This unique collection presents Ita Wegman's principal writings and lectures on the Mysteries - both the Mysteries of the ancient world to which she felt personally connected, and the spiritual science of anthroposophy, which she saw as the contemporary form of Mystery wisdom. The volume begins with Ita Wegman's firsthand account of Rudolf Steiner's final days and hours on earth - written immediately after his death in 1925 - followed by several of her powerful letters 'To All Members' and their related 'Leading Thoughts'. Various longer studies are featured, including her lecture 'A Fragment from the History of the Mysteries' - delivered at the opening of the second Goetheanum in 1928 - articles on Ephesus and the Colchian Mysteries, and personal impressions of Columba's Iona, the island of Staffa (with its initiatory Fingal's Cave), and Palestine, the land where Christ once walked the earth. These writings - several composed specifically for an English readership - bring us closer to the inner being of Ita Wegman, offering insight into her knowledge, vision and understanding of anthroposophy. Her stimulating ideas throw light on the transformation of the ancient Mysteries to anthroposophical knowledge and activity today.

In what has been referred to as 'the most advanced course in anthroposophy', Rudolf Steiner addresses one of the great questions of our time: the role of evil in human development. He speaks of the year 666, when three time streams intersected - the familiar linear stream and two 'lateral' streams - and the reoccurrence of the 666-year rhythm in history. At the heart of this mystery is the being Sorat ('the beast'), who attempted to flood humanity with premature spiritual knowledge by inspiring the scholars of the ancient Academy of Gondishapur. Although responsible for the saving of Aristotle's works, Steiner describes how the Academy generated tremendous but dangerous gnostic wisdom, which eventually spread through the Christian monasteries and inspired Western scientific thought. Its immediate negative impact, however, had to be counteracted by the Prophet Muhammad and the founding of Islam. In contrast to the 666-year rhythm in history, the 333-year rhythm is connected to the healing forces of the Mystery of Golgotha. The year 333 was a central point in the post-Atlantean age, but also a pivotal moment in establishing the Christ Impulse and the new equilibrium it brought to humanity, allowing people to gain wisdom through their own efforts. Such wisdom enables insight into three key areas: supersensible knowledge of birth and death; understanding of an individual's life; and the ability consciously to confront the adversarial beings of Lucifer and Ahriman. Steiner addresses a host of additional themes, including occult Freemasonry in Anglo-American countries; materialism in the Roman Catholic Church; prophetic and apocalyptic vision; dualism and fatalism in pre-Christian times; and the delusion of time and space. Seeking to awaken his listeners to the urgency of the tasks ahead of them, he urges that spiritual understanding be enlivened with enthusiasm, fire and warmth of heart.

The Gospel of John, distinct from the 'synoptic gospels', is the most esoteric and challenging account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. John, whose identity has been much debated, mysteriously refers to himself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. But didn't Jesus love each of the twelve Apostles? Indeed, did he not love all human beings? However, the Gospel says only of Lazarus that Jesus 'loved him'. In this profound study, Richard Seddon brings together essential but often overlooked quotations from the work of the philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner. Steiner made no claim to divine inspiration, but described how - through the vigorous discipline of inner development - the capacity for spiritual-scientific research could be acquired. Rudolf Steiner, who founded anthroposophy, undertook research into many of the incidents recorded in John's Gospel, and reported his results in lectures given across Europe. In compiling Steiner's various statements, The Challenge of Lazarus-John reveals that John's Gospel not only gives a historical account, but also represents a path of personal development or initiation.After the prelude characterizing Creation, the Gospel describes how the Christ being descended into the physical and spiritual constitution of Jesus of Nazareth at the Baptism. Crossing the threshold between physical and spiritual worlds, the Gospel writer places emphasis on the development of the higher self in freedom, on the rebirth of the soul, and on the raising of Lazarus. An interlude considers the significance of the seven events referred to as 'signs', and the seven 'I am' statements in relation to higher stages of cognition. The remainder of the Gospel is seen as an expression of the seven stages of Rosicrucian-Christian initiation and their reformulation in the process of human evolution described in anthroposophy. This culminates in an examination of the spiritual processes that take place in the constitution of Jesus during the Crucifixion and Resurrection. It is Lazarus-John's personal witness of these events that enables him to write his unique Gospel.Drawing together such insights and interpretations, Seddon has produced a comprehensive monograph that supplements existing biblical commentaries and illumines John's enigmatic Gospel as a truly Christian path of modern initiation - a challenge to all human beings that will remain for millennia to come.