10 lectures, various cities, 1913-1914 (CW 152)

In February of 1913--a landmark year for Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy--the first General Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society was held. In September, the Foundation Stone for the Goetheanum was laid in Dornach. The ground for Anthroposophy as we know it today was established.

Such is the background for the remarkable lectures contained in this volume. Outwardly, they begin to set the record straight. Inwardly, they seek to establish a right relationship of service to Christ and the spiritual worlds in accord...

Notes written from memory by the participants and meditation verses by Rudolf Steiner (CW 266/1)

To read this book is to be part of Rudolf Steiner's Esoteric School, to experience the growth and development of Anthroposophy from within. First and most essential here is the primacy of practice. Steiner stresses attention and concentration. We waste much of our time and energy on thoughts and feelings that to nowhere. Meditation--concentration on a living thought, an idea of higher origin--begins the process of self-gathering. Controlling our thoughts, we begin to form our "mental"...

Two Lectures Cycles, Followed by Two Christmas Lectures Dornach, October 3-7
and December 12-20, 1914; Dornach, December 26 and Basel, December 27, 1914 (CW 156)

These two lecture courses, given just after the beginning of World War I, stand as a kind of unexpected gift. A few months later, once the war became a reality, the possibilities for esoteric work would change and it would become more difficult to do spiritual research. But in the short interval before the true horror of the conflict unfolded, Rudolf Steiner--almost by the way--was able to give these lectures,...

"This is one of the meanings of the Mystery of Golgotha: the attainment of the unity of humanity from within. Externally, human beings are becoming more and more different. The result will be not sameness but difference over the Earth, and human beings must exert all the more force from within to attain unity" --Rudolf Steiner (lecture 4)

In this collection, Rudolf Steiner describes the evolutionary task facing contemporary humanity in preparing to enter the sixth epoch. In the past, human souls felt a strong connection with the group soul to which they belonged. Today, all...

10 lectures, Helsinki, April. 3-14, 1912 (CW 136)

In the architecture of Rudolf Steiner's great cosmological temple, this extraordinary course of lectures on spiritual beings forms the central pillar with other important texts such as the fourth chapter of An Outline of Esoteric Science (CW 13); The Spiritual Hierarchies and the Physical World (CW 136); and Inner Experiences of Evolution (CW 132). These works--outlining a revolutionary angelological cosmology--are at the heart of Steiner's mission to transform our understanding of the world by laying down a...

Notes written from memory by the participants and meditation verses by Rudolf Steiner (CW 266/2)

In this second of three volumes from Rudolf Steiner's early Esoteric School, we find a further deepening of spiritual practice and training. Steiner explains the requirements one must meet to become a serious student of esotericism. In addition, he gives directions--always emphasizing the increasing need for earnestness--for the transformation of the inner life, for the development of new spriritual forces and capacities, and for recognizing and overcoming the dangers that arise on a spiritual...

This book presents and explores a little-known example of Rudolf Steiner's efforts to bring, in a practical way, a contemporary embodiment of the wisdom that once lived in the ancient mysteries. In this instance, a sequence of fifteen images of the Madonna, intended originally for contemplation under supervision in a clinical setting as a new form of therapy for those suffering soul wounds.

In a 1908 lecture, Steiner addressed the subterranean spiritual links connecting ancient Egypt and our own time and described certain healing functions of the Isis Mysteries. He connected the Madonna...

Rudolf Steiner's work and words, still largely undiscovered as compared to their value for humanity, continue to point the way toward a different path-a way of knowing that encompasses the fullness, the breadth and depth of life and the worlds we inhabit.