The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Notes by Camilla Wandrey

There is an interaction between the etheric body of the plant and the cosmic ether. This interaction allows the spiritual power of the sun to penetrate the plant and protect the physical body of the plant from decay.

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If this solar power cannot penetrate, for example if the plant is in the cellar and this influence is lacking, then the etheric body of the plant loses its independence. The interaction no longer takes place, the plant withers. Spiritually speaking, this is the withering of plants.

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This killing brings about sense perception. That which, for example, flowed as red out in the surrounding divinity and previously appeared as an inner image in the astral body of the developing human being now envelops objects: the human being perceives them. The human being repels the influx of the gods, kills them, and this is how sense perception arises. He conquers the physical plane, but thereby also death. If he had experienced all this external sense perception at once, if the whole external world had flashed before him in a moment of tremendous lightning, then man would be killed instantly.

Now this killing takes place slowly within his whole life between birth and death, because perception means killing. But in meditation, man reconnects with the primal fire of the source of power, the life of the gods. He thus conquers death, for he participates in the life force of the gods, the inexhaustible source, by striving from the center of his ego up the paths that are shown to us by the masters.

The gods continually sacrifice themselves to us in their love, their strength, their will, feeling and thinking. And consciously receiving this sacrifice means tapping into the primal source, the primal fire of eternal life. That is the key to the temple! The right reception transforms the thorns on the path to the temple into bliss. In occultism, not receiving correctly or betraying the secrets is called sawing off the branch on which one sits.

To perceive means to kill: Everything that appears to our senses as a thing or being has previously been spread out in space as the astral body of the gods, as their thinking, feeling, and willing.

The result of the influx of the power of the gods into the astral body of the developing human being was the physical and etheric body of the human being. They are a confluence, a centering of the currents of power of the all-encompassing divinity. The germ of the I was sunk into it, and now it began its work from within. When it goes beyond its ego center, breaking through the ring of the astral body, then the human being can reunite with the power of the primal fire of the Godhead and receive eternal life.

What we perceive as red and so on is not a confluence of atoms, but of spirit.

Notes by Camilla Wandrey

There is no point in the universe where there is no force. In the human eye, the effectiveness of Atma-Buddhi-Manas is manifested:

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This symbol also affects us at night. It keeps the chaotic impressions of the day away.

Notes from the estate of Elisabeth Vreede

Maya = Maha - a - ya = the great non-being. “Ya” actually means “strength of mind”, as in “Jachin”. Our body is Maya; anyone who wants to explore it to get to know the abilities of the human being will not achieve the same goal as someone who would examine the telegraph apparatus from an electrical engineering point of view in order to understand the messages that are sent with it.

After the fall of Troy, news was transmitted from mountain to mountain from Asia Minor to Greece using fire signals. Today we would do it with the telegraph. The result is the same. Just as there is no connection between such a message and the material used, there is no connection between the human spirit and its body. They have nothing to do with each other; the body is only conditioned by the conditions of the earth; on other planets one thinks and feels with completely different forms.

It is absolutely necessary that man think aright, for thinking influences not only ourselves, but when men think wrong mental images, then, as in the drama of the Rose-Cross, “gods must break worlds” to balance the result.

Notes (with additions from the lectures) from the estate of Elisabeth Vreede

When we are together in an occult temple, we should be aware that we are in a special place that completely isolates us from the outside world. It is a sacred place where every object in it has a special and occult significance.

One might think that what we are dealing with here is a feature of what is generally called “Freemasonry”, but this is not the case. However secret Freemasonry may have been in the past, it has always been something external. In fact, Freemasonry originally came into the world through a betrayal of the mystery schools, and that is why many of the symbols found in Freemasonry can also be found here. From the mystery schools, these symbols passed through students not sufficiently imbued with their value and meaning, ended up in secret societies, although they were secret to the outside world. However, none of the secret societies known under the general name of Freemasonry have been able to grasp and explain the true depth of the symbols, because the sacredness of the symbols themselves means that they cannot be properly understood outside the occult temple.

Until now, our occult current for the world has still borne the name of Freemasonry, because from an occult point of view, one should always tie in with what already exists, but from now on this name should be dropped for our temple and our activities should be called “Misraim Service”. When our occult service is to be referred to, this may be abbreviated with the letters M.D. The designation F.M. should now disappear for good, and thus, for the outside world and for all institutions on a Masonic basis, Freemasonry in our movement does not exist. If someone were to ask us whether our movement includes Freemasonry, we can say no without telling an untruth. What is done here is an occult service called the Misraim service, which means something like: bringing about the union of the earthly with the heavenly, the visible with the invisible.

The Misraim service was already known in ancient Egypt and was one of the most occult services in the mystery schools. This same service is still performed in our temples today, with the additions and reforms that Mark introduced. The Mark referred to here is the disciple of Peter, one of the twelve apostles, who wrote the Gospel of Mark while he was Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. Together with an Egyptian initiate, he reorganized the occult service (cult) that we now know as the Misraim service.

Every object in a complete temple not only has its own special significance, but it must also be there for the purpose of stimulating and effecting that which makes it possible to draw the stream of those entities to our temple, whom we call the wise masters of the East. They then pour this stream out on us, and so we are enabled to receive those spiritual teachings that are necessary for human development. Without such reception, nothing could be done for the spiritual development of humanity; from here, what has been received should flow on to the other people.

The three lights that are now burning symbolize the three higher principles that shine in the darkness in our higher being. They also represent the wisdom, beauty and strength whose words (names) were pronounced when the lights were just lit on the altars of the east, south and west.

We will find the light of wisdom if we always strive for truth in our thinking, if we learn to recognize that a new kind of thinking should arise in us, that world thoughts live in our thoughts. We should become aware that it “thinks in us” and that what is thought in us are revelations of spiritual beings that want to bring us wisdom. From the astral world, living, weaving, moving wisdom flows to us, and by permeating our thinking with truth, we can absorb the wisdom of those spiritual beings, and our soul will attain wisdom.

Beauty flows into us when we acquire true piety. When our soul is open to admiration and devotion to the beauty that is around us, this beauty becomes

for us the expression of spiritual beings who reveal their language with it and want to make themselves understood to us. Only heartfelt, true devotion can reveal true beauty to us. Because you all know that in the spiritual (astral) world, devils can show themselves in the form of angels under the mask of beauty. But you know that this is only possible if our soul is not permeated by that purity which is coupled with heartfelt piety. In the lower Devachan, those entities can be found that send their beauty down to us in truly beautiful images and forms.

Strength flows down upon us from the higher Devachan, and it will strengthen our inner being if we transform our power into virtue, into active virtue. True, active virtue arises when we transform all the qualities that emerge in our lower nature through the power of our will, so that they become forces that can work as spiritual forces in the world.

The sign, grip and word are not just mere identifying marks, but have a deep occult value. The sign, in which one forms the right angle between the thumb and the flat hand, has to do with the hand as an organ of knowledge. It was already mentioned in the last cycle that hands and feet are organs of knowledge, and better than the brain. The physical brain is, as it were, crystallized out of the etheric body, like ice out of water. One can feel an intimate connection between these two “brains” and how the physical brain is actually a kind of mirror apparatus for what is going on in the etheric brain. This is particularly the case when you are making a great effort with things that relate to the physical plane, or when you want to evoke memories in yourself: whether you are aware of it or not, the etheric body is always affected. But especially the physical brain, which lies like a block in the etheric brain and prevents one from following the mobility of the etheric brain. One then feels very clearly that it is not the etheric brain that tires; it could evoke thoughts and memories for all eternity, but the physical brain cannot keep up, it acts like a foreign body in the etheric body. As a result, you feel the fatigue of the physical brain all the more, because: even if you could continue to think with the ether brain, you would make yourself ill; the normal connection would be broken, the physical part would become like dead. It is impossible to break the parallelism between the physical and ether brain to a greater extent.

In our brain, we have a very faithful expression of the etheric brain in its functions and processes. In the case of the hands of the human etheric body, the connection with the physical organs is different. Just as with the brain, certain etheric processes of the etheric body correspond to the hands, but there is a far greater difference between the physical hands and their function and what corresponds to them in the etheric body than between the physical head and the corresponding etheric body of the same. What the hands do is much more of a purely sensory activity, and what the etheric organs of the hands can do finds very little expression in what the physical hands do. These etheric hands are real spiritual organs in the elementary or etheric body. A much higher, more intuitive spiritual activity is performed by the organs that underlie the hands and find only a limited expression in them. The organs that find expression in the hands in the physical body already lead into the supersensible world and can make observations in it. Somewhat paradoxically, one could say that the human brain is the most unsuitable organ of perception for the world; the hands, taken ethereally, are much more significant and skillful organs of knowledge than the brain.

On the path to initiation, one does not learn very much by learning to move from the use of the physical brain to that of the etheric brain. What the hands have to do can be found in connection with the lotus leaves in the heart area, which radiate their forces in such a way that they go from the heart to the hands, thus making the etheric hand an organ of spiritual knowledge. Learning to understand these differences gives us an idea of how to immerse ourselves in the initiation. What is important is not that we feel how the physical brain fills the etheric brain, but that we feel how completely different organs can arise in the human being. What was initially present in the physical human being – like the hands – is transformed into the inner human being, so that he can experience different things with them.

If we place our hand on the larynx, with the thumb of the right hand by the ear and the flat of the hand under the chin at the level of the larynx, then we exclude the etheric currents of the head and shape the rest of the organism into an organ of knowledge. In this way, knowledge is spiritualized, and if one stands upright in this position, it is an aid to being able to absorb knowledge in a spiritual way. The larynx is connected with the thinking that man developed during the moon state. Brain thinking is an earth product and can only touch the world of the senses, not the world of the spirit.

With the grip, in which we form a right angle with the thumb, we also do something very significant. It eliminates something in the relationship between people that happens in the most brutal way in our materialistic time. We make the currents finer and thus transform our relationship to the outside world. When we touch a certain point on the upper hand with the bent thumb, the two currents merge, and in this way we can have a beneficial, far-reaching influence for good.

There are no causes in the sensual world, they only live in the supersensible world. Here there are only signs. We should get to know these in our temple so that we learn to apply and use them in a good sense. The foolish anatomy - as foolish as it may sound: it is nevertheless true, even if in our time the anatomy must be recognized for what it is - means that the heart pumps the blood, but in reality the blood is driven by currents in the etheric body. The heart is only the sign that the ether currents come together at that point. For example, our muscles are a sign of the movement that actually originates in the astral body as a tone. Without the muscles, we would not be able to know about the movement; they reflect the movement to us. Our whole body is an apparatus for reflection in each of its parts.

The sacred word [JACHIN] is not pronounced, but spelled, as discussed in the recording. It is a word from the original language, and anyone who exchanges it with another person in thought can use it to transfer healing powers from one person to another. If someone is overcome by suffering, or if we meet someone who is struggling with a severe indisposition or illness, we ask ourselves the question: Do you know the sacred word?, and we address it to the other person in our thoughts, while visualizing the other person giving the answer, of course, all in our thoughts, and thus we exchange the letters and the two syllables with them. In this way, the current passes from one larynx to the other, and [with this] one can influence people in the most favorable way, without their freedom being compromised.

The sign regulates the relationship of the person to the outside world; the grip regulates the relationship of person to person; and the word has a healing and salvific effect on our fellow human beings.

The spiritual worlds have revealed the following symbol as the archetype of the physical body:

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Think of the pentagram as a reflection of the human body in its earliest beginnings. Think of it as a precipitation of something salty (crystal clear). Imagine the surrounding circle (where the human body first came into contact with the air) as granular mercury flowing back and forth.

Record A (with additions from Cycle 20) from the estate of Elisabeth Vreede

First degree

It has been said many times that the symbols and rituals of our temple are not created arbitrarily, but have a deep connection with cosmic constellations and correspond to laws that can only be revealed to us slowly and gradually. They are handed down from century to century from the mysteries of the most ancient times, so that they may serve as the right channels for the spiritual currents that the wise masters of the East pour over us. They cannot, therefore, possibly be explained or understood in an esoteric way.

One of the most important symbols is the three flames that stand on the altars of the East, South and West, and to which our attention should be drawn first of all. In these we should see the symbols of wisdom, beauty and strength. First, let us examine whether we can find these symbols in the human being itself.

Where, we ask, is wisdom to be found in the human form? Outwardly it is not to be found there, but hidden very deeply within the form, and in such a way that it is not adapted to this form at the present stage of development. It does not form a unified whole in it. This form was first conceived entirely spiritually, and everything that arose during the Saturn, Sun and Moon states was permeated by that perfect wisdom in which we feel the high hierarchies, the creators of our being, are at work. But we already know that during the evolution of the earth, entities penetrated our bodies and disturbed their connection, so that the various elements of our being do not fit together as they should have done according to the intention of the gods. What is meant by this disorder is brilliantly expressed in the words that Lucifer speaks to man when he wants to seduce him: “Your eyes will be opened, and you will distinguish good from evil.” The “eyes” here stand only as representatives of the sense organs in general, for it was never intended that the senses should be active as they are now. Under Lucifer's influence, the senses work differently than they would otherwise. Yes, outwardly they would not be there at all, however strange that may sound. The eye that we use today to see the external world was originally not designed to see at all. Vision and hearing were placed in man, but these powers were not meant to go out through the eye or the ear, but were to remain within. Every time they used their eyes, people would have become aware of their eyes, but would not have seen things externally. Man should become aware of the activity of seeing; he should, as it were, catch himself earlier in his seeing than only outside with the objects.

This is just one example of the disorder that has been wreaked by Lucifer in the outer form of the physical body. Not a single one of the other bodies or sheaths is properly arranged (integrated) either. The bodies have not completely penetrated each other, and as a result, each limb has a part that is, as it were, left to its own devices and that has its own inner life that is not grasped by consciousness. That part, for example, of the physical body that is not properly penetrated by the etheric body is where the sense organs are located, and that is where they have their present form. Without this part, not permeated by the etheric, the whole sensual world, which now lies spread out before us, would not exist. Man would only feel active, weaving will; he would actively experience the sensory world. The etheric body has, as it were, been pushed back from the sense organs, and thus something has entered into them that belongs only to the sensory world.

The astral body does not penetrate the etheric body in the right way either, and in our physical body, for example, this results in crying. As soon as a person cries so that this strange salty liquid comes out of his eyes, there is an predominance of the etheric body (over the astral body). The same is the case with all glandular secretions; the secretions are the expression of the preponderance, the disturbed equilibrium. Thus one experiences how powerfully the consequences of the temptations of Lucifer reveal themselves to the clairvoyant.

Only when we, as human beings, have transformed our bodies over time, through the power of our inner will, into what they were originally intended for, only then will we be imbued with the wisdom that will create us as perfect and at the same time self-confident instruments of divine deeds.

It is different with beauty, which finds its full expression in the outer human form. In the hands one finds the symbol of beauty, and indeed completely there, where they rise as outstretched hands, so that the head forms the center. If you immerse yourself in the feeling of hands reaching towards the sky and follow the line from hand to arm, you will experience beauty radiating from the hands themselves.

The purpose of the hand is to be beautiful, not to be strong. The arm may be strong and muscular, but towards the bottom it tapers into the hand, which strives for beauty. When we consider the many ways in which we can call hands “beautiful”, whether they are folded in prayer or stretched out one by one, raised up in prayer as if to the high beings above us, imploring help - we always find beauty in them, the hand as a symbol of beauty. With every hand movement, we should be aware that it should symbolize beauty, that it should never serve any other purpose than to express the inner beauty of our being.

Strength is symbolized in what is opposite of the hands, namely the feet. People may have a mental image of the foot as a “beautiful” appendage of their body. They may be proud of having small, delicate feet; the occultist will never find anything “beautiful” in the feet; for him, they are the symbol of strength. The feet must be able to carry the whole body; and if you look at them from this point of view, you will realize the strength that must rest in the foot, in this tiny, narrow part of the body, on which the whole body must find its support.

Thus we find in the human form these three important symbols, which are mentioned in occultism as “the three world mothers”, as Goethe also calls them in his “Faust”.

Note B

We see here the flames on the altars, which represent wisdom, beauty and strength. These are very deep symbols that we can also find in people.

Where can wisdom be found in the human form? It cannot be found on the outside, it is hidden within the form, and in such a way that it is not adapted to today's stage of development, so that the form does not form a cohesive whole. Wisdom can be depicted as follows:

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It is different with beauty, which finds its full expression in human hands when they are raised in an outstretched position, with the head forming the center. In the hands one finds the symbol of beauty, and this is represented as follows:

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The purpose of the hand is to be beautiful, not to be strong. The arm may be strong and muscular, but at the bottom it tapers into the beauty-tending form of the human hand.

Strength is found in the opposite of the hands, in the feet. No one who is an occultist will see anything beautiful in the feet, and anyone who wants to see something beautiful in them in their ordinary lives will see nothing but a caricature of beauty. The feet represent power or strength, and they must be able to carry the whole body. This is represented as follows:

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Thus we find in the human form these three important symbols, which are mentioned in occultism, the “three world mothers,” which Goethe also mentions in his “Faust.”

In earlier meetings, we emphasized the greater importance of spiritual activity compared to acting in the world. It is of importance for the whole world when a person processes a lot spiritually, because this shows after death. We can go further in this and ask ourselves how we relate to the hierarchies in the future, especially in relation to our relationship with them after death. When we pass through the gate of death after our physical life, after we have worked on our progress here on earth and on the transformation of our bodies, we give the part of our etheric body that we have transformed to an angelic being as his tribute, which he waits for and to which he is entitled. This tribute, this part, is radiated by the angel and made subservient to the succeeding generations of men, whereby the thoughts of inventions and progress in general are propagated and can come to light. If this did not happen, if people did not work on the transformation of their etheric bodies, but instead occupied themselves exclusively with the vanities of the physical plane, then the world would become very lonely and ultimately perish.

The results achieved in the transformation of the astral body are handed over to an archangel after death, who in turn radiates them to other people. These transferred powers of our astral bodies are so delicate and hidden that only from the occult can one point out how this happens. For example, Paracelsus lived from 1493 to 1541 and died, after having worked tremendously hard on his astral body through the many experiences he had undergone, in the prime of life in his forty-eighth year. The processed power of his astral body was transferred to Goethe by the archangels in what was for him such a significant forty-eighth year of life, when a whole new period of life began for him, when, for example, he reworked Faust and fathomed many secrets.

He added “Prologue to Heaven” to his “Faust”, whereby “Faust”, instead of being just the story of an individual, is linked to the whole of human development.

Now only the ego remains to be considered. Its inherent power, especially in very strong individualities, is also transferred to one of the archai, who uses it after long periods of time to allow new powers to descend into humanity. This is what happens in the spiritual realm after death.

But in the line of inheritance that passes through the generations from father to son, grandson and so on, the hierarchies also work, and it is the spirits of form that form the physical body, the spirits of movement that bring about the etheric body, and the spirits of wisdom that give shape to the astral body. But through these effects alone, no bodies would be possible, only the possibilities for the formation of the bodies. To shape these, there must be a collaboration between the thrones and the spirits of form, whereby the nascent body is given strength. Likewise, the cherubim must work together with the spirits of movement and the seraphim with the spirits of wisdom for the realization of the etheric and astral bodies: form and power must work together. Now only the I remains; this descends from the spiritual world when its bodies or sheaths have been prepared by the higher hierarchies, which have to work with the lower matter so that it serves the I as a temple.

The three flames of the candles are expressed in the following symbolic signs (these are also incorporated into the human body):

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(The flame of the East represents wisdom.) The human body looks like this because it is not yet fully formed.

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Beauty

Man has beauty expressed in hands raised up, head centered, this symbol.

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Strength human feet

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Jachin: He strengthens me.
Boaz: In him is my strength.

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1. This figure is a meditation aid.

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2. The three?

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3. The sign for the three mothers

The three worlds in the microcosm are represented by the three signs.

1. The symbol of wisdom is invisibly present in every human being.

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2. Hands, the head in the middle – beauty.

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3. Feet – strength

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Record E by Alice Kinkel

The most important thing for a person is to work on themselves so that they can then give what they have acquired to the beings of the hierarchies, who enable their development through sacrifice. The hierarchy of angels, archangels, and archai comes first in this regard, the hierarchy that gives to us continually.

Everything that a person has worked into his etheric body, he can give to the angel. The gift of angels is given so that inventions, spiritual things, and so on, can occur to people for posterity.

To the archangels, the human being hands over everything that he has worked into his astral body. This then works for an entire nation.

What he has worked out in his ego, he hands over to the Zeitgeist or to the archai.

The physical form of the human being, he hands it over to the spirits of form.

The form of the etheric body goes to the spirits of movement.

The form of the astral body goes to the spirits of wisdom.

The I itself, soon after it has given up its part to the spirit of time, unites with the spirits of will, so that it could integrate itself into everything.

The etheric body belongs to the cherubim, the astral body to the seraphim, and the I descends itself as J.CH., as Jesus Christ!

Paracelsus was an individuality who could give in this way. Everything he had worked into his astral body up to the age of forty-eight, up to his death, he gave to the archangel, and then he (through the archangel) had an effect on Goethe. He has so tremendously changed and advanced Goethe from the age of forty-eight. (Much more was said about Paracelsus and his life on earth.)

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What was given here in Berlin in December 1911 was given in Munich in 1911.

This last drawing was given in Munich like this:

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After the I has surrendered its acquisitions to the Zeitgeist, the I has fulfilled its mission, done its duty.

Record F

Three flames on our three altars: that on the altar of the East signifies wisdom, that on the altar of the South, beauty, and that on the altar of the West, strength.

All progress is based on the three principles. Where do we find them in the microcosm? There is little of wisdom in man - there is no limb that man has not corrupted - but it is invisibly present. Where is the symbol of beauty? The hand, and the symbol of occultism has always been the raised hands, with the head in between.

The foot cannot be the symbol of beauty. If someone wanted to elevate the foot to something beautiful, it would be comical in the context of occultism. The foot is the symbol of strength. A weakly formed foot arouses pity.

There are, so to speak, two lines that determine the human being: a material line, which is the line of inheritance, and a spiritual line. Through the material line the form is imparted, the spirits of form work on it. So that this form does not become rigid, the spirits of movement are needed; so that the limbs have the right measure and relationship to one another: the spirits of wisdom.

Only that has value that one has acquired for oneself. After death, angels take that which the etheric body has acquired and distribute the spirit-matter contained therein to others in need. The archangels take possession of the work of the astral body, the archai of the work of the I. It is the task of the thrones, cherubim, and seraphim to shape the substance in the right way. – What Paracelsus had acquired in his astral body when he died at the age of forty-eight was handed over to Goethe by an archangel. This is why we find in the latter, at this age, the desire to present “Faust” to the world.

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Notes by Alice Kinkel Third degree

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This is the picture of a great mystery. A tremendous meditation subject.

How we should form a mental image of the details of this picture:

The pentagram is the archetype that man has drawn into salt, into the earth. The pentagram must be closed everywhere. We have three: salt, smoke, and mercury or sulfur.

Berlin, December 1911 Notes by Alice Kinkel Second degree

Notes by Ida Knoch with additions by Lidia Gentilli-Arenson-Baratto and memories by Karl Rittersbacher

Father on a chair wreathed with roses and greenery; Gretchen, Paula and I beside him.

One to seven hammer blows at the beginning and end, otherwise always seven instead of the usual three. Prayer and so on as usual.

I know that I speak from the heart and feelings of all when I first address these words to our dear brother Günther Wagner. (Reading of the mantric lines):

The soul's pilgrimage on earth
leads to steep mountain peaks
where the sharp stones of life
They are her words, nothing else
But riddles and questions,
Which awaken longing mightily:
Only when in the soul's mountain huts
Where a calm spirit reigns
The solution to the riddles beckons
And calm the forces of desire:
Then spiritual fruits ripen
Into seeds for the eternities.

In your pilgrimage of life
Directing the spiritual eye
These words appear to me
As a sign of your being.

Many weeks ago I was already quite certain that such an intimate ceremony would take place today, but I did not know what I would say until this morning, when I opened my heart to the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings to ask for their blessing for our dear brother Günther Wagner. Before what was seen there is related, I know that I am one with you, my dear sisters and brothers, in the expression of the love and loyalty we feel for our dear and loyal brother Günther Wagner.

Dr. Steiner emphasizes how Father advised and helped everyone who approached him seeking comfort, strength and courage, how he worked everywhere in harmony, seeking harmony, with the same love and faithfulness as his soul, how he radiated all that he had gained through a long, hard, truth-seeking life as love; how he consecrated his strength to our Theosophical Society. Dr. Steiner fondly remembers many moments when he was able to be close to Father — and so on, and so on.

It was not so much words that came to Dr. Steiner from the wise masters of the East when he opened his heart to them in meditation this morning, but more images, indirect images, so to speak. In a community like the one gathered here, he could tell something like what he would say now.

First, images appeared, from which others emerged. There Dr. Steiner saw a member of the Order of St. Benedict, surrounded by other members of the same order; these were the abbot - Sinibald - and the elders of this monastic order. They were sitting together, as rarely happens, not absorbed in exercises or other prescriptions, but exchanging more personal thoughts. And the abbot, who became abbot of this order in 1227, told his elders about his father, how much he had clung to him, that this father had gone to Palestine with the leader of the Third Crusade, how the father had told of the many hardships, how he had gone through privations and suffering, how he had fought; but the father also told of life in the Orient, and for example how glass was made there, how the color purple was produced. And these stories of life in the Orient and its peculiarities made a great impression on the listening boy, even more than the stories of the battles.

The father of the abbot also spoke of the fact that he and his fellow fighters had a strong feeling that what Frederick Barbarossa did in the crusade meant more than just the outward events would suggest. The father, who was a knight of St. John of Jerusalem, stood by as the body of the red-bearded emperor was pulled out of the Saleph River, and he knew that even though three distinct parts of the body were buried near Tyre, near Antioch, and near Tarsus, the birthplace of Paul, his soul had nevertheless flown back to Europe. The father had been a knight of St. John of Jerusalem, and the abbot always had a great affection for them, as well as for the Teutonic knights, although his uncle, his father's brother (?), was opposed to the order.

During his theological studies, the abbot often wondered whether the idea was behind things, about this Aristotelian idea, or whether the idea existed before things, as Plato says. — He entered the Order of St. Benedict, prompted by long-standing family connections, and was also destined from the outset for a leading position in it.

During the exercises, which lasted from four o'clock in the morning until sunset, it was very rare for the abbot and the elders of his order to come together for such a personal exchange of ideas, and everyone left, reflecting on what they had heard. The abbot sat alone for a long time, pondering what had been said. And when he then walked back along the path, the meditation path, with a look of kindness and love, he met an eight-year-old boy who also wore the robe of St. Benedict. Perhaps the boy was inspired by the mild gaze he saw in the abbot's eyes to ask a question that we can only describe as impertinent. — The image is strongly emotional at this point. — This eight-year-old boy in the robes of St. Benedict said to the abbot: “Reverend Father, I cannot form a mental image of God.” The abbot looked kindly at the boy after this bold speech; he did not answer, but walked away in silence. And only when he was so far away that the boy could no longer hear him did the abbot say, as if to himself: “It will take a long time before one can form a correct mental image of God.”

My dear sisters and brothers, this is what occurred to me when I turned to the wise masters of the East, asking for blessings for our dear brother Günther Wagner. Everyone can now think of what they believe to be right according to their disposition.

When the Rosicrucian conclusion was reached, Dr. Steiner placed three red roses next to the box with the blessed water and so on, and at the end he waved the censer over them several times extra. Then he said: “Now our dear Sister Helene Lehmann will take these three roses to our dear brother Günther Wagner as a token of our love and loyalty.”

When Dr. Steiner had finally carried the box away and then passed by father again, he kissed him on each cheek.

In a transcription of Ida Knoch's notes by Lidia Gentilli-Arenson-Baratto, the following additional personal comment can be found at the end:

The red book from which Dr. Steiner read was a red book that Paula Hübbe-Schleiden had given him (said Gretchen Wagner). She then asked me who the boy would have become, which she never knew. I asked her in return whether she believed or had heard who the boy would be in this life. She replied very firmly that everyone knew at the time, and it was generally said that it was Dr. Steiner himself, only she would like to know who the boy had become, she didn't know, and no one told her at the time. That concluded our conversation, which took place today. - February 27, 1960.

In addition, the following personal memories of Karl Rittersbacher of conversations with Günther Wagner are available, which he added to his typewritten transcription of Ida Knoch's notes of this hour by Nelly von Lichtenberg:

I had several personal encounters with Mr. Günther Wagner through Miss Mathilde Hoyer, who founded the first class of the Freie Waldorfschule Hannover (1926) at Easter 1926 (I have written a report about this in the newsletter of the General Anthroposophical Society “What is happening in the Anthroposophical Society”, No. 43 and 44 of October 21 and 28, 1928, following a suggestion by Mrs. Marie Steiner).

Mr. Wagner had founded a paint factory in Hannover. During a visit to his home in the fall of 1927, he told me that the colors were still rubbed by hand and that he had 20 employees. I also learned that at the age of 50, he handed over the factory, which had grown to around 200 workers, to his son-in-law, who had been his senior traveler: Fritz Beindorff, who later became a senator in Hannover. This grand master of a freemason association had no time for the newly founded Free Waldorf School. I learned this drastically during a personal visit to his office.

Mr. Günther Wagner, as he told me, lived on a pension he received in Berlin and Lugano. In Berlin, he worked as a librarian for the Theosophical Society, translating literature from Indian into German. He and some friends became aware of Dr. Rudolf Steiner and reported how he was instrumental in helping the Theosophical Society in Germany come into being. To do so, seven branches had to exist, each with at least seven members. This was achieved by recruiting in Leipzig. Then Dr. Rudolf Steiner was appointed as Secretary General. When Günther Wagner and his nurse, Paula Hübbe-Schleiden, née Stryczek, separated in 1912/13, it was clear to them that they could only go with Rudolf Steiner (literally to me!).

After the above conversation – as Günther Wagner said during a visit – Rudolf Steiner asked him into the next room and said: “You were the abbot and I was the boy, your student. And so we meet again. And I then went from Monte Cassino, where this happened, to Cologne later.

Günther Wagner added: “I went to Monte Cassino, but I had no memories whatsoever. I told Emil Bock all this. He said to me: But Mr. Wagner, you should have put on a Benedictine robe and climbed up the old serpentine paths to remember something.”

Mr. Wagner had a calm, bright look in his eyes that radiated kindness and bore witness to a deep inner peace. Even in old age, he still enjoyed playing the piano (Schubert, Impromptu by heart). He had a package of letters from Rudolf Steiner.

In a late lecture on karma, Rudolf Steiner called him the “doyen of the Anthroposophical Society” (literally: “... and perhaps the oldest member of the Anthroposophical Society, who is here today to our great joy – Mr. Günther Wagner, whom I would like to warmly welcome [like a kind of senior of the Anthroposophical Society here] – will remember how strong the resistance was at the time for much of what I incorporated into the Anthroposophical Society from the beginning. —- It was particularly about “practical karma exercises”. - See the karma lecture of September 5, 1924, beginning, volume IV, esoteric considerations, complete edition!).

Rudolf Steiner is said to have given several members karmic hints earlier on the 70th birthday.

Günther Wagner regretted that he could not financially support the newly founded school, since he only had the pension granted to him by his son-in-law. He also lived in the Black Forest in Frauenalb, where Fräulein Hoyer and I also visited him.

When Mrs. Marie Steiner visited the then small school (two classes) in September 1927, Günther Wagner and Paula Hübbe-Schleiden were present. (See report in the newsletter!)

Marie Steiner invited the small college to lunch at the hotel.

A personal word: the content shared here, especially regarding karmic facts, meant for us at the time a concretization of our thinking about destiny and the laws of destiny. It sounded simple and seemed unmythically realistic.

Notes from the estate, presumably by Gertrud von Tschirschky.

Today marks the beginning of a new period of work in which we have reunited after a long break to work together. This work of ours is twofold: firstly, to find the path to the spiritual worlds, that is, to find knowledge; and then secondly, to live with the world forces, in the principles by which the world is shaped, the co-forces.

Gaining knowledge is difficult. Let us take for example a very simple object, a piece of chalk, to understand what Maja is. The sentence could be coined that sounds so simple: to gain knowledge, one must seek out the relationships between events.

This can be explained by means of a small but characteristic feature of our time. A newspaper cutting arrived from Bern these days, containing an advertisement that a lecture would be given in Bern on “The dangers of spiritualism and Dr. Steiner's theosophy” in the same hall where my lectures have been held. If you approach it rationally, you can say all sorts of things in response to such a fact. For example, you can point out that our movement is young and could easily be misunderstood, and so on. You can also say that someone might be driven by the best of intentions when they feel compelled to draw attention to the dangers.

But the actual facts of the matter are as follows – and anyone who is unaware of them, and they cannot be known without being explained, will never be able to deduce them with the help of their intellect. So here is the series of events: I was in Frankfurt and was on the square in front of the hotel for some reason; the bellhop came up behind me and said I should come to the hotel as quickly as possible, they were telephoning for me; I said that there was still time for that until I came back anyway. Then a gentleman asked when he could speak to me, the hour was agreed, the gentleman came; there was a lot of talking now; what was most striking about his manner was his folly.

Here, where we are aware that we do not want to criticize, that sympathies and antipathies do not have a say, something like this can be said because it is true. The Lord was (... long hair – unfortunately I have forgotten this nuance G.v.T.) of great folly. Those of our sisters and brothers who know how we work will know that anyone who comes seeking help and explanations will receive both, regardless of the qualities they possess. But here we had one of those cases that really do occur only rarely and only when the good of the movement demands it: the gentleman had to be turned away energetically. He said that he had been following me for so long and so often, always wanting to talk to me, and now he wanted all kinds of help from me.

The first thing that came to life in this gentleman when he was rejected, of course, was wounded vanity, tremendous wounded vanity, which naturally led him to turn against our movement. What is happening now in Bern is the result of wounded vanity; the matter in Frankfurt is not that long ago.

You can see from this that the reasons for the current action lie in a series of events that one would never come to if one wanted to judge the events in Bern rationally and critically. It is not important today to explain; only facts should be told to awaken a feeling for how to approach the events of life.

The impulse that flowed down from the spiritual world for this hour today was to create an atmosphere for what is to happen in the work this winter, an atmosphere for approaching the events of life. Think of something that has already been mentioned, at least for some of the brothers and sisters: The enormous amount of fish sperm, of which so few achieve their goal of developing into a new creature; enormous amounts perish in the sea. Likewise, a cornfield; a tiny part of the new grains will become ears of corn again, all the others enter lower, non-living forms of existence, become flour, bread. One must really be able to feel this, this failure to achieve the assessed goal for the vast majority. But bread becomes food for higher living beings, which could not exist without it.

And what is chalk? In what was the element of the earth in primeval times, lower creatures lived, which secreted vast amounts of seed; little of this seed fulfilled its actual purpose, the quantities precipitated and over time became what we now have as chalk. Only because of the abundance of seed from these lower creatures does the earth owe what it now has as chalk substance. (Bones!)

Here too we should feel that our intellect cannot enlighten us. We should learn to feel the workings in the divine-spiritual. That it is precisely spiritual forces that need what apparently does not reach its goal, what apparently perishes, as an external expression, and whose meaning and purpose remain hidden from the human mind at first.

I have already related the following in the Architect's House. A daughter was born to a couple. The mother died that same day; the father learned that his ship had sunk at sea and that his fortune was lost; he was struck down. So the child was alone and poor at the earliest age. A benefactress took her in and bequeathed enough to her in her will to ensure that she had sufficient maintenance. When the girl was seventeen, the carer died. There was a technicality in the will, it was contested, and the girl was left with nothing. So, for the second time in her young life, she was robbed of the goods of fortune that had presented themselves to her. She had to hire herself out as a servant. She met a man who fell deeply in love with her. She returned his love and agreed to marry him in order to escape from this desperate situation. It turned out that the marriage was impossible because the times were different then and the man belonged to a different faith. But he did not want to let go of her, but persuaded his father to give him permission to be baptized. The father did not want to agree, but he was already old; they waited for his death, which occurred. While the man was traveling to see his father, the girl became ill, died and was buried. After that, the man returned to marry her. He was so attached to her that he wanted to give her corpse as a gift. He had the grave opened and it was recognized from the position of the body that the girl had been buried in a state of suspended animation.

So a completely crushed life! This is how it appears to the observer. But the fact of the matter was that the girl had not taken enough possession of her bodies in this life. So the apparent death could also take place. A strong soul, but one that, after previous incarnations, was now going through a life that was always and always again a crushed one. And the purpose of this crushed life was to help her to take hold of her covers much more powerfully in a later, third life than in the life before the crushed one. It is precisely in this crushing that the source of strength for the next life lies. This must be felt and understood, how - that is, in what way - forces physically express themselves in the divine-spiritual work.

Do not approach the events of world evolution with a human mind, but acquire a feeling, a mood that can be used to absorb knowledge about the true causes, the true reasons that give rise to external forms. Just as that girl underwent a crushed life in order to gain strength for later, so we have to look behind the seeds, the grains that do not achieve their actual purpose, for ruling and working spiritual forces that express themselves in matter precisely in this way. We have to develop an intuitive sense for the spiritual underpinnings of phenomena, to acquire a feeling for them...

Drawing by unknown

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Triangle = sulfur
Pentagram [=] salt.
cross [=] ashes
[gray background =] mercury.