The Rudolf Steiner Archive

24. The Secret of the Grail in Richard Wagner's Work

[ 1 ] In connection with Richard Wagner's work of art “Parsifal,” I would like to share some insights about occult and spiritual scientific truths. There is a strange, profound connection between Richard Wagner's significant artistic phenomenon and today's spiritual movement known as theosophy. The fact that Richard Wagner and his work embody an enormous amount of occult power is something that is gradually coming to the consciousness of humanity. But something else will become clear in the future, namely that in Richard Wagner we have a phenomenon in which much more lived than he himself could know. This is the secret of many significant and especially artistic phenomena, that a power lives in them of which they themselves know nothing.

[ 2 ] If, on the one hand, we realize that there was much more alive in Richard Wagner than he himself was aware of, we must not forget, on the other hand, that he was unable to advance to the highest level of wisdom, and that Richard Wagner's art is therefore particularly exceptional for occultists. When considering Richard Wagner's works of art, one must say: there is much more alive in all of this — something mysterious that lies behind it.

[ 3 ] It is extremely fascinating to see the deeper currents in the background. Richard Strauss once said that one can find much more in Richard Wagner than usually happens. He explained this as follows: Those who always claim that one should not think anything beyond what Richard Wagner created seem to me like people who do not want to think anything beyond a flower. But such people will never discover the secret of the flower. The same is true of those who cannot think anything beyond a great artist.

[ 4 ] Richard Wagner was particularly drawn to subjects of great significance. His works always feature names that are linked to ancient sacred traditions. What he achieved in “Parsifal” is closely connected with the power that had such a remarkable effect in the last third of the 19th century.

[ 5 ] We must look into the deep mysteries of human development in order to understand his characters and motives. To this end, let us go back a few millennia in history. Throughout his life, Richard Wagner conducted the most profound studies of human relationships and the mystery of the human soul. In his youth, he sought to explore the mystery of reincarnation. His preoccupation with this subject is evident in a draft for a drama he wrote in 1856. This drama is called “Die Sieger” (The Victors). Wagner later abandoned the production of this drama because the problem of “the victors” was musically unsolvable for him. Dramatically alone, it would have been perfectly solvable for him. The drama had the following content: A young man in distant India, named Ananda, from the Brahmin caste, is loved by a Chandala girl, from the lowest caste, named Prakriti. Ananda becomes a disciple of Buddha. He does not return Prakriti's love. This causes her extreme grief. Ananda withdraws from the world and devotes himself to religious life. The Chandala girl is then enlightened by a Brahmin as to why she has this fate. In a previous life as a Brahmin, she spurned the love of the same young man, who was then in the Chandala caste. Under the influence of this teaching, she also turns to the Buddha, and now they both become disciples of this one teacher.

[ 6 ] Wagner sketched this material in 1856 and wanted to develop it further. What he did not succeed in doing at that time was already in his mind in a different form a year later. In 1857, he conceived the great idea for “Parsifal.” It is remarkable how, in a single moment, the entire mystery of “Parsifal” entered Richard Wagner's soul. It was Good Friday 1857 at Villa Wesendonk on Lake Zurich. He looked out at the burgeoning, sprouting, and blossoming nature. And in that moment, the connection between the sprouting nature and the death of Christ on the cross became clear to him. This connection is the secret of the Holy Grail. From that moment on, the thought passed through Richard Wagner's soul that he must send the secret of the Holy Grail out into the world in musical form.

[ 7 ] If we want to understand this peculiar experience in Richard Wagner's soul, we must go back several thousand years in history. Richard Wagner recorded his beautiful thoughts on human evolution in his writing “Heroism and Christianity.” Let us first consider the form of teaching that was imparted in mystery societies throughout Europe until the 16th or 17th century. Mysteries have existed throughout the ages. In the mysteries, one gained knowledge that was at the same time religion, and a religion that was at the same time wisdom. Those who do not have a concept of a spiritual world cannot possibly grasp the true meaning of a mystery.

[ 8 ] Around us, we have the various kingdoms of nature, minerals, plants, animals, and humans, arranged in stages. We consider the human kingdom to be the highest of these four kingdoms. Just as there are kingdoms around humans that are below them, there are also higher beings in many stages above humans. Beings that tower above humans in various stages have always been referred to as gods. Through the kind of wisdom imparted to humans in the mysteries, humans were brought into conscious contact with the gods. Wherever there were mysteries, such a person was always referred to as an initiate. He did not merely receive verbal wisdom, but experienced facts that he learned within the mysteries. Mysteries still exist today, but they are of a different nature than those in ancient times and in the Middle Ages.

[ 9 ] At the time when the Crusades began, and somewhat earlier, we find an important mystery in a region in northern Spain. The mysteries that existed at that time were later called the Gothic mysteries. Those who were initiated into them at that time were called the Templars or Knights of the Holy Grail. Lohengrin was one of them. The Knights of the Grail represent something in their community that is different from other knighthoods. This other knightly community was based in England, in Wales. Everything that is told in the Middle Ages about King Arthur and his Round Table is linked to this other initiatory community.

[ 10 ] In ancient times, long before the emergence of Christianity, a stream of people moved across the earth from west to east. That was a very long time ago. Once upon a time, Atlantis was located in the Atlantic Ocean, where our distant ancestors, the Atlanteans, lived. All the people who populated Europe and Asia, as far as India, were descendants of the Atlanteans. These Atlanteans lived under conditions that were very different from those under which people later lived. They lived in a hierarchical society under the guidance of such initiation schools. All government and rule at that time emanated from initiates. A famous school of initiation was located in the north of present-day Russia. The initiates there were called Trotten. Other schools of initiation existed in Western Europe, where the initiates were called Druids. In order to bring order to the masses, all social institutions emanated from these initiates.

[ 11 ] Let us now take a look at these most ancient schools. What secrets were taught there? Only the forms of such teachings change at different times. It is most remarkable that the secret which Richard Wagner sensed was brought to its highest development there, namely: how nature sprouting in spring is connected with the secret of the cross.

[ 12 ] It is a matter of man first realizing that all the power of creation that lies outside the animal and human kingdoms can also be seen in the plant kingdom. In spring, divine creative power springs forth from Mother Earth. One must recognize that there is a connection between the power that emerges when the earth is covered with a green carpet and divine creative power. The students were told: Out there, in the opening calyxes, you see a power that is concentrated in the seeds. Countless seeds will emerge from the flower, which, when placed in the earth, can bring forth something new. Now one feels completely that what is happening outside in nature is nothing other than what is also happening in the human and animal kingdoms, but in plants it happens without desire, completely chastely.

[ 13 ] The infinite innocence and chastity that slumbers in the calyxes of plants had to pass through the souls of the students. They were also told that the sunbeam opens the flowers. It draws the power out of the flowers. Two things come together here: the opening flower and the sunbeam. Between the plant kingdom and the divine kingdom there are other kingdoms, the animal and human kingdoms. All these kingdoms are only a transition from the plant kingdom to the divine kingdom. In the divine kingdom we see again a realm of innocence and chastity, as in the plant kingdom. In the animal and human kingdoms we see a realm of desire.

[ 14 ] But then reference was made to the future: all lusts and desires will one day disappear. Then the chalice will open from above, just as the chalice of the flower opens, and look down upon man. Just as the sunbeam descends into the plant, so will man's own purified power unite with this divine chalice.

[ 15 ] One can spiritually reverse the calyx of the flower so that it bends down from above, from heaven, and one can reverse the sunbeam so that it rises from man to heaven. This inverted calyx, as depicted in the mysteries, was called the Holy Grail. The real calyx of the plant is the inverted Holy Grail. Anyone familiar with occultism knows what the sunbeam represents, namely the so-called magic wand. The magic wand is the superstitious symbol of a spiritual reality. In the mysteries, this magic wand was called the bloody lance. In this depiction, one sees the origin of the Grail on one side and the bloody lance on the other, the original magic wand of the true occultist.

[ 16 ] These are small hints of tremendous depth, meaningful truths that have played out in the belt of northern and western Europe. Richard Wagner sensed much of these truths, as did his friend, the profound Count Gobineau.

[ 17 ] If one were to express what underlies the mysteries mentioned so far, it would be the knowledge of what flows in the veins of animals and humans. Goethe's “Faust” quite rightly states: “Blood is a very special juice.” Blood is what many things depend on. We will understand what blood means when we become clear about it and comprehend what a great upheaval has taken place in the mysteries. In ancient times, the European population knew that something very special depended on how people were related to each other by blood. Therefore, in those days, further development would never have been left to chance. All these things were regulated by occult wisdom. It was known that when development in small tribal communities was so closed that no one from outside could enter, certain higher powers were present in the people who emerged from them. In the mysteries, the consequences of the interaction of different types of blood were known. It was also known exactly which tribe was suitable for a particular area. It was known that the common blood contained the bearers of certain human powers.

[ 18 ] When the ancient blood relationship was broken, something special happened in the mysteries. What had formerly been achieved through blood relationship was now replaced by two specific spiritual preparations in the higher mysteries. In the lower mysteries, the outer symbols for this were present. These outer symbols were bread and wine. What existed as those two preparations were substances that had a spiritual effect similar to that of blood in the veins. When the old clairvoyance was lost, it was replaced by the consumption of these preparations. Once one had learned all theosophical wisdom, one received these symbols from the bowl of Ceridwen. This was what could be given to people as purified blood from the chalice opening from above. This is what constitutes the actual mystery, which then passed on to a very small body.

[ 19 ] In other parts of Europe, the mysteries fell into decay and were profaned in a hideous, repulsive manner. There, the symbol of sacrifice is a bowl into which a bleeding head was placed. It was believed that something could be awakened in people by the sight of this head. What was being done there was black magic. It was the opposite of the mystery of the Holy Grail.

[ 20 ] At that time, it was known that what flows upward in the calyx lives in human blood. This had to become pure and chaste again, like the sap of the flower. In the degenerate mysteries, this was expressed in a crude, materialistic form. In the north, they used sublimated blood as a symbol in the mysteries, and in the Eleusinian mysteries, the wine of Dionysus and the bread of Demeter. We find the abominably made Grail vessel with the bleeding head again in Herodias with the head of John. She laughs at the profaned mystery.

[ 21 ] The true secret of the high mysteries has been passed on to the Knights Templar in northern Spain, the guardians of the Grail. While the Knights of Arthur were more concerned with worldly affairs, the Knights Templar were able to prepare themselves to receive an even higher secret, namely to understand the great mystery of Golgotha, the mystery of world history.

[ 22 ] Christianity emerged from the strongest mixture of peoples, the Galileans, those who stood completely outside, outside any blood community. The Savior is the one who, with his kingdom, no longer bases himself on the old blood community, who establishes that kingdom which lies beyond all blood community. The sublimated blood, the blood that has been purified, springs forth from the sacrificial death, the purification process. The blood that generates desires and cravings must flow, be sacrificed, flow away.

[ 23 ] The holy vessel with the purified blood was brought to Europe to the Temple Iron on Mount Montsalvatsch. Titurel, the forefather, received the Grail, which had been longed for before. Now the overcoming of blood had taken place. The purely physical aspect of blood had been overcome by the spiritual.

[ 24 ] Only if one does not view blood merely as a combination of chemical components, as the materialist does, can one understand what took place on Golgotha. It is highly remarkable that Richard Wagner was only able to find the pious mood for “Parsifal” because he knew that it was not only about the death of the Redeemer, but about the blood that had been purified, that was something other than ordinary blood. He himself speaks of the connection between the blood of the Redeemer and all of humanity: “If we found the blood of the so-called white race to possess a particular capacity for conscious suffering, we must now recognize in the blood of the Savior the epitome of conscious willing suffering itself, which pours forth as divine compassion through the entire human race, as its original source.”

[ 25 ] Richard Wagner further states: “The blood in the veins of the Redeemer may thus have flowed as the divine sublimation of the species itself, as the utmost effort of the will seeking redemption to save the human race succumbing in its noblest races.”

[ 26 ] Because the Redeemer emerged from the greatest mixture of peoples, his blood was the sublimation of all human blood, human blood in its purified form.

[ 27 ] Richard Wagner approached the primordial mystery like hardly anyone else. It is precisely the power with which he did so that makes him a great artist. He should not be regarded merely as an ordinary musician, but must be seen as a profound connoisseur who wanted to re-embody the deep mysteries of the Holy Grail for modern humanity. Before Richard Wagner wrote Parsifal, people in Germany knew little about the mysteries and figures that Richard Wagner then brought to light.

[ 28 ] In the introduction to the mysteries, a distinction was made between three stages that a person had to go through. The first stage was dullness, the second stage was doubt, and the third stage was “Saelde.” The first stage was that in which man was led away from all the prejudices of the world and made aware of the power of his own soul, his own power of love, so that he could see his inner light shining. The second stage was doubt. This doubt about everything comes at the second stage of initiation, and it is raised to a higher stage of inner bliss = Saelde. This was the third stage, the conscious union with the gods.

[ 29 ] Perceval – penetrate the valley! – this is what those who were to be initiated were called in the Middle Ages. Parsifal had to experience all this. Through a remarkable genius, Richard Wagner felt on that Good Friday in 1857 what had to be the guiding thread running through the entire development of Parsifal.

[ 30 ] The Templars were those who represented inner, true Christianity as opposed to church Christianity. Throughout Wolfram von Eschenbach's “Parzival,” one can see how he wanted to place the spirit of inner Christianity alongside institutional Christianity.

[ 31 ] In the Middle Ages, remnants of the old profaned mysteries still existed. Everything that belongs to them is summarized under the name Klingsor. He is the black magician as opposed to the white magic of the Holy Grail. Richard Wagner also contrasted him with the Temple Iron.

[ 32 ] Kundry is the resurrected Herodias. She symbolizes the power that is the creative force of nature, which can be both chaste and unchaste, but unguided. There is a unity underlying the chaste and the unchaste, and it depends on “how you shout into the forest.” The productive power that manifests itself in the calyxes of plants, rising through the other realms, is the same as in the Holy Grail. It must only receive purification in the purest, noblest form of Christianity, as shown in “Parsifal.”

[ 33 ] Kundry had to remain a black sorceress until Parsifal redeemed her. The whole juxtaposition of Parsifal and Kundry exudes the scent of deepest wisdom. Richard Wagner, more than anyone else, ensured that this could be understood without knowing it. Richard Wagner was a missionary who was supposed to convey the meaningful to the world without humanity knowing this truth.

[ 34 ] Wolfram von Eschenbach wrote an unadorned epic, “Parzival.” That was enough for his time. There were people at that time who had a certain gift of clairvoyance and understood Wolfram von Eschenbach. But making the deep meaning of that process clear to people in the drama was not possible in the 19th century. However, there is a means of promoting understanding, even without words, without concepts, without ideas. That means is music. Wagner's music contains all the truths found in Parsifal. Through Wagner's unique music, listeners receive very special vibrations in their etheric bodies. That is the secret of Wagner's music. You don't really need to understand things, but you receive their beneficial effects through your etheric body. The etheric body is connected to all the surges of the blood. Richard Wagner understood the secret of purified blood. His melodies contain the vibrations that must be present in the etheric body of a person who has purified themselves as necessary to receive the secret of the Holy Grail.

[ 35 ] The peculiar way in which Richard Wagner writes in his writings can only be fully understood if one engages with what stood behind Wagner. He was clear that the human will receives a very special illumination from the spirit. He said that the will is initially coarse and instinctive, but then becomes increasingly refined. The intellect sheds its light on the will, and man becomes conscious of suffering, and through this consciousness of suffering, purification is brought about. Referring to his friend, Count Gobineau, he says: "If, when looking at all races, the unity of the human species is impossible to overlook, and if we may describe what constitutes this unity in the noblest sense as the capacity for conscious suffering, but also recognize in this capacity the predisposition for the highest moral development, then we must now ask where the superiority of the white race can be found, if we must place it high above the others. With beautiful certainty, Gobineau recognizes it not in an exceptional development of its moral qualities themselves, but in a greater supply of the basic characteristics from which those qualities flow. We would have to seek these in the more intense, and at the same time more delicate, sensitivity of the will, which manifests itself in a rich organization, combined with the sharper intellect necessary for this; whereby it then depends on whether the intellect, driven by the impulses of the needy will, rises to the level of clairvoyance, which reflects its own light back onto the will and, in this case, becomes a moral impulse by taming it.

[ 36 ] Richard Wagner is referring here to the actual process of the intellect reflecting on the will of the person who thereby becomes clairvoyant.

[ 37 ] Richard Wagner's work is about a religious deepening of art, but ultimately about a deep understanding of Christianity. He knew that Christianity can best come to the fore in musical form. By elevating oneself to the inner mysteries of the world order, one attains knowledge on the one hand, but also true piety on the other. There is a human development that teaches us to recognize the significance of this fact of Christianity.