The Rudolf Steiner Archive

3. The Mysteries of the Druids and Drotten

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

[ 2 ] 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 the ancient Germanic legends goes back to the temples of the Drotten or Druids. The poet is always a Druid priest. The legends do not represent just any symbol or allegory — they do that too, but they are also something else.

[ 3 ] Example: We know the legend of Baldur, we know that Baldur is the hope of the gods, that he is killed by the god Loki with a mistletoe branch. The god of light is killed! This whole story has a deep mystery meaning that everyone who was initiated not only learned, but also had to experience.

[ 4 ] Mysteries. Initiation: The first act was called the search for Baldur's body. It was believed that Baldur was always alive. The search consisted of a complete explanation of the nature of man. For Baldur was the human being as he had been lost. Once upon a time, it was not the human beings of today who lived, but another kind of human being who was not differentiated, not pressed down to the experience of the passions, in a finer, more fleeting matter. Baldur, the shining human being. — When truly understood, the things that appear to us as symbols are to be taken in a higher sense. This human being, who has not submerged himself in what we today call matter, is Baldur. He dwells in each one 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 high to the low ... [gap].

[ 5 ] The secret of all initiation is to give birth to the higher human being within oneself. What the priest goes through more quickly, human beings will go through in a long series of developments. In order for these Druids to be leaders of the rest of humanity, they had to receive this initiation.

[ 6 ] The human being who has descended deeper must now overcome matter and reach that higher state again. This birth of the higher human being takes place in all mysteries in a certain identical manner. Those who had sunk into matter had to be revived; they 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 that one was led before the so-called throne of necessity. One stood before the abyss; one experienced in one's own body what it is like to live in the lower realms of nature. Man is mineral and plant, but the present human being cannot experience, cannot live through what the elemental substances experience, and yet the iron, compelling force in the world stems from the fact that we are also minerals and plants.

[ 8 ] The next stage led man before everything that lives in the animal kingdom. Everything that lives in passions and desires had to be seen in confusion and turmoil. Man had to look at this because the purpose of initiation is to look behind the scenes of world existence. Man does not know that his physical shell only conceals what swirls through the astral space. The veil of Maya is a real shell, and those who are initiated must look beyond it — the shells fall away, and human beings see clearly. This is a special moment: the priest became aware that they [the shells] had contained impulses which, if released, would be terrible.

[ 9 ] The third stage led to the contemplation of the great nature. This is a stage that is still very difficult for human beings to comprehend without preparation. The fact that occult forces rest there and that the passions of the world are expressed in these forces of nature is something that makes human beings aware that there are forces that they do not even experience as their own suffering.

[ 10 ] The next test is called the handing over of the serpent by the hierophant. This can only be explained by the effects that emanate from here. The legend of Tantalus explains it to us. The favor of sitting in the council of the gods can be abused. It signifies a reality that certainly lifts man above himself, but binds him to dangers that are not exaggerated in the curse of the Tantalids. As a rule, people say that they can do nothing against the laws of nature. These are thoughts. Nothing can be done with thoughts that are only shadowy brain thoughts; with creative thoughts, which build and construct the things of the world, the productive, fruitful thoughts, we have, instead of passive thoughts, those that are imbued with spiritual, mental power. A caterpillar blown out is the shell of the caterpillar; imbued with [productive] thought, it is the living caterpillar. Effective, creative power is poured into the shell thoughts, so that the priest is able not only to look at the world, but to work in it as a magician. The danger is abuse. He can ... [gap].

[ 11 ] At this stage, the occultist gains a certain power through which he is able to deceive even higher beings. He must not only repeat truths, but experience them; decide whether something is true or false. This means the handing over of the serpent by the hierophant. [In the spiritual realm, this means the same thing as the beginning of the spinal cord in the physical realm. In the animal kingdom, we ascend through the fish, amphibians, and so on, up to the brain of vertebrates and humans. See under Notes.] In the spiritual realm, there is also a backbone where it is decided whether one will receive a spiritual brain. Human beings go through this process at this stage of development. They are lifted out of Kama and provided with a spiritual backbone in order to be raised into the vertebrae of the spiritual brain. The windings of the labyrinth are the same on the spiritual plane as the windings of the brain. Human beings are granted access to the labyrinth, to the windings within the higher planes.

[ 12 ] Then he had to swear secrecy; a naked sword lay before him and he had to swear the strongest oath. This meant that the human being would now remain silent about his experiences to those who were not initiated like him. These actual secrets cannot possibly be communicated without further ado. However, he [the initiate] had the opportunity to shape the legends in such a way that they were an expression of the eternal. If one could express oneself in this way, one naturally had great power over one's fellow human beings. Whoever shapes such a legend imprints something on the human mind. What is spoken in this way is forgotten again, and only the very little survives death. Eternal truths survive death the longest. Very little of the lower scientific survives death. The eternal does, and it reappears in a new incarnation.

[ 13 ] The Druid priest spoke from a higher plan. If his stories were the expression of higher truths, even if simple, they penetrated deeply into the souls. He had simple people before him, but the truths penetrated their souls and they absorbed something that will be reborn in new incarnations. At that time, people experienced fairy-tale truths; thus, we have a prepared spirit body today, and if we understand higher truths today, it is because we are prepared.

[ 14 ] Thus, this period, which ended in the year 60, prepared the spiritual life of Europe and laid the foundation on which Christianity could be built. Their 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 sworn his oath on the sword, he had to drink a certain beverage from a human skull. This signified that man had grown beyond the human. The Druid priest had to have this feeling toward the lower body. He had to feel what lived in the body so objectively, so coldly, that he regarded it only as a vessel. Then he was initiated into the higher mysteries and how he ascended again into the higher worlds. Baldur ... [gap]. He was led into a giant palace covered with sparkling swords. A man came toward him and threw out seven flowers. Heavenly space, cherubim, demiurge. — Thus he became a true sun priest.

[ 16 ] Many read the Edda and do not know that it is a narrative of what really happened in the ancient Drotten mysteries. An immense power lay in the hands of the ancient Drotten priests, over life and death. It is a truth that everything becomes corrupt over time. It was once the highest, most sacred thing. In the times when Christianity spread, much had degenerated and there were many black magicians, so that Christianity was like a salvation.

[ 17 ] The study of these ancient truths alone illustrates almost the whole of occultism.

[ 18 ] No stone was laid on top of another in the Druid temple as it is today, but according to precise astronomical measurements. Doors were built according to the measurements of the heavens. The Druid priests were the builders of humanity. A faint image of this has been preserved in the beliefs of the Freemasons.

[ 19 ] If you learn to see through astral matter, you see the sun at midnight: 1st initiation.

[ 20 ] Handing over the serpent: 2nd initiation.

[ 21 ] The walk through the labyrinth: 3rd initiation.