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The rising interest in goddess spirituality expresses our current need to understand the feminine side of God, the Sophia (or Divine Wisdom), and her relationship to the masculine aspects of God. Offering a new perspective, the author draws on his own research and on the teaching of Russian philosopher Pavel Florensky, according to whom Sophia has a relationship to the masculine Trinity as an independent spiritual being. Robert Powell discusses Sophia as a Trinity-as Mother, Daughter, and Holy Soul- and as the feminine aspect of Divine Godhead. He connects our reawakening to the feminine aspect of God with many of the changes now taking place in the world. Also included is an introduction to the Divine Feminine by Daniel Andreev, author of The Rose of the World.

This book introduces a practical approach to freer and more joyful singing. Drawing its strength and inspiration from Gracia Ricardo's work with Rudolf Steiner, it presents anyone who wishes to sing, as well as professional singers, with a spiritual alternative to the mechanical and physical methods of voice training usually available today. The Ricardo method is based on the word. The first chapter deals with the onset of the tone, its focus, the separation of word and tone, and listening for the word. The relation between vowels, consonants, words, and phrases is also dealt with. The second chapter goes on to consider the voice, how to build and extend its range. The third chapter develops the idea of blending the vocal registers, placement, embellishments, resonance, and diction. Professional tips follow: on choosing a program, stage fright, mood, and presence. Esoteric aspects of music and singing are then dealt with in a special section. "It is important that we sing. It is especially important for our children to sing. Singing frees the soul, makes it flexible, and helps it soar and expand. Singing lets the sun in-gives warmth to our lives and wings to our spirit. Those who sing know this. To sing at all requires a certain degree of freedom. Learning to sing in the way described here means finding ever greater degrees of freedom in ourselves. When we sing with this freedom, we find ourselves anew. When we sing with others, we find one another. Singing music that lifts our souls in freedom, we open ourselves to worlds that fructify the spirit in us. We make our souls flexible and receptive to spiritual worlds-open to what the spiritual worlds can tell us." - Dina Soresi Winter

A study of the meaning of Goethe's Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily and the Mystery Dramas of Rudolf Steiner and their ramifications for today.

Usually, motivating ourselves to geth through the demands of daily life is difficult enough; finding the will to excel is even harder. Our occupations can become routine and boring, leading us to to ask: What is the purpose of my work? Is it merely to satisfy the demands of survival, which in turn simply allows me to keep working? Or is it a matter of more disposable income and consumerism? In the end, it can all seem rather pointless. In these remarkable talks, Rudolf Steiner takes us behind the scenes of the routine activities of vocation where we are shown how the combined vocational activity of all humanity affects the higher suprasensory realms. This activity mobilizes forces that lead to future worlds, which is the "karma of vocation." It prepares new worlds in which we will participate. By understanding this deeper aspect of our daily work, we can bring new meaning to the most insignificant activities. In fact, we begin to understand that no human work is insignificant; it all contributes to grand cosmic processes. Such understanding helps us to bring new enthusiasm to our work and lives.

The prevailing attitude in modern medicine is that illness should not exist. Consequently, millions of research dollars pour each year into medical science and technology in the hope of eradicating various sicknesses and diseases. Patients and doctors alike suffer the terrible consequences of this impossible quest for material perfection. Yet, there is an alternate view-that human beings and human evolution are great enough to include "illness" as an essential part of existence. In the first part of Blessed by Illness, the author traces the history of our changing concept of healing, from the so-called temple sleep of ancient Egypt-when spiritual science tells us that human beings still had a living connection with the spiritual hierarchies-through the herbal lore of ancient Greece and the healings of Christ, to the rise of modern medicine, based primarily on treating symptoms. The practice of modern medicine focuses merely on removing discernable symptoms and ailments. The author, however, asserts that this does not really heal at all. Rather, true healing considers the whole human being. And, to do this, doctors must learn the language of our natural, healing life forces, which affect not only the body, but also nature and the greater cosmos. From this perspective, illness is actually a gift, a blessing that urges both patient and doctor to work together with our illnesses for the sake of something infinitely greater-true healing. Blessed by Illness is a powerful introduction to "alternative" methods of healing.

"Translated by Frederick Amrine and Konrad Oberhuber from shorthand reports unrevised by the lecturer, from the 4th edition (1969) of the German text published under the title Grenzen der Naturerkenntnis (Vol. 322 in the Bibliographic survey)"--Copyright page.

Initiation enables a person to see, understand, and communicate what may be observed with spiritual eyes. St. John's text arises from such an initiation. It addresses the fundamental questions of existence that every human being asks: Where are we? Where have we come from? Where are we going? And because it arises from esoteric Christian vision, it emphasizes the task of the individual: What am I, and what is my purpose now in this era of cosmic and human evolution? These talks by Rudolf Steiner unveil the mysteries of John's vision and show it to be a profound description of Christian initiation. As he says, "The deepest truths of Christianity may be considered quite naturally in connection with this document, for it contains a great part of the mysteries of Christianity-that is, the profoundest part of what may be described as esoteric Christianity." Steiner shows that the messages to the seven Churches and the unsealing of the seven seals must be understood as an initiation text. On the basis of his own initiation and spiritual science, Steiner interprets John's insights into cosmic and human history. In this way, the spiritual images of John's writing-the twenty-four elders, the sea of glass, the woman clothed with the sun, the vials of wrath, the lamb and the dragon, the new heaven and the new earth, and the number of the beast -all take on new meaning. Since the previous painful century has closed, these important words have even greater meaning and significance; readers interested in contributing their moral will to future generations cannot afford to pass them by.

We must develop an art of education that will lead us out of our present social chaos. By bringing spirituality into human souls through education, humanity can find a way, through the spirit itself, to further the evolution of civilization.These lectures offer deep insight into the mystery of soul and spiritual forces in a child's development. They describe the metamorphoses of the child's being as these forces unfold, and explain how teaching should relate to these fundamental changes. Such an education prepares the child to become a citizen of both the earth and the spiritual world. Only through recognizing our spiritual citizenship can we become truly social beings on earth and fully creative in the building of new worlds.From the Foundations of Waldorf Education series.

Formerly entitled The Study of Man this lecture course, newly translated for this series, contains some of the most remarkable and significant lectures ever given by Rudolf Steiner.With this seminar for teachers, given just before the opening of the first Waldorf school in September 1919, Rudolf Steiner miraculously succeeds in bringing together, clarifying, and synthesizing the insights of a lifetime's study into the reality of human nature. Unfortunately, however, because these lectures were given to teachers, they have suffered under the misconception that they are meant only for teachers. Of course, a functional understanding of their contents is necessary for any teacher desiring to teach in a way that encompasses the needs and essence of the whole child, but this understanding is also necessary for parents, counselors, and indeed anyone seeking to practice the injunction of the Delphic oracle, "Know thyself!"In addition, because in these lectures Steiner gives his most concise and detailed account of the nature of the human being, they are absolutely central to anyone seeking to understand anthroposophy and the anthroposophical view of the world. Anyone, therefore, who is willing to work through these lectures will discover in them a new, powerful, convincing and profoundly phenomenological "anthropology" or human psychology -- a view of the spiritual-physical foundations of the human being and human experience.On the other hand, for anyone wishing to study Waldorf education, this is the primary text. These are the lectures in which, for the first time, and with the full excitement of the new venture, Rudolf Steiner set forth the principles upon which the art of teaching could be renewed.

Meditation instructions, meditations, exercises, verses for living a spiritual year, prayers for the dead, and other practices for both beginning and experienced practitioners--Start Now! has become the classic, indispensable text and reference for all those who are serious about the practice of Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science.Start Now! is an inspiring guide to the practical aspects of Anthroposophy. It offers the most extensive collection available of Steiner's spiritual instructions and practices, including meditation instructions; mantric verses; daily, weekly, and monthly practices for developing one's soul qualities; karmic exercises and meditations for working with the dead, with the angelic hierarchies, and with our guardian angels.Start Now! might be the most unique and comprehensive spiritual guidebook available, and it will become a lifelong friend and help along the way. No one who is serious about spiritual practice--beginners or seasoned students--should be without this book!

5 lectures, Stuttgart, April 8-11, 1924 (CW 308)These talks were given during an educational conference in 1924. They are the last public lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in Germany. According to one member of his audience, "Seventeen hundred people listened to him; the prolonged applause from this great crowd at the end of every lecture was deeply moving, while at the end of the last lecture the applause became an ovation that seemed as if it would never end." This kind of adoration was the result not only of who Steiner was as an individual but of what he accomplished as well. People had already begun to realize the potential and the promise for the future that Waldorf education held out to the children of the world.The Essentials of Education, together with its companion book, The Roots of Education, present a remarkable synthesis of what Waldorf education is and what it can become. The Waldorf "experiment" had matured for five years since 1919, when Steiner helped to establish the first Waldorf school. He had guided that school from its beginning, observing very closely all that happened. As a result, he was able to distill and present the essentials of Waldorf education with elegance as well as with the urgency he felt for the coming times.German source: Die Methodik des Lehrens und die Lebensbedingungen des Erziehens (GA 308).

Selected lectures and writings on the return of this solar being to the direction of earthly evolution.

In these talks Steiner describes in fascinating details the unconscious wisdom of the beehive, and how this relates to our human experience of health, civilization, and the cosmos.The elemental imagery and its relationship to human society so inspired the influential avante garde artist Joseph Beuys that he used it in his groundbreaking sculptures, drawings, installations, and performance art pieces.

As early as 1884, while tutoring a boy with special needs, Steiner began a lifelong interest in applying spiritual knowledge to the practical aspects of life. Steiner originally published the essay at the core of this book in 1907. It represents his earliest ideas on education, in which he lays out the soul spiritual processes of human development, describing the need to understand how the being of a child develops through successive "births," beginning with the physical body's entry into earthly life, and culminating in the emergence of the I-being with adulthood.

"Occult events that took place between the Christ and the community of his disciples form a significant part not only of the four Gospels but also of the Christ Mystery or Golgotha Mystery itself. Today, many human souls are still moved by this apostolic community, by how the disciples accompanied Christ Jesus, by their place in history (as an esoteric circle charged with an exoteric task), by their failures, and by the great new dawn that showed them the way after Pentecost...For three years, they were close to Christ, shared his life, and received a great deal of instruction from him, often in their own intimate circle away from public view. They were there when Christ performed healings and even when he prayed.... "Rudolf Steiner once said that we in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries must live with the 'etheric Christ' in the Earth's aura in the same way that 'the disciples once lived with Christ Jesus on the physical plane.' If this is so, it is essential for us to focus on the community of Christ's disciples. Rudolf Steiner himself made major contributions to illuminating the depths of the disciples' relationship and life with the Christ, both during the three years of his earthly life and after the Resurrection. An essential element of Steiner's life work was to apply 'anthroposophically oriented cognition' to events of the beginning of the Christian era in order to 'bring the Gospels' deeper content to the light of day.' He spoke in detail about the Christ's community of disciples in many lecture cycles, and, in his lectures on the Fifth Gospel, he shed light on this community from the perspective of the processes of human consciousness that were intimately involved in events at the beginning of the new era and inscribed in the chronicle of evolution.... "In his lectures on the Fifth Gospel and elsewhere, Rudolf Steiner opened up many perspectives that help us understand what took place between Christ and his disciples. This book's purpose is to make those perspectives available and accessible. Although all of Steiner's statements have been published, they are widely scattered among his lectures and remain unknown to many individuals deeply committed to the community of Christ's disciples and to anthroposophical Christology. In view of the challenges to consciousness we face in modern times-including those that deal with Christianity and the Christ Event itself-it seems urgently important to present details of the positive and often illuminating results of Rudolf Steiner's research." As is true of other works by Peter Selg, Christ and the Disciples is one of those books that sharpens the reader's mind to cut through the myriad of representation (and misrepresentations) of Rudolf Steiner's teachings, clarifying many otherwise-knotty issues.

". . . though it is often thought that spiritual paths like Anthroposophy bear no connection to practical life, this is a profound misconception. Practical life is indubitably the beginning of the way--as, in a certain sense, it is also the end. After all, the work of evolution is practical work--in and on the world. Besides this, as these lectures demonstrate, working out of a spiritual perspective can enhance our ability to deal creatively with the varied situations destiny brings us in life, while at the same time opening us to the presence of spiritual realities on our daily life." -- Christopher Bamford (from the introduction)Four of Rudolf Steiner's best-loved lectures are collected in this book. They are four of the most accessible presentations of the anthroposophic approach to life available in English. "Practical Training in Thought" (Karlsruhe, Jan. 18, 1909) concerns the fundamental human activity of thinking. Everything we do, we do through thinking. The first task, then, is to realize the reality of thinking. To help us do this, Steiner provides exercises that can allow us to experience the cognitive--even clairvoyant--power of thinking."Overcoming Nervousness" (Munich, Jan. 11, 1912) shows us how exercises in thinking also give us the calm, centered sense we need to lead a purposeful, healthy life."Facing Karma" (Vienna, Feb. 8, 1912) takes us to the heart of life, where we experience desire and aversion, suffering and happiness. The law of karma that determines life's experiences and encounters also helps us develop the self-knowledge required for self-transformation."The Four Temperaments" (Berlin, Mar. 4, 1909) show us how the union of hereditary factors and our own inner spiritual nature shape our psychology. The guide here is the ancient classifications of the four temperaments: sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic. Renewed understanding of these qualities allows us to develop a truly modern spiritual psychology, which forms the basis of all real inner development.With its many practical exercises, mantras, and meditations, this book is a fundamental introduction and guide for anyone beginning or in need of encouragement on one's path of inner development.

Written in 1894 (CW 4)"The realms of life are many. For each, specific sciences develop. But life itself is a unity, and the more the sciences busily immerse themselves in separate realms, the farther they move away from seeing the living wholeness of the world. There must be a kind of knowing that seeks, in the separate sciences, the elements that lead human beings back to full life again. A scientific specialist wants to become aware of the world and how it works through his or her insights. In this book, the goal is philosophical: science itself is to become organically alive. The separate sciences are preludes to the science attempted here." -- Rudolf Steiner (preface to the 1st edition)Of all of his works, Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path (Die Philosophie der Freiheit) is the one that Steiner himself believed would have the longest life and the greatest spiritual and cultural consequences. It was written as a phenomenological account of the "results of observing the human soul according to the methods of natural science.This seminal work asserts that free spiritual activity--understood as the human ability to think and act independently of physical nature--is the suitable path for human beings today to gain true knowledge of themselves and of the universe. This is not merely a philosophical volume, but rather a warm, heart-oriented guide to the practice and experience of living thinking.Readers will not find abstract philosophy here, but a step-by-step account of how a person may come to experience living, intuitive thinking--"the conscious experience of a purely spiritual content."During the past hundred years since it was written, many have tried to discover this "new thinking" that could help us understand the various spiritual, ecological, social, political, and philosophical issues facing us. But only Rudolf Steiner laid out a path that leads from ordinary thinking to the level of pure spiritual activity--intuitive thinking--in which we become co-creators and co-redeemers of the world."When, with the help of Steiner's book, we recognize that thinking is an essentially spiritual activity, we discover that it can school us. In that sense--Steiner's sense--thinking is a spiritual path." -- Gertrude Reif HughesThis volume is arguably the most essential of Steiner's works. The thoughts in this book establish the foundation for all of Anthroposophy.Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path is a translation from German of Die Philosophie der Freiheit (GA 4).

2 written works, 1912 & 1913 (CW 16/17)Part one, "A Way of Self-Knowledge" Eight meditations that take the reader on a journey through human experience. Beginning with ordinary experience, Steiner offers ways to imagine and understand the physical body, the elemental (or etheric) body, the elemental world, the Guardian of the Threshold, the astral body, the "I"-body (or thought body), the nature of experience in suprasensory worlds, and ways of perceiving previous earthly lives. Part two, "The Threshold of the Spiritual World" Sixteen short chapters in which Steiner provides aphoristic thoughts on trusting one's thinking, cognition of the spiritual world, karma and reincarnation, the astral body and luciferic beings, how to recognize suprasensory consciousness, the true nature of love, and more. These two complete books together represent Steiner's most personal statements about his own spiritual path. He speaks directly from experiences of cognitive research and explorations. Each of the meditations and aphorisms arises from his spiritual research and demonstrates how such spiritual research is to be undertaken. The "content" is Steiner's own, but readers can discover their own "content." Steiner's method of awareness--his path of attention to one's own experience--is universal and truly human. A Way of Self-Knowledge is a true sequel and complement to the classic of inner development, How to Know Higher Worlds. It lays out in a way that is accessible to anyone the road to self-knowledge and to the world of spirit. A Way of Self-Knowledge: And the Threshold of the Spiritual Worldis a translation of «Ein Weg zur Selbsterkenntnis des Menschen: In acht Meditationen» (GA 16) and «Die Schwelle dre geistigen Welt: Aphoristische Ausführungen» (GA 17).

12 lectures, Berne, September 1-12, 1910 (CW 123)"If we read [Steiner's] lectures with an open and attentive inner eye, we may be able to see the Christ mystery, not as a collection of dogmas or facts, but as a spiritual impulse that stretches far beyond the limits of Christ's own time and even of the lifespan of Christianity itself. We may even catch a glimpse of the high powers that govern the life of civilizations and of the great entity known as the human race." -- Richard Smoley (from the introduction)For centuries people have been baffled by the varying accounts of Christ's life as presented in the four Gospels and have struggled to reconcile them. In these profound and stimulating lectures, Steiner addresses this conundrum. He shows how each of the Gospels presents a different lens onto Christ's life and message.Here Steiner reveals the Gospel of Matthew as the one that emphasizes Christ's humanity. But he does not stop there; his visionary perspective traces Christ's life and message to spiritual impulses that go back centuries, even millennia, to the legendary civilization of Atlantis, to the mysterious Zarathustra, and to the Jewish sect known as the Essenes.An introduction by Richard Smoley, author of Inner Christianity, puts Steiner's vision into perspective for modern readers. Once you have experienced Steiner's powerful exploration of Matthew, you will never see the Gospels in the same way again.According to Matthew is a translation from German of Das Matthaeus-evangelium. A previous translation was titled The Gospel of St. Matthew (GA 123).