The School of Spiritual Science was created/founded by Rudolf Steiner for the instruction of spiritual matters.
This is a manual for initiation. Please handle with reverence. The images herein are powerful and not to be taken lightly.
There were to have been three classes but Steiner died after only having completed most of Class One. Some lessons are missing and will be included as soon as they are located. These lessons have been considered secret since they were first given by special trained readers. Membership in the School of Spiritual Science is reserved only for members of the Anthroposophical Society after one year of membership and a letter of recommendation by another member. A reading list was presented to insure proper foundation.
As years went by these "secret" lessons were slowly leaked out. Now the Society has published them themselves, with the thinking that if they are to be out in the public, the public may as well have the correct version!!!
Below you will find my own transposing of class lessons from notes hurriedly taken at the end of the lesson. I have been in lessons in California, Oregon, and New Zealand.
The verses which follow are meditations:
The Guardian Speaks: Where on earth foundations, color upon color,
Life creative manifests itself,
Where from earthly substance, form on form,
Lifeless realms take on their finished shape,
Where the sentient creatures, strong in will,
Bask in the warming glow of their existence,
Where, O Man, thou dost thyself derive
Bodily being from earth and air and light.
There dost thou enter, for thine own true Being,
Night enveloped darkness, deep and cold.
Never wilt thou learn from the dark and dumb expanse
What thou art, or wert, or will become.
In thine own Being, the light of day grows dim
To the soul's night, to the darkness of the Spirit;
Then dost thou turn thine anxious seeking soul
Toward that light that grows out of the darkness.
And from the darkness appears
- Facing thee with thine own imaged form,
Even to a deeper likeness shaping thee
Solemn spirit-word in Cosmic ether
In thy heart's hearing, strongly working -
To the Spirit-Messenger who alone can lighten up thy path.
Before him spread the fields of sense-existence
Behind him yawn the depths of the Abyss,
And here before the darkness of his spirit-fields
Hard by the yawning chasm of existence,
Rings forth his age-old mighty Creator-Word:
Behold, I am the only gate of knowledge.
From the widths of the Beings of Space
Who in the Light experience existence,
From the tread of the course of Time
Which in Creating finds itself expressed,
From the depths of the feeling heart,
Where in the Self the world is fathomed:
There, in speech of soul resounds,
There, from the Spirit's thought shines out
From divine salvation - forces
In the world-formation-powers,
Working, weaving Word of Being:
O Thou man, Know Thyself.
The Guardian speaks further:
Yet must thou beware of the Abyss,
Lest, if in haste thou pass me by,
Its beasts devour thee.
Thy cosmic age hath set them there in thee
As enemies of knowledge.
See the first beast - with crooked back,
With bony head and withered form,
dull and murky blue is all its hide.
Thy fear of Spirit's creative Being begat this monstrous foe
within thy Will.
Thy bravery in knowing will alone subdue it.
See the second beast -it shows its teeth with face distorted;
it lives in mocking.
Greying-yellow is its hideous shape.
Thy hate of Spirit's revelation begat this weakling in thy feeling life.
With fire of knowing thou must tame it.
See the third beast - with cloven mouth,
With glassy eye and slouching attitude.
Dirty red its form appears to thee.
Thy doubt in power of Spirit's light begat for thee this spectre
in thy thinking.
To thy creative knowing it must yield.
Only when thou hast overcome these three
will wings begin to grow upon thy soul to carry thee across the deep abyss
that separates thee from the knowledge -
fields to which the earnest longing of thy heart,
Salvation seeking, would devote itself.
Lesson Two
The third Beast's vacant, glassy eye,
It is the evil counterimage
of thinking, which in you disowns
Itself and chooses death, denying
Spirit powers, which before its
Earthly life kept it alive.
The second beast's mean, mocking face,
It is the evil counterforce
of Feeling, which would hollow out
Your own soul-self and forms in you
life-void instead of spirit substance,
which, raying forth from spirit-solar power, was hers,
before her earth existence.
The first beast's gnarled bony ghost,
It is the evil creating might of willing
which estranges your body from your
strength of soul, and dedicates it to
opposing powers, who strive to steal
the cosmic life from life divine in future ages.
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Lesson 3:
See how thinking weaves in you:
Cosmic semblance you experience.
Selfhood hides itself from you.
Enter deeply into this semblance.
Ether essence wafts in you.
Selfhood-being should revere
Guiding beings of your spirit.
Perceive how feeling streams in you:
How semblance mingles there with being.
Your self to semblance feels inclined.
Immerse your self in seeming-being
And world soul forces dwell in you.
Your selfhood should deeply ponder
The powers of life within your soul.
Let work the impulse of will in yourself:
It rises up from worlds of semblance
Creative in its very essence.
To this devote all your life.
For it is filled with cosmic spirit might.
Your very being shall now grasp
World creator might in your Spirit-I.
Feel how the depths of the earth
Press their forces
In the body's limbs of your being
You lose yourself in them
If you entrust powerlessly
Your will to their striving
They darken you. The I.
Feel how out of world expanses
Divine powers let their spirit brightness
Shine into your soul's Being.
Find yourself in them with love imbued.
And they create wisdom weaving
You as self in their service.
Strong for good spirit working.
Feel how in heavenly heights
Selfhood selflessly can live
If spirit imbued it will to follow
thought powers in their upward striving
And in fortitude the word can heal (hear)
That from above resounds with grace
Into man's true Being.
Lesson Five
Recapitulation Lesson One
The Guardian with the uttermost earnestness.
Thou stridest into earthliness with thy Will's unfolding force.
If thou as thinker tread earth's realm
Thought-power will show thyself to thee
In all thy animality.
The fear of thine own self must change to courage of the soul.
Thou livest with the water's Being. Only through Feeling's weave of dreams.
Awakening, pierce through water's life.
The soul will show itself to thee as plant-existence dank and dull,
and lameness of the self must spur thee on to true awakening.
Thou sensest in the wafting air only in Memory's picture-forms.
Grasp with will the Being of Air: Thy soul itself will theaten thee as
cold and jagged stone.
But now thy selfhood's death in cold must yield before the Spirit's fire.
The Guardian speaks, as if the cosmic word itself resounded:
Thou holdest of Light's growing power
Thoughts alone with inward grasp.
In light-filled glory thinks itself in thee then spirit-existence false
will rise as vain illusion of self in thee.
Remembering the needs of earth will
hold thee in true humanity.
Thou holdest of the Cosmic forming
Feelings alone with inward grasp.
If cosmic forming feels itself in thee,
Then thy faintness, spirit-experience
will smother selfhood-being in thee.
But for love of the values of the earth will
save in thee the human soul.
Thou holdest the cosmic life
Willing alone with inward grasp.
If Cosmic Life should take fuel
hold of thee, Then will consuming
spirit-bliss slay th'experience of
self in thee.
But will for the earth,
to Spirit given will let the God
in man hold sway,
(Ruchshau)
Light battles with the powers of darkness
In that domain in which your thinking
Would penetrate to spirit existence.
You find, lightward strivings,
Your self by spirit taken from you,
You can when darkness now allures you,
In earthly matter lose your selfhood.
(Kamaloka)
Warmth battles with the powers of coldness
In that domain in which your feeling
In Spirit-weaving longs to live.
You find warmth loving,
Your self in spirit bliss wafting away;
You can, when coldness hardens you,
In pain your selfhood grind to dust.
(Spiritland)
Life battles with the powers of death
In that domain in which your willing
In spirit-creating would fain hold sway.
You find, in laying hold of life,
Your self in spirit-might vanishing away;
You can, when power of death does bind you,
In nothingness your self becramp and die.
LIGHT
WARMTH
AIR
Thou stridest into earthliness
With thy will's enfolding force.
If thou as thinker tread earth's realm,
Thought power will show thyself to thee
In all thy animality.
The fear at thy own self
Must change to courage of the soul
Thou livest with the water's being
Only through feeling's weave of dreams.
Awakening, pierce through the water's life;
The Soul will show itself to thee
As plant existence, dark and dull;
And lameness of the self
Must spur thee on to the awakening.
Thou sensest in the wafting air
Only in memory's picture-forms.
Grasp with will the being of air:
Thy soul itself will threaten thee
As cold and ragged stone
But now thy selfhood's death in cold
Must yield before the spirit's fire.
Thou holdest of light's glowing power.
Thoughts alone with inward grasp.
If light-filled glory think itself in thee,
Then spirit-existence false will rise
As vain illusion of self in thee.
Remembering the needs of the earth
Will hold thee in true humanity.
Thou holdest of the cosmic forming
Feelings alive with inward grasp.
If cosmic-forming feels itself in thee,
Then in thy faintness, spirit-experience
Will smother selfhood being in thee.
But love for the destinies of earth
Will save in thee the human soul.
Thou holdest of the cosmic life
Willing alive with inward grasp.
If Cosmic-life should take full hold of thee
Then will consuming spirit-bliss
Slay the experience of self in thee
But will for the earth, to spirit given,
Will let the God in Man hold sway.
(In Jupiter stage, humans will be angels.)
Guardian Speaks:
Behold the Three
They are the One
When you do bear in earthly life
The stamp form of Man.
Live in the Head, the cosmic Form
Feel in the Heart, the cosmic Pulse
Think in the Limbs, the cosmic Strength
These are the Three,
The Three that as the One
in Earth-life dwell.
Spirit of the Head
This you can will
Til Willing become
The thousandfold heavenly weaving of sense.
You weave in the Wisdom.
Soul of the Heart
This you can feel
Til feeling become
The seed-life-awakening worlds in your thought.
You live in Glory.
Strength of the Limbs,
This you can think
Til Thinking become
The purposeful striving of man in your will.
You strive in Virtue.
Enter
The Gate is opened
You shall become
A true Man.
This gives us wings to fly over the abyss.
When man comes to abyss between sense
world and spiritual world Guardian will
draw forth the true being of man
True being of man can spread
wings and fly across abyss.
I unite myself with Spirit.
I love the son.
I revere the father.
Lesson Eight
See behind thinking light of senses
How in the shadowy spirit-cell
Willing ascends from bodies' depths.
Then, through thy utmost strength of soul
let dead thoughts flow into the cosmic void.
And willing it shall arise as cosmic thought creating.
See within feeling's weaving-of-soul how in
the dreaming twilight life from the far-spread cosmos flows.
Then through thy peacefulness of heart let
human feeling waft away in sleep:
and cosmic life shall stir in spirit as powers of man's true being.
See above willings bodily working how into slumbering fields of work
thinking descends from powers of head.
Then through the seeing of the soul let human willing be transformed to light:
And thinking it shall appear as magician in the will.
L I F E
E A R T H
O Man, touch and perceive through
thy bodies' being
How earthly forces are supporting
thy existence.
W A T E R
O Man, live and experience throughout
thy sphere of touch
How water beings are moulding
thy existence.
A I R
O Man, feel and perceive throughout
thy live's whole weaving
How powers of air are tending
thy existence.
F I R E
O Man, think and perceive throughout
thy stream of feeling
How spirit's of fire are helping
thy existence
O Man, behold thyself in thy element's realm.
L O V E
O Man, let there hold sway in thy soul's depths
the Cosmic guiding powers of the wandering stars.
O Man, come into being through the cosmic circling.
P I E T Y
O Man, preserve in all thy spirit's
working the Heaven-revealing words of the Resting stars -
O Man, create thyself through Heaven's wisdom.
Which as meditations pure
Irradiates the soul with light,
feeling and willing.
And thou art spirit
Among pure spirits.
Which as noble love
Weave throughout the soul with
Warmth, thinking and willing
and though art soul in the realm of spirits.
Work about the soul with life
Thinking and feeling:
And though beholds thyself
As body from Spirit heights.
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Lessons Nine and Ten have to do with becoming loosened from the body, the etheric.
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Lesson Ten
(Heart) Yearningly moves me the darkness of Earth
(Will) The darkness of Earth benumbs me.
I weave in the light of the Stars
Comfort to me is the light of the Stars
The light of the Stars awaken me.
I read in the deeds of the Spirits
Teaching to me are the deed of the Spirits
The deeds of the Spirits call me.
I hear the speech of Gods
Quickening for me is the speech of the Gods
The speech of the gods beget me. (brings south)
Starry places of the Worlds,
Homes and dwellings of the Gods;
When in the Head on high
Human Spirit-radiance speaketh.
The "I am"
Then live ye in this earthly frame:
Being of man's true being.
Sunlit circling of the Worlds,
Tracks of Spirit-potency!
When the Heart within Human soul astir resoundeth
The "I live",
Then tread ye' o'er this earthly path
As quick'ning Powers in Man
World-Foundation of the Deep,
Light'ning of Creator-Love!
When the body's members
Human strength outpouring forges
The "I will"
Then surge ye through the earthly world
As human deeds of sense.
(imagine your angel beside you speaking last two lines and then have right effect.)
Lesson Twelve
Perceive the field of Thinking
Guardian:
He speaks, who would show thee,
From earthly life to earthly life,
the paths in Spirit-light
Angeloi:
Look to the light filled radiance of the senses
Guardian:
He speaks, who would bear thee,
In realms of Being freed from matter,
On wings of soul to other souls:
Archangeloi:
Look to the working of thy thinking's forces
Guardian:
He speaks who would grant thee,
In fields creative far from earth,
Firm ground of Being among Spirit-Beings
Archai:
Look to the picture-forming of thy memory.
Perceive the Field of feeling
Guardian:
He speaks who call thee
As thought from rays of Spirit-Sun
To life in universal being:
Exusiai:
Feel in the life-stirring of thy Breath
Guardian:
He speaks who gives to thee
From living forces of the stars
Universal being in Spirit realms:
Dynamis:
Fell the wave-weaving of thy blood
Guardian:
He speaks who would create for thee
High in the light-filled realms of God,
From out of the earthly-willing, spirit-sense
Kyriotetes:
Feel how the earth with all its might Resists.
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Lesson Thirteen
Perceive the field of Will
Guardian:
He speaks who guides the smouldering might of worlds.
From earth-foundation's dark immensity into the quickening urges of
thy limbs.
Thrones:
Look on the fires driving through thy Will
Guardian:
He speaks who makes the shining spirit-rays from God's domain of work, as an act of grace, flow in the circulating of thy blood.
Cherubim:
Look on the Soul Guiding of thy Conscience
Guardian:
He speaks who brings man's life thus far accomplished.
Through deaths and births, with justice meaningful.
To breathe again within this present time.
Seraphim:
Look on the Spirit-testing of thy destiny.
Thrones
Clouds Being Essence
Cherubim
lightning tools instruments
Seraphim
cosmic heat semblance heating fleeting seating
I.
Guardian: Where is the firmness of earth that upheld thee?
Christ inspired heart: I leave its solid ground so long as the Spirit heals me..
Lucifer inspired: I feel with joy, henceforth I need not its support.
Ahriman inspired: I'll hammer it the harder by Spirit's night.
II.
Guardian: Where is the water's forming force that maintained thee?
Christ inspired: my life does quench it, so long as the spirits form me.
Lucifer inspired: My life melts away that I be free of it for ever.
Ahriman inspires: My life fastens it from, to carry into the spirit realm.
III.
Guardian: Where is the quickening power of air that awakens thee?
Christ inspired: my soul breathes heaven's air so long as the spirit is about me.
Lucifer inspired: My soul care not for it in spirit-blissfulness.
Ahriman inspired: My soul drinks it is, that I may learn divinity to create.
IV.
Guardian: Where is the cleansing of fire that set thine I aflame?
Christ inspired: Mine I glows in the fire of God so long as the Spirit lights me.
Lucifer inspired: Mine I is mightily aflame with power of Spirit-Sun.
Ahriman inspired: Mine I has power of its own, purely by force of self enflamed.
Lesson 15 - 21 June 1924
Guardian: What becomes of the firmness of earth that upheld thee?
Angeloi: Sense how we are sensing in thy thinking.
Archangeloi: Live how we experience in thy feeling.
Archai: Behold how we behold within thy willing.
Guardian: What becomes of the water's forming force that maintained thee?
Exusiai: Know the cosmic spirit forming in the human body's forming.
Dynamis: Feel the cosmic spirit life in the human body's life.
Kyriotetes: Will the cosmic spirit process in the human body's being.
Guardian: What becomes of the quickening power of air that awakened thee?
Thrones: Take conscious hold of inward being in thy divine and cosmic being.
Cherubim: Kindle warmth in inward life in thy divine and cosmic life.
Seraphim: Waken within thee inward light in thy divine and cosmic light.
Lesson 16 - 28 June 1924
Guardian: What becomes of the cleansing of Fire that set thine I aflame?
Angeloi, Exusiai, Thrones: In the cosmic ether vast awaken the flame-script
of thy life.
Archangeloi, Dynamis, Cherubim: In the encircling waves of Time bring
forth they soul's atoning powers.
Archai, Kyriotetes, Seraphim: In the eternal deeds of Being pray for the
Spirit's redeeming might.
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Guardian: Hath thy Spirit understood?
I: The Spirit of the World in me
He held his breath anon,
And may his presence near
Light mine I.
------------
Guardian: Hath thy soul taken hold?
I: The souls of the World in me
They dwelt in the Council of the Stars.
And may their harmonies
Sounding, shape mine I.
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Guardian: Hath thy body experienced?
I: The forces of the World in me
They right the deeds of man
And may their verdict-words
Guide for me the I.
See the ethereal rainbows-arc's
Light-abundant round,
Let, through the light-begotten
power of thine eyes,
Thine I strike through the circle
And then behold from yonder watch
Colour-flooding, the Cup of the World.
Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai:
Feel, of our thoughts
The color-breathing life
In the Cup's O'erflowing Light;
We bear the senses' show
To Spirit-realms of Being
Where, world-inspired, we wend our way
To higher Spirit's minist'ring.
Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes:
What ye have received
From dead sense-show and called to life:
We waken it in Being.
We grant it in to the rays
Which, weaving Love, make manifest
The nothingness of matter
In the Spirit's Being
Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim (to Man)
In thy world of will
Feel our world-wide working
Spirit shines in matter
When we, in thinking, work.
Spirit creates in matter
When we, in willing, live.
World is the I-willing Spirit-Word.
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Lesson Eighteen
I.
Angeloi: Human Beings are thinking /
We need the liglht - / the lights
That we in thinking may illumine.
Dynamis: Receive the light - / the heights
That ye in thinking may illumine
When human beings are thinking.
II.
Archangeloi: Human Beings are feeling /
We need the warmth of soul That we may live in feeling.
Kyriotetes, Exusiai: Receive the warmth of soul
That ye in feeling may live When human beings are feeling.
III.
Archai: Human beings are willing!
We need the force of the depths That we in willing may act.
Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai: Receive the force of the depths
That ye in willing may act when human beings Are willing.
Be involved in world becoming.
Lesson Nineteen
The Guardian speaks from afar, and the human I knows itself to be
within the realm of the Spirit-Word,
sustained by Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones.
The Guardian speaks from afar,
Who speaks in the Spirit-word
With the voice
That glows in the Fire of Worlds?
From the realm of the First Hierarchy:
There speak the Flame of the Stars,
There flame Seraphimian Power of Fire.
In thy heart, too, they are aflame
In the eternal.
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