This course of lectures was given at a pivotal point in the development of the anthroposophic movement. Just months before, an act of arson had caused the destruction of the first Goetheanum, and its darkened ruins appeared to reflect the fragmentations within the Anthroposophical Society. Divisions were appearing amongst members and friends, with individual energies increasingly routed to external initiatives and practical projects. It became apparent that a new impetus was needed. In this turbulent context, Steiner delivers these lectures in a calm, lively and informal style. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, he says, a yearning for spiritual nourishment arose within Western culture, and organizations such as the Theosophical Society gained in popularity. Despite his direct involvement in these events, Steiner describes in dispassionate tones how the spiritual movements behind theosophy and anthroposophy were able to work together harmoniously, before an unavoidable separation took place. Steiner's expansive review of the anthroposophic movement is an important narrative account of the developing Western spiritual tradition and the history of the Mysteries. These lectures also offer rare perceptions of the life and philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. Those who identify with the movement he founded will discover revelatory insights to its background and possibilities for its future development within the broader evolution of humankind.

Based on many years of medical, artistic, therapeutic and anthroposophical experience, the author presents a concentrated foundation for the development of artistic therapy and the training of therapists. Although written with the painting therapist in mind, this clearly-formulated book - the fundamental work in its field - will also be of interest to those involved in medical and general therapeutic work, as well as to serious students of anthroposophy. It includes fifty full-colour examples from Hauschka's course at the School for Artistic Therapy. MARGARETHE HAUSCHKA (1896-1980) studied Medicine in Munich and worked as a doctor at the Ita Wegman Clinic, where she had responsibility for artistic therapy and helped develop Rhythmical Einreibungen, a method of rhythmical massage. After marrying Rudolf Hauschka, she worked at the Biologischen Hospital in Hollriegelskreuth. From 1950, she devoted herself to course and seminar activity, and in 1962 she founded the School for Artistic Therapy and Massage in Boll, Germany.

Theologian and writer Robert M. Price is perhaps best known today for his scholarly arguments against the existence of a historical Jesus. Yet, he has been at various times in his career an agnostic, an exponent of Liberal Protestant theology, a nontheist, a secular humanist, a religious humanist, a Unitarian-Universalist wannabe, an unaffiliated Universalist, and a Fellow of the Jesus Seminar. Any way you cut it, he is not your typical atheist. This collection of his best essays demonstrates his love for the various great religions, which he views as endlessly fascinating expressions of the human spirit. Beneath the keen insights and sharp critiques he offers, whether the subject is theology, secularism, or biblical studies, the essays themselves are also deeply personal and revealing. Read together, they document his self-extrication from the born-again Christianity in which he dwelt for some dozen years--and his subsequent rise to celebrated freethought advocate whose work has challenged an entire field.

'What lies spiritually and cosmically at the foundation of a community like the Anthroposophical Society? In wrestling with this question, I have come to the inner conviction that it is justified to speak of the Anthroposophical Society as a Michael community.' - Paul Mackay How can one understand Rudolf Steiner's use of the word 'we' in the last part of the Foundation Stone Meditation ('What we found from our hearts and direct from our heads with focused will')? What characterizes this 'we'? In the first part of this original and inspiring work, Paul Mackay takes this question as a point of departure, developing a unique approach to working with the seven rhythms of the Meditation. Based on personal experiences, he comes to the conclusion that the rhythms are an expression of the members of the human constitution, with the 'we' in the fifth rhythm having the quality of 'Spirit-self'. The second part of the book considers the same 'we' from a karmic perspective, with reference to Rudolf Steiner's karma lectures, events in the fourth and ninth centuries, the mystery of death and evil, and the restoration of karmic truth.

Who wrote this mysterious guide to the principles of esoteric psychology and worldly success? History has kept readers guessing . . . and now, for the first time, seekers everywhere can discover a widely available edition of a guidebook that has been an underground classic for generations.
Here are the teachings of the legendary sage Hermes Trismegistus, reinterpreted for the modern reader. Rumored to be an ancient Egyptian man-god who fathered astrology, alchemy, and other magical arts, the figure of Hermes has fascinated readers of occult literature for generations. Writers in late antiquity named Hermes Trismegistus as the author of their own esoteric teachings, building the mystery of his lineage. Since 1908, "The Kybalion"awritten at the hand of the unnamed aThree Initiatesaahas itself generated debate and controversy. Who is behind it? Do its ideas really arise from the secrets of a distant era? And, most important, do they work for the modern seeker? In this concise, engaging guide, the pseudonymous author breaks down Hermetic doctrine into seven compelling principles, and then provides practical methods for how to apply them for self-development in daily life. Here is the definitive edition of a classic of esoteric psychology, now available to readers everywhere.

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

Global Secularisms addresses the state of and prospects for secularism globally. Drawing from multiple fields, it brings together theoretical discussion and empirical case studies that illustrate "on-the-ground," extant secularisms as they interact with various religious, political, social, and economic contexts. Its point of departure is the fact that secularism is plural and that various secularisms have developed in various contexts and from various traditions around the world. Secularism takes on different social meanings and political valences wherever it is expressed. The essays collected here provide numerous points of contact between empirical case studies and theoretical reflection. This multiplicity informs and challenges the conceptual theorization of secularism as a universal doctrine. Analyses of different regions enrich our understanding of the meanings of secularism, providing comparative range to our notions of secularity. Theoretical treatments help to inform our understanding of secularism in context, enabling readers to discern what is at stake in the various regional expressions of secularity globally. While the bulk of the essays are case-based research, the current thinking of leading theorists and scholars is also included.

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.

Rudolf Steiner's watercolour painting 'The Archetypal Human-Animal' presents us with the enigmatic image of a strange creature apparently swimming in water. It has a human profile, showing a clearly outlined nose and slightly-opened mouth, with a mysterious eye, almost concealed in its greenish hair. It has appendages similar to hands and feet, and dark-blue plant-like forms float about in the water beneath the creature's bright red and yellow body. Only the title provides us with a clue to its meaning: it is an 'archetypal human-animal' form. But even this is enigmatic. What is this strange, unusual creature - this archetypal human-animal? We are presented with a perplexing image and a puzzling description. In this original work, illustrated throughout with full-colour paintings and images - many by the author herself - Angela Lord takes us on a journey of discovery to realizing the meaning of Rudolf Steiner's painting. From Goethe's theory of metamorphosis in nature, we are introduced to Steiner's ideas of human evolution, from the primal beginnings of the archetypal human-animal on 'Ancient Moon'. Lord recounts myths and legends from many cultures that tell of human-animal forms, and reflects on the meaning of the fish in Christianity. She takes us through a series of 'colour sequences' for repainting Steiner's human-animal motif, and includes appendices that summarize evolutionary phases of the earth and humanity from a spiritual-scientific perspective. The Archetypal Human-Animal is both a valuable workbook for painters and a fascinating insight into hidden aspects of human evolution.

During 1924, before his last address in September, Rudolf Steiner gave over eighty lectures on the subject of karma to members of the Anthroposophical Society. These profoundly esoteric lectures examine the underlying laws of reincarnation and karma, and explore in detail the incarnations of certain named historical figures. In Rudolf Steiner's words, the study of karma is '?a matter of penetrating into the most profound mysteries of existence, for within the sphere of karma and the course it takes lie those processes which are the basis of the other phenomena of world-existence?' In this fundamental first volume - and essential basis for study of the later volumes - Rudolf Steiner gives an overview of the laws and conditions of karma, and goes on to consider the incarnations of Friedrich Nietzsche, Lord Bacon of Verulam, Lord Byron and many others.

In the architecture of Rudolf Steiner's great cosmological temple, this extraordinary course of lectures on spiritual beings forms the central pillar with other important texts such as the fourth chapter of An Outline of Esoteric Science, The Spiritual Hierarchies and the Physical World, and Inner Experiences of Evolution. These works, outlining a revolutionary angelological cosmology, lie at the heart of Steiner's mission to transform our understanding of the world by laying down a new, non-dual, phenomenological path to a contemporary divine-spiritual-physical cosmology that is angelological and theophanic. For Steiner, what constitutes the world are "beings"-including the ground of the world itself, the "Father being." Steiner's cosmology or angelology is personal, and it is known in relationship; therefore, he presents it in terms of states and deeds of conscious, and of the divine-spiritual beings whose states and deeds they are. The spiritual world is thus always a world of beings. The twin realizations-that "I am an 'I'" and that "reality is constituted of other "I-beings"-go together. Cosmology is angelology. Spiritual beings define experience of the nature of reality. In these lectures, the reader is led through a series of meditations to recognize these spiritual beings and come to know their deeds. Steiner's approach is "contemporary" in that, while continuous with the most ancient understanding of the cosmos, he discovers it for himself, out of his own experience and consciousness, and expresses it in his own words with a logic and language appropriate to our time. Thus he teaches us, his readers, to do the same.

"The two streams in the human being combine to produce what is commonly known as a person's temperament. Our inner self and our inherited traits co-mingle in it. Temperament is an intermediary between what connects us to an ancestral line and what we bring with us...Temperament strikes a balance between the eternal and the ephemeral..." From personal spiritual insight, Rudolf Steiner renews and broadens the ancient teaching of the four temperaments. He explains how each person's combination of temperaments - with one usually uppermost - is shaped. Steiner gives lively descriptions of the passive, comfort-seeking phlegmatic, the fickle, flitting sanguine, the pained, gloomy melancholic and the fiery, assertive choleric. He also offers practical suggestions aimed at teachers and parents for addressing the various manifestations of the temperaments in children, as well as advice intended for adults' personal development. Also available as an Audio Book

Mental and emotional disorders have reached epidemic levels in Western societies. Self-doubt, panic-attacks, anxiety disorders and personal fears of all kinds present major challenges to contemporary medical science. Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research offers a startlingly original and complementary contribution to the problem. True insight into psychological issues requires knowledge of the influences of spiritual beings, he suggests. In everyday life we are all confronted with metaphysical entities that can hinder or progress our development. Many forms of anxiety and self-doubt derive from such meetings on the border - or threshold - of our consciousness. Further, these `threshold experiences' are exacerbated today by a general loosening of the subtle bodies and components of the human soul. As these constitutional changes persist, says Rudolf Steiner, a condition of `dissociation' becomes increasingly common. A healthy emotional life will only be possible if individuals engage in a conscious practice of personal growth, strengthening their constitution through the action of the `I' or self. The expertly selected and collated texts in Self-Doubt offer numerous cognitive and practical ideas for the improvement of everyday mental and emotional health. Chapters include: The origin of error, fear, and nervousness; Crossing the threshold in the development of humanity and the individual; The polarity of shame and fear; The polarity of doubt and terrifying disorientation; The polarity of scepticism and claustrophobia, astraphobia, and agoraphobia; The origin of panic; Anxiety; The multilayered nature of terrifying disorientation; Healing aspects of the anthroposophical path of training; The spiritual-scientific qualities of fear compared with standardized diagnostic terms and as a basis for therapy.

Gnostic religion is the expression of a religious worldview which is dominated by the concept of Gnosis, an esoteric knowledge of God and the human being which grants salvation to those who possess it. Roelof van den Broek presents here a fresh approach to the gnostic current of Late Antiquity within its historical and religious context, based on sources in Greek, Latin and Coptic, including discussions of the individual works of preserved gnostic literature. Van den Broek explores the various gnostic interpretations of the Christian faith that were current in the second and third centuries, whilst showing that despite its influence on early Christianity, gnostic religion was not a typically Christian phenomenon. This book will be of interest to theologians, historians of religion, students and scholars of the history of Late Antiquity and early Christianity, as well as specialists in ancient gnostic and hermetic traditions.

At the end of his life, Rudolf Steiner took up the task that was his special destiny: to bring to the West a knowledge of reincarnation and karma. To do this, he gave over eighty lectures in 1924 in which he explicitly and concretely revealed the destinies of various individuals from one life to the next in order to show how the general laws of karma operate in individual cases. He also revealed many details of the karmic streams of the members of the Anthroposophical Society. These volumes constitute an immeasurable contribution to the understanding of reincarnation and karma, and the tasks of the Anthroposophical Society in connection with the Archangel Michael. This new edition also includes Steiner's last address along with; the karmic groups of souls connected to Aristotelianism and Platonism, the karma of the anthroposophical movement, as well as the individual incarnations of Ernst Haeckel, Vladimir Solovioff and others.

Our world today is increasingly characterized by speed, movement and flux. There is often a lack of sufficient time to do 'what needs to be done', and life seems to be marked by change, upheaval and revolution. But in the midst of this turmoil, say the authors, people are having conscious and semiconscious experiences of the etheric world - the world that comprises the forces of life. However, this growing sensitivity to the etheric realm only intensifies experiences of movement and upheaval. To counter such feelings, we should take hold of our inner life and strengthen the 'I' - our true self. Featuring essays supplemented with a substantial amount of source material from Rudolf Steiner and other authors, this book is an invaluable resource for inner development and the beginnings of true spiritual vision. We learn to practise the ability to add to every physical perception - whether of stone, plant, animal or another person - the etheric reality associated with that entity. This process leads us to become more aware of the 'after-image' and to become conscious within the etheric realm. Baruch Urieli comments that this 'is not an esoteric path but is, rather, an endeavour to bring the beginnings of a natural consciousness of the etheric to full consciousness and, hence, under the rulership of the ego'.