The Anthroposophical Soul Calendar And The Incarnation Cycle Of Man

This book takes a completely new look at the Anthroposophical Soul Calendar. It is abaout the deeper meaning of the fifty-two weekly verses, which has remained essentially unexplored in the last hundred years since the first edition by Rudolf Steiner. A dense veil of Isis was spread over them, of which is well known that no mortal person can lift it. Only the immortal, psycho-spiritual human being, who knows himself at home in the extrasensory, higher worlds, is capable of doing this. Only to him the weekly verses reveal themselves as a travel guide through these worlds and lift him up to ever higher spiritual-cosmic realms until he reaches the experience of God, from where he gradually descends again into a new life on Earth, enriched in spirit and fertilized in his soul. If the reader embarks on this journey, the spiritual archetype of the Soul Calendar is ultimately unveiled to him and he achieves an extended understanding of Man and Christ. By many quotations from Rudolf Steiner's lectures and books, the author virtually lets Steiners himself elucidate the breathtaking depths of his mysterious weekly verses.

Rudolf Steiner's beautiful meditative verses for the yearly cycle have been used by countless people over the years. Their purpose is to awaken a feeling of unity with nature, and at the same time to stimulate a discovery of self. In listening to the changing language of the year and awakening a profound sympathy for it, we can in turn discover our own individual nature. Steiner's original and unique meditations facilitate this process, leading to a healthy feeling of being at one with the natural world. This edition features Anne Stockton's 52 celebrated and evocative paintings, which are a wonderful complement to Steiner's text. Steiner's words are newly translated for this edition by John Thomson.

Between death and a new birth on earth, the human being lives through a long cosmic existence in the higher worlds. This is mirrored in the earthly life. Rudolf Steiner described its division into seven-year periods and the connection with the pre-birth existence in the planetary spheres. Apart from this, there is another division including higher spheres of the fixed stars. Rudolf Steiner only gave us a hint. In line whith this and based on his own experiences on the path of spirit discipleship, the author of this book gives examples how these different stages of life between death and rebirth can express themselves in the course of earthly life. He also explains in which of the seven-year periods the conditions for learning something about one's own previous incarnation are particularly favourable. In addition, he describes the connection of the later seven-year periods of earthly life with the Life Spirit (Budhi), as well as the preparation of mankind for receiving it by a development which Rudolf Steiner called the gradual "getting-younger" of mankind, and which started at the times of the primeval Semites in ancient Atlantis. For everyone who follows or aspires to the path of spiritual discipleship or is interested in biography work, a highly recommended book.

Written in 1912, the Soul's Calendar has 52 meditative verses, designed to stimulate awareness of the spiritual influences active during the seasonal cycle, of either hemisphere, and the significance of this for human beings. A page of commentary on each verse is included, which clarifies its meaning in relation to the seasonal cycle.

A book that offers a whole new range of view points on astrology, astronomy and the cultural history of mankind. The author first describes the origin of the zodiacal images according to Rudolf Steiner's statements. Then he discusses why these images do not correspond either with the signs of the zodiac in traditional astrology or with the physically visible constellations of the stars, and what role the astronomy of the ancient Greeks plays in this. Another topic is the varying duration of the ages and what questions this raises for modern astronomy. Finally, using the example of European cultural development over the last thousand years, it is shown that each age is divided into twelve smaller cultural periods, which in their characteristics correspond exactly to the series of the forces of the zodiac.

"I came forth from the mouth of the Most High and covered the earth like a mist. I encamped in the heights, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. Alone I compassed the vault of heaven and traversed the depths of the abyss. Over waves of the sea, over all the earth, and over every people and nation I have held sway.... Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me, and for all ages I shall not cease to be." (Eccl. 24:3-6, 9) Sophia (the world soul) fell from her place in the heavens to the chaos below. Sophia is among the most haunting and mysterious figures in Western spirituality. She is also one of the great symbols of the divine feminine in world civilization. The personification of divine Wisdom, Sophia is praised in the biblical book of Proverbs as co-creator of the universe with God. In the secret teachings of early Christianity known as Gnosticism, she represents our shared consciousness, trapped in the material world as a result of the Fall. One of the most sublime Gnostic texts is the Pistis Sophia or "Faith Wisdom," a great allegory in which the resurrected Christ explains how he freed the divine Sophia from her imprisonment by the forces of spiritual wickedness. Christ goes on to show his disciples how they will share in this cosmic act of redemption. In this profound yet accessible work, Egyptologist Violet MacDermot gives us a fresh translation of the Pistis Sophia from the Coptic and discusses it in its historical setting. She also shows us how Sophia's story of is our story. It is a tale of our separation and isolation as a result of ego-consciousness, but it is one in which we, too, can share spiritual liberation. Her engaging discussion relates this work not only to ancient teachings but to the thought of C.G. Jung, Emanuel Swedenborg, and the Kabalah.