Missão, Caráter, Essência, Grail Triptych /Tryptychon Graal, Sonia von Homrich

https://soniavonhomrich.blogspot.com/2019/11/missao-carater-vida-sonia-von-homrich.html

02 dezembro 2019

Imagination Kristina Kaine. SvH.


IMAGINAÇÃO por Kristina Kaine  (Imagination in English below)
Advento é uma jornada em direção ao novo nascimento. Cada semana acende-se uma vela representando as quatro formas de “acordar” ao longo do caminho do nascimento de profundo autoconhecimento. A luz externa pode ser a ignição de sua luz interior se vivenciamos a verdade deste Festival do Advento.
Este ano, deixe-nos olhar para as faculdades espirituais da Imaginação, Inspiração e Intuição. Estas três faculdades são os olhos do nosso  espírito. São também três estágios de conhecimento. Através deles,  nós vivemos nos mundos superiores.
O primeiro estágio é a Imaginação a qual chamamos de Imaginação Espiritual,  pois não se trata de fantasia; é uma atividade supraconsciente que fazemos nascer através do nosso pensar. Essa vivência da Imaginação ocorre no espaço entre o nosso corpo físico e o nosso corpo etérico (corpo de vida)- o corpo das forças formativas que tecem.
Se nós focarmos conscientemente na verdade espiritual e permitir este tecer-do-pensar do mundo tecendo em nós, isto é recebido em nosso corpo etérico. Quando permitimos o que recebemos trabalhar em nós numa forma bem móvel (flexível) vivenciamos a Imaginação Espiritual. Não devemos interferir com as imagens que vem à nós, devemos permitir que elas fluam livremente e tentar ver o que elas nos contam. Estas imagens realmente no início podem nem fazer sentido para nós; necessitamos permitir que elas vivam sua vida própria dentro de nós.
Um exemplo que Rudolf Steiner nos dá (fundador da Ciência Espiritual ou Antroposofia  “A sabedoria do tornando-se humano”) nos assiste nesta tarefa. Ele disse que algo reside além de tudo que vemos no mundo. “No açafrão do prado, por exemplo, descobriremos a imagem da alma melancólica, no violeta a imagem da piedade calma, no girassol a imagem de vida forte, vigorosa, de ambição, de autossuficiência. Quando um ser humano vive desta forma, ele eleva em si o conhecimento Imaginativo. Ele vê então algo semelhante a uma chama fria ascender a partir da planta, uma imagem colorida que o direciona ao plano astral.” (Desenvolvimento Esotérico, Palestra 9, NOTA – 1)
Quando espiritualizamos os sentidos silenciando o intelecto nós alcançamos esta consciência da Imaginação Espiritual.
Durante Dezembro podemos pensar no propósito do iminente nascimento de Jesus permitindo que um novo entendimento surja a partir das imagens que vem à nós.
Goethe: O ser humano que é seu próprio mestre entrega a si e sai das forças que vinculam todas as criaturas.
Rudolf Steiner, Conhecimento dos Mundos Superiores (NOTA 2) “Reverência acorda na alma o poder simpático através do qual atraímos qualidades dos seres ao redor de nós, o que de outra forma poderia permanecer oculto.”
“Na verdade, na verdade vos digo que aquele que crê em mim também fará as obras que eu faço, e as fará maiores do que estas, porque eu vou para o Pai.” João 14:12

NOTAS/notes
1 - Rudolf Steiner. Desenvolvimento Esotérico. Esoteric Development https://www.amazon.com/Esoteric-Development-Lectures-Rudolf-Steiner/dp/0880105240
Knowledge of the Higher Worlds And Its Attainment by Rudolf Steiner GA 10  https://wn.rsarchive.org/GA/GA0010/English/AP1947/GA010_index.html
3- Links de Kristina Kaine
Huffington Post Esoteric Christian Writer
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/kristina-845
Amazon Books
 FaceBook Fan Page
http://on.fb.me/9pLiMo
EsotericConnection Website
http://esotericconnection.com/
I-Connecting blog
https://i-connecting.com/

Imagination by Kristina Kaine translation Sonia von Homrich
Advent is a journey towards a new birth. Each week we light a candle representing four awakenings along the path to the birth of deeper self-knowledge. The outer light can ignite our inner light if we experience the truth of this Advent festival.
This year let us have a look at the spiritual faculties of Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition. These three faculties are the eyes of our spirit. They are also three stages of knowledge. Through them we live into the higher world.
The first stage is Imagination, which we can call spiritual Imagination because it is not fantasy; it is a very conscious activity born out of our thinking. This experience of Imagination takes place in the space between our physical body and our etheric body - the body of weaving formative forces.
If we consciously focus on a spiritual truth, and allow the thought-weaving of the world to weave into us, it is received into our etheric body. When we allow what we receive to work in us in a very mobile way we will experience spiritual Imagination. We mustn’t interfere with the images that come to us, we must let them flow freely and try to see what they are telling us. These images may not make a lot sense to us initially; we need to allow them to live their own life within us.
One example Rudolf Steiner gives may assist with this task. He says that something else lies behind everything we see in the world. “In the meadow saffron, for example, he will discover a picture of the melancholy soul, in the violet a picture of calm piety, in the sunflower a picture of strong, vigorous life, of self-reliance, of ambition. When a man lives in this sense, he raises himself to Imaginative knowledge. He then sees something like a cold flame ascend out of a plant, a color picture, which leads him into the astral plane.” Esoteric Development Lecture 9
When we spiritualize the senses by silencing the intellect we attain this consciousness of Imagination.
During December we can think about the purpose of the impending birth of Jesus allowing new understanding to arise from the images that come to us.
Goethe: The man who masters himself is delivered from the force that binds all creatures.
Rudolf Steiner, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds "Reverence awakens in the soul a sympathetic power through which we attract qualities in the beings around us, which would otherwise remain concealed."
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do;
and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father." John 14:12

27 novembro 2019

The Arcana of the Grail Angel John Barnwell


“The Arcana of the Grail Angel,” by John Barnwell https://www.ebay.com/c/116377252
“The Arcana of Light on the Path,” by John Barnwell
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264536929784




The Arcana of the Grail Angel  by  John Barnwell
Interview of the author: John Barnwell by Douglas Gabriel
on his books:
“The Arcana of Light on the Path: The Star Wisdom of the Tarot and Light on the Path,” by John Barnwell, foreword by William Bento, Verticordia Press: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 2000, 256 pgs., illustrated with 22 Tarot Major Arcana and 42 full page cosmological esoteric Grail diagrams.
A meditative guidebook for exploring the esoteric cosmology shared by the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot and “Light on the Path” the self-initiation manual written down by Mabel Collins.
A study based on the Theosophy and Anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner
To purchase the book “The Arcana of Light on the Path”:

ebay.com/itm/264536929784
“The Arcana of the Grail Angel: The Spiritual Science of the Holy Blood and of the Holy Grail,” by John Barnwell, foreword by Douglas J. Gabriel, Verticordia Press: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 1999, 640 pgs., illustrated with 26 full page cosmological esoteric Grail diagrams, 43 pg. bibliography.
A study, developed out of the work of Rudolf Steiner, of the underground streams of Esoteric Christianity which flowed from the Brotherhood of the Holy Grail to the Order of the Knights Templars, and the true Rosicrucian Order.
To purchase the book “The Arcana of the Grail Angel”:



20 novembro 2019

Grail Triptych John Barnwell et al.

"Grail Triptych" by John Barnwell and others

A painting by Anna May following the indications of Rudolf Steiner. Painted before WWII on the walls of the Waldorf School in Hamburg, but was destroyed by bombings during the war.

There are three parts, showing the history of the Grail. On the left side are Solomon and Hiram, where Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, brings the Grail stone (fallen from the crown of Lucifer). Below the Grail is shown at the Last Supper. In the center, Joseph of Arimathea collects the blood of Christ at Golgotha in the Grail. The right panel shows the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz, with the seven Holy Rishis and the five representatives of the Post-Atlantean cultural epochs.

Following the link the representative of the Fifth Cultural Epoch is shown as Jeanne d'Arc.

Anna May von Richter [Rychter] The Grail Triptych

by Margarethe Hauschka

In the estate of my mother I found an old color transparency from the beginning of the 20th century. It is the triptych “Grail” that great picture of the painter Anna May, which she painted at the time of the Munich mystery dramas (1909-13). This image was originally planned for the "Johannesbau" in Munich, later intended for the first Goetheanum. It was, however, by other fateful dispensations years after the [First World] war, given to the Hamburg Waldorf School and during the Second World War was destroyed by the bombing.

Since I knew it was about the only colored reproduction, which still existed, I felt the obligation to snatch this work, to which Rudolf Steiner had personally given important instructions, from oblivion and make it once again accessible to all. It was a wall-filling image, estimated 2 ½ m high, and 4m long. Hanging for a time on exhibit in the Glass Palace in Munich, Anna May herself provided a description at the request of the exhibitors, from which I provide an excerpt. It was entitled: "From Solomon through Golgotha to Christian Rosenkreutz," Triptych.

"The pivotal point in human history is the mystery of Golgotha, ‘Holy Grail' is the word for man, inasmuch as he seeks relationship to this event. The legend says that the Grail is a hollowed out stone, that Lucifer lost from his crown when he fell. Solomon receives it from the Queen of Sheba (left part of triptych).

Then it becomes the Last Supper cup, in which Joseph of Arimathea had caught the holy blood (middle part of the triptych).

When this Christ blood has penetrated to the innermost depths of the Earth in the distant future, so also will the thoroughly Christ filled human being, the Parsival of the future, awake from out the grail chalice as from a coffin and unify all religions and earlier philosophies into a living Christ wisdom. Then Michael will also have bound the dragon, and the ‘woman’ of Revelation will again take in the Sun with the Moon underfoot, then Earth will have achieved victory over being chained to matter.

The upper part of the triptych Grail portrays the spiritual world (gold), the uppermost heads: are the time spirits (Archai), who extend their hands over long periods of time; supporting them are the folk-spirits (Archangels).

Under these looking down on the people are the Angeloi or angels. In the lower part, i.e., the two pillars, is represented the blood streams which flow through humanity and connect with the spiritual (gold), enabling higher guiding beings to incarnate, who lead the evolution of mankind. "

[ ... ]
The triptych Grail was demonstrably on display in 1918 Munich in the art house Reich and later in the Kunsthaus, and somewhat later still in the Glass Palace. From this period comes the above description written by Anna May as required for exhibitors.

From Jerusalem, where she had to earn a living by painting, she sent in July 1946, a watercolor, “View from the Mount of Olives to the city of Jerusalem”, as a Christmas gift to Marie Steiner and also got an answer (the letter is in the archive), to a question on the Grail picture to which Rudolf Steiner had provided indications, as he saw it. As far as I remember these did not concern the artistic conception, but as to the realization of the countenances.

After living with this triptych image a long time, I understood better why Rudolf Steiner recommended that the frame should rest on a pedestal as a kind of altar, and the zodiac should be represented in a spanning bow in gold on indigo. Indigo is the color that we only consciously experience as a color since the 15th century, with the development of the consciousness soul, inasmuch as it is the closest color to darkness, the color of ashes, from which the spirit can rise again. Only when from the eye self-perception is rooted out, when one moves to pure perception, can one experience Indigo. Here I can only hint at the mystery of Indigo, there could be much more said. Each color means, therefore, a stage of our soul development, as Albert Steffen observed in his early essays. Before the Mystery of Golgotha the tones had a reddish impact that testified to the presence, albeit at a subtle level, of life processes in the eye. After the Mystery of Golgotha humanity acquired blue, the color of the soul, which has pushed back the life processes, so that we humans can now meet the soul and spiritual directly.

The content of the images contained within the Indigo is a summary of the solar mystery of the earth and human development. And of Melchizedek, the priest and leader of the ancient sun mysteries, who brings the bread and wine to Abraham. Continuing up to the Mystery of Golgotha the two human streams of Cain and Abel, represented here by Hiram and Solomon who combine their forces, build the Temple; i.e., the body that can take the full “I” of Humanity. The stone from the 'light-crown' of Lucifer is an image of the Earthly-I of humanity, which was brought by the Queen of Sheba as a representative of the starry worlds. Thereby, connecting at this time, around 1000 BC, more with the physical body. This Earthly-I itself, must become the chalice for the higher-I, when the full depth of the Grail mystery is grasped. Then in the distant future the physical body can be purified to transparency, as was the case with Christian Rosenkreutz. What was initially possible for the sun-like eye to achieve, to purify substance to the clarity of crystal, which is also the highest level of transformation of substance achieved by the alchemists, will now be possible for the entire body once the Human-I has become one with Christ, generating Atma, a preview of the end of world development. Here then appears rightmost in the picture the Woman Clothed with the Sun, the new sun human being.

One can also say from this picture that the meaning of Earth evolution lights up as the eye sweeps from left through the middle and again to the right. It appears in the middle as the Blood flows deep into the Earth, and the post-Christian mysteries, starting with the Last Supper, are mysteries of the Blood. So also the Grail mysteries. Joseph of Arimathea captures the Blood, as it were for humanity. What is captured by the Norns, absolves the Earth, and draws the power of Christ into destiny, whose Lord Christ becomes.

In such a manner one can stand before the picture and slowly learn to read it. It's not symbolic, it is a painting of spiritual history, of course, in the guise appropriate to the style at the beginning of the 20th century

Part 1: This comprehensive imagination reflects Steiner' reading of the Akashic Record (Cosmic Memory). The Mystery of Golgotha is being depicted as the central event of world evolution. Two streams of time converge in this center, the one that comes from the pillar on the far left (Jachin) which includes Mechisadek, Abraham, Isaak and Jacob flows along the bottom is connected with the red blood and is met by the bowing figure of Moses beholding the descending Christ in the burning bush, from which he hears the voice of the Logos proclaiming “I Am the I Am” This etheric stream that flows out of the past and worked through the hereditary lineage of Abraham prepared the body temple over 42 generations that would become the Grail Vessel into which the Christ would later descend. The focal point of the Hebrew faith was the Temple that began as a tent in the wilderness but was later built in Jerusalem through the collaboration of king Solomon (Abel stream) and Heiram Abiff the master builder (Cain stream). Between these two individualities is the Queen of Sheba over-lighted by the Sophian star wisdom which was still alive at that time.

Opposite Moses is Paul who through his Damascus experience prefigured the experience of the Second Coming of Christ that is unfolding in our time. The initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz who is the reborn Heiram is the central theme of the panel on the right. The far right pillar (Boaz) represents the astral stream of time that flows prophetically and apocalyptically out of the future, and is associated with the blue blood. Hence the figures of the Archangel Michael and Sophia who appear as the main characters in the central drama that unfolds at the very heart of the Book of Revelation. The Rosicrucian Initiation expressed by the seven red roses are a means of aligning one self to these New Mysteries that prepare the future by helping to build the New Jerusalem which involves the transformation of the Earth into the Golden City known esoterically as the Planet of Love.

Part 2: The impulse towards this entered human and earthly evolution through the intervention of the Cosmic Christ being through his descent into the physical body of the man Jesus of Nazareth in his thirtieth year and after totally transmuting the three Astral, Etheric and Physical sheath’s underwent the sacrificial event of the Mystery of Golgotha this involved alchemically transmuting the Phantom Body which underlies the physical body which had been corrupted through the Luciferic intervention which inevitably led to the invitation of Ahriman the Lord of Death into the human organism. The Christ revered as the Sacrificial Lamb without spot (karma) who’s infinite LOVE was poured out with the Sacrificial Blood which in its inner fire or warmth is the medium of the human Ego raising it into a communion with the divine “I AM”. This precious gift that reversed the consequences of the Fall is caught up in the Grail Vessel made Holy by this overflowing Love by Joseph of Arimathea.

That Sacred Blood which flowed down to the Earth was etherized and drawn into the etheric aura of the Earth, this sun aura of the Earth is also the memory body of the earth that reaches back to the three former stages Old Saturn, Old Sun and Old Moon expressed symbolically by the three Mothers who harken back to these periods and together embody the threefold soul of the Earth. By receiving this Sacred Blood which bore within it the power of the Divine Logos, the Seven Solar Elohim, these three Mothers received the Christ’s Resurrection Impulse which instilled into the Earth the power of the resurrection as a means of over-coming the inevitable death of our common body the Earth so that it can in the future become the radiant Body of the Christ Earth-Sun. The blood arrayed as a circle of seven roses expresses the restoration of the divine plan that stretches from Old Saturn (1st Stage) all the way to future Vulcan (7th stage). The Cross becomes the renewed Tree of Life which Christ as the new Planetary Spirit restored. Around it are gathered souls who have The Buddha Gautama, who helped to prepare this central event is shown in the pillar to the left of the central panel, the Beloved Disciple John who later reappears as Christian Rosenkreutz is shown in the right pillar, both are aligned to the inspirations of pre and post Christian Archai (time spirits) who reach-out to one-another and penetrate them from above.

Part 3: The divine trinity symbolized by the Golden Triangle at the top center is the source of the Divine Plan that rays out into both past and future streams of time. One such stream rays out through the forehead of Buddha, then the ark of the Covenant that hovers over the left panel and streams onward towards the pre-Christian Grail-Cup that the sun-initiate Melchisedek bore when he bestowed his blessing upon Abraham the hereditary father of the Hebrew people who will henceforward come under the Lunar Divinity Jahwe, know esoterically as the seventh Elohim (spirit of Form). Another golden stream emanates on the opposite side towards the future with the same angle touching the forehead of the beloved disciple passing through the image of the crucified one that hovers above Christian Rosenkreutz who has invoked the In Christo Murimur and continues onward to the Heart of the Virgin Sophia who gives birth to the Second Coming of Christ. From the heart of the Virgin and the Grail Chalice held by Melchisadek, the golden rays proceed inward. On the left they pass through the head of Solomon who was granted the gift of Wisdom on through the pre-Christian Grail vessel that the Queen of Sheba bears, then endowing the Golden Sun Hammer (Tau-Tao) held by Heiram with its magical power touching the bowed head of Moses and culminating in in the in the sub-earthly chamber where the Mothers gather in the Communion that gives the Earth its Meaning. From the other side the corresponding rays pass through the Chrystal that envelopes the semi-transparent body of the youth laid upon an Altar formed of the 4 living creature, then touching then opening the eyes of Paul, and finally converging with the other stream coming from the past.

Lucifers Crown is alluded to as a ring formed by a serpent biting its tail that can be seen in the canopy of the central tree. An Alchemical vessel is there in the opening where the crowns central jewel once had its place, and had been dislodged by Michael during the battle in heaven. This Jewel expressive of the perfect balance of the 4 members of the human being now endowed with the power of Christ is seen as a fruit that has grown out of this sacrificial deed. The members of the 3rd hierarchy who act as mediators and servants helping to carry out the divine plan are arrayed above. The angels are imaged as winged heads while the archangels have flames rising upwards to the heights. Around the renewed Tree of Life are gathered the many souls who have been drawn to this new manifestation of the Christ Sun who has enacted this central event of the great seven-fold drama upon the stage of human and earthly history, making this both a profoundly spiritual as well as being deeply imprinted into the dense physical substances that were transmuted into the Resurrection that prefigured the transubstantiation of the entire physical body of the Earth.

In this painting which was very large and was apparently originally intended to have a place in the First Goetheanum , expresses in images what Steiner otherwise expressed in his writings and lectures. The theme is the Holy Grail. In his book Esoteric Science an outline which provides the most comprehensive overview of Anthroposophy published in 1910, he refers to Anthroposphy as a Grail Science.

The mysteries surrounding the Holy Grail involve an ongoing quest, the language of symbols needs to be learned in order to develop Imaginative Consciousness which represents the first stage of higher development, which can be likened to a form of inner seeing, unfolding this capacity involves a cooperation of head and heart. Contemplating such a painting can help to orient the grail seeker as well as acting as a stimulus towards the development of imaginative consciousness. Steiner sought to draw together many facets that belong to the Grail theme in this picture. He gave indications of the kind of frame that was intended, it would have had a protrusion along the bottom suggestive of an altar to evoke the mood of reverence which is necessary to enter into such content with the appropriate soul mood. I believe the carved wood frame was intended to be stained with blue violet with gold rubbed over it that would have adhered to the convex parts.

In one of the lectures contained in the book you've referenced, Steiner stated that, "Krishna-thatis, the spirit who worked through Krishna- appeared again in the Jesus child of the Nathan line of the House of David, described in St. Luke Gospel (Lec. 9 June,5 1913 The Occult Significance of the Bagevadgita) This Krishna-Nathan Jesus became the Physical Grail vessel into which the Christ lived for 3 years culminating in the central event of world evolution highlighted in this painting. The presence of the Buddha who according to Steiner had prepared the way for this event and also overlighted the scene with the humble shepherds described in the Luke Gospel and bestowed his Nirmanakaya-purified astral body as a gift upon this child. Thus with the help of Steiner's reading of the akashic record a convergence of East and West contributed to the realization of this event.

All this including the lofty mission of the Hebrew's recorded in the old testament which was to prepare the physical body for the coming of the Messiah, who's immanent appearance their prophets proclaimed. As well as all of the esoteric insights that Steiner gave regarding the gospels and other books recorded in the New Testement, would be negated, if one were to accept the proposition being put forward and argued by Felix Voluntaryist Hau, who is claiming that both the man Jesus who served as the vessel for the awaited Messiah as well as the Christ being are merely the product of myth and legend. Therefore pretty much all of what was carefully and painstakingly depicted in this Grail Tryptich including the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz from which the "Rosicrucian Line" arose never actually existed. This radical proposition is certainly not in accord with the better part of what Steiner contributed to Anthroposophy, through his spiritual scientific research.

I love this from Rudolf Steiner, so obvious in the modern world:

'The quieter we are, the more can happen through us in the spiritual world. We simply cannot say that anything happens in the spiritual world as a result of hurry and excitement. We need to develop loving participation in a mood of soul calmness for what is to happen, and then wait patiently to see how things come to pass. This calmness of soul, which in the spiritual world is creative, does not quite have its equal in ordinary physical life. It is similar on higher levels of earthly existence to the sphere of knowledge and of the arts. Here we have something analogous. The artist who cannot wait will not be able to create the highest he is capable of. For this, he needs patience and inner calmness of soul until the right moment dawns, until the intuition comes. One who seeks to create according to a schedule will produce only works of inferior quality. He who seeks to create, be it the smallest work, prompted by an outer stimulus will not succeed as well as if he had waited quietly with loving devotion for the moment of inspiration. We might say for the moment of grace. The same is true of the spiritual world. In it there is no rush and excitement but only calmness of soul.

Chapter 4: Life between death and rebirth
Margareth Hauschka, Das Triptychon Gral von Anna May in Das Goetheanum, 54 #24, Dornach 15 June 1975

APPROACHING THE ALTAR THAT LEADS INTO THE NEW MYSTERIES

The “Altar” imagination reaches into the realm of the Archetypes and therefore has universally human significance that has come to physical expression in a myriad different forms within varied cultures and civilizations throughout the ages. In many traditions it has served as the focal point for religious experience (religion – to bind; religio – bond, reverence) where the connection between the heavenly and the earthly, spirit and matter, or the communion between the human and the divinity was established or renewed. The fragrant incense that is often used in many such religious rites is meant to express prayer and devotion, accompanied by the mood of reverence.

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE AND THE NEW JERUSALEM

The gesture of offering and sacrifice, such as that related to Abraham and his son Isaac within Judaic tradition also plays a central role. It is upon the sacred rock that commemorates this event that the Ark of the Covenant found its resting place within the Holy of Holies in the Hebrew Temple. The “mercy seat” invited the presence of Yahweh who’s voice (Logos) was once heard by Moses from the burning bush uttering “I Am The I Am”. The Altar of incense located in the middle chamber of this threefold Temple, stood before the threshold to the Holy of Holies where the four colored veil related to the 4 elements, concealed the cubicle space which was covered with the sun metal gold which finds its metamorphosis in the New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse, which also has cubicle dimensions. The veil which served to separate the people from this sacred chamber that only the high-priest, who wore the breastplate, adorned with 12 gem-stones entered once a year to utter the Sacred Name of God was “rent in twain from the top to the bottom” while the Mystery of Golgotha was being enacted.

In other words the secret hidden within this sacred chamber which embodied the future New Jerusalem (Jupiter Stage) which involves the Earth becoming a Sun, was made accessible, and possible by the Deed of Christ Jesus on the stage of history, thus preparing the next 5th stage of planetary evolution when humanity will have brought Spirit-Self (Manas) to realization. This involves a process of astral-purification, catharsis which prepared a communion with the Shekina – Sophia, which led to illumination by the Holy-Spirit through the redemption of Lucifer. The great basin that stood outside the temple, referred to as the “Brazen Sea” supported by twelve bulls (Will) which dispensed the waters of ablution as well as the nearby Altar of Sacrifice were a ritual means of enacting this cleansing and purification with the elements of water and fire.

Upon entering the temple through the porch, one passed between the two great pillars Yachin and Boaz, which in esoteric tradition relate to the descent from the spiritual into the physical (birth) associated with the red blood (Jachin) and the ascent from the physical to the spiritual (death) related to the blue blood (Boaz). This arterial and venous blood are in turn related to in-breathing oxygenated blood and exhaling carbon dioxide laden blood. The exhaling out-breath was also related to the Micro-Logos the Word.

The mysteries of Birth (Jachin) and Death (Boas) symbolized by the two pillars on either side of the threshold embody the 4th Mystery pertaining to the Earth and the human “I” which were revealed through the birth of Jesus and the death of Jesus Christ. One has to pass through this threshold into the middle chamber in order to proceed to the Altar of Incense, which leads onward into the Holy of Holies, (which has become accessible through the Mystery of Golgotha), where the Ark of the Covenant, which embodies the first communion with the Divinity, Manas-Holy Spirit comes to expression, the two subsequent stages were symbolized by the two Cherubim who hovered over the Ark as Buddhi-Son-Venus stage and Atman-Father-Vulcan stage.

THE THREE ALTARS

This same threefold mystery was embodied in the layout of the lodge shown below. The fact that while undergoing Initiation the three soul forces Thinking, Feeling and Willing would begin to separate meant that they needed to be oriented to the threefold Trinity in order to avoid falling prey to the adversarial forces, who must be contended with on yonder side of the threshold (Lower Guardian). Thus Thinking was raised to commune with the Holy Spirit through Wisdom, Feeling united with the Son through Beauty/Love and Willing elevated to union with the Father forces through Strength/Courage. This threefold communion with the divinity expressed in the three stages Manas, Buddhi and Atman were reflected in the three Altars. Upon entering one passed between the two pillars and proceeded to the Altar of Wisdom located in the east (Jachin side) related to the morning sun, then onward to the middle Altar devoted to Beauty and Love where the incense sensor was kept, related to the midday sun, and the third Altar devoted to Strength in the west was oriented to the setting evening sun. Finally upon departing from the Lodge one once again passed between the two pillars but this time on the Boaz side. The Hammer TAU/TAO that was used to open and close the sacred rituals enacted in this Lodge was meant as a manifestation of the Micro-Logos, the Word imbued with Inspiration that proceeded from the Logos which only the higher Christ endowed Higher Self could wield.

THE TWO GUARDIAN AT THE ALTAR

Rudolf Steiner and Christian Rosenkruetz can be seen as the two guardians who preside over the mysteries embodied in the two pillars that lead over from the 4th Mystery having to do with uniting the human “I” with the Macro-cosmic Christ “I” to the 5th stage involving communion with the Holy-Spirit. Rudolf Steiner indicated that this fifth mystery was expressed with sacred geometry in the architecture at the entry to Solomon’s temple in the form of a pentagram which symbolizes the Higher Human being who overcomes the Mystery of Evil associated with this 5th stage. The Altar sketch that Rudolf Steiner gave to Ita Wegman who was to preside over the First Class in the High School of Spiritual Science, was meant to convey that CR and RS were acting as the guardians of these mysteries which could only be entered by first making the offertory sacrifice at the Altar. Steiner for example referred to the Sacrifice of the Intellect which was necessary to raise thinking into the realm of the Holy Spirit and Imagination. (Part One)

"The brilliance manifest in so much of the Renaissance art and architecture involved a looking back to the wisdom and inspirations carried over from the Greco-Latin era which involved a recapitulation of the Atlantean period. However in our time when humanity is collectively crossing the Threshold we are no longer recapitulating the past, but rather prophetically anticipating the future, according to Steiner this is what makes our times apocalyptic. The Threshold we are collectively crossing involves the pralaya period that leads over to the future Jupiter Planetary condition (New Jerusalem) being telescoped into our times. This can be better understood by recalling that the Lemurian Epoch which is the 3rd stage of Earth evolution involves a recap of the Old Moon stage, the Atlantean Epoch as the 4th Earth Epoch stands in the middle and our present 5th Post-Atlantean Epoch anticipates the future Jupiter Condition, however the first four ages within this 5th Epoch continue to involve recapitulations with the exception of our 5th age which began in 1413 and gradually shifts to the future orientation. ...............The radical division of humanity that will take place during the transition to the future Jupiter is beginning in a preliminary fashion in our own time. The shift from the Medieval two-dimensional painting to the development of perspective among the Renaissance painters reflects a collective incarnational process deeper into the physical material world, a trajectory dictated by the culminating Kali-Yuga (Dark Age)........However since the end of the Kali Yuga in 1899 the heavens are once again opened, and a re-ascent that the Michael Age which began in 1879 has ushered in has given us Anthroposophy which when brought to Life within human minds and hearts can lead to the awakening of the imaginative consciousness we need to navigate the abyss we have collectively begun to cross since the 1840's. The imaginative world once again involves a two dimensional experience only now rather than the heavy oils the more fluid water colors become the preferred medium........As to Architecture we are being called upon to begin to wield the etheric forces that stream in from the surrounding cosmos so that we can help build the New Jerusalem the Golden City that now shines within the etheric aura of the earth as the Bride of the Lamb descending from above. Obviously we also need to live our everyday practical lives in a grounded manner. So the Architecture that built from below upward also needs to imbued with the quickened and more mobile thinking centered in the etheric rather than physical brain. This would mean more rounded and sculpted forms such as Steiner sought to achieve in the first and second goetheanum where organic forms and metamorphosis play more of a role".

Source Sonia von Homrich: 



Thanks to Anna May, https://www.facebook.com/soniavonhomrichRichard Distasi and Florian Sydow Kim Graae Munch

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Missão, Carater, Vida Sonia von Homrich

Missão, Caráter, Vida
Missão de Vida, Caráter, Essência e

 Grail Triptych /Tryptychon Graal,

 Sonia von Homrich



Desde pequena eu tenho pouco interesse em diferenças de raça, linguagem e nações. O que chama mesmo a minha atenção é o elemento humano universal. Sou cidadã do mundo. Olhando para a evolução da humanidade até os tempos atuais, eu me sinto conectada com o meu passado – e a Bíblia é uma maravilhosa explicação desta evolução.
Mas como  me sinto conectada com o meu futuro?
Bem esta é uma longa história, complexa,  em termos de Alfa e Ômega, a evolução da consciência. Nos tempos de Abraão em 3. 000 AC,  ao receber os 10 Mandamentos, a nossa consciência livre como seres humanos tornou-se unida ao cérebro. Com Moisés nós passamos a carregar em nossa natureza o “Eu sou” (2.000 AC). Com Salomão, nós adquirimos a Sabedoria (1.000 AC). Ativamente estávamos desenvolvendo a nossa consciência como indivíduos.
Porque em alguns países, algumas pessoas são contra o desenvolvimento de individualidades, contra o pioneirismo, a inovação? O que sentem que os faz ser contra? Que medo surge? Será que confundem desenvolvimento da individualidade [egoidade] com egoísmo?
Com os Templários [Cavaleiros da Cruz de Cristo e o Descobrimento do Brasil] – o Templo que imaginavam construir deveria conter os segredos do universo na sua visão cósmica. Salomão e Abel são da mesma corrente, Hiram [Caim] é de outra corrente. A corrente de Abel permite que as pessoas recebam poderosas revelações sem ter que trabalhar por elas de forma independente. Estas individualidades não tiveram que perder sua capacidade de clarividência para receber as revelações. Os representantes de Caim e Hiram, no entanto,  perderam a clarividência – tiveram que trabalhar duro na terra e fizeram muitas descobertas,  ao mesmo tempo desenvolveram os instrumentos musicais.  A corrente de Caim teve que desenvolver um “Eu” da Terra através do trabalho árduo. A corrente de Abel no início não tinha um “Eu” independente – era este um presente do mundo espiritual.
A Rainha de Sabá
O Graal foi o cálice que na pedra,  a Rainha de Sabá deu ao rei Salomão – ela o visitou devido à sua sabedoria. No entanto, foi de seu encontro com Hiram que ela concebeu um filho e não noivou Salomão. Em Mateus 12:42 “a rainha do Sul irá surgir no julgamento final com seus descendentes e os condenará”. A rainha de Sabá é a alma da humanidade - a sabedoria da humanidade, ela nos relembra quem somos - individualidades criativas na Terra como seres humanos e, simultaneamente,  “transportando e carregando” os grandes princípios cósmicos. A Rainha de Sabá tornou-se em Maria Madalena nos Mistérios a qual  acompanhou Cristo nos tempos de após-ressurreição quando ele ensinava os Mistérios. Rudolf Steiner disse que Maria Madalena, [Sabá] representa a alma. Ela é a Virgem, a Repanse de Shove, a única individualidade à qual foi permitido transportar o Graal. Após o ano 1.000, o Mito da Rainha de Sabá começou a ter poder.
“Da mesma forma que a Rainha de Sabá deu seu corpo e sangue aos seus discípulos, podemos compará-la ao irmão João no centro, ambos bebendo da fonte da sabedoria na essência de Cristo (Honorius Von Augsburg)”.
De acordo com Steiner a chegada da Rainha de Sabá é eminente no presente. Como conectar a ciência de Hiram e a Sabedoria de Sabá?
Em 2.000 D.C.,  o “ Eu sou o Eu sou” da vivência de Moisés passa a acontecer dentro dos seres humanos. Diferentes individualidades começam a lutar pela independência de suas próprias vidas. Heréticos aparecem  confrontando a autoridade da igreja com a sua própria autoridade interior. Procuram na luz interior,  a voz interior que diz “Eu sou o eu sou”. Em 3.000 DC, neste caminhar que ora fazemos, vivenciamos como a condensação do cérebro iniciada na idade de Abraão,  começa a perder-se. As diferentes individualidades em geral se tornarão cada vez mais livres de seus próprios corpos, o que não necessariamente é uma benção. Quando não iniciadas, apenas com a consciência comum do dia a dia, ficando livres de seus corpos, as pessoas são injuriadas em seu caráter decaindo sob as influências de Ahriman, se corrompendo. Passam estas pessoas a perceber apenas a espiritualidade vazia e se tornam cegas à espiritualidade verdadeira.
Encontrei em vários países pessoas sofrendo de nervosismo, como conseqüência de sua cegueira à espiritualidade verdadeira, chegando às fronteiras da esquizofrenia. Infelizmente sei que estas pessoas não constituem uma exceção. Vivemos na consciência dos mistérios da Vida na Terra, passando pela evolução do Velho Saturno, o Velho Sol, a Velha Lua, hoje a Terra, o futuro-Júpiter, o futuro-Vênus e o futuro-Vulcão. Sabedores que passamos pela época polar, a hiperbórica, a Lemúria, Atlântida, pós-Atlântida – que é a época que ora vivemos e já estamos entrando na sexta época de desenvolvimento, depois teremos a sétima época.
São 7 os estágios da época pós-Atlântida: Mistério do Abismo (Índia muito antiga), Mistério do Número (Pérsia muito antiga), Mistério da Alquimia (Antigo Egito), Mistério do Nascimento e da Morte (Grécia e Roma antiga), Mistério do Mal (nossa época), Mistério do Logos (sexta época), época dos deuses (sétima época pós-Atlântida). O evento de Cristo ocorreu na Grécia e Roma antiga, em termos de nascimento e morte.
O imagético de Cristo representada na escultura de Rudolf Steiner,  chamada atualmente de “Imagem do Ser Humano”, mostra o  Cristo [o ser humano atual]  na confrontação com o mal - confrontando Lúcifer e Ahriman, tentando manter-se em equilíbrio, entre estas forças opostas.
A sexta época cultural [Philadelphia], a idade da fraternidade e da espiritualidade,  a Era do Eu/Self-Espiritual –refere-se a uma idade que está chegando. Laodicea é a sétima época cultural. Steiner diz que este período (note-se: este período; existem outros períodos] findará com a guerra de todos contra todos. O egoísmo correrá de forma selvagem através da Terra.
 Vemos em nosso cotidiano algumas demonstrações deste egoísmo selvagem, em nossas famílias, nas guerras – com muitos falando em nome da solidariedade. Presenciei pessoas que se referiam a si mesmas como sendo predestinadas a serem ruins ou agirem de forma errônea, como se a corrupção  fosse uma necessidades de carma... Apenas no corpo físico é que uma pessoa pode estar predestinada a ser boa ou ruim,  ou seja, mesmo que o corpo físico esteja predestinado para o mal,  jamais a individualidade estará predestinada para o mal.  A individualidade (Eu, self) tem o poder de transformar a situação de predestinação. A individualidade que cresce, progride e se transforma como fazemos claro em  nosso enfoque, a partir do querer individual.
Somos nós os empreendedores de nosso próprio destino. Corpo físico e individualidade [criativa] irão separar-se mais e mais. A parte corpórea direcionada para uma vida boa ou ruim com as conexões entre as individualidades cada vez mais fracas – o que leva à transparência do corpo físico, o corpo transiluminado através de transformações pessoais que se assemelham a transubstanciações.
O que é uma individualidade [criativa] no hoje?
Individualidade e personalidade diferem. A personalidade hoje está relacionada aos atributos derivados dos pais e da genética. As pessoas pensam com superficialidade ao entenderem que compreendem  através da compreensão da genética. Em 1911 Steiner dizia que a individualidade (Eu) não vive no corpo,  mas ao redor do corpo. Está meramente refletida no corpo e é esta reflexão que causa a ilusão de que o “Eu” [espírito eterno] está neste corpo. O “Eu” vive sempre onde a nossa consciência está presente. Quando estou saudável, meu corpo desaparece para mim. Quando não estou saudável, eu “converso” o tempo todo com o meu corpo.  Tornamo-nos conscientes da existência do corpo físico e do que nos incomoda em nosso corpo. Quando eu observo as estrelas estou muito mais com elas do que dentro de meus pulmões.
O “Eu” vive seu destino com outras individualidades. Quem está conectado comigo? Como posso eu ver esta rede do destino? É exatamente aí que o verdadeiro “Eu” vive. Após a morte, o “Eu” surge a partir do corpo como rede do destino. “Os Anjos, Arcanjos e Arqueus recebem no tecer etérico a rede do destino daquele que morre na Terra”.
As conseqüências socioculturais que vivenciamos nesta idade da individualidade que vivemos hoje nos levam a compreender que as comunidades apenas podem crescer a partir das conexões entre as pessoas. Nossas vivências com cada um, com o outro, irão cada vez mais adquirir formas altamente individualizadas. É este elemento individual que irá aliviar o sofrimento interior do presente momento no qual vivemos .
Steiner diz que nós podemos até necessitar de estatutos para lidar com a sociedade exterior porém dentro da vida em sociedade, de forma crescente,  [cada vez mais será] - o que verdadeiramente conta é o relacionamento individual entre uma pessoa e outra.
A palavra é conviver – o convívio, o  viver junto, familiaridade, intimidade, companheirismo, intimidade...convivialidade, parceria. Nesta idade da individualidade, é o individual,  benéfico. Neste sentido, quando vivemos com alguém sem convívio, não estamos exercendo a nossa individualidade, na maneira que a apreendo.
Como considerar neste contexto que em alguns países,  nos meios onde a individualidade não é considerada um benefício, como compreender e fazer pontes onde as idéias bolchevistas, comunistas,  difundiram tanto horror à individualidade? A Filosofia da Liberdade [Rudolf Steiner] retoma a iniciação cristã no seu caráter universal do divino, no mais interior e íntimo da verdadeira natureza da individualidade.
Qual é o relacionamento entre Cristo e a individualidade? Porque o mais íntimo iniciado em torno de Cristo O chamou pelo seu verdadeiro nome “Eu sou”? Na Lemúria,  os Exusiai (Elohins) nos deram a nossa individualidade. Eles sacrificaram parte de si mesmos para dar individualidade aos corpos humanos, os quais então começaram a se diferenciar. O Ser de Cristo originalmente era o Elohim que na Lemúria [Antigo Sol] era um Arcanjo. Através do Ato do sacrifício sem fronteiras e sem fim, o Ser de Cristo uniu-se ao Logos Cósmico. A palavra e o Cristo tornaram-se um. O Ser de Cristo tornou-se Deus que inspirou e irradiou o Elohim, trabalhando este seu presente da individualidade (Eu) para a humanidade. O divino do “Eu sou” vive atrás de cada “Eu” humano. O “Eu sou” irradia cada “Eu” com a luz divina. Cada noite ao adormecer passamos através de todo o nosso passado, de todas as nossas encarnações anteriores,  de volta ao lugar onde os Exusiai (Elohins) eram fortalecidos pelo “Eu sou” divino em seus atos de sacrifício para a humanidade.
Quando dois ou mais estão juntos em meu Nome... Steiner diz que as mais importantes sentenças do Evangelho de Cristo para o presente momento neste progresso cultural que vivemos é “Quando dois ou mais estão reunidos em meu nome, ali estou Eu no meio deles”. Cristo está presente única e tão somente na esfera que une seres humanos,  uns com outros. Na esfera do coração e do pulmão, no nosso sistema rítmico, onde cultivamos o Eu-Espiritual [Self-espiritual]. O que vive quando duas pessoas estão reunidas em Seu nome?
Amor - é a expressão do mundo espiritual na vida da Terra. O que significa “juntos em Meu nome ”? Encontrar-se em nome do “Eu sou”. Encontrar-se como uma individualidade. No interagindo de individualidades o poder do amor está trabalhando. Vive a individualidade (Eu) em seu redor, em sua rede/conexões de destino. Vive nos relacionamentos individuais onde as pessoas encontram-se em nome da individualidade, do “Eu sou”, onde Cristo está.
Cristo tornou-se o Senhor do carma. Ele ordena (coloca ordem) o carma,  assim a individualidade se beneficia para o bem de todos. “Este é o início do “Último Julgamento”  iniciou-se agora e continuará até o fim da Terra. A Rainha de Sabá, a Maria Madalena, o Ser de Sofia, a Alma Sophia (Antropos-Sofia) – é quem acompanha Cristo durante o Último Julgamento.
No futuro as religiões não irão misturar-se. Sua individualização é válida, necessária e suas diferenças devem ser entendidas e reconhecidas – o guardião do umbral para o Cosmos aparece em todas as religiões em muitas fisionomias. Em cada religião as pessoas encontram o seu guardião quando se aproximam do mundo espiritual, e tem suas diferentes imaginações criativas sobre este guardião.
Steiner fala de duas partes de Cristo. Uma parte de Cristo é o caminho da vontade: idéias criadas pela própria individualidade e que jorram através das iniciativas da individualidade. A outra parte é mais difícil de compreender: “O que o menor de meus irmãos pensa,  é minha individualidade (Eu). Cristo vive em tudo que as pessoas pensam. Este caminho do pensar, refletir, meditar, contemplar,  não é um caminho fácil, mas desafiante,  quando nos dispomos a dispender um único dia nos permeando com este sentimento “Cristo fala em qualquer coisa que a pessoa diz”.
Qualquer ser humano pode se encorajar  e ver Deus em qualquer lugar.  Ver, vivenciar a Deus. Independente de sua religião, mesmo que ela não acredite em Cristo, ela pode vivenciar Deus como estando presente em tudo que a pessoa diz.  Gradualmente a religiosidade independente irá crescer é quando isto acontecer, a Igreja como hoje é concebida tornar-se há supérflua, pois as pessoas criarão o sagrado em si mesmas.  As igrejas são necessárias enquanto as pessoas não são capazes de criar o sagrado em si mesmas, o que não significa que estas tornar-se-ão deusas, mas sim dotadas de uma profunda religiosidade.
Provavelmente algumas pessoas sentirão a conexão como sacramento no encontrar com outro ser humano. Difícil é a prática desta ação como sacramento diante de outro ser humano. Mais complexo isto se torna quando  encontramos pessoas que não vivenciam mesmo o encontro como um sacramento, quando não há reciprocidade. Para que este sentimento surja a cada momento e em cada ser humano, este necessita nutrir-se através do cultivo da compaixão nobre, destituída de interesses pessoais, destituída daquele querer que as pessoas façam isto ou aquilo para satisfazer as nossas necessidades universais; de forma genuína, qualquer que seja a religião na qual o nosso carma nos colocou - “Eu me sinto confirmando no meu ser mais interior”. Esta confirmação constante deve ser o nosso fortalecimento, encorajando a individualidade. É um enorme erro pensar que Judeus ou Muçulmanos não podem entender isto ou que asiáticos agem coletivamente sem uma individualidade - este é um tremendo preconceito distorcendo as conexões de carma. Hoje temos que reconhecer o outro em seu mais profundo ser.
“Conhecer a si mesmo é conhecer o Cristo, encontrando o Cristo no outro e como conseqüência em você mesmo – encontrar o “Eu sou” que vive em todas as pessoas é encontrar o Cristo no outro, é conhecer a si mesmo no profundo sentido do “Conheça a si mesmo, não a si,  mas Cristo em si”.
Göppingen Set.2004/São Paulo Mai.2008



Pintura de Anna May, Graal


Grail Triptych Rudolf Steiner.

Just prior to the turn of the century Rudolf Steiner*  experience an initiatory turning point, that can be seen as his Damascus Event, which helped to inspire the Grail Triptych painting. Relating in his autobiography "It was decisive for my soul's development that I stood spiritually before the Mystery of Golgotha in a deep and solemn celebration of knowledge." 1899

The better part of the Knowledge that Steiner shared out of his spiritual scientific, including that related to the beings and content depicted in the Grail Triptych was arrived at through the reading of the Akashic Record or Cosmic Memory.

The following excerpt from the FM work reflects the need to offer us and sacrifice the intellect as a means of accurately reading this record: "The Sacrifice of the Intellect" : "...the further one proceeds along the path of knowledge, the more necessary it is to acquire devotion, one becomes more and more devotional. Out of this devotion then flows the strength to aquire the very highest knowledge. Those who manage to forgoe making their own thought combinations will gain the ability to read in the akasha record (Cosmic Memory). One thing, however is necessary, that one eliminates one's personal ego to such an extent that it makes no further claim to combine the thoughts itself.

This is not at all easy to understand, for a person claims the right to be allowed to combine the predicate with the subject. As long as one continues to do that, however, it is impossible for one to really study esoteric history. When, unselflishly--but also with clarity and consciousness--one lets thoughts rise up within one, then an event occurs, which, from a certain point of view is well known to all esotericists, namely, that the ideas, the thoughts, which one previously formed into sentences and opinions according to one's own views, now form themselves out of the spiritual world, so that it is not I who forms opinions, but opinions are formed in me. It is then the case that one has offered oneself up so that a higher self speaks out of the Spirit through ones's ideas.

That is--esoterically conceived--what was called "sacrifice of the intellect" in the Middle Ages. It signifies the relinquishment of one's own opinions, one's own conviction. So long as I make my own thought combinations and do not place my thoughts at the disposal of higher powers who simultaneously inscribe them into the tablet of the intellect, for so long i am not able to study esoteric history." (Berlin, July 25, 1904) Among those active in the mystery schools that survived into the first Christian centuries were those who "foresaw that people in the future would develop their intellect more and more. Th is would bring them freedom, but at the same time would take away their clairvoyance. They would thereby experience a great crisis through the fact that their understanding would no longer extend to those regions out of which the actual deeper foundations of human and earthly evolution and the cosmic significance of Christianity could be understood. This forsight aroused in the mystery teachers the greatest anxiety as to whether humankind would be able to gain sufficient maturity to receive what had come into the world through the Mystery of Golgotha. For that reason they clothed their message, "that to be able to understand the cosmic significance of Christ a sacrifice of the intellect was necessary.".....For if humankind is to find the connection with what has come into the world through the Mystery of Golgotha , this "sacrificium" must be practiced by all who are striving for a spiritual life, to acquire learning everyone ....who wishes to gain wisdom, must develop a sense for the ritual of sacrifice. For sacrifice is the law of the spiritual world." (Berlin ,February 16, 1905)
Rudolf Steiner see; www.rsarchive.org

The Arcana Of the Grail Angel John Barnwell


The Arcana of the Grail Angel
Article © John Barnwell Author of "The Arcana of the Grail Angel: The Spiritual Science of the Holy Blood and of the Holy Grail"

The Trial and Death of the Templars
The Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus (205-270 A.D.) in his work entitled the Ennead, used three words, 'the Good, the True, and the Beautiful', to refer to the triune nature of the unity of the Godhead - which he called 'the One'. Plotinus' trinitarian ideas have been very influential on Christian philosophers' attempts to understand the nature of the Holy Trinity since the Middle Ages. According to the teachings of Plotinus, evil was considered to be a state of lack, or privation - that is, a non-participation in the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. It is from this idea, that we can perhaps come to a greater understanding of the trial, torture, and death of the Knights Templars.
On numerous occasions during the trials of the Templars, testimony was given under torture that they had 'denied the cross' and 'venerated a head'. This testimony was used against them by the Catholic Church to dissolve the order, and put many of its members to death. Furthermore, this testimony has led to all manner of confusion amongst historians' as to the nature and purpose of the Templar order. In occult teachings, it is known that in order to achieve a higher state of being, this state is naturally preceded by a period of separation or isolation - a state of 'peregrination'; this is what is shown in the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, and the subsequent 'fall' from the state of grace. In alchemy, this principle is expressed by the formula, 'solve et coagula' (solve = to separate, coagula = to unite); which means that in order to achieve the higher unity of the 'transmutation' there must first be a state of 'exile' - as in Wolfram's Parzival, where it says regarding the Grail, 'Lapis exillis is its name' (chapter IX: line 630); which, as mentioned earlier, is the 'stone [lapis] the builders rejected'. This principle is vividly portrayed in, 'The Gospel of St. Matthew' (16:13-23), in relation to another 'stone' that is rejected - Peter (Latin, Petra = rock).
When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked of his disciples, saying; 'Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?' And they said; 'Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.' He saith unto them; 'But whom say ye that I am?' And Simon Peter answered and said; 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered and said unto him; 'Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jo'na - for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; and whomsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven.' Then charged He his disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him saying; 'Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.' But He turned, and said to Peter; 'Get thee behind me, Satan - thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those of men.'
These contradictory reactions of Christ to Peter, show that Peter had not completed his transformation, and so, could not yet consistently act out of his higher judgement (Manas). This represents Peter's 'exile' from 'the things that be of God' to 'those that be of men.' This state that is 'of men' is called 'doubt' in Wolfram's Parzival. When Christ spoke these words, Peter was yet in a state of 'tumpheit' or dullness, which leads to doubt. As I have mentioned before [see text], Rudolf Steiner has pointed out that the path of the Grail passes from 'dullness through doubt to ''saelde'' or blessedness'; although one must first pass through the stage of doubt - 'the dark night of the soul.' The future doubt and denial of Christ by Peter is predicted by Christ in 'The Gospel of John' (13:37-38).
Peter said unto him; ''Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.'' Jesus answered him; ''Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee. The cock shall not crow, till thou has denied me thrice.''
As a result of his dullness and subsequent doubt, Peter was later to fulfil the prophetic words of Christ, and deny Him three times before the cock crowed at dawn. Christ said; 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church...' when Peter was speaking out of his Higher-Self, or Manas, which is a state of consciousness that is permeable to the influence of the higher worlds, '...for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven.' On the other hand, when Peter was speaking out of his impermeable Ordinary-Ego, Christ said; 'Get thee behind me, Satan - thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those of men.'
In the second of two lectures, 'Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to Be Restored', which are included in the lecture cycle entitled The Temple Legend, Rudolf Steiner gives further indications regarding the significance of St. Peter as related to the secret initiation rites of the Order of the Knights Templars.
Moreover, the Templars said: Today we live at a point in time when men are not yet ripe for understanding the great teachings; we still have to prepare them for the Baptist, John who baptises with water. The cross was held up before the would-be Templar and he was told: You must deny the cross now, so as to understand it later; first become a Peter the Rock who denied the Lord. That was imparted to the aspirant Templar as a preliminary training . . .
Rudolf Steiner gives the following further indications in the same lecture.
This struggle to raise oneself up to a proper understanding of Christ, first passing through the stage of Peter [of denial and doubt] - none of the Templars found it possible under torture, to make clear to the judges.
At the outset, the Templars put themselves in a position, as if they had abjured the Cross. After all of this had been made clear to the Templar, he was shown a symbolical figure of the Divine Being in the form of a venerable man with a long beard (symbolising the Father). When men have developed themselves, and have come to receive in the Master a leader from among themselves, when those are there who are able to lead humanity, then, as the Word of the guiding Father, there will stand before men the Master who leads men to the comprehension of Christ.
And then it was said to the Templars: When you have understood all this, you will be ripe for joining in building the great Temple of the Earth; you must co-operate, so arrange everything, that this great 'building' becomes a dwelling-place for our true deeper selves, for our inner Ark of the Covenant.
If we survey all this, we find images having great significance. And he in whose soul these images come alive, will become more and more fit to become a disciple of those great Masters who are preparing the 'building of the Temple of Mankind.' For such great concepts work powerfully in our souls, so that we undergo purification, so that we are led to abounding life in the spirit.
We find this same medieval tendency as manifested in the Knights Templars, in two round tables as well, that of King Arthur, and that of the Holy Grail. In King Arthur's Round Table can be found the ancient universality, whereas the spirituality proper to the Christian knighthood had to be prepared in those who guarded the Mystery of the Holy Grail. It is remarkable how calmly and tranquilly medieval people contemplated the developing power (fruit) and outward form of Christianity.
When you follow the teachings of the Templars, there at the heart of it is a kind of reverence for something of a feminine nature. This femininity was known as the Divine Sophia, the Heavenly Wisdom. Manas is the fifth principle, the spiritual self of man [Spirit-Self, or Higher Self], that must be developed, for which a 'temple' must be built. And just as the pentagon at the entrance to Solomon's Temple characterises the five-fold human being, this female principle similarly typifies the wisdom of the Middle Ages. This wisdom is exactly what Dante sought to personify in his Beatrice. Only from this viewpoint can Dante's Divine Comedy be understood. Hence you find Dante, too, using the same symbols as those which find expression in the Templars, the Christian knights, the Knights of the Grail, and so on. Everything which is hidden [concerning the future evolution of mankind] was indeed long since prepared for by the great initiates, who foretell future events, in the same way as the 'Apocalypse', so that souls will be prepared for these events.
According to legend, we have two different currents when humanity came to the Earth: the children of Cain, whom one of the Elohim begat through Eve, the children of the Earth, in whom we find the great arts and external sciences. That is one of the currents; it was banished, but is however to be sanctified by Christianity, when the fifth principle [Manas] comes into the world. The other current is that of the children of God, who have led man towards an understanding of the fifth principle. They are the ones that Adam created. Now the sons of Cain were called upon to create an outer sheath, to contain what the sons of God, the Abel-Seth children created.
In the Ark of the Covenant lies concealed the Holy Name of Yahweh. However, what is needed to transform the world, to create the sheath for the Holy of Holies, must be accomplished again through the sons of Cain, God created man's physical body, into which man's ego works, at first destroying this 'temple.' Man can only rescue himself if he first builds the house to carry him across the 'waters' of the emotions, if he builds Noah's Ark for himself. This house must set man on his feet again. Now those who came into the world as the children of Cain are building the outward part, and what the children of God have given is building the inner part. These two streams were already current when our race began . . .
Throughout history mankind has been confronted with the struggle between the two streams of Cain and Abel, of science and religion. If mankind is ever to resolve this struggle, it must be taken within and resolved internally inside the individual consciousness of man. This comes about through the harmonising of the 'waters of the emotions', and leads to the development of the fifth principle of Manas, or the Spirit-Self. For what is this struggle? It is none other that the struggle between the head (Cain) and the heart (Abel) - between the nerves and the blood. And until we resolve this struggle within, why should we expect this struggle to be resolved outside of us in the world? The seed for this reconciliation was planted two thousand years ago upon Golgotha - the place of the skull - through the spilling of Christ's Holy Blood. And now it is up to mankind, acting in complete freedom, to find the path of harmony through the Christ impulse by consciously embracing tolerance and forgiveness through the power of spiritual love. As Christ said; 'Forgive them for they know not what they do.'
'The Word of God is not a sounding but a piercing Word, not pronounceable by the tongue but efficacious in the mind, not sensible to the ear but fascinating to the affection. His face is not an object possessing beauty of form; but rather, it is the source of all beauty and all form. It is not visible to the bodily eyes, but rejoices the eyes of the heart. And it is pleasing not because of the harmony of its color but by reason of the ardour of the love it excites.' St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091-1153
'Vive Dieu Saint Amour'
(Long Live God's Holy Love, a battle-cry of the Knights Templars)
Verticordia Press, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304-1361
ISBN 0-9671503-0-2