"This biography does not aim for completeness, but focuses on Rudolf Steiner's being, intentions, and journey-aspects that must not be obliterated by the many events, foundations, and people involved with Anthroposophy.... It wants to convey (to quote Emil Leinhas) 'the immense greatness and unique significance of this individuality who radiates out over the centuries.'" -Peter Selg (from the introduction) To acknowledge and understand Rudolf Steiner's unique achievement and life's work, one must be able to accept that the founder and spiritual researcher of Anthroposophy was "a citizen of two worlds" the spiritual and the physical. Anthroposophy teaches that this duality, rather than being a quality reserved for special individualities, is inherent to human nature. According to Rudolf Steiner, it is a central aspect of being human, even in times when the suprasensory aspect of humanity is eclipsed (for ordinary day consciousness) and almost eliminated by certain civilizations. The interest in Rudolf Steiner's person and essence, in his attitude toward life and work, will continue to grow in the decades and centuries that lie ahead, both within and outside the anthroposophical movement. It will take hold of entirely different groups of people, including those who come with spiritual questions or discover them in times of need. Rudolf Steiner's work grew to be "one unique effort of bringing courage to human beings" (Michael Bauer). This is the first of seven comprehensive volumes on Rudolf Steiner's "being, intentions, and journey." It presents Rudolf Steiner from childhood and youth through his doctorate degree and up to the time of his work for the Goethe Archives as editor of Goethe's scientific writings. By considering his formative years in depth, we come to understand better the roots and development of Rudolf Steiner's later spiritual research and teachings.

Karl Koenig, the founder of Camphill, was a prolific lecturer and writer on a wide range of subjects from anthroposophy and Christology through social questions and curative education to science and history. The Karl Koenig Archive are working on a programme of publishing these works over the coming years. This is the fourth book to be published in the series. In this remarkable collection of Karl Koenig's letters and essays, Koenig considers and discusses the fundamentals of special needs education. He shows that there are three core aspects to a successful holistic education and healing approach: firstly, a positive social environment, which in the context of Camphill is achieved through small family units of carers and children; secondly, that carers' work is based on an insightful understanding of the nature and potential of each individual child and disability; and thirdly that medical treatment is imbued with courage to keep believing that the impossible is possible.

The relationship between The Christian Community and the Anthroposophical Society is complex and often misunderstood. Christian Community priests work out of an understanding of anthroposophy, and it was undoubtedly Steiner's theological lecture courses which led to the formation of the movement. Nonetheless questions remain, which Peter Selg examines closely in this unique book. -- Steiner's work emphasises the importance of finding the spiritual in everyday life. So why did he help found a 'Sunday church'? -- In his lectures, Steiner spoke about a 'spiritual communion' without physical matter. So why is there any need for a sacramental communion with real bread and wine, as practiced in The Christian Community? -- In a much-quoted lecture after the founding of The Christian Community, Steiner said that anthroposophists should have no need of the new religious movement. But on another occasion he said he wished greatly that the movement should succeed. How can these be understood and reconciled? This long-overdue book is a significant exploration of Steiner's legacy which should have far-reaching implications for mutual understanding and cooperation between The Christian Community and the wider anthroposophical world.

This book follows Karl Koenig's spiritual journey from his early years to the end of his life. Through the words of his diaries, in which his battles with health and his impatient temperament are recorded with merciless honesty, we can follow his inner path that led to profound insights into the nature of children with special needs. His personal wrestlings and innate spirituality laid the foundation for his work in the Camphill Schools and Villages. Includes facsimile reproductions of some of Koenig's original diary pages. About the Karl Koenig Archive: Karl Koenig, the founder of Camphill, was a prolific lecturer and writer on a wide range of subjects from anthroposophy and Christology through social questions and curative education to science and history. The Karl Koenig Archive are working on a programme of publishing these works over the coming years.

'Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.' Rudolf Steiner once called the Lord's Prayer the 'greatest initiation prayer', and he spoke about it many times, also referring to it as the central prayer of Christian experience. This book is, however, the first time that all of Steiner's comments, accounts and perspectives have been brought together in one place, presenting the full scope and depth of his ideas. Along the way, Peter Selg reveals some surprising insights into the spiritual history and mission of Christianity.

Ita Wegman, born in 1876 to a Dutch family living in Indonesia, first met Rudolf Steiner in Berlin in 1902 when she was 26 years old. She studied medicine at the University of Zurich and in 1917, following Steiner's indications, developed a treatment for cancer using mistletoe. In 1921 she founded the first anthroposophical medical clinic, in Arlesheim, Switzerland, followed in 1922 by the Sonnenhof home for children with special needs. Karl Koenig first met Wegman in 1927, and she quickly recognized his great potential, as well as his weaknesses. She invited him to work at the Arlesheim clinic as her assistant, and encouraged and advised him in his medical work. This book includes the complete correspondence between Koenig and Wegman.

Unlike other Christian creeds, the creed of The Christian Community is not a statement of belief, but rather a series of assertions that act as a path to a deeper understanding of Christianity. Peter Selg offers an insightful and informative overview of how, in the time leading up to the founding of The Christian Community nearly one hundred years ago, Rudolf Steiner formulated both the creed itself and its founding principles. He also examines the history of Christian creeds including the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed and compares them to each other. Finally, he explores the ongoing significance of the creed for The Christian Community today.

Since 2006, specialists, doctors, psychologists, and therapists of Parzival-Zentrum Karlsruhe have taken part in emergency education crisis interventions, carried out by the organization Friends of Friends of Waldorf Education. They work with psychologically traumatized children and young people in war zones and disaster areas, including Lebanon, China, the Gaza Strip, Indonesia, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, and most recently in Japan following the tsunami there and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Bernd Ruf, who heads these operations, describes in his book in various ways the basics of anthroposophically extended "emergency education," including the anthroposophic understanding of trauma itself. In addition, he describes processes and experiences, focusing on recent experiences in Japan at the center of his descriptions. Educating Traumatized Children offers much-needed insight into this little-known area of education and healing for traumatized children and young people. This book will be valuable not only for those working in areas of disaster and armed conflict, but also for any teacher or parent who is teaching or caring for a traumatized child.

Kaspar Hauser was a young man who appeared on the streets of Nuremberg in Germany in the early nineteenth century. His innocence and mysterious background captured the hearts of many at the time. 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of Kaspar Hauser's birth. This timely book draws together Karl Koenig's thoughts on the enigma of Kaspar Hauser, as well as exploring Koenig's deep connection to the young man. The book includes Koenig's essay 'The Story of Kaspar Hauser', as well as essays from Peter Selg on 'Koenig, Wegman and Kaspar Hauser' and Richard Steel on how Koenig spoke of Kaspar Hauser in his diaries, notes and letters.

Edith Maryon (1872-1924) was a trained sculptor who worked alongside Rudolf Steiner to create the unique sculpture of Christ (the 'Representative of Humanity') at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. One of Steiner's closest collaborators, she was a highly-valued colleague and esoteric pupil. As one of his dearest friends, Maryon kept a busy and detailed correspondence with Rudolf Steiner, in which he confided freely about his personal situation, his lack of true colleagues, difficulties with lecture tours, and the embattled public standing of anthroposophy. Almost invariably, these letters emphasized Steiner's longing for the Dornach studio and their shared work on the Christ statue. Maryon's early death, aged 52 - following fifteen months of illness - shook Rudolf Steiner to the core. He was to die himself less than a year later. With this book, the author's central aim is to illuminate the spiritual signature of Edith Maryon's relationship with Rudolf Steiner and their mutual work in anthroposophy and on the sculpture of Christ. Building on Rex Raab's (1993) biography, Peter Selg's moving study features dozens of photos and facsimiles of letters, utilizing previously unpublished sources from Edith Maryon's and Ita Wegman's literary estates and the Rudolf Steiner Archive in Dornach. -- The most essential and intrinsic quality of her soul ... was not a particular branch of human endeavour, not even art; the most salient of her soul tendencies, her soul intentions, was the striving for spirituality...' - Rudolf Steiner

From 2009 to 2010, Sergei Prokofiev and Peter Selg-two leading authorities and spiritual researchers into the life and work of Rudolf Steiner-gave a series of conferences on the Christological foundations of Anthroposophy. Their aim was to show the power of anthroposophic Christology. Consequently, they focused on key turning points in Rudolf Steiner's exposition: his major work, An Outline of Esoteric Science; the first Goetheanum; the Reappearance of Christ in the etheric realm and the relationship of this event to Rudolf Steiner's lectures on the Fifth Gospel; and the Christmas Conference (1923-24) and the founding of the New Mysteries. The lectures from the conferences (published as four booklets in German) are collected here in a single volume. The Creative Power of Anthroposophical Christology is essential reading for all those who are interested in the true meaning and depth of Rudolf Steiner's experience and understanding of Christ's deed on Golgotha and his continuing presence among us and within Anthroposophy.

Why is it so difficult actually to understand and implement the "intentions of the Christmas Conference" (in Rudolf Steiner's words), which represent a very concrete answer to the Anthroposophical Society's identity crisis'? - Peter Selg More than 100 years after its founding, the Anthroposophical Society faces serious questions - some of an existential nature - regarding its purpose and tasks in the present day. On 30 March 2012, in the course of the Society's Annual General Meeting in Dornach, both Sergei Prokofieff and Peter Selg gave lectures in which they addressed difficult issues relating to the General Anthroposophical Society and its global headquarters, the Goetheanum in Switzerland. These lectures were met with a mixture of enthusiastic support and stern disapproval. They are reproduced here in full - together with supplementary material that helps broaden and deepen their themes - in order for each and every interested individual to have access to them. 'The intention of my lecture was to draw attention to the fact that the recent development of the Goetheanum is no longer heading in the right direction; rather, it is heading in a direction that can be considered neither in the spirit intended by Rudolf Steiner, nor of service to anthroposophy. Before it is too late, this direction must be altered...Otherwise, the Goetheanum is in danger of being degraded to spiritual "insignificance", and of becoming a mere combination of museum and conference centre.' - Sergei O. Prokofieff

"Every moral deed and every physical action in human life is connected in the human heart. Only when we truly learn to understand the configuration of he human heart will we find the true fusion of these two parallel and independent phenomena: moral events and physical events." -Rudolf Steiner Today we know very little about the true nature of the human heart. Our knowledge arises only from a materialistic or an emotional standpoint. However, the human heart, as Rudolf Steiner knew and taught, is both spiritual and physical-the place where body and soul come together. It is the place of their unity. We have lost this knowledge, yet it is integral to the Western understanding of what gives humanity its vocation-our spiritual/physical, our earthly/heavenly nature. In this astonishing and inspiring book, Peter Selg focuses on the evolution of the spiritual understanding of the heart as transmitted through Aristotle, the Gospels, and Hebrew Scriptures to the Middle Ages, when, in the light of the Mystery of Golgotha and its sacramental life, it was synthesized and transformed by Thomas Aquinas, after whom, with the rise of modern science it, was lost until Goethe began a process of recovery and development that led to its complete renewal and transformation in Rudolf Steiner. The Mystery of the Heart tells this story in three parts. Part one, "The Anthropology of the Heart in the Gospels," examines the spiritual anthropology of the heart in the Gospels in the light of Ezekiel's prophetic saying: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a living heart of flesh." Part two, "De Essentia et Motu Cordis," describes Aristotle's understanding of the heart and its transformation and deepening in Aquinas. Part three, "The Heart and the Fate of Humanity," examines the spiritual-scientific view of the heart as developed in Rudolf Steiner's teachings. Also included is an appendix containing selected meditative verses and therapeutic meditations for the heart.

From 1933 to 1935, Ita Wegman was confronted by both Nazi fascism and internal crises in the General Anthroposophical Society. During those years, she traveled to Palestine in the fall of 1934 following a grave illness that nearly ended with her death. Her correspondence during this period, as well as her notes on the trip, reveal the great biographical importance to her of these travels and indeed the whole scope of her spiritual experiences in 1934. Ita Wegman had unambiguous perspectives and a uniquely clear view of both the political threat and her social-spiritual task during this period. There was, however, a radical change in her inner stance toward the opposition, aggression, and defamation she encountered within anthroposophic contexts in reaction to her intense, purely motivated efforts. She tried to live and work in true accord with her inner impulses and, ultimately, with Rudolf Steiner's legacy, especially within the anthroposophic movement. Doing so, she increasingly found her way to her own distinctive and uncompromising path. The author reveals the general nature of those three years-a period whose distinctive spiritual and Christological task and dramatic dangers Rudolf Steiner had foreseen in 1923: "If these men the Nazis] gain government power, I will no longer be able to set foot on German soil." Ita Wegman's efforts in 1933 to confront the dark powers of National Socialism and the convulsions in Dornach, which she experienced firsthand, as well as her subsequent illness and the clarity of her "Christological conversion" in 1934 to '35, reveal a very specific, intrinsically comprehensible and forward-looking quality whose spiritual signature is clearly prefigured in Rudolf Steiner's spiritual-scientific predictions. In this book, Peter Selg focuses exclusively on Ita Wegman, her development, and her words, simply presenting the processes she went through and, implicitly, their extraordinary spiritual nature, without any attempt at interpretation. This focus arises from the governing premise that the mysteries of a great life such as that of Ita Wegman reveal themselves in the details. Tracing the subtle steps in her life allow us deeper insight into Ita Wegman's being. She herself wrote, "In general meetings or gatherings, people always understood me poorly because I lacked a smooth way of expressing myself. But people of goodwill always understood what I meant." This book was originally published in German as Geistiger Widerstand und Uberwindung. Ita Wegman 1933-1935 by Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, 2005.

"Only in our time has it become possible once again to unlock the sources of Rosicrucian wisdom and allow them to flow into the whole of culture... Christian Rosenkreutz has always lived among us and he is with us today too as the guide of spiritual life.... "The spiritual stream related to Christian Rosenkreutz offers the most potent assistance to those who strive to understand the Christ impulse." -Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Steiner spoke often of the relationship of Anthroposophy or Spiritual Science to Rosicrucianism, but he spoke less of the being of Christian Rosenkreutz himself. As he said, "To speak of Christian Rosenkreutz presumes a profound trust in the mysteries of the life of the spirit-a trust or faith not in the person of Christian Rosenkreutz, but in the mysteries of spiritual life." For Steiner, Christian Rosenkreutz was active in at least three ways. First, as one of the "great leaders of humanity," he worked to bring esoteric spirituality into the modern world and to lead it into the future. Second, as "the greatest teacher of Christianity" he worked to bring to humanity true "heart knowledge" of Christ through the continued unveiling of the Mystery of Golgotha in the etheric. Third, as a concrete, particular individual being, Steiner had a living, actual, personal relationship with him. As such, because of our failure to understand, Steiner called him "a noble martyr...who, through his way of working, endured, and will in future endure, more than any other person. I say 'person, ' for the suffering of Christ was the suffering of a god." In the first part of this inspiring book-a work of devotion both to Rudolf Steiner and to Christian Rosenkreutz-Peter Selg, as "The Great Servant of Christ Jesus," gives a detailed, chronological, and fascinating account of Steiner's portrayal and, as much as possible, experiences of Christian Rosenkreutz. He shows how Steiner had essentially two teachers: the Master Jesus (Zoroaster) and Christian Rosenkreutz. Moreover, Selg shows how these two, with Rudolf Steiner, unfolded spiritual science for our time. In the second part, he shows how all this culminates, astonishingly and miraculously, in the Michael School as it manifested in the First Class. Rudolf Steiner and Christian Rosenkreutz concludes with an appendix containing the text of the original (1614) Fama, or "Announcement of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood." Anyone interested in the esoteric foundations of Anthroposophy or in the true meaning of Rosicrucianism will be find this book of great value.

Rudolf Steiner entrusted the Esoteric Section and the Mathematics and Astronomy Section at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, to Elisabeth Vreede (1879-1943) because of her special abilities. He commented, "Miss. Vreede is one of the people who best understands my lectures." Elisabeth Vreede was recognized as the "esoterically educated" member of Steiner's governing body. Nevertheless, in 1935 she was stripped of all her positions at the Goetheanum in Dornach and prevented from resuming them. Lili Kolisko wrote of her, "Dr. Elisabeth Vreede was a member of the Executive Council whose opinion was considered of very little or--one could almost say--no importance." Herbert Hahn wrote to Elisabeth Vreede, "I feel we must thank your loyal custodial task and your unfailing enthusiasm for all of Anthroposophy for much, much more than we can grasp at this time." This book--employing numerous, previously unpublished documents dealing with tragic misunderstandings in the anthroposophical movement--offers testimony to the greatness of this singular individual. C O N T E N T S Foreword 1. "All of Heaven seemed to be called down" (1879-1913): The Way to Rudolf Steiner 2. "Dr. Steiner was very pleased with my lectures" (1914-1923) Dornach 3. "Tested to the ultimate degree" (1924-1925): The Christmas Conference and the Esoteric Executive Council 4. "Executive Council's Idylls" (1925-1935): The Decade after Rudolf Steiner's Death 5. "May soul live in this house" (1935-1943): The Final Years Appendices: Elisabeth Vreede: The Christmas and Michael Impulses: Lecture at the Opening of the Second Goetheanum, 1928 Elisabeth Vreede: Isis-Sophia, Christmas Essay, 1928 This book was originally published in German as Elisabeth Vreede: 1879-1943 (Verlag des Ita Wegman Instituts, 2009).

Maria Krehbiel-Darmstadter (1892-1943), who was killed at Auschwitz, was a highly gifted pupil of Rudolf Steiner and a member of The Christian Community. Born into a Jewish family in Mannheim, she was deported to Gurs camp in the Pyrenees on October 22, 1940, where she survived harsh conditions and helped many of her fellow inmates. Following temporary sick-leave (under police supervision) in Limonest near Lyon, and a failed attempt to flee to Switzerland, she was brought to Drancy transit camp near Paris before being taken to Auschwitz. This book offers unique testimony of an individual rooted in esoteric Christianity and Spiritual Science who found sources of inner resistance during one of history's darkest periods. As the portrait of a highly ethical and sorely tried woman amid catastrophic conditions, it describes her existential efforts to summon powers of concentration, meditation, and dedication to others, showing how these continued to inform her outlook and actions to the very end. Polish Jews in Drancy referred to Maria Krehbiel-Darmstadter as Mere Maria. They experienced her distinctive spirituality and personal qualities and a profound religiosity that retained an inner connection with the Christian sacramental world, even in the most desolate circumstances. From Gurs to Auschwitwitz adds an important voice to literature on the Holocost and shines a light on the nature of spiritual, inner resistance during the dark years of World War II in Europe.

Ita Wegman spent the last three years of her life in Tessin, in the Casa Andrea Cristoforo. In this secluded province, largely protected from the destructive events of those years and imbued with certain forces, she developed a great work for the future, gathering, leading, and nurturing people both therapeutically and spiritually, preparing for the war's end with the full intensity of her being. Her last three years were a period of devotion to Rudolf Steiner and his work, as well as to esoteric Christianity-to the forces of the Archangel Michael and to Christ for the present and future. She continued to take a great interest in the difficulties of her time and never ceased to participate in events-taking in refugee children and the homeless, keeping up extensive correspondences with others, struggling with aid organizations and various agencies, caring daily for the afflicted and for patients and colleagues. On March 4, 1943, Ita Wegman passed into the spiritual worlds, well prepared and with all of the spiritual intentions of a Christian initiate. This book contributes to documenting the final phase of Ita Wegman's life, focusing on the forces of the future that emerged in her. It draws on her notebooks from her time in Ascona, as well as from her extensive correspondence and memories of those who lived and worked at Casa Andrea Cristoforo. She remained upstanding, free, and positive with an esoteric Christian orientation and felt that she was obligated only to her conscience and to the spiritual world for which Rudolf Steiner stood and that she served. This book was originally published in German as Die letzten drei Jahre. Ita Wegman in Ascona 1940-1943 (Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, 2004).

"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.