2023
The Foundation Stone Meditation
100th Year Anniversary
December 30, 2023
One hundred years ago, on Christmas Eve 1923 through New Year’s Day 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society. This pivotal meeting took place on the sorrowful one-year anniversary of the burning of the first Goetheanum. Although the Goetheanum was gone from the material world, it continued to live in the world of spirit. It was in this context that Steiner delivered Der Grundstein , and thereby laid the spiritual foundation of Anthroposophy in the hearts of those in attendance. By meditating on these mantras, we too can warm our own hearts and enlighten our minds with the spirit of Anthroposophy. As given by Rudolf Steiner on December 30, 1923:
Light Divine
Christ-Sun
Warm thou our hearts,
Enlighten thou our heads,
That good may become
What we from our hearts would found
What we from our heads would direct
In conscious
Willing.
Original Text and English Translations
Christmas
The Birth of the Light for the Redemption of Humanity
December 10, 2023
During this season of gifts and gratitude, we'd like to thank those of you who have generously donated to support our efforts to make all of Rudolf Steiner's teachings available online in English. Through Advent and Christmas, we offer highlights of Dr. Steiner's lectures on the greatest gift to humanity—the birth of Christ in Man. With the descent of the Christ into the world, humanity was graced with a path out of the dark realms of Earth, which has become as C.S. Lewis put it in That Hideous Strength, a place where the criminal classes of spiritual beings have established their headquarters. With the pinnacle of Christ's mission here on Earth, the Mystery of Golgotha, there is now hope for humanity.
In this article, we highlight Steiner's teachings on the following:
- Advent as a Recapitulation of Evolution
- Two Different Christmas Stories in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
- Two Ancient Streams Uniting Heaven and Earth
- The Rescue of Mankind From Death and Devolution
- Shining the Light of Christ at Christmas
At this special time of the centennial of the Christmas Conference for the founding of the General Anthroposophical Society, we invite you to explore Dr. Steiner's lectures pertaining to Christmas.
Accomplishments & Appeal
November 7, 2023
A woman posted online that someone asked her if she had plans for the Fall. It took her a while to realize the person meant Autumn—not the fall of humanity! As in Rudolf Steiner’s time, the future can sometimes look quite bleak, but with a sense of humor, the support of others, and our own spiritual development we can shine as bright lanterns through the darkness of this world.
We are grateful for your support of the Rudolf Steiner Archive. In the past year, the website has doubled its users from 5,000 to 10,000 unique visitors per day and over 110,000 per month. If you would like to help us to continue to grow, please consider making a donation. Through your financial contributions, we have accomplished significant improvements to our service.
Michaelmas
Conquering the Ahrimanic Forces of Darkness
September 17, 2023
This time of year, we recognize the power of the spirit known as Michael and his victory over the forces that would drag us down. The Michaelmas Festival coincides with the autumn equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, September 23, 2023. We invite you to explore Rudolf Steiner’s teachings on the battle of Michael and the Dragon, Michaelmas, and the importance of the seasons in our soul development.
In this article, we highlight Steiner's teachings on how:
- There arose a revolt of divine spirits seeking free will prematurely before men came into human form. Ahriman, the Dragon, was their leader.
- Michael banished the super-sensible Dragon to the earthly realm where he did not belong.
- The battle with the Dragon moved from the outer cosmos into human nature.
- The Dragon and leagues of Ahrimanic beings repeatedly attack Michael and his army but are always defeated.
- Both human freedom and our increased materialism resulted from these uprisings.
- With the Dragon now entrenched in human nature, mankind must fight those inner forces that would hinder our spiritual development. We do this through our will and heartfelt thinking. In this way, we align ourselves with the forces of Michael.
- While Easter commemorates the death and resurrection of Christ, Michaelmas represents the reverse: the resurrection of the human soul and physical death, like waking up from summer's dreamy slumber and the withering of autumn foliage.
Through our efforts to resurrect our souls, we no longer remain chained to the material realm like Ahriman but can be confident in our death that we will continue to evolve spiritually as intended.
Recent Additions
August 29, 2023
Now that the Archive is faster and more reliable than ever, we have turned our attention to adding new research tools and content to the website.
Additions
Watch our progress as we add new documents to this service. The Recent Additions table will be updated whenever we add content. Sort the material by clicking on the heading. Some highlights of recent additions include:
- A new translation of 18 lectures contained in GA 98, Nature and Spirit Beings: Their Effects In Our Visible World, translated for us by Antje Heymanns of New Zealand.
- Roughly 150 education lectures converted from pdf to searchable html.
- 16 single lectures originally published in various Anthroposophical journals.
- Our automated version of Rudolf Steiner's Calendar of the Soul Verses, including two new translations by Tom Mellett and John Riedel, and the Credo.
- The Foundation Stone Meditation index in several translations, including a new translation by John Riedel.
- A revised translation of the first lecture in GA 228: The Spiritual Individualities of Our Planets by John Riedel.
We are currently working on translations of four other GAs, so check back frequently.
Other Improvements
- Added previously unsearchable single lectures and articles to the search engine.
- Identified the proper GA for previously unclassified documents and added them to the database.
- GA and Dates search pages now show all documents based on the most current editions published by the Rudolf Steiner Verlag, whether or not available here.
- Improved faceting to narrow search results.
- Made table headings for lectures and recent additions sortable.
- Expanded synonym list for searching UK/US English spelling variations.
- Improved printing in foreign languages.
- Reinstated the Google translation tool upon popular demand.
- Expanded Topics list of festivals and summarized festivals in published blog articles.
- Corrected a seemingly endless number of typos and errors in historical text and images.
The Transfiguration & The Great Initiation
August 2, 2023
August 6th commemorates the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor. This momentous occasion was discussed by Steiner in The Gospel of St. John, Lecture 3:
In this article, we highlight Steiner's teachings on how:Jesus goes with three disciples Peter, James and John, up a mountain: this means into the inner sanctuary where one is initiated into higher worlds and where one also speaks in occult language. The disciples were carried up into a higher state of consciousness. They saw then that which is not transitory but eternal. Moses and Elias appear and Jesus himself with them.
What does this mean? In occult science the word Elias means the same as El — the goal, the way. Moses is the spiritual scientific word for truth. By the fact that Elias, Moses and Jesus appear you have the fundamental Christian truth: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus himself says — this is a fundamental Christian mystical truth — “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John, ch. 14, v. 6)
- The four initiates Peter (meaning earth), John (air), James (water), and Jesus (fire), renewed the whole power of the elements;
- The Transfiguration began a new process of direct initiation through Christ;
- With the initiation of the 3 disciples, 3 streams of cosmic powers flowed together, that of Elijah (also known as Elias who incarnated as John the Baptist and had been beheaded), Moses, and the Christ;
- The Christ-principle could now enter man in a new way that could either be nurtured or destroyed by the individual; and
- While Buddha's life culminated in transfiguration, it was only the beginning of the most important part of Jesus' life: the Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
New Exclusive Translation
GA 98
July 29, 2023
Translated by Antje Heymanns. Edited by Karin Wietrzykowski in collaboration with Antje Heymans and Dr. Liesma Vasbenter. Part I, Lecture IV and Part II, Lecture II are edited from prior translations. © 2023 Steiner Online Library
We are excited to present to you our new translation of GA 98! This volume consists of eighteen lectures given by Rudolf Steiner between 5 November 1907 and 14 June 1908. Part I of the work addresses the esoteric development of the individual and the spiritualization of the world in relation to the seasons. Part II presents an in depth view of supersensible beings and their influence on human beings and the material world.
This material is based on notes and transcripts taken by members of Steiner's audience and was not reviewed by Steiner himself. Therefore, like many of his lectures, you will find it to be written in a more conversational style than a formal book.
We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to Antje Heymanns of New Zealand, who kindly volunteered to translate GA 98 for us. Working together over the past few years to produce this text via email exchanges has been an immense undertaking for us but also enormously rewarding. We hope you will enjoy the finished product.
As always, if you find such material to be useful to your studies or your Anthroposophical community, please consider donating to our work. We aim to continue offering this work as a free service and still need to find adequate financial support within the Anthroposophical community for the Archive to be sustainable.
PRACTICE THE CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
With Our New COTS Tool.
July 20, 2023
Compare Translations & Verses
We have developed a new COTS tool for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres!
Easter is Week 1 in the Northern Hemisphere and Week 27 in the Southern Hemisphere. Rather than combining some lessons to fit a 52 week cycle, we have calculated the number of days between each Easter and divided by 52 equal periods - one for each verse. This allowed us to automate the system. Feel free to navigate to the previous and next verses for comparison during the year.Compare several translations with the original German text. Contemplate the corresponding verses for deeper insight.
Solstice & John the Baptist
The Forerunner of the Christ
June 19, 2023
June 21st is both the Solstice and St. John’s Day—the celebration of the birth of John the Baptist six months before the birth of Jesus. Read our latest blog for highlights of Rudolf Steiner’s teachings on the event, including:
- The familial and spiritual relationship between Jesus and John.
- The birth of John, an old soul from aged parents, ushering out the old law of Moses to pave the way for a new covenant through Christ.
- Jesus’ baptism by John by near-drowning and the descent of the Christ into His body.
- The significance of the Summer Solstice to the events.
Ascension and Pentecost
May 18 & 28, 2023
Christ’s rescue of the human physical and etheric bodies &
the evolution of the astral body and ego through the Holy Spirit.
Following the account of Acts 1:3 that the risen Christ Jesus appeared for 40 days prior to his Ascension, Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on the 40th day of Easter. It commemorates the ascension of the Christ as witnessed by His Disciples. Pentecost, also known as Whitsunday or Whitsun (“White Sunday”), has its roots in the Greek word pentecoste which means "50th day." It is celebrated on the seventh Sunday (50 days) after Easter, ten days after the Ascension. Pentecost commemorates the arrival of the Holy Spirit to the Disciples which appeared as tongues of fire upon their heads.
In his lecture entitled The Mystery of Pentecost and the Ascension, Rudolf Steiner discusses these two pivotal events.
From Jesus to Christ — Easter
March 30, 2023
This Eastertide, we highlight two lectures Steiner gave on 10-11 October 1911 pertaining to Christ’s resurrection. These are contained in GA 131, From Jesus to Christ, lectures VI and VII. There, Steiner masterfully explains the biblical account of the resurrection as a historical fact. We merely share these excerpts here to entice you to read these fascinating lectures in full.
Steiner sets the stage with a reading from the Gospel of John.
Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’
Our New Responsive Website
February 20, 2023
We are pleased to present to you a new, modernized Rudolf Steiner Archive. Since assuming responsibility for the Archive in late October 2021, we have replaced nearly the entire website platform since the technology had become outdated and crash-prone. The website is now stable and substantially faster. There has been zero downtime in the past year despite updating nearly 100% of the codebase.
In this update, we have refreshed the website’s appearance and, most importantly, added new technical capabilities.
The New Rudolf Steiner Archive
January 1, 2023
Since its creation in 1978, the online web-based Rudolf Steiner Archive has been used by Anthroposophists and others around the world for personal and professional research. In 2021, the US-based organisation behind the Archive, The e.Lib. Inc., transferred the Rudolf Steiner Archive website of RSArchive.org and related technology, books, and materials to a new non-profit organisation, Steiner Online Library. What follows is a brief history of this whole development.
From a small cottage nestled between two lakes in Northern Michigan, Dr. Christopher Wietrzykowski and his wife Karin run the Rudolf Steiner Archive—the largest digital collection of works of Rudolf Steiner available online in English. In 2021, Chris and Karin formed the not-for-profit corporation Steiner Online Library (SOL) which then acquired the assets of the Archive from The e.Lib, Inc. The Archive holds more than 3,000 of Dr. Steiner’s teachings and reaches approximately 6,000 unique visitors each day.