PREFACE
As
an introduction to these fourteen lectures, we quote the following
extract from Dr. Guenther Wachsmuth's book,
The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner
(pp. 517: 520–521, Spiritual Science
Library, Blauvelt NY):
“In
Dornach he then gave the second of the three cycles of lectures
preparing for the Christmas Conference. The first, between October 5
and 12, had set forth the work of the four Archangels in the course
of the year. The second, between October 19 and November 11, dealt
with the theme
Man as Symphony of the Cosmic Word;
the third, between November 23 and December 23, bore the title
Mystery Formations.
These three cycles led spiritual-scientific knowledge
systematically from an insight into the work of the spiritual Guiding
Powers, the Hierarchical Beings, to man as the earthly being who is
to receive the creative action of the Cosmic Word and bring it to
realization on earth; and they gave the foundation for the new
impulse to be initiated during this year, a survey of the nature of
the Mysteries in the history of humanity, the work of which is now to
be observed in the further stages of evolution and continued in a
manner in keeping with the times.
“The
time from the end of November until Christmas was devoted to the
preparations for the coming decisive events. Rudolf Steiner did this
through the third of the lecture cycles mentioned above dealing with
Mystery Formations.
By way of introduction, he explained the
path that a human being must follow in his soul life in order to
penetrate to an insight into the spiritual foundations of the world.
He set forth that the spiritual in the course of evolution has worked
each time upon the soul element of man, and molded the physiological
element, even into the metamorphosing of the activity of thinking, of
the forces of memory, of hereditary impulses, but also into the
individual imprint in gesture, physiognomy, and structure of body. He
gave also a detailed description of the early stages in the evolution
of the earth and the relations of the human being to the Beings,
substances, and forces of the earth planet. And he now developed in
the lectures of December 2–23 a magnificent picture of the
history of the ancient Mysteries out of which we can still read how
in early epochs this knowledge was achieved, protected, nurtured in
the Mystery places of the earth, and developed in the Mysteries of
the North and the South as the most sacred treasure of humanity,
unfolded from stage to stage.
“This
description of a previously almost completely unknown chapter of
spiritual history and the history of the Mysteries is so
comprehensive, and so important in its details, lays open such an
abundance of knowledge about the methods and stages of the spiritual
guidance of humanity through the centuries that we can only allude
here to the most important main divisions: “The Ephesus
Mysteries of Artemis. The Mystery places of Hybernia. The Great
Mysteries of Hybernia. The Chthonic and the Eleusinian Mysteries. The
transition from Plato to Aristotle. The mystery of the nature of the
plant, the metal, and the human being. The mysteries of the Cabire of
Samothrace. The transition from the spirit of the ancient Mysteries
to those of the Middle Ages. The soul striving of the human being
during the Middle Ages. The Rosicrucian Mysteries.
“It
is now the task of the modern Mystery place, of the
spiritual-scientific Movement and its school, the Goetheanum in
Dornach, to bring about again in human consciousness the lost
knowledge of the spiritual guidance of man and of humanity out of the
spiritual history of the past. The revelation given during these
weeks out of the history of the mysteries was for that reason the
right foundation for the decisions to be carried out at Christmas of
this year. Those who heard the lectures of November and December 1923
experienced the fact, and will still remember it, that at this
decisive point the future history of humanity was inscribed in the
consciousness and forces of the earth and the consciousness of those
human beings who had a will for its reception.”
This
book was originally published in October 1942 in London, England by
the Rudolf Steiner Publishing Company.
We
have decided to reprint it in its original book format for several
reasons. Historically, it should be helpful to all those readers and
collectors of rare book editions. Some of these books or lectures are
either out of print, or copies are very difficult to find, and so
these reprints will be most useful in making as much of Dr. Steiner's
Spiritual Science Research available at all times and to a wider
audience. To help spread the knowledge contained in these books to
the general public, through as many different editions, sources and
outlets as possible is one of the primary objectives of the
Foundation and its Institute, and that is why we are supporting this
effort.
We
are most thankful to those early pioneers, who produced these
editions which have been so valuable to many of us in America when
first we contacted Dr. Steiner's Spiritual Science. And it is with
sincere appreciation of their courage and effort that we present
these volumes to a wider audience in keeping with their original
objective.
September 1985
Steiner Institute for Spiritual Research (a project of
the Foundation for Advancement of Arts and Letters, in memory of
Rudolf Steiner)
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