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The Grail
Stream and the Anti Grail Stream
Adriana
Koulias
Thank you for coming
tonight, I have missed being here and it is so good to come to you now
with the fruits of my research of the last four months. This lecture is
a culmination of work on the Grail in relation to Rudolf Steiner’s
“Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric”, “The Mission of the Folk
souls” and a trip that I have made to France in June.
We will ask the
question what is the Grail? We will explore the mystery stream of the
Grail past and present. We will discover who are
the human and the supersensible guardians of the Grail and how
they inspire human beings and this will lead us to the opposing Anti
Grail Stream. We will explore what guides it and how it has manifested
in the past and continues to do so today.
Rudolf Steiner has said
that it is through absorbing the knowledge of the Grail that the
impulse of the Christ event, its significance, will be revealed and
will become a power in the life of the human being. So …
What is the Holy Grail?
Before the Mystery of Golgotha:
Before the mystery of Golgotha human beings sought for
communion with spiritual worlds through initiatory paths that led to
‘Revelation’ – the passive ‘Revelation’ of the Sun Being as the highest
expression of the spiritual world in the human being.
Human beings experienced revelation of the Spiritual
World through the great Sacrifice made by the Sun Being who descended
to regions where in the ‘mysteries’ He could be ‘revealed’ to human
beings. From Indian times to Persian times this ‘revelation’ occurred
in the Etheric body (Indian Epoch) and in the Astral body (Persian
Epoch). But it was not until the Egypto Chaldean Epoch that man
developed ‘Gnosis’ or ‘knowledge’, that is, a relationship to what is
experienced as a feeling within the human being for the revelation. But
this relationship, or this knowledge remained of a passive kind, that
is, man could not be a conscious participator. The story of the young
man of Sais who tries to take a peak behind the veil of Isis and is
punished with death
illustrates this point. The human being who bore ‘within’ a picture of
the Sun Being only ‘felt’ this picture in the Sentient soul by
undergoing a kind of death to the physical world - a sleep, a passive
acceptance.
By the time evolution had reached the age of the
Intellect and Roman times human beings had acquired a clearer
consciousness of the physical world at the expense of consciousness
into worlds of spirit and it was now necessary for the Sun Being to
descend into the physical organisation of a human being, Jesus of
Nazareth in order for His ‘revelation’
to take place.
Indian ------------------Etheric Body
------Vishvakarman----------------Higher Devachan
Persian -----------------Astral Body--------Ahura
Mazdao----------------Lower
Devachan
Beginning of ‘Gnosis’
Egypto Chaldean------Sentient
Soul---------Osiris------------------------Astral World
Greco Roman----------Intellectual
Soul------Christ------------------------Physical World
The ‘Gnosis passes over into the safekeeping of the
Angels.
After the Mystery of Golgotha:
After the mystery of Golgotha, what had once been
achieved in the mysteries as a result of ‘gnosis’ or ‘revelation’ of
the Sun Being within man became the ‘revelation’ of Christ in the
physical world. Christ who had shed his blood and died an earthly
death. Christ’s blood, the expression of his Ego had united with the
earth on mount Golgotha and this opened the way for human beings to unite with
Him in a conscious active way through their own efforts.
As a result the ‘Gnosis’ had to be carried to the Astral
world by the Angels.
This ‘Gnosis’ or ‘revelation’ in the Sentient Soul since the time of
the ancient Egyptians became transformed into an imagination in the
Intellectual Soul steeped in feeling.
This imagination was the imagination of the human being as a cup, a
perfect vessel for ‘receiving’ the Being of Christ, that is, a vessel into which Christ could not only be
revealed but also ‘reborn’. Revelation becomes Rebirth.
This imagination was
given by Christ Jesus to his Apostles the night before the Crucifixion.
This was a formula by which they would be able to remember that after
His death and subsequent resurrection it would be possible for human
beings to ‘receive’ Him into themselves consciously.
Human beings would one day receive an imprint of his I into themselves as it would be received into
the Earth. This He gave in the twofold imagination of the
bread and the wine – the taking in of His body:
- Microcosmically --- the wine represented His Etheric
blood the expression of His Ego residing in the vessel of the human
being – man would one day actively and consciously work at the
perfection towards His ‘rebirth’ in the various human sheaths.
- Macrocosmically ---- the bread was His Etheric blood or
the expression of His Ego residing in the Etheric vessel of the Earth –
the forces of the Cosmos
residing in the earth. This is what will make His rebirth possible into
macrocosmic sheaths, thereby fashioning, through the Earth’s redemption
by human beings, an inverted cup from which will pour out the Being of
love that is Christ through man into the entire Cosmos.
After the mystery of Golgotha this
knowledge was kept alive in two ways:
1 Exoterically in
the ritual of the High Mass
Because humanity had to
be brought gradually to these secrets what could be given exoterically
was of a less conscious nature and was a preparation for a later time
when it could be understood. That is why for a long time the Mass was
said in two parts, the Low and the High mass. The word mass itself
stands for the Latin word Missa, from the word dismissed. This referred
to the practice of dismissing the Catechumens or Deacons - those not
initiated before the Offering.
The mass itself
occurred in three parts,
1.
The Gospel
– The reciting of the Creed the ‘I believe in one God’
Deacons are dismissed.
2.
The
Offering - The bread and wine are presented to God on an Altar, here a
prayer is said silently by the priest - the Oration Super Oblata which
was the ‘secret’ – the private Loving offering to Christ.
3.
Transubstantiation
– in which the wine and bread are transformed into the blood and body
of Christ. The priest says “Deus qui humanae substantiae” God that is
human in substance…and the trinity is called upon with the words
“Suspice Sancta Trinitas”.
Rudolf Steiner tells us
that the entire mystery of Golgotha is hidden behind these Mantrams.
It depicts an initiatory path, which enables the human being to
ultimately commune with Christ.
Think of the word nave,
that is, the central isle of a church. Nave is derived from the word
‘Navis’
a ship or ‘Navalis’ which means to sail or navigate. The initiate is
led down a central Nave that is, he sails or navigates down the central
nave towards the Altar in a similar way that an Egyptian initiate
sailed down the river of souls on the boat of Isis to the gates
of Duat. The English word ‘Altar’ is derived from the Latin words
‘Altus’
or ‘Alte’ meaning high and the word ‘Alter’
meaning to become the other way, or to change to become another person
– in other words, putting the two words together it means: to change
into something ‘higher’- Initiation.
In Anthroposophical
terms we can say that the three parts therefore relate to the three
sheaths and the six planetary epochs as:
1.
The Gospel
- to the Astral body –
the belief – Moon and Jupiter.
2.
The
Offering – to the Etheric body – the loving offering – Sun and Venus
3.
The
Transubstantiation – Physical body – the transformation of the
sacrament - Saturn and Vulcan
The priest is the
representative of the Ego – the lower Ego and of Earth Evolution.
The secrets of the
Higher Ego of Christ in the purified vessel of man and the Ego of
Christ residing in the body of the Earth given in the Mass were
esoteric secrets not to be given to all. As they became less and less
understood the high mass became an exoteric experience, whose only
purpose was in retaining a connection with worlds of spirit and the
possibility of the future.
2 Esoterically in
the myth of the Grail cup
The memory of Christ
having been a Sun Being began to die and it
became more and more important for the Esoteric stream to preserve
these secrets for a later time when it could be understood. It could
only be known by special human beings who were the first to work
through imagination in the Intellect. The chalice or cup of the Mass
became the Holy Grail -
the cup that could only be found after much hardship and would only
descend to earth when man had built the castle. This means that it
could descend only when human beings had so perfected the Astral body,
Etheric body or Physical body respectively. At the time of Parzifal
this was the perfection of the Astral body through the Consciousness
soul - a selfless love turned into action (will made conscious).
This perfected human sheath is the Holy Grail that like
the pure plant calyx is pierced by the rays of the Sun. It is the cup used by Christ Jesus at the last
supper, the cup that Joseph of Arithmathea used to catch the blood of
the Crucified Jesus Christ on Mount Golgotha. It was also that cup
which was given to the angels for safe keeping until Titurel could
build the castle of the Grail. It was synonymous with the Knights of
king Arthur, with the quest led by Parzifal to find it and with the
Templars and Rosicrucians who were their successors.
Human beings could achieve this through a path of perfection that led
to the conscious participation in the ‘Receiving’ or ‘Rebirth’ of Christ
in the various perfected sheaths.
The
Grail Stream is then that stream that works from a Brotherhood of
initiates formed to guard these mysteries and to distribute through
mystery centres what was appropriate for humanity. This was called the
Brotherhood of the Holy Grail. The Brotherhood of the Holy Grail has the
responsibility of guiding the Grail stream in its task of carrying the
transformation of this ‘gnosis’ or ‘revelation’ into the intelligence,
or ‘Rebirth’ that leads the human being from being a ‘Christophoros’ or
Christ Bearer to a ‘Christodekteros’ a Christ Receiver. It safeguards
the secret of:
1.
How
humanity can achieve the task of so purifying the various bodily
sheaths Physical Etheric Astral through the power of the Ego so that
they may be fashioned into a microcosmic Grail into which the Holy
blood of Christ - an expression of His Ego can enter
2.
How
humanity can through purifying these sheaths redeem the earth so that
it can become the macrocosmic Grail into which the Ego of Christ can
enter.
The Four
Esoteric Streams, which took up what had been given Exoterically
and carried it Esoterically in the Mysteries of the Grail.
The Eastern
Stream - Astral Body- The Gospel:
Belonged to Manes and was
taken from East to West by him in his incarnation as Parzifal. Parzifal journeys from fool to Grail king by
working out of the forces of the highest member of the soul possible at
that time, the consciousness soul. The Consciousness soul works
thinking and feeling into the realm of will so that it becomes
conscious. It therefore is able to ask the unselfish question, “What
ails thee brother?” This active conscious sacrifice or selfless love
points to one of the most exalted tasks of this stream, to lead a
brother to the Grail. It is the transformation, through the forces of
the spiritualised will to counteract the effects of Lucifer in the
Astral body,
Doubt.
In the Astral body lies the Secrets of Faith, the Creed - I believe!
Faith in the Astral body leads to a lighting up of the Ego of Christ
and transforms it to Spirit Self,
this is what lives in the cup of Joseph of Arithmathea and keeps him
alive, the mana - the faith - that was given to the Jewish people
followers of Moses. It is what keeps the Knights of the Grail alive. It
is the secret of Eternal life and the reversal of the effects of the
fall.
The Western
Mystery Stream Etheric Body – The Offertory: The
deadly wound and the divided soul occurs through a lack of love. This
stream understood that when man had undergone the fall something had
been taken away from him. Something inside him was in fact dead or lost
to his consciousness. The human being became an Amfortas (wounded in
the groin or through the fall and the separation of the sexes) and a
part of the Physical and Etheric bodies was dead. Not dead as we know
death, but the life that ran through it had a disposition towards death
(degenerating Ethers). An initiate knew he must bring life back into
those dead portions of the physical and Etheric bodies that were
unconscious through selfless love, which is ‘life’. It was for this
reason that the two mystery streams were united by Parzifal, for only
he could temper the wound brought about by the fall by redeeming the
Astral body or the Intellectual soul through the Consciousness soul.
This in turn would heal that part of the Etheric body that was
‘wounded’ or that had remained unconscious. The place in which this
teaching was taught was called the Castle of the Grail.
Parzifal the greatest of all
earthly initiates knew that in that dead part where man had no
consciousness, in that space beings of opposition could take up abode.
The Domain that was most vicious and hostile to the Grail was seen as
Chastel Marveil where hate and division prevailed. This was the place
where all forces which attack human beings in the unconscious aspect of
the Etheric and Physical body, gathered. The healing of the deadly
wound that was acquired through an illegitimate selfish love with the
love that is beyond the self
was integral to enabling the lighting up of the Ego of Christ in the
spiritualised human Etheric body – Life Spirit - as well as the
redemption of the fallen Ethers. This is the healing of Amfortas by
Parzifal.
The Southern
Mystery Stream – the Transubstantiation of the Chalice belonged to both the
Templars and the Rosicrucians and concerned itself with the building of
the physical Temple for the incarnation of the
Word in Matter. John the Beloved was the Initiate guide of this stream.
He was once incarnated as Hiram Abiff the builder of the Temple of Solomon and Charibert von Laeon
founder of the Brotherhood of the Holy Grail. He
becomes Christian Rosencreutz in the fourteenth century - the first
human being to have experienced an initiation in which he receives the
imprint of the Ego of Christ
right down into his physical body. This is
the Final Conclusion to the shaping of the philosopher’s stone, the
perfection of the physical body from Carbon to Diamond in readiness for
the down-pouring of the blood – ego substance of Christ. It is the
phantom or resurrection body. It is a symbol for the transfiguration
that is witnessed by Christ’s disciples after His death.
The Northern Mystery Stream – Holy Communion - belonged to the Germanic people and concerned itself
with the secrets of the Ego – the secrets of the sacrifice of the lower
Ego into which the Christ Ego or higher ego could enter. This stream
belonged to Rudolf Steiner whose task it was to lead the human being
towards a perception of the Ego through the act of Will toward a
revelation of it as a self contained spiritual Being
- Spirit Self.
It was through Rudolf
Steiner that these four streams came together.
How did they
come together?
Preparations were made in
the early centuries after the Mystery of Golgotha where it was decided
by the great initiates, Zarathustra, Buddha, Scythianos and the great
Manes, when the coming together of these streams should occur.
It was decided that in the ninth century Manes would be incarnated as
Parzifal who had in the past been incarnated as Mani. Parzifal was
inspired by the Celtic folk Soul or Archangel to bring the Eastern
mystery Stream together with the Western Mystery stream in becoming
Grail king. This allowed the Celtic Archangel to withdraw from its
people. The Celtic tradition had to be sacrificed for this to happen.
This was the preparation for a further unification of the Southern
mystery stream the stream that dealt with the transformation of the
moon forces in physical body the female element,
with the Eastern stream that concerned itself with the Catharsis of the
Astral body and the Western stream that concerned itself with the
Etheric body at around 1254 in the initiation of the young boy
(Christian Rosencreutz) surrounded by the twelve at Montsalvat – a
sanctuary set up by the Templars in what was once Aragon and North of
Spain but is now a part of France.
During this initiation he received into him an imprint of the ego of
Christ through all his sheaths right into his physical body.
This young boy would go on to become Christian Rosencreutz. Thus the
Rosicrucian stream now embodied the knowledge of the Ethers, Astral
body and the transformation of the physical body illuminated by the
light of the Christ ego and became known as the mysteries of the Rose
Cross.
It was only after the period
of darkness or Kali Yuga that it was possible for the final unification
of the four streams to come about through Rudolf Steiner and
Anthroposophy in the laying down of the foundation stone meditation 25
December 1923 as a kind of High Mass or Cultus in which higher beings
participated in communion with human beings. We can see this if we
study closely how in the foundation stone Meditation there is given the
path through which man can experience the cosmic Rose Cross, the
ultimate conscious experience of the transformed physical body as the
end of a path towards becoming the vessel of the Christ Ego.
The Unification of the
Four Mystery Streams and the White Lodge.
After the Mystery of
Golgotha the Ether body of Christ Jesus was taken up into the cosmos,
to the sphere of Saturn or father Chronos and began its descent back
towards the earth like an echo at around 948 AD. This began His second
coming. Between the years 1920 – 1935
Christ had descended as far as the sphere of the Angels and it was this
that made it possible once again for a great human initiate to receive
what had been taken up to the angelic realms after the Mystery of
Golgotha and to give it to mankind once again as Exoteric knowledge -
the Grail mysteries. This is what made the unification of the mystery
streams at the Christmas Foundation meeting by Rudolf Steiner possible.
There are now four new
mystery streams whose task it is to guard and to distribute the
knowledge of the Grail, that is, the knowledge of Christ Consciousness
Consciously received by man so that it can be reborn, that is the
‘receiving’ of it by which man is made a Christo-dekteros.
Rudolf Steiner said in
his last address to the Anthroposophical Society at Michaelmas 1924
that four groups of twelve individuals will represent the start of four
new esoteric impulses. The Microcosmic
Grail streams seen from the standpoint of the earth look like this:
As we see above each
stream has 12 initiates working under one great ‘Human’ guardian who
works from the Brotherhood of the Grail. This brotherhood of the Grail
works towards imparting the secret of the grail to individuals, that
is, how the individual must prepare his vessel for a conscious
communion with Christ.
This brotherhood is
presided over by higher beings (Archangels) of the White Lodge known as
the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings and sensations.
These Archangelic Teachers form the circle of twelve Bodhisattvas who
reflect the Cosmic forces of the Christ Being as His being is
understood from the standpoint of the different signs of the Zodiac
through the power of the Holy Spirit that descends down into their
circle from the region of the Bull. In the Grail Motif the Christ
becomes known to human initiates through the power and grace of the
Holy Spirit – the Dove.
There are other
supersensible beings that have another task in this respect. Their task has more to do
with humanity as a
whole. These five beings have a special interest in all that is given
to mankind concerning the substance of Christ that will enter the
microcosmic Grail of the human being and the Macrocosmic Grail of the
Earth. Rudolf Steiner mentions them in his book The Mission of the Folk
Souls. They are especially interesting because they all share a common
pattern of sacrifice. Each being has sacrificed a move to a higher
rank, that is, agrees to remain behind in order to accomplish a
particular task. This must not be construed as a Luciferic form of
remaining behind as we have seen occurred to those beings that chose to
develop their own consciousness and became beings of untruth. This kind
of remaining behind entails a great sacrifice a renunciation of what
was due them for the sake of world evolution. This was not done out of
a selfish desire but out of a self less love.
Supersensible Inspirers of the
White Lodge and the Grail Stream.
Michael – Cosmic Intelligence –– Experience of the
Consciousness of Christ in the Spiritualised Ego – Spirit Self -
Anthroposophy – in the Sphere of Sun as a Star.
Michael was that being that renounced becoming a spirit
of the Times so that he could guide the Semitic people, the Hebrew
people.
He was the Sun Archangel and highest of all Archangels, he could have
moved upward to the rank of Spirit of the Age but he agreed to remain
an Archangel so that he could work effectively into the Hebrew race or group in preparation for
the incarnation of the Ego of Christ into the body of the Luke Jesus
who was a descendent of David. The Hebrew people were to develop to the
utmost the path of Monotheism in preparation for the power of thought
as it is experienced by the Ego. Michael has a special connection to
the Ego, since he also sacrificed the cosmic intelligence which he
guarded by casting Lucifer from heaven
thereby ensuring the fall that allowed human beings to acquire Ego
forces, individual freedom and the power of reason. Michael is the Son
of the Sophia and the guiding spirit of her daughter Anthroposophia who
was brought to human incarnation by the great human initiate Rudolf
Steiner. Since this time, Michael has become an Archai, and the Guiding
Spirit of the Times.
He has also become the group I of the Michael community at the
supersensible foundation of the community of Michaelites with the
founding of the Michael School which is the forerunner of a future
Michael community when Michael will work with Christ in the Realm of
Karma – right down into the physical body (in the same way he worked
with Jehova into the Hebrew people) to create a Michaelic race of the
Grail.
That is a race that will take into itself, into the ego organisation
(Grail) the consciousness of Christ,
the substance of Christ, through Cosmic intelligence.
Raphael –
Mediator Between The Microcosm and the Sphere of the Sophia - The
Chymical Wedding – The Healing experience of the Consciousness of
Christ in the Spirit Self as a Product of the Work of the lower Ego -
Exoteric Christianity – In the Sphere of Sun as a Planet.
Raphael was the Archangel of the
Greek people raised himself to the rank of Spirit of the Age or Archai
to become Spirit of the fourth Post Atlantean Epoch or the Greek age.
During the time that the Mystery of Golgotha took place he had the opportunity to rise
to the rank of Spirit of Form. This he renounced to become a spirit of
the age that acts through the Ages with a special mission. This mission
was to become the Guiding Spirit of Exoteric Christianity or the
guiding spirit of what can be divulged concerning the way to a
communion with Christ to the outer world.
Raphael thus placed
himself in front of the Christ impulse in order to do this. After this
the Greek nation crumbled away as it no longer had a guiding spirit.
Through his inspiration
worked St Dionysus the Arapogite the first bishop of Athens,
and the Templars who turned their esoteric knowledge of the Grail into
an Exoteric form of Christianity. It was also through Raphael’s impulse
that the Christianising of Aristotle was taken up by Thomas Aquinas so
that man could begin to understand Christianity in a clear logical way.
Through Raphael’s impulse the knowledge of Plato contributed to the
great Renaissance period.
He is the intuitor of exoteric Christianity mediating
between the world of man and revelation from the sublime macrocosmic
sphere of the Father.
It was his task to inspire men to an understanding of what blossoms in
the soul as the Sacred Child that comes from the union of the Heavenly
Father and the Earthly Mother.
That is also the spiritualised Astral body or Spirit Self
that comes into being through the workings of the selfless Ego in the
human Astral body.
This child or Spirit Self becomes irradiated by the Ego of Christ that
comes to dwell within it as consciousness. We can see how Raphael works
through the great initiate and Bodhisattva, Elijah and later with this
individuality as John the Baptist
and in his incarnation as ‘Raphael’. During this incarnation he took
the Archangel’s name as his own.
The Archai Raphael will continue to work with John the
Baptist when he returns again to carry the exoteric Macrocosmic Grail
impulse as it is experienced in the region of the Sophia into the age
of Aquarius or Waterman or the ‘Kyrios’ the Christ within the Soul
(Spirit Self) this will be the Sixth Epoch or the Russian epoch of Post
Atlantean evolution. Raphael will guide this era and it is for this
reason that he has been entrusted with carrying through Religion, the
knowledge of Christ to ordinary people, in order that they may not
forget the Christ and spirituality. This is necessary so that in future
times human beings can commune with
Him when clairvoyance in the Spirit Self begins and humanity moves from
Religion to Knowledge. In this way he has worked closely and continues
to work with Michael.
Let us not forget that John the Baptist experienced first
hand the Ego of Zarathustra leave the Grail or body of Nathan Jesus so
that it could be filled with the substance of the Ego of Christ. As
Raphael the painter he was able to depict the virgin and the two Jesus
children because firstly, he had a memory of his life as John the
Baptist in which he physically observed the life of the two Jesus
children, and secondly, through the inspirations of the great Archai
Raphael who was able to direct to him the knowledge concerning the
cosmic Sophia.
In another incarnation as Novalis this individuality
inspired by Raphael, was able to experience the marriage of the earthly
Sophia and the Heavenly Sophia, the marriage of the Lily and the Rose. There is a connection here also with John the
Beloved or Christian Rosencreutz. You may remember from another lecture
I gave that Christian Rosencreutz was the first human being to take
into the Sophian Substance of his soul the imprint of the I of Christ. He was the first truly human
‘Grail’ - a precursor to the rest of humanity,
- all
Johanine Christians were to be reborn for all humanity. If we pay
particular attention to the fact that in that incarnation when he was
surrounded by the twelve and influenced by the spirits of form
working right into his physical body, we can see how Raphael an Archai
whose capacities are really those of a spirit of Form could work with
this great initiate from the region of the Eagle Scorpion, the Sphere
of the cosmic Sophia or the sphere of the Sun as a planet. From this
time on the Lily is surpassed by the Rose. This is further strengthened
by the fact that the Archai Raphael also worked with John the Apostle
at the foot of the cross through John the Baptist whose Ego was
intimately connected with the Apostle.
John the Beloved, the only one of Christ’s disciples who was able to
remain ‘conscious’ at the cross became the ‘son of the Sophia’ when he
was told by Christ to take ‘Mary’ as his mother.
The Celtic folk soul - Experience of the Consciousness of
Christ in the Spiritualised Etheric Body in the Sphere of the Planets -
Esoteric Christianity
The Celtic Folk soul worked in the Germanic and Celtic
people – this was an important Archangel who at the time of the descent of the Christ impulse to
earth renounced his move to Archai to become the Guiding Spirit of
Esoteric Christianity which led to the decline of the Celtic people.
This Archangel is especially important to Anthroposophists as he has
guided those who have preserved occult knowledge through the ages in
the sphere of the Sun, the School at Montsalvat the Castle of the Grail
wherein lies the Grail, and where dwell the knights who keep watch and
ward over the great mystery of the sacred replica of Christ’s Ego
substance, or consciousness and how it is attained. This had to wait
for the time when Michael would become Time Spirit. In the meantime
during the period of darkness the mysteries were kept alive in the
Grail romances and literature that carried the esoteric Grail knowledge
of the Cathars, Templars and genuine Rosicrucians, through various
lines of the Grail family to the world. After this period of darkness
it was to be given as wonderful imaginations in the worlds of Spirit
from the Sphere of the Sun as the Grail school the School of Michael. Later it would find its way to the world once again in
Anthroposophy as Rudolf Steiner’s Science of the Grail. Today this folk
soul also inspires the development of the Grail as a path of Love – the
New Manichean Stream (whose first deed was made manifest through the
great sacrifice that Rudolf Steiner made when he became president of
the Anthroposophical society thereby uniting his Karma with it for all
times, and at the laying down of the Foundation stone of Love). This
stream will seek more and more to work in the Etheric body of man and
in the Etheric body of the Earth to understand and transform evil. It
works through the greatest of all human initiates Manes who will guide
this stream into the future. He is the pupil of the Great Manu who
walked among men and inspired them during Atlantean times.
He is the ‘fool’ that journeys towards becoming wise through the
efforts of the Ego in the soul becoming conscious of the spirit – The
Consciousness or Spiritual Soul. He was the first to achieve this for
all mankind in his unification of the Eastern and western Streams which
would embody the Manichean and Arthurian mysteries, the knowledge
concerning the Ethers the Etheric body and the Astral body – of
overcoming evil through the building up of forces for the good in the
soul in order to let the light of the spirit shine in – the
consciousness soul. He will become the first human Manu in the Seventh
Cultural Epoch and will guide mankind from the 6th Post
Atlantean Epoch to the Seventh.
I am tentatively
going to suggest to you that the Celtic Archangel is the same as Uriel.
Little is known about Uriel, but Rudolf Steiner tells us he is the Archangel directly related
to summer and the earth’s Etheric nature
of spirit woven through with matter (Gold and Silver). He weaves the
Golden garment worn by Michael. His name in Hebrew means God is the
radiating principle of light. He is the archangel that leads the path
to divine love in the Etheric body through the planetary intelligences.
Uriel's symbol of an open hand holding a flame depicts a great gift to
humanity. It is the flame of Love to ignite the heart in service
to God. Uriel resounds in the Ether in musical tones
and becomes Inspiration. He is responsible for illuminating us so that
we acquire human wisdom. The divine art of
alchemy is supposed to have been his inspiration, and it was also this
angel who gave the Kabbalah to the Hebrew mystic tradition. In this
tradition Uriel is associated with the middle pillar of the Tree of Life
(Ethers), and specifically to the sephirah Malkuth, the kingdom. "He is the keeper of the
mysteries which are deep within the planet, underground and in the
hidden depths of the living world, that is, the mysteries of human
being’s errors that contribute to the degenerating Ethers
and therefore
he has a relationship to Karma and conscience. St John’s tide is his time
of year and this ties him not only with St John the Baptist but also
with St John the Apostle.
“The highest
initiatory teachings belonging to the New Age... are under the
direction of Uriel." Here we see the
connection with Christian Rosencreutz and Esoteric Christianity. It is
my tentative proposition that this Archangel is not the same
as Oriphiel but is synonymous with Zuriel. This became his name when he
took on the task of Guiding Esoteric Christianity: Z – transition - u –
(Space) ra (Sun) el (archangel)
that is the Archangel that guards the
mysteries of the transition of Christ from the sphere of Space to time,
from heaven to the human being and the earth.
Vidar/Ramael – Supersensible experience of the
consciousness of Christ in the Spiritualised Astral body or Spirit Self
- New Clairvoyance – in the Sphere of the Moon.
Vidar/Ramael is the Angel of the Buddha, who at one time
had been Vidar the Angel of Odin (previous incarnation of Buddha) of
the Northern mysteries.
When Buddha ascended and needed no longer to incarnate his Angel Vidar
the most developed of all the angels who had taken into himself the
impulse of Christ in the Sun before all other angels
was no longer needed and could have ascended to Archangel. He had then
before the birth of Christ fully developed his Spirit Self but chose to
sacrifice his ascent to Archangel in order to continued to
work in the service of Christ as the angel that in the Luke gospel
announces the birth of Jesus to the Shepherds
and through the individuality of John the Baptist. This sacrifice occurred during the Epoch that
stands under the sign of the Ram until 1879
at which time he ascended to Archangel taking Michael’s vacated place
to become Sun Archangel, the Archangel of Christ, Ram – a – el and so
became the guardian Spirit of the pre-fall forces of the four ethers,
the youthful fructifying forces through his guardianship of the Nathan
soul. He will fashion the Etheric sheath out of spiritualised universal
love into which Christ will incarnate in the Astral world or Moon
Sphere, out of the medium of the Sound or Chemical Ether. This will
inspire the Maitreya Buddha (Jeshu ben Pandira) to announce the Christ
being in the 6th epoch by using a new kind of inspired
Speech, a moral speech.
It is however in the soul or Astral body, that
he will work intimately with man in order to lead him to a conscious
supersensible experience of Christ that is protected from the intrusion
of the old Clairvoyance or Fenris Wolf. He is the inspirer of a new
clairvoyance which will battle the old clairvoyance that is perceived
through the use of unredeemed fallen Etheric forces.
Nathan Soul --- Grail
Angel ---- has Sacrificed itself four times and will sacrifice itself
three more times as a vehicle for the Christ Being (Grail Receiver) in
the Sphere of Astral World ( Moon Sphere), Lower Devachan (Sun as a
Planet) and Higher Devachan ( Sun as a Star).
The Nathan soul is that
being that in Lemuria chose to remain in spiritual worlds and not
descend into the world of matter in order to be the guardian of the
pure pre-fall Etheric forces. She did this in order that she might be
the vehicle by which the Sun being of Christ could make Himself known
to the world of men through her three sacrifices on her descend to the
world of men. The Nathan soul which bears a feminine quality descended
into the world as the Luke Jesus in order to provide a perfected Astral
Body and Ego
so that it could become the vehicle of the Ego of Christ during the
three years. She is the jewel struck from Lucifer’s crown, the angel
that fell but did not follow Lucifer. The Angel who creates out of
spiritualised thoughts the Etheric light in which the Christ being will
be perceived in the Astral world in an Etheric sheath, and awakens a
new capacity of spiritual thinking amongst mankind.
Together these higher beings direct the knowledge that
the world receives concerning the Renewed mysteries of the Grail.
Before the mystery of Golgotha the Grail
was experienced as something that existed outside the human being ‘gnosis’. After the mystery of Golgotha, the human
being could no longer wait for the gnosis to come to him, the gnosis
had died away, the human being had to find his or her own way to a
renewal of the gnosis, to the Grail. Parzifal characterises this
journey through wilderness
and loneliness, through trials and temptations to the attainment of the
Grail. This legend in fact characterises his future mission when the
Grail will then be experienced from within to shine outwards. It makes
sense of the biblical question ‘have you sufficient oil in thine own
lamp?’
In this journey towards
the Grail the human being is not only responsible for him or herself
but also for his brother or sister. This means not only the human
brother but also the spiritual brother as well as the double that
resides as a negative aspect of the human being, and the earth and all
its beings both physical and spiritual.
This double which is
made up of all that is unconscious in the human sheaths due to the
results of the fall is transformed and brought to the service of Good-
that is to the service of the Grail when Christ consciousness enters
into that unconscious aspect of the physical and Etheric bodies in man.
Likewise Lucifer and Ahriman are also redeemed along with the
unredeemed elemental beings of Luciferic and Ahrimanic nature trapped
in man when the Consciousness of Christ resides is the Astral and
Etheric bodies. Macrocosmically the redemption of these beings and of
man allows for the consciousness of Christ to redeem the fallen ethers.
This will create a Macrocosmic sheath into which His Macrocosmic Ego
can enter. The consciousness of Christ therefore acts like a healing
balm not only to man but to the Earth.
It stands to reason
then that the Anti Grail stream would work most especially against this
‘Consciousness’ of Christ from penetrating into those ‘Unconscious’
parts of man and of the earth. These opponents - the Anti Grail Stream
have worked in the past and continue to work in the present and the
future in opposition to the knowledge concerning the descent of the Ego
of Christ into the various bodily and spiritual sheaths of man and of
the Earth. They are inspired by those beings who do not wish to see
human beings progress to full balanced consciousness of the world and
of the spirit but wish to
1.
Bind the
Ego Consciousness to matter - Materialisation of Ego Consciousness Loss
of memory of the Spirit – Abandonment of the Spiritual World.
2.
Bind the
Ego Consciousness to illusion – clouding of Ego Consciousness – Loss of
memory of the World – Abandonment of the Physical world.
This will be the
subject of next week’s lecture, where we will not only discover who the
opponents of the Grail are but also how they have opposed it and
continue to do so in the present.
The Opponents of the Grail
The Anti Grail Stream
Last week we discovered that in the past humanity had a
‘revelation’ of the Spiritual world through the Great Sun Being. We
heard that this revelation could only occur by way of the faculties of
perception available to human beings at different stages of development
and occurred since Egyptian Chaldean times as ‘Gnosis’ that is a
knowledge experienced within, the ‘bearing’ of the Sun Being in a
passive way. After the mystery of Golgotha this revelation occurred in the physical body of a human
being the Nathan Jesus. After this time the ‘gnosis’ or revelation died
away and it was taken up into Spiritual worlds and given to human
beings in a renewed way, as the imagination of the Holy Grail, or the
path by which man can ‘receive’ the Christ within and be a conscious
participator in this process. We explored how the carrying of this
esoteric knowledge was the responsibility of four mystery streams
North, South, East, and West. That each carried the secret of this
perfection of one part of man’s being. We stated that the Eastern
Stream related more to the perfection of the Astral body, the Western
Stream to the Etheric body, the Southern Stream to the Physical Body
and the Northern Stream to the Ego. We mentioned that these streams had
human guides, The Eastern and Western streams were united in Parzifal
or Manu, the Southern Stream was led by Christian Rosencreutz and the
Northern Stream - the responsibility of Rudolf Steiner who brought
these streams together on the 25 December 1923 in the Foundation Stone
Cultus which was in effect a kind of high mass or communion between
human beings and higher beings.
We also discussed the fact that Christ is the ultimate
teacher of these secrets, that through the Holy Spirit he conveys his
teachings to the 12 Bodhisattvas who exist in the White Lodge, these in
turn reflect these teachings to Human initiates who through the great
Grail Brotherhood disseminates them to their followers in the physical
world. We also learned that there are five higher beings that have a
particular relationship to the Grail. The Archai Michael we said
sacrificed being an Archai in order to guide human beings in a more
direct way in preparation for Anthroposophy. The Archai Raphael
sacrificed becoming a spirit of form to become the guardian of the
exoteric form of this knowledge – Exoteric Christianity.
The Archangel or Folk Soul of the Celtic people sacrificed becoming an
Archai in order to be the guardian of Esoteric Christianity. The Angel
of Buddha- Vidar/Ramael sacrificed becoming an Archangel until the
right time in order that he might take the position vacated by Michael
as the highest Archangel of the Sun who would guard the Nathan soul in which
resides the ethers in their pre fall state. We also mentioned the
sacrifices to Christ past and future, made by the Nathan soul.
We
discussed that the Holy Grail then is an imagination for the perfection
that can enable the Consciousness of Christ to enter into the human
being, and we saw how each mystery stream had its task preparing
mankind for this attainment.
The
Holy Grail is multifaceted and complex and seeks to unite human beings
in Love. The Anti Grail is quite a more simple
affair. It seeks to bind the human race together by using division
through hate. The main emphasis here lies in the difference between
unification through love and binding through division and hate. This is
a very important point. We must not always look at the obvious things
around us, the obvious evil and terror, sometimes we have to go deeper,
to those things that are insidious and make a pretence at goodness, for
it is there that we shall find impulses that lurk beneath the surface
of events to prevent the consciousness of Christ being the possession
of all human beings.
Tonight we will discuss the opponents of the Grail the
four Anti Grail Streams and their Guardians in the world today, who
seek to undermine the principles of the attainment of the Grail or
perfection that will enable a communion between human beings and the
Christ being.
What are the Tasks of the Anti Grail stream in the world
today?
The Task of the Anti Grail stream today is to keep
humanity asleep. Asleep to the divine in the human being and to the
divine in Nature.
What do I mean by this? The task of the Anti Grail stream
is:
1.
To prevent
consciousness of the need for perfecting various bodily sheaths or
redeeming the results of the fall, in preparation for a communion with
Christ - Microcosm.
2.
To prevent
consciousness of the need to perfect the various bodily sheaths of the
human being in order to thereby redeem nature and spiritual beings in
preparation for its communion with Christ - Macrocosm.
The Anti Grail Brotherhood and the Four Anti Grail
Streams
The Anti Grail Stream
has four human initiates that guide it who belong to an Anti Grail
Brotherhood. These initiates are well hidden. We only see their ‘pawns’
in the world arena today.
Western Brotherhoods of the Left
- work against the experience of Christ in the Etheric Body as a
Healing force -shadow of the Loving Offertory - Hateful withdrawal from
spirit.
From the West come the Brotherhoods of the Left - the Freemasons - at least some factions of them, C.F.R
(Central Foreign Relations)., Round Table, the Cecil Rhodes
Scholarships, the Order of Skull and Bones, and their associated
political and economic instruments
- who seek to unite as many human beings as possible in an
‘unconscious’ way with the material life so that in the life between
death and rebirth the Etheric bodies of those souls does not dissipate
but remains surrounding the earth and can be used as instruments for
these powerful groups. These Etheric bodies become the vehicle by which
the Antichrist
can replace the Being of the Etheric Christ. These
western brotherhoods work particularly in the economic life because
this is an excellent way of binding humanity to matter. Those initiated
into this stream, also seek to ‘consciously’ remain in their Etheric
bodies after death as a kind of Etheric immortality.
They learn how to excarnate and incarnate at will through the use of an
‘illegal gate’ a northern constellation/ star sign that appears in the
night sky at midsummer – or midday in the cosmic
year. This is the illegal constellation of Ophiucus, the serpent
handler. We can see the connection between this constellation and the
earth’s kundalini in the diagram below. Ophiucus lies on the Zodiac, and is the thirteenth constellation, however, it is not recognised by
Astrologers. It represents a serpent, coiled round a man's,
Aesculapius', body. Aesculapius is believed to have preceded
Hippocrates as an early healer who was supposed to be able to raise the
dead. It deals with birth and death and the
prolonging of life. Those initiated into these mysteries would
live a shadowy half-life like the ring wraiths of the Lord of the Rings. They
participate in ceremonial
magic, rituals that originate in past epochs and are not suitable for
human beings today.
We see the triumvirate of Evil raise its ugly head since 2001. There
are leaders in the western world that are pawns of those who govern the
Western Anti Grail stream. This stream seeks to and is uniting with,
the Eastern stream as did its good counterpart in the ninth century. We
only need to look at how Sept 9/11 strengthened the position of many
political leaders. It also increased the wealth of many Western and
Eastern co-operations. Think about why there has been a question of
National Security before two election campaigns in Australia both brought about by an Eastern threat. Think
about how all three countries are led by parties that are being moved
more and more to the right. This divides human beings, by promoting
differences – Them and Us - through fear and a deep religious as well
as nationalistic fervour. This works against the impulse of the Grail
stream that seeks to unite human beings in their spiritual commonality
by promoting the knowledge that in every human being there exists the same element of the divine and eternal.
In the
lectures on the Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, Rudolf Steiner
places particular emphasis on the fact that more and more human beings
will come to realise that there are forces that run from north to
south. These forces can and will be misused by the Anti Grail stream
and are related to impulses from the cosmic spaces that come from the
sphere of particular constellations that are related also to Etheric
forces that lie deep in the Earth. In particular he mentions the
constellation of Gemini and Sagittarius being related to dualism –
electricity, magnetism and the ‘third’ force.
The impulses coming from Gemini is related to Midday and Sagittarius to midnight. The other two are Pisces and Virgo, these are
related to morning and evening and can be put to the service of
humanity as a healing science.
The Gemini forces, the forces of midday
can be exploited by Western brotherhoods to acquire knowledge of :
1.
The
degenerated Father forces or mysteries of Gold of Birth
or Life Ether or ‘Energy before Matter’ in its fallen form.
This relates to incarnation through the manipulation of DNA, that is,
through the 13th illegal sign of Ophiucus which is The
Serpent Handler or sign that knows how to utilise the Kundalini of the
earth or its fallen ethers. Through this sign Life will be created in
an illegal way, that is, independent of Karma,
by bypassing the forces of the twelve Zodiacs.
2.
The
degenerated Son Forces or fallen Chemical Ether or Magnetism -
mysteries of Health – The forces of the Son in the fallen
form. This knowledge can be used in vitamins and minerals, medicines
that are tinged appropriately
and can enable human beings to relinquish karmic illness that might
lead to ‘goodness’ in another life for ‘good health’ in a bottle which
is not balanced by conscious inner work and so therefore does nothing
to further the evolution of the individual and his Karma.
3.
The forces
of degenerated Holy Spirit - fallen Light Ether or Electricity -These
forces can be used to Prolong life
by giving human beings who undergo special initiations of this kind an
Ahrimanic immortality. The human being can
Excarnate at will.
These relate as shown by the
diagram, to the Etheric Kundalini of the earth. The electro - magnetic
forces that work tortuously from the south up through Australia to the magnetic north pole
in North
America. The activity of the double
or the human being’s darker side thrives on the fallen Etheric forces.
We can see how these western
brotherhoods are connected with what is carried over from Australia to
America from south to the north magnetic pole and how this is reflected
in the political arena of today where Australia and the UK join forces
with America to create an Empire.
Eastern Lodges –
Brotherhoods of the Right – Religious Fundamentalism, Islamic groups/
Bolshevism.
Work against the
Experience of Christ in the Astral body
The shadow of Creed –
Doubt in the Spirit
The Eastern Lodges
exploit the forces that come from the region of Sagittarius.
The forces of Sagittarius or archer are the forces of duality the
ordinary Ego the Ego bound to the material body or matter and the
higher Ego. The human being is depicted mounted on an Astral beast.
These are the midnight processes. They encourage practises that are unsuitable
for modern human beings, practises that use the ‘Astral Beast’ the
retarded Sentient Soul which will unleash tumultuous human emotions,
terrible astral forces of destruction. Terrorism is only the tip of the
iceberg.
Conditions are also prepared whereby that aspect of the thinking that
is related to the Astral body in the Intellectual soul affects the
Etheric body to enable it to become like an empty shell after death so
that it can be utilised by the double. This is not an immortality
experienced by initiated human beings as in the case of those
experienced by members of the Western Brotherhoods but it is an
immortality experienced by the Double who should leave the human body
at death. Scores of human doubles remain attached to the earth in these
Etheric shells in particular near those areas where these Luciferic
initiations take place. Together they will form a Physical Etheric and
Astral body, for the Subsuprahuman double
into which the ego of Ahriman can incarnate in order to avert attention
from the Etheric Christ.
It is also the task of
these brotherhoods of the Eastern stream to prevent Eastern Europe from
developing the Sixth Cultural Epoch.
The Mafia in Russia and the Terrorists as well as the Government work
towards this end. We see this erupt in the problem of Chechnya which has not only led to terrible terrorist acts but
also the slow decay of civil rights. Recently the Russian president has
abolished elections for the lower house stating terrorism as his
reason. This is only the beginning.
The Southern Anti
Grail Stream – Jesuits, Catholics, Opus Dei
Work against the
Experience of Christ in the Will / Spiritualised Physical body
Shadow of
Transubstantiation/ Spiritual transformation – Fear of the Spirit
This is the Stream of
the Jesuits,
Opus Dei and Catholicism. Initiates into this stream learn through
certain exercises to extinguish the individual ego in the will. The
Jesuits seek the eradication of all knowledge concerning Christ
replacing it with knowledge of the human Jesus only. Today this stream
works most strongly through Opus Dei which extends its influence into
the world by recruiting lay men. It penetrates all levels of government
and society through recruitment. It cultivates power, an attitude of
authority and is patronised by the Vatican and is permeated by the spirit of Jesuitism.
The Northern Anti
grail stream – Future
Work against the
experience of Christ in the Spiritualised Ego
Shadow of Communion
–Separation from the Spirit
This stream seeks to
unite the ego with the physical body so that it loses its connection
with the spirit and the consciousness soul which is driven down and
become fused with physicality cannot accept the Spirit Self or the
Christ into the chalice so that there is no communion with the Christ
being and human beings become automata – The retarded Spirits of Form
or Asuras are responsible for inspiring this stream.
My very talented son recently wrote a thesis on America’s involvement in Cambodia and Vietnam and some of his insights are truly remarkable.
He came to the
conclusion that Governments can use ideals that are outwardly opposite
to their own ideology in order to create a power base. In this model a
Capitalist can use Terrorism in order to secure Autocratic leadership
and visa versa. In this case both Economic Capitalism (West) and
Religious Fundamentalism ( East) start out at opposite ends of the
spectrum however as they move more and more to the extreme- one or the
other they lead to one and the same thing, Autocracy and Dictatorship.
Each time a revolution, war or threat is needed in order to create an
atmosphere of Oppression, be it Economic, Social or religious. If we
use this model in the present context when we look at the Anti Grail
streams we can see how east and west arrive at autocracy and
dictatorship by working together – in a similar way to how the
legitimate East and West Grail streams came together in the ninth
century. We are seeing the fruits now of the unification of the Anti
Grail stream in
the event of September 11th.
§
Left wing
Terrorism moves to the right and leads to Economic Repression.
§
Right wing
Economic Repression moves to the left and leads to Terrorism.
§
Left Wing
Religious Repression moves to the left and inspires Nationalistic
tendencies
§
Right Wing
Nationalism moves further to the right and leads to Religious Repression
In each
case the pendulum swings and each time there is a loss of Egohood.
Culture is
the only thing that can balance out the two extremes and realise the
aims of Rudolf Steiner by providing a third pillar in a Christened
Three Fold Social Order. But culture is being attacked from both sides
in an attempt to prevent a ‘meeting in the middle’.
The Black Lodge and its Five Supersensible Guardians of
the Anti Grail
The Anti
Grail streams and the Anti Grail Brotherhood of Black Magicians is
inspired by higher beings that belong to a Black Lodge whose twelve
archangelic members oppose the work of the twelve Bodhisattvas and seek
directly to prevent the Holy Spirit from being reflected towards
humanity for an understanding of the Christ being. Beyond these there
are five higher beings that inspire this Black Lodge and directly
oppose the five Supersensible Guardians of the Grail.
Sorath Sun Demon retarded Spirit of Motion
– Opposes Michael and the Cosmic Intelligence concerning the experience
of the Consciousness of Christ in the Spiritualised Ego in the Sphere
of Sun as a Star.
Sorath works to
undermine the cosmic intelligence of Christ or the knowledge concerning
the consciousness of the rebirth of Christ within man. Michael is a
Time spirit and therefore an Archai, however because of his
renunciation in his ascent as we discussed last week he is an Archai
who has the capacities of a spirit of Form. He works as we have stated
in the sphere of the Sun as a Star or Higher Devachan. He has,
therefore since his Ascent. been directly opposed by Sorath who as Sun
Demon is a backward Spirit of Motion or a Spirit of Motion working as a
Spirit of From. Through his agents, that
is beings that are lower in rank such as Lucifer, Ahriman and most
importantly through Asuras he works to bring about a binding of the
human Ego to the Physical body, to materiality so that it loses its
connection with the spiritual and cannot therefore, spiritualise the
Ego for the communion with the Ego of Christ. He will work to create a
race of human beings that have no Egos a ‘Sorathic Race’ or race of
‘Christ refusers’ that will oppose the ‘Michaelic Race’ of Christ
‘receivers’ - Anthroposophists. He inspires the northern Anti Grail
Stream of the future.
Asuras Retarded
Spirit of Form - Opposes Raphael and the work of the Spiritualised Ego
as Spirit Self through the Materialisation of the Consciousness Soul -
In the Sphere of Sun as a Planet.
Asuras fell behind on old Saturn and have the capacities
of Spirits of Form through they work as Archais. They work therefore
from the Sphere of the Sun as planet, in the realm of the Will through
all that brings about a materialisation of the Consciousness Soul which
results in its inability to rise upwards to the Spirit Self. They are
the inspirational force behind exercises that abolishes or paralyses
the will (Demonised initiation of Will) by the Jesuits, Opus Dei, and
Catholicism. Through the Asuras does the Being of Christ become only a
physical Jesus. Asuras inspires the South
Anti Grail Stream and is directly opposed to the Templar stream.
Ahriman
Retarded spirit of Personality - Archai – directly opposes the Celtic
folk soul –- and the experience of the Consciousness of Christ in the
Spiritualised Etheric Body in the Sphere of the Planets - Esoteric
Christianity.
Ahriman is an Archangelic being that has the powers of an
Archai. He fell behind during the Sun incarnation of the earth. He
works Macrocosmically from the sphere of Planets against the
spiritualisation of the Etheric body by two means:
1.
Subconsciously:
Through Materialistic thinking which descends to the Etheric body by
way of the Intellectual Soul. This materialistic thinking is brought
about through, Alcohol, television, movies, rap music, sexual
perversion, commercialism, wealth at the
expense of others (stock exchange), loss of civil rights and
materialistic science and its laws. This materialisation of the Etheric
body results in hatred for all spiritual things. After death the
Etheric bodies of these hardened human beings stay attached to the
earth.
2.
Consciously:
Through esoteric exercises taught in Occult Brotherhoods (Black Magic).
This results in a kind of Etheric immortality.
Such Etheric bodies do not allow for the consciousness of
Christ to light up in them.
They cause an occult clouding after death,
that is they will pollute the spiritual horizon over which the
Etheric Christ can be seen in the Astral world. In this way will Christ
be replaced by the Subsuprahuman Ahrimanic double in the Etheric sphere.
In the microcosmic sense Ahriman will incarnate into an
ego-less human being. It will be his task
to prepare humanity for the pseudo incarnation of Sorath through the
vehicle of the Anti Christ. He inspires the Western Anti Grail Stream
and directly opposes Manicheanism
Lucifer retarded Archangel – directly Opposes
Vidar/Ramael and the Supersensible experience of the consciousness of
Christ in the Spiritualised Astral body Through illusion and Fear in
the Sphere of the Moon.
Lucifer is
an Angel that stayed behind during the Moon Evolution of the earth and
so now has the capacities of an Archangel. He opposes the new
clairvoyance that will enable human beings to see and commune with the
Etheric Christ in the Astral world, by way of terror, Fear, religious
fundamentalism, an Us and Them Xenophobia
which leads to Genocide/Nationalistic Fundamentalism. All of it averts
human attention from conscious work on the Astral body. Human beings
who barely survive, who are afraid, have no schooling, who have no food
are not in a position to work on spirituality. Lucifer also works
through the dissemination of old forms of esotericism the Fenris Wolf
(Yoga, Buddhism, séances, spiriticism etc) not appropriate to modern
human beings. These old degenerated forms of clairvoyance will lead to
a blinding to the Christ consciousness in the Astral body. He inspires
the Eastern Grail Stream and opposes the work of the Rosicrucians.
Subsuprahuman Etheric Double -
Directly opposes the Nathan Soul and the Fifth Sacrifice, the
Supersensible Experience of Christ that will occur by way of the Higher
Ethers - From the Etheric Sphere.
The Subhuman Etheric Double is that being that is created
from the aggregate of degenerated Thoughts, Feelings and Will of all
human beings.
After the fall a part of the unfallen Etheric forces
Sound and Life Ethers were protected and guarded in Spiritual Worlds by
the Nathan Soul. This means that a part of man remained inaccessible to
him, this is more precisely the
physical and Etheric bodies and that part of the Astral body that is
concerned with the will. Into those parts
that have been unconscious or inaccessible to human beings, is
vulnerable invasion by supersensible beings. Lucifer resides in the
Astral body in the Sentient Soul or life of feelings and Ahriman in the
Intellectual soul as well as that part of the Etheric body that he can
access through thought, memory. You may know from my lecture earlier
this year that the higher ethers have their counterparts in the Sub
Earthly sphere. We know that these fallen Ethers are connected also
with man’s own Etheric body and soul inasmuch as the soul affects the
Etheric body in a positive or negative way. Rudolf Steiner tells us
that
“The Evolution of our planet is intimately connected with
the forces of
humanity and civilizations”
The
majority of the Etheric body and physical body which man cannot access
with clear consciousness
is the home of a double of man that is made up of these fallen Etheric
forces of the earth, that is energy before matter (Power behind the
Atom ?Anti Matter), Magnetism and Electricity.
These have entered into man and that aspect of his Astral body that the
double accesses through the will; doubt, hate and fear. The aggregate
of the individual doubles of human beings forms one subsuprahuman
double which will provide a vehicle for the Macrocosmic incarnation of
Ahriman as a subsuprahuman double. It will work in the Etheric sphere
in direct opposition to the work of the Nathan Soul
and will attempt to sabotage the manifestation of the Christ in the
Astral world in an Etheric form.
The
misuse in the past of Etheric activity is said to have caused the
destruction of Lemuria and Atlantis and access to these fallen forces
in Sicily is said to be behind the power of Klingsor; and the old
Castle Marveil or that place where all the beings reside that oppose
the Grail Stream. What in our time then is the earthly equivalent of
the Castle Marveil?
The present day
Chastel Marveil
There are places in Europe that are particularly exposed to the above mentioned
fallen ethers in particular from those of the old Atlantean continent.
These forces have found their way to the surface through the movement
of the earth’s crust. Pagan Temples were erected over them in ancient
times eg where now stands Chartres Cathedral, Lourdes, Dornarch where
stands the Goetheanum, Montsegur where the last of the Cathars were
destroyed, Sicily the home of Klingsor the terrible magician,
Cellydon wood where resided Merlin, and Lockenhaus in Austria where the
last of the Templars perished and where Rudolf Steiner places his
Templars in his four mystery plays. The Templars and others who guarded
the Grail, Christianised and ennobled these places by erecting churches
over them. This ennoblement is symbolised by the fact that the Ethers –
associated with the Female principle, that is the fallen ethers
associated with Rhea, Demeter, Persephone
the old forces of Saturn Sun and Moon that is Energy before the Atom,
Magnetism and Electricity are Christianised in their Christian
counterparts theBlack Madonna, Mary Magdalene, Virgin Mary that is:
Life Ether, Chemical Ether and Light Ether.
We must not forget that the Nathan soul – that has a feminine quality
is the embodiment of the Ethers not affected by the fall.
Certain areas are known for certain Etheric forces. Some
have especially strong energies due to the geography of the landscape
i.e.; proximity to the fault lines or to granites that have been thrust
from out of the depths of the earth.
Rudolf Steiner tells us that America is the location of Old Atlantis. In American soil is
preserved the retarded forces that brought the destruction of Atlantis
and is especially connected to the forces of the double.
Australia once Lemuria, has within its soil a preserved memory of
the retarded forces that destroyed the Lemurian civilization and are
especially connected to the forces of the double.
Rudolf Steiner tells us that these forces are especially
related to the human will and so are pacified by a self-less will
striving to do good “…when human will is devoid of egoism it is able to
appease this fire”
Wherever human beings
however live a selfish materialistic life this works right down into
the Earthly Ethers and into the Ether that surrounds the earth,
volcanoes, violent storms and other terrible natural catastrophes are the result.
The Anti Grail streams
utilise the knowledge concerning these fallen Ethers and their
influence on man and visa versa in order to execute their plan to
prevent the down pouring of the consciousness of Christ into the
individual in order that he or she can at the same time redeem the
fallen forces of the earth.
These Anti Grail
impulses were disseminated in the past from centres such as Gondi
Shapur in Persia home of Harum Al Rashid and Terra Labur home of Klingsor.
In modern times there
are many centres from which comes the work of the Brotherhoods of the
left or the Western brotherhoods and the Brotherhoods of the South
Catholicism, Jesuitism and Opus Dei one such place is Rennes le Chateau.
Rennes le Chateau is a
small village of less than a hundred people. It came to the attention
of the world through a book written by Gerard de Sede which explored
the story of the Abbe Berenger Sauniere,
the town priest who despite earning very little was able to spend
thousands renovating the town church, building a guest house he called
Villa Bethany and a tour he named after Mary Magdalene which he called
Tour Magdala. Through Mary Magdalene we the connection with the
Chemical ether.
He is said to have
tampered with the church in the renovations, placing an altar upside
down, reversing known religious symbols such as the Alpha and Omega
that usually belong to Christ and John the Baptist. Templar symbols as
well as hermetic symbols abound as well as a water stoup held up by Rex
Mundus the king of the earth – Ahriman. There is in fact a striking
resemblance between this Ahriman and Rudolf Steiner’s Ahriman. The
Villa Bethany – Bethany being where Lazarus was raised is where his housekeeper
found the Abbe dying of a stroke, despite the fact that this was only
his guest’s quarters and he lived in the priori. Also two days before
his death he had been in good health, despite this, his servant ordered
a coffin to be delivered two days later, the very day that he became
ill. He is said to have been involved with a neo Templar group that
called itself the Priori de Sion. The Priori de Sion is only the outer
face of the western brotherhoods that, in conjunction with the Jesuit
order of Opus Dei, managed to infiltrate anti Christian impulses into
the world.
It also points to the conscious Etheric immortality which we discussed
earlier, in which the Etheric body does not dissipate but hardens and
materialises, effectively imprisoning the human being in the earth’s
surrounds. This points to the great Anti Grail mystery of incarnating
and excarnating at will through the thirteenth Zodiac Ophiucus or
Serpent handler
The story of this Abbe was picked up by three journalists
who produced a small television series that sparked off a book which
explores the connection that existed between the Abbe Berenger Sauniere
and the Priori de Sion and its connections with the Templars, Cathars,
the Merovingian dynasty and the supposed blood line of the Grail.
Concluding that the Grail was nothing more than a pedigree that could
be traced back to Christ’s survival of the Crucifixion and his
subsequent marriage to Mary Magdalene, a blood-line which continued
through the Merovingian kings of France and later the royal houses of Europe.
This may seem laughable, and far-fetched but it has left an
indelible mark on the world today, inspired by the Jesuits who seek to
turn Christ into Jesus and the Western Brotherhoods who seek to
undermine the manifestation of the Etheric Christ.
This small village went
on to spawn numerous books that explored this same theme.
There are people who
have read these books and have been known to become Atheists because of
them. Certainly it completely pushes aside the Mystery of Golgotha and
replaces the Divinity of Christ with a human Jesus that did not die on
the Cross. It is interesting to note that of late the hoax perpetrated
on the public by the false documents which started everything the
documents of the Priori de Sion has now been discovered and the
connection between this ‘made up’ order and the Jesuits as well as Opus
dei have been revealed.
We see how the Anti
Grail Streams of the west and south work from this centre inspiring
books that promote Doubt and Hatred of the Mystery of Golgotha while at
the same time the world is brought to a condition where it is racked by
war, and terror that promotes Fear by the initiates of the Anti Grail
Stream of the East and West.
Doubt, Hatred, and Fear
are the work of the four Anti Grail Streams and its five Supersensible
Guardians, Sorath, Asuras, Ahriman, Lucifer and the Subsuprahuman
double in direct opposition to Faith, Love and Hope the work of the new
Grail Mystery Stream and its five supersensible guardians, Michael,
Raphael, Celtic Folk Soul, Vidar/Ramael, and the Nathan Soul.
However things
don’t always go as planned for the Anti Grail Stream not so long ago it
sought to bring a materialised form of ‘spirit’ into the world through
‘spiritism’ but this backfired and only fuelled the desire that
humanity had for what lay beyond the senses. Negatives can be turned
into positives. The dispelling of dogma that has been the result of
these books, the revelation of the possibility that what we hear and
see may not be the truth can be utilised for the good. This can lead to
an opening through which real truths can be expounded. War and Terror,
and personal grief can also lead to questioning of what is right and
what is wrong and the creation of a groundswell of compassion for
others and courage to seek for truth, beauty and goodness, a return to
faith, love and hope.
Anthroposophists
are in a position to become vanguards, to participate in the workings
of the new Mysteries of the Grail inaugurated by Rudolf Steiner at the
Christmas Foundation Meeting. In this way we are not passive, but we
become participants in the New Science of the Grail which has united
all former Grail Streams into one – Anthroposophy - and seeks to unite
the world. These renewed mystery streams guard the secret of man’s
spiritual development in readiness for a communion with the Christ
Being which is possible in our time. But we must not become unguarded, we must also at the same time become
sentinels whose task it is to be awake and aware of what the Anti Grail
Stream seeks to achieve in the world around us. We must do this not
only for ourselves, for the sake of our own development but for the
sake of those less conscious and therefore unable to see the truth. We
have to part the fog that lies over the happenings in the world around
us to
…see things as
they are. One can only see things as they are, however, when one is in
the position of applying to reality the concepts, the ideas, that
emerge from an Anthroposophically oriented spiritual science.
Then we shall
have to ask the question, we shall not be like the young man of Sais, we must be like
Parzifal:
Who most benefits from this? You
will often be surprised at the answers.
Thank you and
Goodnight.
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