Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation

The following lectures were given by Rudolf Steiner to an audience familiar with the general background and terminology of his anthroposophical teaching. It should be remembered that in his autobiography, The Course of my Life, he emphasises the distinction between his written works on the one hand and, on the other, reports of lectures which were given as oral communications and were not originally intended for print. For an intelligent appreciation of the lectures it should be borne in mind that certain premises were taken for granted when the words were spoken. “These premises,” Rudolf Steiner writes, “include, at the very least, the anthroposophical knowledge of Man and of the Cosmos in its spiritual essence; also what may be called ‘anthroposophical history,’ told as an outcome of research into the spiritual world.”

The six lectures contained in the present volume followed eight given by Rudolf Steiner at the Christmas Foundation Meeting of the General Anthroposophical Society (24th to 31st December 1923) and subsequently published in English under the title: World History in the light of Anthroposophy. That Course had been preceded by fourteen lectures on the ancient Mysteries, published in English with the title: Mystery Centres.

A brief list of literature relevant to the themes of the following lectures will be found at the end of the volume, together with a summarised plan of the Complete Centenary Edition of Rudolf Steiner's works in the original German.