Masters at Steiner's Esoteric Classes

First a prayer spoken by Dr. Steiner. Then a remark that the Masters are speaking through Dr. Steiner, that he is only the means of bringing the thoughts of the Masters to expression. Master Morya tells us about the goal of human evolution. He is the one who brings humanity its goals. Master Kuthumi is the one who shows us the way to the goals.

-July 9, 1904, Berlin, notes by Franz Seiler

The Mahatmas (Masters) have something to say to us today. The three duties of the esoteric pupil are named: overcome pride and vanity, live theosophy practically, represent theosophy to the world. Now Master Morya will speak. The Masters can be seen by us as ideals. They have attained what we must still attain to. Therefore, we can ask them about our further development. In us lie the powers, seed-like, that have grown to full blossom in the Masters.

-July 14, 1904, Berlin, notes from Franz Seiler

Necessity for the esotericist to understand the plan that humankind is unconsciously working through under the guidance of the White Lodge. In order to lead humanity to this knowledge of the moral, to reveal its laws so that a band of people arises that consciously works out of itself, the fourth Master, Christian Rosenkreutz, founded the Rosicrucian Order. The other intellectual education of the West requires a different teaching. In the East the spiritual teaching that was given to the Indians by the ancient Rishis continue to influence the folk. Christian Rosenkreutz and his seven pupils placed morality at the beginning of knowledge of the law, not in order for it to echo in human beings in the law given by the religions, but rather so that the law, recognized as such, awaken in every individual human being to individual life. The truth in the realm of morality and the good should arise within people as something felt and understood.

-November 10 or 11, 1905, Munich, notes from Eugenie Bredow

He spoke about the spirits of fire-mist, whose pupil was our Master; he spoke about the development of the human being to such a mighty being. He then spoke about Christmas and the importance of the festivals of the year; that at Christmas the Sun stood at its lowest point in the year and on the 25th began to ascend, and that in this night the Masters of the White Lodge had a conference, in which they sent out the power of the Sun of the coming year to those people who want entirely to devote themselves to them, to surrender entirely their personality and ask them for strength. If one celebrates Christmas this way, asks the Masters in this way, they send their strength into these people on this December 25, so that the power of the Master works through them. Then he spoke of the last incarnation of the Master Kuthumi and his attendance at universities in order to be able to interpret the great wisdom in other languages and in the modern spirit, that this incarnation had not been in a specific personality, but rather that his power had been at work here and there.

-December 13, 1905, Berlin, notes from Eugenie Bredow

There are two things he wanted to say to us today concerning mantras and concerning the most important rules that the lofty Master Morya would give to this pupils. There are nine characteristics that belong to the Masters: Truth, Wisdom, Immeasurability, Goodness, Illimitableness, Beauty, Peace, Blessing, and Integrity. From us he requires five things: Purification of our feelings, Purification of our love, Emptiness of our memories, Clarity of our understanding, Extinguishing or rousing of our will. The heart must be purified. Love must lose all that is unchaste and become divine. In order to become objective the memory must not hand onto anything that could awaken prejudices. Our understanding should be clear and our will, where it is selfish, should be extinguished, but where it serves as an instrument for the Master it should be roused.

-December 28, 1905, Berlin, notes from Eugenie Bredow

John the Baptist proclaimed Christ Jesus in the middle of the fourth sub-race. But the individuality of the Master Jesus is leading humanity from the fifth to the sixth sub-race – again to John the Baptist, the Waterman. Christ Jesus is the living Word. All the beings of nature stream together in the human being and create in him the Word. That is the “I” in the human being – Jesus Christ. Human beings become Christ when they experience inwardly that the whole world flows together in them, is one with them. Through the principle of brotherly love, the representative of which is the Master Jesus, the coming together of humanity into the sixth sub-race is brought about, which will grow into the future based on this principle of brotherly love. When the sixth sub-race achieves perfection, then the word Christ will be not only in a single individuality but in everyone, and the individual human beings then create together the letters of the word, the new Christ, who is the resurrected one in an entirely different sense. As an “I” his life descended into humankind already in the third root-race. Fully developed he arises the in the sixth root-race, in the totality of humankind.

K.H.

-February 12, 1906, Cologne, notes from Mathilde Scholl

As an introduction to the four masters who all work in our movement: Master Morya – Power, Master Kuthumi – Wisdom, Master Saint-Germain– One turns to him in difficulties of everyday life, Master Jesus– What is intimate in the human being.

-June 26, 1906, Berlin, notes from Eugenie Bredow

We, those of us in the esoteric school, belong to this dawning of the sixth day; we follow and serve the great Master, who is watching over its forming; our task is to create this spiritual body out of ourselves and to give birth to it.

-October 2, 1906, Berlin, notes from Marie Steiner

The four Masters told us again: Master Jesus was the “Unknown one from the Highlands” who came to Tauler, who taught the Gnostics, etc. We should always be getting to know the Masters better. Jesus was a chela of the third degree. When he was thirty years old the following occurred to him. He left his body and Christ took possession of this pure, noble body: the physical, etheric and astral body. He himself withdrew back to the astral plane, where he remained united with the brothers of the White Lodge and achieved the rank of Master himself. …Morya – his true name is only give to more advanced pupils – he strengthens the will. Kuthumi is the actual Master of Wisdom. Jesus, the leader of the church, works especially on the life of feelings. We can call upon them when we need them. All twelve Masters of the White Lodge have passed through the entire evolution of our Earth. They cannot work directly into the physical plane. We must lift ourselves up to them. Through the school they work upon us, and in us and through us. The mediator, the teacher of the school, is obligated to answer to no one except him in whose name he speaks.

-October 22, 1906, Berlin, notes from Amalie Wagner

He spoke from immediate knowledge of, and direct acquaintance with the great Masters above us, who guide our striving and our lives: Kuthumi, Morya, Jesus and Christian Rosenkreutz – the “Masters of Wisdom and Harmony of Feelings.”

-October 22, 1906, Berlin, notes from Ludwig Kleeborg

The esoteric brotherhood of the Rosicrucians is the nursery in which the human material for the coming age must be formed. In times of special darkness a specially bright light must constantly arise. Christ was born during the age of Oriphiel; when Oriphiel again comes into his regency (in a few centuries), then the spiritual light that was brought by Christian Rosenkreutz and is now spread must have created a multitude of clairvoyant people who are pioneers working consciously toward the goal. That will call into existence the separation into two main streams, a race of good people and a race of evil people. Good and evil are still relatively little differentiated. Our eyes also penetrate very little through the form of the flesh. Now it is a relatively short step from evil to good, from good to evil. If the forces of the masters, and those humans who join them with all their strength and will, and the powers of the gods of hindrance, also called Mammon (forces of Satan and the Asuras), and their human followers intervene increasingly powerfully in the life of humanity, then the good will be developed into a divine Good, and the evil into a something terrible – Antichrist. Then every one of us “world-helpers” will need all the power that can accrue to him or her through suffering and overcoming suffering, through evil and overcoming evil. The purpose of Theosophy, of Rosicrucianism, is to call people to this battle through such knowledge and to give them peace in the battle.

-November 1, 1906, Munich, notes from Therese Walther

That lofty spiritual individuality who recognized this was Christian Rosenkreutz. He was the one who, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, undertook the great work of uniting the spiritual culture of the East with that of the West. He has always lived among us and is still with us today as leader in the spiritual life. He brought the spiritual culture of the East, as it is represented in the Old and New Testaments as the highest blossom of Eastern wisdom, into intimate harmony with the wisdom that originated in Atlantis. Thus he gave us Christianity in the form in which it had been prepared and introduced by that mysterious “Unknown man from the Highlands” who came to Johannes Tauler. “Highlands” signifies the spiritual world, the kingdom of Heaven. The lofty spiritual being who was concealed in the “Unknown man from the Highlands” was none other than the Master Jesus himself, in whose body Christ once lived on Earth. He too is with us today. The Master Jesus and the Master Christian Rosenkreutz prepare for us two paths to initiation, the Christian-esoteric path and the Christian-Rosicrucian path. Both of these paths have existed since the Middle Ages. But the spiritual life has increasingly disappeared from human consciousness with the rise of materialism. At the end of the nineteenth century, materialism had become so powerful that humankind needed a new spiritual infusion if it was not to perish.

-June 1, 1907, Munich, notes from Anna Weissmann

There was a single personality who, because of her psychic constitution, was able to perceive the voice of the Master. This was H.P. Blavtasky. When she began her work not all esoteric traditions had been lost. There were, rather, in the West numerous Brotherhoods that had received [preserved] esoteric wisdom, but in a rigid, ossified form without vital life. When H.P. Blavatsky wrote her Isis Unveiled they vociferously claimed that this wisdom belonged to them, for many of the symbols and teachings were known to them and they sought to place hindrances in her path every way possible. Thus Blavatsky was harassed in the worst way possible in an attempt to prevent her from fulfilling her work in a Christian esoteric sense, as was her original intention. Indeed, at that time she had to suffer through terrible things. And those exoteric brotherhoods actually managed to bring things to the point where she had to clothe what she had to say in Eastern dress in her second work, The Secret Doctrine. Even today we are still accustomed to having most terms for esoteric connections in Eastern language. But this Eastern form of wisdom is nothing for us Western people. In can only hinder us and bring us back from our goals. The people who are to form the kernel for the following races are here in the West.

This should be given as a factual answer to what the voice of the Masters from the East made known a short while ago. Our Western Masters have also spoke, although less noisily. And we want to write deeply into our hearts what they said. The called upon us to work with them on the future evolution of humankind and to stand firmly and endure in all the battles that yet stand before us; to hold firmly to what we possess as a living, holy tradition. This call should always sound in our souls. However, no one should believe that there exist any disharmony between the Masters of the East and West.

The Masters always live in harmony. Nevertheless, in recent time a decisive change has taken place in regard for the esoteric school of East and West. Until now both schools were united in a great circle under a common leadership of Masters. Now, however, the western school has made itself independent and there now exist two school on the same level, one in the East and one in the West: two smaller circles instead of one great one. The eastern school is led by Mrs. Annie Besant and those who in their hearts feel themselves drawn to her can no longer remain in our school. Everyone should well consider for which path his or her heart longs. Two Masters stand at the head of our western school: the Master Jesus and the Master Christian Rosenkreutz. And they lead us on two paths, the Christian esoteric and the Christian Rosicrucian. The Great White Lodge guides all spiritual movements, and the Masters Jesus and Christian Rosenkreutz belong to it.

-June 1, 1907, Munich, notes from Anna Weissmann

Everything spoke in an esoteric lesson is given to us directly from the Masters, and he who speaks it is only an instrument of their intentions. The Masters are constantly speaking to human beings; only those who are prepared, whose souls are open so that the Masters can find access to them, can hear their voice. Esoteric work is of the greatest significance for the evolution of the world – but also for the human being who occupies the simplest social position.

-October 9, 1907, Berlin, notes from Mathilde Scholl and Lilla Harris

Who are the Masters? Human beings who have gone the path of human evolution, only faster than other people; human beings who have an earlier experience of spiritual development and can therefore be leaders. Such a personality was the “Unknown man from the Highlands,” who worked in various ways.

-November 23, 1907, Basel, notes from Alice Kinkel

Everything said to us in these lessons we are to regard as a message from the Masters that is entrusted to us. We can receive what is said to us in this way with the right attitude, but what we make of it depends upon our degree of development. When we are meditating, then our soul is in the world in which the Masters work, and it is united with the stream that the Masters are sending into the world. It then contributes to the overcoming of the death of humankind by life. When we close ourselves off from perception through the senses, the astral currents of the gods can flow in.

-October 25, 1908, Berlin, notes from Alice Kinkel

Outwardly and terms of content, esoteric contemplations need not differ very much at all from exoteric lectures. What is important is that one bears in mind that in esoteric lessons the Masters of Wisdom and Harmony of Feelings are speaking to us. We know that through these meditations our astral body undergoes colossal changes, that we ourselves transform our astral body, which until then was undivided and unordered, but nevertheless was a harmonious whole within itself. We create islands in it, distinct pockets, so to speak, through which we begin to form organs. These astral organs are the channels through which the Masters can send messages from higher worlds into evolution and foster it.

-November 8, 1908, Munich, notes from Mathilde Scholl

The venerable Zoroaster would not have been able to reflect upon what was given to him in moments of transcendence. He received at such times influences from the spirit of the Sun in a direct way; he saw Ahrua Mazda and in him the Christ. He prepared the impulse that Christ was to bring to the Earth. He initiated his pupil Moses in the following way: one day at noon when it was new Moon, he allowed Moses to see by means of a power that he sent to his head, the Moon spirit – the devachanic sounds of sunlight reflected. Hermes he initiated directly into the secret of the Sun spirit. He allowed him to see the Sun at midnight through the transparent Earth, after he had previously received from Zoroaster the power of the Sun spirit. The Osiris-Isis-Horus religion came from this. Zoroaster appeared again as Zarathos or Nazarathos and was the teacher of Pythagoras, who led the mysteries in the age of the Greeks as a final preparation for the appearance of Christ. The king under whom Zoroaster taught was later incarnated as Cyrus; and later in the Middle Ages Cyrus was again a king. Moses was initiated with the forces of the astral body; Jesus spoke through the “I” to us, which penetrates all three bodies. Zoroaster had given the forces of his own etheric body to Moses, those of his astral body to Hermes, and he gave his “I” to Jesus. As Zoroaster himself he worked through his physical body.

-December 21, 1908, Berlin, notes from Camilla Wandrey

Zoroaster – his earthly protector was king Vischtasp, who later, as Cyrus, spread and consolidated the teachings of Zoroaster. Nazaras or Nazaranos, Chaldean initiate, was the “I” of Zoroaster. He inspired Pythagoras, who thereby spread Christianity in Greece. Then the “I” of Zoroaster was incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth, who was for this reason able to receive Christ himself into his bodies. Zoroaster had his pupils: in Hermes his teaching reached as far as the astral body, in Moses as far as the etheric body, in Pythagoras as far as the physical body.

Hermes’ initiation happened at Christmas time, and he saw what was later to be given to humans in the mystery of Golgotha. He beheld the entire evolution of the planet and what was connected with it. Moses’ initiation went into his etheric body. Zoroaster could give him something from his own light-body. In bad weather, storm and fog he could only see the Sun weakly, but he could see the Moon clearly in its first quarter. For this reason Yahweh later appeared to him in the burning bush. Pythagoras’ initiation went into his physical body. He brought this to humanity in his propositions. The seven holy Rishis were led by Manu, each one of which was initiated in the mysteries of one of the planet; Zoroaster, however, was initiated in the mysteries of the Sun, the Christ himself.

-December 28, 1908, Berlin, Anonymous

Until approximately six hundred years after Christ the great teachers of the church, for example, Augustine, could regard the Christian truths only as a gift of grace. This is connected with the fact that they received copies of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth interwoven into their own etheric body. Their brain was not yet so far developed that they could understand this teaching with their intellect. Later these teachers received copies of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth interwoven into their astral body. Francis of Assisi had such an astral body. A process such as this interweaving is also always connected with outer phenomena of nature. As the little Thomas Aquinas lay in the crib and next to him his little sisters, lightning struck. It killed the little sister, but the bolt of lightning made Thomas’s astral body flexible for receiving the copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth.

-April 19, 1909, Dusseldorf, notes from Mathilde Scholl

The childhood of the great initiates differs little from the life of other children; perhaps there are only a few aspects that indicate the kind of spirit that lives in a child. They must learn and enrich their knowledge as others and only thus acquire what they were in previous incarnations. This was also the case with Christian Rosenkreutz. Perhaps it took many a miracle for him not to have recognized at the outset the significance of the event of Golgotha. That was because the “I” of Jesus was placed in him, as in Augustine the etheric body, and in venerable Francis Assisi the astral body. But because it was the “I” it first had to work its way through to knowledge in order to bring it to full effect. With it he had a high and important mission.

-May 27, 1909, Berlin, notes from Eugenie Bredow

GA265-08

Instruction lesson. Esoteric meetings with ritual should not be held during the 13 days between December 24 and January 6 because the Masters of the East retire into their sanctuary in this time in order to collect new forces for humanity for the following year.

Young People's Service- Rudolf Steiner

At the entrance to the consecrated room, the students — who may enter in pairs — are taken by the hand by the two celebrants, who say to each:

Remember the importance of this moment in your life.

When all have gathered before the altar, the service begins. The ministrants arrange themselves on the right and left.

Dear children! You are stepping into a new age. From childhood you are rising to adolescence. Your teachers guided you. Their concern was that the Spirit of God may shine in your thinking, give strength in your feeling, and act in your willpower. Your teachers wanted to show you the Christ who has died so that the souls of men can live, so that He may be: the guide on your life paths, the dispenser of existence's joys, the comforter in the sorrows of existence. 

The acting ministrant turns around and raises both arms to the image of Christ, including "For thou hast said". The palms are turned inwards.

Thou, light of souls. You guide us on our paths in life. Thou giver of existence's pleasures. Thou comforter in the sorrows of existence. To you I have spoken in supplication, when I craved light for these children's thinking, when I longed for strength for these children's feeling, when I sought for active-blessing for the willpower of these children. So send Your light, so give Your strength, so let Your blessing flow in this hour to those who were entrusted to us, and whom we now pass into life. So that they think through Your light, feel through Your power, work through Your blessing. In all their life on Earth up to the moments of death You guide them into the being of Soul.

The acting celebrant turns to the community. 1

For Thou hast said, Fatherly Foundation of the World: let the work of Your Son be manifest, so that through this work of Your Son You become manifest, too. You brought Him forth for the sake of spirits who dwell in fleshly human bodies so that He, in the future, may guide all who come to Him through You.

They will live in the future by the fact that their soul eye has been prepared to see You as the only true basis of the world2, and the creative Christ Jesus, whom you have sent to them- "Through me You were again visible in the essence of the world when the Earth clouded the revelation of You. Such was Your will, which worked through me."

"So then, Fatherly Foundation of the World, let now shine the revelation that was already within me, before You became known in the Earth. Through me became the Word, that reveals You, known in the souls of men who came to me through You. You being in them, through You they came to me, and they have absorbed the knowledge of You.3

"They have recognized that what I said to them was spoken by You through me unto them. Fatherly Foundation of the World, I implore You, may they who have come to You through me always be alive with You, as I am, and may they recognize Your revelation that You lovingly let shine before me since before the Earth began. Through me was made known the Word that reveals You, and I will carry this Word into the souls of men, so that the love You love me with in them be preserved, and thus may my eternal life preserve their lives forever." (John 7:1-26).

The celebrant turns back to the altar. Then he goes to each individual, takes he or she by the hand and speaks:

Here in this children's school you have been led by the spirit of Christ who overcame death, that the life of the human soul may be saved; so leads the spirit of Christ, your life forces, your soul powers, your spiritual goals through the great school of life.

The ministrant goes back to his place and tells about Easter (for example) in a short speech, which has approximately the following content:

Dear children! It was in Spring, when the Earth finds new life in her plants, that Christ passed through death on Calvary. HE died. But HE overcame death. Victorious over death, He lives with humanity; He lives in the people who seek Him, seeking with all their thinking, feeling and willing. And so each time that Spring brings the high festival of Easter, then — looking upon the new life of the Earth — the human being should commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ. Dear children, remember every year at this Easter season of the feast we celebrate with you today, and celebrate it every year anew, so that in you the thought will be animated by the death and resurrection of Christ, and of His dwelling in the souls of those who seek Him.

The speech may continue until the ministrant has said all he intends to convey to the children.
Songs, to be announced by the celebrant. He stands facing the community during the singing. Additionally, an unannounced piece of music may follow.

Dear children! Every Sunday I've sent you back, prompting you to remember what you have experienced here; now I release you with caring soul into life. The spirit of Christ be with you. Seek Him, and you will find Him: as your light, as your strength, as your prime leader4, and as your comforter.

The acting ministrant turns back to the altar.

Each child is released single, taken by the hand and told:

Remember the importance of this moment in your life. Forget it never, not in joy, not in sorrow.

-For students in grades 8-10.

It corresponds essentially to the Confirmation of the Christian Community, yet because there are many important differences we describe here the complete text of the Young People's Service, as it is celebrated by the Free Waldorf School. The Young People's Service, to explicitly emphasize, is no one-time act like the Confirmation, but rather will be attended by the students for about two years.

Footnotes:

1. The following is spoken by the ministrant on the left.
    
2.  In another version, "only cause of the world".
3.  In another version, "absorbed in himself through me the awareness of You." 
4.  In another version, "highest leader."

-The WORSHIP SERVICES of the CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
& the WORSHIP SERVICES of the FREE WALDORF SCHOOL, Hischam A. Hapatsch

The German original:

Jugendfeier Sie entspricht im Wesentlichen der Konfirmation der Christengemeinschaft (s.S.50). Da es jedoch eine ganze Reihe wichtiger Unterschiede gibt, sei hier der Text der Jugendfeier vollständig in der Form wiedergegeben, wie ihn die Freie Waldorfschule feiert. Die Jugendfeier, das sei hier ausdrücklich betont, ist kein einmaliger Akt wie die Konfirmation, sondern wird von den Schülern etwa zwei Jahre lang besucht.


(Beim Eintritt in den Weiheraum wird jedem Schüler, wenn man will auch je paarweise durch zwei Ministranten, die Hand gegeben und zu ihm gesagt:) Gedenke der Wichtigkeit dieses Augenblickes in deinem Leben. (Wenn alle am Altar versammelt sind, beginnt die Handlung. Die Ministranten stellen sich rechts und links vor dem Altar auf.) Liebe Kinder! Gedenket der Wichtigkeit dieses Augenblickes in eurem Leben. Ihr tretet in ein neues Lebensalter. Von der Kindheit zur Jugend steiget ihr auf. Eure Lehrer haben euch geführt. Ihre Sorge war, daß der Gottesgeist leuchte in eurem Denken, krafte in eurem Fühlen, wirke in eurem Wollen. Den Christus, der gestorben ist, auf daß die Menschenseelen leben können, wollten euch weisen eure Lehrer, auf daß ER sei: der Führer auf euren Lebenswegen, der Spender der Daseinsfreuden, der Tröster im Daseinsleide. (Der Handelnde wendet sich um und erhebt beide Arme zum Christusbilde einschließlich "Denn du hast gesprochen". Die Handflächen sind dabei nach innen gewendet.) Du Licht der Seelen. Du Führer auf unseren Lebenswegen. Du Spender der Daseinsfreuden. Du Tröster im Daseinsleide. Zu dir sprach ich bittend: wenn ich Licht erflehte für dieser Kinder Denken, wenn ich Kraft ersehnte für dieser Kinder Fühlen wenn ich Wirken Segen erstrebe für dieser Kinder Wollen. So sende Dein Licht, so spende Deine Kraft, so lasse strömen deinen Segen In dieser Stunde auf die, die uns anvertraut waren, Und die wir jetzt übergeben dem Leben. Auf daß sie Denken durch Dein Licht, Fühlen durch Deine Kraft, Wirken durch Deinen Segen; in all ihrem Erdenleben bis in Todesaugenblicke Du sie führest in das Seelensein. (Der Handelnde wendet sich zur Gemeinde.) 4 Denn Du hast gesprochen, Väterlicher Weltengrund: lasse offenbar werden Deines Sohnes Schaffen, damit durch Deines Sohnes Schaffen auch Du offenbar werdest. Du hast ihn zum Schaffenden gemacht in allen fleischlichen Menschenleibern, daß er in der Zukunft lebend führe alle, die durch Dich zu ihm kamen. Sie werden in der Zukunft leben dadurch, daß ihr Seelenauge bereitet ist, Dich zu schauen als den wahrhaft Einigen Weltengrund5 und den schaffenden Christus Jesus, den Du zu ihnen gesandt hast. Durch mich wurdest Du im Erdensein wieder offenbar, als die Erde Deine Offenbarung umwölkte. Solches war Dein Wille, der durch mich wirkte. So auch, Väterlicher Weltengrund, lasse jetzt erstrahlen die Offenbarung, die durch mich schon ward, ehe Du in der Erdenwelt offenbar wurdest.- [sic] Durch mich ward das Wort, das Dich offenbart, in Menschenseelen offenbar, die durch Dich zu mir kamen. Du warst in ihnen, durch Dich kamen sie zu mir, und sie haben in sich genommen die Erkenntnis von Dir.6 Von ihnen ward erkannt, daß, was ich zu ihnen sprach, von Dir durch mich zu ihnen gesprochen ward. Väterlicher Weltengrund, das erflehe ich, daß sie, die durch mich zu Dir gekommen sind, immer sein mögen lebend bei Dir, wie ich bei Dir bin, und daß sie da schauen Deine Offenbarung, die Du liebend vor mir erstrahlen ließest, bevor die Erde noch war. Durch mich ward offenbar das Wort, das Dich offenbart und ich will tragen dies Wort in Menschenseelen, auf daß die Liebe, mit der Du mich liebest, in ihnen sich bewahre, und so auch mein ewiges Leben ihr Leben ewig bewahre. (Joh 7:1-26)

(Der Handelnde wendet sich zum Altar zurück. Dann begibt er sich zu jedem einzelnen, nimmt ihn oder sie bei der Hand und spricht:) Durch den Geist des Christus der den Tod überwand auf daß der Menschenseele das Leben ward gerettet, wurdest du geführt hier in dieser Kinderschule; so leite der Christusgeist deine Lebenskräfte, deine Seelenmächte, deine Geistesziele durch des Lebens große Schule. (Der Handelnde begibt sich an seinen Platz zurück und spricht über das Osterfest in einer kurzen Rede, die etwa den folgenden Inhalt hat:) Liebe Kinder! Im Frühling war's, wo die Erde in ihren Pflanzen neues Leben findet, da der Christus auf Golgatha durch den Tod ging. ER starb. Aber ER überwand den Tod. Als Sieger über den Tod lebet ER mit den Menschen; ER lebet in den Menschen, die ihn suchen, suchen mit all ihrem Denken, Fühlen und Wollen. Und jedesmal, wenn der Frühling das hohe Osterfest bringt, dann soll der Mensch, wenn er das neue Leben der Erde schaut, gedenken des Todes und der Auferstehung des Christus. Liebe Kinder, gedenket jedes Jahr zu dieser Osterzeit des Festes, das wir heute mit euch feiern und feiert es jedes Jahr neu, auf daß in euch der Gedanke belebt werde von dem Tode, der Auferstehung des Christus und von seinem Wohnen in den Seelen derer, die ihn suchen.

(Die Rede kann weiter ausgeführt werden durch alles, was der Handelnde den Kindern sagen möchte.) (Gesang; er wird vom Handelnden angekündigt. Er ist während des Gesangs der Gemeinde zugewendet; stattdessen kann ein nicht angekündigtes Musikstück folgen.) Liebe Kinder! Allsonntäglich habe ich euch entlassen, Euch auffordernd zu gedenken, was ihr hier erlebt habt; Jetzt entlasse ich euch mit sorgender Seele in das Leben. Der Christusgeist sei mit euch. Suchet Ihn, ihr werdet Ihn finden: als euer Licht, als eure Kraft, als euren Führer,7 als euren Tröster. (Der Handelnde wendet sich zum Altar zurück.) (Jedes Kind wird einzeln entlassen; man nimmt es an der Hand und spricht:) Gedenke der Wichtigkeit dieses Augenblickes in deinem Leben. Vergiß ihn nimmer, nicht in Freud' [sic] nicht im Leide. ——————

Fußnoten: 4 Das folgende liest der linke Ministrant. 5 andere Version: "Einzigen Weltengrund" 6 andere Version: "...in sich aufgenommen durch mich die Erkenntnis von Dir." 7 andere Version: "höchster Führer"

Sunday Service for Young Children- Rudolf Steiner

The actions are performed by two or three celebrants. The head officiant stands in the middle. The officiant standing to the right (as seen by the community) is responsible for the Communion, i.e., the part of the service in which participants act as individuals.

The celebrant on the left is responsible for the Gospel reading. The lead celebrant has responsibility for all remaining parts. If only two celebrants are present, the lead celebrant takes the part of the missing celebrant.  All celebrants always face the same direction as the lead celebrant.

There is no liturgical garb. In all services, the parents, their substitutes, and the teachers lead in the students and then take their places at the rear of the room. Just before the service and even before the students are admitted, the lead celebrant says:

By your power, O spirit of God.
I will direct to you
The souls entrusted to me.
Your light illumines the center of my thinking. Your warmth fills the center of my compassion. Your penetrating soul power irradiates my willing body.
I make my service unto you.

Candles are lit before and after the community (including the elders) enter the room. Immediately before the first or last words of the service are heard, the seated officiants rise and place themselves before the AItar, then they return to their chairs. Only the head officiant remains standing all the time. The chairs are not used in the sacrificial ceremony.

Concerning the style of speech to be used, Steiner said: "Be hesitant at first, groping for words. Recognize when the spirit begins to flow to you and let it express itself then."

— Die Kultushandlungen der Christengemeinschaft und DIE KULTUSHANDLUNGEN IN DER FREIEN WALDORFSCHULE, pp. 99-100

I

Sunday Service for Children (This is celebrated for the children of 1st to 8th grades until Confirmation, on every possible Sunday. For Christmas and Sundays between December 25th and January 6th, the Christmas story is used.)

The candles are lit, then the parents or their substitutes and the teachers enter the room of consecration. The children enter the consecrated room in pairs. At the entrance one of the two celebrants takes a child by the hand and the ministrants together say in chorus to each child:

"You know, you are going to the service, which will raise your soul to the Spirit of the World."

Then, when all the children are gathered in front of the altar, the actual ceremony at the altar begins. The two ministrants stand to the right and left in front of the altar.

We now direct our thoughts and feelings to the spirit, to the spirit that liveth and worketh, that liveth and worketh in stone, plant and animal, that liveth and worketh in human thinking and human deed, that worketh in all activity, that moveth in all life, that leads the living into death, so that it may live anew, that leads the dead into the living, so that it may see the spirit.

(Until reaching the phrase "feeling and willing," the acting officiant stands with raised right arm pointing to the image of Christ at the altar. The fingers of the hand are not spread.)

He who is working as spirit in the universe received a body. Christ died. He became alive within the being of humanity, who gave him dwelling in their heart. May our heart turn to Him, too, it interfuses itself with his power, so that He may work in it, so that He permeates our thinking, feeling and willing.

The acting celebrant addresses the children:

My dear ones! We learn to understand the world. We learn to work in the world. The love of people to each other enlivens all work of mankind. Without love, human existence is bleak and empty. Christ is the teacher of human kindness.

All speak now [the acting ministrant may speak the single verse first]. The right hand of the acting ministrant encloses while this prayer his closed left hand. During this prayer he stands facing the church:

Let us pray.
We raise all our feelings and thinking to God's spirit.
We worship the spirit of God.
We love the spirit of God.
We will remember the spirit of God when we are alone, and also when we are with all dear folk.
Then He will be with us.

The acting ministrant now takes each child's hand or respectively he puts his hand on the child's head and says:

The spirit of God will be with you, if you seek Him.

The child answers:

I will seek Him.

Now the acting celebrant turns again towards the altar and speaks to the children with his hands to bless, both arms raised straight with outward-turned palms, the fingers spread in such a way that three groups emerge: little finger and ring finger, middle finger and index finger, and the thumb:

I call to God's Spirit, that He may be with you, if ye seek Him.
We now proclaim the Gospel ___ In the chapter and verse _____ 1 (During the reading, everyone stands.)

Gospel reading 2
Insertion (Pentecost)

We sing now...

Song 3
Addressed again to the children:

Dear children! I let you go now. But keep in good thoughts what you have heard, felt, and thought here.

(Music)
Then the children leave the hall after the books are closed and the acting celebrant retreats from the Christ image.

Footnotes

1. In the Waldorf School, this is always spoken by the main official.
2. Here originally John 1: 1-14 was always read ... Today the reading is based on the liturgical year. 
3. The acting officiant does not join the singing.
   

— Die KULTUSHANDLUNGEN DER CHRISTENGEMEINSCHAFT UND DIE KULTUSHANDLUNGEN IN DER FREIEN WALDORFSCHULE, pp. 74-76.

The Altar:

Three steps rise to the altar. On the steps, on the left and right, there are always single candle-holders.

On the altar are seven candles, with the tallest at the center. To the left and right of the candles are flowers. 

Left and right of the altar stand, facing the congregation, very low chairs with large backrests. 

The whole altar is bedecked in red. Above it hangs the portrait of Christ by Leonardo da Vinci.

— Hischam A. Hapatsch, DIE KULTUSHANDLUNGEN DER CHRISTENGEMEINSCHAFT UND
DIE KULTUSHANDLUNGEN IN DER FREIEN WALDORFSCHULE

Translation help- many thanks to Dagmar. 😊

Deutsch:

Die Sonntagshandlung für die Kinder


(Diese wird für die Kinder der 1. bis 8. Klasse bis zur Konfirmation möglichst an jedem Sonntag gefeiert, für Weihnachten und die Sonntage zwischen dem 25,12, und 6.1 gibt es statt dessen die Weihnachtshandlung.)

(Die Kerzen werden entzündet. Dann betreten die Eltern bzw. deren Stellvertreter sowie die Lehrer den Weiheraum. Die Kinder werden paarweise in den Weiheraum eingelassen. Am Eingang wird jedes Kind von einem der beiden Ministranten an der Hand genommen und zu ihm - die Ministranten sprechen dies zusammen chorweise - gesagt:)


Du weißt, du gehst zu der Handlung,
Die deine Seele erheben soll zu dem Geiste der Welt.

(Nun, wenn alle Kinder vor dem Altar versammelt sind, beginnt am Altar die eigentliche Handlung. Die beiden Ministranten stehen rechts und links vor dem Altar.)


Wir erheben jetzt die Gedanken und Empfindungen zu dem Geiste,

Zu dem Geiste, der lebet und wirket,

Der lebet und wirket in Stein, Pflanze und Tier;

Der lebet und wirket in Menschendenken und Menschentun,

Der wirket in allem Wirkenden,

Der lebet in allem Lebenden,

Der das Lebende in den Tod führt, auf daß es neu lebe,

Der das Tote ins Lebende führt, auf daß es den Geist schaue.


(Bis "...Fùhlen und Wollen" erhebt der Handelnde seinem rechten Arm in weisender Gebärde zum Christusbild über dem Altar. Die Finger der Hand werden dabei nicht gespreizt.)


In ihm nahm Leib an, der da wirket als Geist im All.

Christus starb.

Er wurde lebendig im Sein der Menschen,

Die ihm Wohnung gaben in ihrem Herzen.

Auch unser Herz wende sich zu ihm,

Es durchdringe sich mit seiner Kraft,

Auf daß er in ihm wirke,

Auf daß er durchdringe

Unser Denken, Fühlen und Wollen.


(Der Handelnde wendet sich zu den Kindern:)


Meine Lieben! Wir lernen, um die Welt zu verstehen.

Wir lernen, um in der Welt zu arbeiten.

Die Liebe der Menschen zueinander belebt alle Menschenarbeit

Ohne die Liebe wird das Menschensein öde und leer.

Christus ist der Lehrer der Menschenliebe.


(Alle sprechen nun [wobei der Handelnde die Zeilen auch einzeln vorsprechen kann]. Die rechte Hand des Handelnden umfaßt bei diesen Gebet die geschlossene Linke. Er ist während dieses Gebetes der Gemeinde zugewandt.)


Wir wollen beten.

Wir erheben all unser Empfinden und Denken zum Gottesgeiste.

Wir verehren den Gottesgeist.

Wir lieben den Gottesgeist.

Wir werden gedenken des Gottesgeistes,

Wenn wir allein sind,

Und auch, wenn wir mit Menschen zusammen sind.

Dann wird er mit uns sein.


(Der Handelnde reicht nun jedem Kind die Hand bzw. legt ihm die Hand auf den Kopf und spricht:)


Der Gottesgeist wird sein mit dir, wenn du ihn suchest.


(Das Kind antwortet:)


Ich will ihn suchen.


(Nun tritt der Handelnde wiederum zum Altar zurück und spricht zu den Kindern gewandt mit segnenden Händen. Dabei werden beide Arme mit nach außen gewendeten Handflächen gestreckt erhoben. Die Finger werden in der Art gespreizt, daß drei Gruppen entstehen: Kleiner Finger und Ringfinger, Mittelfinger und Zeigefiager und der Daumen.)


Ich rufe zum Gottesgeist,

Daß er sei bei euch, wenn ihr ihn suchet.


Es wird nun verkündet das Evangelium nach ... im ... Kapitel, Vers ... bis....1


(Während der Lesung stehen alle.)


Evangelienlesung2



Einschub (Pfingsten)



Wir singen jetzt...


Lied3


(Wieder zu den Kindern gesandt:)


Liebe Kinder! Ich entlasse euch nun,

Aber behaltet in guten Gedanken,

Was ihr hier gehört, empfunden, gedacht habt.



(Musik.)


(Dann verlassen die Kinder den Saal, nachdem die Bücher geschlossen und der Handelnde vom Christus-Bilde zurückgetreten ist.)


1In der Frein Waldorfschule wird dies immer vom Hauptoffizianten gesprochen.

2Hier is ursprünglich immer Joh 1:1-14 (vgl. S. 64) verlesen worden. Heute orientiert man sich am Kirchenjahr.

3Der Handelnde singt nich mit.

Occult Columns- Trees & Planets

When Rudolf Steiner was faced with the task of designing columns for the first Goetheanum, which was later burned down at the end of 1922, he recognized the spiritual necessity that there should be seven columns, and chose for each one a different kind of wood. Old traditions, (Celtic and Druidic lore) which associated each tree or groups of trees with a certain planet were reawakened to a new life and significance by the eye of the seer and the hand of the artist.

Jupiter & Venus columns drawn by Arild Rosenkrantz

The earth itself advances through seven conditions of evolution, which are called by the names of the seven planets, Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus-states ...

In the year 1907 Rudolf Steiner published the collection Occult SEALS & COLUMNS ...
The pictures, based on his sketches and instructions, have been drawn and re-drawn by a number of artists ...
The seven Seals and Columns decorated the Lecture Hall at the Congress of European Sections of the Theosophical Society, held in 1907 in Munich, where Rudolf Steiner and his pupils were responsible for the arrangements ...

The designs of the seven Columns were afterwards reproduced in fully plastic form in the great wooden pillars supporting the large dome of the first Goetheanum.

SUN

Thus speaks the high-reaching
Light-flooded ash.
The Tree of the golden sun.
"O Man, be upright and noble
Waste not yourself on the worthless
Be conscious of the pure nobility
of Man."

MOON

Thus speaks the silvery moon at
May time, through the flowering
Cherry Tree.
Whose blossoms in summer,
to fruit ripen.
"O Man, like the plant, transfer
the lower to the higher
Purify the passions, grow mature
And harvest the fruit of life."

MARS

Thus speaks the knotty oak,
The servant of iron Mars,
"O Man, take root in the depths
and reach for the heights,
Be mighty and strong
Be warrior, knight and protector."

MERCURY

Thus speaks the mercurial planet
Through the living growth of
The Elm,
And through her winged seeds
"O Man, be stir yourself,
Be active, lively and quick."

JUPITER

Thus speaks the broad-leafed maple
The tree of Jupiter, to whom tin
is sacred.
"O Man, overcome the haste and hurry within you.
Seek hours of quiet
Which bring goodness and wisdom
To birth."

VENUS

Thus speaks the coppery Venus
Through the virgin softness
of Birch,
Which is delicately rooted and
drinks in the light.
"O Man, work on your soul
In Tenderness,
Admire lovingly the beauty
of the world."

SATURN

Thus speaks leaden Saturn
Through the trees of
of shaded forests
The pines, the beeches and
cypresses,
"O man, feel the responsibility
for the need of your time
and of all mankind.
With inner devotion take hold
of the work that life puts
before you."

-Johannes Hemleben, Seven Trees & Seven Planets


Verses for the Days of the Week, Johannes Hemleben (another translation of the above)


Sunday:

Thus speaks the light-filled
High towering ash
Tree of the golden Sun.
'Oh man, be upright and noble.
Waste not thyself on what is unworthy;
Be mindful of thy human dignity.'


Monday:

Thus speaks the silvery Moon in May
Through the flowering cherry trees,
Whose blossoms open to fruit in summer:
'Oh man, transform like the plant
The lower into the upper; purify thy desires.
Ripen and gather the fruits of life.'

Tuesday:

Thus speaks the gnarled oak tree
Servant of iron Mars:
'Oh man, take root in the depths,
And reach to the heights.
Be stalwart and strong.
Be a fighter,
Knight and protector.'

Wednesday:

Thus speaks quicksilver Mercury
Through the living growth of the elm,
And their winged seeds:
'Oh man, bestir thyself,
Be alert
Lively and swift.'

Thursday:

Thus speaks the maple
With its wide spreading leaves, the tree of Jupiter
To whom tin is sacred:
'Oh man, overcome haste and hurry within thee.
Seek for hours of quiet
In which goodness and wisdom can be born.'

Friday:

Thus speaks the coppery Venus
Through the virginal white-shimmering birch
Which has shallow roots and drinks much light:
'Oh man, work on thy soul
With tenderness.
Marvel at the beauty of the world.'

Saturday:

Thus speaks the leaden Saturn through the trees of the dark forest:
Through fir, cypress and beech:
'Oh man, feel responsibility for the need of the times
And the whole of mankind.
Take up with fervour and earnestness the tasks
Which life has given thee.'


Rudolf Steiner to Ita Wegman:

I hold the Sun within me
As King he leads me to the world.
I hold the Moon within me.
She preserves my form.
I hold Mercury within me.
He holds Sun and Moon together.

I hold Venus within me.
Without her love all is naught.
She unites herself with Mars,
Who speaks my being in the Word.

That Jupiter may illumine the whole
With wisdom light.
And Saturn the mature
May ray within the colours of my being.

Sun and Moon columns drawn by Arild Rosenkrantz