In this remarkable series of lectures, delivered in 1924, Rudolf Steiner first laid down the principles of biodynamic agriculture. Each lecture contains fascinating insights into farming, the plant and animal world, the nature of organic chemistry and the influences of the heavenly bodies. The discussions which followed are also recorded, in which Steiner answered questions and engaged in debate with the audience. This edition comes with full editorial notes and appendices, and includes Steiner's own handwritten notes to the series.

"Occult events that took place between the Christ and the community of his disciples form a significant part not only of the four Gospels but also of the Christ Mystery or Golgotha Mystery itself. Today, many human souls are still moved by this apostolic community, by how the disciples accompanied Christ Jesus, by their place in history (as an esoteric circle charged with an exoteric task), by their failures, and by the great new dawn that showed them the way after Pentecost...For three years, they were close to Christ, shared his life, and received a great deal of instruction from him, often in their own intimate circle away from public view. They were there when Christ performed healings and even when he prayed.... "Rudolf Steiner once said that we in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries must live with the 'etheric Christ' in the Earth's aura in the same way that 'the disciples once lived with Christ Jesus on the physical plane.' If this is so, it is essential for us to focus on the community of Christ's disciples. Rudolf Steiner himself made major contributions to illuminating the depths of the disciples' relationship and life with the Christ, both during the three years of his earthly life and after the Resurrection. An essential element of Steiner's life work was to apply 'anthroposophically oriented cognition' to events of the beginning of the Christian era in order to 'bring the Gospels' deeper content to the light of day.' He spoke in detail about the Christ's community of disciples in many lecture cycles, and, in his lectures on the Fifth Gospel, he shed light on this community from the perspective of the processes of human consciousness that were intimately involved in events at the beginning of the new era and inscribed in the chronicle of evolution.... "In his lectures on the Fifth Gospel and elsewhere, Rudolf Steiner opened up many perspectives that help us understand what took place between Christ and his disciples. This book's purpose is to make those perspectives available and accessible. Although all of Steiner's statements have been published, they are widely scattered among his lectures and remain unknown to many individuals deeply committed to the community of Christ's disciples and to anthroposophical Christology. In view of the challenges to consciousness we face in modern times-including those that deal with Christianity and the Christ Event itself-it seems urgently important to present details of the positive and often illuminating results of Rudolf Steiner's research." As is true of other works by Peter Selg, Christ and the Disciples is one of those books that sharpens the reader's mind to cut through the myriad of representation (and misrepresentations) of Rudolf Steiner's teachings, clarifying many otherwise-knotty issues.

The healthy social life is found When in the mirror of each human being The whole community finds its reflection And when in the community The virtue of each one is living. From the beginning of his public work, Rudolf Steiner saw his spiritual mission as civilizational. He understood that individual spiritual development means little unless, spreading through a community of practitioners, it leads to larger societal and cultural transformation. As always, his views were radical. He realized that a healthy social life would depend, above all, on the transformation of work from a commodity into a gift. As he said in 1905: Evolution is moving towards totally uncompensated work. No one rejects the idea and no one can change it. Whereas Greek workers performed their work in bondage to their master and modern workers are compelled to work for pay, in the future all work will be performed freely. Work and income will be completely separated. That is the healthy state of social conditions in the future. That same year, he formulated what he called "the fundamental social law" The wellbeing of an entire group of individuals who work together becomes greater the less individuals claim the income resulting from their own accomplishments for themselves-that is, the more they contribute this income to their fellow workers, and the more their own needs are met not through their own efforts but through the efforts of others. In this important book, Peter Selg shows us a different Rudolf Steiner. Here, the emphasis of his teaching is mostly on the need to cultivate selflessness and readiness to sacrifice. Selg first describes the context in which Steiner expressed these ideas, how much they meant to him, and how, when they fell on barren ground, he selflessly laid them aside while holding them in his heart in the hope of a more opportune moment. He goes on to show how this moment came after World War I, when Rudolf Steiner dedicated himself tirelessly to the Threefold Social Organism, lecturing extensively on economics and social policy. Finally, in a last, extraordinarily moving chapter, Selg shows the essential Christ- and Gospel-inspired nature of these ideas: As long as you feel pain That passes me by, The Christ works unrecognized... Weak is the spirit That can feel suffering Only in its own body. Anyone interested in a just, equitable, healthy, and spirit-based social future should read this important book

Rudolf Steiner's four mystery dramas are powerful portrayals of the complex laws of reincarnation and karma. They transport us into a landscape of the human soul and spirit, where suprasensory beings are active. Through the perception of these hidden worlds, we are given the opportunity to understand the struggles we face in attempting to apply spiritual knowledge to our everyday lives and relationships. Written between 1910 and 1913 during periods of intense inner and outer work, these dramas are powerful testimonies to Steiner's artistic creativity. By manifesting soul and spirit forms on a stage, they foreshadow a dramatic art for the future. The complete cycle of four plays is reproduced here in the classic translation by Ruth and Hans Pusch. The Four Plays: The Portal of Initiation: A Rosicrucian Mystery, through Rudolf Steiner The Soul's Probation: A Life Tableau in Dramatic Scenes As Sequel to the Portal of Initiation, through Rudolf Steiner The Guardian of the Threshold: Soul Events in Dramatic Scenes, by Rudolf Steiner The Souls' Awakening: Soul and Spirit Events in Dramatic Scenes, by Rudolf Steiner This volume is a translation of Vier Mysteriendramen (vol. 14 of Rudolf Steiner's Complete Works).

This book tells the story of how Suzanne, a young teacher at a Waldorf school, copes with the changes her class is going through at the transition from childhood to adolescence. The problems she and the parents of her students must face are familiar to all parents of teens: drug use, smoking, apathy, rebelliousness, moodiness, to name only a few. We accompany Suzanne in her sincere struggle to help her students as she talks to other faculty members and to help parents and then adapts her teaching to the students' changed needs. Suzanne learns much from an older mentor, whose advice and guidance are based on Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science, and so do we. The anthroposophical perspective gives adolescence a new, more meaningful face. Understanding it as part of our destiny and our development toward individuality will help us guide our young people as they take the first uncertain steps on the road to independence. Hermann Koepke, a Swiss Waldorf teacher of many years experience, is well known in Europe. He is also the author of Encountering the Self: Transformation and Destiny in the Ninth Year.