With careful documentation and persuasive exposition the author presents an authentic account of the chief incidents in H P Blavatsky's life, her ideals, and her unswerving dedication to the service of Humanity. Controversial matters and H P Blavatsky and controversy go hand in hand - about which today there may still be differences in opinion, are examined because they touch closely on fundamentals. They are discussed with the author's penetrating insight, yet with an impersonal touch not lacking in persuasive charm. This title includes an important record of the later history of the Theosophical Society and a listing of world-wide Theosophical Societies and Groups representative of the Theosophical Movement today.

Why is there suffering, sickness and death? Why is no corner of human life and society immune from egotism, fear, tyranny, betrayal and guilt? What was God thinking when he allowed evil to come into existence? Drawing on the worldview of Rudolf Steiner, the author explains that the roots of evil lie with angelic beings. Schroeder discusses evil's prehistory in heaven and shows how the polarity of two kinds of evil, with good as a balance between them, manifests itself in earthly history, and in the areas of education, work, human relationships, sexuality, religion and technology. With the increased influence of evil in today's world, Schroeder considers how prayer, meditation and angelic guidance through reincarnation give us the possibility to overcome evil in all its forms.

'If such authentic souls, such honest anthroposophists can be found ...then an upward movement and dynamic will arise. If such souls do not appear, then decadence will take its inexorable downward course...Today humanity stands before a great crisis: either it will see all civilization collapsing into the abyss, or else spirituality will raise civilization up by the power of the Michael impetus, through which the Christ impetus works, thus continuing, enriching and sustaining it.' In 1924, the final full year of his life, Rudolf Steiner gave a series of urgent, sometimes impassioned, talks to members of the Anthroposophical Society regarding their karma and its relationship to the culture of the time, referring in particular to the vital task of renewing civilization and preserving it from the threat of decline. Steiner's words characterize vividly a great spiritual battle, of forces gathering to fight for the soul of humanity itself. He presents a striking panorama in which anthroposophists are compelled to broaden their vision; to see true esoteric and exoteric anthroposophical work as a live yeast that can set all culture rising. To waken the members of the Society to the dimensions of their task, Steiner saw it as essential that they begin to understand the many different karmic threads from which the movement is woven. This recognition - of difference as much as unity - can give the strength of diversity which, if unconscious and unrecognized, leads easily to division. In the lectures and excerpts compiled here Steiner speaks of the unprecedented convergence of two specific groups of souls within the anthroposophical movement: the Platonists and the Aristotelians. In the karmic background lies a conflict of approaches, but the task today calls for a unity based on love and knowledge; to work with Michael and Christ in the face of Ahriman, materialism and the possibility of civilization collapsing into decadence. Given the challenges faced by humanity today, it has, perhaps, never been more urgent for those who ally themselves with Rudolf Steiner's work to study, absorb and take to heart the contents of this critically important material.

The author developed this booklet from talks that were held for members of the Anthroposophical Society. These became occasions for many to question potential membership of the First Class in a more conscious way, and for some to take the decisive step of entering the Michael School. 'This experience gave rise to the occasion for printing this lecture separately for interested individuals, as a stimulus to consider their relationship to the Michael School on Earth against the background of the karma that guides human beings in their present incarnation to anthroposophy. In this sense, the present text may well be an aid for some interested individuals to grasp to its full extent the unique significance of the establishment of the Esoteric School - carried out as it was by Rudolf Steiner based on the Michael Spirit - so as to gain the courage and will to become a member out of full inner conviction.' (From the Preface)

Steiner has been able to clarify the historical reality behind the Rosicrucian story, with all its aura of glamour and fantasy. That effected, he points to the enormity of its vision for the future evolution of ideas...' - Dr Andrew Welburn (from the Introduction) In the immediate aftermath of the 'Mystery-act' of the Christmas Foundation Conference, Rudolf Steiner chose to speak on the subject of 'Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation Mystery Centres of the Middle Ages'. Clearly connected to the events that had just taken place in Dornach - in which he not only refounded the Anthroposophical Society but took a formal position within it - Steiner begins by exploring the intellectual life of the Middle Ages and the role that Mystery culture played within it. He throws new light on the foundations of Rosicrucianism, its principles of initiation and its inherent impulse for freedom. Steiner also discusses the secret teachings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the dawn of the age of the Archangel Michael. In the second series of lectures, entitled 'The Easter Festival and the History of the Mysteries' (April 1924), Steiner describes how festivals grew out of the Mysteries themselves. He speaks of Mysteries connected to Spring and Autumn, Adonis and Ephesus, and the significance of Sun and Moon. Throughout the volume he discusses the roles of Alexander the Great and Aristotle in world history and the significance of Aristotle's 'Categories'. Published for the first time as a single volume, the freshly revised text is complemented with an extensive introduction by Dr Andrew Welburn, detailed notes and appendices by Professor Frederick Amrine and an index. (Ten lectures, Jan. and April 1924, GA 233a)

En diciembre de 1945, en un pueblo egipcio llamado Nag Hammadi (en arabe "Pueblo de Alabanza") un campesino hallo cerca de mil paginas en papiro divididas en codices, cuya antiguedad se remonta al siglo IV d. C. Fue una gran suerte que tales manuscritos se descubriesen en el siglo XX y no antes, ya que si el descubrimiento se hubiese producido en la epoca en que la Iglesia catolica se valia de la Inquisicion como instrumento corrector, habrian terminado en la hoguera al considerarse textos hereticos, apocrifos. Los textos de Nag Hammadi son unas traducciones realizadas hace unos 1500 anos. Se trata de trece manuscritos traducidos al copto de originales griegos. Sus autores ofrecen versiones de las vidas de Jesus, Maria y Jose; la importancia de estos evangelios es que fueron escritos por personas que vivieron en la epoca de Jesus. Estos textos ofrecen un Jesus que, en lugar de venir a salvarnos del pecado, viene como guia para abrir el acceso a la comprension espiritual.

Emil Bock lectured widely on Rudolf Steiner after the Second World War, and during the course of his research he uncovered many previously unknown aspects of Steiner's life. The Life and Times of Rudolf Steiner brings together the two volumes of this insightful work, which were previously available separately, in one comprehensive book. Part one introduces the great range of people who surrounded and influenced Steiner. Bock tracked down the mysterious 'Felix the herb gatherer', from Steiner's youth, and describes the Viennese social circles and coffee houses frequented by Steiner in his student days. He also details Steiner's meeting with Friedrich Nietzsche, and the various literary, artistic and eccentric people from Steiner's time in Berlin. Part two reveals some of the themes and ideas in Steiner's work - the early years of Jesus, the Christmas festival and the break from the Theosophical Society to the Anthroposophical Society - as well as exploring the nature of destiny. Bock also examines the circle of people around Steiner at this time and, using Steiner's ideas on karma and reincarnation, draws interesting parallels with Rome, Byzantium, Ephesus and the Grail Castle.

'Fundamentally, all of spiritual science ultimately aims to understand human beings in their essence, in their tasks and endeavours - in their necessary endeavours in the course of development.' - Rudolf Steiner In the midst of the division and destruction of the Great War, Rudolf Steiner speaks of the spiritual unification of all human beings. Rather than preaching a traditional morality, however, he states esoteric facts as he perceives them, based on spiritual-scientific research. These observations relate to the powerful universal impulse of Christ - a healing spiritual force that works through the various nations and races, irrespective of creed or colour - as a source of potential unity. Rudolf Steiner describes this impulse as the central core of human evolution. It allows for a conscious and newly-acquired connection between all human beings, in the context of the continuing diversification and fragmentation of the human race. The central motif in these lectures relates to the appearance of Christ on earth - knowledge of his historical incarnation, as well as Christ's manifestation in the present and future periods of human development. Rudolf Steiner creates an arc from the pre-Christian mysteries through Gnosticism and the older studies of the early Church Fathers, to Scholasticism and neo-Scholasticism. After ancient faculties of clairvoyance had began to fade, he explains, human beings could no longer see beyond the world of outer appearances, and direct perceptions of Christ were therefore no longer possible. And so the question arose as to how limitations on human knowledge could be overcome - a question which remains pertinent in our time. Steiner asserts that only a transformation of thinking, enabling a living and conscious inner conceptual life, can allow for a true understanding of the relationship between the earthly Jesus and the cosmic Christ. Such living thinking leads in turn to direct experience. Other topics in this volume include the birth date of the 'two Jesus children'; the wisdom of Gnostic teachings; the provenance of the Cross; the mysteries of the Christmas festival; insights into ancient Christmas plays, and reflections on individual consciousness of karma in the future

How might we improve the way we organize society, so that human beings can live in greater peace, dignity and justice? Against a background of chronic discontent and social conflict around the globe, Richard Masters presents a comprehensive survey of Rudolf Steiner's work on societal reform, sifting through and summarizing the content of dozens of books, lectures and discussions. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) is not known today for his social thinking, but he wrote and spoke at length on such issues during and after WWI, engaging with audiences ranging from royalty, politicians and business owners to illiterate, dispossessed factory workers. Central to his ideas was his 'threefold' approach to politics, economics and culture, arguing that their roles should be clarified and the three spheres allowed to thrive independently. Drawing on the full range of source material - including much not yet available in English - the author reveals the continuing relevance of Steiner's work to our contemporary situation. With an emphasis on accessibility, he builds up the subject methodically, studying the main ideas from differing perspectives. He also provides candid reflections on the degree to which Steiner's proposals are still applicable to current policy and practice. Authoritative and yet jargon-free, Rudolf Steiner and Social Reform offers innovative and stimulating ideas for anyone concerned with the state of our world.

Speaking to audiences in Denmark, Germany and France, Rudolf Steiner discusses a wide range of topics: from positive and negative human soul capacities, true self-knowledge and karma, to changes in human consciousness, from ancient times to the modern era - all in the context of the incarnation of Christ on earth. The lectures illustrate the diversity of Steiner's approach when speaking to different audiences. Reflecting on the polymath Novalis, for example, he is urgent about the responsibility of spiritual science to help humanity awaken to the new age. A few months later, talking of Hegel and deploring the fact that an interest in spiritual matters often fails to be accompanied by an equal interest in logical thought, Steiner uses a dispassionate, philosophical tone. But throughout the lectures he is consistent in his view that spiritual science does not reject conventional science. Trained philosophical thinking leads to different conclusions than materialism, he says, but there is nothing in the field of spiritual science that need be rejected by rigorous scientific thought. Although the lectures were given to a variety of audiences, ideas recur from different perspectives and in different contexts, with strong thematic links binding them together. These include the relationship between philosophy and science; the nature of clairvoyance; Christ's presence in the etheric realm; reincarnation and karma; the mystery drama The Portal of Initiation; Christmas and its symbols; and the transformation of consciousness that occurred when Christ incarnated physically on earth. In the final lectures, Rudolf Steiner speaks inspiringly about the Christmas festival, contrasting the feeling of inwardness that people used to experience with the hectic cultural environment of modern cities. However, this does not lead Steiner to be nostalgic about the past. Rather, he states, we should seek to recreate a mood of inwardness in a new way, appropriate to our modern age and consciousness. These lectures give us the tools to bring such a contemporary spiritual approach to our lives.

Madame Blavatsky was a pioneering woman, and not only as a traveller, writer and spiritual teacher. She was an inspiration to men and women around the world in Victorian times who desired to follow an independent path. In our own times, the New Age owes most of its spiritual knowledge to her. Blavatsky's travels in Russia, India and Tibet; her absorbing of many different cultures and her personal magnetism, are the stuff of celebrated legend. Her personal struggles against prejudice and ignorance are a record of one woman's determination to usher in the Aquarian Age. By her own efforts she established 'spirituality' as an ethos. She also taught that the soul - the 'Inner World' - of any individual is mysterious and precious. It is a sacred possession, one not to be feared, but cherished. Many myths and exotic tales surround Madame Blavatsky. This phenomenal individual saw herself as having a mission - to inform and enlighten the world. Her beliefs and her vision are even more relevant now than when she first voiced them.

Ita Wegman, born in 1876 to a Dutch family living in Indonesia, first met Rudolf Steiner in Berlin in 1902 when she was 26 years old. She studied medicine at the University of Zurich and in 1917, following Steiner's indications, developed a treatment for cancer using mistletoe. In 1921 she founded the first anthroposophical medical clinic, in Arlesheim, Switzerland, followed in 1922 by the Sonnenhof home for children with special needs. Karl Koenig first met Wegman in 1927, and she quickly recognized his great potential, as well as his weaknesses. She invited him to work at the Arlesheim clinic as her assistant, and encouraged and advised him in his medical work. This book includes the complete correspondence between Koenig and Wegman.

While we know of Ahriman from Persian mythology, Rudolf Steiner spoke of him as an actual, living spiritual entity. This being, he said, works to embed people firmly into physicality, encouraging dull, materialistic attitudes and a philistine, dry intellect. In these extraordinary lectures Steiner, in rare prophetic mode, talks about an actual incarnation of Ahriman on the earth and the potential consequences. Just as Christ incarnated in a physical body, so would Ahriman incarnate in the Western world - before 'a part' of the third millennium had passed. Steiner places this incarnation in the context of a 'cosmic triad' - Lucifer, Christ and Ahriman. Ahriman will incarnate as a counterpoint to the physical incarnation of Lucifer in the East in the third millennium BC, with the incarnation of Jesus Christ in Palestine as the balancing point between the two. Over the period during which Steiner developed anthroposophy - a speaking career that spanned two decades and more than six thousand lectures - he referred to the idea of Ahriman's incarnation only six times. These six lectures, together with an additional supporting excerpt, are reproduced in their entirety, and under one cover, for the first time.

This title contains a series of 8 lectures, given in Ojai, California in 1955, from one of the 20th century's greatest philosophers and teachers. Krishnamurti confronts the typical grasping and confused mind which lies at the root of all violence and suffering. Though offered over fifty years ago, the ideas in these talks are fresh, relevant and offer an enduring message for today as Krishnamurti discusses a world in which booming productivity and scientific advancement should promise a happy future, but don't.He points also to the ongoing escalation of war, competition, envy and territoriality despite gains in education, religious ecumenism and the technologies of self-improvement. He asks his listeners to consider that all apparent progress is simply another illusion. In their brilliantly clear essays, his focus is singular, with no glib answers to eternal questions. To read this book is to venture into the unexplored assumptions that govern our lives. The workings of the mind are so simple and obvious in J Krishnamurti's explanations, yet so enormously challenging to confront. Like other classic texts, such as religious scriptures, the words ring true. The issues addressed include: the nature of violence; the problem of change; the conditioning of the mind; how to achieve "peace"; the nature of worship and spiritual practice; and how to really listen.

'Large temptations will emanate from these machine-animals, produced by people themselves, and it will be the task of a spiritual science that explores the cosmos to ensure all these temptations do not exert any damaging influence on human beings.'In an increasingly digitised world, where both work and play are more and more taking place online and via screens, Rudolf Steiner's dramatic statements from 1917 appear prophetic. Speaking of 'intelligent machines' that would appear in the future, Steiner presents a broad context that illustrates the multitude of challenges human beings will face. If humanity and the Earth are to continue to evolve together with the cosmos, and not be cut off from it entirely, we will need to work consciously and spiritually to create a counterweight to such phenomena.In the lectures gathered here, edited with commentary and notes by Andreas Neider, Rudolf Steiner addresses a topic that he was never to speak of again: the secret of the 'geographical' or the 'ahrimanic' doppelganger. The human nervous system houses an entity that does not belong to its constitution, he states. This is an ahrimanic being which enters the body shortly before birth and leaves at death, providing the basis for all electrical currents that are needed to process and coordinate sense perceptions and react to them.Based on his spiritual research, Rudolf Steiner discusses this doppelganger or 'double' in the wider context of historic occult events relating to 'spirits of darkness'. Specific brotherhoods seek to keep such knowledge to themselves in order to exert power and spread materialism. But this knowledge is critical, says Steiner, if the geographical doppelganger and its challenges are to be understood.

In the early part of the last century, Professor Hermann Beckh began a search to discover the truth about the Mystery wisdom of antiquity. As a recognized authority on Buddhist texts, he knew that complete knowledge of such Mysteries was not to be found within the limitations of waking consciousness, sense perception and logic. Beckh was already aware that Gautama Buddha had indicated the stages of higher knowledge. Furthermore, his studies of Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophical teachings revealed that such knowledge could be experienced directly, given disciplined meditation. Clairvoyant cognition included the conscious penetration of sleep consciousness, the dream state and an experience of pre-natal consciousness. Both the Mysteries and Rudolf Steiner's major books, he concluded, were founded on the same perceptions. Beckh - a worldwide expert on Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pali and Avestan texts - quickly became disenchanted with Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy, as it displayed little precise academic knowledge of primary records. At the same time, university departments showed scant trace of understanding the texts they analysed through philology and sociology. Thus, based on comprehensive studies and personal experience, he resolved to present his own perceptions and vision to the public. The results are to be found in this invaluable book, bringing together for the first time in English three groundbreaking publications: Our Origin in the Light (Genesis 1-9) (1924); Zarathustra (1927) and From the World of the Mysteries

"Am I going too far if I declare that not a single one of the opponents took a tenth of the pains I took with anthroposophy before I joined the movement?" -- Friedrich Rittelmeyer Born in southern Germany in 1872, Friedrich Rittelmeyer was a leading figure in the Lutheran church at the beginning of the twentieth century. His was an influential pulpit, and he was a pioneer of a new meditative approach, seeking to re-establish the relevance of the Gospels. His life took an unexpected turn when, in 1911, he encountered Rudolf Steiner for the first time. He spent the next ten years critically appraising and investigating Steiner's ideas. This book is a fascinating and insightful autobiographical account of those years, as well a rigorous scrutiny of anthroposophy. In 1922, he made the decision to leave the Lutheran church and lead a new movement for religious renewal, The Christian Community, in association with Steiner. His final conviction was that Steiner's ideas were truly inspired. First published in English in 1929, this book's honest struggle with key anthroposophical concepts has been influential for generations of people.

'If we can bring nothing up out of ourselves except fear of the illnesses which surround us at the seat of an epidemic, and if we go to sleep at night filled with nothing but thoughts of this fear, then we create unconscious replicas, imaginations, which are drenched in fear. And this is an excellent method for nurturing bacteria...' - Rudolf Steiner Based on brief, pithy quotations from Rudolf Steiner's collected works, the 'spiritual perspectives' in this volume present core concepts on the subject of epidemics. These brief extracts do not claim to provide exhaustive treatment of the subject, but open up approaches to the complexity of Steiner's extraordinary world of ideas. Some readers will find these fragments sufficient stimulus in themselves, whilst others will use the source references as signposts towards deeper study and understanding.

"The New Essential Steiner" is an illuminating, completely new introduction to the philosophy and essential writings of Rudolf Steiner, introduced and edited by Robert McDermott, who also edited the now-classic "Essential Steiner." This new volume offers selections from a wide variety of Steiner's published works, presenting a broad, accessible overview of Anthroposophy. In his introduction, McDermott recounts Steiner's life and work, from his childhood and education to his work as a natural scientist, philosopher, scholar, educator, artist, interpreter of culture, and seer. He places Steiner in relation to major traditions of thought and explores the genesis and development of Anthroposophy. Although Rudolf Steiner is considered by many to be the greatest spiritual seer and philosophical thinker of the twentieth century and is credited with major cultural contributions such as the worldwide Waldorf school movement and the ever-growing biodynamic agricultural movement, he nevertheless remains relatively unknown to both academics and the public. The purpose of this volume is to redress that situation by introducing Steiner's work to a broader audience and making his name more universally recognized. "The New Essential Steiner" includes selections from Steiner's writings, which are grouped into chapters that demonstrate the breadth of his thinking and spiritual accomplishments.

A collection of best loved lectures containing practical insights for day-to-day living.

Madame Blavatsky's Victorian-era masterpiece is now scaled down to its essentials, providing the most readable, accessible experience ever of one of history's seminal occult works.
"The Secret Doctrine," Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's masterwork on the origin and evolution of the universe and humanity itself, is arguably the most famous, and perhaps the most influential, occult book ever written. Published since 1888 only in expensive, two-volume editions of some 1,400 pages, it has long eluded the grasp of modern readers- until now.
This single-volume edition, abridged and annotated by historian and Theosophical scholar Michael Gomes, places the ideas of "The Secret Doctrine" within reach of all who are curious. In particular, Gomes provides a critical sounding of the book's famous stanzas on the genesis of life and the cosmos- mysterious passages that Blavatsky said originated from a primeval source and which form the heart of "The Secret Doctrine." Gomes scrupulously scales down the book's key writings on symbolism to their essentials, and offers notes and a glossary to illuminate arcane references. His historical and literary introduction casts new light on some of the book's sources and on the career of its brilliant and elusive author, one of the most intriguing personages of the nineteenth century.
At once compact and representative of the work as a whole, this new edition of "The Secret Doctrine" brings unprecedented accessibility to the key esoteric classic of the modern era.