Synopsis
“We must experience as a blessing what we may feel to be a kind of deprivation, so that we can say to ourselves in all seriousness and sternness:
We must first make ourselves truly human, warm in soul and strong of spirit, so that we, as spirit in humanity, may find the spirit in the world.” ―
Rudolf SteinerThe mantras of the Michael School are, in the truest sense of the word, a path for modern human beings―and indeed not just for our time between birth and death, but even more so for the time after death in the spiritual world. In that world, every soul that has crossed the threshold will experience beings and events that it can comprehend only if it has learned something on Earth about the beings there and processes that take place between them. In his eighteenth lesson Rudolf Steiner said:
"People who have heard this in esoteric schools on Earth will go through the gate of death and will hear these words again sounding in harmony together―in the esoteric schools here and during the life between death and a new birth there. They will understand what rings forth. Or, people will be dull and unwilling to respond to what the esoteric schools, prepared by general Anthroposophy, have to say. They’ll fail to perceive what can be heard through initiation science from the realms of the heights. They pass through the gate of death. There they hear what they should have already heard while here on Earth . . . but they do not understand it. These words of power―when the gods speak to one another―sound to them like an unintelligible clanging, mere cosmic noise."
These words alone, heard in real earnestness, should be enough to dispel any reservations about spreading the teaching of the Michael School. This content does not belong only to those who are closely connected with Anthroposophy and its movement; every seeking human being should be able to find them as a path through life on Earth and after death.
This talks and mantras by Rudolf Steiner are a translation from the German text Esoterische Unterwiegungen für die Angehörigen and der ersten Klasse der Freien Hochschule für Geisteswissenschaft am Goetheanum 1924 (4 vols.), Dornach 1992 (GA 270). This book was originally published by Perseus Verlag in Basel, Switzerland, as Der Meditationsweg der Michaelschule in neunzehn Stufen.
About the Authors
Rudolf Steiner (b. Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner, 1861–1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. Steiner termed his spiritual philosophy anthroposophy, meaning “wisdom of the human being.” As an exceptionally developed seer, he based his work on direct knowledge and perception of spiritual dimensions. He initiated a modern, universal “spiritual science” that is accessible to anyone willing to exercise clear and unbiased thinking. From his spiritual investigations, Steiner provided suggestions for the renewal of numerous activities, including education (general and for special needs), agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, philosophy, Christianity, and the arts. There are currently thousands of schools, clinics, farms, and initiatives in other fields that involve practical work based on the principles Steiner developed. His many published works feature his research into the spiritual nature of human beings, the evolution of the world and humanity, and methods for personal development. He wrote some thirty books and delivered more than six thousand lectures throughout much of Europe. In 1924, Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches around the world.
T. H. Meyer was born in Switzerland in 1950. He is the founder of Perseus Verlag, Basel, and is editor of the monthly journal Der Europäer. He has written numerous articles and is the author of several books, including Reality, Truth, and Evil (2005) and major biographies of D.N. Dunlop and Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz. He also edited Light for the New Millennium (1997) describing Rudolf Steiner’s association with Helmuth and Eliza von Moltke.
Jannebeth Röell, a pioneer of anthroposophic nursing in North America, received her degree in nursing in The Hague, Netherlands, and worked in private practice with an anthroposophic physician, focusing on external therapies. During the course of her practice she worked extensively with the dying. Presently Jannebeth is making anthroposophic medicine preparations. She is also the translator of Perceiving Plants: Experiencing Elemental Beings: The Influence of Gnomes, Nymphs, Elves, and Fire Spirits upon the Life of Plants and (with James Lee) About Formative Forces in the Plant World,both authored by Dick van Romunde. Jannebeth Röell is also a watercolor and mixed media image artist. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Paul V. O'Leary was a real estate appraiser and attorney who specialized in forensic appraisals and the appraisal of conservation properties. He wrote, taught, and lectured extensively on real estate economics and appraisal for The Appraisal Institute, The Massachusetts Board of Real Estate Appraisers, the American Society of Appraisers, and the Massachusetts and United States Bar Associations. He was also a special faculty member of the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a think tank associated with Harvard University, with an international portfolio, researching, publishing, and teaching on real estate planning and taxation issues.
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