Theosophy and Occultism
GA 90c
Thirteen of the fifteen lectures reproduced here (except for the two lectures on October 13 and 20, 1903) have been in circulation for decades in the form of transcripts of what are known as Rudolf Steiner's “Occult Lessons”. Lothar Arno Wilke (1925-1996) compiled these texts into a folder of his own, in which each “Occult Hour” was assigned its own cover page, each with the note “at Klara Motzkus, Schlüterstrasse”. Because of this, these “hours” are also referred to as “Motzkus hours”. In this “Wilke tradition”, the “hours” were dated to Fridays in the fall of 1903. However, the associated dates cannot be readily regarded as “accurate” (see below). As already mentioned, Clara Motzkus's apartment (first auditor of the German Section of the Theosophical Society) was given as the location.
The two additional lectures from October 13 and 20, 1903, in the present volume are available only as typescripts of unclear origin; dating and content suggested publication together with the thirteen other lectures in the present volume.
In March 1903, the former residence of the Theosophical Society at Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße 54a in Berlin, belonging to Count and Countess Brockdorff, had to be vacated. The Theosophical library was provisionally housed in the apartment of Clara Motzkus (Charlottenburg, Schlüterstraße 62) for the following months. From March to October 1903, all of the Theosophical Society's member events also took place there. In August 1903, the Vähan (no. 2/V, p. 36) announced another regular event: “In addition, a generally accessible lecture and discussion evening (at Miss Motzkus's) will also take place every Friday (7 p.m.) during the summer.” And in September 1903: “The weekly lecture and discussion evenings on Fridays (7 p.m., Charlottenburg, Schlüterstraße 62 at Miss Clara Motzkus) will also take place throughout September.” Walter Vegelahn (1880-1959), who later became known as a stenographer of Rudolf Steiner's lectures, reports about this time: “In the summer of 1903 [...] we were in the small private apartment of a member. Those who had specific questions etc. were allowed to come as early as six o'clock, and so we sat at the ‘round table’ with Dr. Steiner. If any member of the audience had not understood something, Dr. Steiner would start again from the beginning.” At these events in 1902/03, which were initially attended by only a few people, no notes were taken at first. (See: Zu dieser Ausgabe in: On the Astral World and Devachan, GA 88, p. 13f.)
In a letter dated October 23, 1903, Clara Motzkus writes to Irmgard Nehbel: “The meetings have been with me twice a week throughout the summer until two weeks ago, and the circle grew from day [to day], and it was high time that we moved to a larger place; I had to get kitchen chairs in the end, even though three people were already sitting on each of the sofas; there were 37 of us in my small dwelling. Dr. Steiner draws from ever greater depths and pours out onto the listeners.
In this respect, it can be assumed that the “lessons” presented in the present volume no longer took place in the apartment of Clara Motzkus, at the earliest with the lesson of October 9, 1903, but at the latest with the lesson of October 16, 1903.[ . . . ]