Mystery Knowledge And Mystery Centres

Rudolf Steiner gives a penetrating description - from his spiritual research into the evolution and history of the human being, earth and cosmos - of the experiences people gained through the ancient mysteries. With an Introduction by Dr A. Welburn

Modern scholarship knows little of the mystery schools of antiquity, offering only hypothetical explanations and external details. In these expansive lectures based on his personal spiritual insights, Rudolf Steiner offers a vivid description of the esoteric experiences gained by people in the ancient mystery schools, from the mysteries of Artemis in Ephesus, of Hibernia, Eleusis and Samothrace, to the Middle Ages. He also discusses the conditions under which initiation can be achieved today. Following preliminary lectures on the nature and function of the soul, Steiner presents a panoramic view of human and earthly evolution, including the roles of plants and animals. He also discusses the various metals, their curative properties and their connections with the planets.

'Steiner has been able to clarify the historical reality behind the Rosicrucian story, with all its aura of glamour and fantasy. That effected, he points to the enormity of its vision for the future evolution of ideas...' – Dr Andrew Welburn (from the Introduction)In the immediate aftermath of the 'Mystery-act' of the Christmas Foundation Conference, Rudolf Steiner chose to speak on the subject of 'Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation, Mystery Centres of the Middle Ages'. Clearly connected to the events that had just taken place in Dornach – in which he not only refounded the Anthroposophical Society but took a formal position within it – Steiner begins by exploring the intellectual life of the Middle Ages and the role that Mystery culture played within it. He throws new light on the foundations of Rosicrucianism, its principles of initiation and its inherent impulse for freedom. Steiner also discusses the secret teachings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the dawn of the age of the Archangel Michael.In the second series of lectures, entitled 'The Easter Festival and the History of the Mysteries' (April 1924), Steiner describes how festivals grew out of the Mysteries themselves. He speaks of Mysteries connected to Spring and Autumn, Adonis and Ephesus, and the significance of Sun and Moon. Throughout the volume he discusses the roles of Alexander the Great and Aristotle in world history and the significance of Aristotle's 'Categories'. Published for the first time as a single volume, the freshly revised text is complemented with an extensive introduction by Dr Andrew Welburn, detailed notes and appendices by Professor Frederick Amrine and an index.

These lectures, given just after the Christmas Foundation Meeting, describe the changes in the inner life and consciousness of Western people since the 9th century. Formerly there was an awareness of the spiritual within all realms of nature, but this disappeared and was replaced by the modern consciousness of the sense world alone.