The Interior of the Earth: An Esoteric Study of the Subterranean Spheres

Selected lectures

Modern science cannot speak with justifiable authority about more than only a tiny fraction of the Earth’s interior. We have, literally, scratched just the surface of our planet. Can we know what lies beneath our feet in the unimaginable depths of the Earth? Can spiritual investigation give us answers to our questions about something virtually impossible to perceive through our physical senses?

Rudolf Steiner’s discussions of the subterranean spheres are gathered, along with notes and an introduction, for the first time in this comprehensive volume. His unique overview pictures of the nine layers of the Earth as they become visible through spiritual scientific research. The strata range from what we know as the “mineral” layer, on which we live, to the Earth’s innermost core, which Steiner connects to human and animal reproductive forces. In between these radically different strata are layers such as what Steiner calls the “Mirror Earth,” representing qualities of extreme evil, and the “Fire Earth,” connected to natural catastrophes.

Steiner never conveys abstract or theoretical information, but fact related intimately to humankind. Fire Earth, for example, is acutely affected by human volition. When the human will is chaotic and untrained, says Steiner, it acts magnetically on this layer and disrupts it, leading to volcanic eruptions. He describes other natural catastrophes, such as extreme weather and earthquakes, in connection to the interior of the Earth and to karma.

Rudolf 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. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner's multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.