According to Steiner, the consciousness we will attain on/during our Venus stage of evolution; perfected inspiration. "[T]he ‘Venus consciousness’ [will] appear during the sixth cycle of Venus.” — Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (SteinerBooks, 1981), pp. 162-163. [See "Thinking".] Strangely enough, bees possess the Venus consciousness now. "Through transferring one's consciousness into the beehive, through taking on the Venus consciousness, one learns something entirely different from anything else on earth...." — Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF ESOTERICISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982), lecture 4, GA 93a.

According to Steiner, gods five levels above man. “We must now make a certain disclosure about the Cosmic position of these Beings. In spiritual science, in that which it is desired to continue to-day in Anthroposophy, and which is at bottom [of] the Wisdom of the Mysteries, these different Beings of the heavenly Hierarchies have always been spoken of as we have spoken of them to-day ... [T]he present Saturn represents the limit up to which reached the action of the Thrones or Spirits of Will; Jupiter, the limit up to which the Dominions, Spirits of Wisdom, acted; and Mars, the boundary line up to which reached the influence of the Mights, Dynamis or Virtues, or Spirits of Motion.”* [See "Polytheism".]

According to Steiner, the name by which Hindu saints have known Christ. "It is ... quite correct to speak of the twelve Bodhisattvas in the great Spirit-Lodge grouped around One who is their Centre; they are wrapt in contemplation of the sublime Being from whom there streams what they have then to inculcate into Earth evolution in fulfilment of their missions. Thus there streams from the Thirteenth what the others have to teach. They are the ‘Teachers’, the ‘Inspirers’; the Thirteenth is himself the Being of whom the others teach, whom they proclaim from epoch to epoch. This Thirteenth is He whom the ancient Rishis called Vishva Karman, whom Zarathustra called Ahura Mazdao, whom we call the Christ. He is the Leader and Guide of the great Lodge of the Bodhisattvas. Hence the content of the proclamation made through the whole choir of the Bodhisattvas is the teaching concerning Christ, once called Vishva Karman. The Bodhisattva who became Buddha five to six centuries before our era was endowed with the powers of Vishva Karman. The Nathan Jesus who received the Christ into himself was not merely ‘endowed’ but ‘anointed’ — that is to say, permeated through and through by Vishva Karman, by Christ." [See "God".]

a) The Aztec god of war.

b) According to Steiner, a god in human form who battled a murderous initiate. "Vitzliputzli, a supersensible being but in human form, battled with every means at his disposal against the initiate who had been responsible for the greatest number of murders, who had attained the greatest power, and of whom it can be said that if his aim had been realized, it would have betokened the victory of this ahrimanic post-Atlantean culture." — R. Steiner. [See "Magic".]

a) A Hindu god, originally minor, later conceived as creator and savior.

b) According to Steiner, the third member of the Godhead, equivalent to the Holy Ghost. [See "Trinity".] "[T]rinities confront us everywhere, and fundamentally these represent the clairvoyant perception of what lies behind coming into being, passing away, and renewal. Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu, this trinity of creative forces is the foundation of all things. In the time preceding Krishna's revelation it was recognized as a trinity that could be perceived through clairvoyance, and it was seen as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The image of this trinity exists wherever time is seen only as the successive recurrence of the same." — R. Steiner, THE GOSPEL OF MARK (Anthroposophic Press, 1986), lecture 6, GA 139.

According to Steiner: we choose or cause them. [See "Past and Future".] “[T]he fate of hundreds and thousands may be affected by an earthquake or a volcano. Does the human will have any influence on this, or is it all a matter of chance? Are there dead laws which act with blind fury, or is there some connection between these events and the will of man? What is really happening when a man is killed by an earthquake? What does the occultist say about the interior of the Earth? ... [T]he births which occurred during a time of frequent earthquakes were investigated [by clairvoyance]. It was found that all those born at about the time of an earthquake, though not exactly in its area, were, surprisingly enough, men of a very materialistic cast of mind. The earthquakes were not the cause of this; rather it was these strongly materialistic souls, ripe for birth, who worked their way down into the physical world by means of their astral will and let loose the forces of the Fire-Earth layer, which proceeded to shake the Earth at the time of their birth.” — R. Steiner, AT THE GATES OF SPIRITUAL SCIENCE (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1986), lecture 14, GA 95.

According to Steiner, one of the seven possible world outlooks. "Schopenhauer lays hold of everything in the soul that pertains to the character of will. The forces of nature, the hardness of a stone, have this character for him; the whole of reality is a manifestation of will. This arises from the particular disposition of his soul. This outlook can once more be regarded as a planet which passes through all twelve zodiacal signs. I will call this world-outlook, Voluntarism ... [M]etaphysics of the will: Voluntarism in the mental constellation of Psychism."* — R. Steiner. Steiner associated voluntarism with Mars. [See “Philosophy”.]

A Dutch Anthroposophist who, Steiner reputedly said, understood Steiner's work better than anyone else. [See "Astrology".]

a) A bit of discarded science: a hidden planet, close to the Sun, causing perturbations in Mercury’s orbit.

b) An Greek/Roman mythology: the god of fire; Hephaestus.

c) According to Steiner: the seventh Condition of Consciousness (and, perhaps, a planet or sphere). [See "Vulcan".] “As you already know, we built up our physical body on old Saturn, our etheric body on the Sun, and our astral body on the old Moon. Our Ego is the baby among the human principles, it is the youngest. Not till the Vulcan period, after the Jupiter and Venus evolutions are completed, will the Ego be formed, as the physical body is fashioned now — but this Ego rests the whole time in the bosom of the spiritual world. Then, during the Vulcan epoch, an inconceivable knowledge of the connections of life will stream out of the Ego. But this knowledge is already now within us and the evolution on Jupiter and Venus will consist in drawing out the capacity for using it.” — R. Steiner, THE FORMING OF DESTINY AND LIFE AFTER DEATH (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1927), lecture 3, GA 157a.

According to Steiner, the consciousness to be attained on/during Vulcan; intuition or piety (spiritual consciousness). [See "Everything".] "Life has begun to accelerate again. On Jupiter the speed of the Moon, on Venus that of the Sun will again be attained. The last planet which can still be counted among the series of earthly transformations, and hence follows Venus, is called 'Vulcan' by mystery science. On this planet the provisional goal of the development of mankind is attained. The condition of consciousness into which man enters there is called 'piety' or spiritual consciousness. Man will attain it in the seventh cycle of Vulcan after a repetition of the six preceding stages. Not much can be publicly communicated about the life on this planet. In mystery science one speaks of it in such a way that it is said, 'No soul which, with its thinking is still tied to a physical body, should reflect about Vulcan and its life.' That is, only the mystery students of the higher order, who may leave their physical body and can acquire supersensible knowledge outside of it, can learn something about Vulcan." — R. Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959), chapter 13, GA 11.

According to Steiner, human beings living on or during Vulcan. “A great service was bestowed on the human soul by the sagas, as long as man in earlier times could understand their truths in his feeling life. An example of this is the old saga of the sphinx. The sphinx propounded the riddle: In the morning it goes on four, at mid-day on two and in the evening on three. What is that? It is man. To begin with, in the morning of the earth, man in his animal state went on fours. The front limbs were at that time organs of movement. He then raised himself to the upright position. The limb system separated off into two categories and the organs divided into the physical-sensible and the spiritual organs. He then went on two. In the distant future the lower organs will fall away and also the right hand. Only the left hand and the two petalled lotus flower will remain. Then he goes on three. That is why the Vulcan human being limps. His legs are in retrogression; they cease to have significance. At the end of evolution, in the Vulcan metamorphosis of the Earth, man will be the three-membered being that the saga indicates as the ideal.” — R. Steiner. [See "Planetary Humans".]

Social groupings built around Waldorf education. Waldorf schools often become centers for countercultural communities. "Teachers and parents alike are urged to increasingly restrict their social circle to people affiliated with the school and/or local Anthroposophical people. The notion is that other influences will be bad for the children; neighborhood kids will want to do terrible things like watch TV and play soccer and have houses and yards full of plastic junk. You can best avoid these conflicts if you just don't associate with people outside the school." — D. Winters. [See "Nutshell".]

An online discussion site associated with People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools (PLANS). [See "Nuts".] "A free-speech public forum operated by PLANS, Inc., as an information resource for anyone interested in Waldorf education who wants to hear views from outside the cult of Rudolf Steiner. Subscription is open to the public, and postings are not reviewed in advance. Not for the overly sensitive. Typical contents include: the Waldorf curriculum. The role of Anthroposophy in Waldorf. Real science and medicine vs. Anthroposophical quack science and medicine. Sharing of Waldorf horror stories. Anthroposophists "defending the faith" against PLANS philosophy warriors. News and articles about Waldorf controversies worldwide." [http://waldorfcritics.org/active/critics.html]

Waldorf schools generally refrain from teaching the students Anthroposophical doctrines, per se; however, such doctrines infuse most classes and, at a minimum, nudge students toward an occult perspective. Waldorf schools generally follow a fixed sequence of studies, keyed to the evolution of humanity as described by Rudolf Steiner. The curriculum is also built around the seven-year-long periods during which, according to Waldorf belief, various invisible bodies incarnate. Usually no academic instruction (such as reading and arithmetic) is given before the children reach age seven. Prior to that, children are believed to retain ties to the spirit realm where they lived before birth. The teachers immerse them in myths and fairy tales. Even after academic instruction begins, a mood of implicit spirituality is maintained; emphasis is given to arts, play, and handcrafts, while myths, religious stories, folk tales, and legends continue to fill much class time. Teachers attempt to present all subjects artistically and with inner feeling; Steiner taught that all classes at a Waldorf school should include a "religious element." Children in the lower and middle grades are not considered capable of forming their own opinions, so class work largely consists of copying material written, drawn, or dictated by the teachers — the students compile such material in handwritten class books. Few textbooks are used, in part because Waldorf teachers generally reject much modern knowledge and scholarship; many are Anthroposophists. After the students reach age 14, they are believed to develop the capacity for rational thought. Thereafter, the curriculum becomes a bit more conventional, some textbooks may be used, and students are given more leeway to formulate their own thoughts. Still, Anthroposophy remains the basis of all instruction, and Anthroposophical beliefs find their way into most subjects, if only covertly. [See "Curriculum", "Oh My Stars", "The Gods", and "Incarnation".]

The first Steiner school, founded by Steiner in 1919, and named for the business owned by the financial sponsor: the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory. [See "The Waldorf Scandal" and "Faculty Meetings".]

Anthroposophists claim theirs is the fastest-growing "independent" school movement today. Having begun in Germany, the movement now has schools on all continents. Many of the schools are extremely small, and some fail, but the general trend has been toward proliferation. The claim is sometimes made that there are 1,000 Waldorf schools today, but sometimes larger totals are claimed, and sometimes the tabulation is smaller. [See "The News".]

Waldorf faculties generally treat parents as outsiders, concealing much from them. [See "Faculty Meetings" and "Secrets"]. On the other hand, parents are often urged or even required to make substantial contributions to Waldorf schools — volunteer work along with financial support. Waldorf schools often serve as epicenters for Anthroposophical communities, and efforts are made to pull entire families into Anthroposophy. Festivals, evening classes, lectures, and other activities seek to attract new families and gradually win deep — ideally, lifelong — allegiance from families who have chosen Waldorf for their children. [See "Advice for Parents", "Clues", "Moms", and "Pops".]

Schools that are run in accordance with the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. The schools do not, as a rule, teach the students the tenets of Steiner's occult system, Anthroposophy, but there are numerous exceptions to this rule, and the schools steer students toward a true perception of reality, which in their opinion is Anthroposophical. The curriculum is geared toward the incarnation of the etheric body, astral body, and "I." (See the Index entries for these terms). According to Steiner, Waldorf teachers should be true Anthroposophists and the classes should reflect Anthroposophical teachings when the subjects being studied calls for this (which is almost always). [See “Here’s the Answer”, "Soul School", "Curriculum", "Academic Standards at Waldorf", and "Waldorf Now". Essentially all other pages here at Waldorf Watch pertain to Waldorf schools, although some focus more on the underlying ideology, Anthroposophy.]

      

An uncommonly large Waldorf school,

embodying typical Anthroposophical architecture.

[From WALDORF EDUCATION (Floris Books, 1998),

by Christopher Clouder and Martyn Rawson; color added.]

Waldorf students - see curriculum; Waldorf schools; Waldorf teachers; whole child

For the Waldorf system to work as planned, students should enter in kindergarten or earlier, and remain through high school. During that time, they would receive instruction from a small group of teachers, and they would be largely shielded from the outside world. Because this plan is often unfulfilled, only a small minority of students are likely to emerge from high school with their feet firmly set on the Anthroposophical path. [See “Soul School”, "Who Gets Hurt", "Spiritual Agenda", and "Beat".]

Ideally, according to Steiner, all Waldorf teachers should be devoted Anthroposophists. Non-Anthroposophists are, as a rule, hired only when no more suitable candidates are available. Waldorf teacher training usually includes wide exposure to Steiner's occult teachings, and may be chosen instead of attendance at an accredited college. Teachers should aim to develop a special form of clairvoyance, the "Waldorf teacher's consciousness", and they usually continue their study of Steiner's doctrines throughout their tenure. At many, but not all, Waldorf schools the faculty works associatively, with little formal structure. At some schools, however, there are principals, headmasters, and other officers. Much of the real power in a Waldorf school is often held by the "college of teachers," an inner group of devoted Anthroposophists. Faculty meetings are typically held on Thursday afternoons. Meetings of the "college" may be held in the evenings or on weekends and often entail discussions of Steiner's works. [See “The Waldorf Teacher’s Consciousness” and "Teacher Training".]

a) According to Hobbes: the primitive state of mankind.

b) According to Steiner: the coming apocalyptic showdown. Reminiscent of Ragnarök, it will produce general devastation and it will end our current stage of evolution. “[O]ur epoch will come to an end through other forces, through a mighty increase of egoism in human nature, and, on account of this, through the war of all against all. [paragraph break] “Only those who turn to a spiritual life will survive the catastrophe, which, in this case, means the war of all against all, just as only a small group of people escaped from the catastrophes of Lemuria and Atlantis. The war of all against all will be still more terrible for those involved in it than were those of fire and water, however terrible we may picture them to have been. Those who are now turning towards a spiritual life should feel it their duty to do all that is possible to rescue the good seed of our age and carry it over into the sixth age, which will follow the present one. This age is made up of great subdivisions; the ancient Indian, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Greco-Latin, and the present one, which will be followed by the sixth and the seventh right on to the time of the war of all against all.” [See "All v. All".]

Steiner set some of his pronouncements about the impending violence in racial terms: “[T]hese things [future human evolution] cannot happen in the world without the most violent struggle. White mankind is still on the path of absorbing spirit more deeply into its essence. Yellow mankind is on the path of preserving the period when the spirit was kept away from the body, when the spirit could only be sought outside of the physical human being. But the result will have to be that [mankind’s next step upwards] cannot happen differently than as a violent fight between white mankind and colored mankind in the most varied areas. And world history will consist of the events that will lead to these battles between white and colored mankind until the great fight between white and colored mankind has been brought about. Future events are frequently reflected in previous events. You see, we stand before something so colossal that, if we regard it through the diverse perceptions of spiritual science, we will in the future recognize it as a necessary occurrence.” [See "Steiner's Racism".]

One of Steiner's colleagues; a medical doctor credited with co-founding Anthroposophical medicine. The other founder, of course, was Steiner. [See "Steiner's Quackery".]

A firm producing Anthroposophical medicines and other preparations such as beauty products. 

A watercoloring technique emphasized in Waldorf schools: the use of wet brushes to spread watery colors across wet paper. In Waldorf schools, the results are meant to reflect Steiner's description of the spirit realm, a place of colors but not forms. “You see, when the soul arrives on earth in order to enter its body, it has come down from spirit-soul worlds in which there are no spatial forms. Thus the soul knows spatial forms only after its bodily experience, only while the aftereffects of space still linger on [i.e., only after birth in the physical plane, but while memories of the spirit realm linger] ... But though the world from which the soul descends has no spatial forms or lines, it does have color intensities, color qualities. Which is to say that the world man inhabits between death and a new birth (and which I have frequently and recently described) [Steiner is talking about reincarnation] is a soul-permeated, spirit-permeated world of light, of color, of tone; a world of qualities not quantities; a world of intensities rather than extensions.” — R. Steiner. [See "Magical Arts" and "Wet-on-Wet".]

According to Steiner, the color of virtue and truth. "If we take the flesh color of Caucasian man, which resembles spring's fresh peach-blossom color, we have the living image of the soul. If we contemplate white in an artistic way, we have the soul image of the spirit. (The spirit as such conceals itself.) And if, as artists, we take hold of black, we have the spiritual image of death." — R. Steiner. [See "White-Black".]

According to Steiner, the occult brotherhood of "white" or good powers. [See "Altogether".] “The highest wisdom always produces a unanimous view among all men. Real wisdom is ONE, and it unites men again, whilst leaving them as free as possible, without any coercive authority. Just as the members of the great WHITE Brotherhood are always in harmony with one another and with humanity, so all men will one day be one, through this wisdom. Only this wisdom can establish the true idea of brotherhood. Spiritual science therefore has only one task: to bring this idea to men ... The work of the spiritual-scientific movement, is therefore to allow a gradual flowing out of wisdom of the great white brotherhood that had its origin in Atlantis.” — R. Steiner, “The Adept-School of the Past”, ANTHROPOSOPHIC NEWS SHEET 31/32 (General Anthroposophical Society, 1941), GA 97.

A council of masters, adepts, gods who guide evolution, according to Steiner. “You all know that the earth is guided in a particular way by the so-called White Lodge in which highly developed human individualities and individualities of a still higher kind [i.e., angels, archangels, etc.: gods] are combined. What do they do there? They work; they lead the evolution of the earth; while leading this evolution, they are devising a quite specific plan. It is really the case that during the evolution of each planet a specific plan is worked out by the guiding powers. While the earth is evolving, plans for the atom [seed or kernel] for the evolution of Jupiter — which succeeds the earth [i.e., “Jupiter” is our next evolutionary stage, following “Earth”] — are drawn up in the so-called White Lodge of the Earth. The plan is worked out in full detail. Therein lies the blessing and salvation of progress.”  R. Steiner. [See "The White Lodge".] (Steiner often hedged his statements with phrases like "so-called" and "as it were." He did not mean that there should be doubts about the truth of his teachings, only that these truths are almost too deep for human language to express and/or that previous seers chose terminology that he himself might not have selected.)

Good magic — and it is perfectly real, Steiner said. "Now the basic principle of all white magic is that no power can be gained without selfless devotion. When through such devotion power is gained, it flows from the common life force of the universe. If however we take its life-energy from some particular being, we steal this life-energy. Because it belonged to a separate being it densifies and strengthens the element of separateness in the person who has appropriated it, and this intensification of separateness makes him suited to becoming the pupil of those who are engaged in conflict with the good powers.” — R. Steiner. [See "Magic".]

A spiritual good guy who delves into the occult. "It does not follow that, when called upon to decide, anyone will naturally follow the white path ... No one therefore should expect the occultists of the white path to give him instruction for the development of his own egotistical self ... [N]o one merely seeking an advantage for himself will ever obtain assistance from the white occultists." — R. Steiner. [See "White-Black".]

According to Steiner, the path of spiritual truth. "[I]f thou dost refuse to apply thy powers in this world, others will come who will not refuse; and a higher supersensible world will receive all the fruits of the sense-world, while thou wilt lose from under thy feet the very ground in which thou wert rooted. The purified world will develop above and beyond thee, and thou shalt be excluded from it. Thus thou wouldst tread the black path, while the others from whom thou didst sever thyself tread the white path.” — R. Steiner. [See "Guardians".]

According to Steiner, the most highly evolved race, the one that is spiritually creative. Steiner taught that white stand at a higher level of spiritual evolution. They are more civilized and more intelligent. “On one side we find the black race, which is earthly at most. If it moves to the West, it becomes extinct. We also have the yellow race, which is in the middle between earth and the cosmos. If it moves to the East, it becomes brown, attaches itself too much to the cosmos, and becomes extinct. The white race is the future, the race that is spiritually creative.” — R. Steiner. [See "Steiner's Racism", "White Guys", and "Races".]

Copy of a sketch by Rudolf Steiner comparing the white race 

(Weiss — characterized by use of the forebrain), 

with the yellow race (Gelb — middle brain), 

and the black race (Schwarz — rear brain).

[Rudolf Steiner, VOM LEBEN DES MENSCHEN UND DER ERDE, ÜBER DAS WESEN DES CHRISTENTUMS

(Verlag Der Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung, 1961), p. 51.

Material like this tends not to show up in English translations of Steiner's works.]

whole child - also see childhood

Waldorf schools aim to educate the "whole child," which means de-emphasizing brainwork and intellect while stressing other capacities. The whole child, in Anthroposophy, is a reincarnated being who have three invisible bodies, twelve senses, both a soul and a spirit, an aura, a "temperament," a karma, memories of past lives, etc.: the concept is deeply occult. [See "Holistic Education".]

A Waldorf educator and prolific Anthroposophical writer. His subject guides are standard reference works for Waldorf teachers worldwide. [See, e.g., "Common Sense".]

In Waldorf belief, will or will power is the faculty that predominates in childhood. Children have wills implanted in them by the gods before birth. Throughout life, when humans fall into deep sleep, the will is renewed by the gods. Will is thus a highly reliable guide for our actions, although it nonetheless needs work. According to Steiner, will must be disciplined to attain higher consciousness. "[I]t is necessary that the student should control and dominate everything that seeks to influence him from outside. He should reach the point of really receiving no impressions beyond those he wishes to receive. This can only be achieved by the development of a powerful inner life; by an effort of the will he only allows such things to impress him to which his attention is directed, and he actually evades all impressions to which he does not voluntarily respond. If he sees something it is because he wills to see it, and if he does not voluntarily take notice of something it is actually non-existent for him." — R. Steiner. [See "Will".] In essence, Steiner's followers have to will themselves to believe Steiner's bizarre doctrines. While of course they do not think of the matter in these terms, they must exert willpower in the process of self-deception.

Witches really exist, according to Steiner — they possess occult secrets. "What had been feared in bygone times, when the abilities of the fourth post-Atlantean period still worked in people, had indeed now come to pass. In those days witches were burnt, simply because those people called witches were really no more than mediums, and because their connections with the spiritual world — though of a materialistic nature — might cause knowledge to be revealed which would have been very awkward for certain people. Thus, for instance it might have been very awkward for certain brotherhoods if, before being burnt at the stake, a witch had revealed what lay behind them. For it is true that when consciousness is lowered there can be a kind of telephone connection with the spiritual world, and that by this route all sorts of secrets can come out. Those who burnt the witches did so for a very good reason: It could have been very awkward for them if the witches had revealed anything to the world, whether in a good or a bad sense, but especially in a bad sense." — R. Steiner, THE KARMA OF UNTRUTHFULNESS, Vol. 1 (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co,m 1988), lecture 11, GA 173.

a) The Word of God, the Bible.

b) Christ, the embodiment of the Word.

c) According to Steiner, the second member of the Godhead. “The Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones are for us the highest Hierarchy among divine Beings, because they have already passed through their solar system evolution and have risen to mighty cosmic deeds of sacrifice. Hence it is that these Beings have come into the actual direct vicinity of the highest Godhead of which we can speak at all: the Trinity, the three-fold Divinity. Beyond the Seraphim we have to see that highest Divinity of which we find mention by almost all nations as the threefold Divinity — as Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu, as Father, Word, and Holy Ghost. From out [of] this highest Godhead, this most exalted Trinity, stream forth the plans for a new cosmic system. Glancing back at ancient Saturn we say to ourselves: before any of this ancient Saturn came into Being, the plan of it had grown within the divine threefold Unity." — R. Steiner. [See "Trinity".]

In Norse mythology, the tree of life, center of the Earth, with roots extending to the underworld, the land of the giants, and the land of the gods. [See "The Gods".]  "The human being is like a flowing together of forces, forces that flow together in the astral body, etheric body, and physical body; and the I is presented as what is at work on these three members. In Germanic mythology this is portrayed by the tree, the world-ash, the symbol for threefold human nature. The middle point for this threefold human nature is the I; through its incorporation in the three members it carries the entire tree of human growth and evolution. 'Ygg' is the ancient form for growth and evolution. You will find that in the ancient forms of speech as a characterization for what has been incorporated, the world-ash is called 'Yggdrasil.' Yggdrasil means, 'the carrying I'; and the name of the god who is connected with the formation of the I is also derived from it. [paragraph break] In the course of evolution the human being first learned how to inhale; in Hebrew that is connected with the word 'Jehovah.' In old High German that corresponds to Odin, who is a god of the wind and races around in storms. “Jach” (Jahweh) is the “blower,” and when we speak of Wotan, and his army that rushes here and there, then we are speaking of the Odem, who was necessary for the growth of the I. " — R. Steiner. READING THE PICTURES OF THE APOCALYPSE (Anthroposophic Press, 1993), lecture 4, GA 104a. The derivation of "Yggdrasil" is vague, but it apparently comes from "Odin" and "horse" — see THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY (Oxford University Press, 1998), Vol. 20, p. 741. Steiner reinterpreted myths, legends, and scripture — bending texts out of shape to "find" within them his own teachings.

a) A Hindu spiritual discipline.

b) According to Steiner, one of the occult paths. When enumerating spiritual paths, Steiner said the first is "The Eastern way, also called Yoga. Here, an initiated man living on the physical plane acts as the Guru of another, who entrusts himself to his Guru completely and in all details. This method will go best if during his occult development the pupil eliminates his own self entirely and hands it over to his Guru, who must even advise him on every action he may take. This absolute surrender of one's own self suits the Indian character; but there is no place for it in European culture." [See "Rosy Cross" and "Yoga".]

An alternate name for Zoroaster.

According to Steiner, gods three levels above man — spirits of an age [from the German, "Zeit" time, "Geist" ghost]. "This is the Zeitgeist or Time Spirit, the Spirit of the Age, to use an unfortunate term which is in common usage. Each epoch has its particular Zeitgeist; the Zeitgeist of the Greek epoch is different from that of our own age." — R. Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 32.

The Zoroastrian god of time. “From the point of view relevant here I should like to associate the Zarathustrian world-picture with 'Chronology'. It looks beyond the two Beings, Ahura Mazdao and Ahriman, to the workings of Time — Zervan Akarana. Not, however, the abstract Time we think of today, but Time viewed as a living, super-personal Being. From this Being proceed the rulers of Time; first of all the Amshaspands, the spiritual Beings who are symbolised in cosmic space by the signs of the Zodiac. Through the number six — or twelve if we reckon in their antipodes — they rule over the Izeds, who rank below them and are 28–31 in number. The Izeds are spirits of a lower kind, servants of the high Time Beings; they regulate the days of the month.” — R. Steiner. [See "Magic Numbers".]

The supreme god in Greek mythology. [See "Say What?"] Steiner reinterpreted myths and legends to make them seem to substantiate his own views. His treatment of Zeus is just one example. "Dionysus is the son of Zeus and a mortal mother, Semele. Zeus tears the premature infant from the mother as she lies slain by lightning, keeping him in his own thigh until he is mature. Hera, the mother of the gods, stirs up the Titans against Dionysus. They dismember the boy. But Pallas Athene rescues the still beating heart and brings it to Zeus. Thereupon Zeus begets the son for the second time. In this myth we have an exact description of a process which takes place in the depths of the human soul. Whoever wishes to speak in the sense of the Egyptian priest who instructs Solon about the nature of a myth could speak as follows: What you tell us, that Dionysus, the son of a god and a mortal mother, is dismembered and is born again, may sound like a fable, but what is true about it is the birth of the divine and its destiny in the human soul. The divine unites with the temporal-earthly soul of man. As soon as this divine element, Dionysus, comes to life, the soul experiences a great longing for its true spiritual status. The consciousness which once again appears in the image of a female divinity, Hera, is jealous of the birth out of a better consciousness. It stirs up the lower nature of man — the Titans. The child of god, still immature, is dismembered. It is present in man as a dismembered material-intellectual science. But if in man sufficient higher wisdom (Zeus) is at work, it cherishes and cares for the immature child, which then is born again as the second son of god (Dionysus). Thus out of science, out of the dismembered divine force in man, is born the harmonizing wisdom, which is the Logos, the son of God and of a mortal mother, who is the transitory soul of man striving unconsciously for the divine. We are far from the spiritual reality represented in all this as long as we see in it only a mere process of the soul and take it as a picture of this process. In this spiritual reality the soul does not merely experience something within itself; it is completely disconnected from itself and participates in a cosmic process which in truth takes place outside itself and not within it." — R. Steiner, CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1961), chapter 4, GA 8.

The belt of stars around the celestial equator, housing the twelve astrological constellations; Steiner affirmed its importance. Steiner taught that the zodiac is inhabited by the Spirits of the Harmonies and the Spirits of Love. Steiner was inconsistent about the powers of the zodiac, but in general he taught that the stars — and especially the constellations of the zodiac — exert great influences on the Earth and humanity. “Even when the earth was embodied as old Saturn, the forces issuing from these twelve directions were at work upon that ancient planet; so they were later on the old Sun, and on the old Moon, and are now and will continue to be in the future. Therefore they have as it were the nature of permanence, they are far more sublime than that which arises and passes away within our earth existence. That which is symbolised by the twelve signs of the Zodiac is infinitely higher than that which is transformed in the evolutionary course of our planet from old Saturn to old Sun and from that to old Moon and so on. Planetary existence arises and passes away, but the Zodiac is ever there. What is symbolised by the points of the Zodiac is more sublime than what upon our earth plays its part as the opposition between good and evil.” — R. Steiner. [See "Zodiac".]

Persian prophet, founder of Zoroastrianism. [See "Lecture".] According to Steiner, one of the two Jesus children had the soul of Zoroaster or Zarathustra. "[T]he writer of the Matthew Gospel was concerned with one of the Jesus-children, the one born from the Solomon line. Then, at almost but not quite the same time, another Jesus-child was born, from the Nathan line of the House of David. [paragraph break] The important thing is to understand clearly what kind of beings these two children were. Occult investigation shows that the individuality who was in the Solomon Jesus-child was none other than Zarathustra. After Zarathustra's most important mission, of which we have spoken in connection with the ancient Persian civilisation, he had been incarnated again and again; lastly during the Babylonian-Chaldaic civilisation, and now as the Solomon Jesus-child. This Zarathustra individuality, with all the great and powerful inner forces which in the nature of things he had brought over from earlier incarnations, had to incarnate in a body descended from the Solomon side of the House of David; a body adapted for working up and further developing the great faculties of Zarathustra, in the way that human faculties, when they are already at a very high level, can be brought further on, in so far as they belong to the being who is going from incarnation to incarnation. We are concerned therefore with a human body which did not wait until later years to work on these faculties, but could do so in a youthful, child-like and yet powerful organism. Hence we see the Zarathustra-individuality growing up in such a way that the faculties of the child developed comparatively early. The child soon showed an extent of knowledge which would normally have been impossible at his age." — R. Steiner, FROM JESUS TO CHRIST (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1973), lecture 6, GA 131.

a) Dualistic Persian religion founded in the 6th century BC; its scriptures are the Zend-Avesta; a central tenet is the cosmic struggle between Ahura Mazda (Ormazd), the spirit of light and truth, and Ahriman, the spirit of darkness and untruth.

b) According to Steiner, one of the precursors of Christianity. [See "Lecture".] "In the Gospel of St. Luke we are shown how the two great pre-Christian streams of spiritual life — Zoroastrianism and the stream which reached its pre-Christian culmination in Buddhism — united, in order to pour themselves into the great Christian stream of spiritual life on the earth." — R. Steiner, DEEPER SECRETS OF HUMAN HISTORY IN THE LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., 1957), lecture 2, GA 117.