The Christmas Conference

In 1923, at Christmas, one year after the burning of the first Goetheanum, in the wooden carpentry shop overlooking its charred ruins, Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) founded the General Anthroposophical Society and joined his destiny to it. This remarkable volume documents that occasion.

In it, for the first time, English readers will find the complete proceedings of the Founding Meeting, as well as Rudolf Steiner's in-depth description of the structure and organization of the new Society. The discussions concerning the statutes are recorded in detail.

The Laying of the Foundation Stone in the hearts of the members forms the center of the book. The Foundation Stone Verse (Mantra) is reproduced in the different forms in which Steiner gave it on each day of the Conference, together with his comments on its various rhythms.

Also included are Steiner's lecture on the plans for the second Goetheanum, illuminating the spiritual significance of its architecture, and a talk on the burning of the Temple at Ephesus.

The text is complemented by a list of members mentioned, with biographical data, as well as by facsimile reproductions of Steiner’s handwritten notes and blackboard sketches.

Here, as Henry Barnes wrote, “we have the ‘footprints’ of the process by means of which a spiritual archetype enters as a living reality into the human, social sphere, remaining true to its origins in the super-sensible realm, yet leaving each human individual free to unite him- or herself out of insight with the spiritual reality.”