The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. The Rosicrucian Initiation

[ 1 ] Last time we spoke about Oriental-Indian and Christian-Gnostic initiation, and today we would like to examine European Rosicrucian initiation.

[ 2 ] Occult training is not a one-size-fits-all process: the individual can only develop by having their individuality taken into account. The student must have already reached a stage where they no longer feel the need to criticize. Therefore, they must first learn what there is to know about the existence of hierarchies in the spiritual worlds. There is no democratic principle here. The student must either follow the rules or refrain from the training. These things are not merely invented; they have been tested not by a few, but by many, and have been adapted by the Rosicrucian sages to the current stage of human development.

[ 3 ] The first stage is study. In Eastern training, the strictest submission to the teacher’s authority is required. There exists a personal emotional bond between the individual and the teacher. The student not only believes in the teacher’s words but also takes a deep personal interest in the teacher himself. The Rosicrucian student—in contrast to other methods—must also find the right path in external life. This training is not merely about moral conduct and knowledge, but also about a strength grounded in trust. For this relationship to develop, the course of study must come first. The elementary teachings of Spiritual Science form a good foundation. When one frees oneself from suggestions, the sensory mind can perceive the truth of the Spiritual Science teachings. If the rigidity of guidance is to be eliminated, the student must develop sound thinking. Thinking remains with the student; perception changes. Only on the Buddha plane does thinking also change. Study is therefore the first stage.

[ 4 ] The second stage is imagination. Everything transitory is merely a parable—the student must feel this deeply in everything. He must sense the illusion of a limited world. The outer world must appear to the student as a parable. The rose is a symbol of beauty; the autumn crocus symbolizes melancholy. And so it is with all plants.

[ 5 ] The third stage is the reading of occult script. Instruction in occult script draws attention to the fact that currents fill the world, flowing in various directions. The script depicts these currents of the world in its lines. For example, a vortex is represented by a drawing such as this:

[ 6 ] In this vortex, one current is red and the other is blue. They also represent arterial and venous blood. Another important symbol is the serpentine staff, the staff of Mercury.

[ 7 ] [The Greek letter epsilon, our “E,”] originated from this. Writing characters in the dust, as Jesus Christ did in the biblical story of the woman caught in adultery, means that Jesus used the mystical sign to put the crowd’s accusation into the proper form.

[ 8 ] The fourth stage is the attainment of a rhythm of life. The schedule of our schools today is perhaps the only rhythm in contemporary cultural life. The original rhythm had to give way to chaos so that human beings could create a new rhythm through their own efforts. Breathing in a certain way is the effort to bring rhythm into oneself.

[ 9 ] The fifth stage is the correspondence between the microcosm and the macrocosm. For example, when a person concentrates on the eye with a specific mental image, they can allow the experiences of the cosmos to flow through their soul. The “I” once descended into the human being. The etheric head drew into the physical head in such a way that two points touched and connected with one another. One point is between the eyebrows, at the root of the nose; the other lies at the suture on the top of the skull that closes in childhood.

[ 10 ] The sixth stage is that of contemplation. The Higher Self speaks to us through the spiritual power of Jupiter and Venus. There are, in fact, theosophists who refer to this Higher Self as their “higher self.” However, this is an ideal that has not yet been attained.

[ 11 ] The seventh stage is godliness. It also manifests itself outwardly as the blossoming of a purified inner life.

[ 12 ] What happens to a person once they have ascended these seven stages? They have then transformed the four members of the human being. Once the spiritual student had passed through these stages, they were admitted to the higher initiations. The initiate must gain complete mastery over his soul qualities. He must reach a point where he can consciously alter even his movements, his handwriting, and his gait. When he has transformed his etheric body, it becomes Buddhi. When he has transformed his movements, he has already developed Atma. The spiritual student begins to consciously take this work into his own hands. He can then imprint what he has acquired psychically into the etheric body. The refinement of everything contained in the astral body is an immensely important moment. He cannot cast off its desires in any Kamaloka.

[ 13 ] In pre-Christian initiation, the initiate was put into a lethargic sleep. During this process, something similar to falling asleep took place. When falling asleep, the astral body emerges from the physical body and the etheric body. During the initiatory sleep, however, the astral body and the etheric body emerged from the physical body, which then lay as if dead, like one lying in a grave. The hierophant gave him, as a parting message for his awakening on his flight into the spiritual world, the words: “My God, my God, how you have transfigured me!”—The Holy Spirit, hovering in the ether as a dove above the physical body, is the image of this mystery. You have set this mystery before the world in the Gospel of John.

[ 14 ] The raising of Lazarus is an initiation. “John” means: “he who proclaims the Buddhi.” The names of the apostles stem from their relationships to Christ Jesus, which is highly interesting. When the sun was in the sign of Leo, the heart took shape. Because each organ came into being with a new constellation, twelve forces also formed within the human being. Accordingly, we also have twelve apostles surrounding the representative of humanity. And Judas Iscariot brings death. In the Gospel of John, the mother of Jesus is actually named Sophia, meaning “Wisdom.”

[ 15 ] When Lazarus-John was raised from the dead, he had been in a state of initiatory sleep for three days: During that time, he gained insight into the spiritual world. John is the heart; Peter is the earth, the rock; Judas Iscariot is the representative of selfishness and the bringer of death.

[ 16 ] The robe, which cannot be divided during the crucifixion, symbolizes the indivisible circle of air.

[ 17 ] Another profound passage in the Gospel of John is: “Whoever eats my bread will trample me underfoot.” The moral elevation of humanity results in a physical transformation of the Earth. The significance of Christianity is so great because the physical, the physiological, and the moral all interplay within it.

[ 18 ] Jesus wrote the adulteress’s guilt into the ground with his finger. In doing so, he indicated that all human guilt is recorded in the Akashic Records. What emerges from this in the Akashic Records is connected to Christ. The Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgment to the Son. The Son represents earthly karma; Christ is the enlivening and ultimate eradication of karma.