Hormones or so-called ‘messenger substances’ are formed in the whole organism, for instance as tissue hormones, and not only in the large hormone glands. In the heart, for instance, when we feel pleasure or are happy, the so-called bonding or love hormone is formed, oxytoxin, and affects our emotional brain. Hormones have an immense influence on our whole bodily, psychological and spiritual existence. We can rightly call them material ‘messengers’ of the world spirit. Saying that someone’s behaviour is all ‘down to their hormones’ is therefore evidence of shallow materialism and should be critically questioned. Although there is no scope here to describe all the complex activities and substances in each gland (that would take a book in itself!) I do want to point to a few important facts that are taught by anthroposophic medicine.
Classically, we have seven major glands which are almost identical to the position of the so-called seven energy centres, the chakras, which all lie on the body’s central axis. The hormone glands, from above downwards, are: the pineal gland (epiphysis), the pituitary gland (hypophysis), the thyroid gland (thyreoidea), the parathyroid glands (parathyreoidea), the thymus gland, the adrenal glands (suprarenals), and the female or male sex glands (ovaries and testicles). We noted earlier that the number seven is always connected with the relationship between the psyche (astral body) and the life or etheric forces.
In the case of hormones we find this in marked fashion. Hormone failures are catastrophic for the body and the soul and, even where replaced artificially, always affect both body and soul! If we consider them from above downwards, that is from the structuring head forces right down to the metabolic region, we find a striking phenomenon: the pineal gland is small, shrivelled and even has little calcium stones, known as brain sand. In the pituitary gland we find a duality between a nerve-oriented part (neuro-hypophysis) and one oriented to the metabolism (adenohypophysis). In the thyroid gland a threefoldness arises through the connecting bridge (isthmus) between the two lobes, coming to a conclusion in the fourfoldness of the lentil-sized parathyroid glands. Then, in the thymus, adrenal and sex glands, we come to a division into left and right. The thymus gland, chiefly responsible for the immune system and situated above the heart, slowly regresses from puberty onwards and becomes fatty. It has done its job in early youth. It is interesting that ‘thymos’ means more or less ‘soul feelings’ in Greek, that is, a heart connection to the world.
The hormones’ work is hidden and mostly only two glands come to our physical or symptomatic attention: the thyroid gland and the sex glands. The first of these is in the region of the throat, where today, in our increasingly hectic and nervous times, we must ‘swallow’ more and more emotional things, some of which may get ‘stuck in our throat’. Grave’s disease, auto-aggressive inflammations (hashimoto) or other abnormalities such as growths are not uncommon today.
Now what are hormones, in a spiritual-scientific sense?
Hormones are substances, and thus bearers of energy, which maintain youth and vitality in the organism, which otherwise continually tends to disintegrate and is at risk of depositing toxic metabolic products. This is particularly evident in the case of the sex hormones, that are connected with the vital forces of the moon (silver). In a differentiated manner they conduct the cosmic astral into the ether or life forces, which they reconfigure right down to the physical level. Not until the beginning of the twentieth century did people become aware of their outstanding significance. They are bridges between spirit and matter! It therefore makes sense to study the relationship of the seven hormone glands to the planetary forces, the metal processes belonging to them, and the sevenfold etheric functions, as we have already endeavoured to do in the physical realm in relation to the twelve signs of the zodiac. A lifelong but very interesting task!
Before we attempt, by way of illustration, to shed light on the thyroid gland in terms of pathology and therapy, I would like to explain some aspects of the seven life stages in their connection with the organs and glands.
We ought actually also to consider here the ‘guardian of the seven’, the eighth, which scarcely figures any longer in European folk wisdom. But in relation to the glands, the hypothalamus, a small but superordinate centre in the brain, produces the most important regulatory hormones.*
Each of these glands has its own cosmic task and their interplay is very important. The pineal gland is a rudimentary sense organ with brain sand, corresponding to the warmth and mineral forces of Saturn. In us human beings it is active in light metabolism (melatonin). In reptiles it is still an organ for perceiving warmth. In us too it was once an organ for the external perception of warmth, and thus spirit! The pineal gland (lead) ensures a healthy and not too rapid pace of development: if it ceases to work, we see premature development occurring (acceleration, i.e, Pubertas praecox). It is therefore an important brake on the activity of the sex glands and their acceleration of sexual development. Here we see a polarity of Saturn and Moon, i.e., lead and silver. Thus each of the hormone glands helps us understand its opposite picture. Rudolf Steiner connected to the seven levels of life, activities and functions which we could apply to the separate hormone glands:
Life of the senses — dying life-pineal.
Life of the nerves — preserving life-pituitary.
Breathing-forming life-thyroid gland.
Life of the circulation-expanding life-parathyroid gland.
Life of the metabolism-material organs—thymus.
Life of movement-energetic life-adrenal gland.
Life of reproduction-regenerating life-sex glands.
Now let us try to trace these aspects further — not in a superficial or trivial sense — to understand a little more about the inner activities of the gland organs:
• The pineal, with its relationship to the sense qualities of light and warmth and its tendency to build bones. The senses are in general ‘dying’, that is, they have become physical.
• The pituitary as the gland that rules everything, like an eagle, like Jupiter (Zeus), regulates everything from above, and is a cosmic preserver of all the earthly functions, as is our brain too.
• The thyroid gland with its relationship to the soul element, that is the air, through to its influence on metabolism.
• The adrenal gland as a dynamic factor, which, when it fails, leads to severe adynamy (Addison’s disease).
Rudolf Steiner once called the thyroid gland the ‘brain of metabolism’, and described it as an organ that regulates a person’s soul relationship to the outer world. Its substance is iodine, which is capable of destroying and ‘combusting’ lower life (bacteria), thus facilitating the transformation of vitality into higher soul capacities. If the thyroid gland fails completely then the human being drowns in a sense in life, in water, growing bloated, suffering from idiocy (cretinism) and shutting off from his surroundings. This could almost be described as a plant-like existence. In the case of thyroid over-function, a person burns up matter faster, becomes nervous and thin and his eyes bulge as though they can’t get enough of the world (Grave’s disease). Thus iodine takes care of our soul development and the transformation of life forces (water) into soul capacities (breathing). For instance, by feeding tadpoles with thyroid gland substance, you can hasten their development into frogs, changing them more rapidly from water animals to breathing land animals! In anthroposophic medicine, there are remedies made from a combination of homeopathic animal gland extracts with corresponding metals, administered as a stimulus for weaknesses of body and the soul. This is very different from hormone replacement therapy!
In cases of thyroid gland growths, an effective remedy is obtained from part of the meadow saffron, combined with copper and iron. An etheric-cosmic reordering of the organism can be achieved especially via the glands and their corresponding metals.
*In the mouth we also have an eighth tooth, the wisdom tooth, as the guardian of the seven permanent teeth on each side of the jaw; and even eight hand knuckles. The ‘eighth sphere’ is described in spiritual science as a very important realm, corresponding in Buddhism to the eightfold path. We can see this in terms of the sphere of the fixed stars standing guardian over the seven planetary stages.