The Rudolf Steiner Archive

14. The Dawn of Modern Occultism I

[ 1 ] My task today will be to offer what is initially a purely historical overview, to be followed the day after tomorrow by a discussion that can provide us with a deeper introduction to the impulses of Rosicrucian thought, will, and action. One can only develop an understanding of Rosicrucianism today if one takes to heart that Rosicrucianism is not something that has a fixed historical norm once and for all, but is actually something different in every century. This is because it must constantly adapt to the conditions of the present. We are, of course, aware that the fundamental impulses of Spiritual Science must increasingly take root in the culture of the present, but that this is difficult within the Western culture in which we live. It is not possible to become a different person overnight through Spiritual Science, because we are born into Western culture through our karma. We do not have it as easy as the representatives of certain human communities who can proceed from racial or religious premises. For this must indeed be our fundamental principle: that we do not stand on the ground of a religious creed, but rather see in the various religious systems manifestations of the one spiritual life. Spiritual Science is meant to seek out this spiritual core of truth in all religious worldviews. It goes without saying that the Theosophist, as a Westerner, can easily be misunderstood, and this is most often by the various religious creeds and worldviews that we see around us.

[ 2 ] If we are to truly understand what we wish to be as spiritual scientists, we must stand firm on one foundation: the foundation of historical development. We must realize that spiritual science is an event within the course of historical development. Each of us sitting here has been incarnated in every cultural epoch, and indeed repeatedly incarnated in every single cultural epoch. But what, then, is the meaning of these incarnations? Why must human beings experience all these different forms of training through their lives in the various cultural developments? This question led Lessing to his profession of faith in the idea of reincarnation. Lessing said to himself: Human beings have passed through all possible cultural periods in the past, and they must return to learn new things and to connect the old with the new. This is roughly how Lessing thought: There must be a meaning to our passing through the various incarnations. And this meaning lies precisely in the fact that in every new incarnation, the human being adds something new to the old.

[ 3 ] It has often been pointed out that successive eras were quite different from one another. Today, we will focus more closely on an extraordinarily important period: the thirteenth century. One can say that the people incarnated at that time experienced something quite special, something that people incarnated in other eras could not have experienced. And what I am about to say, I say in a sense on behalf of all those who have been able to undergo a spiritual life of a higher order, so to speak, and who are incarnated again today. They all know this.

[ 4 ] The thirteenth century was a time of spiritual darkness for everyone, even for the most enlightened minds, and even for the initiates. Everything that was known in the thirteenth century about spiritual worlds was known through tradition or from earlier initiates who had awakened their memories of what they had experienced back then. But for a brief time, even these minds could not look directly into the spiritual world. This brief period of spiritual darkness had to occur then in order to prepare the characteristic features of our present age: today’s intellectual, rational culture. That is the important point: that we have this today in the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch. It was not so in the Greek cultural epoch. There, instead of today’s rational thinking, direct perception was the dominant force. Human beings grew, so to speak, together with what they saw and heard, indeed also with what they thought; human beings grew together in those days. Back then, there was not as much speculation as there is today and as must occur today, for that is the task of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch.

[ 5 ] Back then, in the thirteenth century, individuals with particularly suitable qualities had to be selected for the initiation, and the initiation itself could only take place after that brief period of eclipse had passed. It is not yet possible to name the place in Europe where what I am about to describe took place. But in the not-too-distant future, this too will be possible.

[ 6 ] Today we shall speak of the dawn of modern occultism. The story is that, during that dark age, there lived twelve people—twelve outstanding spirits—who came together to promote the progress of humanity. None of them could directly perceive the spiritual world, but they were able to awaken within themselves the memory of what they had experienced through earlier initiations. And human karma arranged it so that seven of these twelve people embodied what remained to humanity of the remnants of the ancient Atlantean culture. As I have already stated in my *Secret Science*, what remained of the Atlantean epoch was carried over by the seven wise teachers of ancient sacred India. The seven men who were reincarnated in the thirteenth century, who formed part of the Twelve, were precisely those who could look back upon the seven currents of the ancient Atlantean culture and upon what lived on as these seven currents. Of these seven individuals, each could make only one of the currents fruitful for both that time and the present day. To these seven were added four others who could not look back on long-past primeval times like the first seven sages, but these four personalities could look back on what humanity had appropriated of occult truths in the four post-Atlantean cultural periods. The first could look back to the ancient Indian era, the second to the ancient Persian, the third to the Egyptian-Chaldean-Babylonian-Assyrian, and the fourth to the Greek-Latin era. These four united with the seven to form the college of wise men in the thirteenth century. The Twelfth had, so to speak, the fewest memories; he was the most intellectual, having been particularly tasked with cultivating the external sciences. These twelve individualities not only lived on in the experiences of Western occultism but were also able to incorporate themselves into personalities who knew something of occultism. We find a very special way of pointing this out in Goethe’s poem “Die Geheimnisse.”

[ 7 ] We are therefore speaking of twelve outstanding individuals, and to these was added a thirteenth, who was to be chosen after the era of darkness in order to attain the initiation necessary for Western culture. The circumstances are mysterious, and I can, of course, only tell you what follows, but for me it is all completely objective truth. However, you can verify it if you take everything that has been said about Theosophy over the past few years and add to that what you know from external history since the thirteenth century.

[ 8 ] For the Council of the Twelve Wise Men knew that a child was to be born in this epoch who had lived in Palestine at the time of the Christ event and who had been present at the Mystery of Golgotha. This individual possessed a highly developed heart nature, indeed a particularly intimate capacity for love, which he had been able to acquire in the appropriate circumstances since then. An extraordinarily spiritual individuality was embodied in this child. Something now had to happen that must never again occur in the same form. What follows is not a typical example of an initiation, but rather represents something that happened quite exceptionally. This child had to be removed from the environment into which it was born and brought into the care of the twelve wise men to a specific place in Europe. However, what was most important was not what the twelve sages did outwardly, but rather the fact that the child grew up in the environment of the twelve sages. Through this, the wisdom of the twelve men flowed into the child. For example, one of these twelve possessed the wisdom of Mars, and through this, that soul had a life of a very specific nature within it; a particular soul mood had become part of it through the Mars culture. This Mars culture consisted, for example, in the soul acquiring a certain ability to embrace the occult sciences with enthusiasm. Similar planetary influences occurred with regard to the other souls. Through the interplay of the various currents emanating from the twelve sages, the soul of this child was harmoniously formed. Thus the child grew up under the constant care of the Twelve. Then a certain time came: the child had already become a young man, nearing his twenties, and was able to express something that was like a reflection of the twelve streams of wisdom. And what was expressed there was something new, even for the twelve sages. The transformation took place amid profound physical changes. Physically, too, the child differed greatly from other people. At times he was very ill, becoming completely transparent—the young man’s body became as if translucent. And then came a time when the soul left the body entirely for a few days. The young man lay there as if dead. And when the soul returned, something had taken place that was like a completely new birth of the twelve wisdoms, so that even the twelve sages could learn something entirely new from the young man. He could now speak of entirely new experiences. Through the Mystery of Golgotha, he was able to experience something similar to what Paul experienced on the road to Damascus. This made it possible to synthesize all worldviews—religious and scientific—and there are, in essence, only twelve such worldviews—into a single one born from these twelve. The possibility was created for the twelve worldviews to come together in one that could do justice to them all. What was taught will be discussed the day after tomorrow. But it must now be said that the young man died soon afterward, so that he had only a brief earthly existence. His mission consisted precisely in intellectually synthesizing the twelve streams of wisdom, living through them, and creating the new that he could then bequeath to the twelve sages, who were to work it out. A significant impulse had been given. The individual from whom this impulse originated bore the name Christian Rosenkreutz. The same individual was reborn in the fourteenth century, and this time their earthly life lasted over a hundred years. In this earthly life, it also bore outward fruit from what it had experienced in that brief time. It traveled throughout the West and nearly the entire known world of that era in order to absorb anew, in a fresh way, all the wisdom from which, in its previous life, the inspiration for the new impulse had come—an impulse that was to permeate, as it were, the entire culture of that time like an essence.

[ 9 ] This new direction was also expressed in an exoteric way. For example, the inspiration of this being had an influence on Lessing’s life. This cannot, however, be proven externally. But Lessing’s entire way of thinking is such that anyone familiar with these matters can perceive this Rosicrucian impulse. Or, for example, in the nineteenth century—a time that was, after all, so unsuited to ideas such as karma, reincarnation, and so on—this impulse worked in an exoteric way. It is interesting that precisely at that time, toward the end of the 1840s, a scientific society offered a prize for the best philosophical work on the immortality of the soul. Among the submitted works was a treatise by Widenmann, which went on to win the prize. It advocated the acceptance of the soul’s repeated earthly lives. Of course, it did not speak of reincarnation in the same way that Theosophists do today, but the fact is interesting that such a treatise was written at that time and was awarded the prize. Other psychologists of that time also spoke out in favor of the soul’s repeated earthly lives. Thus, the thread of belief in reincarnation and karma has never been completely severed. And even the early writings of the founder of the Theosophical Society, the great figure H.P. Blavatsky, can only be understood if one recognizes the underlying Rosicrucian inspiration.

[ 10 ] It is of great importance that we understand that, in every age and every century, Rosicrucian inspiration is imparted in such a way that the bearer of the inspiration is never identified publicly. Only the highest initiates knew this. Today, for example, one can speak publicly only of events that took place a hundred years ago. For this is the period of time that must elapse after the events before they may be discussed publicly. The temptation is too great for people to respond to such a personally established authority with fanatical veneration, which is the worst thing there is. This danger is simply too close at hand. Secrecy, however, is not only a necessity against the external temptations of ambition and pride—which one might perhaps still be able to resist—but above all against the occult astral attacks that would be constantly directed against such an individuality. Hence the condition that one may speak of such a fact only a hundred years after it has occurred. Gradually, through such reflections, an understanding is to be developed that the focal point of historical development lies within Rosicrucianism.

[ 11 ] Let me use a trivial comparison to show you what is meant by such a center of gravity. Imagine a balance scale: it can only have a single fulcrum at the top of the beam; if it had two such centers of gravity, it would be impossible to weigh anything. Such a center of gravity is also necessary for historical development. The Eastern worldview, for example, and Schopenhauer as well, do not acknowledge such a center of gravity; they do not recognize historical development in this sense at all. But it is the task of Western humanity to acknowledge history. And Rosicrucianism has the mission of developing a view that acknowledges a center of gravity in historical becoming. And now it is entirely irrelevant for what is about to be said which creed one belongs to. For from the Akashic Records it can be determined that the day representing the focal point within human development is April 3 of the year 33. We must regard this as particularly significant for Rosicrucianism, that here lies the focal point of human development.

[ 12 ] So what actually happened back then? At that time, what occurred was what might be called the crisis of the demonic world. What is that? We know that in earlier times, people possessed a primitive form of clairvoyance. This gradually grew weaker and weaker until it was on the verge of disappearing. The fact is that, up until that point, human beings lived primarily in the astral body with their consciousness, and not so much in the “I.” The crisis was brought about by the fact that the old clairvoyance had become increasingly obscured. Consequently, human beings could only perceive the lowest regions of the spiritual world. The ego still lived in the astral; but the forces the ego could perceive had become worse and worse, increasingly impure. Human beings no longer had a view of the good forces; instead, when they looked out into the astral, they saw only these malevolent beings. The healing was to come through the cultivation of the ego. The beginning of this was what took place in the baptism of John in the Jordan. What did such a person experience when they were baptized? First, they experienced the physical procedure of being immersed in the water and thus the separation of the astral and etheric bodies from the physical body. Through this, the person could see how a crisis had to break out in the demonic world. And those being baptized said to themselves: We must change our minds! The time must come when the spirit can penetrate directly into the I-consciousness. Such a person felt: Oh, they are all still inside me, these dreadful astral beings; they are constantly penetrating into me.

[ 13 ] Something had to emerge that transcends the astral realm, and that is the “I.” Through the “I,” it will become possible for purely human communities to form out of the freedom of the soul, communities that are no longer bound by blood ties. Now imagine such a person, possessed by demons of the worst kind, who know that a crisis is imminent for them. Imagine that this person is confronted by a being whose very mission is to counteract the demons. How must they feel? They must feel extremely uncomfortable! The demons felt uncomfortable in the presence of Christ Jesus.

[ 14 ] Rosicrucianism contains within itself the impulses that are meant to counteract the demons. The ego is to be raised up again through these impulses. However, this raising up of the ego has not yet come very far.

[ 15 ] Returning to the starting point of our discussion, it becomes clear to us how natural it is that we Theosophists must find it harder to make our mark in the world than anyone else. Theosophists are persecuted like no other adherents of any worldview. For nothing is more unpleasant to people than having the true nature of Christ described to them. But our outlook is based on the results of genuine occult-scientific research, and we must hold fast to this outlook with all our strength.