The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Sixth Lecture

[ 1 ] Yesterday I tried to present what I had to say about the Mystery of the Grail and related matters in such a way that it would become clear how things gradually reveal themselves to the seeking soul. I did not hold back on the various things that must be gone through before the seeking soul finds what might be called the result of research from the spiritual world. I am, of course, well aware that modern psychology, which remains so very much on the surface, will have every possible—or rather, every impossible—objection when it encounters such descriptions. And I am quite familiar with all the objections that can be raised from this side; I know very well what curious assertions can be put forward regarding all sorts of laws, associations of ideas, and subconscious mental images. Nevertheless, precisely because I am aware of all this, I have presented this account unvarnished, because it is especially important for you, my dear anthroposophical friends, to realize that the results one arrives at in spiritual research can only be attained after overcoming all those things I mentioned yesterday as standing in the way. And the final result of spiritual research, which, according to the often-mentioned law of life, can very well emerge as reality, is not the result of ideas put together, as one might believe, but rather these ideas are what, like messengers, lead to the final result and have nothing to do with the result itself. I wanted to preface these words simply because the latest publications show that it happens time and again that even these presentations, when printed in the manner of our cycles, fall into the hands of outsiders, who then make the most absurd remarks about such presentations, while of course taking full advantage of quoting things out of context and the like. It is, after all—let me say this without wishing to be in the least immodest—it is, after all, a fact that through our anthroposophical movement the time has come when one or the other may believe they can make a business out of opposing our cause. And as is well known, in such cases, any means are deemed acceptable.

[ 2 ] I have spoken of the fact that the writing in the sky can indeed be found, which is not the Grail itself, nor does it reveal the Grail itself. I have expressly emphasized—and I ask that such emphases be taken very seriously—that the name of the Grail is found through the writing in the sky, not the Grail itself. I have pointed out that the dark portion of the rest of the moon, from which the golden crescent appears to be set apart—as anyone can see through careful observation—is revealed in the golden crescent of the moon standing in the sky, and that the name Parzival appears there in occult script.

[ 3 ] Now, before we proceed with our discussion and attempt to interpret this figure in the sky, I must draw your attention to an important law, to an important fact. What appears here as the golden crescent is created by the physical rays of the sun striking the moon. Because the sun shines from this direction, it illuminates the moon on this side, and the illuminated part appears as the golden crescent. Within it rests the dark host: physically, the unlit part, the part that remains dark, where the sun’s rays cannot penetrate; spiritually, something else still. When the sun’s rays strike one part of the moon and are reflected back as a golden glow, something nevertheless passes through the physical matter. What passes through is the spiritual element living within the sun’s rays. The spiritual power of the sun is not held back like the physical power of the sun and reflected back. It passes through, and because it is held back by the power of the moon, we see, precisely in what rests here in the golden shell, the spiritual power of the sun in reality. So that we can say: In the dark part of the moon that we see there, we behold the spiritual power of the sun. In the golden-shining part, in the bowl-like part, we see the physical power of the sun, which is reflected back as radiant power. The spirit of the sun rests in the bowl of the sun’s physical power when we look at the sun. So that the sun spirit truly rests in the moon’s bowl. And now let us take together everything we have ever spoken of regarding this solar spirit and its relationship to Christ, and what the moon does physically will appear to us as an important symbol. By reflecting the sun’s rays and thus producing the golden-shining shell, it appears to us as the bearer of the solar spirit: this is contained within in the form of the host-like disk.

[ 4 ] And now let us recall that the Parzival saga emphasizes that every Good Friday, that is, at Easter, the Host descends from heaven, is immersed in the Grail, and is renewed, just as a rejuvenating food is immersed in the Grail at Easter, when Parzival is once again directed toward the Grail by the hermit—at Easter, whose significance for the Grail has also been brought to humanity’s attention once more through Wagner’s Parzival.

[ 5 ] Now let us recall that, in accordance with an ancient tradition—one of those traditions that belong to what I alluded to yesterday: the continuing work of the Christ impulse taking place in the depths of the soul—it is in accordance with this tradition that the date of Easter is determined. On which day, then, is Easter set? When the spring sun—that is, the sun growing in strength, our symbol of Christ—has its day, its Sunday, following the spring full moon. How, then, does the spring full moon stand in the sky at Easter? How must it always stand in the sky at Easter? Well, it must begin, at least a little, to become a crescent once it has been full. Something must become visible of this dark part; something of the sun spirit, which has received its spring power, must be within it. That is to say: according to an ancient tradition, this image of the Holy Grail must appear in the sky on Easter. So it must be. Thus, everyone can see the image of the Holy Grail on Easter. For this reason, Easter has been established in the appropriate manner according to an ancient tradition.

[ 6 ] Now let us try to gain a clearer understanding of how all that is connected with the Parzival legend may have come about—largely through the processes taking place in the depths of the soul. We already mentioned yesterday: The power that manifests itself in the Sibyls must be tempered, must be permeated by the Christ impulse, and in this tempered form it must gradually emerge again so that it may become the bearer of the spiritual culture of the modern age. It must emerge in a tempered form. Let us ask the question: Was Perceval—as he was called by Chrestien de Troyes—able to perceive within himself something of that Christ force, so to speak, at work in the depths of the soul?

[ 7 ] When we look back once more at the fundamental character of ancient Hebrew geology, one thing stands out time and again. We can only grasp the spirit of ancient Hebrew geology if we fully take into account that the entire ancient Hebrew world sought to hold fast to the geological character of its revelation. I have already pointed out in this lecture series that it can be seen everywhere how the revelations of ancient Hebrew antiquity must be sought in the activities of the Earth, in the spiritual mobility of the Earth. It is the striving to bring about a retreating of that which is active in the elements from the stars and which works in such a way that the influence of the stars in the elements first brings forth that which then spiritually stimulates the Sibylline power. This was still justified in the ancient astrology of the third post-Atlantean epoch; at that time, humanity still possessed so much of the heritage of ancient spirituality within itself that, by surrendering itself to the elements with its soul, it received the good through the revelations of the star-script. In the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, the power of the stars had, as it were, receded before the elements that penetrated the earth, the atmosphere, and so on, and the influence of the elements was perceived in such a way that whoever understood the spirit of the age—namely, as the fourth epoch advanced ever further—had to say to himself: Let us guard against what comes from the stars into the elements; for this brings about something like the false Sibylline powers. Through the fact that the Christ impulse has poured out over the Earth’s aura, the Sibylline powers were to be harmonized once more, restored to what can yield legitimate revelations. The true expert on ancient Hebrew antiquity did not readily look up to the stars when he wished to reveal the spiritual. He held fast to the God Yahweh, who belongs to the development of the Earth, to Earth’s evolution, and who became a moon god solely to further this, so that—as I have described in *The Secret Science*—he assumed this function of the moon god. In the Jewish lunar festivals, it is clearly expressed that the “Lord of the Earth” appears symbolically from the moon in his reflection. But do not go any further—such was the attitude of ancient Hebrew tradition toward the disciple—do not go any further! Be content with what Yahweh reveals in his lunar symbol; do not go any further, for the time has not yet come to take in from the elements anything other than what is expressed through the lunar symbol. Otherwise, unjust Sibylline forces will arise! — If one summarizes everything that has been brought forth from the Saturn, Sun, and Moon evolutions for the Earth’s evolution in its natural aspect, it comes before us through ancient Hebrew antiquity, symbolized in Eve. Eve—the vowels are never clearly pronounced in Hebrew—Eve! Add to this the sign for that divine being of ancient Hebrew antiquity who is the guide of Earth’s destiny, and you have a form that is just as correct as any other: Jeve-Yahweh, the guide of the Earth whose symbol is the Moon. Linked to what has come over from the development of the Moon, to the result of the Moon’s development for the Earth’s development: the Lord of the Earth, linked to the Earth Mother, who in her powers is a result of the Moon’s development... Yahweh! Thus, from ancient Hebrew antiquity comes the mysterious connection of the lunar forces, which have left their remnant in the moon as we know it astronomically and have left their human powers in the feminine element of human existence. The connection of the Lord of the Earth with the Mother of the Moon is already evident to us in the name Yahweh.

[ 8 ] Now I would like to present two facts to your soul that may help you realize how the Sibylline powers have been transformed under the influence of the Christ impulse—transformed, that is, in the subconscious depths of the soul’s life. I would also like to refer here to an event that I drew attention to three years ago—it has been about three years, almost to the day—as it were, to a Sibyl transformed under the influence of the Christ impulse. In the lectures, which you can also find in print under the title: “Occult History: Personalities and Events of World History in the Light of Spiritual Science,” I have referred to the phenomenon of the Maid of Orleans, pointing out how what the Maid of Orleans accomplished under the influence of her inspirations—inspirations entirely permeated by the Christ impulse, which began in the fall of 1428—actually had the greatest influence on the fate of Europe in the period that followed. One can indeed learn from external history that the fate of Europe would have unfolded quite differently without the intervention of the Virgin of Orléans at that time; and only a thoroughly prejudiced materialist, such as Anatole France, can deny the mysterious element that intervened in history at that time. I do not wish to point here to what can be read everywhere in history and what can, after all, remind those who have listened to these lectures of how something of a modern Sibyl appears in the Maid of Orleans. For this is the time—we are in the 15th century—when the fifth post-Atlantean epoch is dawning, when the Christ force must increasingly rise up from the subconscious depths of the soul. We see how gentle, how tender, how steeped in the noblest human soul-qualities the Sibylline power of the Maid of Orleans appears. And I would also like to take this opportunity to read aloud that letter written by a man who witnessed these events, because this letter reveals the impression the Sibylline nature of the Maid of Orleans made on those who had the heart and mind to receive it. A man from the king’s entourage—whom the Maid of Orleans had, after all, liberated—writes, after describing what the Maid of Orleans had accomplished:

[ 9 ] “The Maid (of Orleans) has accomplished this and much more, and with God’s help she will accomplish even greater things. The maiden is of graceful beauty and possesses a manly bearing; she speaks little and displays a wonderful wisdom; when she speaks, she has a pleasing, delicate voice, as is typical of women. She eats in moderation and drinks wine even more sparingly. She takes pleasure in fine horses and weapons. She loves armed and noble men very much. The maiden dislikes gatherings and conversation with many people; she often weeps, loves a cheerful face, endures unimaginable labor, and is so persistent in handling and bearing arms that she remains fully armed day and night for six days without ceasing. She says: the English have no right to France, and therefore, as she says, God has sent her to drive them out and overcome them, but only after a prior warning has been given. She shows the highest reverence to the King; she says he is loved by God and under special protection, which is why he will also be preserved. Regarding the Duke of Orleans, your nephew, she says he will be miraculously freed, but only after a warning has first been given to the English who hold him captive, calling for his release.

[ 10 ] And so, illustrious prince, that I may bring my account to a close: even more wondrous things are happening and have happened than I can write to you or express in words. As I write this, the aforementioned maiden has already journeyed to the region of the city of Reims in Champagne, whither the King has hastily set out for his anointing and coronation with God’s assistance. Most illustrious and mighty prince and my most revered lord! I commend myself to you most humbly, asking the Most High to protect you and grant your wishes. Written at Biteromis, on the 21st day of the month of June.

Your humble servant Percival,
Lord of Bonlamiulk, Councilor and Chamberlain
to the King of the French and to the Duke of Orléans.
Seneschal to the King, a native of Berry.»

[ 11 ] This is how a certain Percival writes to the Duke of Milan about the Virgin. Anyone who reads through this account by Percival, this letter from Percival, will sense that it describes a Sibyl imbued with the spirit of Christ.

[ 12 ] That is one thing; the other point I would like to draw attention to is also a fact from the emerging modern era in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. I would like to draw attention to what a man writes who, one might say, felt imbued at that time with what was emerging as a new era, and was allowed to feel imbued with it. He felt imbued with it because he sensed—one might well say, unconsciously sensed—that yes, a time is dawning again when ancient astrology may be revived in a new form, in a form permeated by Christ, when one may once more—if one does it right, if one does it imbued with the Christ impulse—look up to the stars and ask them about their spiritual script. At the same time, as you will soon see, this is a man who feels deeply that the Earth is not merely what today’s materialistic geology would have us believe—something purely physical and mineralogical—but who feels that the Earth is a living being, something that has not only a body, as today’s materialists would have us believe, but also a soul. The man of whom I speak knew this in such a way that he was able to feel—even if, since Spiritual Science as we know it today did not yet exist at that time, he could not put it into words—that: The Christ impulse has been taken up by the Earth’s soul into its aura, and so the human being who now feels himself in the Earth’s aura with his soul and shares in the Christ impulse may in turn look up to what is written in the stars. People did indeed do so; they did indeed look up. Even though every such approach brought with it a great deal of superstition, and the ancient astronomers, steeped in much superstition, appeared on the scene at that time, we nevertheless see a man who is deeply connected to the spiritual life of modern times speaking thus:

[ 13 ] “These and countless other changes and phenomena occurring within and upon the Earth are so regular and measured that they cannot be attributed to blind chance; and since the planets themselves know nothing of the angles their rays form on Earth, the Earth must have a soul. The Earth is an animal.”

[ 14 ] But he does not mean an animal in the usual sense, but rather a living organism.

[ 15 ] “One will perceive in it everything that corresponds to the parts of the animal body. Plants and trees are its hair, metals its veins, and seawater its drink. The Earth possesses a formative power, a kind of imagination, movement, certain diseases, and the ebb and flow of the tides are the breathing of the animals. The soul of the Earth seems to be a kind of flame, hence the underground heat and hence no reproduction without heat. A certain image of the zodiac and the entire firmament has been imprinted by God into the soul of the Earth.”

[ 16 ] “This is the bond between the heavenly and the earthly, the source of the harmony between heaven and earth; the archetypes of all their movements and actions have been implanted in it by God, the Creator.”

[ 17 ] “The soul is at the center of the earth; it sends out forms or impressions of itself in all directions and in this way perceives all harmonious changes and objects outside itself. — As it is with the soul of the earth, so it is with the soul of man. All mathematical ideas and proofs, for example, are generated by the soul from within itself; otherwise, it could not possess this high degree of certainty and precision.”

[ 18 ] “The planets and their aspects influence the powers of the human soul. They stir up emotions and passions of all kinds, and through them often bring about the most terrible acts and events. They influence conception and birth, and thereby the temperament and character of human beings, and a large part of astrology is based on this. — It is likely that the Sun not only radiates light and heat throughout the entire universe, but is also the center and seat of pure intellect and the source of harmony in the entire universe — and all the planets are animated.”

[ 19 ] “Throughout all creation there is a magnificent, wondrous harmony, both in the sensible and the supersensible, in ideas as well as in things, in the realm of nature and of grace. This harmony exists both in the things themselves and in their relationships to one another. The highest harmony is God, and He has imprinted an inner harmony upon all souls as His image. Numbers, figures, the heavenly bodies, and nature in general harmonize with certain mysteries of the Christian religion. Just as, for example, there are three stationary things in the universe—the sun, the fixed stars, and the intermediate sphere—and everything else is in motion, so too are there three in the one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The sphere likewise represents the Trinity (the Father is the center, the Son the surface, the Spirit the equal distance from the center to the surface—the radius) as well as other mysteries. Without spirits and souls, there would be no harmony anywhere. In human souls, there are harmonious predispositions of infinitely varied kinds. The entire Earth is animated, and through this, the great harmony is brought about both on Earth and between it and the celestial bodies. This soul acts throughout the entire body of the Earth, but has its seat in a certain part of it, just as the human soul has its seat in the heart; and from there, as from a focus or a source, its effects radiate out into the ocean and the atmosphere of the Earth. Hence the sympathy between the Earth and the celestial bodies, hence the regular effects of nature. That the Earth truly has a soul is most clearly shown by the observation of the weather and the aspects through which it is produced each time. Under certain aspects and constellations, the air always becomes restless; if there are none, or few, or only fleeting ones, it remains calm.”

[ 20 ] This is written by a man in 1607, a man in whom the spirit of the age is alive and pulsating as the new era dawns—Christianized astrology, which leaves behind only its shadow: astrological superstition. This is written by a man, one might say, from the most devout of hearts, a man who knows that in former times the forces coming from the elemental world were rightly—later wrongly—used, as we would say today, as Sibylline powers. For the man says: It cannot be denied that such spirits—by which he means spirits that form the communication between the stars and the Earth—take root in the elements of the Earth, which surround the Earth as the atmosphere.

[ 21 ] “It cannot be denied that such spirits once gave oracles to humans through idols, oak trees, groves, caves, animals, and so on; and divination by the flight of birds was not merely an art used to deceive the weak. Those spirits were active in guiding the birds through the air, through which, with God’s permission, many things were foretold to humans. Even today one hears of omens involving birds such as owls, vultures, eagles, and ravens, though such instances are all the more rare the more they are despised. For those spirits cannot bear to be despised, as they indeed deserve according to God’s law and Christian teaching; rather, they then flee and remain silent. Since the liar was permitted from the beginning to speak through animals and spoke to Eve through the serpent, he seduced the human race. This has also been their custom ever since: Whenever they could speak to humans through voices or omens, through the bodies and movements of animals, they abused this power, appropriated divine worship for themselves, and seduced the poor people. Even though Christ came for this very reason—to destroy the works of the devil and to impose silence upon these spirits—and even though they have lost their temples, statues, groves, caves, and the long-held earth, they are still present here and there in the empty air and cry out about with God’s permission; often they are God’s rods of discipline; more often He uses them to proclaim certain things to mankind.”

[ 22 ] The man quietly hints at how spiritual revelations are permeated by Christ; for he does so with a mindset that can truly be called “permeated by Christ.” In 1607, this man speaks in this way about the upheavals that have taken place in the spiritual world. Who is this man? Is he a man who has no right to speak, whom one may ignore? No, he is a man without whom modern astronomy and physics would not exist: he is Johannes Kepler. And one would like to advise those people who today call themselves materialists or monists and point to Johannes Kepler as one of those who are supposed to be their idols; one should advise them to take this passage from Kepler to heart. The greatest astronomical laws, the three Keplerian laws that govern all of modern astronomy, are his. But this is how he speaks of what is gradually emerging with the fifth post-Atlantean epoch into the development of the Earth. One must gradually accustom oneself again—and now permeated, interwoven with the new impulse—to recognize, at least to some extent, the spiritual effects associated with the stars.

[ 23 ] What kind of time was it when Parzival entered the Grail Castle, still unaware, not yet ready to ask questions—according to the later tradition, the tradition that Wolfram von Eschenbach adopted? What kind of time was it when Parzival entered the Grail Castle, Amfortas lay there with his wound, and upon Parzival’s entry the wound caused him endless pain? In what era did Parzival enter the Grail Castle? The legend tells us: It was the time of Saturn; Saturn and the Sun were both in Cancer, at their zenith. Here we see how the very connection between the Earth and the stars is sought within the most intimate effects. It was the time of Saturn!

[ 24 ] And when we now examine how and in what way Parzival gradually comes to his knowledge, what do we discover? What is he like, this Parzival? He is ignorant of certain things! He is kept in ignorance. Of what kinds of things is he kept in ignorance? Well, we have heard it ourselves: the Christ impulse flows, as it were, underground in the depths of the soul; above, theological squabbling takes place and brings forth what then becomes traditional Christianity. Let us follow the figure of Parzival as the legend depicts him: he knows nothing of all this. He is kept precisely away from what has been playing out on the surface. He is not meant to know any of this. Thus he is preserved from everything that has taken place on the surface. He comes to know this from sources that draw from the depths of the soul, as we heard yesterday: first, when he rides out, unaware, from the Grail castle, of the woman weeping for her deceased bridegroom lying in her lap; from the hermit, who is associated with mystical powers; and from the power of the Grail—for it is Good Friday when he arrives at the hermit’s dwelling: though he is still unaware of it, the power of the Grail is already working within him.

[ 25 ] There is, then, one who knew nothing of all that had taken place in the higher consciousness; one who is associated with the subconscious sources emerging in modern times; one who is to draw from these sources. It is one whose heart and soul, in innocence and untouched by what the external world brings to human life, is to receive the mystery of the Grail. With the highest, purest, noblest soul forces, he is to receive the mystery of the Grail. He must encounter one who is not equal to those soul forces that are to fully experience the mystery of the Grail: he must encounter Amfortas. We know this: Amfortas is indeed destined to be the guardian of the Grail, but he fell prey to the lower forces of human nature. And how he has succumbed to the lower forces of human nature—that is what is at stake here, for he brings this into connection with the guardianship of the Grail: out of lust and jealousy, he killed his opponent. All these things are self-evident; and since these matters are repeatedly misunderstood, it must be pointed out that anthroposophy does not seek to teach asceticism. There is something much deeper behind this.

[ 26 ] These were, as it were, natural elemental forces that did not manifest themselves—or were not regarded—as they did in ordinary life, but rather as they still manifested themselves in their connection with the spiritual worlds during the third post-Atlantean epoch. That which, as it were, pulsed through the human blood and nervous systems via the elements rose up and received the mysteries. This was not a matter of sensory asceticism, but of becoming aware of the sacred mysteries. One could still receive them in the third post-Atlantean cultural period with the same forces that otherwise govern human beings on Earth. Now the time had come when the sacred mysteries reveal themselves only to pure, innocent soul forces, when the human being finds the possibility to rise above what binds him to his earthly vocation—from which even anthroposophy does not wish to alienate him. But he must rise above this earthly calling, above that which was permitted to be active within him in the time of ancient astrology. He must rise above it if he wishes to find his way to the ancient mysteries in a new way. He must do this with the powers of the innocent soul that has become free from all that is earthly. In contrast to the opposition created by ancient Hebrew antiquity, a different opposition must be created. Ancient Hebrew antiquity pointed out with severity: Nothing of the Sibylline powers, which were still legitimate in astrology—nothing of them! Let us hold fast to the Earth God Yahweh!

[ 27 ] This gave rise to an aversion to all revelation from above, an acceptance of all revelations from below, and a fear of what was revealed from the heavens. This had to prevail on Earth for a time; for a time, a certain opposition to what came from above had to assert itself on Earth. And in forces such as the Sibylline powers, people saw the unjustified Luciferic element that came from above. But now, after the Christ-being had descended into the body of Jesus of Nazareth, now what came from above had been permeated by Christ; now one could look upward again; now something else had come into being from the union of the Earth Lord with the Moon Mother. For the Christ had become the Earth Lord, the Earth Spirit, having poured himself into the Earth’s aura. Worldly affairs, as they were managed from the court of King Arthur, could be approached with the forces of the Earth; one was not permitted to approach the Grail’s own affairs with what was the effect of Earth forces, as was the case with Amfortas. The human being who approached the mysteries of the Grail with such forces had to be painfully affected. And since the celestial influences were permeated by Christ, such a person—who, though he had not taken in anything of what was quarreled over on the outer surface, yet stood, through his karma, at a point where his soul could be received by Christ—such a person could in turn be thought of in connection with the forces as they are indicated in the symbol of the Saturn era; that is: Saturn and the Sun are simultaneously in the sign of Cancer. In the one in whom the Christ impulse still works subterraneously, still in the subconscious depths of the soul—that Parzival comes with the power of Saturn, and the wound burns as it has never burned before.

[ 28 ] Thus we see how the modern era is heralded. Parzival’s soul is connected to the subconscious historical impulses permeated by the Christ-aura, to the Christ-impulses, even though he does not yet know it. But what has been at work down there, what has guided human history, must gradually rise up. Therefore, he must gradually learn to understand what will never be understood unless one approaches it with innocent, pure soul forces—and what can never be understood if one approaches it with traditional knowledge or scholarship. One can then see it—for it has indeed risen and become almost as commonplace as the Heavenly Grail itself, which utters the name—but it is nonetheless the renewal, the reconfiguration of that for which ancient Hebrew antiquity fought in its time.

[ 29 ] Let us stand before the image of the Virgin Mother with Christ in her womb, and then let us say: Whoever can feel a sense of the sacred when gazing upon this image has a sense of the Grail. All other lights, all other gods are outshone by the holy chalice, the Moon Mother now touched by Christ, the new Eve, the bearer of the solar spirit of Christ. Consider not so much the “what,” but rather the “how”! And let us look into the soul of Parzival, as he, riding out from the Grail Castle, holds the image of the bride and groom, which connects him to the subconscious Christ forces; let us observe how the hermit, at Eastertime, when the image of the Grail must be written in the heavens by the stars, instructs his innocent soul; let us follow him as he rides on—I expressly emphasized this yesterday—through day and night, gazing at nature by day, often beholding before him the heavenly sign of the Holy Grail by night, as he rides on, before him the golden crescent moon with the wafer, with the Christ Spirit, the Sun Spirit within; let us see how he is prepared for his path, through the harmony of the image of the Virgin Mother with the Bridegroom-Son and the sign of the heavenly script, to understand the mystery of the Holy Grail; let us see how, in his soul, that which has permeated the destinies of the Earth as the Christ impulse interacts with the starry script to be renewed; let us see how closely related is all that is permeated by Christ to the star forces ... since he had to enter during the Saturnic Age, he also had to make the wounds of Amfortas burn more intensely, for he did not dwell at the Grail in the proper manner.

[ 30 ] Consider not so much the “what” as the “how”! For the point is not that we characterize such things with the words I have just used, or with any other words. One never fully approaches the Grail with mere words or even with philosophical speculation. One approaches the Grail when one is able to transform all these words into feeling, and when one is able to sense that one must feel the sum of all that is holy in this holy Grail: That one must feel the confluence of that which has come down from the moon, which first appeared in the Earth Mother Eve, then appears renewed in the Virgin Mother, which has become Lord of the Earth in the God Yahweh, which appears as the new Lord of the Earth in the Christ Being that has poured itself into the Earth’s aura. One feels the convergence of that which now works down from the stars, symbolized by the star script, with this earthly development of humanity. When one takes all this into account and then feels it as the harmony of human history with the Star Writing, one also grasps the mystery that is to be expressed in the words entrusted to Parzival, which echo through the legend: That every time a Grail King, a truly called guardian of the Grail, dies, the name of his worthy successor appears on the Holy Grail. There it is to be read, that is, one is called upon to learn to read the star script anew in a new form.

[ 31 ] Let us try, my dear friends, to make ourselves worthy of learning to read this celestial script anew; let us try to learn to read it as it must now be given to us. For, in essence, it is nothing other than a reading of the star writing when we attempt to unravel human evolution from the Saturn, Sun, Moon, and Earth stages up to the volcanic stage. But we must recognize the contexts in which we wish to decipher the star writing in our time. Let us make ourselves worthy of this! For it is not for nothing that it is told that the Grail was first carried away again from its place, that it was not outwardly perceptible for the time being. Let us regard what we are permitted to cultivate in our anthroposophy as a renewed search for the Grail, and let us try to understand the meaning of what once spoke up as if from subconscious soul-reasons, what only gradually emerged into human consciousness. Let us try to gradually transform this into an ever more conscious language! Let us try to fathom a wisdom that can once again reveal to us the connection between the earthly and the heavenly, reveal it without old tradition, just as we are trying to find it, as it can be revealed in the present.

[ 32 ] And then, my dear friends, let us allow ourselves to be imbued with everything that can stir within us as we contemplate the way in which Parzival came to know the mystery of the Grail. It remained hidden, however, because people first had to seek the connection between the Earth and the cosmic powers in the outermost realm, in the realm of the most external science. We can also understand a phenomenon such as this: that a spirit like Kepler had meanwhile found understanding for what he could express through his mathematical-mechanical laws of the heavens, — yet what he added, truly imbued with the Christ impulse, had to plunge down into the subconscious depths of the soul. When we speak today of what we know about our Earth’s evolution and how it relates to the cosmos, we speak in his spirit. For he tells us:

[ 33 ] “Just as there are, for example, three stationary things in the universe—the sun, the fixed stars, and the intermediate sphere—and everything else is in motion, so too are there three in the one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The sphere likewise represents the Trinity (the Father is the center, the Son the surface, the Spirit the equal distance from the center to the surface—the radius) as well as other mysteries. Without spirits and souls, there would be no harmony anywhere. In human souls there are harmonious predispositions of infinitely varied kinds. The entire Earth is animated, and through this, the great harmony is brought about both on Earth and between it and the celestial bodies. This soul acts throughout the entire body of the Earth, but has its seat in a certain part of it, just as the human soul has its seat in the heart; and from there, as from a focus or a source, its effects radiate out into the ocean and the Earth’s atmosphere. Hence the sympathy between the Earth and the celestial bodies, hence the regular effects of nature. That the Earth truly has a soul is most clearly shown by the observation of the weather and the aspects through which it is produced each time. Under certain aspects and constellations, the air always becomes restless; if there are none, or few, or only fleeting ones, it remains calm.”

[ 34 ] “These and countless other changes and phenomena occurring within and upon the Earth are so regular and measured that they cannot be attributed to blind chance; and since the planets themselves know nothing of the angles their rays form on Earth, the Earth must have a soul. The Earth is an animal. One will perceive in it everything analogous to the parts of an animal’s body. Plants and trees are its hair, metals its veins, seawater its drink. The Earth possesses a formative power, a kind of imagination, movement, certain maladies, and the ebb and flow of the tides are the breathing of the animal. The soul of the Earth appears to be a kind of flame, hence the subterranean heat and hence no reproduction without heat. A certain image of the zodiac and the entire firmament has been imprinted by God upon the soul of the Earth.”

[ 35 ] And we see today how this image of the zodiac has been imprinted upon the soul of the Earth, upon the Earth’s aura, and we are gradually working our way through to the other part of Kepler’s worldview: to that part which also had to remain in the subconscious depths of the soul, but which clearly shows that what we can present today as a cosmology is a fulfillment. So deeply rooted in human evolution is what our anthroposophy is meant to be for us, so intimately connected is it with that admonition that resounds to us from the Holy Grail. And when we consider Europe, the West of ancient times, and look at the pre- and post-Atlantean eras—at what has come to life in the post-Atlantean era from memories of Atlantean times—when we see how in Greek culture, in the cult of Apollo, a final echo resounds, in that it showed how the later Nathanic Jesus had once been permeated by Christ in the higher worlds, who then descended and accomplished the Mystery of Golgotha—the Nathanic Jesus permeated by Christ—when we trace this and then ask ourselves: Where did he come from, this Christ? How did he journey, as he journeyed from above to below to become the Lord of the Earth, how did he journey? He journeyed from the West to the East, and from the East he journeyed back to the West. From the realm of the higher hierarchies themselves he descended into his outer shell. The beings of the higher hierarchies carried him down; he belonged to them. The Parzival legend beautifully reminds us that this is so, by saying: A host of angels brought the Holy Grail to Titurel—the true mystery of Christ Jesus, of the connection between the Lord of the Earth and the Virgin Mother—and a host of angels awaits him again in the realm of the higher hierarchies. If we seek him there, then we understand the seeking of our anthroposophical worldview; then we gradually penetrate further and further toward a feeling, a sense of the celestial aspect of the Holy Grail, toward the human aspect of the Holy Grail, toward the Mother with Jesus, with the Christ.

[ 36 ] With this, my dear friends, we have attempted to shed a little light on the realm of human history, insofar as this history is sustained by spiritual forces. And if you have sensed something of what I have sought to stir not merely in your thinking but in your hearts through my words, then the purpose of this lecture series has been fulfilled. I might just as well have titled this series: “On the Quest for the Holy Grail.” It may be left to the judgment of each individual whether what is meant here by the harmony of all religions will one day truly bring together the faiths spread across the earth. It may be left to each person to decide this for themselves. And it may also be left to each soul to judge whether what is called the unity of religions is better described by what we have attempted to characterize as the quest for the Holy Grail than by many other things that speak of the unity of religions but are perhaps something entirely different.

[ 37 ] Anyone who wishes to cling to a narrow, denominational perspective will certainly not be convinced by what has been said. This is because they lend an ear to what we have seen takes place only on the surface, to what is merely the outer aspect of the actual deeds of Christ, which are of a spiritual nature. Just as a person has been led by his karma to these spiritual deeds of Christ and thus stands as a great model for the religious unification of the earth, just as Parzival was driven there, we wanted to bring this to mind and recall that continuation of the Parzival legend which says that the Grail, for the time during which it then became invisible in Europe, was carried into the realm of the Priest John, who had his kingdom beyond the territories reached by the Crusaders. During the time of the Crusades, people still revered the realm of the Priest John, the night-follower of Parzival, and judging by the way they sought it, one must say: even if all this was expressed in earthly-geographical terms, the place of John is, strictly speaking, not really to be found on Earth.

[ 38 ] Could this be a hint in the European legend that sought to continue the Parzival saga—a hint that Christ, though unconscious within us, has also been at work in the depths of the Orient since that time, and that perhaps what is playing out in the Orient as religious strife in the conscious mind could likewise be superseded by the outpourings and revelations of the true Christ impulse, just as this has begun to happen in the West according to the Parzival revelation? Is the sunlight of the Grail destined to shine upon all the gods of the earth, as is symbolically indicated by the fact that, when the Virgin brings in the golden-shining bowl containing the mystery of the Grail, the radiance of the Grail outshines the other lights? May we expect that—contrary to what is believed today—the Christ forces, still working unconsciously, will join in a transformed form with what has appeared today as light in the West, in accordance with the ancient saying: Ex oriente lux? Can light unite with light? For this, however, it will be necessary that we be prepared, we who, through our karma, are placed upon the soil of those geographical and cultural currents over which the Christ’s procession has passed, even as he, having permeated Jesus of Nazareth with the Christ in super-earthly regions, set out for the Orient. Let us look up and sense that the Christ’s path has already passed through our heights in his pre-earthly manifestations. Let us make ourselves capable of understanding him in such a way that we do not misunderstand what he may one day speak to us, when the time comes that other creeds of the earth will have been permeated by his impulses!