Old and New Methods of Initiation

These lectures deal not only with the theme of initiation into the ancient mysteries and how that contrasts with what is required today of people on a spiritual path of knowledge, but also cover such topics as the working of Lucifer and Ahriman in the threefold organization of the human being; the relationship of the individual to the folk spirit; and the need to think with exactitude and impartiality.

The last four lectures examine in some detail the impulse of freedom behind the work of Goethe and Schiller, particularly Faust and the Aesthetic Letters, and draw interesting connections with Shakespeare on the one hand and French Revolution on the other.

This edition was translated from the volume in the Complete Edition of Rudolf Steiner's works entitled, Alte and Neue Einweihungsmethoden (GA 210), first edition, 1967. It was translated by Johanna Collis, and edited by Joan M. Thompson. The diagrams in the text were redrawn from Rudolf Steiner's blackboard sketches by Hedwig Frey.

Good condition: Some highlighting throughout. Minor shelf wear