Theosophy and Anthroposophy Books

Book SynopsisIn March 2020, Are Thoresen contracted Covid-19. Whilst convalescing from the disease and suffering great exhaustion, he experienced a breakthrough in his daily meditation. Although he has always been able to 'see' into the spiritual world, now deeper, unknown realms appeared to his inner vision. In the soapstone surround of the fireplace in his Norwegian home, he perceived the elemental beings and forces that make up the mineral at an atomic level. A few days later, an even deeper dimension revealed itself, in the form of a void or vacuum. Here, astonishingly, was an open portal to the entire cosmos... In Travels on the Northern Path of Initiation, Thoresen shares the results of his latest spiritual investigations, including a moving, life-changing encounter with 'the Light of the World'. He details the teachings he receives from the beings Vidar and Balder - who stand as guardians to the threshold of the outer etheric world - and characterizes the Northern way of initiation, which is based on merging, or 'fading', into nature. Thoresen documents Rudolf Steiner's descriptions of this path and shows how it is reflected in the Old Norse Poetic Edda, the Kalevala and von Eschenbach's Parzival. Based on painstaking research, he describes the individual qualities of the three elemental realms, and how the adversarial forces - seeking to corrupt human senses - hinder spiritual observation of them. Thoresen's book is a powerful personal testimony to the human potential for spiritual knowledge and experience in our time.Table of ContentsPreface - Introduction - Chapter 1 Meeting Vidar and Balder - Beyond the Elemental Realms - Chapter 2 Seeing the Elemental Realms - Chapter 3 How the Adversarial Forces Hinder Spiritual Observation - Corrupting our Spiritual Senses - Postscript - Vidar's Further Teachings - Appendix 1 The Northern Path in History - Appendix 2 Rudolf Steiner on the Three 'Occultisms'

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Book SynopsisIn a remarkable deed of original scholarly research and detailed detective work, Anne Weise recreates sketches of a lost life - of one of the millions of forgotten souls whose lives came to a violent end in the Holocaust. Her focus is Alfred Bergel (1902-1944), an artist and teacher from Vienna who was a close associate of Karl Koenig - the founder of the Camphill Movement for people with special needs - who wrote of Bergel in his youthful diaries as his best friend 'Fredi'. After the annexation of Austria, Alfred Bergel found himself unable to escape the horror of the National Socialist regime. Subsequently, in 1942 he was deported to the Theresienstadt camp. Imprisoned there, he produced numerous artistic works of the inmates of the ghetto and taught drawing, art history and art appreciation - sometimes in collaboration with the Bauhaus artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. During this period, he was also forced by the Nazis to produce forgeries of classic art works. One of the central figures of cultural life in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Bergel was eventually transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944 where, tragically, he was murdered. His name and his work are largely forgotten today, even amongst Holocaust researchers, but Weise succeeds in honouring the life of the Jewish artist by lovingly piecing together his biography, based on numerous personal testimonies by friends and contemporaries and supplemented with documents and many dozens of photos and colour reproductions of Bergel's artistic works. This invaluable recreation of a life provides insight not only into the desperate plight of a single individual, but also illustrates the human will and determination to survive in the context of one of the darkest periods of recent history.Table of ContentsThe Holocaust: Looking Back Seventy Years by Robert O. Fisch - Looking for the Human Being-A Preface - Short Biography of Alfred Bergel - 1. Young Friends-A Diary Collage - Childhood and Youth in Olmu tz and Vienna - Summer Respite for Bergels and Koenigs-Friendship between the Families - 'And we became friends'-Fredi and Karl - 'Moonlight Party'-A Summer in Kierling - 'He won't let on about it'-First love - 'Too good to be true'-Wistful Farewell and War Chaos - Kierling, and once again Kierling - 'Wurstelprater'-Theatrical Experiences - 'Become like this man, so happy and great'-A Fairy Tale for the Friend - Poet and mentor-the father Arnold Bergel - 'I saw the creative works of the greatest painters'-Encounters with the visual arts - Another Class Photo-a Talent for Portraits - 'The Different, the Good, and the Beautiful'-Quarrels - 'Man of Skills'-the Artist - 'We are just too connected with each other through Karma' - Rise of Anti-Semitism in Vienna - 2. The Anschluss. Annexation-Repression and Defamation in Vienna - The Destiny of the Childhood-Friends - Banned from Employment, March 1938 - Exit Visa and Capital Confiscation, May 1938 - Marked as Israel and Sara, August 1938 - Evictions, September 1938 - Kristallnacht, November 1938 - Escape of Sister Marianne to Palestine, June 1939 - Teacher in the Youth-Aliyah, October 1939-1942 - 3. Theresienstadt and Auschwitz - Bohemia-'The heart of Europe' - 'My number swung as if on a cow's neck'-Deportation - 'The idea of man'-cultural life for survival, nourishment and spiritual resistance - 'Subtleties like colour, harmony, balance, form and beauty'-Alfred Bergel as a teacher - 'Here is no photographer, then an artist is needed'-Alfred Bergel, the painter - Alfred Bergel-Member of the Sonderwerkstatt - 'Ordering' art - Eyewitness accounts from the painters' workshops - More research needs to be done - Beautification of Theresienstadt - From Vienna: a message of 'an outstanding loan debt' - 'An oasis to breathe'-Hugo Friedmann and the library - A slight movement with the thumb-Deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau - 4. Human dignity is inviolable - 'To serve and not to rule'-The destiny of Karl Koenig and the European cultural impulse - 'Love overcomes hatred'-Pay Attention to the Helpers - 5. Anthroposophical work in Theresienstadt - 6. Destinies of family members - Sophie Bergel / Arthur and Sali Bergel / Marianne and Hans Petersilka / Margarethe and Richard Winter / Fritz Bergel / Elsa, Oskar and Herta Baurose - Members of the Bergel family murdered in Auschwitz/Birkenau - The fate of Karl Koenig's extended family during the Holocaust - 7. A voice from then ... and today-Fred Terna - Notes - Further reading - List of artworks - Picture credits - Index of names

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Book SynopsisIn 1919 Rudolf Steiner spoke about the future physical incarnation of the being of Ahriman. This would take place before 'a part' of the third millennium had passed, and was inevitable - but it was also necessary that people were aware of this event and recognized it, for earthly culture would be destroyed if the world were to fall completely to Ahriman. The situation we find ourselves in today shows Ahriman's unmistakable signature: the rapid destruction of nature, zoonotic diseases and pandemics, huge social inequalities, and the overall dominance of high finance. In this short book Peter Selg presents a timely overview of the challenges we face, beginning with a pithy and concise survey of Steiner's commentary on Ahriman's incarnation and the conditions that would characterize it. This is followed by a study of Ahriman's depiction in the mystery drama The Souls' Awakening. Steiner's remarkable personification of Ahriman on stage - portraying his strategies and activities - provides vital instruction for humanity. Selg concludes with an evaluation of 'the Battle for Human Intelligence' taking place in contemporary culture through materialistic ideas such as transhumanism. In their recent book Covid-19: The Great Reset, for example, Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret propose wholesale economic, geopolitical, environmental and technological revisions to society - ideas that need to be understood and confronted in human thought and consciousness. The Future of Ahriman is a crucial aid to comprehending our times.Table of ContentsForeword - 1. 'The Incarnation of Ahriman', Rudolf Steiner's lectures from October to December 1919 - 2. 'The Awakening of Souls', Ahriman in the Mystery Dramas, 1910-1913 - 3. The Battle for Human Intelligence, The Leading Thoughts of 1924/25, and the present - Notes

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Book SynopsisRudolf Steiner's watercolour painting 'The Archetypal Human-Animal' presents us with the enigmatic image of a strange creature apparently swimming in water. It has a human profile, showing a clearly outlined nose and slightly-opened mouth, with a mysterious eye, almost concealed in its greenish hair. It has appendages similar to hands and feet, and dark-blue plant-like forms float about in the water beneath the creature's bright red and yellow body. Only the title provides us with a clue to its meaning: it is an 'archetypal human-animal' form. But even this is enigmatic. What is this strange, unusual creature - this archetypal human-animal? We are presented with a perplexing image and a puzzling description. In this original work, illustrated throughout with full-colour paintings and images - many by the author herself - Angela Lord takes us on a journey of discovery to realizing the meaning of Rudolf Steiner's painting. From Goethe's theory of metamorphosis in nature, we are introduced to Steiner's ideas of human evolution, from the primal beginnings of the archetypal human-animal on 'Ancient Moon'. Lord recounts myths and legends from many cultures that tell of human-animal forms, and reflects on the meaning of the fish in Christianity. She takes us through a series of 'colour sequences' for repainting Steiner's human-animal motif, and includes appendices that summarize evolutionary phases of the earth and humanity from a spiritual-scientific perspective. The Archetypal Human-Animal is both a valuable workbook for painters and a fascinating insight into hidden aspects of human evolution.Table of ContentsPrologue - PART ONE - Chapter One Goethe's Archetypal Animal - Chapter Two Goethe's Metamorphosis of Animals - PART TWO - Chapter One An Evolutionary Background - Chapter Two The Human Being on Ancient Moon: the primal beginnings of Archetypal Human-Animal - PART THREE - Chapter One The Human Being: Handiwork of the Gods - Chapter Two From Fire-Air to Air - PART FOUR - Chapter One The Animals: From the Cosmos Down to Earth - Chapter Two The Origin of the Animals - Chapter Three The Human-Animal Plant becomes Human - PART FIVE - Chapter One Myths and Legends: Monsters and Mermaids - Chapter Two A Cabinet of Curiosities - Chapter Three The Sphinx - PART SIX - Chapter One The Symbol of the Fish in Christianity - Chapter Two The Zodiac - Chapter Three The Evangelists - PART SEVEN - Chapter One The Colours of the Motif - Chapter Two An Approach to the Language of Colour - Appendix One Summary of Evolutionary Phases - Appendix Two Time Charts - List of Illustrations - References and Suggested Reading - Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe unique scholarship and artistic sensitivity of Prof. Dr Hermann Beckh (1875–1937) is in the process of being rediscovered. The great linguist, Orientalist and Christian priest – an active music-lover who also composed – penned pioneer works on our musical system that are respected by musicians and musicologists. This volume brings together two revised versions of his best-loved books. The Essence of Tonality is written ‘…for musicians and music-lovers who, because of their particular musicality experience something spiritual – and for spiritual seekers and sensitive people who, because of their particular spirituality, have experienced a connection with music.’ Beckh believed a spiritual view of tonality would ensure music’s, and humanity’s, future. The author elucidates the correspondence of the circle of fifths (the keys) to the zodiac. Research should be directed towards the twelve vital, spiritual key-centres, as expressing the cosmic rhythms in which we all live, rather than the abstract twelve chromatic notes of atonality. In The Parsifal Christ-Experience, Beckh’s original insights throw new and powerful light on the search for meaning in our age, for a knowledge of the heart. In the poetic libretto and remarkable music of his final creation, Wagner – acknowledged by Bruckner as ‘the Master’ – presents the Grail legend and its imagery. The psychological drama and its ultimate solution provide insights to anyone who is prepared to reflect on inner experience. Through Beckh’s references to Wagner’s own letters, as well as a remarkable letter from Nietzsche, the reader gains knowledge of the true nature of Wagner and his work.Table of ContentsPart 1: THE ESSENCE OF TONALITY – Author’s Prefaces – Translator’s Preface – Postscript – Part 2: THE PARSIFAL=CHRIST=EXPERIENCE – Translator’s Preface – Introduction: ‘Richard Wagner and Christianity’ – Chapter I: The Christ-Mystery in the Prelude to Parsifal – Chapter II: The Drama of the Christ-Experience in Parsifal – Scene 1. The Swan – Scene 2. The Walk to the Grail Castle – Scene 3. Amfortas and the Grail – Scene 4. The Gesture towards the Heart—Parsifal shakes his Head – Scene 5. Parsifal in Klingsor’s Realm: Awakening to Knowledge – Scene 6. Kundry-Herodias: ‘There His gaze fell upon me.’ – Scene 7. The Redeeming Gaze of Christ: Karfreitagszauber – Appendix I: From Scene 2, The growth of the Gaze Motif in the transition music of Act I (The Walk to the Grail Castle) – Appendix II: From Scene 6, Kundry-Herodias: ‘I looked at Him—and laughed …’ – Appendix III: Twilight of the Gods and Resurrection: Wagner’s Mythological Wisdom by Emil Bock – Appendix IV: King Ludwig II of Bavaria on the 70th anniversary of his death by Rudolf Frieling

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Book SynopsisHow awake are we to our inner being, our true nature? How much self-knowledge do we really have? In relation to our intrinsic self, we can easily feel like a novice. In truth, we face a long journey before we can fully understand ourselves - and we are equally unpractised in relating to our 'shadow' and inner wounds. The path described in this book is an inward one, concerned with strengthening our individuality. Based on life-long research, Karsten Massei has created a valuable workbook for knowing and healing ourselves. In a series of short chapters, he explains the interplay and tensions between the human individual and the nature of our 'inner and cosmic child'. Both are complex entities but are directly related; both are deeply connected with our destiny. Our experiences with our inner child are often still in the earliest stages - but cultivating a relationship with her, noticing her, holding conversations with her, is vital, and offers us ever deepening experiences. As our insights expand, our frailties, deficiencies and inner wounds become apparent. The being of the inner child wants to educate us to become inwardly truthful and authentic. Only honest engagement with the traumas and vulnerabilities of our soul will enable a true picture of ourselves to arise. Child of the Cosmos contains surprising perspectives arising from the author's personal experiences, opening up a clear path of personal development. The text is complemented with seven special meditations to assist us in engaging with the challenges ahead.Table of ContentsIntroduction - I THE LIFE OF THE INNER CHILD - 1 Transformations - 2 Inward paths - 3 Voyage into the soul - 4 The inner child - 5 The world of the gods and the self - 6 The death-pangs of a time that's past - 7 The mysteries of the other - 8 Individual gifts and the community - 9 Communities and clairvoyance - II THE WOUNDED AND THE COSMIC CHILD - 1 Responsibility toward the earth - 2 Individuality and the inner child - 3 The wounds of the soul - 4 Gestures of reconciliation - 5 The secret of darkness - 6 The wisdom of the body - 7 Conversations with our inner child - 8 The nature of the cosmic child - 9 Knowledge of human nature and the inner child - III SEVEN MEDITATIONS - Bibliography

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Book Synopsis‘How can our souls unite with the etheric Christ, experienced in the etheric world since the end of the last century? What steps should we take, in the second century of the age of Michael, to unite with Him?’ At the centre of humanity’s evolution stands the Mystery of Golgotha, through which the Christ impulse entered the earth. Anthroposophy, said Rudolf Steiner, was given at the beginning of the last century to prepare for the second major Christ event – the etheric Second Coming – beginning in 1933. This Event is the portal that leads to the mighty and transformative happenings taking place in the etheric world right now, enabling us to meet the etheric Christ, Michael and Anthroposophia. At the heart of this book is an existential question. Early in his anthroposophical work, Ben-Aharon came to realize that without the light of spiritual science, the meeting with the etheric Christ remained simply a personal experience. Likewise, without the new life forces streaming from the etheric Christ, anthroposophy was merely a body of knowledge, frozen in time. Both needed each other. But how was that mutually-enlivening bridge to be built? Speaking candidly of his personal spiritual path and inner struggles of consciousness, Ben-Aharon tackles this fundamental dilemma as a prelude to the forthcoming, second edition of his book The New Experience of the Supersensible. Contents include: The Ur-Phenomena of the Modern Christ Experience, Paul’s Christ Experience and the Birth of Christian Platonism; The Michaelic Yoga; The Platonic-Aristotelian Essence Exchange at the End of the Twentieth Century; The Meeting with the Etheric Christ; The Abyss and the Event of the Threshold; The Knowledge Drama of the Second Coming; The Meeting with Michael; The Meeting with Anthroposophia.Table of ContentsPreface – Introduction – Chapter 1, The Ur-Phenomena of the Modern Christ Experience, Paul’s Christ Experience and the Birth of Christian Platonism – Chapter 2, The Michaelic Yoga – Chapter 3, The Platonic-Aristotelian Essence Exchange at the End of the Twentieth Century – Chapter 4, The Meeting with the Etheric Christ – Chapter 5, The Abyss and the Event of the Threshold – Chapter 6, The Knowledge Drama of the Second Coming – Chapter 7, The Meeting with Michael – Chapter 8, The Meeting with Anthroposophia

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Book SynopsisEdith 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 SteinerTable of ContentsForeword – I. ‘Doing what it is my destiny to do’, Edith Maryon’s Path to Rudolf Steiner (1912-1914) – II. ‘What she does, I have done’, Work on the ‘Christ Group’ and the First World War (1914-1918) – III ‘With the essential being / of another soul’, Inner Accompaniment and Continuing Work (1919-1922) – IV. ‘The Story of Job’, The Fire, Illness and Death (1923-1924) – Notes and References – Bibliography

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Book Synopsis‘These Letters … aim to make John’s Gospel accessible to people today as their own gospel, both as a whole and in the details; to illuminate it with the spiritual knowledge of the age and to make it fruitful for life, not only for meditation but also for practical ordering of destiny.’ – Friedrich Rittelmeyer. --- A revitalized Johannine Christianity stands at the heart of the work of Christian renewal that was led by Rudolf Steiner in the early twentieth century. Friedrich Rittelmeyer, a Lutheran minister and theologian who helped found The Christian Community in 1922, was a leading figure within this new Johannine movement. Rittelmeyer described John’s Gospel as encapsulating ‘…an indescribable glory of revelation of love. This glory has such purity, delicacy and spiritual power that in it one has the material with which a marvellous new world may be built.’ --- Without doubt his most powerful work, Rittelmeyer’s Letters on John’s Gospel first appeared in a series of publications by the Stuttgart seminary of The Christian Community between 1930 and 1932. Whilst these Letters were originally written with students and local congregations in mind, they provide manifold insights for anyone seeking to glimpse the majesty of John’s Gospel. Margaret Mitchell’s translation from 1937 has never before been published in book form. Revised here and expanded by editors Alan Stott and Neil Franklin, this volume features additional contributions by Rudolf Frieling and Emil Bock.Table of ContentsEditor’s Preface by Alan Stott – Introduction: Friedrich Rittelmeyer and John’s Gospel by Rudolf Frieling – The ‘I-AM’ as the Midpoint of Human History – Christianity as a Mystery Religion – The Nascent World – John’s Gospel, Chapter One (Revised Standard Version) – LETTERS ON JOHN’S GOSPEL – Letter No. 1, The Mystery of the ‘I’ – Letter No. 2, The Mystery of the ‘I’ (2) – Letter No. 3, Son of God and Son of Man (1) – Letter No. 4, Son of Man and Son of God (2) – Letter No. 5, Son of God and Son of Man (3) – Letter No. 6, The Book of Joy – Letter No. 7, ‘I am the Light of the World’ – Letter No. 8, ‘I am the Life’ – Letter No. 9, ‘I am Love’ – Letter No. 10, A World-Historical Conversation – Letter No. 11, The Springtime of the Disciples – Letter No. 12, The Great Intercession: the High-Priestly Prayer (I) – Letter No. 13, The Great Intercession, the High-Priestly Prayer (II) – Letter No. 14, The Great Intercession, the High-Priestly Prayer (III) – Consecration of the Disciples [John 21] – John’s Gospel, Chapter 1 (Revised Standard Version) – Appendix: The Word from Inner Listening – Twenty Years after the Death of Friedrich Rittelmeyer by Emil Bock – Further Reading – Notes

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Book SynopsisIn a private conversation on his deathbed, Rudolf Steiner informed his friend Count Polzer-Hoditz of three spiritual problems that would need to be resolved in the coming years: 'Firstly, the question of the two Johns [John the Baptist and John the Evangelist]. Secondly: Who was Dmitri? Thirdly: Where did Caspar Hauser come from?' Tackling these issues, said Steiner, would be of critical importance for humanity's future. He added: 'In all three problems it is important that one's gaze is directed not towards death but towards birth. Where did they come from and with what tasks?' In Dmitri's case, Steiner emphasized that the most important thing was to discover what was to have been achieved through him. --- Utilizing the significant clues left by Rudolf Steiner, Sergei O. Prokofieff takes on the second of these tasks, the great unsolved mystery of Russian history. Tsarevich Dmitri, the son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, was tragically murdered as a young boy. Later, he was impersonated by a series of rogues and pretenders. Prokofieff's wide-ranging study integrates historical, psychological and spiritual-scientific perspectives to work towards the truth behind Dmitri's brief life, his mission and the distortions created by the 'false Dmitris'. He also examines the significance of Friedrich Schiller's unfinished play, Demetrius.Table of ContentsIntroduction - Chapter 1: Rudolf Steiner on the Problem of Dmitri - Chapter 2: The Riddle of Dmitri from a Historical Point of View - Chapter 3: The Riddle of Dmitri from a Psychological Point of View - Chapter 4: The Riddle of Dmitri from a Spiritual-Scientific Point of View - Chapter 5: Friedrich Schiller's Demetrius and the Spiritual-Historical Reality lying at its Foundation: the Struggle against the Spirit - Conclusion: The Problem of Dmitri and the Present - Appendix: Eduard Winter: Russia and the Papacy, Extract from the chapter entitled 'Papal Diplomacy during the Time of Troubles in Russia' - Afterword to the Second German Edition - Notes - Bibliography - List of Historical Literature and Abbreviations used in the text and Notes - Commentary about the List of Historical Literature

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Book SynopsisEarth and humanity are involved in a fragile interplay of physical and spiritual relationships, the full spectrum of which can only be discerned by higher, finer senses. Based on actual, living discernment rather than dogmatic ideas, Karsten Massei reveals how we can unite with nature, supporting our inner development and everyday lives. We ourselves comprise the path leading to the mysteries of the earth. Through delving into nature’s secrets, paradoxically we are brought back to our own being – our soul-gold, our luminosity, but also to our shadow, lower nature. Deep encounters with the earth are thus self-encounters. --- In a series of concise and accessible chapters, Massei illumines human characteristics – our senses, the quality of our listening, our soul wounds and the possibility for transformation. Likewise, he lights up the natural world – plants and animals, but also elemental beings, spirits of trees, and the great being of the earth, Christ. Amongst a wealth of interrelated themes, the author portrays death as the doorway to a new existence, describing the relationship of the dead with the earth and humanity and speaking movingly of the healing social deed of forgiveness. Founded on first-hand research, this book is full of reverence for the hidden aspects of life and their significance for personal growth.Table of Contents1. The names – 2. The senses – 3. Listening – 4. Elemental beings – 5. Diverse elemental beings – 6. Messages from the elemental world – 7. The lofty life of the trees – 8. The spirits of the trees – 9. Plants, and trees, and the human soul – 10. Ways to know plants – 11. The nature of certain plants and trees – 12. Animal and human being – 13. Encounters with animals – 14. Christ and the animals – 15. The transformation of the soul, and the animals – 16. The path to birth – 17. Paths into Life – 18. Death as a doorway into new existence – 19. Death as the source of life – 20. The relationship of the dead with the earth and human beings – 21. Soul wounds – 22. Christ in the living earth – 23. The power of forgiveness – Afterword – Notes

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Book SynopsisAt the threshold that divides the elemental and etheric worlds, Are Thoresen encounters two spiritual entities – Vidar and Balder, ‘guardians of the threshold’ – whose task is to protect the spiritual border from uninitiated intruders. Building on previous reports, Encounters with Vidar offers startling new esoteric teachings, gleaned – through processes of spiritual knowledge – from these enigmatic gods. Here, Vidar and Balder emphasize the importance of clairaudience as opposed to clairvoyance (the latter particularly being open to attack from adversary beings). Through the process of working with the communications, the author begins to experience a transformation of his head chakras, leading to an awakening of ‘spiritual ears’. Whilst clairvoyance is like reading the holy script, clairaudience is akin to hearing the holy script, he learns. --- Amongst the wealth of fresh insights revealed here are the ‘fourth aspect of the soul’ (or ‘time-karma-Christ’); the task of eurythmy today; the whereabouts of the contents of the School of Spiritual Science; and the work of ‘Vulcan beings’ and other planetary entities. Thoresen offers reflections on his travels to western England (with its connections to Troy) and southern Spain (with its legacy of Moorish occupation). His intention is not to create new dogmas or beliefs, but to testify to the living reality of metaphysical dimensions of reality – and humanity’s latent ability to access them.Table of ContentsForeword – Vidar’s Initial Teachings – Vidar’s Latest Teachings – From Clairvoyance to Clairaudience – Methods of Supersensible Observation – Meeting the Vulcan, Venus and Jupiter Beings

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Book SynopsisThis volume explores the insight modern Theosophy can offer into the spiritual and social dimensions of art, artistic practice and creativity. It is part of a series of writings, collected under the banner ‘Modern Theosophy’ re-presenting important texts drawn from the history of the Theosophical movement and further complemented by texts from contemporary authors and innovative thinkers. Martin Firrell is a contemporary theosophist and a public artist using language in public space to engage directly with the public. His work promotes constructive dialogues about marginalisation, equality and more equitable social organisation, with the aim of making the world more humane. Aleksandra Loginovna Pogosskaia, A. L. Pogosky, or Madame Pogosky was a Russian emigre, an activist and business woman promoting Russian art in the West. She became a member of the Theosophical Society in 1909 drawn to the Society’s object of forming a ‘universal brotherhood of humanity’. She applied this idea to communal work in the arts. The Theosophical Society was founded in 1875 to explore the interconnectedness of all life, the universal wisdoms held in ancient religions and myths, and the potential  latent in human beings.

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Book Synopsis`I can perceive spiritual beings in my surroundings... I can communicate with higher spirit beings of either an elemental or non-elemental kind, when they are willing. I can perceive the human aura, as well as certain areas of the astral plane... I can see the aura of plants and animals. I can speak with the guardian beings of plants and animals, inasmuch as they're interested...' - Verena Stae l von Holstein; Verena has learned to see and speak to elemental and nature beings. What's more, she is able to translate their language into human terminology and thought. In this remarkable book, seventeen nature spirits are interviewed through her, almost as if these beings were sitting in front of us. Through the conversations we learn what spirits of fire, air, water and stone have to say - as well as hearing from beings of glass, silver, salt, paper, and even spirits of our dwellings and homes! They speak about their work with nature and their regrettable lack of contact with human beings. They describe the secrets of the cosmos, and tell of humankind's past and future. The nature beings have surprising views on the environment, on natural disasters, good and evil, love and redemption. The interviews throw up beautiful, but sometimes disturbing insights into our world. Nature Spirits and What They Say offers an enchanting view of the world of elemental beings - but it also calls on us to recognize the seriousness of the situations they describe. As Verena explains, humans owe a huge amount to nature spirits, and we need to discover new ways of approaching them with full consciousness. This valuable book gives us the means to do just that.Table of ContentsForeword by Wolfgang Weirauch - Preliminary remarks by Verena Stae l von Holstein - Living with spirit beings by Verena Stae l von Holstein interviewed by Wolfgang Weirauch - Nature Spirits interviewed by Wolfgang Weirauch through the mediation of Verena Stae l von Holstein - 1. Miller, the House Spirit - 2. Echevit, the Watery One - 3. Kapuvu, the Stone One - 4. Valliniyu, the Airy One - 5. Eknaton, the Fiery One - 6. The Four Groups of Elemental Beings Through the Year - 7. The High One - 8. The Paper Being - 9. Evil - 10. The Four Groups of Elemental Beings Through the Year - 10. The Cycle of the Year and the Christian Festivals - 11. Kollii, the One From the Marsh - 12. Moonlight, the Silver One - 13. Little Glass Man - 14. Kahine, the Salt Child - 15. Harmonious Elemental Beings - 16. The Relationship Between Humans and Nature Spirits - 17. Madeleine, Lady of the Pines - 18. Oakbeena - 19. Quadrom - 20. Knut, the Sandy One - 21. Moonlight, the Silver One - 22. The Paper Being - 23. Kahine, the Salt Child - 24. The Brown One - 25. Gnunno, the Green One - 26. Kapuvu, the Stone One - 27. Eknaton, the Fiery One - 28. Valliniyu, the Airy One - 29. Echevit, the Watery One - 30. The Catastrophic Flooding - 31. The High One - 32. Miscellaneous - 33. The Brown One - 34. Gnunno, the Green One - 35. Echevit, the Watery One - 36. The High One - 37. Kapuvu, the Stone One - My Abilities in Spiritual Perception Verena Stae l Von Holstein - Learning to Open Yourself to Nature - Friedrich Pfannenschmidt interviewed by Wolfgang Weirauch - Thematic Index

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Book Synopsis`People often ask us about the best way to come close to nature and the beings enchanted within it. One way to do so is through wonder and astonishment, to open our senses fully to nature's beauty and wisdom. And here we can encounter entities that most closely resemble human beings - the trees.' Verena has learned to communicate with elemental and nature beings, and to translate their language into terms we can understand. In her remarkable book Nature Spirits and What They Say, she conversed with a range of beings, including spirits of fire, air, water and stone. In this new volume, we hear from trees, the nature spirits that in many ways are most similar to human beings. Through Verena's remarkable clairvoyant abilities, conversations with different tree species - such as sweet cherry, rowan, elm and common oak - are relayed. These communications reveal compelling insights into the role of trees within the natural world and their relationships with the vegetable, animal, human and spirit kingdoms. Particular emphasis is placed on the characteristics of trees that correspond with qualities of the human soul, such as the oak's connection to individualism. The tree spirits want to speak, and are responsive all kinds of questions, such as their roles in the landscape, their specific shapes, on problems that affect them in particular, and on urgent issues that are relevant to all beings on earth, such as climate change. The interviews disclose beautiful, fascinating and often challenging insights, offering inspiration to help us build more constructive relationships to these wonderful entities.Table of ContentsAbout the Authors - Foreword Participating Beings - Theabrox, the Great Timber - The tree in material terms - Human being and tree - Tree spirits, tenders and other elemental beings - Contacting tree beings - The Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) - The Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium) - The Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) - The Black Elder (Sambucus nigra) - The Rowan Tree (Sorbus aucuparia) - The Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) - The Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) - The Field Maple (Acer campestre) - The Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) - The Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa) - The Grey Alder (Alnus incana) - The Common Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastum) - The Sweet or Edible Chestnut (Castanea sativa) - The Poplar (Populus) - The Aspen (Populus tremula) - The Grey Poplar (Populus canescens) - Crown, the tree tender - The London Plane (Platanus acerifolia) - The Large-leaved Lime or Linden (Tilia platphyllos) - The Caucasian Lime (Tilla x euchlora) - The Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) - The European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) - The Pendula or Weeping Beech (Fagus sylvatica forma pendula) - The Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica forma purpurea) - The Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) - The Elm (Ulmus) - The Black Locust or False Acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) - The Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) - The Silver or Weeping Birch (Betula pendula) - The White Willow (Salix alba) - The English or Common Oak (Quercus robur) - The Red Oak (Quercus rubra) - The Pomegranate (Punica granatum) - The Soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi) - The Frankincense (Boswellia sacra) - The Palo Santo or Vera Wood (Bulnesia arborea) - The Olive (Olea europaea)

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Book SynopsisBased on direct communications with his eight spirit guides, Dr Bob Woodward confirms that we have all lived in spirit worlds before our birth – and that we will enter these same realms again after our material deaths. In a very real sense, these higher spirit worlds are actually our true home, he says, rather than our present physical existence, which is only a temporary abode. In consultation with his spirit guides – including a Tibetan Lama, a Jewish Rabbi, a Native American and his personal guardian angel – Bob Woodward gives a detailed survey of our lives in spirit worlds before birth and after death, our relationships there with friends, family and even pets, and our connections with both good and evil spiritual beings. He also gives a commentary on a range of subjects such as reincarnation and climate change. In a final extensive and moving interview, Woodward finds and speaks with the soul of his deceased father, who offers enlightening glimpses of life after death. Whilst the author’s knowledge is grounded in decades of study of the work of Rudolf Steiner – with which he compares the results of his own extrasensory perceptions – Knowledge of Spirit Worlds is not intended as a dry philosophical study. Rather, it has a warm, experiential quality – based as it is on personal interaction with spirit entities – and emphasizes the love that connects all worlds and beings together.Trade Review‘Everyone with a curiosity for spiritual knowledge should read this excellent book’ – Peter John, psychic artistTable of ContentsDedication – Acknowledgements – Foreword by Peter John – 1. Introduction – 2. Analogy – 3. Insights – 4. Spirit Guides – 5. After Death – 6. Spirit Worlds – 7. Where We Live – 8. Family, Friends & Pets – 9. What We Do There – Addendum: Climate Changes? – 10. How Long – 11. Reincarnation – 12. Before Birth – Appendix: Conversations with my Father in the Afterlife – Afterword – Bibliography – About the Author

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Book SynopsisHow can we best achieve our personal goals - not just to benefit ourselves but also our loved ones and wider communities? Mastering Life introduces comprehensive and effective methods to transform the self, enhanced by the meditative use of magical symbols and sacred words. These help us identify our aspirations, combining goal contemplation, visualization and meditation techniques. Through these processes, we can gain control over spiritual forces that work within our destiny, attracting favourable outer circumstances in everyday life. Dr Gruenewald offers a set of practical tools: * A spiritual symbol and mantra for meditation that can enhance our capacity to manifest harmonic goals. * Contemplation - courageous conversation with our resourceful self - to enrich imagination and willpower. * Resilience-building techniques, active listening, mindful nature observation and transformation of negative emotions. * Harmonization of our goals with the developmental needs of others, in freedom and love. * Contemplative work with the initiatory Temple Legend narrative (featured in the book). In this accessible handbook, the author shows how we can call upon the assistance of spiritual beings and masters who serve the development of humanity - including Christian Rosenkreuz, whose pupils have long used magical symbols and verses for meditative and ritualistic work.Table of ContentsForeword by Angus Jenkinson - Preface - Introduction - 1. Sun, Tau Cross and 'I am the Alpha and the Omega' - 2. Mastery of Life Meditation - 3. Difficulties that can arise during Contemplation and Meditation - 4. Self-Exploration and Self-Transformation - 5. Creative Goal Exploration - 6. Harmonic Goal Manifestation: Empowering of the Will - 7. Transforming Negative Emotions - 8. Active Listening - 9. Mindful Nature Meditation - 10. Developing Third Eye, Etheric Heart and Etheric Forebone - 11. An Initiatory Story: The Temple Legend - 12. The Molten Sea and Communities Based on Love - Further Reading

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive study of Rudolf Steiner's social 'threefold' thinking.

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Book SynopsisA reexamination of prehistory and human development, relating particularly to the role of the Neanderthals.

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Book SynopsisThis newly-edited collection of 72 essays provides a unique overview of Hermann Beckh's notable - and largely overlooked - writing career. Whether in the realm of theology, philosophy, the arts, astrology or esoterica, the articles gathered here, mostly previously unpublished in English, are rare signposts to a Christian initiation grounded in the Rosicrucian tradition and the path of St John's Gospel. Presented in chronological sequence over a 16 year period - from 1922 to 1938 - and supplemented with biographical notes and introductory material by Neil Franklin and Alan Stott, this volume provides firm ground for a fuller appreciation of Beckh's prolific output. --- Hermann Beckh, Ph.D., one of Europe's few authorities on Tibetan texts, became a founding member of The Christian Community and an inspiring teacher in the Stuttgart Seminary. Collected Articles is a powerful culmination to his Collected Works in English translation. This body of work is a major source of contemporary spiritual research, providing a vital accompaniment to the better-known contributions by Friedrich Rittelmeyer, Emil Bock and Rudolf Frieling, all of whom - not without some reverential awe - expressed their admiration for their esteemed colleague, 'the Professor'.

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Book Synopsis‘If you wish to learn, you may learn. I go now and will come again. And yet I am always with you.’ --- This was the conclusion to a surprising message that psychologist Iris Paxino received from a bright, angelic entity who appeared to her unannounced, radiating a comforting, warmth-filled light. The angel’s words left her awestruck and deeply moved. --- Paxino had long had the gift of knowing angels, but it was immediately apparent to her that this special encounter marked a new beginning. She was in no doubt that she did indeed want to learn, and thus began a lively, intense dialogue that offered an abundance of insights into the work of angels. She discovered that, in addition to our guardian angel, each of us has a circle of twelve angels who accompany us throughout life and beyond death; that we have ‘double’ and ‘shadow’ angels, and that families, communities and social groups have their own angels, as do specific landscapes. In a series of intimate and enlightening conversations, Paxino relates knowledge about these and many other types of spiritual beings. --- ‘Angels suffer in sympathy with the earth and stand by us in the dark times of human existence. Despite everything they do not condemn, but love us with such devotion that we can scarcely comprehend it.’Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION – ANGELS, WHO ARE YOU? – The Appearance of Angels – The Nature of Angels – The Aspect of Freedom – The Feelings of Angels – The Language of the Angels – THE PERSONAL ANGELS OF EACH HUMAN BEING – The Guardian Angel – Weakened Guardian Angels – The Leading Angel – Other Personal Angels – The Circle of Angels – The Shaping of Destiny and the Higher I – THE SHADOW ANGELS – The Luciferic Double – The Ahrimanic Double – Working with Personal Doubles – Shadows Between Us and the Light – ANGELIC WORKINGS IN THE FABRIC OF SOCIETY – Family Angels and Community Angels – Angels in Our Life – On the Social Organism – The Workings of Archangels in the Social Realm – ANGELS BETWEEN DEATH AND REBIRTH – Life After Death – The Cosmic Midnight – The Zodiac Constellations – The Planetary Spheres – The Sun Sphere as Sphere of Transformation – From the Sun Sphere to the Moon Sphere – Birth on Earth – THE TASK OF HUMANITY AND THE HIERARCHY OF ANGELS – METHODOLOGY – Creating the Right Foundations – Inner Stillness – The Heart as Organ of Perception – Meeting Beings – The After-Echoes of Meditation – CLOSING WORDS – References – Bibliography

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Book Synopsis‘The primary task of this book is to build a bridge to a deeper understanding of Schiller himself who, along with Goethe and Novalis, was one of the great spiritual forerunners and trailblazers of anthroposophy.’ – Sergei O. Prokofieff --- Planned as the second volume in a trilogy on Novalis, Schiller and Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and the Future of Freedom is much more than a conventional biography. Prokofieff shines new light on Schiller’s character and destiny, helping to establish his position as a crucial antecedent to Rudolf Steiner in the spiritual history of humanity. He also defines Schiller’s task in the context of the achievements of Goethe and Novalis at the end of the eighteenth century, an extraordinary period that saw a seminal transformation in the philosophical and artistic landscape. --- Following the recent publication of The Riddle of Dmitri – which explores Schiller’s unfinished drama Demetrius – Prokofieff returns here to the theme in the framework of Schiller’s life and extensive body of work. In timely fashion, he conveys Schiller’s mediating role between Central and Eastern Europe, indicating how he came ‘near to the soul of the Russian people through an idealism imbued with his entirely self-created moral power and his fiery enthusiasm for everything in the world that is true, beautiful and good’.Table of ContentsPreface – I. Schiller’s Spiritual Task between Goethe and Novalis – II. Friedrich Schiller and the Future of Freedom – 1. The Ideal of Freedom and Its Spiritual Origin – 2. The Battle for Human Freedom – 3. Schiller’s Premature Death and its Spiritual–Historical Consequences – III. Friedrich Schiller’s Demetrius Fragment as a Drama of the Human I – Addendum to Part III: On the Figure of Mikhail Romanov – In Place of an Epilogue: ‘Goethe’s Science according to Schiller’s Method’ – Appendix – 1. Examples for the Relationship between the Aesthetic Letters and The Philosophy of Freedom – 2. Schiller on the ‘Fall of Man’ and Freedom – 3. Evidence of Schiller’s Spiritual Character in his Own Work – Novalis on Friedrich Schiller – Rudolf Steiner: Excerpt from the Lecture of 18 December 1920 – Rudolf Steiner: ‘Friedrich Schiller’ – References and Notes – Bibliography of Works by Rudolf Steiner

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Book SynopsisWho is the Christ? What is the ‘Sun-spirit’? How should we understand the person of Jesus in relation to the Cosmic Christ, or even to the Holy Trinity? --- In a majestic overview of Rudolf Steiner’s extensive references to Christ and Jesus, originally dispersed throughout his many writings and lectures, Oskar Kürten creates a mutually reconcilable and coherent text. We are invited to accompany the author as he attempts to comprehend the unimaginably vast enigma of Christ’s appearance on Earth. The results of his work can sometimes be overwhelming, but as Kürten points out: ‘humanity is always advancing in its intellectual and spiritual culture, and each step poses higher demands on our capacity to understand’. --- In a volume comprising three previously-untranslated booklets, composed originally as study material for people conversant with the fundamentals of anthroposophy, Mystery of the Christ gives numerous pointers to great mysteries, inviting readers to penetrate ever more deeply into the inexhaustible subject-matter. As Kürten states, this approach enables us ‘again and again to find surprisingly new insights into the mysterious interconnections in which Christ’s entry into earth-existence and the Mystery of Golgotha are placed’.Table of ContentsForeword by Paul King – Part One: CHRIST THE SUN SPIRIT IN THE WORK OF RUDOLF STEINER – Introduction – 1. The Enigma of Christ’s Appearance on Earth – 2. The Logos and Christ – 3. The Christ Archangel – 4. Christ the High Sun-Spirit – Christ as Cosmic-being – Christ and the Spirits of Wisdom – Christ and the Upper Gods – Christ as the Mystical Lamb – Christ among the Twelve Apostles – Christ as the Thirteenth among the Bodhisattvas – Christ as God of the Future – 5. Christ in Jesus – 6. Other Bearers of the Christ-Impulse – 7. Jesus of Nazareth – 8. Conclusion – Part Two: THE SUN GOD, THE LOGOS AND THE TRINITY – Preface – 1. Introduction – 2. The Father-God Creation and the Son-God Creation – 3. The Trinity and its Representatives in the Lower Worlds – 4. The Primal Trinity and the Trinity of our World – 5. Christ and the Holy Spirit – 6. Conclusion – Part Three: JESUS OF NAZARETH—A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE MYSTERY OF JESUS – Preface – 1. Introduction – 2. The Jesus-soul as the Representative of the Primordial Soul of Humanity – 3. The Preliminary Stages of the Mystery of Golgotha – 4. The Rescue of the Human I through the Mystery of Golgotha – 5. The Jesus-soul in Krishna – 6. The Jesus-soul in the Mysteries – 7. The Union of Buddha-forces with Jesus of Nazareth – 8. The Earthly Life of Jesus of Nazareth – a. The Life of Jesus after the Union with the Zarathustra-I – b. The Life of Jesus after the Union with the Christ-I – 9. The Resurrection – 10. Christ Jesus – 11. Dates Relating to the Life of Jesus – 12. Conclusion – Addendum to Part Three: THE SON OF MAN AND THE COSMIC CHRIST – 1. The young man who fled at the arrest of Christ Jesus – 2. Jesus of Nazareth as Son of Man – 3. Christ as Son of Man – 4. ‘Son of Man’ as a Mystery Expression – 5. The young man who fled as Cosmic Christ – Notes and References

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Book SynopsisPresenting vivid pictures of Gautama Buddha’s life, teaching, suffering, death and subsequent nirvāṇa, the Mahāparinibbānasutta is one of the principal Buddhist texts. In Hermann Beckh’s words, it describes ‘…one of the greatest human beings that ever lived, who stood at the threshold of the super-human – a teacher and leader of humanity.’ --- Prof. Beckh’s translation of this important sutta achieved a quality and faithfulness that was based on decades of extensive study and meditation. From his academic and spiritual knowledge, Beckh added insightful editorial material, including an introduction, commentary and notes. The English rendering here, by Indologist and long-standing Buddhist practitioner Dr Katrin Binder, is based on both the original Pālī and Beckh’s German translation. An afterword by Thomas Meyer, informed by Rudolf Steiner’s research, traces the development of Buddha’s individuality in the afterlife. --- Departure of the Perfected One brings to a conclusion the publication of Beckh’s great triad of works on the subject of Buddha, including Buddha’s Life and Teaching and From Buddha to Christ. Through a contemporary reading, these books open up vast new perspectives on the world of sacred Buddhist scriptures to anyone interested in spiritual development.Table of ContentsPreface by Neil Franklin – Translator’s Note by Katrin Binder – Introduction by Hermann Beckh – THE SACRED NARRATIVE OF THE GREAT NĪRVĀṆA – Afterword by Thomas Meyer – Postscript: Transference of Merit and Self Surrender – Editor’s Notes by Hermann Beckh

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Book SynopsisWhat are the origins of the war in Ukraine? Contrary to popular opinion, the conflict is ultimately not between Russia and Ukraine but between Russia and the West. Neither did it begin with Russia’s invasion in 2022, nor the Maidan revolution in 2014. --- Providing a wealth of documented evidence, Terry Boardman shows that the roots of the hostility date back to the geopolitics of the nineteenth century, when Britain and Russia engaged in the so-called Great Game of controlling the ‘heartland’ of central Eurasia. With colonial supremacy at stake, the British ruling elite stoked hatred of the ‘Russian bear’. --- In addition to conventional political motivations, the author identifies a little-known, esoteric dimension. Within the leadership of the Anglo-American West are initiated groups who understand that world guidance is destined eventually to move to the Slavic East. With the aim of maintaining control, the West has been seeking, pre-emptively, to suppress Russia’s influence. --- Surveying the ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ wars of the twentieth century, the collapse of the USSR and the continual enlargement of NATO, Boardman reveals the hidden strategies employed in realizing the above goal, which has culminated in militarization, exploitation and mass death in Eastern Europe. --- Can we become aware of the subliminal, oppressive methods of our ruling elites? If we are to become free, we need at least to understand them. With political, historical and spiritual perspectives, this short book is a worthy primer.Table of ContentsPreface – 1. 2022—War in Ukraine – 2. The Antagonism between Russia and the West—Part 1 – 3. The Antagonism Between Russia and the West—Part 2: The Nineteenth Century ‘Great Game’ – 4. The Antagonism Between Russia and the West—Part 3: The Intended Demolition and ‘Remaking’ of Russia – Notes

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Book SynopsisAn introduction to anthroposophical care connected to child and youth psychiatry and people with developmental disabilities.

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Book SynopsisPietro Archiati takes up the challenge to illuminate and expand upon our understanding of love, this most fundamental and unique quality of human existence.

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