The Temple Legend III
GA 93
23 October 1905, Berlin
18. Freemasonry and Human Evolution II (women only)
The things which we wish to discuss today have not hitherto been discussed in front of women. Therefore, it is a rather bold step I am taking to speak about these things to you. However, particular occult currents make it necessary.
Within these currents there are some things of an intimate nature which, up to a short while ago, could not be mentioned in the presence of women, because the occult brotherhood, whose task it was to nurture these intimate things, had a strict rule, to admit no women members. What they had to do in the world might not be done in cooperation with the female element. Until just recently, this rule has been strictly adhered to. Nowadays, the sole possibility of creating a balance between the two sexes exists only in the Theosophical Society. Here is indeed the only place where these things are discussed in front of women.
Now we ask: Why has this separation of the sexes come about—which has taken such a grotesque form in the Lodges of Freemasonry? If one wants to understand why this segregation really became habitual, one has to use a rather grotesque metaphor: When two powers are at war with each other, it would be very foolish if the general of one side were to reveal his plan of campaign to the enemy general, before the battle started. It would be the same as handing over one's weapons to the enemy, if one were to enlist women in the Freemasons. For it is a matter of war for the Freemasons, a war indeed against the female spirit, a matter of sharp opposition to the female spirit as such. This way was necessary, yes, occult Freemasonry was founded precisely for this purpose. Therefore it was the custom to speak about occult matters to the two sexes separately. First, a form must be found, in which these things can be spoken of to women.
The founding of Freemasonry lies far back in the past. It took place at the beginning of the fourth Cultural Epoch of our present fifth [Post-Atlantean] Root Race. The Old Testament, which gives us an explanation of these things, was written down at that same time. We are told that higher spirits made revelations to Moses, which he then wrote down. The knowledge of higher things was already there, however, much earlier on, and was handed on from generation to generation, from priestly mouth to priestly mouth, until it was put into documentary form by Ezra1 See note 2 to the preceding lecture. to whom the writing of these things is ascribed. When the Old Testament began to gain power through the priests, a tremendous opposition to this priestly book arose in the Freemasonry brotherhoods, for a particular reason. To be sure, this opposition has always been there, and it was necessary. We must be clear about why.
Let us agree that everything which happens on the physical plane has to recapitulate earlier stages in a particular way. On earth there is always a recapitulation of the events of earlier times. [In his life] before birth man has to go through the stages which he once experienced with his dull animal consciousness [in earlier times]. So, for instance, the Renaissance period of the Middle Ages was a recapitulation of ancient Greek times. We also find such recapitulation in planetary events. Before the present earth became what it is today, it had to recapitulate earlier conditions before it could become an independent planet, our earth in fact, in the Fourth Round [or recapitulation]. Thus, whenever anything new has to appear on earth, the earlier stages must always be recapitulated in a new form. So the human spirit in the fifth Root Race [our present Race] has worked through a recapitulation of the [happenings of] the Lemurian Root Race [the third Race], when humanity was still of one sex only, and then became two-sexed. That had a great influence on its spiritual development. In the third Sub-Race of the fifth Root Race, the Egypto-Babylonian period, there was a progressive recapitulation in the realm of spiritual life of what had happened physically to man of Lemurian times.
Before there was [separate] male and female, the two were combined; so then the two sexes separated from each other. As regards spiritual development, we have this happening in the fifth Root Race:

Third Root Race: Lemuria: division of physical evolution into two sexes, male and female.
Fifth Root Race: Division of spiritual evolution into male and female spirit, into Jehovah worship, or priesthood, and Freemasonry.
In the first Post-Atlantean epoch, in the [ancient] Indian culture, everything was still at a higher level than the physical plane. The original Indian wisdom, which stems from the first Post-Atlantean culture, is, spiritually speaking, primarily connected, not with the present physical plane, but with the conditions of that earlier time when humanity was still [combined] male-female. Therefore, at that time, little regard was paid to the existence of [separate] sexes. There was no question of a dualistic principle in this; that comes only in the following Sub-Race. The Vedas belong to a much later time. Already, in the second Sub-Race, there was a great schism. The outward expression of this schism is depicted for us in the Old Testament, quite wonderfully. Genesis has it very beautifully and clearly: Before Yahveh created man, he made fruits and animals and so on, on earth, and only then did he create man, Adam, whom he then divided into two sexes.
This account rests on occult perceptions of the physical facts. Now, of course, all occult wisdom presents a relationship between physical events and later spiritual wisdom; for physical events arise out of Divine Wisdom and wisdom later re-emerges out of physical life, out of man. There is a connection there between wisdom, perception and physical life.
The whole fertilising and fructifying force by which a new person is created, used to be combined in one sex. Then the human being was separated into male and female. Which sex can best lay claim to the generative power? It is the female. Therefore Zeus, who was worshipped as the progenitor of the human race, was portrayed in the oldest [versions of] Greek mythology as having female breasts.2 See note 3 to the preceding lecture. Zeus as a superhuman being, was nearer to the female sex. The female sex was thus the first, the earlier one, and at that time had the power in itself of producing the complete human individual. This generative power lay within a human being of undivided sex, who approximated, in its outward physical form, more towards the female. In this single-sexed human being, the fertilising [principle] was wisdom, the spirit itself; and the fertilising of the female spirit by inspired wisdom is a later recapitulation of this. This human being of the single-sex era was the result of the fertilisation by the Divine Spirit of the substance produced in the woman.
Now you understand what it was by which a woman could give birth to a human being. Physically, there is first of all a woman, who is fertilised from above. It was the Divine Spirit in woman which was the fertilising principle. When the separation of the sexes happened, the differentiation started in the transformation of the female's spiritual organs of fertilisation into organs of wisdom. The masculine power that the woman had in herself turned the creative force into organs of wisdom. So half the generative force stayed with the woman; the creative physical forces stayed with the man. As a result of this separation, the spinal cord and the brain with the nerve branches appeared, as portrayed in the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. The organ of wisdom is formed in the vertebrae by the spinal cord and its extension into the brain. From that time on, there is a duality. in man; namely, the two trees of the biblical record, the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life.
And now the new beings adapt themselves to the change. The individuals who had previously been female did not all subsequently take on the female form. The female side—the capacity to produce human beings—withdrew from one section and left behind, in substitution, the power to fertilise in a quite different way. Physical nature had divided itself into what fertilised and what needed to be fertilised. Spiritual nature, too, had similarly divided itself. In female individuals the spirit acquired male character and colouring; in the male the spirit had a female character. That is still the female within man.
The biblical legend shows this very clearly. As is known, the man having two sexes was forbidden to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. The power with which Jehovah had invested mankind was: to make his wisdom work in the woman. ‘Thou shalt not eat of the Tree of Knowledge’ means the same as ‘Thou shalt not separate off the force of fertilisation and make it independent.’ For Jehovah's power, the fertilising power, would thereby be lost to the woman. When woman ate from the Tree of Knowledge, she thereby laid the basis for becoming independent in respect of wisdom, thereby ceasing to remain a mere tool of Jehovah as he had planned. But thus she lost, along with Jehovah's power, the power to fertilise herself through wisdom as well. By eating [from the Tree of Knowledge] and giving the apple to man, she wiped this power out. Thus woman became dependent on man. It was Lucifer who led mankind along this path in order to make him independent. Jehovah was against this, and forbade man to eat from the Tree of Knowledge for that reason. However the woman did eat and gave to the man. The man ate too, so that the punishment decreed by Jehovah ensued. New bodies have to come into existence, which will work out the Karma of previous existence; death and [re-] birth come into the world. Woman is now no longer fertile through herself, but has become barren. And with fertilisation coming from outside, the possibility of this kind of death enters the world.
The biblical story of Paradise reveals this deep connection in images; ancient priestly traditions became the content in these images, and ancient priestly wisdom was intuitively [? or evidently: German anschaulich] incorporated in them. Woman has, then, become infertile in respect of spiritual wisdom, because she has demanded physical perception. She gave to man and he ate as well; they were guilty, and were driven out of Paradise, to the formation of which they had made no contribution. That is the old priestly tradition about the origin of the sexes; this contains a profound insight into the connection between actual events.
What now happened as the result of the female separating itself from the male? Which of the sexes still possessed a shadow of that power of productive spiritual wisdom, the male or the female? We have seen that the wisdom of the female actually had a male character; this is the creative, the productive, the intuitive, what is original, what is fertile. The same divine power which formerly worked within woman to fertilise, to produce the physical human being, now worked as fertilising principle in the perception of the Divine centre in man's being. The religions work through words and images to further this process.
The female being becomes physically infertile, in the sense that she cannot produce offspring out of herself as she did before. The masculine, passive spirit is the one which is spiritually infertile, but the man is the one who can fertilise physically. Spiritually, he now lets himself be fertilised by everything in the world; he now becomes spiritually fertilised so that he himself can fertilise physically. The whole world penetrates him first; he becomes fertilised spiritually, the woman physically. Woman, by contrast, is spiritually self-fertilising, whereas man is fertilised by the spirit. The male wisdom is fertilised by everything external being gathered and combined. Male wisdom thus resulted, which was orientated towards assembling worldly wisdom. This [kind of wisdom] was not actually there at first, as [against] that which flowed down from above; it had first to be put together by perceiving the physical world. Female wisdom, by contrast, was actually transferred to the priesthood. The wisdom of the priests turns out to be a property deriving originally from the ancient feminine wisdom. Indeed, only if he separated it into two sexes could Jehovah sustain the human race. Two opposing factions resulted, Freemasonry and priestly rule, which were symbolised by Cain and Abel.
Now, there is a difference between the female priestly wisdom and the male aspiration. This is described to us in the legend of Cain and Abel. Abel was a shepherd and occupied himself with the life that was already there. He is the symbol of the inborn divine force which works in man as the wisdom which he does not acquire for himself, which flows into him. Cain creates something new out of what the world offers. He represents the passive masculine wisdom, which must at first be fertilised from outside, which goes out into the world to gather wisdom and to create from what has been gathered. Cain killed Abel; which means that male wisdom offers resistance against the female wisdom, since it feels that it must subdue and remodel physical wisdom.
The old Freemasons set themselves the ideal, therefore, of taking up this challenge. They wanted to use male wisdom to work against the female wisdom that had been taken over by the priesthood. The great images of the Bible were to be considered as intuitive female wisdom transferred to the priests; to which they wished to counterpose the wisdom self-acquired by the male. This battle against the wisdom of the priests expressed the opposition of the Freemasons. Those who took part in it had to be kept free of every influence of the female wisdom. This battle was concerned with physical evolution, and it was therefore necessary for the Freemasons to avoid any contact with the female sex as far as their work was concerned. They knew that their opposition to the female spirit could only be carried through if they were undisturbed by female thinking. One had to affirm something positive and generally prevent any disturbing element interfering.
Freemasonry thus created the Temple Legend as an answer to the Bible Legend. This was to be the sword of battle against the priesthood. We therefore want to bring this Temple Legend before your soul. It has the following content:
In the beginning one of the Elohim created Cain by uniting himself with Eve. Another Elohim, Yahveh, countered by creating Adam, who united with Eve, as a result of which Abel was born. Cain killed Abel and Jehovah therefore made the race of Cain subject to the race of Abel.
That means that originally the worldly wisdom rebelled against the priestly wisdom and was defeated; for the Abel fine was continued in Seth and all worldly wisdom was made subservient to the priestly wisdom.
Next, it is related how the descendants of Cain conquered the world, how they developed the arts. Music, arts and sciences were cultivated by them. Tubal-Cain (Genesis 4:21–22), the master of brass and ironwork, Jubal, from whom the pipers and violinists descend, and Hiram, the builder of Solomon's Temple (I Kings 7:13) are numbered among the descendants of Cain.
So, with Hiram, we have arrived at the transition from the third to the fourth Post-Atlantean epoch,3 Hiram was living during the reign of King Solomon, which is reckoned as being 993–953 B.C. The fourth Sub Race had its beginning in 747 B.C. according to Rudolf Steiner. when priestly rule turned into rule by kings. Kingship results from God's grace, as represented by King Solomon. Solomon's power was not sustained by work done on the physical plane, but was the manifestation of God's grace. Priestly wisdom was turned into rule by kings. This was thus regarded as the successor to priestly rule, which was [now] unable to do—from its own resources—what was necessary for the progress of mankind on earth. The one who was to build the Temple had to be enlisted from among the descendants of Cain, because he would possess the autonomously worked out thinking.
The legend goes on to relate that Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, was betrothed to King Solomon. She visited him and was [astounded] at the Temple building—as he was at her wisdom. She wanted to see the master builder himself, for she could not conceive how [such a] wonderful building could result from human wisdom. Hiram came and made a forceful impression on her, simply by his glance alone. Next she asked to see those who worked on the Temple as well. When Solomon said this was impossible, Hiram made the mystical Tau sign in the air and all the workers streamed together immediately. In the mystical Tau sign lie the forces which the Sons of Cain use to work on the physical plane.
Three of Hiram's apprentices are discontented because he did not promote them to the Master's Degree. They conspire to hurt him. They want to spoil his masterpiece. Now he intends to make the Molten Sea; this is a major work of art, to be cast out of a fluid element, out of molten brass. This is a symbol of the Great Work of Art for which the entire mineral kingdom must be re-cast; [which is] the task of our Manvantara.4 This is the Indian theosophical term for a great cosmic epoch of evolution. A period of manifestation such as the planetary states (Old Moon, Old Sun, etc.,) The three apprentices do the following: they wreck the casting of the Molten Sea. Hiram tries to put this right by pouring water on the casting; everything then flies apart in a shower of fiery rain. As Hiram, in despair, gives himself up for lost he is led to the centre of the earth by a figure whom he recognises as Tubal-Cain. There he is told that Jehovah, or Adonai, is nothing else than an enemy of the Sons of Fire; he wants to destroy the Sons of Fire. Hiram, however, would have a son, whom he would indeed never see, but who would start a new race on earth. Tubal-Cain then gave him a hammer with which he can complete the casting of the Molten Sea. However, the three apprentices murder him. Before his death, he breathes out a word, which he inscribes on a golden triangle, and buries. No one understands the word; it is the Lost Word of the Freemasons. Hiram is buried and an acacia twig is planted on his grave. The triangle is dug up again, but no one knows its worth. It is buried again and a cube set up, on which the Ten Commandments are inscribed.
Now what is meant by ‘Jehovah hates the Sons of Fire?’ These are the people who were born by means of the single sex. In them wisdom is mingled with Kama, the earthly kamic fire [- the astral body]. Those who have devoted themselves to the female priesthood are the sons of Abel. Hiram was promised: ‘You will have a son who will found a new race. However, you will not know him.’ This new race must come when the Lost Word regains its power, and is installed in a new way. The occult tradition which is embodied in Freemasonry works to bring about the re-establishment of the Lost Word. It works to enable the introduction of the active into the passive male element; so that it can regain the procreative [force] in the spirit, to turn what is passive into something active, so that the Sons of Cain can produce out of themselves.
The following tradition developed: the female was the primeval force. This gave the world everything that was in the world as wisdom. However, [the female element] lost part of the physical power of reproduction, which was transferred to the male. Now everything re-spiritualises itself again, in which process the male power attempts to grab control for itself. The male element in thinking seeks to outlast the female. There will come a time, however, when sexlessness will again be re-established and the struggle is about which of the two sexes will first attain this state of sexlessness. Hence Freemasonry endeavours to make the male sex—or, to express it better, the male spirit—outlast the female and attain to the state of sexlessness.
Now there is an occult connection between the power of speech and the power of sexual production. The Word has made everything. Originally it lived in man. Then man lost it. He can no longer create independently because he no longer has the Word. Only someone who was present at the Creation can know it. Tubal-Cain knew it and gave it to Hiram. Whoever wants to regain the power of procreation must gain possession of the Word. The truly creative power must unite itself with the Word. The Word will bring forth the man of the future; for the son of Hiram really will be seen. Fire, the Divine Power, will then establish itself in a new way. A new race will replace the old. In the ancient Hebrew language there is a Word, a Mantram, which, it is said, will create the world if uttered sufficiently strongly.5 This possibly refers to the ‘Ineffable name of God’ which, according to Hans Ludwig Held (‘Von Golem und Shem’ in Das Reich, January 1917), ‘is a difficult formula sequence corresponding to the 12-, 42-, or 72-letter name, the knowing of which reveals the secret of God's works or God's activity from beginning to end.’ Man will thus beget spiritual man by means of speech itself once the Word has developed sufficiently. Now we grasp what is represented by the Tree of Knowledge. The serpent is what winds itself upwards in the backbone as spinal marrow. Perception in the physical is that [kind of knowledge] which originates in the nervous system. ‘I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed;’6 Genesis 3, 15. by that is meant enmity between the seed of the physical, physical perception, and the seed of the spirit, spiritual perception. The spiritual, the woman, indeed bruises the head of the serpent, but only after it has wounded her in the heel. This is that [power] which presses the foot [of man] from the centre of the earth.
The power of speech changes at man's puberty. This was regarded as a portent of the new Son of Hiram (II Chronicles 2:13). The ideal which the Freemasons had set themselves was therefore to bring about the procreation of this son from the male sex, which is to result from the power of the larynx. Everything which subsequently appeared on the earth in physical form had its origin in the spirit. In the very beginning, the only things to work on earth were those which had resulted from the Divine Spirit. There then appeared, on the one hand, the female image-wisdom of the priests, and on the other, the imageless wisdom of Cain. Now it is interesting that when an image-content was sought for the wisdom of Cain, the male wisdom then borrowed from the female wisdom; the Temple Legend and the entire content of Freemasonry derives from the old priestly wisdom, from the revelation from above. That was concealed in symbols. However, the symbols gradually ceased to be understood. Gradually, everything occult vanished from Freemasonry. The three Craft Masonry degrees are orientated wholly towards the physical plane.
Because we have seen why these spiritual currents run parallel to each other, we will now also understand the significance of the theosophical movement. It is preparing, in the spiritual realm, what will later happen on the physical plane—the reunion of the sexes. The divided wisdom must likewise flow together again in the one Divine wisdom.
Through theosophical wisdom, a balance must be found in man, between the religious priestly wisdom and the wisdom of Freemasonry. The wisdom of the future must be brought out of the higher human, which lives equally in both male and female. To develop what is needed, and what is completely uninfluenced by things of the physical plane, is the purpose of the theosophical movement.
Theosophy is truly male-female wisdom, wisdom which is equally valid for both sexes. Through the teaching of reincarnation one recognises that what comes to expression in every new earth life is not the personality of that particular earth life, but that the causal body, the entelechy, creates itself asexually. When we become aware of this we axe spiritually quickened with what is higher than the sexual, with what is independent of the causes of conflict between the two currents. Thus theosophy is the balancing movement; and it alone can bring about the balance. Only in theosophy can one speak about an occultism which applies equally to both sexes; only from this source can one think of a real balance between the two sexes. Everything else is an after-effect of the previous dual sexuality.
Freemasonry sets itself the task of preparing for the future. So, the wholly exclusive principle of former times was abandoned as early as the eighteenth century. And in 1775 the first of the so-called Adoption Lodges was founded; a lodge for women, since the law of the balance of the sexes was recognised. And so the connection was established between men and women through the founding of a lodge for women. But every member of a women's lodge had to be adopted by a man from a men's lodge.
Indeed, H.P. Blavatsky belonged to such an Adoption Lodge.7 H. P. Blavatsky belonged to such an Adoption Lodge. See notes 6 and 7 to the preceding lecture. And so this theosophical experiment was made by Freemasonry itself. This shows you that whatever is correct is always preceded by an experiment; only the reason why such an experiment is made may not be understood immediately. However, man can equally not expect that fundamental forces in the world will always be understood right away. It may be that one prefers one or the other current; therefore the two currents will run parallel to each other for a long time yet. In order to achieve a harmonious balance it may be necessary to pour into Freemasonry what will lead it over towards the theosophical movement.
Now you will also grasp why, in the Middle Ages, the Church had to evolve a quite specific ideal. Freemasonry created its ideal for the future—the Church created its ideal for the future. It had nothing to do with Freemasonry. Christ lived in the Church as ideal—a male ideal, indeed. This male ideal could not suffice for the occult current within the Church. Man needed the active as well as the passive [principle]; he had to think out what he lacked. He needed something which would complete him, as a means of concentration. He was already a man; he had to think out the woman. The occultist who understood something about this, who was not a Freemason, must conceive the woman. Thus did the Cult of Mary spring out of monasticism. This came to the Church—to the priesthood, and to Freemasonry, that is—as a third current.
All three currents had basically the same aim—to make mankind independent of the sexes. But the way of achieving this aim varied. The Christian occultist sought the male principle in woman, to embody it in himself.
One has to be clear about the fact that the true inner man is independent of the sexes, which are divisive; that is why one passes through both sexes during different incarnations. And now you must consider that, for Freemasonry, the battle on the outer physical plane is waged so that all individualities which incarnate in female bodies are gradually led towards the male, so that the male lasts longer than the female. It should outlast the female, because the female was the earlier one. This was in the back of the masonic mind, as an ideal; but it was one-sided.
What ideal does theosophy have in the back of its mind-, The ideal of theosophy is to use the wisdom that comes from higher planes to bring about, on the physical plane itself, a human race that is above sexuality. Therefore theosophy is indeed a wisdom that is not broken up into [various] religions, that does not rely on any particular religion but falls back on the primal wisdom that made the world, that replaces that wisdom which, as priestly wisdom, differentiated itself into the various wisdoms. It must do this; because, in the course of time, the priestly wisdom has completed its task. Theosophy, however, wants to conquer the future, to conquer what still has to come rather than what has already been; it is in a particular sense a continuation of the ancient priestly wisdom, of the Mysteries, and nevertheless, in another sense, is in contrast with them.
Opponents of the theosophical movement would be those who want to stick rigidly to the ancient priestly wisdom, who seek to retain it and, so to speak, mummify it in its old form. The plan of the higher [worlds] for world development is to guide evolution towards a modern spiritual life which will forge the future. The very first blush of the dawn of the development of a new wisdom—which has to come—showed at the time when the Rosicrucians brought a new spiritual life to human development, in the fifteenth century. This was a matter of a new impulse coming into the world. The theme of this ran, that the old priestly wisdom should be transformed into a new [wisdom].
Forces also existed which wanted to re-conquer the world for the ancient priestly wisdom; an Order was thus founded with the aim of winning the earth back for the old priestly wisdom. This Order [the Jesuit Order] chose the ideal male in contrast to the Cult of Mary. It used occult powers to erect something like a dam to hold back the whole stream of independent life, and to conserve what seeks to cling to the Cross. It championed the male principle, the Cross by itself, without the roses. However another Order added roses to the Cross, and new life sprang out of them.
So we have two modern currents. The one has brought the old into the present and seeks to check progress with all its might. The other has surrounded the old Cross with roses. It has grafted a new shoot—the Cross entwined with roses. These two currents run parallel with each other, the one order having a Cross without roses, and the other, which reveres the roses on a new Cross, which must come. These are the Rosicrucians. The theosophical movement grew out of this current; it springs from the newly flourishing scion of the rose, which must mature in the future.
Thus we have seen how this battle started, in which women were not allowed to play a part. Our task is to bridge the gulf between the Freemasons and the Rosicrucians. The work is difficult, but it must be done. It involves reaching towards the awareness of the higher humanity beyond sexuality. It is difficult to win through to that, but it is possible, and this will succeed, this will become reality.
Freimaurerei und Menschheitsentwickelung II
Die Dinge, die wir heute besprechen wollen, sind bisher nicht vor Frauen besprochen worden. Daher ist es eigentlich eine Kühnheit, wenn ich heute darüber zu Ihnen spreche. Aber gewisse okkulte Strömungen machen es nötig.
Innerhalb dieser Strömungen gibt es manche Dinge intimer Art, die bis vor kurzem nicht vor Frauen besprochen werden durften, weil die okkulten Bruderschaften — die den Zweck hatten, diese intimen Dinge zu pflegen - das strenge Gebot hatten, keine weiblichen Mitglieder aufzunehmen. Das, was sie in der Welt zu tun hatten, sollten sie nicht unter Mitarbeit des weiblichen Elementes machen. Bis vor kurzem ist dieses Gebot pünktlich eingehalten worden. Heutzutage nun ist die einzige Möglichkeit, einen Ausgleich zwischen den zwei Geschlechtern zu schaffen, nur in der Theosophischen Gesellschaft gegeben. Hier ist auch allein die Stätte, wo über diese Dinge vor Frauen gesprochen wird.
Wir fragen nun: Warum hat diese Trennung der Geschlechter stattgefunden, die in den Freimaurerlogen zu einem so grotesken Ausdruck gekommen ist? - Wenn man verstehen will, warum eigentlich diese Spaltung gepflogen worden ist, so muß man das mit einem etwas grotesken Vergleich ausdrücken: Wenn sich zwei Mächte bekriegen, so würde es sehr töricht sein, wenn der eine Feldherr dem anderen, feindlichen, seinen Feldzugsplan verraten wollte, bevor der Krieg beginnt. Genauso würde es bedeuten, dem Feinde die Waffen auszuliefern, wenn man in der Freimaurerei die Frauen herangezogen hätte. Denn um einen Krieg handelt es sich bei den Freimaurern, und zwar um den Krieg gegen den weiblichen Geist, um eine scharfe Opposition gegen den weiblichen Geist als solchen. Dieser Kampf war notwendig, ja, die okkulte Freimaurerei ist geradezu zu diesem Zweck gegründet worden. Daher war es Usus, über die okkulten Dinge vor den Geschlechtern getrennt zu reden. Es muß erst eine Form gefunden werden, in der von diesen Dingen zu Frauen gesprochen werden kann.
Die Gründung der Freimaurerei geht in ferne Vergangenheit zurück. Sie entstand beim Beginn der vierten Unterrasse unserer jetzigen fünften Wurzelrasse. Zu derselben Zeit wurde auch erst das Alte Testament niedergeschrieben, welches uns Aufschluß über diese Dinge gibt. Es wird gesagt, daß höhere Geister dem Moses die Offenbarungen gemacht haben, die er dann niedergeschrieben habe. Die Kenntnis der höheren Tatsachen war aber schon viel früher vorhanden und wurde von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht mündlich, von Priestermund zu Priestermund, weitergegeben, bis sie von Esra - dem die Niederschrift dieser Dinge zugeschrieben wird - schriftlich dokumentiert worden ist. Als das Alte Testament nun anfing, durch die Priesterschaft eine Macht zu werden, da entstand in der Bruderschaft der Freimaurer aus einer bestimmten Ursache heraus eine gewaltige Opposition gegen dieses Priesterbuch, die Bibel. Sie ist sicher immer dagewesen, und sie war notwendig. Wir müssen uns klarmachen, warum?
Seien wir uns einig darüber, daß alles, was auf dem physischen Plan vor sich geht, zuerst in einer gewissen Weise frühere Tatsachen wiederholen muß. Es findet auf der Erde stets eine Wiederholung der Ereignisse früherer Zeiten statt. Der Mensch muß vor der Geburt die Stadien durchmachen, die er in seinem dumpfen Tierbewußtsein früher durchgemacht hat. So war zum Beispiel auch die Renaissancezeit des Mittelalters eine Wiederholung der alten griechischen Zeit. Auch bei den planetarischen Vorgängen finden wir solche Wiederholungen. Bevor die Erde das wurde, was sie heute ist, mußte sie erst die Wiederholung früherer Zustände durchmachen, ehe sie in der vierten Runde ein selbständiger Planet, eben unsere Erde wurde. So wiederholen sich, wenn neue Tatsachen in der Welt auftreten sollen, immer die früheren Stufen in einer neuen Form. So hat der Geist der Menschen in der fünften Wurzelrasse eine Wiederholung der lemurischen Rasse durchgemacht, wo der Mensch noch eingeschlechtlich war und dann zweigeschlechtlich wurde, was einen großen Einfluß auf seine geistige Entwickelung hatte. In der dritten Unterrasse der fünften Wurzelrasse, der babylonisch-ägyptischen Zeit, hat sich nun nach und nach wiederholt auf dem Gebiete des geistigen Lebens, was in der lemurischen Zeit mit dem physischen Menschen vorgegangen ist.
Bevor es Männliches und Weibliches gab, war beides vereinigt, dann traten die zwei Geschlechter auseinander. Dieselbe Sache haben wir in der fünften Wurzelrasse in bezug auf die geistige Entwickelung.

III. Wurzelrasse: Spaltung der physischen Entwickelung in männlich und weiblich, in zwei Geschlechter.
V. Wurzelrasse: Spaltung der geistigen Entwickelung in männlichen Geist und weiblichen Geist; in Jehovadienst oder Priesterschaft und Freimaurerei.
In der ersten Unterrasse, in der indischen Kultur ist noch alles erhaben über den physischen Plan. Die uralte indische Weisheit, die aus der ersten Unterrasse der fünften Wurzelrasse stammt, hängt geistig vor allem zusammen nicht mit dem heutigen physischen Plan, sondern mit den Zuständen früherer Zeit, wo der Mensch noch männlichweiblich war. Daher wird dort auch noch gar nicht Bezug genommen auf die Tatsache der Geschlechter. Von einem dualistischen Prinzip ist in ihr nicht die Rede; dieses trat erst in der folgenden Unterrasse auf. Die Veden sind aus viel späterer Zeit. Bei der zweiten Unterrasse tritt schon eine gewaltige Spaltung auf. Das, worin sich diese Spaltung äußert, das stellt uns das Alte Testament in einem wunderbaren Bilde dar. Sehr schön und deutlich steht es in der Genesis: Bevor Jahve den Menschen geschaffen hat, schuf er auf der Erde Früchte, Tiere und so weiter und zuletzt schuf er den Menschen, Adam, und diesen teilte er dann in zwei Geschlechter.
Diese Darstellung beruht auf okkulter Erkenntnis der physischen Tatsachen. Nun stellt selbstverständlich alle okkulte Weisheit einen Zusammenhang dar zwischen physischen Tatsachen und der späteren geistigen Weisheit. Denn die physischen Tatsachen sind aus der göttlichen Weisheit hervorgegangen, und die Weisheit geht später wieder aus dem physischen Leben, aus dem Menschen hervor. Es ist ein Zusammenhang da zwischen Weisheit, Erkenntnis und dem physischen Leben.
Die ganze befruchtende und fruchtbringende Kraft, die einen neuen Menschen hervorbringt, war früher in einem Geschlecht vereinigt. Dann wird der Mensch geteilt in männlich und weiblich. Welchem Geschlecht kommt der eigentliche Anspruch auf die Zeugungskraft zu? Es ist das Weibliche. Daher wird in der ältesten griechischen Mythologie Zeus, der als Vater der Menschheit verehrt wurde, mit einer Frauenbüste, mit einer weiblichen Büste dargestellt. Zeus als übermenschliches Wesen war dem weiblichen Geschlecht näher. Das weibliche Geschlecht war also das erste, das frühere, und hatte damals in sich die Kraft, das ganze menschliche Individuum hervorzubringen. Diese hervorbringende Kraft war vorhanden in dem eingeschlechtlichen Menschen, der in seiner physischen äußeren Form sich eben mehr der Form des Weibes näherte. In diesem eingeschlechtlichen Menschen war das Befruchtende die Weisheit, das Geistige selbst, und eine spätere Wiederholung davon ist die Befruchtung des weiblichen Geistes mit inspirierter Weisheit. Dieser Mensch der eingeschlechtlichen Zeit war das Ergebnis des im Weibe gegebenen Stoffes und der Befruchtung mit dem göttlichen Geiste.
Nun müssen Sie sich klarmachen, was das war, wodurch das Weib den Menschen hervorbringen konnte. Physisch haben wir zunächst das Weib, das befruchtet wird von oben. Was das Befruchtende war, war der göttliche Geist im Weibe. Als die Spaltung der Geschlechter stattfand, trat die Differenzierung so ein, daß sich zunächst für das weibliche Geschlecht die geistigen Befruchtungsorgane in Weisheitsorgane verwandelten. Die männliche Kraft, die das Weib in sich hatte, die verwandelte die schöpferische Kraft in die Organe der Weisheit. So blieb dem Weibe die Hälfte der hervorbringenden Kraft; dem Manne blieb die schöpferische physische Kraft. Durch diese Trennung entstanden physisch das Rückenmark und das Gehirn mit den Nervensträngen, dargestellt in dem Baum des Lebens und dem Baum der Erkenntnis. Das Organ der Weisheit ist ausgebildet in den Rückgratringen mit dem Rückenmark und dessen Ausdehnung im Gehirn. Von da an ist eine Zweiheit im Menschen: Das sind die zwei Bäume in der biblischen Urkunde, der Baum der Erkenntnis und der Baum des Lebens.
Nun passen sich die neuen Wesen dieser Umwandlung an. Nicht alle früheren weiblichen Individuen haben nachher die weibliche Form angenommen. In dem einen Teil trat die weibliche Seite, die Möglichkeit, Menschen hervorzubringen, zurück, und es bleibt ihm als Ersatz die Kraft der Befruchtung in einer ganz anderen Weise zurück. Die physische Natur hatte sich gespalten in ein Befruchtendes und ein zu Befruchtendes. Ebenso hat sich auch die geistige Natur gespalten. Bei den weiblichen Individuen hat der Geist männlichen Charakter und Färbung; beim Manne hat das Geistige einen weiblichen Charakter. Das ist noch das Weib im Manne.
Die biblische Legende stellt das sehr genau dar. Es wird bekanntlich dem zweigeschlechtlichen Menschen verboten, vom Baume der Erkenntnis zu essen. Die Kraft, die Jehova in den Menschen gelegt hatte, war: seine Weisheit im Weibe wirken zu lassen. «Du sollst nicht essen vom Baume der Erkenntnis», heißt soviel wie: Du sollst nicht die befruchtende Kraft abtrennen und selbständig machen. — Denn dadurch geht dem Weibe die Jahvekraft, die befruchtende Kraft, verloren. Als das Weib vom Baume der Erkenntnis aß, legte es den Grund dazu, selbständig in der Weisheit zu werden und somit aufzuhören, ein unselbständiges Werkzeug Jehovas zu bleiben, wie dieser es geplant hatte. So aber verlor es mit der Jehovakraft die Kraft, sich selbst mit Weisheit zu befruchten. Es setzte diese Kraft aus sich heraus, indem es [von dem Baume der Erkenntnis] aß und dem Manne von dem Apfel gab. So wurde das Weib vom Manne abhängig. Es war Luzifer, der den Menschen auf diesen Weg brachte, um ihn selbständig zu machen. Dem widersetzte sich Jehova und erließ deshalb das Verbot, vom Baume der Erkenntnis zu essen. Das Weib aber ißt und gibt dem Manne. Der ißt auch, und dann folgt die Strafe, von Jehova verhängt. Neue Leiber müssen entstehen, die das Karma des vorigen Lebens austragen, der Tod und das Geborenwerden kommen in die Welt. Das Weib ist nun nicht mehr durch sich selbst fruchtbar, sondern ist unfruchtbar geworden. Und damit, daß die Befruchtung von außen kommt, ist auch die Möglichkeit eines solchen Todes in die Welt gekommen.
Im Bilde der biblischen Paradieses-Erzählung wird uns dieser tiefe Zusammenhang dargestellt. Alte Priestertraditionen waren Inhalt dieser Bilder geworden, alte Priesterweisheit war in diesen Bildern anschaulich verkörpert. Das Weib ist dann unfruchtbar geworden in bezug auf geistige Weisheit, indem es nach physischer Erkenntnis verlangte. Es gab dem Manne, er aß auch, sie wurden schuldig und aus dem Paradiese, zu dessen Entstehung sie nichts getan hatten, vertrieben. Das ist die alte Priestertradition über die Entstehung der Geschlechter. Es liegt eine tiefe Kenntnis vom Zusammenhange der tatsächlichen Vorgänge darinnen.
Was war nun geschehen dadurch, daß das Weibliche sich vom Männlichen abspaltete? In welchem Geschlechte hat sich der Schatten der produktiven geistigen Weisheitskraft mehr erhalten, im männlichen oder im weiblichen? Wir haben gesehen, daß die weibliche Weisheit eigentlich einen männlichen Charakter hat: das ist das Schaffende, das Produktive, die Intuition, das was originell ist, was hervorbringt. Dieselbe göttliche Kraft, die früher befruchtend im Weibe gewirkt hat, um den physischen Menschen hervorzubringen, wirkt nun befruchtend auf die Erkenntnis des göttlichen Wesenskernes im Menschen. Um diesen Vorgang zu fördern, wirken die Religionen durch Wort und Bild.
Das weibliche Wesen wird physisch unfruchtbar, das heißt, es kann keine Nachkommen aus sich heraussetzen wie ehedem. Der männliche, passive Geist ist derjenige, der geistig unfruchtbar ist, aber der Mann ist der, der physisch befruchten kann. Geistig läßt er sich nun befruchten durch alles das, was in der Welt ist. Er wird nun geistig befruchtet, um selbst physisch befruchten zu können. Die ganze Welt dringt zunächst auf ihn ein. Er wird befruchtet geistig, das Weib physisch. Das Weib dagegen ist geistig selbst befruchtend; der Mann wird geistig befruchtet. Dadurch, daß man draußen alles sammelte und kombinierte, wurde die männliche Weisheit befruchtet. So entstand die Männerweisheit, die darauf bedacht war, die weltliche Weisheit zu sammeln. Die war wirklich zunächst nicht vorhanden, wie die früher von oben einströmende. Sie mußte erst gesammelt werden aus der Erkenntnis der physischen Welt. Die weibliche Weisheit dagegen ging faktisch auf die Priesterschaft über. Die Priesterweisheit wurde das Gut, welches ursprünglich von der alten weiblichen Weisheit herstammte. Jehova konnte das menschliche Geschlecht ja nur dadurch erhalten, daß er es in die zwei Geschlechter spaltete. Es entstanden zwei Oppositionen: Freimaurerei und Priesterherrschaft, die symbolisiert sind durch Kain und Abel.
Nun ist ein Unterschied zwischen der weiblichen Priesterweisheit und dem männlichen Streben. Das wird uns dargestellt in der Legende von Kain und Abel. Abel war ein Hirte; er beschäftigte sich mit dem Leben, das schon da ist: Er ist das Symbol der angestammten göttlichen Kraft, die im Menschen als Weisheit wirkt, die er sich nicht selbst erwirbt, die in ihn einströmt. Kain schafft Neues aus dem heraus, was die Umwelt bietet: Er repräsentiert die passive männliche Weisheit, die erst befruchtet werden muß von außen; die in die Welt hinausgeht, um zu sammeln und zu schaffen aus der gesammelten Weisheit. Kain erschlug den Abel; das heißt: die männliche Weisheit wehrt sich gegen die weibliche Weisheit, denn sie fühlt, daß sie die physische Weisheit erobern und umformen muß.
Diese Opposition nun aufzunehmen, das setzten sich die alten Freimaurer als Ideal vor. Sie wollten der weiblichen Weisheit, die auf die Priesterschaft übergegangen war, entgegenarbeiten durch die männliche Weisheit. Die Bibel in ihren großen Bildern war anzusehen als die auf die Priesterschaft übertragene intuitive weibliche Weisheit; der wollten sie entgegensetzen die vom Manne selbst erworbene Weisheit. Dieser Kampf gegen die Priesterweisheit war der Ausdruck der Opposition der Freimaurer. Man mußte dabei diejenigen, die mitwirkten, freihalten von einem jeglichen Einflusse weiblicher Weisheit. Es hatte dieser Kampf zu tun mit der physischen Entwickelung, und es war deshalb notwendig für die Freimaurer, sich von jedem Verkehr mit dem weiblichen Geschlechte fernzuhalten in bezug auf ihre Arbeit. Sie wußten, daß ihre Opposition gegen den weiblichen Geist nur durchgeführt werden könnte, wenn sie nicht gestört würden durch weibliche Gedanken. Man mußte das Positive hinstellen und überhaupt vermeiden, daß ein störendes Element dazwischen kam.
Das Freimaurertum schuf nun als Gegensatz zur Bibellegende die Tempellegende. Diese sollte das Kampfesschwert gegen die Priesterschaft darstellen. Diese Tempellegende wollen wir uns nun vor die Seele stellen. Sie hat folgenden Inhalt:
Ursprünglich schuf einer der Elohim den Kain, indem er sich selbst mit Eva verband. Dem stellte entgegen der Elohim Jahve den Adam. Dieser verband sich mit Eva, und daraus ging Abel hervor. Kain erschlug den Abel, Jehova machte darauf das Geschlecht des Kain untertan dem Geschlecht des Abel.
Das heißt: ursprünglich wandte sich die weltliche Weisheit gegen die Priesterweisheit und unterlag, denn in Seth wurde das Abelprinzip fortgesetzt, und alle weltliche Weisheit wurde der Priesterweisheit unterworfen.
Nun wird erzählt, wie die Nachkommen des Kain die Erde eroberten, wie sie die Künste ausbildeten. Musik, Künste und Wissenschaften wurden von ihnen gepflegt. Tubal-Kain (1. Moses 4,21-22), der Meister von Erz und Eisenwerk, Jubal, von dem die Pfeifer und Geiger hergekommen sind, Hiram, der Erbauer des Salomonischen Tempels (1. König, 7,13), zählten zu Kains Nachkommen.
Da - mit Hiram — wären wir an der Grenze zwischen der dritten und vierten Unterrasse angelangt, wo die Priesterherrschaft überging in die Königsherrschaft. Es entstand das Königtum von Gottes Gnaden, dessen Repräsentant der König Salomo war. Salomo hatte seine Macht nicht erhalten durch Arbeit auf dem physischen Plan, sondern durch das, was von Gottes Gnaden gekommen ist. Die Priesterweisheit ging über auf die Königsherrschaft. So wird diese als die Nachfolgerin der Priesterherrschaft angesehen, die unfähig war, aus sich selbst heraus für die Menschheit das für den Erdenfortschritt Notwendige zu tun. Aus den Abkömmlingen Kains mußte derjenige, der den Tempel bauen sollte, geholt werden, weil er selbsterarbeitete Gedanken besaß.
Die Legende erzählt nun weiter, daß die Königin von Saba, Balkis, verlobt war mit König Salomo. Sie kam zu ihm und staunte den Tempelbau an, er ihre Weisheit. Sie verlangte den Baumeister selbst zu sehen, denn sie konnte nicht begreifen, daß durch Menschenweisheit dieser wunderbare Bau entstanden sei. Hiram kam und machte schon allein durch seinen Blick einen mächtigen Eindruck auf sie. Nun verlangte sie auch die Arbeiter am Tempel zu sehen. Als Salomo sagt, daß das nicht gehe, da macht Hiram das mystische Tau-Zeichen in die Luft, und alsbald strömen die Arbeiter herbei. In dem mystischen Tau-Zeichen liegen die Kräfte, durch welche die Kainssöhne arbeiten auf dem physischen Plan.
Drei Gesellen des Hiram sind unzufrieden, weil er sie nicht zum Meistergrad befördert hat. Sie beschließen, dem Hiram zu schaden. Sie wollen sein Hauptwerk zerstören. Er will nämlich das Eherne Meer ausführen: das ist ein großes Kunstwerk, das aus einem flüssigen Elemente, aus geschmolzenem Erz, gegossen werden soll. Das ist ein Symbol des großen Kunstwerkes, zu dem das ganze Mineralreich umgearbeitet werden soll: die Aufgabe unseres Manvantaras. Die drei Gesellen tun folgendes: sie bringen den Guß des Ehernen Meeres in Unordnung. Hiram versucht durch Zugießen von Wasser den Guß wieder in Ordnung zu bringen: da zerstiebt alles in einem feurigen Sprühregen. Als Hiram verzweifelt sich verloren glaubt, wird er durch eine Gestalt, in der er Tubal-Kain erkennt, in den Mittelpunkt der Erde geführt. Dort wird ihm gesagt: Jehova oder Adonai ist nichts anderes als ein Feind der Feuergeister. Er will die Feuergeister vernichten. Dir aber wird ein Sohn geboren werden, den du zwar selbst nicht sehen wirst, der aber ein neues Geschlecht auf die Erde bringen wird. — Nun gibt ihm Tubal-Kain einen Hammer, womit er den Guß des Ehernen Meeres zu Ende führen kann. Die drei Gesellen aber ermorden ihn. Vor seinem Tod haucht er noch ein Wort aus, das er auf ein goldenes Dreieck schreibt, und versenkt es. Man versteht das Wort nicht. Dies Wort ist das verlorene Wort der Freimaurer. Hiram wird beerdigt, ein Akazienzweig wird auf sein Grab gepflanzt. Das Dreieck wird noch einmal ausgegraben, aber niemand weiß es zu würdigen. Es wird wieder versenkt und ein Würfel darauf gesetzt, auf welchem die Zehn Gebote geschrieben stehen.
Was heißt nun: Jehova haßt die Feuersöhne? - Es sind diejenigen Menschen, die auf dem Wege der Eingeschlechtlichkeit hervorgebracht sind (Kain). Die Weisheit ist in ihnen mit Kama, dem irdischen kamischen Feuer vermischt. Diejenigen, die sich dem weiblichen Priestertum zugewendet haben, sind die Abelsöhne. Hiram wird verheißen: Du wirst einen Sohn haben, der ein neues Geschlecht begründen wird. Du wirst ihn zwar nicht kennen. — Dieses neue Geschlecht soll herbeigeführt werden, wenn das verlorene Wort wieder seine Kraft erhält, wenn es in neuer Weise entsteht. Dieses Wort wieder entstehen zu lassen, daran arbeitet die okkulte Tradition, die im Freimaurertum verkörpert ist. Sie arbeitet daran, daß im männlichen Elemente zu dem Passiven das Aktive hinzutreten kann, daß sie selbst das Befruchtende wieder erlange im Geiste, um aus dem Passiven ein Aktives zu machen, damit die Kainssöhne aus sich selbst etwas hervorbringen können.
Die folgende Tradition bildete sich aus: Die weibliche war die ursprüngliche Kraft. Sie hat der Welt alles gegeben, was an Weisheit in der Welt war. Sie hat aber einen Teil der physischen Produktionskraft verloren und auf das Männliche übertragen. Nun vergeistigt sich wieder alles und bei der Vergeistigung sucht die männliche Kraft die Herrschaft an sich zu reißen. Das männliche Element des Denkens sucht das Weibliche zu überdauern. Es wird aber eine Zeit kommen, wo wieder Geschlechtslosigkeit eintreten wird, und es handelt sich bei dem Kampfe darum, welches von den beiden Geschlechtern diese Geschlechtslosigkeit zuerst erobert. Das Freimaurertum strebt danach, daß das männliche Geschlecht, besser gesagt der männliche Geist, das Weibliche überdauern möge, die Geschlechtslosigkeit erobern möge.
Es gibt nun einen okkulten Zusammenhang zwischen der Kraft der Sprache und der geschlechtlichen Produktionskraft. Das «Wort» hat alles hervorgebracht. Es lebte ursprünglich im Menschen. Dann hat der Mensch es verloren. Er kann nicht mehr selbständig schaffen, weil ihm das Wort fehlt. Nur der kann es wissen, der bei der Schöpfung zugegen war. Tubal-Kain wußte es und gab es dem Hiram. Dies Wort muß derjenige an sich reißen, der wieder Hervorbringungskraft haben will. Die wirkliche produktive Kraft muß sich mit dem Wort vereinigen. Das Wort wird den Menschen der Zukunft hervorbringen. Dann wird der Sohn des Hiram wirklich zu sehen sein. Das Feuer, die göttliche Kraft, wird dann in neuer Weise erstehen. Ein neues Geschlecht wird das alte ablösen. - In der alten hebräischen Sprache gibt es ein Wort, ein Mantram, von dem gesagt wird, daß es, genügend stark ausgesprochen, die Welt hervorbringt. So wird der Mensch, wenn das Wort genügend gesteigert ist, durch die Sprache selbst den geistigen Menschen hervorbringen. Jetzt begreifen wir, was im Baume der Erkenntnis dargestellt ist: Die Schlange ist das, was sich im Rückgrat als Rückenmark hinaufwindet. Die Erkenntnis im Physischen ist die, die aus dem Nervensystem entspringt. «Es wird Feindschaft sein zwischen dir und dem Weibe, zwischen ihrem Samen und deinem Samen» : damit ist die Feindschaft zwischen dem Samen des Physischen, der physischen Erkenntnis, und dem Samen des Geistigen, der geistigen Erkenntnis gemeint. Das Geistige, das Weib, zermalmt zwar der Schlange den Kopf, aber erst, nachdem diese es in die Ferse gestochen hat. Es ist das, was aus dem Mittelpunkt der Erde zu den Füßen dringt.
Bei der Mannesreife wird die Sprachkraft eine andere. Das wurde als Vorbote angesehen für den neuen Sohn des Hiram (2. Chronik 2,13). Darauf hinzuwirken, diesen Sohn aus dem männlichen Geschlechte zu erzeugen, der durch die Kraft des Kehlkopfes entstehen soll, das war das Ideal, das sich die Freimaurer gestellt hatten. Alles was auf Erden später im Physischen entstanden ist, hat seinen Ursprung im Geistigen. Im Urbeginne wirkte nur das, was vom göttlichen Geiste auf der Erde entstand. Dann entstand auf der einen Seite die weibliche Bilder- und Priesterweisheit, auf der anderen Seite die bildlose Kainsweisheit. Und es ist interessant, daß, als gesucht wurde ein bildlicher Inhalt für die Kainsweisheit, daß da die männliche Weisheit eine Anleihe macht bei der weiblichen Weisheit: die Tempellegende und der ganze Inhalt der Freimaurerei stammt aus der alten Priesterweisheit, der Offenbarung von Oben. Das wurde in Symbole gehüllt. Aber die Symbole wurden nach und nach nicht mehr verstanden. Alles Okkulte verschwand nach und nach aus der Freimaurerei. Die drei Johannesgrade sind ganz auf den physischen Plan berechnet.
Da wir gesehen haben, warum diese geistigen Strömungen nebeneinander hergingen, so werden wir auch die Bedeutung der theosophischen Bewegung verstehen. Sie bereitet auf geistigem Gebiet vor, was später auf dem physischen Plan geschehen wird: die Wiedervereinigung der Geschlechter. Auch die geteilte Weisheit muß wieder in die eine göttliche Weisheit zusammenfließen. Im Menschen muß durch die theosophische Weisheit ein Ausgleich gefunden werden zwischen der religiösen Priesterweisheit und der freimaurerischen Weisheit. Die Weisheit der Zukunft muß geholt werden aus dem höheren Menschen heraus, der in beiden Menschen gleich lebt, dem weiblichen und dem männlichen. Das zu entwickeln, worauf es ankommt, worauf der physische Plan gar keinen Einfluß mehr hat, das ist der Zweck der theosophischen Bewegung.
Die Theosophie ist tatsächlich die männlich-weibliche Weisheit, die für beide Geschlechter gleich gültige Weisheit. Durch die Lehre von der Reinkarnation erkennt man, daß dasjenige, was bei jeder neuen Wiederverkörperung zum Ausdruck kommt, nicht die Persönlichkeit des jeweiligen Erdenlebens ist, sondern daß der Kausalkörper, die Entelechie, sich geschlechtslos aufbaut. Wenn wir uns dieser bewußt werden, so lebt in uns geistig auf, was über dem Geschlechtlichen steht, was unabhängig ist von dem, worauf sich die Gegnerschaft der beiden Strömungen gegründet hat. So ist die Theosophie die ausgleichende Bewegung, und sie allein kann den Ausgleich herbeiführen. Erst in der Theosophie kann man von einem Okkultismus sprechen, der beide Geschlechter gleichmäßig angeht. Nur von da aus kann man sich einen wirklichen Ausgleich zwischen beiden Geschlechtern denken. Nur die theosophische Bewegung kann das vollziehen. Alles andere ist eine Nachwirkung der früheren Zweigeschlechtlichkeit.
Das Freimaurertum stellt sich die Aufgabe, das Zukünftige vorzubereiten. Deshalb wurde schon im 18. Jahrhundert abgesehen von dem früheren vollständig ausschließenden Prinzip. Und 1775 wurde eine erste sogenannte «Adoptionsloge» gegründet: eine Frauenloge, weil man das Gesetz des Ausgleichs der Geschlechter erkannte. Und so wurde ein Zusammenhang hergestellt zwischen Männern und Frauen, indem eine Frauenloge gegründet wurde. Aber jedes Mitglied einer Frauenloge mußte von einem Manne in einer Männerloge adoptiert sein. Einer solchen Adoptionsloge gehörte auch H. P. Blavatsky an. Aus der Freimaurerei selbst heraus wurde also jener theosophische Versuch gemacht. Dies zeigt Ihnen, daß dem, was richtig ist, stets ein Versuch vorangeht; nur der Grund, warum ein solcher Versuch gemacht wird, kann nicht gleich verstanden werden. Aber man kann auch nicht verlangen, daß das, was in der Welt als Grundkraft ist, gleich immer wirklich verstanden wird: es kann sein, daß man die eine oder die andere Strömung bevorzugt. Deshalb werden die beiden Strömungen wohl noch lange nebeneinander herfließen. Es könnte, um ein ruhiges Ausgleichen zu bewirken, nötig sein, in die Freimaurerei hineinzugießen, was sie hinüberführt zur theosophischen Bewegung.
Nun werden Sie auch begreifen, warum die Kirche im Mittelalter ein ganz bestimmtes Ideal entwickeln mußte. Die Freimaurerei schuf ihr Ideal der Zukunft, die Kirche schuf ihr Ideal der Zukunft. Mit der Freimaurerei hatte sie nichts zu tun. Als Ideal lebte in der Kirche der Christus, also ein männliches Ideal. Dieses männliche Ideal konnte der okkulten Strömung innerhalb der Kirche nicht genügen. Der Mann brauchte zu dem Passiven auch das Aktive, er mußte das, was ihm selbst fehlte, sich hinzudenken. Er brauchte als Konzentrationsmittel etwas, was ihn ergänzte. Mann war er schon, das Weib mußte er hinzudenken. Der Okkultist, der etwas von den Dingen verstand, der nicht Freimaurer war, mußte das Weib denken. So entstand aus dem Mönchstum bewußt der Marienkultus. Dieser kam als dritte Strömung zu der Kirche, das heißt zu dem Priestertum und dem Freimaurertum hinzu.
Alle drei Strömungen hatten im Grunde genommen dasselbe Ziel: das Unabhängigwerden der Menschen von den Geschlechtern. Aber die Art der Arbeit, um das Ziel zu erreichen, war eine verschiedene. Der christliche Okkultist suchte in dem Weibe das männliche Prinzip, um es sich einzuverleiben.
Man muß sich klar sein darüber, daß der wahre innere Mensch unabhängig ist vom Geschlechte, welches trennt; daß er daher durch beide Geschlechter hindurchgeht in den verschiedenen Verkörperungen. Und nun müssen Sie bedenken, daß bei der Freimaurerei der Kampf auf dem äußeren physischen Plan geführt wurde, damit alle Individualitäten, die sich in weiblichen Körpern inkarnieren, allmählich zum Männlichen hinübergeführt werden sollen, so daß das Männliche länger dauert als das Weibliche. Es soll das Weibliche überdauern, weil dieses das Frühere war. Das schwebte der Maurerei als Ideal vor; aber das war eine Einseitigkeit.
Was schwebt nun der Theosophie als Ideal vor? Das Ideal der Theosophie ist: durch die Weisheit, die von den höheren Planen kommt, auch auf dem physischen Plan ein menschliches Geschlecht herbeizuführen, welches über der Geschlechtlichkeit steht. Daher ist die Theosophie auch eine Weisheit, die nicht in Religionen differenziert ist, sich nicht auf eine besondere Religion stützt, sondern zurückgreift auf die uralte Weisheit, die die Welt geschaffen hat und die an die Stelle derjenigen Weisheit tritt, welche als Priesterweisheit in den verschiedenen Religionen differenziert ist. Sie mußte das tun, weil die Priesterweisheit eine im Laufe der Zeit vollendete Aufgabe erfüllt hat. Theosophie aber will die Zukunft erobern, das was noch entstehen soll gegenüber dem, was früher war. Sie ist in gewisser Weise eine Fortsetzung der alten Priesterweisheit, der Mysterien, und steht dabei doch in einem gewissen Gegensatz zu ihr.
Gegner der theosophischen Bewegung würden diejenigen sein, welche starr an der alten Priesterweisheit hängen wollten, welche versuchen würden, sie zu konservieren, sie sozusagen einzubalsamieren in ihrer alten Gestalt. Der höhere Plan für die Weltengestaltung ist: sie hinüberzuführen in den neuzeitlichen Geist, der die Zukunft zu schaffen hat. Die allererste Morgenröte zur Bildung einer neuen Weisheit, die da kommen soll, ging auf in einer Zeit, die das neuzeitliche Geistesleben hereinbrachte in die Menschheitsentwickelung im 15. Jahrhundert durch die Rosenkreuzer. Es handelte sich darum, daß ein neuer Einschlag in die Welt kam. Ihr Thema lautete: die alte Priesterweisheit muß in ein Neues übergehen.
Es gab auch Mächte, welche die Welt für die alte Priesterweisheit zurückerobern wollten. Deshalb wurde ein Orden gegründet zu dem Zwecke, die Erde für die alte Priesterweisheit wieder zu gewinnen. Dieser Orden [der Jesuitenorden] wählte im Gegensatz zu dem Marienkultus das Männerideal. Er benutzte die okkulten Kräfte, um etwas wie einen Wall aufzurichten, um alles selbständig ausströmende Leben niederzuhalten, um das festzuhalten, was sich heraufranken will an dem Kreuz. Er vertritt das männliche Prinzip: er vertritt das Kreuz allein ohne die Rosen. Ein anderer Orden aber fügte dem Kreuze die Rosen hinzu, aus denen neues Leben sprießt.
Da haben wir zwei neuzeitliche Strömungen. Die eine hat das Alte in die Gegenwart hineingesetzt und will dadurch den Fortschritt mit aller Gewalt hemmen. Die andere hat das alte Kreuz mit Rosen umgeben, hat ein neues Reis hineingesenkt: das Kreuz von Rosen umrankt. Diese beiden Strömungen gingen nebeneinander: der eine Orden mit dem Kreuz ohne die Rosen; der andere, welcher die Rosen am Kreuz verehrt - ein Neues, das kommen soll. Das sind die Rosenkreuzer. Auf dieser Strömung baut sich die theosophische Bewegung auf; sie entstammt dem neuen, grünenden Reis der Rose, das in die Zukunft hinein wachsen soll.
So haben wir gesehen, wie dieser Kampf entstand, zu dem die Frauen nicht zugelassen wurden. Unsere Aufgabe ist es, die Kluft zwischen den Freimaurern und den Rosenkreuzern zu überbrücken. Die Arbeit ist schwer, aber sie muß getan werden. Sie besteht darin: zur Erkenntnis des höheren übergeschlechtlichen Menschen zu gelangen. Es ist schwer, sich dazu durchzuringen, aber es ist möglich, und es wird gelingen, es wird zur Wirklichkeit werden.
Freemasonry and Human Development II
The things we want to discuss today have not been discussed in front of women before. Therefore, it is actually quite bold of me to speak to you about them today. But certain occult currents make it necessary.
Within these currents, there are some things of an intimate nature that until recently could not be discussed in front of women because the occult brotherhoods—whose purpose was to cultivate these intimate things—had a strict rule against admitting female members. What they had to do in the world was not to be done with the cooperation of the female element. Until recently, this rule was strictly observed. Today, the only possibility of achieving a balance between the two sexes is in the Theosophical Society. This is also the only place where these things are discussed in front of women.
We now ask: Why did this separation of the sexes take place, which has found such grotesque expression in the Masonic lodges? If one wants to understand why this division was actually established, one must express it with a somewhat grotesque comparison: if two powers are at war, it would be very foolish for one commander to reveal his campaign plan to the other, enemy commander before the war begins. It would be the same as handing over weapons to the enemy if women had been allowed to join Freemasonry. For the Freemasons are waging a war, namely a war against the female spirit, a fierce opposition to the female spirit as such. This struggle was necessary; indeed, occult Freemasonry was founded precisely for this purpose. Therefore, it was customary to speak about occult matters separately to the sexes. A form must first be found in which these matters can be spoken about to women.
The founding of Freemasonry goes back to the distant past. It originated at the beginning of the fourth subrace of our present fifth root race. At the same time, the Old Testament was written down, which gives us information about these matters. It is said that higher spirits gave Moses the revelations, which he then wrote down. However, knowledge of the higher truths already existed much earlier and was passed down orally from generation to generation, from priest to priest, until it was documented in writing by Ezra, who is credited with writing these things down. When the Old Testament began to become a power through the priesthood, a powerful opposition to this priestly book, the Bible, arose in the brotherhood of Freemasons for a specific reason. It has certainly always been there, and it was necessary. We must ask ourselves why.
Let us agree that everything that happens on the physical plane must first repeat earlier events in a certain way. There is always a repetition of events from earlier times on Earth. Before birth, humans must go through the stages they previously experienced in their dull animal consciousness. For example, the Renaissance period of the Middle Ages was a repetition of the ancient Greek period. We also find such repetitions in planetary processes. Before the Earth became what it is today, it first had to go through a repetition of earlier states before it became an independent planet, our Earth, in the fourth round. Thus, when new facts are to appear in the world, the earlier stages always repeat themselves in a new form. Thus, the spirit of human beings in the fifth root race underwent a repetition of the Lemurian race, where human beings were still unisexual and then became bisexual, which had a great influence on their spiritual development. In the third sub-race of the fifth root race, the Babylonian-Egyptian period, what happened to physical man in the Lemurian period was gradually repeated in the realm of spiritual life.
Before there was male and female, both were united, then the two sexes separated. We see the same thing in the fifth root race in relation to spiritual development.

III. Root race: division of physical development into male and female, into two sexes.
V. Root race: division of spiritual development into male spirit and female spirit; into the service of Jehovah or priesthood and Freemasonry.
In the first sub-race, in Indian culture, everything is still elevated above the physical plane. The ancient Indian wisdom that originates from the first sub-race of the fifth root race is spiritually connected above all not with the physical plane of today, but with the conditions of earlier times, when human beings were still male-female. Therefore, no reference is made there to the fact of the sexes. There is no mention of a dualistic principle; this only appeared in the following subrace. The Vedas are from a much later period. In the second sub-race, a tremendous division already occurs. The Old Testament presents us with a wonderful image of what this division expresses. It is stated very beautifully and clearly in Genesis: Before Yahweh created man, he created fruits, animals, and so on on earth, and finally he created man, Adam, and then divided him into two sexes.
This description is based on occult knowledge of physical facts. Now, of course, all occult wisdom shows a connection between physical facts and later spiritual wisdom. For physical facts have emerged from divine wisdom, and wisdom later emerges again from physical life, from human beings. There is a connection between wisdom, knowledge, and physical life.
The entire fertilizing and fruitful power that brings forth a new human being was formerly united in one sex. Then the human being is divided into male and female. Which sex has the actual claim to the power of procreation? It is the female. That is why in the oldest Greek mythology, Zeus, who was revered as the father of mankind, is depicted with a female bust. Zeus, as a superhuman being, was closer to the female gender. The female gender was therefore the first, the earlier one, and at that time had within itself the power to bring forth the whole human individual. This creative power was present in the unisexual human being, who in his physical outer form was closer to the form of the female. In this unisexual human being, the fertilizing element was wisdom, the spiritual itself, and a later repetition of this is the fertilization of the female spirit with inspired wisdom. This human being of the unisexual era was the result of the substance present in the woman and the fertilization with the divine spirit.
Now you must realize what it was that enabled the woman to bring forth human beings. Physically, we first have the woman who is fertilized from above. What fertilized her was the divine spirit in the woman. When the division of the sexes took place, differentiation occurred in such a way that, for the female sex, the spiritual organs of fertilization were transformed into organs of wisdom. The male power that the woman had within her transformed the creative power into the organs of wisdom. Thus, the woman retained half of the creative power; the man retained the creative physical power. This separation gave rise to the spinal cord and the brain with its nerve strands, represented in the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. The organ of wisdom is formed in the vertebral rings with the spinal cord and its extension into the brain. From then on, there is a duality in human beings: these are the two trees in the biblical record, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life.
Now the new beings are adapting to this transformation. Not all former female individuals have subsequently taken on the female form. In one part, the female side, the ability to produce human beings, receded, and what remains as a substitute is the power of fertilization in a completely different way. Physical nature had split into a fertilizing and a fertilized. The spiritual nature also split in the same way. In female individuals, the spirit has a masculine character and coloring; in men, the spiritual has a feminine character. This is still the woman in man.
The biblical legend depicts this very accurately. As is well known, the two-sex human being is forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge. The power that Jehovah had placed in man was to allow his wisdom to work in woman. “Thou shalt not eat of the tree of knowledge” means: Thou shalt not separate the fertilizing power and make it independent. For by doing so, woman loses the power of Jahve, the fertilizing power. When the woman ate from the tree of knowledge, she laid the foundation for becoming independent in wisdom and thus ceasing to be an independent tool of Jehovah, as he had planned. But in doing so, she lost the power to fertilize herself with wisdom along with the power of Jehovah. She exercised this power by eating [from the tree of knowledge] and giving the apple to the man. Thus, the woman became dependent on the man. It was Lucifer who led man down this path in order to make him independent. Jehovah opposed this and therefore issued the prohibition against eating from the tree of knowledge. But the woman eats and gives to the man. He also eats, and then the punishment imposed by Jehovah follows. New bodies must be created to carry out the karma of the previous life, and death and birth come into the world. The woman is now no longer fertile by herself, but has become infertile. And with the fact that fertilization comes from outside, the possibility of such a death has also come into the world.
This profound connection is presented to us in the image of the biblical story of Paradise. Ancient priestly traditions had become the content of these images, and ancient priestly wisdom was vividly embodied in them. Woman then became infertile in relation to spiritual wisdom by longing for physical knowledge. She gave it to man, he also ate it, they became guilty and were driven out of paradise, which they had done nothing to create. This is the ancient priestly tradition about the origin of the sexes. It contains a deep knowledge of the connection between the actual events.
What happened as a result of the female separating from the male? In which gender has the shadow of productive spiritual wisdom been preserved more, in the male or in the female? We have seen that female wisdom actually has a masculine character: it is creative, productive, intuitive, original, and productive. The same divine power that previously worked in the woman to bring forth the physical human being now works to bring forth the knowledge of the divine core of the human being. To promote this process, religions work through words and images.
The female being becomes physically infertile, that is, it can no longer produce offspring from itself as before. The male, passive spirit is the one that is spiritually infertile, but the man is the one who can physically fertilize. Spiritually, he can now be fertilized by everything that is in the world. He is now spiritually fertilized so that he himself can physically fertilize. The whole world first penetrates him. He is fertilized spiritually, the woman physically. The woman, on the other hand, is spiritually self-fertilizing; the man is spiritually fertilized. By gathering and combining everything outside, male wisdom was fertilized. This gave rise to male wisdom, which was concerned with gathering worldly wisdom. This was not really present at first, like the wisdom that used to flow in from above. It first had to be gathered from the knowledge of the physical world. Female wisdom, on the other hand, was effectively transferred to the priesthood. Priestly wisdom became the asset that originally stemmed from ancient female wisdom. Jehovah could only preserve the human race by dividing it into two sexes. Two opposites emerged: Freemasonry and priestly rule, symbolized by Cain and Abel.
Now there is a difference between female priestly wisdom and male striving. This is illustrated in the legend of Cain and Abel. Abel was a shepherd; he was concerned with the life that already existed: he is the symbol of the ancestral divine power that works in man as wisdom, which he does not acquire himself, but which flows into him. Cain creates something new from what the environment offers: he represents passive male wisdom, which must first be fertilized from outside; which goes out into the world to gather and create from the wisdom gathered. Cain killed Abel; that is, male wisdom defends itself against female wisdom, because it feels that it must conquer and transform physical wisdom.
The ancient Freemasons set themselves the ideal of taking up this opposition. They wanted to counteract the female wisdom that had passed to the priesthood with male wisdom. The Bible, in its great images, was to be seen as the intuitive female wisdom transferred to the priesthood; they wanted to counteract this with the wisdom acquired by men themselves. This struggle against priestly wisdom was the expression of the opposition of the Freemasons. Those who participated in it had to be kept free from any influence of feminine wisdom. This struggle had to do with physical development, and it was therefore necessary for the Freemasons to keep away from any contact with the female sex in relation to their work. They knew that their opposition to the female spirit could only be carried out if they were not disturbed by female thoughts. They had to establish the positive and avoid any disturbing elements coming between them.
Freemasonry now created the temple legend as a counterpoint to the biblical legend. This was to represent the sword of battle against the priesthood. Let us now consider this temple legend. It has the following content:
Originally, one of the Elohim created Cain by uniting himself with Eve. Contrary to the Elohim, Yahweh set Adam against him. Adam united with Eve, and Abel was born. Cain killed Abel, and Jehovah then made Cain's lineage subject to Abel's lineage.
This means that originally, worldly wisdom turned against priestly wisdom and was defeated, because the Abel principle was continued in Seth, and all worldly wisdom was subjected to priestly wisdom.
Now it is told how the descendants of Cain conquered the earth and developed the arts. Music, arts, and sciences were cultivated by them. Tubal-Cain (Genesis 4:21-22), the master of metalworking and ironworking, Jubal, from whom the pipers and fiddlers came, Hiram, the builder of Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 7:13), were among Cain's descendants.
With Hiram, we would have reached the boundary between the third and fourth sub-races, where priestly rule gave way to royal rule. The kingship by divine right arose, represented by King Solomon. Solomon did not obtain his power through work on the physical plane, but through what came from God's grace. Priestly wisdom passed over to the kingship. Thus, the latter is regarded as the successor to the priestly rule, which was incapable of doing what was necessary for the progress of humanity on earth out of itself. The one who was to build the temple had to be chosen from among the descendants of Cain because he possessed self-developed thoughts.
The legend goes on to say that the Queen of Sheba, Balkis, was betrothed to King Solomon. She came to him and marveled at the temple, and he marveled at her wisdom. She asked to see the master builder himself, for she could not comprehend that human wisdom could have created such a wonderful building. Hiram came and made a powerful impression on her with his gaze alone. Now she also wanted to see the workers at the temple. When Solomon said that this was not possible, Hiram made the mystical sign of the tau in the air, and immediately the workers flocked to him. The mystical sign of the tau contains the powers through which the sons of Cain work on the physical plane.
Three of Hiram's journeymen are dissatisfied because he has not promoted them to the master's degree. They decide to harm Hiram. They want to destroy his masterpiece. He wants to make the bronze sea, which is a great work of art to be cast from a liquid element, from molten ore. This is a symbol of the great work of art into which the entire mineral kingdom is to be transformed: the task of our Manvantara. The three journeymen do the following: they disrupt the casting of the Sea of Bronze. Hiram tries to restore order by pouring water on the casting, but everything is scattered in a fiery spray. When Hiram despairs and believes himself lost, he is led to the center of the earth by a figure whom he recognizes as Tubal-Cain. There he is told: Jehovah or Adonai is nothing other than an enemy of the fire spirits. He wants to destroy the fire spirits. But a son will be born to you, whom you will not see yourself, but who will bring a new race to earth.” Now Tubal-Cain gives him a hammer with which he can finish casting the bronze sea. But the three journeymen murder him. Before his death, he utters one last word, which he writes on a golden triangle and sinks it. No one understands the word. This word is the lost word of the Freemasons. Hiram is buried, and an acacia branch is planted on his grave. The triangle is dug up again, but no one knows how to appreciate it. It is sunk again and a cube is placed on top of it, on which the Ten Commandments are written.
What does it mean that Jehovah hates the sons of fire? They are those people who were brought forth on the path of unisexuality (Cain). Wisdom is mixed in them with Kama, the earthly carnal fire. Those who have turned to the female priesthood are the sons of Abel. Hiram is promised: You will have a son who will found a new race. You will not know him. This new race will come into being when the lost word regains its power, when it arises in a new form. The occult tradition embodied in Freemasonry is working to bring this word back into being. It is working to ensure that the active element can join the passive element in the male element, that it regains its fertilizing power in the spirit in order to transform the passive into the active, so that the sons of Cain can bring forth something from themselves.
The following tradition developed: The female was the original force. She gave the world all the wisdom that was in the world. However, she lost part of her physical productive power and transferred it to the male. Now everything is becoming spiritual again, and in this spiritualization, the male force seeks to seize power for itself. The male element of thinking seeks to outlast the female. However, a time will come when genderlessness will return, and the struggle is about which of the two sexes will conquer this genderlessness first. Freemasonry strives for the male sex, or rather the male spirit, to outlast the female, to conquer genderlessness.
There is an occult connection between the power of language and the power of sexual reproduction. The “word” brought everything into being. It originally lived in man. Then man lost it. He can no longer create independently because he lacks the word. Only those who were present at creation can know this. Tubal-Cain knew it and gave it to Hiram. This word must be seized by those who want to regain their creative power. The real productive power must unite with the word. The word will bring forth the people of the future. Then the son of Hiram will truly be seen. Fire, the divine power, will then arise in a new way. A new gender will replace the old. In the ancient Hebrew language there is a word, a mantra, which is said to bring forth the world when spoken with sufficient force. Thus, when the word is sufficiently intensified, man will bring forth the spiritual man through language itself. Now we understand what is represented in the tree of knowledge: the serpent is that which winds its way up the spine as the spinal cord. Knowledge in the physical realm is that which springs from the nervous system. “There shall be enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed”: this refers to the enmity between the seed of the physical, physical knowledge, and the seed of the spiritual, spiritual knowledge. The spiritual, the woman, crushes the serpent's head, but only after it has bitten her heel. It is that which penetrates from the center of the earth to the feet.
At the age of maturity, the power of speech changes. This was seen as a harbinger of the new son of Hiram (2 Chronicles 2:13). To work toward producing this son from the male sex, who was to come into being through the power of the larynx, was the ideal that the Freemasons had set for themselves. Everything that later came into being on earth in the physical realm has its origin in the spiritual realm. In the beginning, only that which came from the divine spirit on earth was active. Then, on the one hand, the female wisdom of images and priests arose, and on the other hand, the imageless wisdom of Cain. And it is interesting that when a pictorial content was sought for the wisdom of Cain, the male wisdom borrowed from the female wisdom: the temple legend and the entire content of Freemasonry originate from the ancient priestly wisdom, the revelation from above. This was cloaked in symbols. But little by little, the symbols were no longer understood. Everything occult gradually disappeared from Freemasonry. The three degrees of St. John are calculated entirely on the physical plane.
Now that we have seen why these spiritual currents ran parallel to each other, we will also understand the significance of the theosophical movement. It prepares in the spiritual realm what will later happen on the physical plane: the reunification of the sexes. The divided wisdom must also flow back into the one divine wisdom. Through theosophical wisdom, a balance must be found in the human being between religious priestly wisdom and Masonic wisdom. The wisdom of the future must be drawn from the higher human being who lives equally in both human beings, the female and the male. To develop what is important, what the physical plane no longer has any influence on, is the purpose of the theosophical movement.
Theosophy is in fact the male-female wisdom, the wisdom that is equally valid for both sexes. Through the teaching of reincarnation, we recognize that what is expressed in each new incarnation is not the personality of the respective earthly life, but that the causal body, the entelechy, builds itself up in a genderless form. When we become aware of this, that which stands above the sexual, that which is independent of that on which the opposition of the two currents is based, lives spiritually within us. Thus, theosophy is the balancing movement, and it alone can bring about balance. Only in theosophy can one speak of an occultism that addresses both sexes equally. Only from this point can one conceive of a real balance between the two sexes. Only the theosophical movement can accomplish this. Everything else is an aftereffect of the earlier duality of the sexes.
Freemasonry sets itself the task of preparing for the future. That is why, as early as the 18th century, the earlier principle of complete exclusion was abandoned. And in 1775, the first so-called “adoption lodge” was founded: a women's lodge, because the law of gender balance was recognized. And so a connection was established between men and women by founding a women's lodge. However, every member of a women's lodge had to be adopted by a man in a men's lodge. H. P. Blavatsky also belonged to such an adoption lodge. Theosophy was therefore an experiment that originated within Freemasonry itself. This shows you that what is right is always preceded by an experiment; only the reason why such an experiment is carried out cannot be understood immediately. But one cannot expect that what is a fundamental force in the world will always be understood immediately: it may be that one prefers one current or the other. That is why the two currents will probably continue to flow side by side for a long time. In order to bring about a peaceful balance, it may be necessary to pour into Freemasonry what will lead it over to the theosophical movement.
Now you will also understand why the Church had to develop a very specific ideal in the Middle Ages. Freemasonry created its ideal of the future, the Church created its ideal of the future. It had nothing to do with Freemasonry. The ideal that lived in the Church was Christ, a masculine ideal. This masculine ideal could not satisfy the occult current within the Church. In addition to the passive, man also needed the active; he had to think into himself what he lacked. He needed something to complement him as a means of concentration. He was already a man; he had to think into himself the woman. The occultist who understood something of these things and who was not a Freemason had to think of the woman. Thus, the cult of Mary arose consciously from monasticism. This became the third current in the Church, that is, in addition to the priesthood and Freemasonry.
All three currents had basically the same goal: to make people independent of the sexes. But the way they worked to achieve this goal was different. The Christian occultist looked for the male principle in the woman in order to incorporate it into himself.
You have to be clear that the true inner human being is independent of the gender that separates; that he therefore passes through both genders in different incarnations. And now you must consider that in Freemasonry the struggle was waged on the outer physical plane so that all individualities incarnating in female bodies would gradually be led over to the masculine, so that the masculine would outlast the feminine. The feminine was to outlast the masculine because it was the earlier. This was the ideal of Freemasonry, but it was one-sided.
What is the ideal of Theosophy? The ideal of Theosophy is to bring about, through the wisdom that comes from the higher planes, a human race on the physical plane that is above sexuality. Therefore, theosophy is also a wisdom that is not differentiated into religions, does not rely on a particular religion, but draws on the ancient wisdom that created the world and replaces the wisdom that is differentiated as priestly wisdom in the various religions. It had to do this because priestly wisdom has fulfilled a task that was completed over time. Theosophy, however, wants to conquer the future, that which is yet to come as opposed to that which was in the past. In a certain sense, it is a continuation of the ancient priestly wisdom, the mysteries, and yet it stands in a certain contrast to it.
Opponents of the theosophical movement would be those who want to cling rigidly to the old priestly wisdom, who would try to preserve it, to embalm it, so to speak, in its old form. The higher plan for world development is to carry it over into the modern spirit that has to create the future. The very first dawn of the formation of a new wisdom that is to come arose at a time when modern spiritual life was brought into human evolution in the 15th century by the Rosicrucians. It was a matter of a new impact coming into the world. Its theme was that the old priestly wisdom must pass into something new.
There were also forces that wanted to recapture the world for the old priestly wisdom. Therefore, an order was founded for the purpose of winning back the earth for the old priestly wisdom. This order [the Jesuit order], in contrast to the cult of Mary, chose the male ideal. It used occult powers to erect something like a wall to suppress all independently emanating life, to hold back what wants to climb up the cross. It represents the masculine principle: it represents the cross alone without the roses. Another order, however, added roses to the cross, from which new life sprouts.
So we have two modern currents. One has brought the old into the present and thereby wants to hinder progress with all its might. The other has surrounded the old cross with roses and planted a new shoot in it: the cross entwined with roses. These two currents existed side by side: one order with the cross without roses; the other, which venerates the roses on the cross – a new order that is to come. These are the Rosicrucians. The theosophical movement is based on this current; it originates from the new, green shoot of the rose that is to grow into the future.
Thus we have seen how this struggle arose, to which women were not admitted. Our task is to bridge the gap between the Freemasons and the Rosicrucians. The work is difficult, but it must be done. It consists in attaining knowledge of the higher, supra-sexual human being. It is difficult to bring oneself to do this, but it is possible, and it will succeed; it will become reality.