own explanation of the symbol can be found in The Eternal World Picture, vol. 6, which is not yet available in English.