At Waldorf schools, objective study of natural history may be compromised by the faculty's rejection of ordinary science and the geological record. Animals are looked upon as beings that evolved downward from humans. [See "Basement" and "Evolution, Anyone?".] “The aim in animal study is to show that each animal species presents a one-sided development which is harmonised in the human being ... Without laboring the point it can be shown that both with regard to external form and soul qualities what is concentrated in man is spread out over the animal kingdom.” — R. Steiner. If animals had not peeled away from us too soon, they could have been human like us. “When we say that certain beings remained at the Bull stage, others at the Lion, others at the Eagle, and so on, what does this mean? It means that if these beings had been able to wait, if they could have developed their full love for the physical world only at a much later time, they would have become human beings. If the lion had not willed to enter into the earthly sphere too early, it would have become a man; the same is true of the other animals that had split off up till then.” [See "Basement".]

In the Waldorf view, to be revered. But nature is also considered to be deceptive, illusory, ruled by maya. It is the lowly physical realm, inhabited by nature spirits. [See "Neutered Nature".]

nature spirits - also see demons; fairies; gnomes; goblins; phantoms; salamanders; specters; sylphs; undines

a) In various traditions, incorporeal beings residing in nature, the elements, etc.

b) According to Steiner, beings, who exist inside the forces of nature, properly called elemental beings, denoting absence of real spirit. They may include phantoms and other products of evil actions and thoughts. They are potentially dangerous, hostile, or alienating; some are Ahrimanic; but often they used for good by the good gods. The primary types are gnomes (who dwell in the ground), sylphs (who dwell in the air), salamanders (who dwell in fire), and undines (who dwell in water). [See "Neutered Nature".] "I have told you that those beings which we call the nature-spirits of the water, work especially in the budding and sprouting plant-world. Those which we may call the nature-spirits of the air, play their part in late summer and autumn, when the plants prepare to fade and die. Then these meteor-like air-spirits sink down over the plant-world and saturate themselves, as it were, with the plants, helping them to fade away in their spring and summer forms. The disposition that at one time the spirits of the water, and at another the spirits of the air should work in this or that region of the earth, changes according to the different regions of the earth — in the northern part of the earth it is naturally quite different from what it is in the south. The office of directing, as it were, the suitable nature-spirits to their activities at the right time, is carried out by those spiritual beings which we learn to know when the occult vision is so far trained that, when we have freed ourselves from our physical and etheric bodies, we can still be conscious of our environment. There are spiritual beings, for instance, working in connection with our earth, with our earth-planet, who allot the work of the nature-spirits to the seasons of the year, and thus bring about the alternations of the seasons for the different regions of the earth, by distributing the work of the nature-spirits. These spiritual beings represent what we may call the astral body of the earth, into which man plunges with his own astral body at night when he falls asleep. This astral body, consisting of higher spirits which hover round the earth-planet and permeate it as a spiritual atmosphere, is united with the earth; and into this spirit-atmosphere man's astral body plunges during the night-time. [paragraph break] Now to occult observation there is a great difference of nature-spirits, the spirits of Earth, Water, etc., and those beings which on the other hand, direct these nature-spirits. The nature-spirits are occupied in causing the beings of nature to ripen and fade, in bringing life into the whole planetary earth-sphere. It is different with those spiritual beings which in their totality can be called the astral body of the earth." — R. Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND IN THE KINGDOMS OF NATURE (Steiner Book Centre, 1981), lecture 2, GA 

nature tables

Platforms on which natural objects are displayed. In Waldorf classrooms, candles and/or images are often included, making the displays seem to have spiritual significance. Some critics call these displays altars. [See "Neutered Nature".]

 

A Waldorf nature table

topped by a candelabrum.

[Courtesy of PLANS.]

Naturphilosophie - also see paganism

Anti-rational philosophy of nature, especially as promulgated by F.W.J. von Schelling. It represents one (minor) root of Anthroposophy. [See "Clairvoyant Vision".]

 

Nazism - also see Holocaust denial; anti-Semitism

National Socialism: German fascism. In many ways, Nazism is antithetical to Anthroposophy, yet the two worldviews arose in part from similar roots and share some characteristics. Some significant Anthroposophists became Nazis and/or Fascists. [See "Sympathizers?"]

"Negro" race - also see race; race soul

Steiner designated the black people of Africa as low on the human evolutionary scale. They are childlike, he said, but they are also sexually supercharged. Negroes are not very intelligent, he said, but they have powerful instincts. "[E]verything connected to the body and the metabolism is strongly developed in the Negro. He has, as they say, powerful physical drives, powerful instincts ... [H]is whole metabolism operates as if he were being cooked inside by the sun. That is where his instinctual life comes from. The Negro is constantly cooking inside, and what feeds this fire is his rear-brain.” — Rudolf Steiner, VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE (Verlag Der Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung, 1961), p. 55.

This is one of the three major human physiological systems Steiner described, and it is by far the most sensible one. The nerves and senses do indeed have essential connections with one another, and thus it is not preposterous to refer to them as a single system (unlike the other two systems Steiner described). Steiner located this system in the head. "Now if you take the physical development of the child from birth to the change of teeth you will find it is specially the head-organisation, the nerve-senses organisation that is at work. The child develops from the head downwards in the early years of his life." — Rudolf Steiner, THE KINGDOM OF CHILDHOOD (Anthroposophic Press, 1982), lecture 7, GA 311. Steiner traced our various systems and subsystems to evolutionary periods on/during various celestial spheres. "Limb system from the Earth, Metabolic system from the Moon, Rhythmic system from the Sun, Nerve-senses system from Saturn." — Synopsis, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970), lecture 10, GA 230.

In Theosophy and Anthroposophy, “planes” are levels of spiritual evolution or consciousness. The nirvana plane is the highest level of spiritual enlightenment and blessedness, the plane on which one attains Nirvana. Only the very highest masters — such as Buddha and Christ — have risen to the Nirvana Plane thus far. “The occultist speaks of different states of consciousness. In reality they are different worlds: and it has become customary, as you know, to call these different states of consciousness different planes. That which can be surveyed with the physical consciousness is called the physical plane; that which is perceptible to the first consciousness of a supersensible nature, the astral plane; to the second, the lower Devachan or mental plane; and to the third, the higher mental, or higher Devachan plane. Still farther on, we have the Budhi plane and the Nirvana plane. All we are doing here is simply to give other names to the results reached on the occult path. Both roads lead to a picture of man. For it is always man who in his varying conditions or states is active as member of the different planes or worlds. What we have done is to lead over the knowledge of man from the standpoint of occultism, where we speak of different conditions of consciousness and different conditions of evolution, to the knowledge of man from the standpoint of theosophy. For where the occultist speaks of conditions of consciousness, the theosophist speaks of successive planes. Occultism can in this manner be communicated openly as theosophy.” — Rudolf Steiner, MAN IN THE LIGHT OF OCCULTISM, THEOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964), lecture 10, GA 137.

Theosophists identify three different nirvana planes: stages of ultimate consciousness. Following his break with Theosophy, Steiner dispensed with these distinctions. [See "Faculty Meetings".]

Steiner taught that invisible bodies incarnate on a seven-year cycle. The Waldorf curriculum is geared to this idea. Children are thought to incarnate their etheric bodies at around age seven (signaled by the replacement of baby teeth by adult teeth) and their astral bodies at around age 14 (signaled by puberty). Later, at about age 21, the "I" incarnates. Additional invisible members of the human constitution incarnate later. [See "Incarnation".]

normal - also see advanced races; divine cosmic plan; salvation; cf. abnormal

According to Steiner, "normal" beings keep pace with proper, planned evolution; the fulfill the intentions of the gods. They receive their impulses from the normal gods. "In those persons who are stimulated by the true Spirits of the Age at their normal stage are the true representatives of their time. We can look upon them as men who were destined to appear; we feel certain that their activities were predetermined. There are also others, however, in whom are active those Spirits of Personality who are, in reality, Spirits of Form [and thus are abnormal]. Those are the Spirits whom we called 'Thought Spirits', who during the old Moon-cycle moved advanced to their present rank. Man is the stage upon which the activities of these Beings is coordinated. This is demonstrated by the mutual interaction between language and thought, by the reciprocal relationship not only between the Spirits at the same stage of development, but also by by the reciprocal relationship between the normal Archangels who determine national sentiment and temperament and ... ‘backward’ Spirits of Form ... Within man there are not only normal and abnormal Archangels, but also the Archangels in contrast to the abnormal Spirits of Personality who from within determine the pattern of thought of a particular epoch." — R. Steiner. [See "Abnormal".]

Norse myths - also see Angels; dwarfs; Freya; Frigg; giants; Loki; Odin; Thor

Originating in Scandinavia, the mythology of northern Europeans. They are stressed in Waldorf schools because Steiner taught that these particular myths present the most accurate depiction of spiritual evolution.  “No other mythology gives a clearer picture of evolution than Northern mythology/Germanic mythology in its pictures is close to the anthroposophical conception of future evolution.” — R. Steiner. [See "The Gods".]

 

numerology

The belief that numbers have occult significance;  in Steiner’s doctrines, the most potent numbers are 7 and 12 (and their components, 3 and 4). [See "Magic Numbers".]

nutrition - see health; medicine

nymphs - also see sylphs

a) Immature insects.

b) Nature spirits, often represented as beautiful maidens. "If you could observe certain spots, as, for instance, springs where underneath there is stone overgrown with moss, thus forming a kind of partition between plant and stone, and then water trickles over it — that too is essential — then you would see that what are called Nymphs and Undines are very real, an actuality." — R. Steiner. [See "Beings".]

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- O -

occult, occultism - also see Anthroposophy; esoteric; gnosticism; initiation; Rosicrucian; secrecy

a) Pertaining to the the magical, mystical, and/or supernatural; obscure, secret, esoteric.

b) According to Steiner, occultism is one of the seven world outlooks. "We should be Transcendentalists if we said: 'The world is spread out all around us, and this world everywhere proclaims its essential being.' This we do not say. We say: 'This world is Maya, and one must seek the inner being of things by another way than through external sense-perception and the ordinary means of cognition.' Occultism! The psychic mood of Occultism! ... [O] one can be an Occultist throughout all the mental-zodiacal signs." — R. Steiner. Steiner associated occultism with the Moon. [See "Philosophy".]

c) Steiner claimed to possess much occult — i.e., secret — spiritual knowledge; he was a self-described occultist. • “Now you must not think that the Saturn mass was as firm and solid as the physical bodies of to-day; even water and air do not give you an idea of Saturn's fundamental substance. When speaking of bodies in occultism, we [emphasis added] speak of solid, liquid and gaseous bodies ... The Saturn mass was not even condensed to the state of air it consisted of purified heat, and its activity resembled that of the heat contained in your blood, for it was connected with inner life-processes. The physical processes upon Saturn were real life-processes. Saturn consisted of heat-substance, of an immensely fine volume which may be designated as neutral, if compared with our present substances.” — R. Steiner. • “[I]n occultism we [emphasis added] call the Moon the ‘Cosmos of Wisdom’ and the Earth the ‘Cosmos of Love.’ As we today, standing on the Earth, wonder at the wisdom embedded in it, so one day the beings of Jupiter will stand before beings from which love will stream forth to them in fragrance.” — R. Steiner. [See "Occultism".]

The system Steiner created, Anthroposophy, is deeply wedded to his occult teachings. Steiner kept many of his secrets, but he also revealed many in such books as AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE. Today Steiner's followers have difficulty deciding how much of their claimed occult information they should release publicly. The general trend has been to lift the veil of secrecy, but it has not yet risen all the way. Occultists in general believe themselves pledged to silence by the rules of initiation (i.e., the process of gaining access to occult knowledge). "You may enjoy in the fullest sense the heart, the love of an initiate, yet he will only confide his knowledge to you when you are ripe for it. You may flatter him; you may torture him; nothing can induce him to betray anything to you as long as you, at the present stage of your evolution, are not competent to receive it into your soul in the right way." — R. Steiner, KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS AND ITS ATTAINMENT (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1947), chapter 1, GA 10.

occult lodges - also see black magic; secret brotherhoods; white magic

According to Steiner, gatherings or brotherhoods of powerful spiritual beings, both good (white) and evil (black). "Now quite apart from the many occult Orders which have become pure mummies, have no deep background, and are carried on more out of a liking to dabble in mysteries, we find that as late as the first half of the nineteenth century there always existed, as well as these others, very earnest and sincere Orders, in which more was imparted than, for example, an average Freemason today receives from his Order. The Orders to which I am referring were able to impart more, because certain needs prevailed in the spiritual world among Beings belonging to the Hierarchy of the Angeloi who are of less interest to us on the earth but very important in our pre-earthly existence. Certain Beings of the Hierarchy of the Angeloi, too, have needs of knowledge, and can only satisfy them by letting human beings reach over, probingly as it were, to these genuine occult Orders before they have come down from pre-earthly into earthly existence. It has actually happened that in connection with certain Lodges working with ancient ceremonial forms, men of vision have been able to assert: Here there is present the soul of a human being who will descend to the earth only in the future. Before the man is born, the soul may be present in such a Lodge and, through their feelings, men can acquire a great deal from this source. Just as the human soul hovered around the mummy, was still bound in a sense to the mummy, so in certain occult Lodges the spirits of human beings not yet born hover in a kind of anticipatory existence. What happens in a case like this does not stimulate intellectual thoughts, for modern men have these thoughts naturally and need no such stimulus. But when they are working in their occult Lodges with the right mood of soul, they can receive communications from human beings not yet born, who are still in their pre-earthly existence and who can be present as a result of the ceremonies. Such men feel the reality of the spiritual world and can, moreover, be inspired by the spiritual world." — R. Steiner. [See "Occult Lodges" and "The White Lodge".]

                

OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE (book by Steiner)

Steiner's major attempt to describe his doctrines; invaluable for anyone who wants to understand the thinking behind Waldorf schools (also available under alternate titles: AN OUTLINE OF OCCULT SCIENCE and AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE).

               

[Anthroposophical Literature Concern, 1922.]

occult script - also see Akashic Record

The writing in the Akashic Record. According to Steiner, it can be read by advanced clairvoyants. “The third stage is Reading in the Occult Script, that is, not only seeing isolated pictures but letting the relationship of these pictures work upon one. This becomes what is called occult script. One begins to coordinate the lines of force which stream creatively through the world forming them into definite figures and colour-forms through the imagination. One learns to discover an inner connection which is expressed in these figures and this acts as spiritual tone, as the sphere-harmony, for the figures are founded on true cosmic proportions. Our script is a last decadent relic of this old occult writing....” — R. Steiner. [See "Rosy Cross".]

In reading Steiner, sometimes you have to work out a word's meaning from the context. Steiner used the word "organization" in a variety of different ways. By "human organization," for instance, he meant the human physical/spiritual constitution (body, mind, soul, spirit). By "Mars organization," to give a different example, he mean the influence of, or powers imparted by, Mars.

According to Steiner, the Archangel who presided over the fall of Greece and who will preside during mankind's coming tribulation. [See "Oriphiel".] "Oriphiel has ruled before. That was the time when Christ appeared on earth. Bad powers of degeneration and decadence were ruling everywhere on earth then. And the human race could only be shaken higher by terrible means. Oriphiel is called the archangel of wrath, who purifies mankind with a strong hand. [paragraph break] The story in the Bible where Christ swings a scourge to chase the money changers out of the temple has a deep meaning. Back when things were darkest on earth, Christ appeared as the savior of mankind. Oriphiel's reign ended 109 years after Christ's appearance, and he was replaced by Anael. Then came Zachariel, then Raphael; Samael ruled during the Renaissance and Gabriel from the 16th century until 1879. Then Michael began to rule, and circa 2300 Oriphiel, the terrible archangel of wrath, will be ruling things. And as once before, spiritual light will shine into darkness brightly and radiantly." — R. Steiner, FROM THE CONTENTS OF THE ESOTERIC CLASSES (transcript), GA 266, December 5, 1907.

Ormazd - also see Ahriman; Zoroaster; Zoroastrianism

Ahura Mazda, chief deity of Zoroastrianism; opponent of Ahriman. [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf".]

Osiris

a) Egyptian god of fertility and the afterlife.

b) According to Steiner, a perfected human, one who wants to awaken the spiritual within. "[A]ccording to [one] conception ... the highest life man can lead must consist in changing himself into an Osiris. In the true man an Osiris must already live as perfectly as possible during mortal life. Man becomes perfect when he lives as an Osiris, when he experiences what Osiris has experienced. In this way the Osiris myth receives its deeper significance. It becomes the example of a man who wishes to awaken the eternal within him." — R. Steiner. [See "Best".]

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- P, Q -

pagan, paganism (Steiner’s) - also see heresy; magic

Religious beliefs outside major established faiths: heterodoxy. Because Anthroposophy does not conform to the teachings of any major faith, it must be classified as pagan. While Anthroposophists typically reject this label, there is a limited sense in which Steiner himself affirmed pagan beliefs and practices. He taught, for example, that King Arthur was an Initiate who headed a sort of pre-Christian Christianity, what Steiner sometimes called pagan christianity. Steiner taught that all religions prior to Christianity were steps along the road to Christianity, which is the final and true religion. Thus, pagan rituals, like all other early religious rites, were forms of pre-Christianity, and they often conveyed clairvoyant visions of the Christ that lay in mankind’s future. After Christ came to earth and was crucified, true Christianity began to spread around the world, while pre-Christian Christianity also spread, closing the circle, as it were. Pagan Christianity came out of such things as the Norse myths, which describe a god, Baldur, who can be seen as a Christ figure (Baldur and Christ are both associated with the Sun; they both were pure; they both died only to rise again; etc.). Baldur really existed, Steiner said, and his message was spread by Arthur, who also really existed. Meanwhile, true Christianity was spreading through such things as the Grail myth: The search for the Grail (which Arthur and his followers participated in) is the search for the ancient hidden meaning within true Christianity. This true meaning, of course, can be found in Steiner’s own teachings, according to Steiner. [See "Pagan".]

painting

Waldorf schools often place special emphasis on "wet-on-wet" watercolor painting, which may produce images compatible with Steiner's description of the spirit realm, which he said is a place of colors, light, tone, and intensities, but not forms or spatial extensions. Other styles of painting are also undertaken in Waldorf schools; there is no single Anthroposophical style. In general, however, Waldorf art tends to be highly colorful, displaying colors prismatically, and often Waldorf paintings contrive a suggestion of forms or spaces beyond the surface, as if the veil of maya could be peeled back to reveal the spirit realm beyond. [See "Magical Arts" and "Anthro Art".]

Para-Nirvana Plane - also see Maha-Para-Nirvana Plane; Nirvana; Nirvana Plane

A term from Steiner's Theosophical phase: a level of consciousness/blessedness above the Nirvana Plane; the realm of fluid beings. In later teachings, Steiner dispensed with differentiations between various Nirvana planes; he folded the Para-Nirvana Plane and the Maha-Para-Nirvana Plane into an enlarged conception of the Nirvana Plane. [See "Faculty Meetings".]

parents - also see children; Waldorf teachers as authority figures

Unless they are Anthroposophists, parents are often considered outsiders at Waldorf schools, to be told little. Steiner said that hereditary ties to parents are insignificant compared to individual karma. Parents make errors that Waldorf teachers should rectify. Here are some of the comments Steiner made about the parents of students in the first Waldorf school; he made these statements during faculty meetings. • “I have been back only a few hours, and I have heard so much gossip about who got a slap and so forth. All of that gossip is going beyond all bounds, and I really found it very disturbing. We do not really need to concern ourselves when things seep out the cracks. We certainly have thick enough skins for that. But on the other hand, we clearly do not need to help it along. We should be quiet about how we handle things in the school, that is, we should maintain a kind of school confidentiality. We should not speak to people outside the school, except for the parents who come to us with questions, and in that case, only about their children, so that gossip has no opportunity to arise.” • “Concerning the parent meeting, you could do that [i.e., have one], but without me. They might say things I could not counter, if I hear something I cannot defend. The things I say here, I could not say to the parents. We need to clear the air, and the teachers must take control of the school again.” • [Concerning a request that teachers provide progress reports on their students:] “Progress reports? Giving in to someone like Mrs. X. (a mother who had written a letter to the faculty) is just nonsense ... As far as I am concerned, the reports could be phrased so that what the children are like is apparent only from the comments about their deportment, but that would only make things worse.” • “The question of final examinations is purely a question of opportunity. It is a question of whether we dare tell those who come to us that we will not prepare them for the final examination at all, that it is a private decision of the student whether to take the final examination or not." • "[One student] is growing up with a mother who is the personification of a lie. She is one of those people who falls down with a heart attack, but on the soft carpet, not next to it. She is completely untrue. She is a woman who always wanted to bring Anthroposophy to her husband, a very superficial and trivial person.” • “It would be a good idea if we could compare what is happening with the boy to what the father is complaining about. The father appears to be a rather useless complainer, always blaming things. I will talk with the boy. It seems to me that the father always complains and picks up small things that bother the boy. Then he expands them into fantasies so that the boy does things the father suggests.” • "You will have to take over children for their education and instruction — children who will have received already (as you must remember) the education, or mis-education given them by their parents. Indeed our intentions will only be fully accomplished when we, as humanity, will have reached the stage where parents, too, will understand that special tasks are set for mankind to-day, even for the first years of the child's education. But when we receive the children into the school we shall still be able to make up for many things which have been done wrongly, or left undone, in the first years of the child's life. — R. Steiner. [See "Faculty Meetings" and "Teacher Training".]

peach-blossom - also see white; cf. black

According to Steiner, the color of human health, the living image of the soul.• "Why must [Waldorf] kindergarten room walls be painted 'peach blossom'?" — D. Snell, People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools. • "If we take the flesh color of a Caucasian person, which resembles spring's fresh peach-blossom colour, we have the living image of the soul. If we contemplate white in an artistic way, we have the soul image of the spirit ... And if, as artists, we take hold of black, we have the spiritual image of death. And the circle is closed." — R. Steiner. [See "Steiner's 'Science'".]

The circle of colors, white to black.

[R. R. sketch based on one by Steiner.]

pentagram - also see geometry; hexagram

a) A five-pointed star.

b) Often, the symbol of man.

c) According to Steiner, the representation of the proportions between physical body, Etheric Body, astral body, and "I". When a pentagram is arranged with a single point at its top, it is the symbol of man. When it is arranged with a single point at the bottom, it is the symbol of black magic. "We're always surrounded by five ether streams in the world around us on earth. They're called earth, water, fire, air and thought ethers. These etheric streams are also active in man: earth either from the head to the right foot, from there water ether to the left hand, from there fire ether to the right hand, from there air ether to the left foot, and then thought ether back to the head. This is the occultist's sacred pentagram, the symbol of man. Its point is directed upwards, which indicates that the spirit streams to man from the heights. The pentagram is present in many flowers and other things in nature. The sign of black magic is a pentagram with one point at the bottom, through which magicians attract bad forces from the earth and send them out of the two top horns into the environment by means of their bad will in order to use soul and nature forces for their own egotistical, evil purposes." — R. Steiner. [See "Signs".]

perdition - also see abyss; Ahriman; eighth sphere; hell; Lucifer

Anthroposophy holds out the hope that all beings may be redeemed; however, various forms of perdition are also threatened. "Let us suppose a man were to deny that it was the spirit which has given him the human countenance ... He would remain united with the body and go down into the abyss. And because of not having used the power of the spirit, the external shape would again come to resemble the previous form. The man who descends into the abyss would become animal like." — R. Steiner. [See "Hell" and "Sphere 8".]

Steiner set out to be a philosopher, but when his efforts did not receive the acclaim he apparently expected, he turned to occultism. [See "Philosophy".] As an occultist, Steiner taught that philosophical truths can be found only through the study of occult or mystery knowledge. "We can understand the great philosophers only when we approach them with the feelings gained from observation of the Mysteries. How reverently Plato speaks of the 'secret teachings' in the Phaedo: 'And it appears that those men who established the Mysteries were not unenlightened, but in reality had a hidden meaning when they said long ago that whoever goes uninitiated and unsanctified to the other world will lie in the mire, but he who arrives there initiated and purified will dwell with the gods. For as they say in the Mysteries, "the thyrsus-bearers are many, but the mystics few;" and these mystics are, I believe, those who have been true philosophers. And I in my life have, so far as I could, left nothing undone, and have striven in every way to make myself one of them.'  — Initiation can be discussed in this way only by someone who has placed his own striving for wisdom entirely at the service of the conviction engendered by initiation. And there is no doubt that a bright light is cast upon the words of the great Greek philosophers when they are illuminated by the Mysteries." — R. Steiner, CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1961), chapter 3, GA 8.

physiology - see human constitution; medicine

physical nature - see body nature; four-, seven,- and nine-fold natures of man

According to Steiner, the lowest division of body nature. Steiner sometimes said that the human constitution consists of nine major components; on other occasions, he said seven; on still others, he said four. In each case, however, our physical nature (the physical body and all its parts and processes that can be observed with ordinary senses) is the lowest.

Body Nature is one of three clusters of components, lower than Soul Nature(b) and Spirit Nature, as developed in the nine-part description of human nature. Physical nature is the lowest part of Body Nature, below Etheric Nature and Soul Nature(a) - not to be confused with Soul Nature(b). [See "What We're Made Of".]

physical plane

According to Steiner, the realm of nature or material phenomena — rudely comprehensible through reason, but essentially maya (illusion). [See "Science".] "We stated that man has the four principles of his being active on the physical plane; his physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego. Further on we drew attention to the fact that in the animal, three principles are active on the physical plane; the physical, etheric, and astral bodies; while on the other hand, the group-ego is on the astral plane. Further we saw that with regard to the plants, their physical and etheric bodies alone are active on the physical plane, their astral bodies on the astral plane, and the group-ego on the Devachanic plane. With regard to the mineral, we only found its physical body on the physical plane, its etheric body on the astral plane, its astral body on the Devachanic plane, while in the region we designate as the higher Devachanic plane, dwell the group-egos of the minerals." — R. Steiner, SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND IN THE KINGDOMS OF NATURE (Steiner Book Centre, 1981), lecture 9, GA 136.

physics - also see Einstein; Newton; science

Like other natural sciences, viewed askance in Waldorf schools. Steiner rejected much of modern physics, including the atomic theory, the theory of universal gravitation, the theory of relativity, etc. [See "Science".] Steiner repeatedly assail physicists, rejecting their views as materialistic nonsense. "The physicist imagines that each body consists of an infinite number of immeasurable small parts, like atoms. They are not in contact with each other, but they are separated by small interstices. They, in the turn, unite to larger forms, the molecules, which still cannot be discerned by the eye. Only when an infinite number of molecules unite, we get what our senses perceived as bodies ... The physicist explains all sense-perceivable, all sense-perceptible qualities by motion. So, what moves cannot yet have qualities. But what has no qualities cannot move at all. Therefore, the atom assumed by physicists is a thing that dissolves into nothing if judged sharply. So, the whole way of explanation falls. We must ascribe to color, warmth, sounds, etc., the same reality as to motion. With this, we have refuted the physicists, and have proved the objective reality of the world of phenomena and of ideas." — R. Steiner, ATOMISM AND ITS REFUTATION (Mercury Press, 1985), GA 38. Anthroposophists are convinced by Steiner's arguments on such points; virtually no one else is.

pictorial activity, pictorial speech, pictorial thinking - also see imagination; living thoughts; thinking

According to Steiner, the formation of mental pictures is central to cognition, especially through imagination and clairvoyance. Thinking with the brain is fraught with dangers, but using imagination enables one to recapture knowledge learned in the spirit realm before coming to Earth. "When we teach, in a certain sense we take up again the activities we experienced before birth. We must see that thinking is a pictorial activity which is based on the activities we experienced before birth." — R. Steiner. [See "Thinking Cap" and "Underpinnings".]

piety - see Vulcan consciousness

Pitris - also see Christ; Father; prototype; spiritual guides

In Theosophy, spiritual beings, forefathers of humanity, associated with the Moon, Sun, etc. [See "Events".] The word "Pitri(s)" is taken from the Sanskrit, meaning fathers. The Pitris passed through the human level of development before us, and have since risen to the ranks of the gods. They have been our leaders, then, showing us the way forward. Steiner taught that Christ — our highest leader, our prototype — is the highest of the Pitris. The "lunar Pitris" were human on the moon and became gods during the present Earth phase of evolution. The "solar Pitris" were still more advanced, becoming human on the Sun and gods on the Moon. The Archai were human on Saturn, and still higher gods were human in still earlier periods/planets, preceding the existence of our solar system. Ordinary humans reached the human stage only here on Earth, and they may become low-ranking gods on Jupiter. 

Here is Steiner speaking of some Pitris: "These beings are the 'Sons of Twilight,' the 'Spirits of Dusk.' (In theosophical writings they are called Lunar Pitris or Barhishad-Pitris.) They attain the stage of humanity only on the Moon. On earth they, as well as their predecessors, the Sons of Fire, have already grown beyond the stage of humanity." — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), "The Life of Saturn", GA 11. The gods of the lowest ranks — Sons of Twilight and Sons of Fire — have been our most direct spiritual fathers or guides. 

However, in another sense, extremely high gods — the Radiating Flames — were the "fathers" who created us on Saturn. "When the Saturn development began, the most sublime of these beings already had attained a level of consciousness which man will reach only after his Vulcan life, that is, a high creative (supra-spiritual) consciousness. These 'creators,' too, once had to pass through the stages of man. This took place on heavenly bodies which preceded Saturn ... Because of their sublime, delicate body of rays, in mystery science they are called 'Radiating Lives' or 'Radiating Flames' ... These spirits are the creators of the man of Saturn. From their bodies they pour the substance which becomes the carrier of the human Saturn consciousness." — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), "The Life of Saturn", GA 11.

planes

Segments or levels of existence or consciousness. The word “plane” is sometimes taken to be synonymous with “world,” so that the “astral world” would be the same as the “astral plane.” However, “plane” may also refer to a sub-world or a slice across one or more worlds or some other stratum of reality or perception. Steiner began speaking of spiritual planes when he was a Theosophist. “No hard and fast enumeration can be made as to the number of planes in the kosmos. The number assigned depends on the particular purpose for which the definition is made. The septenary classification is often used, as in the seven planes of prakriti or the seven states of consciousness pertaining to each. But other enumerations may equally be made, and any plane is subdivided into subplanes.” — Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary (Theosophical University Press, 1999).

The planes Steiner enumerated in his Theosophical period are physical plane, astral plane, Devachan (includes rupa-Devachan and, above it, arupa-Devachan), buddhi plane (or shushupti), Nirvana plane, Para-Nirvana plane, and Maha-Para-Nirvana plane.

After breaking with Theosophy, Steiner continued to speak of planes, and his cosmology continued to resemble the Theosophical vision (or at least the Theosophical vision that he himself had preached). The Anthroposophical description of spiritual reality, like the Theosophical, is highly complex. Steiner’s teaching include references to spiritual worlds, lands, levels, spheres, regions, and planes that may coincide with one another, extend from one another, or cut across one another. [See “Higher Worlds”.]

The planes Steiner enumerated in his post-Theosophical period are physical plane, astral plane (or Soul World, imaginative world, elementary world), Mental Plane (Spirit Land, spiritual world, world of harmony of the spheres, world of inspiration; includes lower spiritual world or heavenly world, and higher spiritual world or world of true intuition), buddhi plane (world of "fore-seeing"), and Nirvana plane (incorporating Nirvana, Para-Nirvana, and Maha-Para-Nirvana planes). [See "Faculty Meetings" and "Higher Worlds".] 

Planetary Conditions - see Conditions of Consciousness

In Theosophy and Anthroposophy, the main phases of evolution. For us humans, there are seven such phases, although Steiner added that five more, hidden phases will come later. He also taught that for other beings, evolution began earlier than our own evolution, thus they experienced planetary conditions that we have not known. [See "Matters of Form".] "In the course of our whole evolution we have seven Planetary conditions: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan ... [W]e stand exactly in the middle of our Earthly evolution. This is frequently felt to be something extraordinarily important for man. We have behind us three Planets ... and the same number still lie before us. But if we were standing on the Old Moon, we should see yet another Planetary condition before Saturn; if we were standing on future Jupiter we should no longer see Saturn, but in its place a Planet beyond Vulcan." — R. Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 26, GA 93a.

Steiner usually spoke of seven planetary conditions, extending

from Saturn (on the left) through Earth (fourth sphere from the left)

to Vulcan (seventh sphere from the left, not counting the one below Earth).

Sometimes he added an eighth sphere (below Earth) — a place of perdition.

He also said that there will be five conditions beyond Vulcan, 

but these cannot be described.

[R. R., 2010.]

planetary gods - also see gods; planetary spirits

Spiritual beings, gods, who preside at various planets and other celestial bodies; the physical object, the planet, is a manifestation of the god. The god is multifaceted, and humans may join with the god. “When I say that a man becomes one with the planetary spirit, that he lives in union with this planetary spirit, you must not suppose that this implies an advanced degree of clairvoyance; this is but a beginning. For when a man awakens in the manner described, he really only experiences the planetary spirit as a whole; whereas it consists of many, many differentiations — of wonderful, separate, spiritual beings — as we shall hear in the following lectures. The different parts of the planetary spirit, the special multiplicities of this spirit, of these he is not yet aware. What he realizes first of all, is the knowledge: 'I live in the planetary spirit as though in a sea, which spiritually laves the whole earth planet and itself is the spirit of the whole earth.' One may go through immensely long development in order further and further to experience this unification with the planetary spirit; but to begin with, the experience is as has been described. Just as we say with regard to man: 'behind his astral body is his ego' — so do we say that behind all that we call the totality of the Spirits of the Rotation of Time is hidden the Spirit of the Planet itself, the Planetary Spirit."* — R. Steiner. [See "Planetary Spirits".]

Ourselves in earlier stages on other worlds, or "humans" who inhabit one planet or another, or who descend from beings who have inhabited one planet or another... “Human beings who perceived the presence of the exalted Sun-being in their life bodies can be called ‘Sun humans.’ The being who lived in them as their higher I — only in the generations, of course, not in individuals — is one who was later given various names as human beings acquired conscious knowledge of him. To present-day human beings, the Christ’s relationship to the cosmos is revealed in this being. 

"We can also distinguish “Saturn humans.” The being who appears as their higher I had to leave the common cosmic substance along with his associates already before the Sun’s separation from the Earth. In human beings of this type, both the life body and the physical body had portions that remained untouched by the Luciferic influence.” — R. Steiner. [See "Planetary Humans".]

Spiritual beings who are the spiritual essence or representative of a planet or other celestial object. [See “Planetary Spirits”.] Steiner taught that the “real” solar system has seven planets. Hence, there are seven planetary spirits in the system. These gods are “brothers” although there are profound differences between them. Because Lucifer is the Spirit of Venus, he is Christ’s ”brother” (although, in another sense, he is one of Christ’s adversaries). “Christ shows us that He calls the directing Spirit of Venus — who, as we have learned, is Lucifer — His brother, calls him His brother, accounting him a Planetary Spirit like the other Planetary Spirits. So that when Lucifer shows himself in the second stage of initiation, he at once reveals himself as a planetary Spirit taking his place among the seven Regents of the planets among his brothers. We enter thus into a world where we find what we might call a highly exalted College of seven planetary Spirits, who are in completely brotherly relation one with another. But here lurks a danger, and the pupil must needs possess himself of a great deal more knowledge if he is not to go under at this point. For he must on no account simply receive easily what here shows itself to him; he must earnestly endeavour to acquire an exact knowledge of what lies behind it.

“When we come to enter into occult knowledge in detail, we can look in many directions for help to find our way. Although we have learned to recognise the seven brothers who are the seven Planetary Spirits, we are still a long way from any full knowledge of them. Seven brothers may be quite different one from another, and the difference does not perhaps show itself at first sight.” — R. Steiner, MAN IN THE LIGHT OF OCCULTISM, THEOSOPHY 

The doctrine that the universe arises from multiple sources or consists of several underlying substances. Steiner said the universe is pluralistic or polytheistic, but he also said that all of the many gods arise (like everything else) from an underlying, unified "principle" or spirit. "Monism or monotheism in itself can only represent an ultimate ideal; it could never lead to a real understanding of the world, to a comprehensive, concrete view of the world. Nevertheless, in the post-Atlantean age the current of monotheism also had to be represented, so that the urge, the impulse toward monotheism devolved upon a single people, the Semitic people. The monistic principle is reflected in this people by a certain rigidity or inflexibility, whilst all the other peoples, in so far [sic] as their different divinities are comprehended in a unity, receive the impulse toward monism from them. The other peoples are inclined to pluralism." Steiner tried to affirm both pluralism and monism, which is logically absurd. "Pluralism is not possible without monism. We must recognize the necessity for both." The point is true only linguistically (and even there it is moot): We need a word for pluralism only because we can conceive of monism,so we must make a distinction. But in reality, either pluralism or monism is true; they cannot both be true. [See "God".]

pneumatism

a) Antiquated medical theory that respiration involves a subtle vapor called pneuma.

b) One of the twelve justified or defended world conceptions, according to Steiner. "When someone is a Psychist, and able as a thinking person to contemplate the world clearly, then he comes to the point of saying to himself that he must presuppose something actively psychic in the outside world. But directly he not only thinks, but feels sympathy for what is active and willing in man, then he says to himself: 'It is not enough that there are beings who have ideas; these beings must also be active, they must be able also to do things.' But this is inconceivable unless these beings are individual beings. That is, a person of this type rises from accepting the ensoulment of the world to accepting the Spirit or the Spirits of the world. He is not yet clear whether he should accept one or a number of Spirits, but he advances from Psychism to Pneumatism, to a doctrine of the Spirit." — R. Steiner. Steiner associated pneumatism with Aquarius. [See "Philosophy".]

Polarian Epoch

According to Steiner, our first evolutionary stage on Earth. “[I]n the beginning of its development, our Earth was united with Sun and Moon. At that point man had arisen once more out of the earliest germ which comprised physical, etheric, and astral bodies; he appeared, so to speak, in his first earthly form — the only one possible to him while the Earth still contained both Sun and Moon. This period of Earth evolution, which man experienced in common with his planet, is usually called in the literature of spiritual science, the ‘Polarian’ period. It would lead too far to explain today why this period is called ‘Polarian’; meanwhile let us simply accept the term.” — R. Steiner. [See "Early Earth".] Sometimes Steiner was slightly more forthcoming about at least some aspects of Polarian life. "The Polarian human beings were very similar to four-footed animals, but they were formed out of a soft, pliant substance similar to a jellyfish, but much warmer.  — R. Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 23, GA 93a.

polytheism - also see gods; cf. monotheism

The doctrine that multiple gods exist; affirmed by Steiner. Steiner taught that there are several ranks or "hierarchies" of gods, extending from those who are just slightly more advanced than humans to those who are almost inconceivably advanced. He described nine ranks of gods, with a ultimate (in a sense, theoretical) rank above these. Below the gods stand humans, and below them are the elemental beings or nature spirits. Steiner used different terms at different times, and his descriptions/enumerations were not wholly consistent, but in a general sense we can say that, according to Steiner, the lineup, running from lowest to highest, is this: nature spirits (subhuman), humans (not yet gods), and then the gods themselves: Sons of Twilight, Spirits of Fire, Spirits of Personality, Spirits of Form, Spirits of Movement, Spirits of Wisdom, Spirits of Will, Spirits of the Harmonies, Spirits of Love, and the Godhead. [See "Polytheism".]

THE PORTAL OF INITIATION

A mystery play written by Steiner. [See "Plays".]

A scene from THE PORTAL OF INITIATION

as staged at the Goetheanum.

[GOETHEANUM (Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press,

 1961, p. 22), color added.]

possession - also see demons

To be possessed is to be controlled by another being; it possesses or owns you. The term is usually applied to possession by demons. "Spirits [i.e., demons] who arise through immoral actions have a particular tendency to be parasites in human evolution on Earth under Lucifer's leadership, and to seize hold of the evolution of human beings before these make their physical entry into the world. They attack human beings during the embryonic stage and share their existence between conception and birth. Some of these spirits, if they are strong enough, can continue to accompany the human being after birth, creating the phenomena seen in children who are possessed.” — Rudolf Steiner, ANGELS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), pp. 167-168. [Also see "Faculty Meetings".]