Rudolf Steiner & the Masters

“It is impossible to penetrate into any domain of the spiritual world without a link having first been made with what has already been fathomed by the Elder Brothers of Humanity.”

-Rudolf Steiner, Rosicrucian Occultism, Budapest, 4th June 1909 GA109

In a closed-circle address in Berlin, June 26, 1906, Steiner spoke of “the twelve Masters of the White Lodge who have all taken part in the whole Earth evolution....The Leader, the Teacher of the [Esoteric] School [which designates Steiner], holds no responsibility toward anyone other than the one [Master] in whose name he speaks".

Koot Hoomi, Hermann Schmeichen

Masters involved in Post-Atlantean development include: Koot Hoomi, who helped effect the transition between the third (Egyptian/Sumerian) and fourth cultural epochs; Hilarion, inspirer of the fourth (Greek/Semitic) cultural epoch; Jesus of Nazareth, who guided the transition between the fourth and fifth cultural epochs; Christian Rosenkreutz, inspirer of the fifth (Celtic, Anglo-Germanic) cultural epoch; and Morya, inspirer of the sixth or Slavic cultural epoch. After the division of the Theosophical Society into Western and Eastern branches in the first decade of the twentieth century, the above-named Masters divided their primary spheres of influence, with Jesus and Christian Rosenkreutz taking charge of the spiritual affairs of the Western world.

That Steiner was in contact with and even spoke for most of these Masters is a matter of record. In a Berlin lecture on July 14, 1904, Steiner announced: “Today the Mahatmas [Eastern term for Master] will have something to say to us....Now the Master Morya will speak....The Masters can be regarded by us as Ideal. They have attained what we must attain in the future. We can therefore question them about our future development.”

In reference to the Esoteric School through which he worked for the spiritual advancement of dedicated theosophical students, Steiner writes that it “has been founded by the Masters themselves and stands under their guidance. All that flows into the theosophical movement [as distinguished from the society] in the way of knowledge and power streams into it from this School. Those who belong to this School complete their probationary time and eventually arrive at direct intercourse with the exalted ones themselves.”

—Letter to Frau Wagner, January 2, 1905, H & C, p. 89

Steiner writes, “Your question about the Masters I have only implicitly referred to by my indication that not I is meant when I say ‘I.’ I know that you understand me aright, for I value very highly the experience you have made during your lifetime, and I therefore spoke to you in full confidence.”

—Letter, 1906, H & C, p114. 

In a letter (1907) to Edouard Schuré, positive clairvoyant and author of The Great Initiates, Steiner confides: “I did not meet the M. [Master] immediately, but first an emissary [Felix Kogutzki], who was completely initiated into the secrets of the plants and their effects, and into their connection with the cosmos and human nature.” 
-Correspondence and Documents, p 10

Master Jesus, Hermann Schmeichen

Steiner opened his Düsseldorf lecture, April 15, 1909, with these words: “Today we would like to bring to mind that, as in every esoteric lesson, what is revealed in these lessons emanates from the Masters of Wisdom and the Harmony of Sensations and Feelings.” 

In this lecture the Individuality of Zarathustra was traced through successive incarnations to the birth of Jesus. Foretelling the advent of Christ’s human embodiment, Zarathustra addressed his students in words repeated by Steiner. He says, “These are his [Zarathustra’s] words..."

In a recorded conversation with Friedrich Rittelmeyer, the first priest-leader of the Christian Community, “Rudolf Steiner replied to a question concerning [the identity of] the Friend of God from the Highlands, that he was the Master Jesus, who, since the Mystery of Golgotha, has incarnated during every century. To another question about whether he was currently incarnated, Steiner said that he was living at the time in the Carpathians, and indicated that they were in spiritual contact."

Comte de Saint Germain (Master CR) as identified by Rudolf Steiner

In response to a question posed by Wilhelm Rath in Stuttgart, October 16, 1922, Steiner said, “Since that time Christian Rosenkreutz has become the leading personality in the spiritual life of the West. Both he and the Master Jesus, the Friend of God from the Highlands, have been incarnated in every century since then. They incarnate in turns every century, and from that time on the Master Jesus has worked along with Christian Rosenkreutz.”—H &C, both quotes, p. 225

According to Steiner, the Young Man of Nain, the son of a widow, whom Christ Jesus raised from the dead, became Mani, the founder of Manicheism, in his following incarnation (from a recorded conversation with Christian Community priests Walter Klein and Emil Bock in 1924). “Mani will not incarnate during this century, but intends to do so in the next century, if he can find a suitable body” (from conversations with Steiner between 1919 and 1921, recorded by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer). Such privileged knowledge as Steiner possessed, enabling him to report on the plans and purposes of high spiritual beings as if he were their intimate associate, gives evidence of his own advanced spiritual status.
—Both quotations from H & C, p. 227

In further elaborating the mission of Christian Rosenkreutz, Steiner spoke as follows: “When human beings become aware of the fact that the good and the moral can become something as clear and definite as a mathematical formula, then they will have united on this level as a humanity that will bear a very different physiognomy than the humanity of our day. To lead humankind to a knowledge of such a moral order, to reveal its laws to human beings, so that a group of people arise who consciously work toward these aims, that was the object of...Christian Rosenkreutz....[He] and his seven pupils [in physical manifestation] laid the foundation for the recognition of the moral law, so that this would not continue to reverberate in what was given by the different religions, but could be grasped as it was, and awaken to life in each individual. The truth, with regard to morality and goodness, will arise within people as something acknowledged and experienced.”
—Lecture, Munich, November 10 or 11, 1905, H & C, p. 200

In an earlier letter to Annie Besant (July, 1906) Steiner firmly established his position as a teacher of the Rosicrucian Christian path: “With good foresight into the peculiarities of the fifth-cultural epoch, the Masters of the Rosicrucian School have elaborated the ‘path’ that is the only one appropriate for a Western person in the current cycle of development....In the current phase of human development, occultism must be publicly spelled out....In Middle Europe the direction of occult endeavor has been determined since the fourteenth century, and we, of strict necessity, are obliged to follow this direction....I am conscious of my devotion to the Masters in every word of this letter.”—H & C, pp. 270-72

Rosicrucianism teaches a future form of Christianity. “In the Rosicrucian sense, Christianity is at once the highest development of individual freedom and universal religion. There is a community of free souls. The tyranny of dogma is replaced by the radiance of divine Wisdom, embracing intelligence, love and action. The science which arises from this cannot be measured by its power of abstract reasoning but by its power to bring souls to flower and fruition. That is the difference between ‘Logia’ and ‘Sophia,’ between science and divine Wisdom, between Theology and Theosophy. In this sense, Christ is the center of esoteric evolution of the West.”

—An Esoteric Cosmology, 1906, pp. 20-21

Steiner’s direct contact with the Masters, including, but not limited to Christian Rosenkreutz and Jesus, is again implied in his 1907 letter “to all members of the German [Theosophical] Section who look to me for esoteric instruction....[M]y attitude toward those who trust me will never be other than what I can hold myself responsible for through my own knowledge toward those we call the Masters....I will impart the message to whomever I can, but I do not desire that anyone accept what I say in any way other than heartfelt conviction.” In this letter Steiner informed his students of the need to “part ways with her [Annie Besant]” because she could not endorse the Christian Rosicrucian path that Steiner was compelled to teach. [Annie Besant had become President of the Theosophical Society in 1907]
—H & C, p. 299

In an article in the magazine Lucifer-Gnosis (No. 33, 1907) Steiner further explained his actions. “Higher wisdom,” he writes, “is simply the emanation of more highly developed spiritual individualities—[and he] would never impart anything through his teachings for which he could not take responsibility in relation to those individualities.”

—H & C, pp. 301-302.

Again, Steiner’s intimate contact with Christian Rosenkreutz is implied because he is teaching the Rosicrucian path.

- The above quotes and comments are from an article by Charles Weber.

How the Master portraits were painted:

Hermann Schmiechen was personally selected by Master Morya. In a letter received by Madame Blavatsky in the previous days, now at the Winterthur Library in Winterthur, Delaware, Morya wrote: «Say to S.[chmiechen] that he will be helped – I myself will guide his hands with brush for K[oot Hoomi]’s portrait».*

Morya also wrote: «Take her with you to Schmiechen and tell her to see». From the context of the letter, it was clear that the unnamed «her» was Laura Holloway (1848-1930), a colorful American author, feminist lecturer, and Theosophist.

Many years later, in 1912*, Holloway would tell the story of how she attended with several other Theosophists, including Blavatsky, a session in Schmiechen’s studio. Holloway was not a smoker, but Blavatsky insisted she smoke a cigarette (perhaps containing more than tobacco?), which put her in the right state to influence Schmiechen’s mind

If we trust Holloway’s later recollections, Schmiechen painted Koot Hoomi first. She saw the same Koot Hoomi «standing near Mr Schmiechen», and gave of him a typical orientalist description – «fine and rich Hindu dress», «flowing curly black hair» – insisting, to Blavatsky’s annoyance, how much the Master looked like Mohini and how Mohini’s special relationship with the Master was closer than Blavatsky’s. Holloway, however, also gave Blavatsky her due, claiming that she repeatedly corrected Schmiechen, suggesting changes in order to make the painting more similar to the actual likeness of Koot Hoomi, although «she sat where she could not see the easel, nor know what was on it».

Holloway reported that Schmiechen then went on to portray Master Morya (right), and this portrait was also approved by Blavatsky Theosophical scholar Boris de Zirkoff (1902- 1981) questioned Holloway’s account, suggesting that Schmiechen’s hand was guided by Morya rather than by Koot Hoomi, and that Morya’s portrait perhaps came first. Clearly, there was more than one session in Schmiechen’s studio.

The portraits were produced at a time of crisis, two months after the Coulomb affair – where a couple of former housekeepers accused Blavatsky of fraud – started in May 1884 with the Coulombs’ dismissal from the Theosophical headquarters in Adyar, India. In London, the dangerous investigation of Theosophy by the Society for Psychical Research was also ongoing Schmiechen’s portraits were mentioned by the Masters in several letters, and brought to Adyar. Olcott deplored their photographic reproductions, claiming that photographs could not remotely compare to the strength and light of the originals. In 1890, Judge condemned the attempt by some American Theosophists to sell photographic copies as «a scandal. In one breath, they are sacred and then they are sold for money».

Sacredness did not prevent Blavatsky to ask Schmiechen to come in September 1884 to Elberfeld, a suburb of Wuppertal, to the home of the founders of the first German Theosophical lodge, Gustav (1828-1900) and Mary Gebhard (1831-1891) and to slightly alter the portraits. Schmiechen also painted a portrait (or two) of Blavatsky (right) and a copy of each portrait of the Masters, one for the Gebhards and one for Judge.

In 1901, Schmiechen returned to Germany, settled in Berlin and joined the German section of the Theosophical Society. In 1905, he made another copy of the two portraits of the Masters for the Section’s leader, and future founder of Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). They were ritually used for some years in the German Esoteric Section under conditions of strict secrecy.** 

**See D. H. Caldwell, Mrs. Holloway and the Mahatmas, Blavatsky Study Center 2012
* «The Mahatmas and their Instruments», The Word, May 1912, 69-76, and July 1912, 200-206
*H. Zander, Anthroposophie in Deutschland, Göttingen 2007-2008, I, 706

https://www.cesnur.org/2015/Painting%20the%20Masters.pdf