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 inherent in reincarnation and karma, and explore in detail the incarnations of specific 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 volume, Steiner discusses the karmic relationships within the anthroposophical movement, including the predispositions which lead souls to anthroposophy, the two streams within the movement, plus Rosicrucianism, Arabism, Aristotelianism, the Platonists and the School of Michael.

Book Five of The Law of One is comprised of the 56 fragments of personal material that were originally omitted from the first four books of this series. Both Jim, the scribe, and Carla, the instrument for the Ra contact, have added their comments to these fragments to give the reader an idea of what it was like to be part of this contact and to show how every persons experience can be used for personal growth and service to others. A wide variety of topics is covered, from Eisenhowers meeting with extraterrestrials in 1954 to UFO/government conspiracies, Wanderers, sexual energy transfers, anger, balancing, Aleister Crowley, the Tunguska crater in Russia, pre-incarnative choices, psychic greetings, alternate and orthodox healing modalities, the ball lightning phenomenon, and the many facets of the spiritual journey in general.

Delivered more than 60 years ago, the lectures in this booklet demonstrate Alfred Heidenreich's gift for kindling understanding of the essence of Christianity and the nature and being of Christ. Guided by spiritual science or anthroposophy, as founded by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), Heidenreich presents an imaginative and insightful reading of the meaning of Christ's 'resurrection body', addressing the significance of 'original sin' and 'the Fall', and how they relate to this metaphysical body. In his second lecture, Heidenreich addresses 'the greatest mystery of our time', relating to the true meaning of Christ's 'Second Coming' or 'appearance' in the etheric realm of the earth. It is our responsibility, says the author, to bring '...the awe and wonder of our thought, the mercy and love of our hearts, the conscientiousness of our deeds', to help illumine and strengthen this esoteric reality.

'Required reading for anyone remotely curious about how they came to be remotely curious' Observer 'Enthralling' Spectator What is human consciousness and how is it possible? These questions fascinate thinking people from poets and painters to physicists, psychologists, and philosophers. This is Daniel C. Dennett's brilliant answer, extending perspectives from his earlier work in surprising directions, exploring the deep interactions of evolution, brains and human culture. Part philosophical whodunnit, part bold scientific conjecture, this landmark work enlarges themes that have sustained Dennett's career at the forefront of philosophical thought. In his inimitable style, laced with wit and thought experiments, Dennett shows how culture enables reflection by installing a profusion of thinking tools, or memes, in our brains, and how language turbocharges this process. The result: a mind that can comprehend the questions it poses, has emerged from a process of cultural evolution. An agenda-setting book for a new generation of philosophers and thinkers, From Bacteria to Bach and Back is essential for anyone who hopes to understand human creativity in all its applications.

'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.

In this third, enlarged edition of Lehrs' classic study, the reader is led, step by step, to a spiritual-scientific method of investigation. The author demonstrates how one can transcend the boundaries of the physical-material world, to the metaphysical origins of nature and the human being. This is a pioneering new method of training both the mind and eye, as well as other human senses, leading to a transformation from our modern 'onlooking' consciousness to a new kind of 'participative' consciousness. The beginnings of this method were formulated by Goethe (1749-1832) more than 200 years ago, but his contemporaries offered little in the way of fertile ground for his ideas. It was Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) who recognized the significance of 'Goetheanism' for the future development not only of science, but of human culture in general, and who developed Goethe's work in modern times. Man or Matter contains the systematic results of the author's work using the methods of Goethe and Steiner (the latter whom he knew personally). With this unique study, he addresses himself to anyone - with or without a specialized scientific training - who is concerned with developing the human power of cognition in the present time. This revised edition was edited by Nick Thomas and Peter Bortoft.

As a spiritual teacher, Rudolf Steiner wrote many inspired and beautifully-crafted verses. Often they were given in relation to specific situations or in response to individual requests; sometimes they were offered to assist generally in the process of meditation. Regardless of their origins, they are uniformly powerful in their ability to connect the meditating individual with spiritual archetypes. Thus, the meditations provide valuable tools for developing experience and knowledge of subtle dimensions of reality. Matthew Barton has translated and selected Steiner's verses, sensitively arranging them by theme. In this collection - for maintaining a connection to those who have died - Rudolf Steiner offers hope and consolation to the bereaved. The first section features words of wisdom on death and its deeper, spiritual meaning; the second part consists of verses which stress the continued links between the living and the dead, indicating how our thoughts can help those who have departed earthly life. The final section is devoted to verses which express something of what the dead experience in their new existence.

With love, humour and brilliant insight, Ben-Aharon addresses some of the most critical questions of our age, ranging from artificial intelligence and global politics to education and postmodern philosophy. Although tackling diverse subject-matter, this accessible anthology - delivered initially as lectures in locations as contrasting as New York, Oslo and Munich - features a coherent inner rhythm. With his lively and intense presentation, the speaker invites us to share and participate in the creative process and the dynamic activity of incarnating new ideas - indeed, to awaken to the very Spirit of our Time. Ben-Aharon discusses his investigations into the Spiritual Event of the 21st Century; the working of spiritual beings in America, Central Europe, Scandinavia and Israel; the renewal of education; the creative transformation of antisocial forces; Israel's diverse culture in the midst of the clash of civilizations; the new Christ Event and how it can break through our habitual patterns and our hardened thinking, feeling and will; and the mission of the anthroposophical movement in our time. Informed throughout by decades of spiritual research and intimate experience, this volume contains mature and illuminating explorations into contemporary culture, history and spiritual science.

How are the internal and external forms of the human organism shaped? How does human consciousness emerge? These are questions to which conventional science has no answers. In The Seat of the Soul, Yvan Rioux invites us to consider new concepts that can explain these phenomena. His exposition is based on the existence of external `formative forces' - or morphic fields - which, he argues, create the human body or organism in conjunction with forces that resonate within us from the living solar system. The psyche - or soul - emerges progressively as an inner world of faculties that in time learns to apprehend and understand the outer world. In his previous book The Mystery of Emerging Form, Rioux explored the formative forces of the twelve zodiacal constellations. In this absorbing sequel, he investigates how such activity from the planetary spheres works within us, as `life stages' or metabolic processes. Through seven chapters, he explores the impact of each of these planetary spheres on our complex organic make-up and psychic activity. The link between organs and tissues, he says, produces five specific `inner landscapes' in relation to the external rhythmic environment. Rioux also gives a description of Rudolf Steiner's seven `planetary seals' from a biological perspective. According to Steiner, these seals are: `...occult scripts, meaning that, as hidden signatures, they show their ongoing etheric impacts on the seven stages of our metabolism'. Between Steiner's indications concerning human physiology and the ancient Chinese view on the subject, there is a convergence of ideas - as synthesized here - that breaks through the boundaries of modern reductionist science, offering exciting perspectives for understanding the human being. `The seat of the soul is where the inner world and the outer world meet. Where they overlap, it is in every point of the overlap.' - Novalis

"A tone is at the foundation of everything in the physical world." This is one of many astonishing statements made by Rudolf Steiner in this collection of seven lectures on the inner realities of music. These lectures are an unusual treasure as they are the only two groups of lectures that Steiner gave primarily on music, other than the lecture cycle for the tone eurythmy course, Eurythmy as Visible Music. In the first group of three lectures, given in 1906, Steiner explains why music affects the human soul so powerfully. Music has always held a special position among the arts because it is the only art form whose archetype, or source, lies not in the physical world, as with architecture, sculpture, and painting, but purely in the spiritual world-the soul's true home. Music thus directly expresses through tones the innermost essence of the cosmos, and our sense of well-being when we hear music comes from a recognition of our soul's experience in the spiritual world. In the remaining lectures, given in 1922-23, Steiner discusses our experience of musical intervals and shows how it has undergone profound changes during the course of evolution. The religious effects of music in ancient times and the union of music with speech are considered, as well as the origin of musical instruments out of imaginations that accompanied singing. New insights are offered on the nature of the major and minor modes and on future directions of musical development.

In a quest to discover the truth behind the twentieth century's disastrous record of conflict and war, Terry Boardman considers two contradictory approaches to history: so-called cock-up theory and conspiracy theory. Could there be truth to the often-dismissed concept of conspiracy in history: the manipulation of external events by groups and individuals mostly hidden from the public eye? In the work of philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner, Boardman finds convincing evidence of the existence of secretive circles in the West, which have plans for humanity's long-term future. Steiner indicated that such 'brotherhoods' had prepared for world war in the twentieth century, and had instructed their members, using redrawn maps as a guide, on how Europe was to be changed. If these brotherhoods existed in Steiner's time, could they still be active today? Based on detailed research, Boardman concludes that such groups are directing world politics in our time. As backing for his theory, he studies a series of important articles and maps - ranging from an 1890 edition of the satirical journal Truth to more recent pieces from influential publications that speak for themselves. He concludes that vast plans are in progress for a New World Order to control and direct individuals and nations, and he calls us to be vigilant, awake and informed.

Heiner Ruland charts a practical path towards a deepened musical understanding, illuminating the panorama of humanity's musical past. Indicating what may happen - and needs to happen - to music in the immediate and more distant future, the implications of this book for composition, musical education and therapy are immense. The author shows how the fundamental elements of music embody distinctive modes of consciousness. He examines the musical systems of ancient humanity and goes on to draw a vivid picture of our contemporary musical situation. This seminal work is more than a theoretical treatise on the nature of music, but a book to be understood and experienced through musical practice. With the help of the monochord, the reader, with a minimum of technique, is able to explore new and unfamiliar musical realms. 'Rudolf Steiner believed that an expansion of our tone-system was a necessity...In this book of Ruland's, we have for the first time an account that is penetrating enough and of sufficiently large scope to enable us to understand why.' - Jurgen Schriefer

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 inherent in reincarnation and karma, and explore in detail the incarnations of specific 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..." A study of the karma of the anthroposophical movement and society, the spiritual gates of the sun and moon, and much more.

These messages are not only of historical significance, but address many issues confronting us today: the growth of psychism, our spiritual development, the need for brotherhood and altruism, and the role of theosophists and the Theosophical Society in the modern world. An essay by Kirby Van Mater provides the historical setting. Sketching important events from the founding of the Society to H P Blavatsky's death in 1891, it gives the reader a better understanding of the major currents affecting H P Blavatsky and her lifework.

Western esotericism has now emerged as an academic study in its own right, combining spirituality with an empirical observation of the natural world while also relating the humanity to the universe through a harmonious celestial order. This introduction to the Western esoteric traditions offers a concise overview of their historical development.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke explores these traditions, from their roots in Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, and Gnosticism in the early Christian era up to their reverberations in today's scientific paradigms. While the study of Western esotericism is usually confined to the history of ideas, Goodrick-Clarke examines the phenomenon much more broadly. He demonstrates that, far from being a strictly intellectual movement, the spread of esotericism owes a great deal to geopolitics and globalization. In Hellenistic culture, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, which stretched across Egypt and Western Asia to provinces in India, facilitated a mixing of Eastern and Western cultures. As the Greeks absorbed ideas from Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, they gave rise to the first esoteric movements.
From the late sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, post-Reformation spirituality found expression in theosophy, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Similarly, in the modern era, dissatisfaction with the hegemony of science in Western culture and a lack of faith in traditional Christianity led thinkers like Madame Blavatsky to look East for spiritual inspiration. Goodrick-Clarke further examines Modern esoteric thought in the light of new scientific and medical paradigms along with the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung. This book tracesthe complete history of these movements and is the definitive account of Western esotericism.

'Let us be courageous and not draw back in fear when realities of the world of spirit that play into human life are unveiled. You see, the future of humanity depends on us learning to live with the world of spirit in the same way that we live with the physical world here on earth.' - Rudolf Steiner In a wide-ranging series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner demonstrates the integral nature of spirit and matter and their manifold connections. Speaking to audiences in London, Holland, Germany and Switzerland, Steiner explains how, through a process of evolving consciousness, humanity lost its knowledge and direct experience of the spiritual sources of existence, but now needs to reconnect with them. Spirit is the essence and power of life which, in Steiner's vivid image, 'strikes a match in our whole being' when we allow it to inform us fully. Our world cannot be understood only in physical terms but is inseparable from the divine realities continually creating and sustaining it. Reconnecting with the spirit calls upon us to heal the fractures between everyday consciousness and the metaphysical realms in which we are already embedded. In Steiner's descriptions, there is no end to the numerous reconnections possible: between our past, present and future; between the active, individualizing principle of the 'I' and the physical human body it works upon and shapes; between our physical actions and limb movements in one life and the forming or sculpting of our head in a future one; and above all, between the moral actions and insights we develop whilst alive on earth and our developing 'eye' for spiritual reality in the life after death, with all that this can mean for the future of human evolution. Taking a truly holistic approach, Rudolf Steiner tackles an eclectic series of subjects throughout these sixteen lectures - all united by the common theme of rediscovering how spirit pervades life. Apart from a focus on education in several lectures, he discusses: experiences during sleep; the human spirit and soul between death and a new birth; how spirit 'sculpts' the human organism; Christ from the perspective of anthroposophy; the battle for human nature between luciferic and ahrimanic beings; karma and the creation of conditions for our return to a new life on earth; human experience of the etheric cosmos; and the human being's faculties of hearing, speaking, singing, walking, and thinking. Together, these lectures offer a cornucopia of spiritual insights and wisdom for the present day. 16 lectures, various cities, 1922, CW 218

Derived from twelve booklets of instruction to private students, "Fountain-Source" restores occultism to its original purity and recreates the atmosphere and discipline of the ancient Mystery schools. The scope of teaching is vast: the primeval wisdom-teaching; discipline and the spiritual path; the genesis, structure and destiny of galaxies and solar systems; correlations of cosmic and human constitutions; death and the circulations of the cosmos; and, invisible worlds and their inhabitants. This title is addressed to all who sense the inter-relatedness of human destiny with the cosmic design, and feel the call of altruistic service to humanity.

This anthology of philosophy and mysticism consists of short, independent articles combined with answers to over 200 questions on theosophy and human problems that embrace a wide diversity of themes: occultism and psychic phenomena, origins of Christianity, evolution into the human kingdom, buddhas and bodhisattvas, studies in "The Secret Doctrine" and "The Mahatma Letters", euthanasia, afterdeath states of suicides, significance of dreams, Mystery schools of today, and scores of other intriguing topics.

"A milestone in modern research on the the harmony of the spheres." - Novalis magazine "This book reignites the debate on the harmony of the spheres." - Das Goetheanum Is the solar system ordered, or is it simply the result of random and chaotic accidents? This book takes us on a powerful and compelling journey of discovery, revealing the celestial spheres' astonishingly complex patterns. The movements of the planets are found to correspond accurately with simple geometric figures and musical intervals, pointing to an exciting new perspective on the ancient idea of a "harmony of the spheres". Hartmut Warm's detailed presentation incorporates the distances, velocities and periods of conjunction of the planets, as well as the rotations of the Sun, Moon and Venus. Numerous graphics - including colour plates - illustrate the extraordinary beauty of the geometrical forms that result when the movements of several planets are viewed in relation to one another. In addition, the author describes and analyses the concepts of the "music of the spheres", with special consideration given to Johannes Kepler's revolutionary ideas. Current scientific beliefs about the origin of the universe and the solar system are explained, enabling the reader to understand fully how Warm's remarkable research supplements contemporary materialistic views of the cosmos. An appendix includes his mathematical and astronomical methods of calculation as well as detailed discussion of their accuracy and validity based on modern astronomical algorithms.

Within the Mystery cultures of ancient history, art, science and religion formed a unity that offered direction and spiritual nourishment to the broader society. Today, art, science and religion can again be reunited. However, as Marie Steiner indicates in her introduction to these lectures, these aspects of our culture need rejuvenation through fresh spiritual understanding and knowledge. Art cannot be renewed through compromise, but only by returning to the spiritual foundations of life. As she says: "The remedy lies in unlocking the wisdom of the Mysteries and presenting it to humanity in a form adapted to contemporary needs." In these wide-ranging lectures, Rudolf Steiner offers spiritual insight for the modern day into a revitalised world of the arts. His themes include: the relation of art to technology, the moral experience of the worlds of colour and music, the legendary Norwegian Dream Song of Olaf Asteson, and the relationship between the various arts of architecture, sculpture, painting, music, poetry, eurythmy and the human being.

'Spiritual knowledge is not given to us as in ancient times. By spiritual means it must be struggled and striven for against a host of demons...We must therefore get to know the powers that would cover up and obscure all spiritual knowledge.' - from the Preface 'The world seems to be standing within a demonic storm that threatens to overwhelm it', states T.H. Meyer at the outset of this rousing call for a wide-ranging, spiritual-scientific knowledge of the world. Appeals to traditional religious belief will no longer pacify this storm, and neither will 'good will' suffice. Building on Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy, In the Sign of Five tackles the central task of our epoch: the epistemological struggle with evil, and presents the five most important spiritual events since the beginning of the Age of Michael: 1879 - the rise of Michael to the rank of Time Spirit; 1899 - the end of Kali Yuga; 1933 - the appearance of Christ in the Etheric; 1998 - the assault of Sorath, 'one of the greatest ahrimanic demons'; The present - the incarnation of Ahriman. These events are linked to the five main tasks of the Age of Michael, the great challenge of inner knowledge and spiritual consciousness posed by the epoch as a whole. In the light of world history, and within the context of 'the sign of five', we stand today at the fifth place - at the point of the incarnation of Ahriman. Is humanity prepared for this decisive event? Have we recognised the phenomena of evil that surround us on a daily basis? Have the tasks corresponding to the five events been identified, and to what extent have they been carried out? How is evil related to 'the good' that guides the world, and specifically to the Christ impulse? Meyer provides a vital, pithy, aphoristic handbook for our apocalyptic times.

Rudolf Steiner's intuitive artistic knowledge enabled him to use colours in a unique way, giving expression to their individual natures. Together with his many lectures on art, Steiner's paintings provide artists with fresh ways of understanding colour, allowing for an entirely new creativity and aesthetics. In 1924, Steiner painted a watercolour of the Madonna and Child, giving it the title `New Life'. Through Steiner's depiction of Mary, mother of the Divine Child, this painting draws us to the feminine expression of spirituality. In this highly-illustrated, full-colour book Angela Lord studies this feminine principle, beginning with the very earliest stages of human evolution - the `Fall' from paradise and the pre-historic periods of Lemuria and Atlantis. From the Mysteries of Egypt and Greece to the development of Christian art, she offers insights to the myths and legends of female deities and goddesses. According to Rudolf Steiner, at the time of Jesus's birth humanity had entered a decadent phase of development. Small groups of initiated individuals, however, were preparing for a sacred birth: the descent of a heavenly being into earthly existence. The God of the Old Testament would be revealed `in flesh', born to a virgin mother. In the second part of New Life - Mother and Child, Angela Lord takes us on a journey through two thousand years of Christian art, covering Iconography, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. We see how artistic images of Mary and her Child have changed, why these variations have occurred and how they reflect the changing consciousness of humanity. Finally, the `New Life' painting is considered from the interactive processes of colour and composition, illustrated with a series of artistic colour sequences.