Rudolf Steiner - The Occult Truths of Myths and Legends: Greek and Germanic Mythology: Richard Wagner in the Light of Spiritual Science

GREEK AND GERMANIC MYTHOLOGY RICHARD WAGNER IN THE LIGHT OF SPIRITUAL SCIENCE

Sixteen lectures given in Berlin, Cologne and Nuremberg in 1904, 1905 and 1907 (from audience notes)

TRANSLATED AND INTRODUCED BY PAUL KING

RUDOLF STEINER

RUDOLF STEINER PRESS

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Published by Rudolf Steiner Press 2022

Originally published in German under the title Die okkulten Wahrheiten alter Mythen und Sagen (volume 92 in the Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe or Collected Works) by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach. Based on shorthand notes that were not reviewed or revised by the speaker. This authorized translation is based on the first German edition (1999), edited by Helmuth von Wartburg and Ulla Trapp

Published by permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach

Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Rudolf Steiner Verlag 1999

This translation Rudolf Steiner Press 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 85584 639 5

Cover by Morgan Creative
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BERLIN, 24 JUNE 1904

Good and Evil

Events in the physical world as the shadow of spiritual happenings on higher planes. Good and evil as corresponds, or does not correspond, to human evolution. Christianity introduced by taking into account the developmental stage of the different peoples. The monotheism of Mohammedanism established as counterbalance to the existing religious forms, but connected to emergent natural science. Reverberations of Atlantean Tao-culture in Chinese religion. The shaman Attila as an anachronistic representative of that culture.

Pages 3-8

BERLIN, 1 JULY 1904

Reading the Akasha Chronicle. Wolfram von Eschenbach

The ability to shut off the Ego in the process of thinking as a prerequisite for reading the Akashic Chronicle. How this was practised by medieval monks. Wolfram von Eschenbach as an inspired writer. The transition to a scientific view of the physical world through Copernicus. The significance of the Masters and their emissaries. The occult meaning of the Lohengrin legend and its portrayal by Richard Wagner.

Pages 9-14

BERLIN, 8 JULY 1904

Sacramentalism. Daedalus and Icarus

The meaning of the myths of Daedalus and Icarus, of Talus, and Theseus. The founding of Rome and the seven Roman kings. The nature of sacramentalism. The arising and sacramental efficacy of fire.

Pages 15-21

BERLIN, 15 JULY 1904

Germanic Mythology

The meaning of Nordic and Celtic mythology. The mixing of races in the era of the Hyperboreans, Lemurians and Atlanteans. The three Nordic initiates: Odin, Vili and Ve. The meaning of Nordic myths. Niflheim and Muspelheim. The Celtic contribution: the legend of King Arthur and his Round Table, and of the magician Merlin. Loki as god of desires, and Hagen as the individual inspired by Loki. The introduction of the personal element, demonstrated in the example of love. Wolfram von Eschenbach as an initiate, and his portrayal of the Parzival legend. Uniting the Germanic element with Christianity.

Pages 22-28

BERLIN, 22 JULY 1904

Reincarnation

The Indian teaching of reincarnation into animal bodies. The fable of Buddha as a hare. On the meaning of fables as a preparation for receiving spiritual science in a later incarnation. Evolution of man from the first to the fourth round. The discarding of mineral, plant, and animal at lower levels of existence, and their raising to a higher stage by man.

Pages 29-35

BERLIN, 30 SEPTEMBER 1904

The Mysteries of the Druids

Druids as ancient Germanic initiates. The three stages of initiation. The Edda as a narrative of what actually took place in the ancient Druid mysteries. Druid priests as builders of humanity; a faint reflection of this in the view of Freemasons.

Pages 36-40

BERLIN, 7 OCTOBER 1904

The Legend of Prometheus

The possibility of an exoteric, allegorical, and occult meaning in myths. The meaning of the Prometheus myth as a mystery presentation of post-Atlantean human history. The discovery of fire and Prometheus as the representative of post-Atlantean period. The polarity of the kama-manasic thinking in Epimetheus and the manasic thinking in Prometheus. The leaders of post-Atlantean humanity who were initiated into wisdom and action.

Pages 41-50

BERLIN, 14 OCTOBER 1904

The Legend of the Argonauts and the Odyssey

First impulse for the development of the intellect in the fifth Atlantean cultural epoch; this impulse renewed in Greek culture. Greek philosophers strive for wisdom without love. Preservation of wisdom imbued with love in the Greek mysteries. The legend of the Argonauts as expression of this struggle. The details of the Odysseus legend as images of the stages of initiation for the pupil in the Greek mysteries.

Pages 51-60

BERLIN, 21 OCTOBER 1904

The Legend of Siegfried

The mood of expectation of the Nordic peoples at the turning point of time. The strict guarding of the mysteries and the unjustified death sentence against Socrates. The doctrine of death leading to true lifein the ancient Germanic peoples and in Buddha. The Druid initiation. Siegfried, the forerunner of Christianity. Individual features of the Siegfried legend and their meaning.

Pages 61-69

BERLIN, 28 OCTOBER 1904

The Trojan War

Until the beginning of the post-Atlantean period, the leaders of humanity were Manus, superhuman beings with a spiritual development on other planets. From the sixth root race on, humans can also become Manus. The replacement of the priestly rule by the kingly rule, as represented in the saga of the Trojan War. Other features of this saga as images of the descent of mankind to the physical plane. The secrecy of the mysteries.

Pages 70-79

BERLIN, 28 MARCH 1905

The guidance of humanity by the great initiates; Jakob Bhme as an example of their activity. Wagners attempt to lift humanity from sinking into materialism by using myths in his total work of art. His reference to the legend of Charlemagne and Barbarossa. Vivid depiction in Wagners music dramas of the transition from the old clairvoyance culture to attainment of intellect and self-consciousness.

Pages 83-88

BERLIN, 5 MAY 1905

Transition from ancient astral clairvoyance to intellectual wisdom. The pictorial depiction of this in the old Germanic legends and in various aspects of Wagners Ring of the Nibelungs. Multiple initiations of Wotan. Loki and Baldur as representatives of the moon and sun realms.

Pages 89-94

BERLIN, 12 MAY 1905