The Rudolf Steiner Archive

49

To Marie von Sivers in Donndorf near Bayreuth
Tuesday, August 14, 1906

Berlin, August 14, 1906 My darling! I am happy to believe that your poor head has had a hard time writing letters these days. But think of all that good head has had to do recently! But he must not lose courage. He must find himself again. After all, he is so full of the right feelings. And at the moment he is only worried about external circumstances, while inwardly he is almost predestined to be calm and composed. You see, my darling, that is the necessary thing about occultism: that it only acquires the possibility of unfolding in the world of power when it is at the expense of not applying that power to itself. That is imprecise; but it can be helpful for us to explain.

So far, it does not seem to me as if I had attended a festival performance. ¹⁶ But on the last day of your stay at the “Fantaisie” ¹⁷ I will try to be there then. I will only be able to organize my time for the Austrian trip etc. tomorrow. I have to wait and see how the printing is going.

Yesterday I sent your rubber shoes Selling, ¹⁸ so that he can send them to you. I will send the Bayreuth guide. You should have the carpenter's address tomorrow. I have to go through everything tomorrow anyway, and then it will definitely be found. Searching today would only slow me down.

Poor Kiem has been treated badly. I wrote him a letter in Kassel. Such things cannot surprise anyone who sees into the present-day circumstances. Anyone who is familiar with the legal world from which such minds as the examining magistrate hearing Kiem draw their spiritual nourishment knows that something like this was bound to happen today. Only those who do not see the way things are can be surprised by individual cases. A single such judge [with] his ¹⁹ pitiable mental confusion and his unhealthy emotional life is a victim of the absurd legal habits of our time. And one must have the deepest compassion for the person of such a victim. Our time must produce more and more mental patients. And it would be foolish to believe that anything other than a large-scale spiritual movement could somehow help. The intellectual forces by which official life is conducted today must lead it into the mire. And the “only” great injustice that can be done to all this is to close one's eyes to these conditions. Anyone who wants to see can grasp the absurd with his hands “on the street” everywhere. The German “intellectuals”, for example, are now upset that the Breslau church authorities have rejected a confirmand because he explicitly said that he could not believe in certain sentences of the Apostolicum. The boy even worked out his own credo, submitted it to the church authorities, and the father pulled out all the stops to force the boy's confirmation on the basis of his own apostolicum. So today's confirmands consider themselves entitled to determine the full extent of world knowledge from their own sovereign wisdom. That the boy is like that is understandable when you consider the current influences on children, but that the father wants the boy to be confirmed by a church whose confession the confirmand does not share is something that anyone who can understand should understand, someone who wants to bathe without getting wet.

But no one sees what is at stake. That the church leaders, in their neglect of duty – unconsciously, of course, and out of incompetence – do not manage to give a confirmand the right feeling for the content of what he has to say at the confirmation.

Those who want to see can see the symptoms of the disease that has struck the fourth sub-race of the Atlantians everywhere, and it is as serious as any other disease.

The manuscript for issue 32 of Lucifer is now completely finished. This time I wrote it all by myself, from the first to the last line. What I want to achieve with the next issues should be done in small doses, so this one is just a beginning with an article “The Life Questions of the Theosophical Movement”.²⁰

With all my heart, Rudolf

Please write again when the first lecture at the architects' house ²¹ is. I can't read this number in my notebook. But please do so immediately.

• 16. Rudolf Steiner, Marie v. Sivers and her sister Olga v. Sivers, Sophie Stinde, Countess Pauline v. Kalckreuth were at a performance of Parsifal in Bayreuth (letter to Johanna Mücke dated August 9, 1906). According to Marie v. Sivers' letter to Edouard Schuré dated August 14, 1906, she would have liked to see a performance again together with Rudolf Steiner, but this was not possible.
• 17. Hotel in Donndorf near Bayreuth, where Marie v. Sivers was staying with her mother and sister to recuperate.
• 18. Wilhelm Selling (1869-1960), as a machine technician in Africa, returning shortly before the turn of the century, retired due to illness. He has been a member of the Berlin branch since April 1905 and is fully available to work there. 18
• 19. In the original, “wird” stands for 'miv'.
• 20. Now in “Lucifer Gnosis”, GA 34.
• 21. The first lecture in the fall of 1906 took place on October 11, see “The Cognition of the Supersensible in Our Time and Its Meaning for Today's Life,” GA 55.

49a

Marie von Sivers to Edouard Schuré
Saturday, November 10, 1906

Translation from the French

Nov. 10, 1906

Dear Sir,

We have just returned from Munich, where Mr. Steiner gave a series of lectures entitled “Theosophy as Illustrated by the Gospel of John”. It was magnificent. During the twelve days we were there, we also drafted the plan for the congress and rented the halls. They are worthy of our taste, spacious, well-proportioned and free of ornamentation, so the decoration will be our responsibility. We can try to approach the idea of a temple. The stage is also large and we will be far enough away from the audience to create the illusion of “mystery”, a project we have not abandoned. So we would like to ask you again for permission to stage “The Sacred Drama of Eleusis”, not with actors, but by distributing the roles among members of our society. Mr. Steiner does not want any theatrical routine; he will be our director himself and will reveal the deeper meaning of our roles to us. Since he can do everything, he will be able to do that too. He will also know how to select those who have special abilities for certain roles with a sure eye. I believe that you are not risking too much, since the performance will not be a public one. Only members of the Theosophical Society will be present and the newspapers will not interfere. Only in the event of an unexpected success could one think of repeating the performance in public, provided you agree.

Now, however, as you yourself said, some changes would have to be made, and then the finished translation would have to be given to the composer. So we have to get to work right away, because the congress is taking place at Whitsun (on May 19). Sometimes, when you take things in hand with energy and goodwill, the stars come to your aid; they inspire us and send us the good spirits. Who knows whether such an undertaking, carried out with courage and faith, might not open the door to greater achievements? If you are not active yourself, you cannot expect others to take risks. Of course, you have to be prepared for a huge amount of work. If you refuse, Mr. Steiner himself will create something in the spirit of the ancient mysteries, because we value mystery, but we would very much like to have yours.

It is true that Mr. Steiner wants to give me the role of Demeter and that frightened me. I would have chosen Persephone rather than the Mother of the Gods. Only Mr. Steiner says that this mother must have something of a nun, and that even my mouth is particularly suitable for this role, but not for that of Persephone. I can't be the first to balk, but I think I now have the most difficult role and at the same time the one on which most depends. [...]

It would, of course, be very nice if you would translate “The Mystical Fact of Christianity”, and Mr. Steiner would be very grateful to be introduced to the French audience through you. He is currently in Leipzig and has asked me to give you this answer.

Please let us know as soon as possible about the mystery play. I believe that a fruitful force for good for humanity will arise from this joint work. And the reputation of every spiritual worker grows in his own country when neighbors take an interest in him. [...]

Thank you very much for all the kind things you say to us. I often return in thought to the peaceful valley of the Vosges, where we found such warm and understanding hospitality. I hope to see you and Madame Schuré again in Munich; after the congress, I hope to be able to set up a series of internal lectures in some beautifully situated place in Bavaria with the help of Ladies Kalckreuth and Stinde ²² with the help of the ladies Kalckreuth and Stinde, at some beautifully situated place in Bavaria. If you only knew how hard Mr. Steiner has to work! I believe that something like this has never been seen before.

With our warmest and most respectful regards to Mrs. Schuré and to you.

M. Sivers

• 22. After the congress, the cycle “The Theosophy of the Rosicrucian,” GA 99.

50

To Marie von Sivers in Berlin
Monday, November 1906

Bremen, November 19, 1906

My darling

This was once again a journey through the domains of the “elders”. The lecture in Hanover was very well attended; it was actually rather incongruous with the quite impossible topic.²³ Nevertheless, it went very well. The next day, the esoteric seekers gathered at the hotel; at noon, of course, Döhren ²⁴ could not be avoided. Paula Stryzek ²⁵ She came back with her complaints about Hübbe-Schleiden; then it was an esoteric hour. It was clear from Paula Stryzek and the other statements that Hübbe-Schleiden definitely wanted to participate. Not to be harsh, I said “yes”. Then afterwards he accompanied me to Countess Moltke.²⁶ What he was talking about was the most impossible stuff. He had still experienced that people had been corrupted by esotericism. Especially the “women”. In the end, all that came out was that he was dissatisfied with Paula. She would listen to anyone else, but not to him. In the evening it was the turn of the Lodge. Then he went on and on about the Lodge.

So it was Hamburg. Hubo, Kolbe.²⁷ Scharlau ²⁸ were waiting for me. Hubo had assumed that I would stay with him. So that was that. The reason for his resignation? A very insignificant difference with Scharlau and Kolbe. Endless emphasis on the ingratitude of all the members of the lodge. In the evening, Scharlau, not Hubo, led the meeting. I wanted to schedule the esoteric hour at 11 o'clock on Sunday at Hubo's. It happened. But Hubo left himself when the others arrived. In the afternoon I went to the Patriotic House for the lodge meeting. Hubo did not go there either. He could not see the others. There is nothing more to be done with him. Nothing helps. The things he puts forward are only masks. Miss v.E.²⁹ is still having an effect. This affair has finished him off. On top of that, he has an overwhelming feeling that the other members are getting out of hand. He can't see that they are getting something from the other side. There is boundless resentment in him. I would have to advise the people, given the situation, to let him go, to elect a new chairman and to appoint him as honorary president. He has nothing to do there.

However, the situation in Hanover and Hamburg is such that I will have to go there after the new year if things are not to be lost. So we have to make sure that this is possible.

It could go well in both Hamburg and Hannover if it weren't for Hübbe and Hubo. It's not at all impossible that Hübbe might feel like playing a role at the congress, or might already have that desire. The dire consequences of a wounded vanity playing out there can only be neutralized by another visit to Hannover – not because of Hübbe, but because of the others. Hübbe's entire demeanour is the product of a weak mind and a strong vanity. That is why he is always talking about his importance and his modesty.

I have not yet seen anyone in Bremen. There is still time tomorrow.

The preface to the first ³⁰ I hope to bring with me. The stay in both Hannover and Hamburg was quite exhausting. Hübbe's speeches seem like senseless combinations of words; the deepest pity is the only feeling one can have. Hubo is full of emotions – and a very broken man. The general assembly probably also had a bad effect on him; not because of us, but because of other things that should rather be communicated orally. Human, all-too-human, personal, all-too-personal.

Wednesday morning I arrive at 7:08 a.m. unless I communicate something else.

With all my heart, Rudolf

• 23. “God and Immortality”.
• 24. residence of W. Hübbe-Schleiden.
• 25. Paula Stryczek (1868-1945), in the household of Hübbe-Schleiden, adopted by him in 1908, later in the household of Günther Wagner in Berlin. In 1902 she was already a member of the TG.
• 26. Countess Ella v. Moltke, née Countess Bethusy-Huc (1856-1924), in Hannover, member of the Berlin branch since July 1906. Sister-in-law of General Helmuth v. Moltke in Berlin. (In this branch of the Moltke family, the title of count was only passed down by right of primogeniture.
• 27. Adolf Kolbe, member since 1897, founded Hubo founded the Hamburg branch, and had been on the section's committee since 1905.
• 28. Gustav Scharlau, also a member since 1897 and co-founder of the Hamburg branch.
• 29. Unknown.
• 30. should refer to Rudolf Steiner's preface to Marie v. Sivers' translation of Schuré's “Les grands Inities” under the title “Die großen Eingeweihten”, Leipzig 1907.

51

To Marie von Sivers in Berlin
Tuesday, December 4, 1906, from Bonn

My darling!

Düsseldorf, Elberfeld, Cologne and now Bonn are behind us. Scholl has once again made all the good promises in all seriousness. Under the influence of her relationship with Bredow, she has gone through a phase in which she has shown that she needs to be passive and receptive in order to be satisfied. When the dissection began, she showed a certain activity and initiative; but her personality demands external support. And in the most personal sense. It will be quite difficult for her to find herself again. We probably shouldn't expect an initiative from her anytime soon. And yet it depends on one whether the matter will continue here in this environment.

But what can be said about this old “pillar” when the new ones are not exactly proving themselves to be wise either. Or is the view of Mrs. Wolfram ³¹ von Frau von Hoffmann's letter not downright damaging? She writes to Hoffmann that she needs money for the Leipzig lodge. Hoffmann's send her 300 marks for the lectures. Mrs. Hoffmann ³² writes that she has no hopes of the Theosophical Society. And Wolfram finds that she must answer “without acid, with the garlands of amiability etc.” You have probably read Wolfram's foolish letter. For a long time I have not received such a sensible letter from an old theosophist as from Mrs. Hoffmann. It is only natural that such people must first be won over slowly, after they have seen the theosophical comedy played out around them from the very beginning. It is also not surprising if such people are not particularly touched by the usual lodge activities. If they are nevertheless objective, as the letter shows, then this is worthy of recognition, not of flippancy. If we regard the lodge activities as something other than a necessary evil, we will end up in a philistine swamp. The only thing that matters is that people are given spiritual life. What they chat about in the lodges is unavoidable, but it is of no use at all. — What does the cat-fighting of Vollrath ³³ with the spiritual movement? In short, Wolfram's letter is a compilation of stupidities.

Grävell ³⁴ is in any case superfluous in Heidelberg.

My darling, thank you so much for your letters. Take care of yourself a little. Devote yourself more to the life of what you can present on Mondays, for example. It is still painful that you had to get the books wrapped up again, and were thus distracted from the intellectual side of things. Wagner should have taken care of that.³⁵ But people never know what to do, and they always want to do something. Hopefully the situation with Wagner won't get too bad.

I gave the minutes to Miss Scholl.³⁶ I still have to correct it in print. It was not possible in Cologne.

On Sunday, 7 new F.M. joined in Cologne: Büsche, ³⁷ Lindemann and wife, Miss Weber, ³⁸ Mrs. Berendt,³⁹ Dr. Peipers and wife.

Soon, sincerely yours, Rudolf Bredow: Eugenie v. Bredow, née Countess Schwerin (1860-1922), member since November 1904, on the Section's board since 1911. She lived in Landin in the Mark Brandenburg, but also had a rooming house at Motzstr. 17. In the summer of 1906, Rudolf Steiner, Marie v. Sivers, Mathilde Scholl and a few other friends spent a few days at the Bredow estate in Landin.

• 31. Elise Wolfram, née Garmatter (1868-1942), member since September 1905, 1906 secretary, 1908 chair of the Leipzig branch, since 1908 on the board of the section.
• 32. Freifrau Eveline, née Becker (1842-1913), wife of Baron Oskar v. Hoffmann (1832-1912), who translated the booklet “Light on the Path” by Mabel Collins into German, which was very well known in the T.G. before the turn of the century: “Licht auf den Weg”, for which Rudolf Steiner wrote an exegesis in 1903/04 (see GA 264, 2nd edition 1996). Steiner was a very old member of the TG, but only joined the German Section in March 1911, but not the Leipzig branch where she lived.
• 33. Hugo Vollrath, theos. Publisher and bookseller, member of the Hartmann-Böhme Society, since May 1904 also a member of the Leipzig branch, was expelled from the German section in 1908 at the request of Elise Wolfram because of his unworthy activities. In 1911 he released a pamphlet full of lies against Rudolf Steiner, at the same time A. Besant appointed him secretary of the “Star in the East” for Germany under Hübbe-Schleiden, but soon canceled this appointment. At the general assembly in December 1911, he, along with Ahner, Krojanker and C.R. Müller, applied for readmission to the section, which was rejected. - Cf. Scholl-Mitteilungen, No. VII, December 1908 and XIII, March 1912.
• 34. Dr. phil. Paul Grävell, member since October 1907 in Heidelberg, then Munich and finally moved to an unknown address.
• 35. Günther Wagner had taken over the administration of the Theosophical Library with interlibrary loan in Berlin in November 1906 and had moved from Lugano to Berlin for this purpose.
• 36. Minutes of the General Assembly of the German Section of October 21, 1906 for No. IV of the Scholl-Mitteilungen published in January 1907.
• 37. Miss Ella Büsche, Schwelm/Westphalia, member of the Cologne branch since January 1904.
• 38. M. Weber, Godesberg, member of the Cologne branch since December 1903.
• 39. Elisabeth Berendt (died 1952), Godesberg, member since December 1903 and secretary when the Cologne branch was established in March 1904.

52

To Marie von Sivers in Berlin
Saturday, December 8, 1906

Stuttgart, Dec. 8, 1906

My darling. Before things get started in Stuttgart, you should receive these few lines. Unfortunately, I still have a sore throat from Frankfurt. Those noble organizers had found it “clever” to hold both the public lecture and the internal evening event over beer and tobacco smoke. It goes without saying that my throat cannot stand this. Incidentally, there was another beauty in the evening. After the lecture, a questioner came forward with a sentence from Theosophy that was utter nonsense. When I said that nothing of the sort had been said in the lecture, he produced a leaflet that our good “Goethe branch” had printed, in which the sentence appeared. Of course, I now had to say that it did not occur to me to support such a thing. It turned out that the thing was a malicious translation of the already confusing English version of the leaflet. So I told the people. Afterwards, Mr. Hintze explained⁴⁰ that he had translated this from English. People have our leaflets in which the text is written in proper German. But Mr. Hintze finds it necessary to print leaflets especially according to the English text and to spend the money of the Goethe branch on them. He just went to school with the English.

Prof. Voigt ⁴¹ no longer comes because Mr. Hintze's “theosophy” with unnecessary “Buddhist” phrases seems impossible to German intellectual life. We have got rid of Mrs. Lübke; now we have another one in Frankfurt who has studied the things at the English source.

My darling, how is your translation of the Eleusinian mysteries coming along? ⁴² We need to have them soon.

You are coming to Leipzig, aren't you? Because Altmann will print the M brochure without a preface.⁴³ is, despite everything, an impertinence on his part, and one will certainly be followed by others.

Despite not really knowing how to manage my throat at the beginning yesterday in Heidelberg, it went well in the end. Hopefully I can manage it today in Stuttgart too. And by tomorrow or the day after, I hope that the voice, which is wrapping itself around at the moment, will be fine again. At the beginning of January, we absolutely must be able to send the congress programs. So we will have to stay in Munich for the time being. ⁴⁴

Incidentally, Nab is not responsible for the pamphlet; but he is partly responsible for the beer-smoking room. He was ill while the first heroic deed was being formed. Now he is healthy again. Incidentally, his illness is a remarkable case of too-quickly-achieved abstinence, as I have clearly realized. The man stands all day in the smell of leather. You know, he was still drinking his bottle when we first met him in Frankfurt. Now alcohol was what paralyzed the damage of the leather scent for him. He got away from it very quickly, and became a vegetarian just as quickly. Then the organism reacted with pleurisy. Now he has the reaction behind him and can of course avoid both meat and alcohol. But if you think about it, you will find many remarkable things about this case. The organism is caught between two causes of illness that paralyze each other. If one is eliminated – in this case alcohol – the other makes the organism ill until it has been eliminated. How many people today live only under mutually annulling causes of illness! |

Kindest regards, my darling, from your Rudolf

Greetings to Wiesel ⁴⁵ and Selling.

• 40. Oscar Hintze (1865-1955), 1906 member in Frankfurt, 1910 in Hamburg, 1913 resigned.
• 41. Andreas Voigt, member since February 1906, resigned in 1909.
• 42. Marie v. Sivers translated “The Sacred Drama of Eleusis” from Edouard Schuré's “Sanctuaires d'Orient”, Paris 1898, for the performance at the May 1907 congress in Munich and Rudolf Steiner put it into free rhythms. See “The Sacred Drama of Eleusis”, Dornach 1939.
• 43. From the correspondence between the publisher Altmann and Rudolf Steiner or Marie v. Sivers, which is available in the archive, it appears that Rudolf Steiner was to write a preface to a “Mahatma brochure”. This may have been for the second German edition of Annie Besant's book “H.P. Blavatsky and the Masters of the Wisdom”, published by the Theosophical Publishing House in Leipzig in 1924. It is not known when and where the first German edition was published.
• 44. The Fourth Congress of the Federation of European Sections of the T.G. was held in Munich in May 1907 by the German Section. Rudolf Steiner and Marie v. Sivers were in Munich from mid-April to prepare for it.
• 45. Rudolf Steiner's nickname for Clara Selling (1875-1961), sister of Wilhelm Selling, from 1905 she kept house for Marie v. Sivers, in 1910 she married Kurt Walther and went to Fürstenwalde/Spree. When he was transferred to Berlin in 1913, they both returned to Motzstr. 17.

54

To Marie von Sivers in Berlin
Saturday, February 9, 1907, from Strasbourg

Feb. 9, 1907

My darling!

You should receive a few lines from here at least. In Hanover and Heidelberg, things were as usual. In Karlsruhe, there was a lodge meeting and I spoke about the Lord's Prayer. Hertzberg ⁸ He is doing very well. Even in the time when we did not see him, the man had in his own way undergone an occult exercise (40-day fast) and had typical, regular revelations. In Basel, we were surprised to find that they had a large hall with free admission (450 people), and that a whole lot of people had to be turned away. But then there was an internal evening afterwards. That was really enough for one day. And I was lucky that I was able to get a cab afterwards. If I had walked to the hotel, my voice would have changed. In Bern there were two public evenings again, and yesterday there was another one here with 700 people. And tonight is not internal either, but is supposed to be in a hall for 200 people. Tomorrow then again public in Hamburg. It would only be a shame if the lectures themselves suffered from the fact that they are not internal, that is, much less exhausting in between.

Otherwise, it is always the plight of the world that can only be improved by real occultism. Here is Ostermann, Mrs. Brandt, even Mrs. v. Tschirschky.⁹ In Heidelberg were Sonklar,¹⁰ Kinkel.¹¹ - Grävell has become even worse. At yesterday's public lecture, too, it became clear from the questions that the most serious obstacle is the conceptual cripples who have run amok due to the wrong current theories. Hübbe-Schleiden calls these deformed conceptual cripples the judicious people and says that our members are without judgment and absorb everything through feeling. I listened to his intentions for an hour and a half, because he now really wanted to, through which he wants to make Theosophy plausible “for judicious people”. These “scientific” proofs, which he and his followers are always talking about, are nothing more than empty shells of abstract concepts for parched brains roasted in materialism; from a higher point of view, the tin of physical theories, which has already been rolled out, rolled out again. “Chrysam verloren“ ¹² is an old saying for this stuff.

Ostermann is waiting for me. Therefore, I am sending you - really - a separate letter, tax return, postal order and letter to Olcott.¹³

But you should at least have this greeting. Mrs. Geering ¹⁴ is now completely absorbed in Theosophy. The good shoemaker is struggling with a young child that he “unexpectedly” acquired, and has sought “occult” advice on how to deal with the worm, but especially with the worm inside him, which is at his heels. So you see: the misery of the world.

Ostermann is now summoning me.

With best regards,

Rudolf

• 8. Erich v. Hertzberg (born 1873), first lieutenant, member since April 1906 in Berlin, then Karlsruhe. (1913 Captain (retired).
• 9. Gertrud v. Tschirschky and Bögendorff, member in Munich since November 1904.
• 10. Alice v. Sonklar, née Lopez (born 1865), from Argentina, had been a member of the TG since before 1902, but was expelled from the section in December 1912 as a member of the “Star in the East”. However, this did not prevent her daughter Flossy from becoming a member of the Anthroposophical Society and one of the original eurythmists.
• 11. Alice Kinkel (1866-1943), member since February 1905 in the Stuttgart II branch. From 1906, she provided the book table for all events in Stuttgart. From 1911-20, she and her husband Wilhelm lived in the Stuttgart branch house, which they looked after.
• 12. Old saying in the sense of ‘lost love’. The word, derived from the Greek ‘chrism’, refers to the anointing oil used in the sacraments of the early church.
• 13. Answer to a request from President Olcott and A. Besant for the exclusion of C. Jinarajadasa from the T.S. of January 1, 1907, as well as for the nomination of A. Besant as his successor by Olcott of January 7, 1907, (GA 264, p. 287).
• 14. Elisabeth Geering, née Christ (died 1951), member in Basel since September 1906.

56

To Marie von Sivers in Berlin
Monday, February 25, 1907

Budapest, February 25, 1907

My darling!

Warmest greetings from the banks of the Danube. It won't be long now before we see each other again; that's why I'm saving the reports on my travel experiences for when we meet in person.

To the letter to the General Secretaries ¹⁵ I just wanted to add the following lines on a separate sheet: “The undersigned General Secretary of the German Section of the TS has answered the letters from the General Council, the President-Founder and Mrs. Besant in January 1907 in the following enclosed manner. He takes the liberty of sending this reply as his opinion on the pending questions to the General Secretaries as well. With theosophical greetings, Dr. Rudolf Steiner.” The matter can be dealt with in this way even today. Only the passage regarding Olcott's continued existence must simply be deleted. Whatever happens now, it will be disastrous for the T.S. but not altogether unfavorable for the spiritual movement. Nor should the decline of the T.S. as such alarm us. You, my dear one, must understand that I must remain vague about the M.[eister] affair in Adyar, even with you. ¹⁶ But you will admit that it takes more than just “blindness” to think that you can enforce an administrative action of the Society by appealing to Mr. [Master]. Mrs. Besant will probably be unable to do anything worse in her current situation than to make this appeal her own impulse. In doing so, she will put those who count themselves among her in a difficult position, because if we elect her, we will have to elect her for reasons that are not her own. Can there be anything more absurd than that? The sacred calling of the masters should not be misused to support a cause that is compromised by philistinism. For the masters have nothing to do with that “universal philanthropy” which is only the inverted hypocritical robe of the bourgeois egoism of our age. If you turn this selfishness around, nothing comes out of the nuance of shame that it bears on its right side but the voluptuousness of compassion and “universal brotherly love” on the left! The masters are dealing with knowledge and not with moral sermons.

You will understand me, my darling. Whether it is Sinnett¹⁷ or Olcott: it makes no difference. We must move forward.

Yours faithfully, Rudolf

• 15. The letter to Olcott mentioned in No. 54.
• 16. In a circular letter dated January 7, 1907, Olcott informed the officials and members of the T.S. that the Masters M. and K.H. had appeared at his sickbed and ordered him to appoint A. Besant as his successor. For more details, see: H. Wiesberger, Rudolf Steiner's Esoteric Teaching, Dornach 1997, Chapter VII. 16
• 17. Alfred Percy Sinnett (1840-1921), vice-president of the TS, acting president after Olcott's death.

57

To Marie von Sivers in Berlin
Sunday, 10 March 1907

Cologne, 10 March 1907

My darling!

Thank you very much for your kind words. I arrive in Berlin at 8:50 on Tuesday morning. You can see that the Theosophical Society is becoming more and more confused. Mead has now had his thing printed as well.¹⁸ and sends it, as it seems, to all theosophical lodges on earth. Some of our members will look quite perplexed. It will therefore be necessary for us to issue a kind of “Message to the members” ¹⁹ which leaves nothing to be desired. We cannot keep quiet about the nonsense when everyone else is trumpeting it to the world. But if we don't speak up at some point, we will undermine ourselves. It is so sad that the most limited, narrow-minded people, such as Mead, are now defending “reason”. Such natures lack clarity and perspective. But in the “small case” such limited recklessness is often right. But those who would like to take a slightly higher point of view and have stood by Mrs. Besant, like us, are put in the worst possible position by her impossibilities.

In Düsseldorf, the situation also became clear to me. Lauweriks ²⁰ is a very, very small Mead. But in Holland they have stuffed him so full of self-importance that he is surrounded by armor. When he says, for example, that he has a different view of Theosophy than I do, he never refers to what I myself have said, but to stupid gossip, to things that others claim that they did not say or said differently, etc.

Mathilde Scholl now allows herself to be magnetized by Weiler ²¹. Of course, I can only concede such stuff in retrospect. Because if I acted differently, it would be something against Weiler. And he is right from his point of view. But it is bad that Scholl does not think that she is abdicating from the position she should have here if she does such a thing.

I would rather tell you everything else.

Kindest regards, Rudolf

Say hello to Wiesel and Selling.

• 18. “The Coming Election to the Presidency”, dated 1.3.1907, took a stand against the candidacy of A. Besant.
  George Robert Stow Mead (1863-1933), English scholar, co-editor of the “Theosophical Review”, one of the leading Theosophists. He left the T.S. in 1909 because of Leadbeater's re-admission and founded his own society, “The Quest.”
• 19. “To all members of the German section of the T.G.” of March 12, 1907, in GA 264.
• 20. Johannes Ludovicus Mathieu Lauweriks (1864-1932), a Dutch theosophist, came to Düsseldorf in January 1905 to help with the theosophical work and became a member of the German section, as well as a teacher at the local school of arts and crafts. In October 1905, he took over the office of chairman of the Düsseldorf branch of the TG. Because of his lack of understanding of Rudolf Steiner, he soon found himself in opposition to the members of his branch, so he resigned and founded his own branch, the Blavatsky Lodge or Düsseldorf II, in March 1907. At Pentecost 1913, he became General Secretary of the new German Section, which was dependent on Adyar.
• 21. Otto Weiler became a member in February 1907, and later chairman of the Bonn branch.

58a

Marie von Sivers to Edouard Schuré
Sunday, May 26, 1907

Translation from the French

Munich, May 26, 1907

This is the first day that I have had a few quiet hours in my room; soon people will be streaming in, but I am trying to give you, if not a report, at least some fragmentary messages. My long silence before the congress was most painful to me. I didn't dare to ask you to come, because if the performance [of the Eleusinian Mysteries] had failed, you would have experienced embarrassing moments and undertaken a long journey with all its hardships, only to receive unpleasant impressions. And then, right up until the last moment, we really didn't know if we would make it. The obstacles were very great. You have to bear in mind that the actors came from different cities and were only able to come together very late. One of two ladies whom we regarded as our stars and who promised great things in the roles of Persephone and Hecate had to leave to care for a sister-in-law in Brussels who had suddenly gone mad; the other became mentally ill herself, and for a week we had her here without being able to send her to her mother, from whom she inherited the disease and from whom she was tormented throughout her life. Finally, she had to be taken to an institution; it was truly a catastrophe. So the chances of the performance succeeding had become very slim. After much hesitation, we decided to try a very poor young girl [Alice Sprengel], who has an extremely difficult life and seems quite hopeless in moments of despondency because she lacks energy. She then sits down, puts her hands in her lap and says, “I can't do it to myself.” Fortunately, she could “offer” herself the role of Persephone. That had been the question. Then you could see the spark that had previously lain dormant in her ignite, and she became happier every day. The initially very weak voice, which always slid down into her chest, grew stronger every day; but it wasn't until the last week that we could be sure that she would be understood. Even now, this young girl is completely transfigured and she still has the airs and graces of a princess. These days will have been the most beautiful of her life. Overall, the rehearsals were a source of delight and harmony for many. We always had quite a number of listeners who couldn't get enough and who liked the play so much that they would have liked to hear it every day. The Nymphs and the Shadows were very eager, but gave us a lot to do. All these people had never acted. Except for Triptolem, who is a professional actor but a member of the company, and me, who appeared in amateur theaters in my day, none of our people had ever seen the limelight. Enthusiasm took the place of everything. Metanira was disappointing. The one [H.v.Vacano] who was supposed to play this role had to take on the role of Hecate, and the new actress, a very clever lady, showed no understanding of the stage at all. The role of Triptolemus had initially been entrusted to a young man who was very keen to act, quite pleasant, looking like an ephebe, but so bleak in his gestures and in his speech so incapable of any kind of upturn that for a while we thought we would have to give up because of him, until the actor who was originally supposed to play Pluto came and replaced him with good success. Dionysus was a delightful young girl, half Italian, half Polish, who appeared last and initially spoke with an accent that made us jump. She was nice, but extremely clumsy, and the final apotheosis was in danger of falling through because of her. So we had to work with her intensively every day and teach her the essence of German pronunciation. As a result, after I had already exhausted my voice with a cough and constant speaking during rehearsals, it became so bad during the last week that I was completely hoarse and feared that I would not be able to speak at the performance, especially since I had no opportunity to take care of myself and withdraw from all my other obligations. Apart from my duties as secretary of the German Section and of the Congress Bureau, we had to organize, just for this performance, two painting studios (for the scenery), a tailor's studio (even the costumes were all made by our members according to Mr. Steiner's instructions), and finally two further studios where our painters worked on the decoration of the hall (the Temple of the Future) according to Mr. Steiner's drawings. There was a flurry of activity like an anthill – feverish haste everywhere, because we only plunged into the big expenses when we were really sure – more or less – that we could perform.

May 28

Mr. Stavenhagen ²⁶ (who, by the way, is not Dutch) had only finished his music three days before the performance and did not get around to the planned final chorus at all. The music was beautiful, though; I don't know what the foreigners thought of it, but the Germans thought it was “like the harmony of the spheres.” And the acting company also thought it was very beautiful: dignified, strong and ethereal – thoroughly religious.

I believe that it was beneficial for the poetry not to be mixed with music. The beautiful preludes created a mood of religious contemplation; then the word alone prevailed and the idea could emerge all the more clearly. |

The Germans were really enthusiastic - they did not make any banal compliments - they were deeply moved by the drama itself and urgently asked us for a repeat performance; however, this was not possible. The foreigners will certainly have been more critical and cool, but as you yourself suspected, a large number of them came with hostile feelings, determined to resist the progressive spirit, to treat with irony what exceeds their understanding, and to reject everything they consider unorthodox. But it was strange to observe how, nevertheless, the resistance gradually diminished, and how many finally left the hall moved. The Blechs ²⁷ and Mr. Pascal ²⁸ will certainly never give up their reserved attitude, but Pascal is at the end of his tether and the Blechs are extraordinarily narrow-minded; I also think it has made a strange impression on them that we emphasize the importance of your work so strongly, while they, with their English education, have probably missed it. Their feelings are therefore very mixed.

You were right to recognize Mr. Steiner's hand in the translation. I don't know why Mr. Sauerwein ²⁹ Told you that it was from me. Incidentally, I don't know Mr. Sauerwein, I've never seen him. Mr. Steiner spoke to me of him as a theosophist whom he met in Vienna, that he was at the congress on the day of the performance and is acquainted with you. As he was going to Paris, he asked him to give you our regards. Perhaps Mr. Sauerwein saw the two works that I translated on the book table and concluded that I was also the translator of the “Sacred Drama”. I did the prose translation and only here, over the last month, did Mr. Steiner start the work of putting it into rhythms. With what difficulties! He was constantly interrupted, constantly being called upon. He would leave, come back for five minutes, continue his poetic work and then leave again, called by someone else. He worked in all arts and crafts, directing everyone: painters, sculptors, musicians, carpenters, upholsterers, actors, seamstresses, theater workers, electricians... If he had had the material and the workers at his disposal, he would have achieved something fabulous in a short time: the temple of the future. As it was, he could only sketch out ideas, but they will have a fertilizing effect.

With all this work, even the final scenes of the drama could only be completed at a moment that seemed highly critical to me. I had faith that they would make it, but I didn't want to rely on it; it would have been foolhardy. It would have pleased and frightened me at the same time if you had written that you were coming, but I didn't dare encourage you to do so. One doesn't want to challenge the protective spirits, but only cautiously request their help. What has amazed me most is that I have found my voice again for the performance – as calm and confident as if it had never been tormented by coughing and exhausted by tiredness.

Cassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Burgfeldstr. 2, Villa Elsa, 17/6 07

Dear Sir,

I am ashamed by your last two letters and regret deeply not having sent you the sheets written in Munich, which I believed I would still be able to supplement in full detail. But every day brought something unexpected. Around two hundred people remained for the cycle in Munich, who gave us a rousing reception. It was very difficult to leave. During the last days, we still had ten people waiting to be received at nine o'clock in the evening. If, as in this case, we take the morning train, we pack our bags between two and six o'clock in the morning without going to bed. Mr. Steiner then went directly from the train to a public lecture in Leipzig, followed by another the next day. I remained dead on my chaise longue for a day.

In Berlin, a very exhausting job awaited me, which forced me to store all my papers in cupboards and be on my feet all day. Our apartment had become much too small for everything that had to take place there. Even before Munich, I had the pleasure of having walls knocked down, walls papered, etc. Now I had to do the moving, for which the five days in Berlin were quite insufficient, especially since we were constantly besieged by people, the suppliers didn't deliver on time, and the workers were also on strike. On the morning of June 15, we had to take the train to Kassel, where a two-week cycle is now taking place. It is peaceful here. We have been well accommodated in the beautiful park of Wilhelmshöhe. My mother and sister are with us. I can finally resume my correspondence, which has been terribly neglected in all its parts. Many Theosophists have followed us here, but there is none of the feverish haste that normally characterizes our lives. I should not speak to you of these things, for it seems to me that it must leave you quite out of breath, and it certainly seems to you to contradict the seclusion that is good for the mystic. But Mr. Steiner is always calm and focused, even in the midst of the most nerve-wracking rush. And I undoubtedly have to go through this school. On July 1, we expect to be back in Berlin, where I have to continue setting up and have another wall broken through. Then we dream of making ourselves invisible from July 15 to September 1.

This is absolutely necessary so that Mr. Steiner can make some progress with his literary work again, and it is also essential to get some rest from the business. I am very glad that Mr. Steiner also feels this way, because I don't think one could continue in this way without interruption.

If we want to be alone, we have to leave Germany and not tell anyone where we are going. I have already managed to get this answer accepted to urgent questions: “We are going into hiding.” Then one sighs: “If only it won't be too long, the hiding.”

I would be delighted if we could visit you, whether before or after this “recess”. You will see that there is no question of us expecting any greater interest in our congress from you. We know that your interest and sympathy are honestly present, while so many others came full of prejudices and negative feelings. Your spirit was very much among us, strong and dominant, and the feeling of togetherness and agreement with you was complete. You have become a trusted and respected master to all our faithful. There was heartfelt regret that you were not there, and a resolution was adopted expressing the warm thanks of the assembly for your agreeing to perform the Mystery Play. So many said, “It was simply superhuman.” The same resolution was adopted with regard to Mr. Stavenhagen, whose music was excellent, of a thoroughly religious character and highly inspiring for the performers (who heard it for the first time on the day of the performance). With a Wagnerian score ³⁰ the drama itself would have faded into the background; so the word could unfold.

18 [June]

I don't have your address for Mont-Dore, so I hope that they will forward my letter to you. Please forgive my long silence; it was a fate that now weighs heavily on me. And let me repeat that it never occurred to me to reproach you for not being at the congress. But every day I regretted not being able to write to you. I cannot reproach myself, however, for being too timid and hesitant before the performance, because the dress rehearsal would undoubtedly have filled you with horror. The lighting technicians did everything wrong, but they too said calmly: “Tomorrow we have the doctor among us,” and then everything went well for them too.

Let us hope that it will not be impossible to repeat this experiment. And a thousand thanks for giving us the happiness of being able to perform such a magnificent work. Let us hope to see you again soon and wish you a speedy recovery.

Mille saluts de M. Steiner & Mme Schuré et à vous. J'y joigne les miens

Mr. Sivers

• 26. Bernhard Stavenhagen (1862-1914), one of Liszt's star pupils, was one of the most brilliant virtuosos of his school, undertaking numerous successful concert tours in Europe and America. Rudolf Steiner and Stavenhagen had been friends since their time together in Weimar from 1890-1895, when he was the court pianist and court music director of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
• 27. Charles Blech (1855-1934), and his sister Aime&e Blech (1862-1930), prominent French Theosophists.
• 28. Dr. Th. Pascal, then Secretary General of the French Section.
• 29. Dr. Jules Sauerwein (1880-1967), well-known French journalist. Met Rudolf Steiner in Vienna in 1906, member since January 1913. Translated various works by Rudolf Steiner into French and also made himself available as a translator for his lectures. In the fall of 1921, he reported in the “Matin” on his conversation with Rudolf Steiner about the history of the First World War.
• 30. Schuré had wanted music in the style of Wagner for his drama.

59

Second will, dated August 5, 1907,
before his departure for Italy

Will.

I, the undersigned, hereby declare that after my death all correspondence and all other written documents and letters written by me or by others and addressed to me or handed over to me shall pass to Miss Marie von Sivers, currently currently residing at 17 Motzstraße, Berlin W; and that they fall to her by inheritance in such a way that they become her rightful property and are to be administered by her alone.

My parents and siblings living in Horn, Lower Austria, shall receive my books and any other possessions I may have in such a way that they receive everything that Fräulein von Sivers does not claim as her own. On the other hand, my wife, who is currently separated from me, shall receive nothing except the compulsory portion. It would be in accordance with my wishes if Miss von Sivers also kept all the books for herself and only handed over the value of the same to my parents and siblings, or the compulsory portion to my wife.

Dr. Rudolf Steiner

Berlin, 5 August 1907
Motzstraße 17.