"The anthroposophical community seeks to lift human souls into supersensible realms so that they may enter the company of Angels." - Rudolf Steiner. Prokofieff traces the three stages of heavenly preparation of anthroposophy: the 'spiritual thunderstorm', the Michael School in the Sun sphere, and the 'imagination-based cultus' in the spiritual word nearest to the Earth. These events involved the nine spiritual hierarchies, associating them with the karma of the anthroposophical movement. Prokofieff elaborates the tasks of the Anthroposophical Society and indicates how these are connected with the spiritual hierarchies, the Michael movement, the Grail mysteries, the work of new Group Souls, and the Foundation Stone Meditation. He shows that the General Anthroposophical Society was, in an esoteric sense, created in order that human beings might learn to work with the Gods themselves. This is a vital booklet for anybody who cares deeply about the future of the Anthroposophical Society, or the future of mankind itself.

Are you ready to begin the process of making yourself a new etheric body and individuality? In the last century, Rudolf Steiner issued a challenge for practitioners of western spiritual science. Would it be possible to develop a new form of cognitive, or Michaelic, yoga? In contrast to the eastern yogis of old - who practiced the spiritualization of inhalation and exhalation - such contemporary yogic practice would involve a spiritualization of thinking as well as a transformation of perceptions and sensations. In Cognitive Yoga, Dr Ben-Aharon responds to that call, developing the entire modern yogic process and describing it in remarkable detail. Through the methods presented, committed practitioners of anthroposophy can create a living framework for spiritual research through a fully spiritualized thinking accompanied by a complete renewal of the experiences of perception and sensation as well as of the human body itself.Included in the contents of this extraordinary book is a comprehensive guide to the spiritualization of the senses and how this leads to a transmutation of the deepest and most unconscious bodily processes and functions. Cognitive Yoga culminates in a pioneering description of a completely individualized meeting with the etheric Christ in the etheric world - the most important spiritual and human experience that people can have in our time and over the millennia to come. This seminal work, built on decades of first-hand research, provides tangible evidence that western spiritual schooling is not only alive and well, but also full of potential for future development. Ben-Aharon offers a fully formulated and practical guide to a knowledge of the present revelations of the spiritual world.

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.

The rising interest in goddess spirituality expresses our current need to understand the feminine side of God, the Sophia (or Divine Wisdom), and her relationship to the masculine aspects of God. Offering a new perspective, the author draws on his own research and on the teaching of Russian philosopher Pavel Florensky, according to whom Sophia has a relationship to the masculine Trinity as an independent spiritual being. Robert Powell discusses Sophia as a Trinity-as Mother, Daughter, and Holy Soul- and as the feminine aspect of Divine Godhead. He connects our reawakening to the feminine aspect of God with many of the changes now taking place in the world. Also included is an introduction to the Divine Feminine by Daniel Andreev, author of The Rose of the World.

Based on knowledge attained through his highly-trained clairvoyance, Rudolf Steiner contends that folk traditions regarding nature spirits are based on spiritual reality. He describes how people possessed a natural spiritual vision in ancient times, enabling them to commune with nature spirits. These entities - which are also referred to as elemental beings - became immortalised as fairies and gnomes in myth, legend and children's stories.Today, says Steiner, the instinctive understanding that humanity once had for these elemental beings should be transformed into clear scientific knowledge. He even asserts that humanity will not be able to reconnect with the spiritual world if it cannot develop a new relationship to the elementals. The nature spirits themselves want to be of great assistance to us, acting as 'emissaries of higher divine spiritual beings'.

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. This book, the second of two volumes, explores some of the themes and ideas in Steiner's work, as well as exploring the nature of destiny. The early years of Jesus, the Christmas festival and the break from the Theosophical Society to the Anthroposophical Society are just some of the many themes and events covered in this comprehensive study. 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.

In 1891, newspapers all over the world carried reports of the death of H. P. Blavatsky, the mysterious Russian woman who was the spiritual founder of the Theosophical Society. With the help of the equally mysterious Mahatmas who were her teachers, Blavatsky claimed to have brought the "ancient wisdom of the East" to the rescue of a materialistic West. In England, Blavatsky's earliest followers were mostly men, but a generation later the Theosophical Society was dominated by women, and theosophy had become a crucial part of feminist political culture.

"Divine Feminine" is the first full-length study of the relationship between alternative or esoteric spirituality and the feminist movement in England. Historian Joy Dixon examines the Theosophical Society's claims that women and the East were the repositories of spiritual forces which English men had forfeited in their scramble for material and imperial power. Theosophists produced arguments that became key tools in many feminist campaigns. Many women of the Theosophical Society became suffragists to promote the spiritualizing of politics, attempting to create a political role for women as a way to "sacralize the public sphere." Dixon also shows that theosophy provides much of the framework and the vocabulary for today's New Age movement. Many of the assumptions about class, race, and gender which marked the emergence of esoteric religions at the end of the nineteenth century continue to shape alternative spiritualities today.

Using an accessible question-and-answer format, this short but focused book tackles themes relating to the etheric - or life - realm. What is etheric technology? What are the impacts of radioactivity and atomic energy? How should we read apocalyptic symptoms in science and society? In a fascinating series of discussions Nick Thomas examines a range of concepts, including: the right and wrong ways to develop an etheric technology; spiritual events in the etheric realm; how the physical world works into the etheric world and vice versa; Rudolf Steiner's 'Strader machine'; the nature of truth and lies; attacks by the adversaries on forces of vitality; and humanity's crossing of the threshold to the spiritual world. His explanations and ideas help to evoke a living picture of a great struggle between forces of good and evil, with the future of humanity and the Earth at stake.

A pioneer in the field of curative education and the founder of the Camphill movement, Karl Konig here emphasizes the importance of understanding each individual child "through and through". "The point is not only to see the deviations, but to see them against the mighty backdrop of a comprehensive child anthropology". Konig's explanations are characterized by a profound, holistic understanding and love for the human beings in question. He is not satisfied with a description of physical disabilities and their classifications but proceeds to a deeper understanding of the personality as a whole, leading readers to see disabilities as meaningful ways of coping with living in a physical body in this world.

"Many who enter esoteric training are very disappointed and say that they had imagined the exercises to be much more energetic and the effects of the exercises to be far more drastic. Those who tell this to themselves should quickly consider the possibility that they are caught in a great error, and that they should make the greatest efforts to correct this error as soon as possible. It is not the exercises that lack enough energy, but rather the individual. It is not the exercises that are ineffective, but rather the person who is not making them effective. By living an esoteric life, the student should become an entirely different person. One must add something new to the old." -Rudolf Steiner In this second of three volumes from Rudolf Steiner's early Esoteric School, we find a further deepening of spiritual practice and training. Rudolf Steiner explains the requirements one must meet to become a serious student of esotericism. In addition, he gives directions-always emphasizing the increasing need for earnestness-for the transformation of the inner life, for the development of new spriritual forces and capacities, and for recognizing and overcoming the dangers that arise on a spiritual path. Moreover, he shows how one should approach specific meditations. These lessons mark Rudolf Steiner's continued movement away from the Eastern path of the Theosophical Society at the time and his increasing focus on the Christian-Rosicrucian path, recognizing Christ as the leader of the path of his form of spiritual training. This volume is the English translation of Aus den Inhalten der esoterischen Stunden, Ged chtnisaufzeichnungen von Teilnehmern. Band.2, 1910-1912 (GA 266/2).

I believe, a time will come when greater distance makes the conflicts in the Anthroposophical Society - which at first sight seem so ugly - appear as part of the struggle for anthroposophy in the twentieth century. When this future dawns it will be important to be able to reach back to a historical documentation of what happened. - Emanuel Zeylmans Following the re-founding of the Anthroposophical Society at the Christmas Foundation Meeting in 1923, Ita Wegman, Rudolf Steiner's closest collaborator at the end of his life, became the object of intense opposition, systematic exclusion, and misunderstanding. This ostracism and misinformation continued after her death, kept alive by prejudice and untruths that created an atmosphere that made a clear and unbiased view of her role in Anthroposophy impossible. Because no real biography existed, even the open-minded and impartial found it difficult to make an informed judgment. This lack was filled by Emanuel Zeylmans' three-volume work, Who Was Ita Wegman? To write it, he researched 100 undated notebooks, 2,000 manuscript pages, and 6,000 letters. Sifting through these was an enormous labor. To reach the esoteric heart of "the Wegman question" took him twelve years. What he found was extraordinary and of paramount importance to anyone interested in Anthroposophy and the divisive karma of its history. In Ita Wegman and Anthroposophy, Wolfgang Weirauch of the German journal Flensburger Heft interviews Emanuel Zeylmans. Speaking candidly about the deepest aspects of his revelatory findings, Zeylmans describes how his passionate need unfolded to understand what happened both to Ita Wegman and Anthroposophy. He talks of meetings with those who knew her intimately. He tells of her collaboration with Rudolf Steiner and her fraught relations with Marie Steiner and Edith Maryon, both of whom also had special relationships with Steiner. He describes the Christmas Foundation Meeting and the conflicts that followed Steiner's death that led to Ita Wegman's expulsion from the Executive Council. Though this book will be of special interest to those who want to understand the history of the Anthroposophical Society, it would be a mistake to consider it a book about the past. It is a book about the future of Anthroposophy.

Rudolf Steiner's legacy is remarkable. Around the world, thousands of programs have been built up around his inspiration and ideas. These include Waldorf schools, centers for special education, medical clinics, biodynamic farms, centers for various arts, and much more. The scientific and spiritual path of anthroposophy is at the core of this work, a philosophy and method that Steiner developed throughout his life. This informative biography clearly illumines the numerous struggles and achievements in his life--his childhood; as a young, respected Goethean scholar and philosopher in Weimar; his work in the Theosophical Society; establishment of the Anthroposophical Society; the development of Anthroposophy as a spiritual science; the creation of spiritually based movements in art, social sciences, education, medicine, agriculture, religion, and architecture. Johannes Hemleben's biography of Rudolf Steiner includes a chronology, personal tributes, an extensive section for further reading, an index, and 69 photographs and illustrations. C O N T E N T S Preface Childhood and Youth Rudolf Steiner the Goethean Scholar Striving for Perception in the Weimar Period "The Philosophy of Freedom" Berlin 1897-1900 From Theosophy to Anthroposophy Anthroposophy Christology Anthroposophy in Art Lecturing Activities--The First World War The Threefold Social Order (1918-1921) The Steiner Waldorf Educational Movement (1919-1924) Medicine Education for Special Needs Agriculture The Founding of The Christian Community (1921-1922) The Final Years Postscript Chronology Some Tributes Further Reading Index of Names

On the one hand, New Testament scholarship has been preoccupied with a search for the "historical Jesus." On the other, twists and turns occurring after the first century brought about "an enforced orthodoxy" that views modern visionaries as heretics. The inconclusive nature of theology pits those who are reluctant to support the miraculous against the witness of the original oral tradition. One result of the confusion over the New Testament record is that contemporary fiction such as The Da Vinci Code has emerged to fill the void. It has been so popular because there is hunger for a better understanding of those events. The author of this book aims to fill the gap. Drawing on the visionary reports of Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) and Judith von Halle (b. 1973), as well as the spiritual research of Rudolf Steiner and Robert Powell, Charles Tidball traces the events of two thousand years ago in Palistine, including scenes in the life of John the Baptizer, Jesus' forty days in the wilderness, healings, the Transfiguration, the raising of Lazarus, the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ, and much more. The author's purpose is to "present these relatively unknown facets of the life of Jesus Christ as stories so] they can achieve the broader recognition they deserve." The result is that this book breathes new life and meaning into familiar stories, offering the reader a fresh beginning in understanding the profound wisdom contained in the New Testament.

Long gone are the days of drinking naturally pure water from flowing rivers and streams. It is already common today for people to use bottled water or home water filtration systems for their drinking water. How have we come to such a predicament, and what can be done about it? Continuing pollution, ever-increasing population and industrial demands, destruction of the rainforests, and overpumping of the ground water are all responsible for the deterioration of water quality. But the underlying reason, as William E. Marks shows in this wide-ranging, thoughtful book, is a lack of understanding of and respect for the nature of water itself.

Marks covers such diverse topics as water's role in the origin of the universe and of life, cosmic rain and water in interstellar space, water in the myths of various peoples and religious traditions, the power of water in the many forms it takes in the natural world, vortex energy and living water, water and the human body, water healing, and a history of water pollution. He offers hope for the future by discussing the work of such visionaries as Theodor Schwenk and Viktor Schauberger. Marks shows us that finally water can only be understood when it is seen as the mediator not only between life and death but also between the physical world and the spiritual world.

In ancient times, people's experience of the divine was imbued with the feminine archetype. The world of spirit was seen to be populated by goddesses, and women were honoured as priestesses and guardians of sacred rites. The later Greek and Roman civilizations, in contrast, were characterized by the principle of patriarchy, which still dominates our culture - despite the political and social emancipation of women in the West. This unique study of the feminine archetype throws new light on the spiritual significance and meaning of the feminine principle today, as well as its task and destiny in the future. Beginning with Eve in tradition and legend, the authors provide insightful commentaries on the Queen of Sheba, the image of the Virgin in esoteric Christianity, Isis-Sophia and the Great Mother, the birth of art from the primal source of the feminine, and the importance of women in modern esotericism. Through a study of the esoteric background to human and earth evolution, Sease and Schmidt-Brabant arrive at clear and accessible perspectives that could transform human life, and in particular family culture, in our time.

In this beautiful book of meditations, Patsy Scala combine Rudolf Steiners weekly verses with simple reflective meditations. She brings a deep study of Anthroposophy together with twenty years of work with the Unity School of Christianity and the teachings of Charles Filmore to bear on the ways in which we can enhance our soul moods as they change and unfold through the cycle of the year.