The Rudolf Steiner Archive

3. The Mysteries of the Druids and Drotten

[ 1 ] Our medieval tales—Parzival, The Round Table, Hartmann von Aue—all reveal to us, although they are usually understood only in their outward sense, esoteric representations of mystical truths. Where should we look for their origin? We must seek their origin before the spread of Christianity. What was lived in Ireland, Scotland … [gap] grew organically into Christianity. We are led to a specific center from which this spiritual life originated. The spiritual life [of Europe] emanated from a central lodge in Scandinavia: the Drotten Lodge. Druids = oak. That is why it is said, superficially, that the ancient Germans received their instructions under oak trees.

[ 2 ] The Drotten, or Druids, were ancient Germanic initiates. In England, they existed until the time of Queen Elizabeth. Everything we can read in the Edda and find in ancient Germanic mythology traces back to the temples of the Drotten or Druids. The poet is always a druid-priest. The legends do not merely represent some symbol or allegory—they do that, but they are also something else.

[ 3 ] Example: We are familiar with the legend of Baldur; we know that Baldur is the hope of the gods, and that he is killed by the god Loki with a mistletoe branch. The god of light, killed! This entire narrative holds a profound mystical meaning that everyone who was initiated not only learned about but also had to experience.

[ 4 ] Mysteries. Initiation: The first act was called “The Search for Baldur’s Body.” It was believed that Baldur is always alive. The search consisted of a complete revelation of the nature of man. For Baldur was man as he had once been. Once upon a time, it was not the human of today who lived, but another—one who was undifferentiated, not pressed down into the experience of passions, but existing in a finer, more ethereal substance. Baldur, the radiant human. — With true understanding, the things that appear to us as symbols must be taken in a higher sense. This human being, who has not sunk into what we today call matter, is Baldur. He dwells within each of us. The druid-priest had to seek this higher human being within himself. It was made clear to him what this differentiation consists of, from the higher to the lower... [gap].

[ 5 ] The secret of all initiation is to give birth to the higher self within oneself. What the priest experiences more quickly, humanity will experience over the course of a long evolutionary process. In order for these druids to be guides to the rest of humanity, they had to receive this initiation.

[ 6 ] The human being who has descended into the material world must now overcome matter and regain that higher state. This birth of the higher human being takes place in all mysteries in a specific, consistent manner. The human being who had become lost in matter had to be revived; one had to go through a series of experiences—real experiences that cannot be like any sensory experience on this plane.

[ 7 ] The stages. The first was being led before the so-called Throne of Necessity. One stood before the abyss; one truly experienced firsthand what life is like in the lower kingdoms of nature. Human beings are minerals and plants, but modern human beings today cannot experience, cannot live through, what the elemental substances experience—and yet the ironclad, compelling force in the world stems from the fact that we, too, are minerals and plants.

[ 8 ] The next stage brought humankind face to face with everything that lives in the animal kingdom. Everything that lives through passions and desires had to be seen churning and swirling. Humanity had to observe this, because the purpose of initiation is to look behind the scenes of worldly existence. Humanity does not realize that its physical shell merely conceals what swirls through the astral space. The veil of Maya is a real covering, and whoever is initiated must see beyond it—the veils will fall, and the human being will [see] clearly. This is a special moment: the priest became aware that they [the veils] had contained instincts that, if unleashed, would be terrible.

[ 9 ] The third stage led to a contemplation of the grandeur of nature. This is a stage that people find very difficult to comprehend without prior preparation. The fact that immense occult powers lie dormant there and that the passions of the world are expressed through these natural forces is something that makes people aware that there are forces they do not even experience in the same way as their own suffering.

[ 10 ] The next test is called the hierophant’s handing over of the serpent. This can only be explained by the effects that emanate from this act. The Tantalus myth explains this to us. The privilege of sitting in the council of the gods can be abused. It signifies a reality that certainly elevates man above himself, but binds him to dangers that are not exaggerated in the curse of Tantalus. As a rule, man says he can do nothing against the laws of nature. These are thoughts. One can do nothing with a thought that is merely a shadowy mental concept; with the creative thought that builds and constructs the things of the world—the productive, fruitful thought—we have, instead of the passive one, that which is imbued with spiritual, mental power. A caterpillar, once shed, is merely the caterpillar’s shell; permeated by the [productive] thought, it is the living caterpillar. Active, creative power is poured into the shell-like thoughts, so that the priest is able not only to observe the world but, as a magician, to act within it. The danger lies in abuse. He can ... [gap].

[ 11 ] At this stage, the occultist acquires a certain power that enables him to deceive even higher beings. He must not merely repeat truths, but experience them; he must decide whether something is true or false. This signifies the handing over of the serpent by the hierophant. [In the spiritual realm, this signifies the same thing as the formation of the spinal cord does in the physical realm. In the animal kingdom, we ascend through fish, amphibians, and so on, up to the brain of vertebrates and humans. See “Notes.”] In the spiritual realm, there is likewise a backbone where it is determined whether one will receive a spiritual brain. Human beings undergo this process at this stage of development. They are lifted out of Kama and endowed with the spiritual backbone in order to be raised into the vertebrae of the spiritual brain. The twists and turns of the labyrinth on the spiritual plane are the same as the twists and turns of the brain. Human beings gain entry into the labyrinth, into the twists and turns within the higher planes.

[ 12 ] Then he had to swear to secrecy; a drawn sword lay before him, and he had to take the strongest oath. This meant that the man would henceforth remain silent about his experiences to anyone who was not initiated as he was. These true mysteries cannot possibly be revealed without further ado. He [the initiate], however, had the ability to shape the legends so that they would be an expression of the Eternal. If one could express oneself in this way, one naturally wielded great power over one’s fellow human beings. Whoever shapes such a legend imprints something on the human spirit. What is spoken in this way is eventually forgotten, and only the very least of it survives death. Eternal truths survive death the longest. Very little of the lower, scientific knowledge survives death. The eternal, however, does, and reappears in a new incarnation.

[ 13 ] The druid priest spoke from a higher plane. His stories were expressions of higher truths; though simple, they penetrated deeply into people’s souls. He stood before simple people, but the truths penetrated their souls, and they internalized something that will be reborn in new incarnations. Back then, people experienced truths through fairy tales; today, we have a prepared spiritual body, and if we comprehend higher truths today, it is because we have been prepared.

[ 14 ] Thus, this era, which came to an end in the year 60, paved the way for Europe’s spiritual life and laid the foundation upon which Christianity was able to take root. Its teachings have been preserved, and those who seek will still find access to what was taught in these lodges.

[ 15 ] After he [the Druid priest] had taken his oath on the sword, he had to drink a certain beverage—from a human skull. This signified that the human being had transcended the human condition. The Druid priest had to feel this way toward the lower body. He had to view what lived within the body so objectively, so dispassionately, that he regarded it merely as a vessel. Then he was initiated into the higher mysteries and ascended once more into the higher worlds. Baldur ... [gap]. He was led into a gigantic palace covered with sparkling swords. A man stepped forward to meet him and threw out seven flowers. Celestial space, cherubim, demiurge. — Thus he became a true sun priest.

[ 16 ] Many people read the Edda without realizing that it is a narrative of what actually took place in the ancient Drotten mysteries. An immense power lay in the hands of the ancient Drotten priests—power over life and death. It is true that everything becomes corrupted over time. It was once the highest, the holiest. In the times when Christianity was spreading, much had degenerated and there were many black magicians, so that Christianity was like a salvation.

[ 17 ] The study of these ancient truths alone almost fully illustrates the entire field of occultism.

[ 18 ] In the Druid temple, stones were not simply placed one on top of the other as they are today, but were arranged precisely according to astronomical measurements. Doors were built according to celestial measurements. The Druid priests were the builders of humanity. A faint reflection of this has been preserved in the beliefs of the Freemasons.

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[ 19 ] When one learns to see through astral matter, one sees the sun at midnight: 1st Initiation.

[ 20 ] The Handing Over of the Serpent: The Second Inauguration.

[ 21 ] The Path Through the Labyrinth: 3. Initiation.