The Temple Legend I
GA 93
30 September 1904, Berlin
3. The Mysteries of the Druids and the ‘Drottes’
All of our medieval stories—Parsifal, the Round Table, Hartmann von Aue—reveal mystical truths in esoteric form, even though they are usually only understood in their outward aspect. Where do we search for their origin? We must look to a time before the spread of Christianity. Into Christianity was blended what had lived in Ireland, Scotland ... [Gap in the notes.] We are led to a particular centre whence this spiritual life was disseminated. The spiritual life [of Europe] emanated from a mother lodge in Scandinavia, ‘Drottes’ Lodge. Druids = Oak. For this reason the Germanic peoples were said to receive their instructions beneath oak trees.
‘Drottes’, or Druids, were ancient Germanic initiates. They still existed in England till Elizabethan times. All that we read in the Edda or can find in the ancient German sagas refers back to the temples of the ‘Drottes’ or Druids. The author of these tales was always an initiate. The sagas not only have a symbolical or allegorical meaning, but something else as well.
Example: We know the saga of Baldur. We know that he is the hope of the gods, that he is killed by the god Loki with a branch of mistletoe. The God of Light is killed. This whole story has a deep mystery content which all who underwent initiation not only had to learn, but had to experience.
The Mysteries. Initiation: the first deed was called the search for the body of Baldur. It was supposed that Baldur was always alive. The search consisted of a complete enlightenment about the nature of man. For Baldur was the human being who has gone astray. Once upon a time the human being was not as he is today, he was undifferentiated, not bowed down by passionate experiences, but composed of finer ephemeral substance. Baldur, the radiant human being. When truly understood, all things which appear to us in the form of symbols must be understood in a higher sense. This human being who has not descended into what today we call matter, is Baldur. He lives in each one of us. The Druid priest had to search for the higher self within him. He had to become clear about where this differentiation took place, between the higher and the lower ... [Gap]
The secret of all initiation is to give birth to the higher human being within oneself. What the priest accomplishes more quickly, the rest of mankind must undergo in long stages of development. To become leaders of the rest of mankind, the Druids had to receive this initiation.
Man who had descended deeper now had to overcome matter and regain his former higher level. This birth of the higher human being takes place in all the Mysteries in a similar sort of way. The man who had become submerged in matter had to be reawakened. One had to make a series of experiences—real experiences—which were unlike any sense experiences one can have on the physical plane.
The stages. The first step was that one was led before the ‘Throne of Necessity’. One stood in front of the abyss: really experienced through one's own body what lived in the lower kingdoms of nature. Man is both mineral and plant, but the man of today is unable to experience what is undergone by the elementary substances and yet the enduring, the constraining things in the world are due to the fact that we are also mineral and plant in our nature.
The next step led the human being to all that lived in the animal kingdom. Everything which existed in the form of passions and desires was beheld in swirling and interweaving movement- All this had to be observed by the candidate for initiation so that his eyes would be opened to what lay behind the veil of the senses. Man is not aware that what swirls around in astral space is hidden behind the physical sheath. The veil of maya is really a sheath which must be penetrated by him who is to be initiated—the sheaths drop away, the human being sees clearly. That is a very special moment: the priest becomes aware that the sheaths had dammed back the impulses which would have been frightful if they had been let loose.
The third step led to a vision of the elemental nature forces. That is a step which man finds difficult to comprehend without previous preparation. That powerful occult forces are residing in these nature forces and through them express elemental passions, is something which makes man aware that there are powers quite outside the scope of anything he can experience as his own suffering.
The next trial is called the ‘Handing over of the Serpent’ by the hierophant. One can only explain it by means of the effects which it brings about. It is elucidated in the Tantalus saga. The privilege of being allowed to sit in the Council of the Gods can be abused. It signifies a reality which certainly raises man above himself, but dangers accompany it which are not exaggerated in the story of the Tantalus curse. As a rule man says he is powerless in face of the laws of nature. These are thoughts. With that kind of thinking, which is only a shadowy brain-thinking, nothing can be achieved. In creative thinking, which builds and constructs things of the world, which is productive and fruitful, the passive kind of thinking is replaced by a thinking permeated by spiritual force. The blown skin of a caterpillar is the empty sheath of the caterpillar; when filled with [productive] thinking it is the living caterpillar. Into the sheath-thoughts, living active power is poured so that the priest is enabled, not only to see the world in vision, but to work in it through magic. The danger is that this power can be abused. He can ... [Gap]
At this stage the occultist acquires a certain power, whereby he is enabled to deceive even the higher beings. He must not only repeat truths but experience them and decide whether a thing is true or false. That is what is called ‘The Handing over of the Serpent by the Hierophant’. [it denotes the same thing on a spiritual level that the rudimentary stages in the formation of the spinal cord signify on the physical level. In the animal kingdom we pass through the fishes, amphibians and so on till we reach the brain of the vertebrates and man. See notes.] We have a spiritual backbone, too, which determines whether we are to develop a spiritual brain. Man goes through this process at this stage of his development. He is lifted out of Kama (feelings, passions, desires) and endowed with a spiritual backbone so that he can be raised up into the spiraling of the spiritual brain. On a spiritual level, the windings of the labyrinth are the same as the convolutions of the brain on the physical level. Man gains access to the labyrinth, to the windings within the spiritual realm.
Then he had to take the oath of silence. A naked sword was presented to him and he was obliged to swear the most binding oath. This was that he would henceforth keep silence about his experiences where it concerned people who had not been initiated as he had. It is quite impossible to reveal the true content of these secrets without preparation. He, [the initiate] however, could create these sagas so that they became the expression of the eternal. One who could give utterance to things in this way of course had great power over his fellow men. The creator of a saga of this kind imprinted something into the human spirit. What is thus spoken is then forgotten and only the merest vestige of it survives death. Eternal truths remain longest after death. Of less elevated scientific thought hardly anything remains. The eternal does so and appears again in a new incarnation.
The Druid priest spoke out of the higher plane. His words, though simple, being the expression of higher truths, sank into the souls of his hearers. He spoke to simple folk but the truth sank into their souls and something was incorporated into them which would be reborn in a new incarnation. At that time men experienced the truth through fairy stories; thus today our spirit bodies have been prepared and if we are able to grasp higher truths today it is because we have been prepared.
Thus this time, which came to an end in 60 A.D., had prepared the spiritual life of Europe, had provided the soil on which Christianity could build. These teachings have been preserved and whoever searches will be able to find access to what was taught in these Lodges.
After he [the Druid] had given his oath on the sword he had to drink a certain draught—and this he did from a human skull. The meaning of this was that he had transcended what was human. That was the feeling which the Druid priest had to develop concerning his lower bodily nature. He had to look upon all that lived within his body with the same objective, cool attitude as he felt towards a containing vessel. Then he was initiated into the higher secrets and shown the path to higher worlds. Baldur ... [Gap] He was led into an immense palace which was roofed by flashing shields. He encountered a man who cast forth seven flowers. Cosmic Space, Cherubim, Demi-urge [Maker of the World]. Thus he became truly a Priest of the Sun.
Many people read the Edda and are unaware that it is an account of what really took place in the ancient ‘Drottes’ mysteries. An immense power lay at the disposal of the ancient ‘Drottes’ priests, a power over life and death. It is true that everything becomes corrupt in time. It was once the highest, the holiest of things. At the time when Christianity was spreading, much had degenerated and there were many black magicians, so that Christianity came as a redemption.
The study of these old truths alone is able to give an almost complete survey of the whole of occultism.
Unlike our present practice, not one stone was laid upon another in the building of a Druid temple without the use of exact astronomical measurement. Doorways were built according to astronomical measurement. The Druid priests were the builders of humanity. A faint reflection of this is preserved today in the views which the Freemasons hold.
Learning to penetrate astral substance, viewing the sun at midnight: First initiation.
Handing over of the Serpent by the Hierophant: Second Initiation.
The journey into the Labyrinth: Third Initiation.
Note on Lecture III
The only source for this lecture was the short notes of Marie Steiner von Sivers. Sentences enclosed in square brackets are the amendments of the editor, where the text seemed insufficiently clear.
Further source material has been appended below, gleaned from the writings of Charles William Heckethorn on the subject of the Druids and the Scandinavian Mysteries. A copy of Heckethorn's book in German translation was in Rudolf Steiner's private library, and from marginal notes in Rudolf Steiner's handwriting it appears to have been used by him in connection with this lecture and other lectures included in this volume. (Charles William Heckethorn Geheime Gesellschaften, Geheimbünde und Geheimlehren, Leipzig, 1900. Original English edition: The Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries, London,1875.)
From Charles William Heckethorn
The Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries
Chapter VIII. The Druids.
The Druids, the Magi of the West.
The secret doctrines of the Druids were much the same as those of the Gymnosophists and Brahmins of India, the Magi of Persia, the priests of Egypt, and of all other priests of antiquity. Like them they had two sets of religious doctrines, exoteric and esoteric. Their rites were practised in Britain and Gaul, though they were brought to a much greater perfection in the former country, where the Isle of Anglesey was considered their chief seat. The word Druid is generally supposed to be derived from “an oak,” which tree was particularly sacred among them, though its etymology may also be found in the Gaelic word Druidh, “a wise man” or “magician.”
Temples.
Their temples, wherein the sacred fire was preserved, were generally situate on eminences and in dense groves of oaks, and assumed various forms—circular, because a circle was an emblem of the universe; oval, in allusion to the mundane egg, from which, according to the traditions of many nations, the universe, or according to others, our first parents, issued; serpentine, because a serpent was the symbol of Hu, the Druidic Osiris; cruciform, because a cross is an emblem of regeneration; or winged, to represent the motion of the divine spirit. Their only canopy was the sky, and they were constructed of unhewn stones, their numbers having reference to astronomical calculations. In the centre was placed a stone of larger dimensions than the others, and worshipped as the representative of the Deity. The three principal temples of this description in Britain were undoubtedly those of Stonehenge and Avebury in the south, and that of Shap in Cumbria. Where stone was scarce, rude banks of earth were substituted, and the temple was formed of a high vallum and ditch. The most Herculean labours were performed in their construction; Stukeley says that it would cost, at the present time, £20,000 to throw up such a mound as Silbury Hill.
Places of Initiation.
The adytum or ark of the mysteries was called a cromlech, and was used as the sacred pastos, or place of regeneration. It consisted of three upright stones, as supporters of a broad, flat stone laid across them on the top, so as to form a small cell. Kit Cotey's House, in Kent, was such a pastos. Considerable space, however, was necessary for the machinery of initiation in its largest and most comprehensive scale. Therefore, the Coer Sidi, where the mysteries of Druidism were performed, consisted of a range of buildings, adjoining the temple, containing apartments of all sizes, cells, vaults, baths, and long and artfully contrived passages, with all the apparatus of terror used on these occasions. Most frequently these places were subterranean; and many of the caverns in this country were the scenes of Druidical initiation. The stupendous grotto at Castleton, in Derbyshire [Peak Cavern], called by Stukeley the Stygian Cave, as well as the “Giants Caves” between Luckington and Badminton [in Wilts.], certainly were used for this purpose.
Rites.
The system of Druidism embraced every religious and philosophical pursuit then known in these islands. The rites bore an undoubted reference to astronomical facts. Their chief deities are reducible to two,—a male and a female, the great father and mother, Hu and Ceridwen, distinguished by the same characteristics as belonged to Osiris and Isis, Bacchus and Ceres, or any other supreme god and goddess representing the two principles of all being. The grand periods of initiation were quarterly, and determined by the course of the sun, and his arrival at the equinoctial and solstitial points. But the time of annual celebration was May-eve, when fires were kindled on all the cairns and cromlechs throughout the island, which burned all night to introduce the sports of May-day, whence all the national sports formerly or still practised date their origin. Round these fires choral dances were performed in honour of the sun, who, at this season was figuratively said to rise from his tomb. The festival was licentious, and continued till the luminary had attained his meridian height, when priests and attendants retired to the woods, where the most disgraceful orgies were perpetrated. But the solemn initiations were performed at midnight, and contained three degrees, the first or lowest being the Eubates, the second the Bards, and the third the Druids. The candidate was first placed in the pastos bed, or coffin, where his symbolical death represented the death of Hu, or the sun; and his restoration in the third degree symbolized the resurrection of the sun. He had to undergo trials and tests of courage similar to those practised in the mysteries of other countries, and which therefore need not be detailed here.
The festival of the 25th of December was celebrated with great fires lighted on the tops of the hills, to announce the birth-day of the god Sol. This was the moment when, after the supposed winter solstice, he began to increase, and gradually to ascend. This festival indeed was kept not by the Druids only, but throughout the ancient world, from India to Ultima Thule. The fires, of course, were typical of the power and ardour of the sun, whilst the evergreens used on the occasion foreshadowed the results of the sun's renewed action on vegetation. The festival of the summer solstice was kept on the 24th of June. Both days are still kept as festivals in the Christian church, the former as Christmas, the latter as St. John's Day; because the early Christians judiciously adopted not only the festival days of the pagans, but also, so far as this could be done with propriety, their mode of keeping them; substituting, however, a theological meaning for astronomical allusions. The use of evergreens in churches at Christmas time is the Christian perpetuation of an ancient Druidic custom.
Doctrines.
The Druids taught the doctrine of one supreme being, a future state of rewards and punishments, the immortality of the soul and a metempsychosis. It was a maxim with them that water was the first principle of all things, and existed before the creation in unsullied purity, which seems a contradiction to their other doctrine that day was the offspring of night, because night or chaos was in existence before day was created. They taught that time was only an intercepted fragment of eternity, and that there was an endless succession of worlds. In fact, their doctrines were chiefly those of Pythagoras. They entertained great veneration for the numbers three, seven, nineteen (the Metonic cycle), and one hundred and forty-seven, produced by multiplying the square of seven by three. They also practised vaticination [prophecy], pretending to predict future events from the flights of birds, human sacrifices, by white horses, the agitation of water, and lots. They seem, however, to have possessed considerable scientific knowledge.
Political and Judicial Power.
Their authority in many cases exceeded that of the monarch. They were, of course, the sole interpreters of religion, and consequently superintended all sacrifices; for no private person was allowed to offer a sacrifice without their sanction. They possessed the power of excommunication, which was the most horrible punishment that could be inflicted next to that of death, and from the effects of which the highest magistrate was not exempt. The great council of the realm was not competent to declare war or conclude peace without their concurrence. They determined all disputes by a final and unalterable decision, and had the power of inflicting the punishment of death. And, indeed, their altars streamed with the blood of human victims. Holocausts of men, women, and children, inclosed in large towers of wicker-work, were sometimes sacrificed as a burnt offering to their superstitions, which were, at the same time, intended to enhance the consideration of the priests, who were an ambitious race delighting in blood. The Druids, it is said, preferred such as had been guilty of theft, robbery, or other crimes, as most acceptable to their gods; but when there was a scarcity of criminals, they made no scruple to supply their place with innocent persons. These dreadful sacrifices were offered by the Druids, for the public, on the eve of a dangerous war, or in the time of any national calamity; and also for particular persons of high rank, when they were afflicted with any dangerous disease.
Priestesses.
The priestesses, clothed in white, and wearing a metal girdle, foretold the future from the observation of natural phenomena, but more especially from human sacrifices. For them was reserved the frightful task of putting to death the prisoners taken in war, and individuals condemned by the Druids; and their auguries were drawn from the manner in which the blood issued from the many wounds inflicted, and also from the smoking entrails. Many of these priestesses maintained a perpetual virginity, others gave themselves up to the most luxurious excesses. They dwelt on lonely rocks, beaten by the waves of the ocean which the mariners looked upon as temples surrounded with unspeakable prodigies. Thus the island of Sena or Liambis, The Saints, near Ushant, was the residence of certain of these priestesses, who delivered oracles to sailors; and there was no power that was not attributed to them. Others, living near the mouth of the Loire, once a year destroyed their temple, scattered its materials, and, having collected others, built a new one—of course a symbolical ceremony; and if one of the priestesses dropped any of the sacred materials, the others fell upon her with fierce yells, tore her to pieces, and scattered her bleeding limbs.
Abolition.
As the Romans gained ground in these islands the power of the Druids gradually declined; and the were finally assailed by Suetonius Paulinus, governor of Britain under Nero, A.D. 61, in their stronghold, the Isle of Anglesey, and entirely defeated, the conqueror consuming many of them in the fires which they had kindled for burning the Roman prisoners they had expected to make—a very just retaliation upon these sanguinary priests. But though their dominion was thus destroyed, many of their religious practices continued much longer; and so late as the eleventh century, in the reign of Canute, it was necessary to forbid the people to worship the sun, moon, fires, etc. Certainly many of the practices of the Druids are still adhered to in Freemasonry; and some writers on this Order endeavour to show that it was established soon after the edict of Canute, and that as thereby the Druidical worship was prohibited in toto, the strongest oaths were required to bind the initiated to secrecy.
Chapter IX. Scandinavian Mysteries
Drottes.
The priests of Scandinavia were named Drottes, and instituted by Sigge, a Scythian prince, who is said afterwards to have assumed the name of Odin. Their number was twelve, who were alike priests and judges; and from this order proceeded the establishment of British juries. Their power was extended to its utmost limits, by being allowed a discretionary privilege of determining on the choice of human victims for sacrifice, from which even the monarch was not exempt—hence arose the necessity of cultivating the goodwill of these sovereign pontiffs; and as this order, like the Israelitish priesthood, was restricted to one family, they became possessed of unbounded wealth, and at last became so tyrannical as to be objects of terror to the whole community. Christianity, promising to relieve it from this yoke, was hailed with enthusiasm; and the inhabitants of Scandinavia, inspired with a thirst for vengeance on account of accumulated and long-continued suffering, retaliated with dreadful severity on their persecutors, overthrowing the palaces and temples, the statues of their gods, and all the paraphernalia of Gothic superstition. Of this nothing remains but a few cromlechs; some stupendous monuments of rough stone, which human fury could not destroy; certain ranges of caverns hewn out of the solid rock; and some natural grottos used for the purpose of initiation.
Rituals.
The whole ritual had an astronomical bearing. The places of initiation, as in other mysteries, were in caverns, natural or artificial, and the candidate had to undergo trials as frightful as the priests could render them. But instead of having to pass through seven caves or passages, as in the Mithraic and other mysteries, he descended through nine—the square of the mystic number three—subterranean passages, and he was instructed to search for the body of Baldur, the Scandinavian Osiris, slain by Loki, the principle of darkness, and to use his utmost endeavours to raise him to life. To enter into particulars of the process of initiation would involve the repetition of what has been said before; it may therefore suffice to observe that the candidate on arriving at the sacellum had a solemn oath administered to him on a naked sword, and ratified it by drinking mead out of a human skull. The sacred sign of the cross was impressed upon him, and a ring of magic virtues, the gift of Baldur the Good, delivered to him.
Astronomical Meaning Demonstrated.
The first canto of the Edda, which apparently contains a description of the ceremonies performed on the initiation of an aspirant, says that he seeks to know the sciences possessed by the Aesas or gods. He discovers a palace, whose roof of boundless dimensions is covered with golden shields. He encounters a man engaged in launching upwards seven flowers. Here we easily discover the astronomical meaning: the palace is the world, the roof the sky; the golden shields are the stars, the seven flowers the seven planets. The candidate is asked what is his name, and replies Gangler, that is, the wanderer, he that performs a revolution, distributing necessaries to mankind; for the candidate personates the sun. The palace is that of the king, the epithet the ancient Mystagogues gave to the head of the planetary system. Then he discovers three seats; on the lowest is the king called Har, sublime; on the central one, Jafuhar, the equal of the sublime; on the highest Tredie, the number three. These personages are those the neophyte beheld in the Eleusinian initiation, the hierophant, the daduchus or torchbearer, and the epibomite or attendant on the altar; those he sees in Freemasonry, the master, and the senior and junior wardens, symbolical personifications of the sun, moon, and Demiurgus, or grand architect of the universe. But the Scandinavian triad is usually represented by Odin, the chief deity; Thor, his first-born, the reputed mediator between god and man, possessing unlimited power over the universe, wherefore his head was surrounded by a circle of twelve stars; and Freya, a hermaphrodite, adorned with a variety of symbols significant of dominion over love and marriage. In the instructions given to the neophyte, he is told that the greatest and most ancient of gods is called Alfader (the father of all), and has twelve epithets, which recall the twelve attributes of the sun, the twelve constellations, the twelve superior gods of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Among the gods of the Scandinavian theogony there is Baldur the Good, whose story, as already hinted above, formed the object of the initiatory ceremonies. Baldur is Mithras, the sun's love. He foresees the danger that threatens him; he dreams of it at night. The other gods of Valhalla, the Scandinavian Olympus, to whom he reveals his sad fore-bodings, reassure him, and to guard against any harm befalling him, exact an oath from every thing in nature on his behalf, except from the mistletoe, which was omitted on account of its apparently inoffensive qualities. For an experiment, and in sport, the gods cast at Baldur all kinds of missiles, without wounding him. Hoder the blind [that is, Fate], takes no part in the diversion; but Loki [the principle of evil, darkness, the season of winter] places a sprig in the hands of Hoder, and persuades him to cast it at the devoted victim, who falls pierced with mortal wounds. For this reason it was that this plant was gathered at the winter solstice by the Druids of Scandinavia, Gaul, and Britain, with a curved knife, whose form symbolised the segment of the zodiacal circle during which the murder of Baldur took place. In the Edda of Snorro we have another legend of Odin and Freya, the Scandinavian Isis or Venus, giving an account of the wanderings of the latter in search of the former, which, of course, have the same astronomical meaning as the search of Isis for Osiris, of Ceres for Proserpine, etc. One of the chief festivals in the year, as with the Druids, was the winter solstice; and this being the longest night in the year, the Scandinavians assigned to it the formation of the world from primeval darkness, and called it “Mother Night.” This festival was denominated “Yule,” and was a season of universal festivity.
3. Die Mysterien Der Druiden Und Drotten
Unsere mittelalterlichen Erzählungen - Parzival, Tafelrunde, Hartmann von Aue - zeigen uns alle, obgleich gewöhnlich nur dem äußeren Sinn nach verstanden, esoterische Gestaltungen mystischer Wahrheiten. Wo ist der Ursprung zu suchen? Vor der Verbreitung des Christentums müssen wir den Ursprung suchen. In das Christentum hinein ist organisch gewachsen, was in Irland, Schottland ... [Lücke] gelebt hat. Wir werden an einen bestimmten Mittelpunkt geführt, von dem dieses Geistesleben ausgegangen ist. Das geistige Leben [Europas] ging aus von einer Zentralloge in Skandinavien. Drottenloge. Druiden = Eiche. Deshalb spricht man äußerlich, daß die alten Deutschen unter Eichen ihre Weisungen empfingen.
Drotten oder Druiden waren uralte germanische Eingeweihte. In England bestanden sie bis zu Zeiten der Königin Elisabeth. Alles was wir in der Edda lesen können und in der uralten germanischen Sagenwelt finden können, geht zurück bis in die Tempel der Drotten oder Druiden. Der Dichter ist immer ein Druidenptriester. Die Sagen stellen nicht irgendein Symbol oder eine Allegorie dar, — dies auch, aber noch anderes.
Beispiel: Wir kennen die Sage Baldurs, wissen, daß Baldur die Hoffnung der Götter ist, daß er vom Gotte Loki getötet wird mit dem Mistelzweig. Der Gott des Lichtes getötet! Diese ganze Erzählung hat tiefen Mysteriensinn, den jeder, der eingeweiht wurde, nicht nur lernte, sondern zu erleben hatte.
Mysterien. Einweihung: Der erste Akt war benannt das Aufsuchen des Leichnams Baldurs. Es wurde gedacht, daß Baldur immer lebendig ist. Das Aufsuchen bestand in einer völligen Aufklärung über die Natur des Menschen. Denn Baldur war der Mensch, wie er verlorengegangen ist. Einstmals lebte nicht der Mensch von heute, sondern ein anderer, der nicht differenziert war, nicht hinuntergedrückt bis zum Erleben der Leidenschaften, in einer feineren flüchtigen Materie. Baldur, der leuchtende Mensch. — Bei wirklichem Verständnis sind die Dinge, die uns als Symbol erscheinen, in höherem Sinne zu nehmen. Dieser Mensch, der nicht untergetaucht ist in das, was wir heute Materie nennen, ist Baldur. Er wohnt in einem jeden von uns. Der Druidenptriester mußte in sich selbst diesen höheren Menschen suchen. Ihm wurde klargemacht, worin diese Differenzierung besteht, von den hohen zu den niederen ... [Lücke].
Das Geheimnis aller Einweihung ist, den höheren Menschen in sich zu gebären. Was der Priester schneller durchmacht, werden die Menschen in langer Entwickelungsreihe durchmachen. Damit diese Druiden Führer der übrigen Menschen sein konnten, dazu mußten sie diese Einweihung empfangen.
Der tiefer gestiegene Mensch muß nun die Materie überwinden und jenen höheren Zustand wieder erreichen. Diese Geburt des höheren Menschen verläuft in allen Mysterien in einer bestimmten gleichen Weise. Den in der Materie untergegangenen Menschen hatte man wieder zu beleben, durch eine Reihe von Erfahrungen mußte man gehen, wirkliche Erfahrung, die wie kein sinnliches Erlebnis auf diesem Plan sein kann.
Die Etappen. Die erste war, daß man vor den sogenannten Thron der Notwendigkeit geführt wurde. Man stand vor dem Abgrund; erfuhr wirklich an dem eigenen Leibe, wie es sich in den niederen Naturreichen lebt. Der Mensch ist Mineral und Pflanze, aber erfahren kann der gegenwärtige Mensch heute nicht, kann nicht erleben, was die elementaren Stoffe erleben, und doch rührt das Eherne, Zwingende in der Welt davon her, daß wir auch Mineralien, Pflanzen sind.
Die nächste Stufe führte den Menschen vor alles das, was im Tierreich lebt. Alles, was an Leidenschaften, Begierden lebt, mußte man durcheinanderwogen und -wirbeln sehen. Der Mensch mußte das anschauen, weil die Einweihung den Zweck hat, hinter die Kulissen des Weltendaseins zu schauen. Der Mensch weiß nicht, daß durch seine physische Hülle nur verdeckt wird, was durch den astralen Raum wirbelt. Der Schleier der Maja ist eine wirkliche Hülle und wer eingeweiht wird, muß dahintersehen — die Hüllen fallen, klar [schauen] wird der Mensch. Das ist ein besonderer Moment: der Priester wurde gewahr, daß sie [die Hüllen] eingedämmt hatten Triebe, die, wenn sie losgelassen würden, furchtbar wären.
Die dritte Stufe führte zur Anschauung der großen Natur. Das ist eine Stufe, die der Mensch ohne Vorbereitung noch sehr schwer begreiflich findet. Daß da okkulte gewaltige Mächte ruhen und in diesen Naturkräften sich die Weltenleidenschaften ausdrücken, das ist etwas, was den Menschen aufmerksam macht, daß es Kräfte gibt, die er nicht einmal so erlebt wie sein eigenes Leid.
Die nächste Prüfung nennt man die Übergabe der Schlange durch den Hierophanten. Man kann dies nur durch die Wirkungen erklären, die von hier ausgehen. Die Tantalussage erklärt sie uns. Die Gunst, im Rate der Götter zu sitzen, kann mißbraucht werden. Es bedeutet eine Wirklichkeit, die den Menschen gewiß über sich selbst hinaushebt, aber an Gefahren bindet, die nicht übertrieben sind im Tantalidenfluch. In der Regel sagt der Mensch, er vermag nichts gegen die Naturgesetze. Diese sind Gedanken. Mit dem Gedanken, der nur ein schattenhafter Gehirngedanke ist, kann man nichts machen; mit dem schaffenden Gedanken, der die Weltendinge baut und konstruiert, dem produktiven, fruchtbaren, haben wir anstelle des passiven denjenigen, der durchsetzt ist mit spiritueller, geistiger Kraft. Eine Raupe ausgeblasen, ist Hülle der Raupe; vom [produktiven] Gedanken durchsetzt, ist sie die lebendige Raupe. In den Hüllengedanken wird wirkende, schaffende Kraft gegossen, so daß der Priester imstande ist, nicht nur die Welt anzuschauen, sondern als Magier in ihr zu wirken. Die Gefahr ist, Mißbrauch zu treiben. Er kann ... [Lücke].
Auf dieser Stufe erhält der Okkultist eine gewisse Macht, durch die er selbst höhere Wesenheiten zu täuschen in der Lage ist. Er muß Wahrheiten nicht nur nachsprechen, sondern erfahren; entscheiden, ob etwas wahr oder falsch ist. Das heißt: die Übergabe der Schlange durch den Hierophanten. [Sie bedeutet auf geistigem Gebiet dasselbe, was im Physischen der Ansatz eines Rückenmarks bedeutet. In der Tierheit kommen wir durch die Fische, Amphibien und so weiter hinauf bis zum Gehirn der Wirbeltiere und des Menschen. Vgl. unter Hinweise.] Im Geistigen gibt es ebenso ein Rückgrat, wo es sich entscheidet, ob man ein geistiges Gehirn bekommt. Diesen Prozeß macht der Mensch durch auf dieser Stufe der Entwickelung. Er wird hinausgehoben aus Kama und versehen mit dem geistigen Rückgrat, um in die Wirbel des geistigen Gehirns gehoben zu werden. Die Windungen des Labyrinths sind auf dem geistigen Plan dasselbe, was die Windungen des Gehirns sind. Der Mensch erhält Einlaß in das Labytinth, in die Windungen innerhalb der höheren Plane.
Dann mußte er Verschwiegenheit schwören, ein blankes Schwert lag vor ihm und den stärksten Eid mußte er schwören. Das hieß, daß der Mensch nunmehr schweigen würde über seine Erlebnisse gegenüber dem, der nicht eingeweiht war wie er. Diese eigentlichen Geheimnisse können unmöglich ohne weiteres mitgeteilt werden. Er [der Eingeweihte] hatte aber die Möglichkeit, die Sagen so zu gestalten, daß sie der Ausdruck des Ewigen sind. Konnte man in dieser Weise sich aussprechen, hatte man natürlich über seine Mitmenschen eine große Gewalt. Wer eine solche Sage formt, prägt etwas in den menschlichen Geist ein. Was man so spricht, wird wieder vergessen und nur das allerwenigste überdauert den Tod. Ewige Wahrheiten überdauern am längsten den Tod. Vom niederen Wissenschaftlichen überdauert sehr wenig den Tod. Das Ewige ja, und erscheint wieder in einer neuen Inkarnation.
Der Druidenpriester sprach aus einem höheren Plan heraus. Waren seine Erzählungen der Ausdruck höherer Wahrheiten, wenn auch einfach, so drangen sie tief in die Seelen hinein. Er hatte einfache Menschen vor sich, aber die Wahrheiten drangen in die Seelen hinein und sie hatten etwas einverleibt, was wieder in neuen Inkarnationen geboren wird. Damals haben die Menschen Märchenwahrheiten erlebt; so haben wir heute einen präparierten Geistkörper und wenn wir heute höhere Wahrheiten begreifen, so ist es, weil wir präpariert sind.
So hat diese Zeit, die im Jahre 60 aufhörte, das Geistesleben Europas vorbereitet, den Boden abgegeben, auf dem sich das Christentum hat aufbauen können. Ihre Lehren haben sich erhalten, und wer sucht, findet noch den Zugang zu dem, was in diesen Logen gelehrt wurde.
Nachdem er [der Druidenpriester] seinen Schwur auf das Schwert abgelegt hatte, mußte er ein bestimmtes Getränk trinken, und zwar aus einem Menschenschädel. Dies hatte die Bedeutung, daß der Mensch hinausgewachsen war über das Menschliche. Dieses Gefühl mußte der Druidenpriester gegenüber dem niederen Leibe haben. Was in dem Leibe lebte, mußte er so objektiv, so kalt empfinden, daß er ihn nur als ein Gefäß betrachtete. Dann wurde er eingeweiht in die höheren Geheimnisse und wie er wieder hinaufstieg in die höheren Welten. Baldur ... [Lücke]. Er wurde in einen Riesenpalast geführt, der überdeckt war mit funkelnden Schwertern. Ein Mann trat ihm entgegen, der sieben Blumen hinauswarf. Himmelsraum, Cherubim, Demiurg. — So wurde er ein wirklicher Sonnenptriester.
Viele lesen die Edda und wissen nicht, daß sie eine Erzählung ist von dem, was sich in den alten Drottenmysterien wirklich ereignet hat. Eine ungeheure Macht lag in den Händen der alten Drottenpriester, über Leben und Tod. Es ist eine Wahrheit, daß alles im Laufe der Zeiten korrumpiert wird. Es war einst das Höchste, Heiligste. In den Zeiten, wo das Christentum sich ausbreitete, war vieles ausgeartet und es gab viele schwarze Magier, so daß das Christentum wie eine Erlösung war.
Das alleinige Studium dieser alten Wahrheiten veranschaulicht fast den ganzen Okkultismus.
Kein Stein wurde in dem Druidentempel auf den anderen gelegt wie heute, sondern genau nach astronomischen Maßen. Türen waren nach Himmelsmaß gebaut. Menschheitsbauer waren die Druidenpriester. Ein schwaches Abbild davon hat sich in den Anschauungen der Freimaurer erhalten.
Lernt man die astrale Materie durchschauen, sieht man die Sonne um Mitternacht: 1. Einweihung.
Übergabe der Schlange: 2. Einweihung.
Der Gang in dem Labyrinth: 3. Einweihung.
3. The Mysteries of the Druids and Drotten
Our medieval tales—Parzival, The Round Table, Hartmann von Aue—all show us, although usually only understood in their outer meaning, esoteric representations of mystical truths. Where are we to look for their origin? We must look for the origin before the spread of Christianity. What grew organically into Christianity lived in Ireland, Scotland... [gap]. We are led to a specific center from which this spiritual life originated. The spiritual life [of Europe] originated from a central lodge in Scandinavia. Drotten lodge. Druids = oak. That is why it is said that the ancient Germans received their instructions under oak trees.
Drotten or Druids were ancient Germanic initiates. In England, they existed until the time of Queen Elizabeth. Everything we can read in the Edda and find in the ancient Germanic legends goes back to the temples of the Drotten or Druids. The poet is always a Druid priest. The legends do not represent just any symbol or allegory — they do that too, but they are also something else.
Example: We know the legend of Baldur, we know that Baldur is the hope of the gods, that he is killed by the god Loki with a mistletoe branch. The god of light is killed! This whole story has a deep mystery meaning that everyone who was initiated not only learned, but also had to experience.
Mysteries. Initiation: The first act was called the search for Baldur's body. It was believed that Baldur was always alive. The search consisted of a complete explanation of the nature of man. For Baldur was the human being as he had been lost. Once upon a time, it was not the human beings of today who lived, but another kind of human being who was not differentiated, not pressed down to the experience of the passions, in a finer, more fleeting matter. Baldur, the shining human being. — When truly understood, the things that appear to us as symbols are to be taken in a higher sense. This human being, who has not submerged himself in what we today call matter, is Baldur. He dwells in each one of us. The Druid priest had to seek this higher human being within himself. It was made clear to him what this differentiation consists of, from the high to the low ... [gap].
The secret of all initiation is to give birth to the higher human being within oneself. What the priest goes through more quickly, human beings will go through in a long series of developments. In order for these Druids to be leaders of the rest of humanity, they had to receive this initiation.
The human being who has descended deeper must now overcome matter and reach that higher state again. This birth of the higher human being takes place in all mysteries in a certain identical manner. Those who had sunk into matter had to be revived; they had to go through a series of experiences, real experiences that cannot be like any sensory experience on this plane.
The stages. The first was that one was led before the so-called throne of necessity. One stood before the abyss; one experienced in one's own body what it is like to live in the lower realms of nature. Man is mineral and plant, but the present human being cannot experience, cannot live through what the elemental substances experience, and yet the iron, compelling force in the world stems from the fact that we are also minerals and plants.
The next stage led man before everything that lives in the animal kingdom. Everything that lives in passions and desires had to be seen in confusion and turmoil. Man had to look at this because the purpose of initiation is to look behind the scenes of world existence. Man does not know that his physical shell only conceals what swirls through the astral space. The veil of Maya is a real shell, and those who are initiated must look beyond it — the shells fall away, and human beings see clearly. This is a special moment: the priest became aware that they [the shells] had contained impulses which, if released, would be terrible.
The third stage led to the contemplation of the great nature. This is a stage that is still very difficult for human beings to comprehend without preparation. The fact that occult forces rest there and that the passions of the world are expressed in these forces of nature is something that makes human beings aware that there are forces that they do not even experience as their own suffering.
The next test is called the handing over of the serpent by the hierophant. This can only be explained by the effects that emanate from here. The legend of Tantalus explains it to us. The favor of sitting in the council of the gods can be abused. It signifies a reality that certainly lifts man above himself, but binds him to dangers that are not exaggerated in the curse of the Tantalids. As a rule, people say that they can do nothing against the laws of nature. These are thoughts. Nothing can be done with thoughts that are only shadowy brain thoughts; with creative thoughts, which build and construct the things of the world, the productive, fruitful thoughts, we have, instead of passive thoughts, those that are imbued with spiritual, mental power. A caterpillar blown out is the shell of the caterpillar; imbued with [productive] thought, it is the living caterpillar. Effective, creative power is poured into the shell thoughts, so that the priest is able not only to look at the world, but to work in it as a magician. The danger is abuse. He can ... [gap].
At this stage, the occultist gains a certain power through which he is able to deceive even higher beings. He must not only repeat truths, but experience them; decide whether something is true or false. This means the handing over of the serpent by the hierophant. [In the spiritual realm, this means the same thing as the beginning of the spinal cord in the physical realm. In the animal kingdom, we ascend through the fish, amphibians, and so on, up to the brain of vertebrates and humans. See under Notes.] In the spiritual realm, there is also a backbone where it is decided whether one will receive a spiritual brain. Human beings go through this process at this stage of development. They are lifted out of Kama and provided with a spiritual backbone in order to be raised into the vertebrae of the spiritual brain. The windings of the labyrinth are the same on the spiritual plane as the windings of the brain. Human beings are granted access to the labyrinth, to the windings within the higher planes.
Then he had to swear secrecy; a naked sword lay before him and he had to swear the strongest oath. This meant that the human being would now remain silent about his experiences to those who were not initiated like him. These actual secrets cannot possibly be communicated without further ado. However, he [the initiate] had the opportunity to shape the legends in such a way that they were an expression of the eternal. If one could express oneself in this way, one naturally had great power over one's fellow human beings. Whoever shapes such a legend imprints something on the human mind. What is spoken in this way is forgotten again, and only the very little survives death. Eternal truths survive death the longest. Very little of the lower scientific survives death. The eternal does, and it reappears in a new incarnation.
The Druid priest spoke from a higher plan. If his stories were the expression of higher truths, even if simple, they penetrated deeply into the souls. He had simple people before him, but the truths penetrated their souls and they absorbed something that will be reborn in new incarnations. At that time, people experienced fairy-tale truths; thus, we have a prepared spirit body today, and if we understand higher truths today, it is because we are prepared.
Thus, this period, which ended in the year 60, prepared the spiritual life of Europe and laid the foundation on which Christianity could be built. Their teachings have been preserved, and those who seek will still find access to what was taught in these lodges.
After he [the Druid priest] had sworn his oath on the sword, he had to drink a certain beverage from a human skull. This signified that man had grown beyond the human. The Druid priest had to have this feeling toward the lower body. He had to feel what lived in the body so objectively, so coldly, that he regarded it only as a vessel. Then he was initiated into the higher mysteries and how he ascended again into the higher worlds. Baldur ... [gap]. He was led into a giant palace covered with sparkling swords. A man came toward him and threw out seven flowers. Heavenly space, cherubim, demiurge. — Thus he became a true sun priest.
Many read the Edda and do not know that it is a narrative of what really happened in the ancient Drotten mysteries. An immense power lay in the hands of the ancient Drotten priests, over life and death. It is a truth that everything becomes corrupt over time. It was once the highest, most sacred thing. In the times when Christianity spread, much had degenerated and there were many black magicians, so that Christianity was like a salvation.
The study of these ancient truths alone illustrates almost the whole of occultism.
No stone was laid on top of another in the Druid temple as it is today, but according to precise astronomical measurements. Doors were built according to the measurements of the heavens. The Druid priests were the builders of humanity. A faint image of this has been preserved in the beliefs of the Freemasons.
If you learn to see through astral matter, you see the sun at midnight: 1st initiation.
Handing over the serpent: 2nd initiation.
The walk through the labyrinth: 3rd initiation.