Who is Medusa?

According to this Greek legend, Medusa had been at one time a beautiful woman. But during the course of time she developed snakes for hair, and anybody who looked at Medusa would be turned to stone. In this context, we might ask, what does Medusa really symbolize? 

I wish to argue that she is a depiction of the ancient power of clairvoyance, what in the East is called the power of the serpent, or the Kundalini. The snakes coming out of Medusa’s head show this ancient force of clairvoyance gone wild and having become a danger, so that any human being exposed to this force could become paralyzed in their own being. They could become imprisoned through not having a free relationship to the visions arising through their clairvoyance. 

We can understand this if we recall that sometimes when we are dreaming we feel that events take place without our free initiative, and consequently we feel powerless. This analogy reveals something of the quality of this ancient clairvoyant faculty that all human beings possessed at that time.
In the legend of Perseus, the young Greek hero, who represents the new faculty of intelligence, decides he will slay Medusa.

How is he going to do this when Medusa has such a terrifying appearance that just one look from her is sufficient to turn him to stone? Perseus is aided in his conquest of Medusa by Athena, goddess of wisdom.

Here we see another indication that Athena, as an aspect of the Divine Sophia, was really behind the transition in evolution from clairvoyance to the development of human intelligence and thought. 

Athena accompanies Perseus to the domain of Medusa, and she holds up her shield so that Perseus can see the reflection of Medusa without looking at her directly. Walking backwards with the shield of Athena, Perseus engages in battle with Medusa and in his victory he cuts off her head. Here we see the application of intelligence to overcome the terrifying power of ancient clairvoyance.

The transition from ancient oriental clairvoyance to Greek rational thought is further highlighted in the legend of Andromeda and Perseus. Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, king and queen of Ethiopia. Their beautiful daughter Andromeda in a certain respect, like Helen of Troy, represents the soul of the world. Andromeda was dearly loved by Cepheus and Cassiopeia. However, a sea monster began to threaten the country, causing great destruction. An oracle revealed to the king and queen that the only way to save their country from destruction by the sea monster Cetus, who was like an enormous whale, was through the sacrifice of their daughter Andromeda. Symbolically the soul of humanity, represented by Andromeda, is being threatened by an atavistic force of the will, represented by the sea monster Cetus, a force from the depths. Through the constructive use of this atavistic force of the will, great structures such as the pyramids in Egypt and Stonehenge in the British Isles were built in antiquity. This constituted an enormous strength of will. But, just as ancient clairvoyance was a threat to the development of human freedom, so too this atavistic force of will was a threat to the development of independence. The task of saving Andromeda fell to Perseus. At the very moment when Andromeda was bound to a rock and was about to be devoured by Cetus, Perseus appeared holding the head of Medusa, and turned her evil eye upon Cetus. The sea monster was turned to stone. Here we see the use of intelligence to overcome the atavistic power of the will, all of this under the guidance and inspiration of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, an aspect of Divine Sophia.

In the myth of Perseus we see the representative of the new Greek consciousness, as one who uses his intelligence and his power of thought in order to be guided through life.

Perseus, of course, is a mythological figure, whereas Odysseus, whom Homer tells us was the key figure in the conquest of the city of Troy through the use of intelligence, was an actual Greek personality. We know that the Trojan War actually took place, because the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann was inspired and guided to the actual site where the Trojan War took place and was able to rediscover the city of Troy. In the story of the Greeks re-capturing Helen of Troy, representing the soul of humankind, in turn related to Divine Sophia, we see symbolically how the love of Sophia played an important part in the emergence of Greek civilization.

Sophia in Ancient Greece

- Robert Powell, The Sophia Teachings, The Emergence of Divine Feminine in Our Time -Page 26-29

Rudolf Steiner & Errors

Lecture of 8 May 1912:

 "Let us assume, let us really assume, that in fifty years everything has to be corrected, that no stone of our spiritual edifice, as the things are currently presented, is left standing; that in the next fifty years occult research would have to rectify everything from the ground up; - then this would only be characterized by me in such a way that I would say: That may well be, but at least one thing would remain of what we have here attempted to do, and this one thing remains the central striving of our Western theosophical movement. - That people could say: there existed a theosophical movement, which in the field of occultism did not want to bring forth anything else except what had been engendered out of the purest and most unadulterated sense for truth. Our endeavor is of such a nature that one could hopefully at least utter this once."  (lecture in Cologne; GA 143, p. 175). 

Public Talk Stuttgart Technical College, 20 June 1920:
“And consider what I myself have said today: there may be various errors in the details, but it is a question of pointing out a new direction. It is not the case that every single detail has to be absolutely correct. […] For the truth does not actually consist in a mere external justification of agreement, but above all also in a justification in its inner substantiality. To be sure, everyone can verify this. And I have never asserted anything else than someone who says that one can learn the spiritual-scientific methods, just as one can learn the methods of chemistry. However, when the things have been researched, then they can be checked by every thinking person. And thus, whatever I say or write or have written from the standpoint of spiritual science can be checked by every thinking person. Certainly various errors will be found, that is only natural, but that is exactly like in other fields of research. It is not a matter of the isolated errors, but rather it is a question of the fundamental character of the whole.” 

 (Rudolf Steiner, public talk at the Technical College in Stuttgart, 20 June 1920, GA 73a, 2005, p. 412f.)

Rudolf Steiner, excerpt from a letter, 14 May 1904 letter, from London, to Doris and Franz Paulus, in Stuttgart. Here Steiner is speaking about one of his own past lives or incarnations. He says that mistakes could be possible in this domain of spiritual observation, but that he considers his insight in this particular case to be a “justified belief”. He also asks the recipients of the letter to treat this communication about his past life as “critically as possible”.
“I will now turn to your questions, dear Frau Doctor. If I were not an esotericist and standing in the spiritual life, I would have perhaps said: your questions in Stuttgart and later on by letter had astonished me. But through the above-mentioned traits I was fully prepared for the knowledge of your profound psychological insight. I can only tell you: that you have good psychic gifts, and this is just as fine a precondition for spiritual knowledge as for working from the spiritual planes into the physical world. What you experience simply shows that you have a connection to the world’s spiritual powers, and your whole nature just shows that you are called on to apply these spiritual gifts in a noble way to help people. Among other things, you have repeatedly asked me who I might be. A time for us to discuss this subject will perhaps also come. Today I will just tell you that I am justified in believing: you once did me a really great service in a former life. Do not misunderstand me. Even in spiritual observations mistakes are of course not ruled out. But I am not a person to live in illusions. In spiritual realms I am among those considered cautious (vorsichtig), and perhaps even ‘down-to-earth’ (nüchtern). I may therefore speak of a justified belief (von berechtigtem Glauben). […] These are indications which I ask you to accept as critically as possible; but I can only tell you that I hold them with reason as fully justified. (Das sind Andeutungen, die ich Sie bitte so kritisch wie möglich aufzunehmen; aber ich kann Ihnen nur sagen, daß ich sie mit Grund für vollberechtigt halte.) (Translated letter cited in: Crispian Villeneuve: “Rudolf Steiner in Britain: A Documentation of His Ten Visits, 1902-25, Volume 1”, pp. 77-78 (translation slightly modified by DW).
German original:
"Nun wende ich mich zu Ihren Fragen, liebe Frau Doktor. Wäre ich nicht Esoteriker und stünde ich nicht im spirituellen Leben, so würde ich vielleicht sagen: Ihre Fragen in Stuttgart und später die brieflichen haben mich überrascht. Aber durch die genannten Eigenschaften war ich für die Erkenntnis Ihres tiefen psychologischen Blickes voll vorbereitet. Ich kann Ihnen nur sagen: Sie haben gute psychische Gaben und eine schöne Vorbedingung sowohl zur spirituellen Erkenntnis wie auch zum Wirken in der physischen Welt von den spirituellen Plänen aus. Was Sie erleben, zeigt einfach, daß Sie Verbindung haben mit den spirituellen Mächten der Welt, und Ihre ganze Art zeigt wieder, daß Sie berufen sind, diese geistigen Gaben in edler Art zur Hilfe für die Menschen anzuwenden. Sie fragten mich u.a. wiederholt, wer ich sei. Es wird wohl auch die Zeit kommen, in der wir darüber sprechen können. Doch heute will ich Ihnen nur sagen, daß ich Berechtigung zu dem Glauben habe: Sie haben mir selbst in einem früheren Leben einmal einen recht großen Dienst geleistet. Mißverstehen Sie mich nicht. Irrtümer sind natürlich auch bei spirituellen Beobachtungen nicht ausgeschlossen. Ich bin aber kein Mensch, der in Illusionen lebt. Ich bin auf den spirituellen Feldern einer derjenigen, die man vorsichtig, und wohl auch «nüchtern» nennt. Deshalb darf ich von berechtigtem Glauben sprechen. […] Das sind Andeutungen, die ich Sie bitte so kritisch wie möglich aufzunehmen; aber ich kann Ihnen nur sagen, daß ich sie mit Grund für vollberechtigt halte." Rudolf Steiner an Doris und Franz Paulus in Stuttgart, London, 14. Mai 1904; GA 264: GA 264: 55-56).
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Some related reflections by Rudolf Steiner on error and mistakes:
* On being mistaken, error, and the power of the true, from Steiner's book Theosophy (1904). Interestingly, and curiously, passages from the chapter on knowledge in this book are often taken out of context and distorted into their opposite by certain critics and interpreters, to claim or suggest that Steiner is here saying he is infallible and one should never doubt, or only blindly believe, what he says: "If he (the knowledge seeker) should answer, 'Then I am forced to have blind faith to begin with,' one can only reply, 'In regard to something communicated it is not a case of belief or unbelief, but merely of an unprejudiced assimilation of what one hears.' The true spiritual researcher never speaks with the expectation of meeting blind faith in what he says. He merely says, 'I have experienced this in the spiritual regions of existence and I narrate my experiences.' He knows also that the reception of these experiences by another and the permeation of his thoughts with such an account are living forces making for spiritual development. (…) One may not say, 'Of what use to me are the resolutions to follow purely the laws of the true when I am perhaps mistaken concerning what is true?' The important thing is the striving, and the spirit in which one strives. Even when the seeker is mistaken, he possesses, in his very striving for the true, a force that turns him away from the wrong road. Should he be mistaken, this force seizes him and guides him to the right road. The very objection, 'But I may be mistaken', is itself harmful unbelief. It shows that the man has no confidence in the power of the true." (R. Steiner, Theosophy, 1904, chapter: The Path of Knowledge, trans. H.B. Monges).
* Some related methodological reflections from Steiner on being aware of hidden assumptions and of learning to ask the right questions in research. This is from 1892, from the small book Truth and Science (Wahrheit und Wissenschaft). Interestingly, Steiner already mentions in passing Aristotle here, as well as the great Rosicrucian esotericist Raymond Lull:
"It is striking that such hidden assumptions are usually made at the outset, when the fundamental problems of epistemology are formulated. But if the essential problems of a science are misstated, the right solution is unlikely to be forthcoming. The history of science shows that whole epochs have suffered from innumerable mistakes which can be traced to the simple fact that certain problems were wrongly formulated. To illustrate this, we need not go back as far as Aristotle's physics, or Raymond Lull's Ars Magna; there are plenty of more recent examples. For instance, innumerable problems concerning the purpose of rudimentary organs of certain organisms could only be rightly formulated when the condition for doing so had first been created through the discovery of the fundamental law of biogenesis. While biology was influenced by teleological views, the relevant problems could not be formulated in a way which could lead to a satisfactory answer. For example, what fantastic ideas were entertained concerning the function of the pineal gland in the human brain, as long as the emphasis was on its purpose! Then comparative anatomy threw some light on the matter by asking a different question; instead of asking what the organ was “for,” inquiry began as to whether, in man, it might be merely a remnant from a lower level of evolution. Another example: how many physical questions had to be modified after the discovery of the laws of the mechanical equivalent of heat and of conservation of energy! In short, success in scientific research depends essentially on whether the problems can be formulated rightly." (GA 3)
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From a report by Friedrich Rittelmeyer. Here Steiner says that had to correct errors in some first impressions and results, and that he had also occasionally been mistaken about certain people:
"When Dr. Steiner came to Nuremberg (in 1913), at the beginning of the winter, I had a great many questions to ask him. (…) Dr. Steiner never asked for agreement. He simply told and left it to produce its own effect. Sometimes it may have happened that, astonished by the assurance in his answers, I asked him: 'Have you really never been mistaken in your investigations and been obliged to correct them afterwards?' - 'I have never spoken of what I wasn't quite sure of,' he said. Still I was not satisfied. - 'I mean, have you not on closer scrutiny had to correct your first impressions and results of research?' - 'Yes, but then there is always an obvious reason for it. For instance, if I meet you in a fog and do not recognise you, the fog itself is a factor which must then be taken into account.' Still I would not give way. 'Has it never happened that you had to admit afterwards: 'I was wrong there?' He thought quietly for a minute or two. 'Well, yes,' he said, 'in human beings I have sometimes been deceived. But after all, with people, something from outer life will often creep in that one cannot foresee.' Friedrich Rittelmeyer, Rudolf Steiner Enters My Life, Part 2.
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And a concluding thought from J.W. von Goethe:
“The errors of a man actually make him lovable.”
(Die Irrtümer des Menschen machen ihn eigentlich liebenswürdig). Maximen and Reflexionen, 1826, no. 1046; HA 12, p. 513).

Radishes Stimulate Powerful Dreams

If you need to have your thinking stimulated, the salty stimulation of radishes, for instance, might be necessary. Anyone who is not quick in the head will get good results eating radishes — because the addition of radishes to his meals will set his thoughts into movement. So we can now see a remarkable thing: the radishes stimulate thinking, and it is not necessary to be really active oneself thoughts come naturally as a result of eating radishes thoughts so strong that they also stimulate very powerful dreams. 

On the other hand, one who eats a lot of potatoes will not have strong thoughts, and his dreams will make him heavier. If you habitually eat potatoes, you will find yourself constantly tired and always wanting to sleep and dream. You can see that there is enormous cultural and historical meaning in what foods people actually have access to. 

-Rudolf Steiner – GA 350 – LEARNING TO SEE IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 

Mysterious Land of Shamballa

The time will come when men will again see into the spiritual world and there behold the land whence flow the streams of true spiritual nourishment for everything that happens in the physical world. Again and again we have heard that it was once possible for men to look with clairvoyant vision into the spiritual world. Oriental writings also contain the tradition of an ancient spiritual land [See note 1 at end of lecture.] into which men were once able to gaze and whence they could draw the super-sensible influences that were available for the physical world. Many descriptions of this land, that was once within reach of men's vision but has withdrawn, are full of sadness. This land was indeed once accessible to men and will be so again now that Kali Yuga, the Dark Age, is over. Initiation has always led thither, and it was always possible for those who had achieved Initiation to guide their steps into that mysterious land which is said to have disappeared from the sphere of human experience. Deeply moving are the writings which tell of this ancient land, whither the Initiates repair ever and again in order to bring from there the new streams and impulses for everything that is to be imparted to mankind from century to century. Those who are connected with the spiritual world in this way resort again and again to Shamballa — the name of this mysterious land. It is the deep fount into which clairvoyant vision once reached; it withdrew during Kali Yuga and is spoken of as an ancient fairyland that will come again into the realm of man. Shamballa will be there again when Kali Yuga has run its course. Mankind will rise through normal human faculties into the land of Shamballa, the land whence the Initiates draw strength and wisdom for the missions they are to fulfil. Shamballa is a reality, was a reality, will be a reality again for humanity. And when Shamballa reveals itself again, one of the first visions to come to men will be that of Christ in His etheric form. Into the land declared by Oriental writings to have vanished there is no Leader other than Christ. It is Christ who will lead men to Shamballa.

We must inscribe into our souls what can come to pass for humanity if the omen [Halley's Comet] referred to in the lecture yesterday is rightly understood. If men realise that they dare not allow themselves to sink more deeply into matter, that their path must be reversed, that a spiritual life must begin, then, at first for a few and in the course of two thousand five hundred years for a greater and greater number of human beings, there will arise the experience of the land of Shamballa — woven of light, shone through with light, teeming with wisdom. Such is the event which for those who have the will to understand, for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, must be described as denoting the most momentous turning-point in the evolution of humanity at the dawn of the Abraham-epoch in the Christian era. It is the event through which men's understanding of the Christ Impulse will be enhanced and intensified.

Strange as it may seem, wisdom will thereby lose nothing of its value. The more insight men achieve, the greater and mightier will Christ appear to them to be! When once their gaze can penetrate into Shamballa, they will be able to understand much of what is indeed contained in the Gospels but for the recognition of which they will need to experience a kind of event of Damascus. Thus at the time when men are more sceptical of the original records than they have ever been, the new form of belief in Christ Jesus will arise when we grow into the realm where He will first be encountered: the mysterious land of Shamballa.


-Rudolf Steiner

The Secret of the Madonna

The babe in the womb cannot take nourishment without, and similarly all cords of ours lead to Christ. In reality it was Christ who bore Mary, as with all of us. The mystery of the Madonna is such, that she is quite separate to Mary Mother of Jesus. For the Holy Madonna is His Being also: one of the same, but not of the same. The Christ Child is verily Mankind in infancy. Our aspect of containment and protection is His Face of she: the Holy Mother. He the Creator, is manifest in dual notation.

He too, is compelled to make good what He has done. Within the continuum of time all things may come together. What was, and that which is to be, may manifest concurrently.

The two Aspects of Christ are not in contradiction to the One who is Perfect in Both. Without such polarity there would be complete unraveling...

Is Christ an Individuality? Some would speak of an 'Impulse' alone or a 'Force', or a condition and so forth. He is more of an Individuality than we are as yet - by the bye - individual-duality.

-B.Hive

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