Meditations and Exercises
Rudolf Steiner provided extensive instructions and exercises for personal development. He describes a hidden world that flows through the material world, thereby manifesting as our reality. To understand the role of the human being and why we are here, one must apply oneself to this endeavour.
Unlike teachings based primarily on belief, Steiner's path for such esoteric study is a cognitive one. It is one of gnosis—knowledge of spiritual matters. He posits that we can learn to know how to experience the spiritual realms through our thinking, feeling and willing. The choice of whether or not to learn and practice this knowledge is ours. We must exercise our free will to do so.
To promote wider adoption of the spiritual practices outlined by Rudolf Steiner, we have compiled a summary of fundamental texts. These include foundational teachings, meditative verses and mantras, prayers and other exercises. We hope you will take this information to heart during this critical time in human evolution. If we do not choose to develop ourselves now, we may lose the opportunity.
| Type | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Study | Essential Reading | Selected Chapters from Steiner's Foundational Books which are essential to learn before commencing a practice. |
| Study | Additional Reading | Lectures and other writings on Esoteric Development |
| Exercise | I am. It thinks. She feels. He wills. | Morning meditation striving for complete inner stillness, beginning with "In purest outpoured Light... See alternate lecture in GA 266 categorized as a meditation (In pure rays of light...). |
| Exercise | The Six Basic Attributes & Exercises |
|
| Exercise | Subsidiary exercises for the days of the week | Exercises for right opinion, right judgment, right word, right deed, right standpoint, to let all of the foregoing exercises become a habit, right memory, and right examination. |
| Exercise | The Backward Review or Retrospect (Rückshau) | A review of the day's events (or a greater period) every night before sleeping. |
| Meditation | In pure rays of light... | Verse for spiritual powers stream into you and out into the world |
| Meditation | The Calendar of the Soul | Powerful weekly verses to practice throughout the seasons and festivals of the year. |
| Meditation | The Foundation Stone Meditation | Verses to enliven us with the spirit of anthroposophy, given by Rudolf Steiner after the burning of the first Goetheanum. |
| Meditation | The Twelve Moods | Verses embodying the cosmic influences on the human being of the planetary movements playing the instrument of the fixed stars, given to eurythmists in order to bring the twelve cosmic consonants and seven cosmic vowels into movement on earth. |
| Meditation | The Rose Cross Meditation | Symbolic meditation for soul development as given in Steiner's foundational book, Occult Science. |
| Meditation | The Michael Imagination | Verse for spiritual understanding of autumn's meteoric iron in relation to Michael's sword as given on October 5, 1923 (GA 229) |
| Meditation | The Michael Meditation | Verse given in Rudolf Steiner's last lecture on September 28, 1924 (GA 238) |
| Meditation | In the spirit lay the germ of my body...In my body lies the germ of the spirit. | Verse for the love of humanity |
| Meditation | Angels, Archangels and Archai... | Verses describe how the spiritual Hierarchies progressively transmute the fruits of man's earthly life during the stages of death. |
| Meditation | Man As A Picture of the Living Spirit | Verse to confront the Darkness; lecture describes how the spiritual Hierarchies work within the human body. "We realize that here on Earth we are only a picture of our true Being—that our true Being never comes down into the earthly life. Yet in the midst of the Darkness, through our good will towards the Spirit, a Light can dawn upon us, of which we may in truth confess: This Light am I myself in my reality." |
| Prayer | The Lord's Prayer | Rudolf Steiner's booklet giving an esoteric explanation of The Lord's Prayer revealing the path which man must tread through many incarnations |
| Prayer | Prayers for Mothers and Children | A compilation of prayers contained in GA 40; contains Rudolf Steiner's Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Grace for mealtime |
| Prayer | Spirits ever watchful... | Verses given by Rudolf Steiner prior to meetings during WWI for those who have passed through the gate of death. |
If you value our work to facilitate personal practice of Rudolf Steiner's teachings for spiritual development, please consider donating. This small, independent, US-based nonprofit is run by two people out of a cottage in Northern Michigan yet serves nearly 145,000 people each month. We are funded solely by our personal savings, donations, resale book sales, and a few small grants. Thank you for your support.