A summary explanation of symbol no. 79 – The Earth’s Vegetable Epoch

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. 79
In the Earth’s mineral epoch its day-consciousness was borne by memory (indigo). Over a period of millions of years the Earth cooled down, the energy of memory degenerated, and the structure of the Earth changed. Seas and continents arose, soil was formed, and plant life began to emerge. The Earth entered the vegetable epoch, and its day-consciousness was borne by the energy of instinct. In this epoch there were as yet no animals and no human beings at all.

• The large red ring of rays represents the day-consciousness of the Earth, which is borne by its energy of instinct
• The circle of white jagged and straight figures that are filled in in black in the middle of the red ring symbolises the sexual principle. Here it is in balance; the Earth-being is double-poled. Not until the end of the plant kingdom does the being begin to break away and move towards the one-poled state.
• The energy of gravity (orange) and the energy of feeling (yellow) are increasing and moving closer and closer to the big ring of rays.
   

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