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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Alternative belief systems > Syncretist & eclectic religions & belief systems > Post-renaissance syncretist / eclectic systems > Theosophy & Anthroposophy
It is not uncommon for children's drawings to end up in the
wastepaper basket. Yet these early artistic expressions indicate
how children communicate with their environment. From the first
scratches and scribbles to the detailed sketches of houses and
people, the drawings and paintings of our young ones are
significant manifestations of inner processes, containing important
statements about their development and gradual incarnation into a
physical body. Michaela Strauss's classic work is a pioneer study
that can strengthen observation, understanding and love for the
being of the child, both in the home and the kindergarten. First
issued in 1978, it is republished here with revisions, improved
reproductions, a larger format and more than 40 pages of colour
illustrations. 'In its drawings, the child describes for us
different conditions of consciousness, which are parallel with
those of cultural epochs.' - Michaela Strauss
'The personality who received the Christ Being into himself in his
thirtieth year is a complex entelechy. Only on the basis of the
Akashic Record can an accurate view be gained as to why the life of
Jesus is so diversely presented in the various Gospels...' - Rudolf
Steiner Previously untranslated, this collection of twelve lectures
represents a middle point in Rudolf Steiner's unique exposition of
the Christian gospels - his momentous courses on St John and St
Luke had already been delivered, whilst his lectures on the Matthew
and Mark gospels were yet to follow. Here, he examines the varying
depictions of Christ in the gospels, explaining that they represent
four different but complementary perspectives. Steiner's
unparalleled insights are based on his firsthand ability to
research the spiritual Akashic Record - the universal compendium of
all events, thoughts, emotions and intentions. The twelve lectures
include: 'The Gospels, Buddha and the two Jesus children'; 'Four
varying depictions of Christ in the four Gospels'; 'The Mission of
the ancient Hebrew people'; 'Preparations for an understanding of
the Christ Event'; 'On the right attitude to Anthroposophy'; 'The
Gospel of Matthew and the Christ conundrum'; 'Group souls and
Individuality'; 'God within and the God in outer manifestation';
'The Christmas tree as a symbol'; and 'A Christmas mood'.
Translated by Christiana Bryan, this volume features an
introduction by Tom Ravetz as well as notes and an index. Twelve
lectures, various cities, 11 Oct.-26 Dec. 1909, GA 117
In an absorbing series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner discloses
factors in a person's life on Earth that will influence their
experiences in the spiritual world after their death - and
conversely, factors in the spiritual world that will affect their
next life on Earth. Steiner focuses on the period in the afterlife
when the individual has been through kamaloka - the purgatorial
place where the soul is purified. Once the soul has been cleansed
of its astral sheath, it becomes open to cosmic influences,
expanding into the planetary sphere. Now it can begin preparation
for reincarnation - for a new human life on Earth. Steiner
addresses the vital relationship of the living to the dead - in
particular, how those on Earth can influence the souls of the dead.
He also speaks on themes of 'Sleep and death', 'The seven-year life
cycles of man', and offers a 'Christmas gift' in the form of a
lecture on Christian Rosenkreutz and Gautama Buddha. He ends with a
mighty picture of the Mystery of Golgotha: Jesus Christ's death on
the cross was only seemingly a death; in reality it enabled the
momentous birth of the Earth-Soul. Long out-of-print, the
freshly-revised text of the ten lectures in this new edition is
complemented with an introduction, notes and appendices by
Professor Frederick Amrine, and also features an index. Ten
lectures, Berlin, Nov.-Apr. 1913, GA 141
With great empathy, delicacy, and directness, Peter Selg recounts,
in three lectures, the moving story of Ita Wegman and her
relationship with Rudolf Steiner in the context of the development
of anthroposophic medicine and the formation of the Medical Section
of the School for Spiritual Science. Steiner had suffered patiently
until the right person-Ita Wegman-arrived to guide spiritual
science's healing mission into the medical fi eld. In the fall of
1920, Ita Wegman founded a medical clinic in Arlesheim. From then
on, she and Rudolf Steiner worked together, both medically and
spiritually, gradually unveiling a karmic working relationship
unique in Steiner's life. Thus the stage is set. The second lecture
focuses on anthroposophic curative education: ..". the social
center, the heart even, of Ita Wegman's 'Medical Section.' To make
a commitment to children with severe obstacles in their
incarnation, out of spiritual insight into the human being and the
wider karmic context, and to make this commitment as a group of
people working out of a Christian-religious impulse-this was for
Ita Wegman the true anthroposophic medicine." Dr. Selg then
describes Dr. Wegman's heroic eff orts to create a true community
of physicians working anthroposophically out of Rudolf Steiner's
indications and in the spirit of Christ; how she looked after her
colleagues, always seeking to wake them up "to the destiny of their
own being." As well, she sought to resist all that was happening in
Nazi Germany, never forgetting Rudolf Steiner's warning: "In the
future the Anthroposophical Society will be faced with the crucial
decision of whether responsibilities will be met or not..." And
here exactly lies the heart of this wonderful book: the inner
struggle to make love responsible.
While the benefits of Steiner's research into agriculture and
education are increasingly recognized, his research into the nature
of bees has had limited impact on beekeeping practices and on our
general understanding of nature. Wisdom of the Bees examines
Steiner's insights and research into the nature of bees and their
implications for the future of beekeeping. Today, more than eighty
years after Rudolf Steiner presented his lectures on bees, we are
confronted with a serious decline of honeybees around the world.
This fact alone justifies Wisdom of the Bees, a practical and
timely introduction to biodynamic beekeeping. Erik Berrevoets
revisits those seminal lectures and reexamines Steiner's
observations and insights in the context of today's dire situation
and provides practical advice for modern beekeeping practices.
Wisdom of the Bees is an accessible and essential introduction to
the urgent subject of holistic beekeeping practices.
"It is not always right to send someone to the chemist for some
medicine when he's ill. Instead we should organize our lives in a
way that renders us less susceptible to illness, or alleviates its
impact. Disorders will impinge on us less severely if we strengthen
the ego's influence on the astral body, the astral body's influence
on the etheric and the etheric on the physical." Nervousness,
anxiety and agitation are all common symptoms of our increasingly
stressed and pressured society. They manifest in the everyday form
that many people experience, or sometimes as serious mental or
psychological disorders. In this classic lecture, Rudolf Steiner
offers practical advice and spiritual insight for those who wish to
heal these proliferating ailments of modern life. He describes
simple exercises that strengthen the inner self, with the goal of
achieving the calm and centredness necessary to lead a purposeful
and healthy life. Also available as an Audio Book
Previously published as At the Gates of Spiritual Science, these
lectures offer a fine introduction to the whole of Rudolf Steiner's
teaching, as well as including valuable material which is not to be
found elsewhere. With great clarity and precision, Steiner speaks
of the fundamental nature of the human being in relation to the
cosmos, the evolution of the Earth, the journey. of the soul after
death, reincarnation and karma, good and evil, the modern path of
meditative training, as well as giving answers to individual
questions.Throughout, Steiner's emphasis is on a scientific
exposition of spiritual phenomena. As he says in his final lecture:
the highest knowledge of mundane things is thoroughly compatible
with the highest knowledge of spiritual truths.
Hermann Beckh's masterful study of Mark's Gospel offers much more
than scholarly argument. It is the work of a true visionary who
allows his readers to discover the meaning of the Earth and of
humanity for themselves. Beckh was in the forefront of entirely new
research and recovery of the Gospel, writing more for the future
than for his own time. It is not uncommon for biblical scholars to
view St. Mark's Gospel as little more than an assemblage of
fragmentary sources and a copy of uncertain, early memories. The
Gospel is said to have little historical veracity, harmony or
guiding structure. Beckh's contemporary, the German writer Arthur
Drews, even argued that the text was nothing more than a simplistic
solar myth, wherein another Sun-hero pursued his way around the
Greco-Roman constellations. Mark's Gospel: The Cosmic Rhythm is a
response to such twentieth-century materialistic thinking. He was
asked to write the book in the 1920s by the leaders of The
Christian Community, who sought to rescue the desecrated Gospel
from its opponents. Inspired by Rudolf Steiner and a vast knowledge
of ancient languages - Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pali and Avestan along
with Hebrew, Greek and Latin - the Rev. Professor Hermann Beckh
perceived how the Gospel reflects God's Everlasting Covenant, and
meticulously expressed its aesthetic unity, the consonance of its
parts and its consequent radiant clarity. His far-reaching
understanding of sacred texts in the original languages, always
associated with the disciplined meditation he had attained from
anthroposophy, led to unprecedented insight. This new edition of
his classic study has been revised and redesigned.
Rudolf Steiner shows how deeply and intimately human beings, the
microcosm, are related to the macrocosm. But for Steiner the
macrocosm is more than just the physical universe. It includes many
hidden realms - like the world of Elements and the world of
Archetypes - which lie behind outer manifestations such as our
physical body. The macrocosm works within us continuously - in the
daily alternation between sleeping and waking and in the great
cyclical interchange between incarnation on earth and our time
between death and rebirth. Steiner discusses the various paths of
self-development that lead across the threshold to spiritual
dimensions, transforming human soul-forces into organs of higher
perception. In future we will even have the capacity to evolve a
form of thinking that is higher than the intellect - the thinking
of the heart. In this classic series of lectures, now retranslated
and featuring a previously-unavailable public address, Rudolf
Steiner also discusses: the planets and their connection with our
sleeping and waking life; the inner path of the mystic; the
'greater' and 'lesser' guardians of the threshold; the Egyptian
mysteries of Osiris and Isis; initiation in the Northern mysteries;
The four spheres of the higher worlds; mirror-images of the
macrocosm in man; the strengthening powers of sleep; the symbol of
the Rose Cross; reading the Akashic Record; four-dimensional space;
the development of future human capacities, and much more. The
volume includes an introduction, notes and index.
'Once one has passed through powerlessness and refinds oneself, one
also finds Christ. Before we can gain access to the Christ Impulse,
we must plumb the depths of our own feelings of insignificance, and
this can only happen when we view our strengths and capacities
without any pride.' How does one find the Christ today? Rudolf
Steiner emphasizes the importance of striving for self-knowledge,
the significance of experiencing powerlessness, and the eventual
resurrection from powerlessness. In this important lecture, he also
speaks about the ancient Academy of Gondishapur, the significance
of the year 666, the mission of Islam, as well as the crucial
consequences of the Ecumenical Council of 869.
'From the contents of original Greek drama and the soul drama of
the present day that leads to self-knowledge, Rudolf Steiner
develops his thought processes - pulsating with lively
contemplation - about wonders of the world, trials of the soul and
revelations of the spirit!' - Marie Steiner In this remarkable
interpretation of Greek mythology, Rudolf Steiner goes beyond Carl
Jung and Joseph Campbell in reading mythological figures such as
Demeter, Persephone, Eros and Dionysos as primordial archetypes of
macrocosmic thinking, feeling and will. Moreover, he explains in
detail how this archetypal consciousness was gradually lost, giving
way to new-found, subjective experience of these faculties, which
in turn opens up possibilities for human freedom. His overarching
theme of 'the evolution of consciousness' is grand in its sweep,
but Steiner also shows himself to be the master of telling details.
Lectures include: 'The origin of dramatic art in European cultural
life and the Mystery of Eleusis'; 'The living reality of the
spiritual world in Greek mythology and the threefold Hecate';
'Nature and spirit'; 'The entry of the Christ Impulse into human
evolution and the activity of the planetary gods'; 'The merging of
the ancient Hebrew and the Greek currents in the Christ-stream';
'The ego-nature and the human form'; 'The Dionysian Mysteries';
'Eagle, Bull and Lion currents, Sphinx and Dove'; 'The two poles of
all soul-ordeals'; and 'On Goethe's birthday'. The freshly revised
text features an introduction, notes and appendices by Professor
Frederick Amrine, colour images and an index.
Underlying Sergei O. Prokofieff's life's work was a fundamental
research-theme to which he returned to repeatedly: the
individuality of Rudolf Steiner as manifested through his past
incarnations on Earth. Beginning in 1982, inspired by a visit to an
exhibition on The Epic of Gilgamesh, Prokofieff planned a
full-scale spiritual biography with the intention of finding an
answer to the question: Who is Rudolf Steiner? In a sequence of
five past incarnations - as indicated by Steiner himself - and
culminating in the life of Rudolf Steiner, Prokofieff searched for
the inner thread between the six stages of this great,
all-encompassing life. His intention was to find not only the outer
connections in this sequence but also the deeper, more esoteric
stream that offers the key to the unique significance of this
individuality. In 1984, Prokofieff began to write the first chapter
about Rudolf Steiner's incarnation as Enkidu in Sumer. Sadly, many
obstacles in his path were to prevent him finalising the project.
However, the author returned to the book in his final months,
preparing a Preface that outlines its conception together with a
summary chapter on Rudolf Steiner's evolutionary journey. This
precious 'fragment' of a biography features valuable additional
material, including: a full introduction to the relationship of the
anthroposophical movement to other occult streams of esoteric
Christianity and their Masters; a detailed spiritual-scientific
interpretation of the Epic of Gilgamesh that establishes Rudolf
Steiner's connection with the being of Jesus of Nazareth, and an
exploration of Steiner's relationship to the Nathan soul, the Luke
Jesus child. Serious students of anthroposophy will welcome these
final writings from the pen of one of Rudolf Steiner's most
faithful and insightful disciples.
'Concern for the world today provides the impetus to ask of
ourselves a profound question... how can our way of knowing, the
very style of our thinking which informs our research and our
teaching, come to express care, to reveal itself to be a deed and
duty of care?' Basing this practical study on the human quality of
care for the world around us, Nigel Hoffmann takes us to a
threshold beyond which lies a true science of living form. Care, he
says, springs from the whole human being - the thinking, heart and
will - and is implicit in the scientific method of conscious inner
participation in nature that derives from the work of the poet and
scientist Goethe. The Goethean approach - a living form that unites
science and art - is not an alternative to contemporary science but
complements it. Artistic practice, says Hoffmann, is a guide across
the threshold and into the sphere of the living whole. But artistic
sensibility can be raised to a higher possibility of itself,
allowing us to discover the faculties of cognitive feeling and
cognitive will. The author calls for a grounding in Goethean
science for all students as a preliminary to their specialist and
professional studies. He introduces us to the concept of the
metamorphosis of the university - from the doctoral ideal to the
ideal of the whole human being - and concludes with a case study of
the economic sphere and capital using Goethean methodology. This
profound book indicates a transformative path for human culture and
civilization in the 21st century. NIGEL HOFFMANN PhD has for
eighteen years been a high school teacher, in Australian and Swiss
Rudolf Steiner schools. He is the author of Goethe's Science of
Living Form: The Artistic Stages (Adonis Press) and is a director
of the Education for Social Renewal Foundation.
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