The Rudolf Steiner Archive

7. White and Black Magic

[ 1 ] A request has been made that we discuss what is commonly referred to as “white and black magic,” and that this be placed in the context of several other concepts familiar to theosophists.

[ 2 ] Now, what needs to be addressed here is a very broad and extensive field of occult and Spiritual Science inquiry, and it will therefore only be possible to touch upon, so to speak, a few fundamental aspects of this field. But even these necessitate the premise that what we are now considering must be received as if it were intended solely for students of Spiritual Science and not for anyone else who is not endowed with a spiritual-scientific mindset and way of thinking. One must make certain assumptions if one wishes to speak on such a topic.

[ 3 ] The terms “white and black magic” are often used, particularly in theosophical circles, and we encounter the label “black magician” all too frequently as an accusation, even from those active within the theosophical movement. Some of you will have heard it yourselves, how people have casually referred to this or that as “black magic.” Indeed, it even happened once that after reading our “Communications”—as I recall, it was the very first issue—people in a certain place said: What took place at that General Assembly and was reported in the “Communications” was the work of black magic. At the time, some people had actually asserted that there must have been an evil spell at work in the conduct of that General Assembly. This is just one example of something that occurs frequently and stems from a rather trivial understanding not only of the term “black magic,” but of the term “magic” in general.

[ 4 ] We must first clarify what is meant by “magic” in order to then understand what is meant by “black magic.” Many people believe the following: They say that one can acquire occult powers, and in doing so usually think of rather inferior, elementary occult powers. For usually those who speak of such things know nothing of higher occult powers; they generally have no mental image at all of what they are actually supposed to think of as occult powers. People usually add that someone who uses such powers in the service of personal selfishness is practicing black magic. Such a statement is one of those where one cannot even say it is wrong. But it also does not matter much whether one says it is right, for it says nothing of particular significance. It is the outgrowth of a completely abstract way of thinking. Anyone who wishes to speak of such things must, above all, stand firmly on the ground of reality, be it physical or spiritual reality; they must know what is real, and then they will no longer prattle on about all sorts of things that have no connection to reality.

[ 5 ] Is a statement such as this—that one should not use occult powers in the service of personal selfishness—not, in a certain sense, an impossible demand for people today? We must first answer this question. Admittedly, those who say this set forth as their first commandment: Thou shalt not be selfish! — Certainly, this is a supreme commandment. But for the person who thinks realistically, the issue is not that such commandments are established, but whether such commandments can be fulfilled at all. And anyone who believes that the commandment not to be selfish can be fulfilled so readily by people today is indulging in a very great illusion. Anyone who recognizes it as their duty to dispel illusions must also dispel the illusion that such a commandment can be easily fulfilled.

[ 6 ] Someone might come along and say: I want to work in the world in a completely selfless way! — At first, they cannot possibly know that among the forces with which they are working, there are a great many occult forces. Occult forces emanate from every human being. If someone says they want to work in the world in a selfless way, that is a very, very beautiful ideal. But if one tries to ask further: Why do you want to be selfless, why do you impose this commandment on yourself to be selfless? — one will receive strange answers, for example: Through selflessness I gradually ascend to higher levels of perfection; I cannot bear to be a worthless person; I want to be a person who is valuable in the world. — If one were to analyze this feeling, one would discover that behind the reasons for selflessness often lies the most incredible selfishness, often a much greater selfishness than is found in people who do not want to be selfless at all, but simply indulge their selfish instincts. Think this through, and you will see how much selfishness lies in the urge toward selflessness.

[ 7 ] And how could it be otherwise? Selfishness is a force that was not implanted in human nature by the gods so that humans might simply deny or reject it. Selfishness is, in fact, one of the most essential things through which humans act. When we investigate the reasons for selfishness, when we ask ourselves: Why did the gods, the benevolent gods, implant selfishness in human beings? — since this is something so abhorrent in the view of so many people — we receive the answer, born of true occultism, that selfishness is a tremendous protection against what would happen to human beings in the world if they did not possess this selfishness. Do you know what best protects human beings from employing certain truly evil forces, which we will speak of shortly? It would be easy today for someone who wished to practice black magic to take on a disciple and teach that disciple certain techniques and machinations of true black magic; they would be able to work in the most horrific way imaginable. But most people will not do this so readily. And do you know why not? For the simple reason that they are afraid—afraid for their own personalities. They sense a little of the consequences in their minds and selfishly fear them. And it is quite good that they are afraid and therefore leave the matter alone. If, at the beginning of Earth’s evolution, people had been given equal access to all the forces available to act upon the astral, the etheric, and the physical bodies, then these people would have done terrible things in the world. But instead, they have been given egoism, and this leads people to care first and foremost only for themselves, and to be completely absorbed in caring for themselves. Like a protective wall, the gods have erected egoism around human beings. It is egoism that veils human insight into the things that lie beyond the world of appearances. It is extremely important to consider this. It is one of the wise restraining mechanisms that the gods have put in place so that human beings do not penetrate too quickly into the spiritual realms. This, then, is egoism; it is a good means of protection.

[ 8 ] So one should not throw such words around lightly, for there is still a long way to go before a person can become selfless, before they are ready for selflessness. There is no need to be reminded of how all preaching about selflessness looks so strange, especially in our age—the age of egoism raised to the highest power—where everyone wants to grab as much as possible of what is established in the social order. This “selflessness” leads to surrounding oneself entirely with a whirlwind of illusions. You would not believe it, unless you think deeply about how people today wrap themselves in a whirlwind of illusions, how, particularly through “theories,” our contemporaries allow themselves to be enveloped in a whirlwind of illusions. Social theories are formulated and preached by professors and non-professors alike. But a large part of the theories regarding the social remedies for the body of society are nothing more than an outflow of “Psychopathia professoralis.” You can observe in practice how people think and act wrongly. Where in any society or community can you not observe people pondering this or that remedy, for example against unemployment? Where there is unemployment, there is hunger. But how do we go about remedying this? Then the decision is made: We must give people work. — And now they invent something to give people work, to keep them occupied, so they can earn money and buy whatever they want. This seems like a very effective way to avert social harm: giving people work. But it is a very dangerous approach to give people work at any cost, as long as one does not distinguish between productive and unproductive work. As long as one does not make this distinction between productive and unproductive employment, this is actually a terrible measure in its effect on society. Consider the extreme case: Someone wanted, because in a certain area where a number of people had lost their livelihoods due to the invention of a new machine, to quickly provide these people with work and bread. He invents a product where he uses worthless waste products for toiletries. People can then earn a little money and buy bread. — But this is merely a means of shifting poverty from one side to the other, for nothing at all is produced in this way, nothing is created. Everyone can consider this for themselves using the following example: Someone sits down in a restaurant out in the countryside and says, “Waiter, give me ten postcards!” and sends them off, without considering how many mail carriers will have to climb four or five flights of stairs as a result, and without considering that this sets no real force in motion in the world. One doesn’t even consider that nothing real, nothing that benefits the mind and body, is achieved by this. If you tell this to the person in question, they will of course have an excuse. They might say, for example, that new mail carriers could be hired, which would provide work for more people. But they don’t consider at all that, if new people are hired there, their work creates nothing new, but merely redistributes poverty. This shows that people must first understand the distribution of labor on Earth before they can begin with even the smallest reformist idea. Ignorance that seeks to reform is a terrible thing in the context of the world. It is terrible that people often lack the patience to wait until they have learned to gain some perspective on how to help, but instead engage in club-like agitation to make this or that happen. These are all illusions with which people surround themselves. And it is also such an illusion when, in trivial theosophy, people speak of selflessness. If we wish to learn about white and black magic, we must first bring to mind some of the concept of “magic,” about which those who have heard the recent lectures already know something. I have also briefly touched upon the nature of magic in public.

[ 9 ] What, then, is magic? In all ancient occult schools, there were three ways to ascend to the highest realms of knowledge. The first was that of the initiate, the second was that of the clairvoyant, and the third was that of the magician. These are three fundamentally different things: initiation, clairvoyance, and magic. Let us first clarify, through a simple comparison, what an initiate is, what a clairvoyant is, and what a magician is. Imagine any region where people are unfamiliar with railroads, steamships, and so on—where people live without railroads and steamships. In such a region, the very fact that railroads and steamships exist is pure occultism. Occult means something like secret, something people know nothing about. Now, if someone from a region where there are no railroads and so on travels to another region where he sees railroads and steamships, and he then returns to his homeland, he tells his people that railroads and steamships exist. He knows this from his own experience, for he has glimpsed a world that is still a mystery to the others.

[ 10 ] Anyone who is initiated into the higher worlds through occult training is, in this respect, a clairvoyant. They know from personal experience that spiritual worlds, spiritual beings, and spiritual forces exist. The spiritual worlds have different levels. A person may be a clairvoyant at one level, seeing some phenomena but not others. Now you must recall something that has often been said here: Clairvoyance is necessary for discovering and independently investigating occult truths. But clairvoyance is not necessary for understanding these truths. Ordinary human reason is sufficient for this, provided it is applied correctly and comprehensively enough. Anyone who says that they can only understand what is communicated in occult reports if they were a clairvoyant is simply not using their reason sufficiently. A person cannot discover occult truths with their reason, but they can comprehend them. Everything that is recounted through spiritual research can be understood if one is only willing to think deeply. However, one cannot discover the occult truths without clairvoyance; that requires clairvoyance. Thus, what is proclaimed through Theosophy could also be understood by those who think deeply about it.

[ 11 ] One can hear accounts of these matters, even from the highest realms of occult experience, and one can then come to understand them. Thus, in the occult schools there were always clairvoyants who, through the methods employed there, learned to look into the spiritual worlds. These were often very laborious methods. But alongside these clairvoyants, there were always initiates as well. These were the ones who, through their comprehensive and willingly applied intellectual powers, had grasped the facts and laws of the higher worlds. These were the initiates. Today, this relationship between initiates and clairvoyants is hardly possible anymore, because today every person is afflicted by the great egoism of wanting to see for themselves. People today can scarcely conceive of the love and trust that prevailed in the occult schools of antiquity. There was the clairvoyant who, perhaps through many incarnations, selflessly applied these methods and trained himself to look into the higher worlds, who could see much in these higher worlds, and who refrained from learning the laws of these higher worlds, so as not to be held back by laws, but rather to render a greater service to humanity through a more rapid development of clairvoyant abilities. This self-denial is not so easily undertaken. It is a great and mighty undertaking when anyone resolves to become a clairvoyant without simultaneously learning the entire nature of the laws governing the higher worlds; and if he waits—perhaps for thousands of years—until he achieves this, he can do so only on the condition that he places himself under the strict guidance of a chosen guru or teacher. For if they were to approach the matters of the spiritual world as mere clairvoyants, without knowing its laws, they would soon stray onto the wrong path and fall into the most grievous errors, unless they accepted the guru’s counsel in all important matters.

[ 12 ] There were others who chose not to develop higher clairvoyant gifts at all, because they wished to be initiated into the laws of the higher worlds. They trusted with love and devotion what the seers told them, but they knew the laws. To explain this, one can cite an example from the ordinary world. Imagine a person who sees exceptionally well, who can perceive all manner of phenomena with his eyes, but who understands nothing of the laws governing light phenomena. And imagine another person who is very nearsighted and can barely see a few centimeters in front of his eyes, but who knows the physical laws of light phenomena well. The two can work well together; one knows the laws, the other knows them not at all, but in return he sees the phenomena. And this applies even more so to the higher realms. It is possible for someone to become an initiate of a higher degree without claiming to possess clairvoyant powers. It was quite common in the ancient occult schools for these two classes to exist side by side. The clairvoyants willingly accepted the advice of initiates who were not clairvoyant at all. This was particularly necessary in cases where a high degree of clairvoyance and a high degree of initiation were required, such as for everything pertaining to the field of astrology. It was the case that those who wished to master the complex laws of astrology comprehensively generally had to forgo the high level of clairvoyance that astral clairvoyants had to acquire. They complemented one another. Only in more recent times, when people think and feel materialistically, must one realize that it is impossible to strictly separate these two fields; and therefore, since the 14th century, no distinction has been made between the two classes, so that the teacher no longer grants an initiation to anyone without simultaneously imparting a certain degree of clairvoyance. There is no other way, because it would be entirely incompatible with the selfishness and distrust that prevail today. Therefore, no distinction is made between the two anymore, for people today are simply incapable of being selfless.

[ 13 ] However, the magician differs from both the clairvoyant and the initiate. For someone who can look into the higher worlds does not necessarily follow that he can already master and apply the forces that act within the physical world. Or do you believe that a person who has brought knowledge of the locomotive, the steamship, and the steam engine to a region could now immediately build such a machine? He can describe to them what such things look like, but he will not immediately know how to build them. The fact that the clairvoyant can see into the higher worlds does not mean that he also knows how to master and apply the forces that act upon the sensory world. Only he is a magician or adept who knows how to apply the higher forces—of which all physical events are an expression—in the world here; that is, who is capable not only of consulting the physical forces and powers when it comes to any matter in his work, but who can also allow the higher forces to act. In our time, being a magician or adept is actually no small matter. There is no period in human development that has been as thoroughly opposed to magicianhood or adeptship as our present age is. And today, under certain circumstances, one best serves humanity by limiting oneself to spreading the knowledge of the higher worlds, and—perhaps with a heavy heart—refraining from using magical powers even in cases where their application might be appropriate. For public life today is so alien to the concept of magicianhood that, under certain circumstances, the influence of the higher worlds on our world would constitute a setback if magical powers were applied directly. Anyone who has a certain degree of practice in the application of these powers, and who has mastered not only the knowledge but also the mechanism, must in certain cases refrain from applying these powers, for the simple reason that it is impossible today to swim against the current of the times in the world. To be a magician requires not only clairvoyance and initiation; to be a magician also requires practice. That is what is at stake. The magician must, through long periods of self-denial, master certain tasks; he must practice. Just think for a moment how much you can know—even in the physical world—without being in a position to actually carry out what you can describe, what you know something about. You may be initiated into many things. You may know exactly how a locomotive is constructed, but no one would immediately commission you to build one, since they would risk throwing money out the window. It is the same in the higher realms. Practice makes the magician; perception in the higher worlds makes the clairvoyant; knowledge and understanding of the laws in the higher worlds make the initiate.

[ 14 ] In times past, it was absolutely forbidden to perform any magical act without being in harmony with the leaders of the world, the “Earth Government,” who are also known as the great masters of the so-called White Lodge. All occult schools, all schools that exist at all, and all teachings can only be the lowest step toward higher development; upon this, ever higher and higher steps must be built, all the way up to the actual leaders of Earth’s development. At the highest level are those who not only know the wisdom but who “govern” the Earth in its development, who allow the wisdom to flow into Earth’s development. They alone are capable of determining, for every single action based on spiritual forces, whether it disrupts the overall context or does not disrupt it. If you build a house and provide the blueprint for it, every single worker on the house must work in accordance with the blueprint. And if someone comes along and decides to make a window differently than what is specified in the blueprint, no matter how beautiful or magnificent that window may be, the entire house is disrupted. If anyone in the world wishes to accomplish something through spiritual forces, no matter how significant or magnificent it may be—if it does not fit into the original plan of Earth’s development, it disrupts that development and sometimes sets it back by a long time. It is impossible for a person who does not apply spiritual forces to disrupt this plan of Earth’s development. And why not? Because, with regard to spiritual powers, what people do without knowledge of the higher worlds behaves like a natural phenomenon toward a house. What is ruined by the weather—through heat and sunlight—in a house must be ruined; that is, in a certain sense, self-evident. So too do the intentions of those who have no connection to the higher world behave. But the actions of those who have some connection to the higher worlds—when they do something that is not in harmony with the spiritual world—behave as if someone were striking an object with a hammer. What, then, is necessary for the progress of the human race to take place? When occult forces are applied, it is absolutely necessary that the connection with the central spiritual powers of the world be maintained, and it is absolutely necessary that spiritual forces not be entrusted to anyone who does not wish to seek this connection. This is why, in all genuine occult schools, secrecy reigns regarding the imparting of spiritual powers, and why such secrets are not entrusted to anyone who does not commit to maintaining the connection with the leading spiritual beings. Only the “central government” of the Earth possesses the ability to know what is at stake. And this must be known if one wishes to apply spiritual powers. If one discloses anything to another in an unauthorized manner, whereby that other may place themselves in opposition to the great plan of Earth’s evolution, then one commits the first type of black magic. Therefore, the following principle applies: The first act of black magic is the betrayal of occult secrets. Gossiping and divulging occult secrets is the first instance of black magic, for in doing so you hand over the occult secrets to those who oppose the central guidance of Earth’s development, because you do not understand the context. Where does this occur, where does it become a reality? It becomes a reality wherever occult secrets are put into practice not in the service of the entire Earth’s leadership, but in the service of some limited body that wishes to have no connection with the Earth’s leadership serving humanity. So, for example, if a person is given those things that they may only use once they have transcended all national and racial prejudices, but instead applies them before having transcended these prejudices and before having any inkling of what it means to be a “homeless human being,” then exactly the same thing that is otherwise white magic passes into the service of black magic. Exactly the same thing. When that which is meant to serve humanity is used in the service of a separate race, for example to secure that race’s supremacy over the Earth, then that is black magic on a grand scale, for it does not occur in harmony with the Earth’s guidance. This is the first requirement: to transcend that which connects us only to a part of humanity. For a white magician today, this is the first principle. A person cannot strive for selflessness, but for love for all of humanity. They can expand the scope of their love. They can do this, and that is what it is all about.

[ 15 ] However, it happens very often that people try to use various schemes to force others to reveal something that would otherwise never be disclosed to them. Now we come to the actual methods, to the machinations that must be carried out in order to acquire black magical powers. This is something that can certainly be described in great detail. You have seen the first means, the first way, to acquire black magical powers; it is to have the means revealed to you by the appointed forces and beings. Yes, what exactly are these magical means? They are that through which we can use the spiritual forces to act here in the sensory world, to achieve results and successes here. These are such means. But there are, in fact, no other effects in the sensory world than those that emanate from the spiritual worlds. All effects, successes, and deeds in the sensory world originate from the spiritual worlds. Therefore, anyone who wishes to attain these things without following the proper path of gradual study—through those who are initiates, clairvoyants, or even adepts and magicians—can only choose another path, and that consists in turning, instead of to human beings—who are the incarnations of higher spiritual beings—to nature itself, and attempting to discern from nature the manner in which spiritual forces have flowed into it. For everything that is in nature flows into it from the spiritual worlds, and through certain manipulations and actions we can once again discern these spiritual forces in nature. Now, at the very moment when, with regard to that which we do not know, we do not let nature act, but instead carry out what we will ourselves—that is, act ourselves where we know nothing—at that very moment we are also capable of acquiring powers from the realm of black magic. If we do not wish to arrive at the inner forces of nature by the roundabout way of wisdom and insight, and if we avoid everything that occurs through wisdom and insight on the path of developing the inner forces, but instead choose other means, then through these other means we are always on the path to black-magical practices, to black magic.

[ 16 ] You see, anyone who wanted to become a black magician today would, from the very start, have a great deal of material for black magic rituals if he were a terrible coward, filled with dreadful fear of everything that might happen to him. Such fear within a person is a very good starting point for the black magician, for this fear is nothing but compressed egoism. Suppose, for a moment, that some person intends to practice black magic on a large scale. He would first look around the world for individuals who are as cowardly as possible. For this reservoir of fear is a good means that can be reshaped and transformed so that the cowardly individuals in question acquire certain other powers and strength, without knowledge or insight, to a much greater extent than a person can otherwise possess. What would such a sorcerer, who wished to possess such arts, have to do? He would first have to set up a laboratory in which he trained these cowards—I am speaking radically, but this will make it clearest to you—to harden themselves completely by having them continually cut into living flesh and watching blood flow. What manifests outwardly as a certain power in the feelings of fear that the coward possesses to a high degree can be transformed into something opposite if one teaches people to harden themselves by cutting into living flesh. In a person who has no fear, this procedure would be of no use at all.

[ 17 ] This is, so to speak, the ABC, the very first thing done in black magic. And once that is done, what was once fear within a person would be transformed into powers through which he could indeed gain a certain influence over his surroundings; and whoever made use of such assistants would be able to commit the most unbelievable atrocities in the world. But whoever wishes to become a great black magician on his own, without assistants, sometimes does something quite different. One such black magician once sought to become a man of the 15th century: Gilles de Rais, whom the secular world called “Knight Bluebeard.” This man sought to acquire immense occult powers, not through the legitimate path of learning, but by transforming certain deeply rooted selfish feelings within himself. He was, at the same time, an excellent observer of himself. Forgive me if I utter a word that will sound strange. This man was what one might call “the most radical Christian egoist” or “an egoistic Christian.” For such people have existed and still exist. They are those who view Christianity above all as a bridge to gain as much as possible for themselves, because it is clear to them that a good Christian can go far in bliss. Through self-knowledge, he noticed this in his nature, and once he had noticed it in himself, he already knew the best means by which one can transform it into incredible magical powers. His activities were, however, put to an end early on. He was put on trial, and it emerged that the man had begun in 1432 to murder one child after another in order to develop his special occult powers. He regarded the destruction of life as a special means of eavesdropping on nature to gain knowledge he could not possess himself. As the trial revealed, the man murdered 800 children in a short period of time. Now some of you who have read Mabel Collins’ novel Flita: The True Story of a Black Magician will understand why a murder appears at the beginning. It is part of the story. The novel “Flita” was written by someone who knows this. What the black sorceress wanted could only have developed under the influence of this murder, which stands at the starting point of the narrative.

[ 18 ] Now consider this story very seriously, and ask yourself what could protect most people from the procedures I have described to you, through which a person could most certainly be led to master the powers of black magic. Selfishness is a very good means of protecting oneself against this. Not everyone will be able to bring themselves to cut into living flesh; most people would faint at the thought, and fainting is nothing other than an expression of self-interest. So even in its physical effect, this is a good means of being deterred from practicing black magic. It is also difficult to become a Knight Bluebeard; most people are protected from this by their perfectly healthy egoism; it acts as a barrier against immersing oneself in the means of acquiring black magic powers.

[ 19 ] Well, you see, I only wanted to mention that so as not to speak in clichés. That’s not my style. I prefer to talk about real facts. I wanted to use examples to show you what the practice of black magic entails. The betrayal of occult secrets to the uninitiated is the first and simplest form. But such acts, as I have just described them, belong to the teaching methods of black magic; they are, so to speak, the ABCs. And what comes after these ABCs—what black magic students are taught to “read”—if I were to tell you that, then several of you here would probably faint. Therefore, we’d better stop at this first stage. These things are by no means something to be trifled with, not even in words; they are something of the utmost seriousness; and they are—unfortunately, all too widespread in the world—things that people do not know. Most people have no desire whatsoever to consider how these things are spread throughout the world.

[ 20 ] Now, the development of such things is intimately connected with, and closely related to, the entire development of the Earth—indeed, to the development of a planet in general— and we can only understand such a matter correctly when we have an inkling of the fact that a planet exerts a spiritual influence on its successor, on the next planet—just as, for example, the Moon exerted an influence on the Earth, and just as the Earth, in turn, exerts an influence on its successor, Jupiter. You all know that the Earth is guided in a certain way by the so-called “White Lodge,” in which certain highly developed human individualities are united with individualities of an even higher order. What do they do there? They work; they guide the development of the Earth. While guiding the Earth’s development, they work out a very specific plan. It is indeed the case that during the development of every planet, a specific plan is drawn up by the guiding powers. As the Earth develops, the plan for the specific nature of Jupiter—which will succeed the Earth—is established in the Earth’s so-called “White Lodge.” The entire plan is worked out in every detail. And therein lies the blessing and salvation of further development: that action is taken in accordance with this plan. When a planetary development comes to an end—that is, when our Earth has reached the end of its planetary development—then the Masters of Wisdom and Harmony of Feelings will also have completed the plan they have drawn up for Jupiter.

[ 21 ] And now, at the end of such a planetary evolution, something most peculiar occurs. This plan is simultaneously infinitely reduced and infinitely multiplied through a specific procedure, so that an infinite number of copies of the entire Jupiter plan exist—but in miniature form. It was the same on the Moon. The plan for Earth’s evolution was there, infinitely multiplied and infinitely reduced. And do you know what it is that was worked out by the Masters of Wisdom on the Moon back then? These are the atoms, the atoms of the Earth. And it is the atoms of Jupiter’s evolution whose plan is being worked out by the leading “White Lodge” on our planet. That is the true atom, and all other talk of an atom is nothing. Only he recognizes the atom of a planet who recognizes in it the reduced plan of the planet’s development. If you wish to gradually recognize this atom that underlies the Earth, then the very measures emanating from the great magicians of the world will present themselves to you for the recognition of this atom. Now, of course, we can only speak of these things in hints, but we can at least learn something that gives us an idea of what is at stake here. The Earth is, in a certain sense, composed of these atoms of its own, and every being—all of you yourselves—are, in a certain sense, composed of such atoms; and you are thereby in harmony with the entire development of the Earth, in that you carry within you, in infinite number, the miniature plan of the Earth planet that was worked out earlier. This Earth plan could only be worked out on the previous planetary state of our Earth, on the Moon—that is, on the planet that preceded our Earth’s development—through the work of leading beings in harmony with the entire planetary development of Saturn, the Sun, the Moon, and so on. Now, however, the task is to impart to the infinite number of atoms that which brings them into the right relationships, arranging them in the proper way. It was only possible for the leading spirits of the Moon to impart this to them if they guided Earth’s development along very specific paths. I have, of course, described the paths into which they steered Earth’s development on many occasions. When the Earth re-emerged after the Moon’s development, it was not yet the Earth we know today. It was Earth plus Sun plus Moon. These were a single body. So if you were to mix today’s Earth with the Moon and the Sun and make a single body out of them, you would have what the Earth was at the beginning of its development. First, the Sun separated from the Earth, and with it separated all those forces that were too subtle, too spiritual for humanity; under their influence, humanity would have become spiritualized too quickly. If humanity had been under the influence only of the forces contained within this Sun-Moon-Earth body, then it would have spiritualized very rapidly; it would not have developed down into physical materiality, and it would not have been able to attain its own self-consciousness, an “I”-consciousness, which it had to attain.

[ 22 ] You all know that there is such a thing as imaginative insight and occult symbols [in which imaginative insight is expressed]. I can only give you two occult symbols at this time. To discuss more would take us too far afield. The occult symbol for those forces that would have acted and set the course for the entire development of the Earth if the Sun had remained united with the Earth—that is, the occult symbol for those forces that would have spiritualized the Earth too soon—is this: In this symbol, the occult student can recognize the forces that would have led humanity rapidly toward spirituality. In contrast, if humanity had separated itself from the Sun along with the entire Earth but remained united with the Moon, it would very quickly have fallen prey to ossification and hardening. Had the Earth retained the Moon within itself, human beings would very soon have become a kind of puppet—marionettes. They would have descended too deeply into matter, just as they would have spiritualized too rapidly on the other hand if the Sun had remained connected to the Earth. Therefore, the Moon had to be separated from the Earth. And all those forces that were expelled and that today rule from the Moon and act upon the Earth from the outside—all these forces are symbolically represented in this sign, which looks like a double hook. This is the sign of the beast or the lamb with two horns from the Apocalypse.

[ 23 ] One sign is called Nachiel, the other Sorat. This second sign is also known as the sign of the Earth Demonium. All those powers which the black magician develops through the use of such abominable methods lead, in an occult manner, to an increase on Earth of the forces belonging to the Earth’s demonic nature, forces that lead to the hardening of the Earth. If many people were to become black magicians, the result would be that the Earth would become increasingly similar to the Moon, whereas, on the other hand, through the forces of white magic, the Earth will become increasingly similar to the forces of the Sun, the forces contained in the sun’s rays.

[ 24 ] So what would the prevalence of black magic on our Earth lead to? It would lead to the hardening of the globe, to the globe becoming a moon. The same forces that were separated from the moon—forces that had developed from the substance of the Earth—are still present as potential within the Earth’s layers. Alongside all the forces that have the potential to become solar forces, there are also still forces present that have the potential to become lunar forces. Through white magic, the Earth is brought ever closer to the nature of the Sun; through the forces of black magic, it is brought closer to the nature of the Moon. Through white magic, everything must be overcome that does not lead, through the path of enlightenment and wisdom, to the mastery of spiritual forces. For all such procedures, such activities, as they have been called, do not lead to the mastery of spiritual powers through the path of wisdom, of insight, or through genuine inner looking; rather, they are eavesdropped upon from nature, by engaging in machinations and procedures with it through which powers are to be attained without enlightenment. Thus, the apocalyptic seal is in fact simultaneously the sign of the overcoming of black magic by white magic. Through the human powers that are transformed, solar powers are born from the human being himself, so that the lunar powers lie at the feet of man.

[ 25 ] This is the path the magician must take on our Earth. Then the forces pass through the nine stages—which you will come to understand when you read my Theosophy—to the nine stars. So what must the true black magician say to his disciple? Very simply:

Just scorn reason and science,
Let yourself be emboldened by the spirit of lies
Through illusions and sorcery,
And I’ve got you in my grasp!—
Fate has given him a spirit,
That ever presses forward unbridled
And whose hasty striving
Leaps over the earth’s delights.
I’ll drag him through the wild life,
Through shallow insignificance,
He shall squirm, stare, cling to me,
And his insatiability
Shall have food and drink hover before his greedy lips:
He will beg in vain for refreshment,
And even if he had not surrendered himself to the devil,
He would still be doomed to perish!

[ 26 ] This is what it comes down to: whether one attains mastery of spiritual powers through the path of knowledge or by some other means. Reaching the highest levels of spiritual power, however, is by no means easy. It would be easy—incredibly easy—and here we come to a very subtle chapter concerning, on the one hand, human development and, on the other, magic—it would be easy simply to wait until all people were capable of seeing things clearly, which they must first come to understand before they can progress along the path of magical development. Under certain circumstances, that would be quite easy. But then one would be delaying the course of human development. It must be possible, in some way, to place the dissemination of occult truths—and in a certain sense this is always also a matter of disseminating occult powers—into the hands of human beings themselves, and to use these in such a way that they have the right effect in the world. People must be given access to occult truths and teachings on a larger scale so that they can, in a certain sense, become occult teachers.

[ 27 ] One might well ask: But isn’t everyone who disseminates occult teachings, in a certain sense, a black magician? It is certainly true that someone who disseminates occult teachings today can easily become a black magician. This is especially true if they are incapable of grasping the full scope of the effects of their occult teachings. Therefore, occult schools must ensure that no one who is not capable, through their own development, of grasping the scope and effect of occult truths actually disseminates occult teachings. Today, occult teachings can be disseminated by one student repeating after another or copying from them. If the person in question wishes to be a student or disciple, that is quite acceptable, for in doing so they are transmitting the original teachings they have heard. But let us consider the case where someone would disseminate occult teachings independently and even interject their own judgment. If someone wishes to disseminate occult truths independently, then above all, precautions must be taken to ensure that this person possesses the maturity to disseminate occult truths independently, and this does not depend on intellectual training; rather, the occult schools make it dependent on something entirely different, namely, how the individual aspects of human nature develop gradually.

[ 28 ] You know from the essay on “The Education of the Child” that at birth the physical body is born, that by the age of seven the etheric body emerges, by the age of fourteen the astral body, and by the age of twenty-one the I. We can follow this further and would see that by the age of thirty-five, or rather between the ages of thirty-five and forty, the etheric body and the astral body of the human being become sufficiently free that only then can the person possess the necessary sense of responsibility for the dissemination of occult truths. That is why all occult schools have the strict rule that no one may act as a teacher of occult truths before reaching this age. And it is this very law that the great poet Dante set forth when, right at the beginning of his poem The Divine Comedy, he says: “It was in the middle of the journey of our life that I found myself in a dark wood…” and so on. If you do the math: In the year 1300, Dante was thirty-five years old. That is when all these great things passed by his soul.

[ 29 ] This is a strict law. If you take a look at this strict law and consider some of what is happening in the present, you will simply realize, from this perspective, that much of what is being disseminated does not originate from occult sources. No occult school allows people to independently disseminate occult truths before they have reached this age. This does not, of course, mean that one cannot start learning early enough. But to act as a teacher of the occult, one cannot start late enough. Much, much harm would be avoided if people truly knew the occult and the strict laws that govern it.

[ 30 ] These are things one must bear in mind when dealing with the subject of “white and black magic,” which is not an easy topic to address, and about which I have really only touched on a few points. If you explore some of what could only be hinted at here further in your meditation and serious study, you will see that even these imperfect hints provide the first steps toward various paths for advancing in knowledge. Above all, you will have become convinced that one cannot speak of such things as white and black magic at all using ordinary, trivial terms, that one must even first formulate new terms if one wishes to speak of such lofty or such abominable things. It is important today to know such things, for there is much in the world of which the ordinary person knows nothing, yet which he ought to know so that he may save himself from the influences of the magical arts. There are some things that people know, yet regard as harmless. But they are by no means harmless.

[ 31 ] When discussing such a topic, we can only make a start, and then continue to make further progress in this area. The best way to begin is by conveying a sense of the gravity and significance of such a matter. Although the explanations could only be incomplete given the limited time, I hope that, because we spoke frankly, some of this has resonated with you, prompting you to view the matter with the utmost seriousness.