The Rudolf Steiner Archive

15. Parzival and Lohengrin

[ 1 ] Today we want to take a look at the world of medieval legends from the perspective of the theosophical worldview. Two important legends are characteristic of the spiritual development of Europe in the Middle Ages—the two legends centered around the Holy Grail.

[ 2 ] In earlier times, the wise conveyed the deepest truths to the people through legends and myths. If, back then, the people living in what is now Northern and Central Europe had been taught concepts such as those we now find in the theosophical worldview, the people of that time would not have benefited from them at all. The sages spoke to each people and each age in a way that the people and the age could understand. In doing so, they always proceeded from the law of reincarnation.

[ 3 ] The sages who revealed the mysteries of the world to the peoples of Northern and Central Europe were the Druids. “Druid” means “oak.” When it is said that the Germans celebrated their religious rites “under oak trees,” this does not merely mean that they actually celebrated their rites under natural oak trees, but it also means that they were under the guidance of the Druids. And when it is said that Boniface “cut down the oak,” this means that the ancient Druidic religious rites were supplanted by Christianity. A true fact was conveyed in the form of a legend. The druid wove the true facts into the legends. The druid priest was already speaking to all the souls who today embrace our worldview. He spoke to them in a way that was appropriate for that time. All of us who have embraced the theosophical worldview have heard the same things before as myths and fairy tales; otherwise, we would not be able to understand them at all today. This is the secret of the great masters: they live entirely in the awareness that they are among people who are constantly reincarnating.

[ 4 ] Throughout the Middle Ages, the fundamental truths of Germanic-Central European culture were embodied in a great legend. When we become familiar with this legend, we understand what existed in the Middle Ages. The druid priests nurtured the awareness that once, far to the west, there had been a great civilization. This civilization was located in a land known as Nifelheim or Nibelungenheim. This Nifelheim was the ancient Atlantis. It was formerly known as “Mistland” because of its peculiar atmospheric conditions, which were quite different from our own.

[ 5 ] The Germanic tribal legend thus truly reflects the truth. It points to an ancient land that once existed between Europe and America, where the Atlantic Ocean is now. This ancient land of Atlantis sank into the sea, and with it went treasures of power and wisdom. These treasures were referred to as gold, and their sinking is recounted in the legend as the submergence of the gold from the Nibelung hoard. The Nibelung treasure is to be unearthed and resurrected in a new way, more toward the east, in Europe. First Wotan, then Siegfried are the initiates to whom fell the task of bringing the ancient treasure back to present-day Europe—of, in a sense, making the Nibelung hoard fruitful once more for modern culture. The fact that the legend presents us with an initiate named “Wotan” helps us to look deeply into another ancient culture. The letters W and B correspond to one another. Wotan, Wodan, is the same as Bodha Buddha. Wotan is, in fact, the Germanic form of the word Buddha. This leads us to a common origin of the European Wotan religion and the Asian Buddha religion. The Buddha religion did not spread so much in India as among those peoples of Asia who still retained elements of the Atlantean culture. The Wotan peoples, too, brought their beliefs from the Atlantic culture. Their further development was expressed in the sagas that the Druid priests had taught them. The rescue of the Nibelung hoard—the Atlantic culture—by Wotan and Siegfried is particularly beautifully expressed in these sagas.

[ 6 ] A tragic, prophetic thread runs through these legends—which can be found from Russia through Germany to France and England—and is present wherever Druid priests taught. They taught prophetically: A twilight of the gods will come. We are the remnants of the Atlantean culture. We must perish so that something better may take our place. Our initiates are prophets of what is to come. A certain tragedy is expressed in all those who are initiated in the manner of Siegfried. The Nibelungenlied contains an ancient form of initiation: the Nibelungen’s Plight, the Nibelungen’s Lament. The most intimate disciples were taught that another would come who would bring spiritual life. The mood of the twilight of the gods spread everywhere. Everyone lived with the feeling—and the intimate disciples with the certainty—that one would come who would be entirely different from our initiates. —This is what the legend expresses through Siegfried.

[ 7 ] In Scandinavia and Russia, there were the Drotte mysteries, corresponding to the Druidic mysteries. “Drotte” is another form of “Druid.” Throughout the ancient mysteries, Sig is the name of the original, great initiate. All names derived from “Sig” trace back to Sig—for example, Sigurd, Sigmund, Sieglinde, and so on. Siegfried was the initiate who had found peace during his initiation. “Peace” signifies that which carries a person beyond all doubt; it is the fulfillment of longing—the longing for knowledge and for power. Siegfried is depicted in all images as the invulnerable one. Achilles, the Greek initiate, remained vulnerable in one place—the heel. After defeating the dragon, Siegfried became invulnerable, except for one spot: the area between the shoulder blades. That is where the cross is to be borne. This symbol played a profound role in the ancient mysteries. There it was said: “You are all vulnerable at the spot where one will bear the cross.” The one who will cover this spot with the cross—the bearer of the cross—will be the great initiate who is no longer vulnerable. — This is what gives the Norse saga its great significance. This wisdom was an apocalyptic wisdom.

[ 8 ] All occultists know that this wisdom emanates from a central oracle site of twelve initiates, the so-called “White Lodge.” From there, the wisdom is carried out into the world. Nowhere is this different from the individual knowing that he is connected to the others. Everywhere there were twelve members of the Lodge. Such are also the twelve apostles. The consciousness of those who sense the future and the wisdom of those who know trace back to King Arthur’s Round Table. This is nothing other than the Great White Lodge, which, in the Siegfried Initiation, made clear to the peoples what it had to say to the world. Great Initiates were members of the Round Table, which existed in Wales until the time of Queen Elizabeth I of England. It was then abolished for political reasons.

[ 9 ] Two very specific political movements traced medieval popular consciousness back to these primordial times. Among the Franks, who were fortunate enough to conquer Western Europe, there was a ruling dynasty that actually traced its origins back to the times of Atlantis. It was called the “Wibelungen” or “Nibelungen”—from which the word “Ghibellines” later arose. There was an ancient belief in a ruling dynasty emerging from the Frankish people, rooted in the ancient land of the Nibelungs, which united secular power and priestly authority. That is why Charlemagne sought to have the royal crown placed upon his head in Rome, in order to add a spiritual element to the secular one.

[ 10 ] Originally, everything that was considered to be power was derived from what had come over from Atlantis. The fact that people thought and sensed that a “twilight of the gods” was coming also imbued the ruling dynasty with a certain tragic air. It was said: Those who wish to know may well become initiates, but they must be replaced by something else. — This sentiment was first expressed in the well-known legend of Barbarossa; something was then added that was not present in the ordinary legend. Barbarossa was rightly conceived as a continuation of the old Frankish rulers. The Hohenstaufen were the Ghibellines, Waiblingen, Wibelungen, and Nibelungen, in contrast to the Welfs, the Guelfs. The more intimate narrative adds to the well-known Barbarossa legend that Barbarossa brought the Holy Grail from Asia to Europe. He himself, as a physical being, perished in the process and now waits until his time comes. This expresses the entire mood of the Middle Ages toward the old paganism and the new Christianity.

[ 11 ] People began to reflect on the soul of their own people and said: We brought our culture over from ancient Atlantis. But it is destined to perish; Christianity must take its place. But it will rise again, purified, cleansed, and elevated by Christianity. — People began to create a transition from the end of the descent to the beginning of the ascent. They began to envision the course of deeper German spiritual culture in such a way that the clairvoyant, Atlantean consciousness was superseded by something that was yet to come. One had to reclaim natural courage, piety, and virtue in a different, new way. There were three concepts—concepts of three specific forces: Wotan, Wili, and We. Wotan is the intuitive force, as portrayed by the initiate; Wili is the will itself; We is the soul, with a tragic streak where it becomes apocalyptic. Now a new era was to dawn. Now, through Christian teaching, the turning point was to be achieved, and humanity was to ascend once more to what existed before the Twilight of the Gods.

[ 12 ] The fact that Barbarossa sits on the mountain signifies that he is an initiate. The “mountain” is the place of initiation. Christ went “up the mountain” with his disciples—into the mystery. The ravens symbolize Barbarossa’s initiation. In the Persian initiation ritual, there are seven distinct stages of initiation. The “ravens” represent the first stage of personal initiation. They signify the initiate’s continuing connection to the environment. Think of Elijah’s ravens. We also find ravens associated with Wotan. They facilitate his communication with his surroundings. Thus, Barbarossa, the initiate, was also surrounded by ravens, which still kept him connected to the world.

[ 13 ] Barbarossa had brought the Holy Grail from the East. This Holy Grail had been kept on the Mons salvationis, the Mountain of Salvation. It is now surrounded by the successors to King Arthur’s Round Table—the twelve knights who added Christian initiation to the ancient pagan initiation. The Grail is the symbol of Christian initiation. Anyone who wished to be initiated into the mysteries of the Holy Grail became a Christian initiate. One becomes a Christian initiate by first passing through all doubts and then finding a firm foothold in union with Christ Himself. One thing is necessary for this: direct trust in the person of Christ. The first disciples placed such special emphasis precisely on the fact that Christ was present. They say: We want to bear witness that we were with Him. We have placed our hands in His wounds. What we ourselves have seen and heard, that we proclaim. - Paul is an apostle because he truly beheld the Risen One in the Spirit. What matters is direct experience, which is acquired not through wisdom and logic, but directly.

[ 14 ] It is clear to us what Percival is meant to achieve on his travels. Parzival’s mother is named Herzeleide. If one reads Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival—he was a thoroughly initiated individual—deeply, between the lines and the words, one finds that the name Herzeleide, Parzival’s mother, is a reflection of the tragic trait that lay within the German soul. He who does not walk the path of Parzival carries sorrow in his heart; he must win peace for himself. Wolfram von Eschenbach understood how to clothe the legend in a beautiful form. With this single fact, he intended a deeply inner symbol—the female personality always signifies consciousness—: Heartache is the state of consciousness from which Parzival sets out. At first, he possesses a tragic consciousness. He struggles through everything that worldly knighthood has to offer, with a naive, simple-minded consciousness, in order to reach the mystery of the Holy Grail.

[ 15 ] We must view this in conjunction with the legend of Barbarossa. Barbarossa went to Asia to seek the secrets of the Holy Grail—the initiation into Christianity. But he perished on the way to the Holy Grail. He must wait “in the mountain” until Christianity can reconnect with the earlier initiation. Barbarossa brought Christianity, but has not yet attained the deeper initiation of Christianity.

[ 16 ] Parzival is the new Christian initiate, the great symbol that replaces the Siegfried initiation. Siegfried has overcome base nature—the lindworm, the serpent. Parzival becomes the initiate of the Holy Grail, the one who comes to know the One who is invulnerable where Siegfried was still vulnerable. In Parzival, the original idea of Christianity is expressed. It no longer recognizes the idea of reincarnation. One regards the single life between birth and death as the only one. What is valuable is this one incarnation. One no longer looks upward toward Manas, Budhi, Atma. The Parzival initiation was directed solely toward attaining an awareness of the connection with Christ, toward contemplating the one incarnation in which the human being attains knowledge through compassion and not through knowledge to compassion, as occurs in theosophy. Theosophy teaches us to recognize how we are one with all human beings. Through it, we come to know that we ourselves are responsible for what our brother does. Theosophy leads to compassion through knowledge. But humanity had to go through a period of development for a time in which it was to arrive at knowledge through compassion. It had to descend into the depths of compassion, because knowledge can also be attained there. This had to be so that people might come to know this earthly world in all its significance. Christianity was meant to educate humanity so that the significance of the earthly realm might also be grasped. That is why human beings first had to be directed—or, in moral terms, drawn down—toward physical life. Only then could they attain the great achievements that began with urban civilization.

[ 17 ] The progression of the Middle Ages is depicted in the legend through the transition from the Parzival legend to the Lohengrin legend. This legend emerged at a time when cities were being founded throughout Europe, primarily to serve the burgeoning middle class; these cities were no longer based on spiritual life but on material life. It was in the cities that all material achievements were laid the groundwork for—including, for example, the art of printing. Without urban culture, modern science could not have developed in this way. Universities, too, are a product of this culture. A Copernicus, a Kepler, Newton, and so on would not have been possible without it. Dante’s Divine Comedy and the painters of the Renaissance also trace their origins back to urban culture.

[ 18 ] The legend of the connection between Parzival, the father, and Lohengrin, the son, points to the significance of urban culture. Elsa of Brabant represents the cities and urban consciousness. In all forms of mysticism, that which works against the physical world is portrayed as something feminine. Goethe speaks of the “Eternal Feminine”; in Egypt, Isis was worshipped in this sense.

[ 19 ] Let us outline the stages of the chela’s initiation. The chela must first overcome three stages. The first stage is that of the homeless person, where the individual is torn away from the physical world and becomes objective toward it. He must unlearn how to be partial; he must learn to love everything equally; he does not love any less, but he extends his love to everything that deserves love, not just to his homeland and so on. The second stage is where the chela builds huts. He finds a new home. The disciples on the mountain have reached this stage. They are beyond space and time; they see Elijah and Moses. That is why they say, “Let us build huts.”—The third stage is that of the swan. A swan is the Chela who has advanced so far that all things speak to him, even those whose consciousness resides on higher planes. On the physical plane, only humans possess the “I.” Animals have consciousness on the astral plane, plants on the mental plane (Rupa plane), and minerals on the higher mental plane (Arupa plane). One must rise to higher worlds to find the “I,” the names of other beings; there, things reveal their own names to the Chela. The world then becomes resounding and ringing everywhere for him. With regard to this fact, Goethe says:

[ 20 ] The sun resounds in the ancient way, In a contest of song among the brotherly spheres, And it completes its prescribed journey With a thunderous roar.

[ 21 ] He repeats this reference from the prologue in heaven, where he leads Faust into the higher worlds:

[ 22 ] Already the new day is born, resounding to the ears of the spirit. Rock gates creak and rattle; Phoebus’s wheels roll with a clatter. What a din the light brings! It drums, it trumpets; the eye blinks and the ear is astonished—nothing unheard is heard.

[ 23 ] It is significant that the prologue in heaven in the first part of Faust and the second part begin in this way. Goethe was pointing to something very specific here: it is the third degree of chelaship, where the world around us becomes resonant and all things reveal their names to us. Jesus had reached this degree when he was to become Christ. In the White Lodge, this degree was referred to as the Swan. Swans were those who were no longer permitted to speak their own names, but to whom the entire world revealed its names.

[ 24 ] Lohengrin, the son of Parzival, is the initiate who founded urban culture, the one sent by the Great Grail Lodge to enrich the consciousness of medieval humanity. Elsa of Brabant embodies the aspiring human consciousness, which is inspired by the external world—the masculine principle. The urban consciousness represented by Elsa is to be inspired by Lohengrin, through the Holy Grail. Lohengrin’s connection with Elsa of Brabant is the connection between material culture and [the spiritual task] of the fifth sub-race. The swan is the third-degree initiate who brings the Master in from the Great Lodge. The human being must allow the Master to work upon them without questioning his nature. Elsa of Brabant must regard what he gives her as her due. The moment she asks out of curiosity, the initiate disappears. All of this is expressed in the Lohengrin legend.

[ 25 ] The Knights Templar had brought the initiatory wisdom of the Holy Grail from the Orient to the Mountain of Salvation, Mons salvationis, the site of Christianity’s initiation. An initiation ceremony pointed directly to the future of the entire human race. It was said: A time will come when Christianity will enter a new phase. — The progress of human spiritual culture has always been consciously measured by the movement of the sun. Before the year 800 B.C., the sun passed through the constellation of Taurus for approximately 2,200 years. At that time, the bull was worshiped as divine over in Asia. Even earlier, for the same reason, the Twins were worshiped in Persia: good and evil, the duality. Around 800 B.C., the sun entered the sign of Aries, or the Lamb. The legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece points to this. Christ calls himself the Lamb of God because he appeared in this sign. [Today, the Sun is in the sign of Pisces.] The Knights Templar point to the next constellation; the Sun will then enter the constellation of Aquarius. Only then will Christianity truly dawn, and paganism will be united with Christianity. This culture will raise up a new John. This moment will come when the Sun is in the sign of Aquarius. John is called Aquarius; he will be the herald of a new era of Christianity. It is said that the Knights Templar referred to John the Baptist, not to Christ. But the John they speak of is Aquarius.

[ 26 ] The final phase of Christianity, which originated with the Initiate Lohengrin, has ushered in the period of utility, which has now reached its peak. The Theosophical Movement aims to be the successor to movements such as the Parzival Movement and the one that originated with the initiate Lohengrin. Modern materialism, too, owes its origins to great initiates, but it must be superseded by a new phase, by a new cycle. This is what Theosophy seeks to bring about. Yet it is always the Initiates who speak when a new cultural direction is to be set.