Based on personal knowledge and intimate interviews with his subject, as well as access to W.J. Stein's archive of letters and documents, Tautz's biography is a thoroughly-researched and lovingly-detailed study of an exceptional life. Walter Johannes Stein (1891-1957) was one of the original pioneers of anthroposophy. A student of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, Stein met his spiritual teacher whilst studying at Vienna University. After serving in the First World War, Stein was invited by Rudolf Steiner to teach History and Literature at the fledgling Waldorf school in Stuttgart, despite the fact that Stein's doctorate was in Philosophy and his training in Mathematics and Physics. Through his efforts to master the new disciplines, and with the aid of unconventional methods of research, Stein developed groundbreaking new insights into the story of Parzival and the mystery of the Holy Grail, which led to his seminal book The Ninth Century and the Holy Grail. Tautz describes Stein's close friendship with Eugen Kolisko, his struggles to help establish the threefold social order, his work as a Goetheanum lecturer, and his eventual estrangement from the Anthroposophical Society following Rudolf Steiner's death. After journeys of discovery across Europe, Stein landed in London in 1933 - a refugee from the Nazi aggression in Central Europe - where he met his mentor D.N. Dunlop. Dunlop employed him to help establish the first World Power Conference. Based in England for the last 24 years of his life, Stein became a prolific and popular lecturer and the editor of the important anthroposophical journal The Present Age. Long out-of-print, the new edition of this important work is a welcome addition to the growing number of biographies on the founders of anthroposophy.

'Here lies Kaspar Hauser, riddle of his time. His birth was unknown, his death mysterious.' (Inscription on Kaspar Hauser's tombstone.) In 1828 a teenage boy was discovered on the streets of Nuremberg. Barely able to walk, he clutched a letter in his hand. This youth, Kaspar Hauser, who couldn't properly speak or write, was soon to become an international phenomenon known as 'the Child of Europe'. The story of Kaspar Hauser presents many mysteries. According to his account, the young boy spent most of his life confined in a darkened space. Unable to stand up, and with no knowledge of his captors, he was fed a diet of bread and water. Eventually released from this macabre prison, he survived an assassination attempt only to be stabbed to death in 1833. Why was a child kept in such squalid circumstances? Who were his parents? Who was responsible for such a cruel attack on childhood? Who murdered him? In this seminal work Peter Tradowsky addresses these questions through the insights of anthroposophy. His analysis reveals some of the secrets of Kaspar Hauser's short life, and the occult significance of his incarnation, spiritual nature and individuality.

The explosion of spiritual teachings in recent times has offered countless paths to clairvoyant and metaphysical states of consciousness. This spiritual renaissance, including a renewed interest in Taoism, can be seen as a reflection of the modern individual's need to become aware of spiritual modes of perception and knowledge. However, many of these teachings lead to an ancient form of hazy, indistinct clairvoyance, argues Meyer, in direct opposition to clear, rational but spiritualised thought. Between Goethe's Taoism and Capra's Tao of Physics Meyer guides the reader to the most modern form of Taoism inherent in Rudolf Steiner's work, particularly his Philosophy of Spiritual Activity. Meyer traces the evolution of human consciousness, from the dreamy clairvoyance of Atlantis to the modern ability for clear abstract thought, and through to humanity's newly unfolding clairvoyant faculties.

Much plagiarized and its contents distorted over the years, Stein's seminal work is a classic of original scholarly and spiritual research. In studying the central Grail narrative of Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, Stein takes a twofold approach. On the one hand he searches historical records in order to identify actual people and events hidden behind the Grail epic's veil of romance, and on the other hand he deciphers Eschenbach's hidden spiritual messages, showing Parzival to be an esoteric document containing mighty pictures of the human being's inner path of development. Stein reveals the period of the ninth century to be of more than historical and academic interest. It is the karmic ground out of which the destiny of modern times grows - the mighty battle that must take place between the powers of the Grail and the sinister anti-Grail forces at large today.

spacer In these unique lectures, given to members of his Esoteric School (1904-14), Rudolf Steiner's main intention is to throw light on the hidden content of the picture-language of myths, sagas and legends. Pictures, he explains, are the real origin of all things - the primeval spiritual causes. In order to work in a healthy way with pictures or symbols today, however, it is necessary that one should first become acquainted with their esoteric content - to understand them. At the time of these lectures Steiner was planning to inaugurate the second section of the Esoteric School, which was to deal in a direct way with a renewal - out of his own spiritual research - of ritual and symbolism. He gave these lectures as a necessary preparation, to clarify the history and nature of the cultic tradition. He thus discusses principally Freemasonry and its background, but also the Rosicrucians, Manichaeism, the Druids, the Prometheus Saga, the Lost Temple, Cain and Abel - and much else besides.

The twelve sublime beings known, according to eastern tradition, as the Bodhisattvas, are the great teachers of humanity. One after another they descend into earthly incarnation, until they fulfil their earthly mission. At this point they rise to Buddahood and are no longer obliged to return in a physical form. But before a Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha, he announces the name of his successor...According to Rudolf Steiner, the future Maitreya Buddha - or the 'Bringer of Good', as his predecessor named him - incarnated in a human body in the twentieth century. Presuming this to be so, then who was this person? The Theosophists believed they had discovered the Bodhisattva in an Indian boy, Krishnamurti, who grew up to be a teacher of some magnitude. Adolf Arenson and Elisabeth Vreede, both students of Rudolf Steiner, made independent examinations of this question in relation to Steiner's personal mission, and were led to contrasting conclusions. More recently a claim has been made that Valentin Tomberg - a student of anthroposophy but later an influential Roman Catholic - was the Bodhisattva. These conflicting theories are analysed by Thomas Meyer, who demonstrates how the question can be useful as an exercise in developing sound judgement in spiritual matters. Elisabeth Vreede's two lectures on the subject, included here in full, are a valuable contribution to our understanding of the true nature and being of Rudolf Steiner.

In 1924 at Koberwitz, the estate of Count and Countess Keyserlingk, Rudolf Steiner gave a key course of lectures on agriculture. At a time when industrial methods were being introduced into farming, Steiner had a radically different, evolutionary, vision. Based on a revitalized relationship with nature, his approach encompassed knowledge of the cosmos, the elemental world and the earth, and utilized special planting methods and preparations. Today his biodynamic agriculture is widely valued and used around the world. In addition to the lively and entertaining accounts of the agriculture course held at Koberwitz, this extraordinary book features Countess Keyserlingk's memories of her meetings with Rudolf Steiner. Steiner told the Countess that she had a consciousness which would be usual 'in the third millennium', and her reminiscences reflect this uncommon quality! Also included are essays by the editor which incorporate rare material such as the communications received by Countess Keyserlingk after Steiner's death. This book will be of interest to students of biodynamics as well as those interested in how Rudolf Steiner worked to develop anthroposophy. It is compiled and edited by Adalbert Graf von Keyserlingk, the son of the Count and Countess who hosted the Koberwitz conference.

Rudolf Steiner taught that, beginning in the twentieth century, Christ would reappear in the etheric (or 'life') realm of the Earth. And he made two further predictions in relation to that event: firstly that, before such a reappearance could take place, mankind 'must have passed through the encounter with the Beast, which will appear in 1933'; and secondly that, around the end of the twentieth century, 'Sorath' - the Sun Demon - would oppose people's personal vision of the etheric Christ. Taking these statements as his starting point, Tradowsky examines the question of evil and its relationship to Christ. He describes Sorath and his activities, asserting that knowledge of this elusive and terrible being helps individuals to overcome him; and he explains the role of the 'Apocalyptic Beast' in relation to Ahriman - or Antichrist - and the latter's physical incarnation on earth. Intended for those with a close concern for anthroposophy, this book provides essential background information to understanding the events of our time and clarifying our tasks in relation to Christ, evil and the new millennium.