The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Second Lecture

[ 1 ] In these lectures, we will see how Wagner allows the characters in his music dramas to ascend to the gods and descend again to humanity in order to represent their liberation and redemption within humanity.

[ 2 ] Right at the beginning of the Ring of the Nibelung, we encounter the entire leitmotif of the fifth root race—the post-Atlantean age—the birth of the ego, of self-consciousness from the astral element. You are familiar with water as the occult representative of the astral. If we want to understand the mood that prevails in Richard Wagner, we must place ourselves in the Nordic myths. Without being aware of all the details, he expressed the power and symbolism of what lives in the myths. Anyone who allows themselves to be influenced by everything that surrounds the Norse gods will find that they have something tragic about them; everything is pointed toward an end: the twilight of the gods. What is this fundamental trait that led to such a wonderful work of art [as Wagner's “Der Ring des Nibelungen”]?

[ 3 ] Let us imagine what the earth was like at the time of the Nordic race. You would find a tropical climate, one that is in no way inferior to the tropical climate of today; human-like apes, elephant- and giraffe-like animals lived in these regions. Nature was very different from today. Gradually, this was replaced by the so-called ice age, and our ancestors appeared before us with their primitive culture. Our later Germanic culture emerged from the aftermath of this ice age.

[ 4 ] There were also mysteries and mystery schools in the north. There were Drotten mysteries and, further west, Druid mysteries, which were very profound. Behind these stood an initiate: Wotan. Remnants of the ancient Druid mysteries have been preserved, especially in countries with Celtic populations. Traces of them can be found in England until the time of Queen Elizabeth. Then they were abolished. The ancient Drotten and Druid mysteries tell of a chela, Sig or Sigge, who gave up his individuality at a certain age and became capable of taking on a higher individuality within himself. This is a process that is described in all mysteries. Thus, at his baptism by John, Jesus also offers his body to a higher individuality. Everything connected with Sig reminds us of the mystery that a chela can give up his individuality for a higher being. Wotan had entered into Sig to prepare what was to take place in the future.

[ 5 ] Every secret student was taught that the Norse pantheon would be replaced by Christianity. Wotan's entire work is preparation for the coming Christianity. Here in the north, some tribes remained behind during the wanderings of the Atlanteans to the Gobi Desert. While the epochs of the four sub-races were developing in the south, something was also happening in the north. Here, too, four phases of development took place, the last of which is the twilight of the gods itself.

[ 6 ] We hear in the Norse myths how the four preparatory epochs unfolded. During this time, Wotan is initiated four times. During the first initiation, during the first subrace, he hangs on the cross for nine days, on the wood of the world ash tree. Then Mimir came to him and taught him the runes. Here, too, hanging on the cross signifies redemption. In the second initiation, he gains the potion of wisdom, which Gunlöd guards in a cave. He must enter this underground cave as a snake. He stays there for three days to obtain the potion. In the third initiation, which corresponds to the third sub-race, he must sacrifice his own eye. This is the eye of wisdom from the legends, reminiscent of the one-eyed Cyclops, who represent the people of the Lemurian race. This eye has long since receded in us. A hint of it is still visible in newborn children. It is the clairvoyant eye. Why must Wotan sacrifice it? In each root race, what has already been experienced is briefly repeated. Thus, in the third sub-race, clairvoyance had to be sacrificed once again so that what first dawned in Wotan could emerge: intellectual wisdom, the hallmark of the European way of thinking. Wotan's fourth initiation is linked to Siegfried, the offspring of the gods, the offspring of Wotan. Human initiates take the place of the gods for the first time.

[ 7 ] Siegfried is initiated. He must awaken Brünhilde, the higher consciousness; by passing through the flames, the fire, he must purify himself of passion. In this way he undergoes purification, catharsis. He has previously killed the dragon, overcome lower sensuality. This has made him invulnerable; only between his shoulder blades remains a spot where he can be wounded. The vulnerability of this spot is a symbolic indication that this fourth subrace is still lacking something that only Christianity could bring. Someone had to come who was invulnerable where Siegfried was still vulnerable—Christ, who bears the cross between his shoulders, where Siegfried could be killed.

[ 8 ] One more clash, the onslaught of the Atlanteans, was to fail against Christianity. The peoples led by Atli—Attila, Etzel—are of Atlantean descent. These Mongolian peoples retreat before Christianity, which confronts them in Pope Leo I. Christianity replaces the old culture.

[ 9 ] In the myths, development was formerly depicted in symbolic images. This is also the case with the Baldur myth. We also see a Nordic initiate in Baldur. All the conditions for initiation are fulfilled here. The riddle of Baldur conceals a profound truth. Loki's peculiar position in Norse mythology can only be understood in this way. You know that Baldur's mother, frightened by evil dreams, made all beings swear not to harm Baldur. Only an unsightly plant, the mistletoe, is forgotten, and from this mistletoe, which did not take the oath, Loki makes the arrow that he gives to the blind god Hödur when the gods throw at Baldur in a game. The god Baldur is killed by Hödur's throw.

[ 10 ] You know that the development of the earth was preceded by another: the lunar age. The lunar matter was similar to that of living beings. Some of the lunar plants remained at that stage and thus intrude disturbingly into the new, later world. They cannot grow on mineral soil, they can only grow on other living beings; they are parasites. Mistletoe is such a lunar plant. Loki is a deity of the moon. He also originates from the lunar epoch. He was perfect during the lunar epoch, but now he represents imperfection, evil. Now we also understand why Loki appears in Wagner's dramas as a dual nature, male and female at the same time. As you know, unisexuality coincides with the departure of the moon from the common planet. The new creation is presided over by the sun god Baldur. This leads to a clash between the old and new creations, the moon and sun realms, a clash in which Baldur, the representative of the sun culture, falls victim. The blind Hödur is the representative of blind natural necessity, which lives in the mineral realm. He had to take the blame in order to enable a certain progressive element. In the mysteries, Baldur had to be revived after he was killed by Loki through Hödr.

[ 11 ] These are feelings that permeate us when we follow Richard Wagner's creations. Let us consider the scene in “Rheingold”: The Rhine maidens guard the treasure of gold. The dwarf Alberich first burns with sensual desire for them. Then his lust for gold awakens, and he renounces love, because whoever wants to possess gold and power must renounce love. So he forges the ring. What is associated with this ring? Possession, egoism; as long as man is not complete, he demands nothing for himself. Egoism only begins when man is surrounded by the ring of sensuality. Alberich must renounce love; he, the representative of self-consciousness, surrounds himself with the physical. The physical body is built according to the same laws that govern nature, from which the gold of the Rhine maidens is obtained. Egoism, special existence, is attached to gold. Gold here is the wisdom gained through observation, not creative wisdom. In order to attain it, man must first make himself receptive to this creative wisdom. Let us go back to the time when humans were not yet divided into two sexes; at that time, they did not yet have the ability to think, to create self-awareness through their thinking. Everything they created was created through love. Humans had to purchase higher spirituality by renouncing half of their productive power, by becoming unisex. Where did all this come from? It all came from earlier creative beings. The earth had to pass into a different state so that humans could obtain this solid physical body. Wotan belonged to earlier times, the times of the surging fire mist. Where the purest fire forces still reigned on earth, when the spirit of God brooded over the waters, there was Wotan's original home. Now Wotan had to transform his home into a solid castle; the earth had to solidify. The home of the gods, Valhalla, was built by the giants. These are the people of the Lemurian race, the Lemurian giants, who do not yet have a high level of spirituality. The giants, humanity struggling out of physicality, demand Freya in return—again a female figure. She represents consciousness, the consciousness necessary to sustain and rejuvenate oneself. And now it is Loki who can build something out of the fiery element that is right for lower nature. Loki frees Wotan from sacrificing Freya; Loki causes Freya to remain with the gods. What must man attain? The ring, that which is the lawfully constructed physical body. The passion necessary for the sensual nature must be abandoned in favor of higher love. Before the highest development can take place, the soul must also be built up. The giants renounce Freya, renounce love. Love has remained with the gods. The giants have contented themselves with the ring, the element of gold, to which a curse is attached. Love only returns through Christianity.

[ 12 ] There is a tragic thread running through Norse mythology. We see how sorry Wotan is to relinquish power to someone born of the human race. He wants to remain in control and tries to recapture the ring. Then he meets Erda. He learns wisdom from Erda. Erda is the spirit of the earth, the consciousness of the entire human race as long as it develops on earth. Her daughters, the Norns, proclaim the higher consciousness of the earth; they represent the earth's primordial knowledge of the past, present, and future. They untangle individual knowledge; above individual knowledge stands consciousness, which is imbued with the character of eternity.

[ 13 ] Wotan leaves the ring to the giants. A fight ensues between them. Their special nature causes the conflict, and thus the sword motif enters. The sword motif expresses the transition from humanity, which has hitherto lived more in community, to the new humanity, to special nature, to war against one another. Wotan becomes clear about his position toward humanity, especially his relationship to the fifth root race.

[ 14 ] The rainbow leads from Valhalla to Earth. The rainbow has a special meaning in occult wisdom. You know the rainbow that appears after the Flood. Now we find this symbol repeatedly in Norse mythology. It signifies the transition from the Atlantean era to the post-Atlantean era. At that time, the air was much denser and the water much thinner than today; there was no precipitation like rain as we know it today. A rainbow was not possible at that time. The land where the Nordic race emerged is not unjustly called a realm of mist, a Nifelheim. From this realm of mist, the masses of water that flooded the continent of Atlantis formed. Only at the end of the Atlantean era, after the flood, did the rainbow appear. Occult research explains what this means. In the Bible, in the rainbow of the Flood, as in the rainbow bridge of Norse mythology, we encounter something that represents the connection between humans and gods. When Wotan is defeated by Siegfried, it means that humans are now taking the place of the old gods. The task of the fifth root race is being prepared, which is to bring forth leaders and masters of humanity from within the human race itself. The earlier leaders of humanity came down from higher worlds. Now the master will be someone who has passed through all stages of human development—only faster than other humans—and who, as an advanced being, leads humanity.

[ 15 ] Next time we will talk about Siegfried again and hear more about this development. You will see how Wagner used the power of Norse mythology to portray what moved humanity most deeply. This is what makes Wagner's dramas so tremendously uplifting and powerful.