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In these much-valued lectures, Rudolf Steiner begins by positing the question, Why investigate the spiritual worlds at all? He goes on to explore the contemporary need for spiritual knowledge and the authentic paths that can lead to it. Speaking in Torquay, England, at the International Summer School organized by his friend and colleague D.N. Dunlop, Steiner surveys the differences in various types of consciousness from ancient to modern times, in waking and dreaming, from space into time and the changes that have taken place in relation to knowledge and science in the course of history. He goes on to discuss the Mystery nature of crystallized minerals and metals such as copper and silver, and their relationship to the planets. He also describes how the ages of life can become organs of perception. In a dramatic conclusion Steiner explains the role of moon beings, ahrimanic elemental beings, and the true nature of mediumship, ectoplasm and spiritual possession.Presented here in a fresh translation that corrects many errors in previous editions, the text is complemented with notes, an introduction by Paul King and an index. Lectures include: Nature is the Great Illusion. "Know Thyself"; The Three Worlds and their Reflected Images; Form and Substantiality of the Mineral Kingdom in relation to Human Levels of Consciousness; The Secret of Research into other Realms through the Metamorphosis of Consciousness; The Inner Enlivening of the Soul through the Qualities of Metals; Initiation Science; Star Knowledge; Possible Aberrations in Spiritual Research.

Steiner has been able to clarify the historical reality behind the Rosicrucian story, with all its aura of glamour and fantasy. That effected, he points to the enormity of its vision for the future evolution of ideas Dr Andrew Welburn (from the Introduction)In the immediate aftermath of the Mystery-act of the Christmas Foundation Conference, Rudolf Steiner chose to speak on the subject of Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation, Mystery Centres of the Middle Ages. Clearly connected to the events that had just taken place in Dornach in which he not only refounded the Anthroposophical Society but took a formal position within it Steiner begins by exploring the intellectual life of the Middle Ages and the role that Mystery culture played within it. He throws new light on the foundations of Rosicrucianism, its principles of initiation and its inherent impulse for freedom. Steiner also discusses the secret teachings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the dawn of the age of the Archangel Michael.In the second series of lectures, entitled The Easter Festival and the History of the Mysteries (April 1924), Steiner describes how festivals grew out of the Mysteries themselves. He speaks of Mysteries connected to Spring and Autumn, Adonis and Ephesus, and the significance of Sun and Moon. Throughout the volume he discusses the roles of Alexander the Great and Aristotle in world history and the significance of Aristotles Categories. Published for the first time as a single volume, the freshly revised text is complemented with an extensive introduction by Dr Andrew Welburn, detailed notes and appendices by Professor Frederick Amrine and an index.

In his final lectures to the general public, Rudolf Steiner speaks with great clarity and purpose about the inner and outer necessity of the anthroposophical impulse in modern times. Following the fire that destroyed the first Goetheanum building in Dornach, Switzerland, Steiner had focused his efforts on rebuilding and reorganizing the Anthroposophical Society. But he also continued to travel and speak to the public in Prague, Vienna and Basel to explain the purpose of the Goetheanum and to elucidate the broader aims of his spiritual work. These lectures, including a semi-public series in Dornach, are gathered here and published in English for the first time, together with an introduction, notes and index.The volume features the following lectures: The Purpose of the Goetheanum and the Aims of Anthroposophy; Enhancing Human Powers of Perception to Develop Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition; Human Soul Life and the Development of Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition; Experience and Perception of the Activities of Thinking and Speech; The Physical World and Moral-Spiritual Impulses: Four Stages of Inner Experience; Perceiving the Etheric World; Souls Eternity in the Light of Anthroposophy; Human Development and Education in the Light of Anthroposophy; Supersensible Perception, Anthroposophy as a Contemporary Need; Anthroposophy and the Ethical and Religious Life; How Do We Gain Knowledge of the Supersensible World?

Magic meets self-care in a feel-good guide thats both practical and mystical, exploring the different ways we can honour our body, mind and spirit to create personal wellness.Join well-being and nutrition expert Leah Vandervelt in a wellness practice that integrates centuries-old traditions and concepts into everyday modern living. With herbal infusions for calming and mood boosting, tarot cards to tune into intuition, moon rituals for setting aligned intentions and breath work for releasing stuck energy, Leah weaves together spirituality, high vibe meals, astrology, meditation, movement and more. Inspiring photographs accompany Leahs selection of magical tools as she shares her experience with them, including the benefits, and a few simple actions, rituals and recipes to do on your own. Setting up supportive routines is key for feeling good every day. This is wellness for the witchy people craving a more playful, receptive and healthy approach for tangible transformation. Celebrate the power to make your life more amazing. Its where the magics at!

It is a cosmic law that what has once taken place can never vanish, but must reappear later in a metamorphosed form. Every thought, feeling and action brought about by man does not only affect the world around him but will re-appear in the future (From the Preface)This course of lectures was originally offered as private, strictly verbal instruction to a select group of esoteric pupils. In an atmosphere of earnest study, Rudolf Steiner translated from the Akashic Script valuable concepts of human and cosmic knowledge into words of earthly language content that is often not to be found in his later lectures. Although working within the Theosophical Society, Steiner was an independent spiritual teacher: I would only bring forward the results of what I beheld in my own spiritual research.The manifold, exact and detailed descriptions of the events of evolution in these lectures form a background to the evolving figure of the human being. The mighty event of the moon leaving the Earth, vividly described, took place according to Rudolf Steiner in order to provide an environment suited to human progress. The wonderful moment when the higher being of man descended in a bell-like form and enveloped the lower human body, still on a level with the animals, depicts what eventually provided human beings with a body suited to the development of the self or I. Spiritual beings and the great initiates led humanity along the path it was destined to tread.Rudolf Steiner presents a sweep of occult knowledge, including the phases of planetary evolution, various myths and symbols, human physical and spiritual organs, illness, reincarnation, and much more. Also included are unexpected insights into specific phenomena such as dinosaurs, bacteria, radiation, black and white magic, the Sphinx and Freemasonry.

Lift astrology out of the sun-sign columns, interpret your birth chart and discover the true meaning of the stars and planets, and their influence on your personality.

Delivered in the context of post-war cultural and social chaos, these lectures form part of Rudolf Steiners energetic efforts to cultivate social understanding and renew culture through his innovative ideas based on threefolding. Steiner develops a subtle and discerning perception of how social dynamics could change and heal if they were founded on real insight into our threefold nature as individuals, social beings and economic participants in the world. He doesnt offer a programmatic agenda for change, but a real foundation from which change can organically grow.Social forms and reforms, says Steiner, are created together, not imposed by lone geniuses. Nevertheless, the detail of some of the thoughts and ideas he presents here as a possible model down to the economic specifics of commodity, labour, taxation, ground rent and capitalism itself are staggering in their clarity and originality. This is no mystic effusion but a heartfelt plea, backed by profound insights, to change our thinking and the world we live in. As he points out, thoughts create reality, and so it is vital how and what we think.Among the many contemporary and highly-relevant topics Steiner discusses here are: the nature of money and capital; taxation and the state; free enterprise and initiative; capitalism and Marxism; the relationship between employer and employee; added value theory and the concept of commodity; and class consciousness, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

In the uncertainty following the end of the First World War, Rudolf Steiner perceived a unique opportunity to establish a healthy social and political constitution. He began lecturing throughout post-war Germany, often to large audiences, about his social ideas. Here, speaking to a more intimate grouping at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, Steiner seeks to deepen the themes of social threefolding, showing specifically how new social thinking is integral to anthroposophy.Steiner speaks of the superficiality of the materialistic view of history, originating with the economic shift amongst the population at the time of the Reformation. Back in Egyptian-Chaldean times, initiates ruled out of spiritual impulses. Later, in the Greco-Roman period, priests had power over their congregations. Today, homo economicus or economic man has become the dominant idea, with the capitalist and the banker taking control. But the healing of social relationships can only come about through different modes of thought; the life of spirit must be separated not only from politics but also from economics. True social understanding allows for comprehension of karma the appreciation of each persons individual destiny. In parallel, says Steiner, we should work towards a global consciousness, as true social ideas are founded on people feeling themselves to be citizens of the world.In an important corollary, Steiner studies the incarnations of three significant spiritual beings in human evolution: Lucifer, Christ and Ahriman. Lucifer incarnated in the third pre-Christian millennium, Christ incarnated at the dawn of a new age, whilst an incarnation of Ahriman in the West is immanent. Ahriman is preparing this incarnation by insidiously promoting various ideas, for example that economic security is sufficient for healthy public life. A new wisdom must be achieved out of free human will, says Steiner, or else we will succumb to Ahriman.

The heart of this volume comprises Rudolf Steiners commentary on the elemental forces that are responsible for our earthly nature as human beings forces that influence us through our membership of a national or geographical group. When such elemental forces are not recognised and understood, he states, they cause conflict and chaos. However, Steiner indicates an important accompanying task that calls upon each human being to develop individuality, emancipating ourselves from the earthly influences underlying national and racial groups.These great themes are framed by Rudolf Steiners pioneering research into the two major Northern folk-poems, the Kalevala and The Dream Song of Olaf steson. The former tells of the elemental spirits who created the conditions for our earthly incarnation, whereas the Dream Song has to do with the drama of excarnation the journey of the human soul after death. Linking these vast motifs is Steiners unique description of the mission and tasks of the Russian people and the contrast of their destiny to the North American people (who, he says, are dominating the Earth for a brief period of increasing splendour).Steiner explains how elemental beings, responsible for the balance of land and sea, have created conditions where various peoples are enabled to develop their gifts and fulfil their destinies. Thus he speaks of Finland as the ancient conscience of Europe, Russia as the future bearer of the Christ-imbued Spirit Self, and the differing but complementary environments of Germany and Britain. Strikingly, he states that, no souls on Earth love one another more than those living in Central Europe and those living in the British Isles.Rudolf Steiner also speaks of the necessary work of luciferic and ahrimanic beings that collaborate to enable the solid spatial forms of our physical bodies. Likewise, they influence our etheric and astral bodies, facilitating thinking, feeling and will to be imbued with life and consciousness.

In an astonishing series of lectures on the science of spiritual knowledge, Rudolf Steiner begins by addressing an audience in Dornach, Switzerland where, only months earlier, his architectural masterpiece, the first Goetheanum, had been destroyed by fire. He discusses the nature of our planetary system, revealing the planets that are characterised by freedom and those that determine destiny. The spirits of the moon live in seclusion, preserving original wisdom and reflecting powers connected to sexuality, whereas the sun creates harmony. Jupiter is the thinker, whilst the spirits on Saturn act as living memory. Speaking in London, Steiner states that the things that happen to people in sleep are more important than anything that occurs during waking hours! Human beings, he says, must learn to see themselves as an image of spirits and spiritual activities on earth.In a break from the theme, and returning to Dornach, Rudolf Steiner reports on his recent visit to England and Wales, where he attended an educational conference in Ilkley, a Summer School in Penmaenmawr and a school for the disadvantaged in the East End of London. Steiner speaks of the particular atmosphere he experienced in West Yorkshire and North Wales, where remnants of Druid spirituality live in the surroundings. The latter theme emerges strongly in the next lectures, which examine the Druid priests sun initiation and perception of moon spirits. The Druids investigated the secrets of the universe, influencing both social and religious life. Steiner also describes the mythic being of Woden, who signified the birth of intellectuality and the subsequent fear of death which, he asserts, can be healed by the Mystery of Golgotha.In the final section, Rudolf Steiner discusses: The past, present and future development of the human mind. Again, he references the importance of Druid culture, noting that the ground plans of the stone circles in Penmaenmawr are similar to that of the first Goetheanum. He also points to the crucial roles of the ancient Mysteries and Christs deed in human development.

A compendium of four mini-books by Frank Clifford. Part I: The Midheaven (MC) has much to say about our reputation and public image, and, as part of an axis, our parental messages and family inheritance. Frank offers new insights from his years of research into the MCIC axis. Part II: The Astrology of Love Sex & Attraction is a sparkling and entertaining guide packed with practical advice and astrological insights into your relationship needs and sex life. Discover how the love planet Venus shapes your heart, how the passion planet Mars charges your sex drive, what you bring to intimate partnerships, and what turns you on and off. Part III: With the help of numerous horoscopes of well-known comedians, Frank Clifford has put together a unique volume of charts, observations and wicked one-liners that well and truly hit the astrological funnybone. Part IV: Take your predictive astrology to a new level with Solar Arc Directions, a remarkably accurate and easy-to-master forecasting tool. All you ever need to know about Solar Arcs is packed inside this informative manual, presented clearly and concisely.

Borley Rectory in Essex, built in 1862, should have been an ordinary Victorian clergymans house. However, just a year after its construction, unexplained footsteps were heard within the house, and from 1900 until it burned down in 1939 numerous paranormal phenomena, including phantom coaches and shattering windows, were observed. In 1929 the house was investigated by the Daily Mail and paranormal researcher Harry Price, and it was he who called it the most haunted house in England. Price also took out a lease of the rectory from 1937 to 1938, recruiting forty-eight official observers to monitor occurences. After his death in 1948, the water was muddied by claims that Prices findings were not genuine paranormal activity, and ever since there has been a debate over what really went on at Borley Rectory. Paul Adams, Eddie Brazil and Peter Underwood here present a comprehensive guide to the history of the house and the ghostly (or not) goings-on there.

These authoritative lectures, delivered during a period of deep crisis and conflict in world history, present a comprehensive spiritual teaching for contemporary humanity. Despite the raging world war, Rudolf Steiner was still actively touring Central Europe whilst simultaneously completing work on his architectural masterpiece, the first Goetheanum, in neutral Switzerland.The building of the Goetheanum undertaken by a community of people from seventeen nations at war forms a thematic backdrop to the lectures. In speaking of the walls in the new building, for example, Rudolf Steiner describes how their forms are not confining, but rather express an openness to the surrounding cosmos. Likewise, the carved motifs on the architraves of the wooden pillars are not fixed symbols but are alive and continually metamorphosing . These observations are reflected in Steiners broader discussions. He speaks of extending and deepening our connection with the world and the cosmos, going beyond our usual narrow limits and definitions to engage in community with the realities of existence. We can do this, for example, with the so-called dead, who find it difficult to relate to sense-bound thinking. Rudolf Steiner explains how we can connect with them, greatly enriching our lives and making an enormous difference to their souls. The distinction between fixed symbols and living motifs takes us to the core of anthroposophy, striving never to rest in inert forms of thought. In the field of education, Steiner thus warns about external measuring of pupils and linear models of cognitive learning.Throughout the three lecture courses included here which together form a kind of compendium of anthroposophy at the time Steiner touches upon a wealth of absorbing themes, including the discovery of America, the contrast between East and West, the qualities of European folk souls, Valentin Andreaes Chymical Wedding, and Darwinism. Regardless of his topic, however, Steiner consistently makes the urgent appeal that we grasp reality, looking further than abstract schemes of all kinds such as social and political programmes to participate in the cosmos as conscious and fully human co-creators.

If one is unable to conceive of the Christ mystery as a true reality, one also cannot develop any ideas and concepts relating to the rest of world existence that are imbued with reality, which really penetrate to the truth . Rudolf SteinerIn a series of 17 lectures, Rudolf Steiner throws new light on the historical background and esoteric meaning of what he refers to as the central event of human and earthly history: the Christ mystery or the Mystery of Golgotha. Basing his commentaries on personal spiritual research, Steiner emphasizes the key nature of the Mystery of Golgotha, through which ...something was accomplished which has to do not with the moral order alone but with the whole world-order in its entirety. This relates to a transformation of the spiritual environment of the earth and a potentially radical change in human consciousness.Building on the core themes of this course, Steiner presents a variety of fascinating topics, including: original sin and the idea of resurrection; faith and knowledge; the nature of sleep and the riddle of fatigue; the violation of the mysteries by the Roman Emperors; the teachings of Mani and Augustine; our relationship to the dead in spiritualistic seances; and the correspondence between the Platonic year, a day in a persons life and a human life-time.Although first delivered to audiences a century ago, these lectures have lost none of their resonance; indeed, their essential message is perhaps more relevant than ever. They are published here in a new translation and for the first time in a complete English edition.So let us endeavour to make spiritual science our own not merely as a teaching but as a language, and then wait until we find the questions in this language that we may address to Christ. He will answer, yes He will answer!

The British Isles has a remarkable association with vampires chilling supernatural creatures of the night. From the nineteenth-century writings of John Polidori, James Rymer, Sheridan Le Fanu and Bram Stoker, to the modern literary horrors of Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley and Kim Newman, the vampire casts a strange and compelling shadow that spreads from the realms of fantasy into the world of the living. Here you will find vampire murderers and vampire hunters together with the real-life mysteries of Croglin Grange, Alnwick Castle, the Vampire of the Villas, the Yorkshire Vampire and the enduring phenomenon of Londons famous Highgate Vampire. In this thought-provoking book, illustrated with never before seen photographs and drawing on extensive original research, writer and paranormal historian Paul Adams explores the fascinating history of British vampirism in both fact and fiction. With extensive chapters on the post-war revival of Gothic cinema horror and the influence of cult studio Hammer Films on the vampire in British television and music, here is a modern guide where every page is truly written in blood

Rudolf Steiner shows how deeply and intimately human beings, the microcosm, are related to the macrocosm. But for Steiner the macrocosm is more than just the physical universe. It includes many hidden realms like the world of Elements and the world of Archetypes which lie behind outer manifestations such as our physical body. The macrocosm works within us continuously in the daily alternation between sleeping and waking and in the great cyclical interchange between incarnation on earth and our time between death and rebirth. Steiner discusses the various paths of self-development that lead across the threshold to spiritual dimensions, transforming human soul-forces into organs of higher perception. In future we will even have the capacity to evolve a form of thinking that is higher than the intellect the thinking of the heart. In this classic series of lectures, now retranslated and featuring a previously-unavailable public address, Rudolf Steiner also discusses: the planets and their connection with our sleeping and waking life; the inner path of the mystic; the greater and lesser guardians of the threshold; the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris and Isis; initiation in the Northern mysteries; The four spheres of the higher worlds; mirror-images of the macrocosm in man; the strengthening powers of sleep; the symbol of the Rose Cross; reading the Akashic Record; four-dimensional space; the development of future human capacities, and much more. The volume includes an introduction, notes and index.

¿A qué se parece morir? ¿Existe alguna dimensión esencial en el ser humano -consciencia, alma, yo subliminal, karma, energía espiritual cósmica- que pueda sobrevivir al destino fatal de la muerte corporal?¿Son las experiencias cercanas a la muerte verdaderas revelaciones sobre la existencia de una hipotetica vida mas alla de la tumba o no son sino mas que simples quimeras imaginarias, alucinosis, onirogenias o traumas producto de un truco bioquimico del cerebro agonizante? A pesar de que la cuestion de la inmortalidad del alma fue secularmente relegada al mundo de la supersticion, de lo imaginario y de la mitologia anacronica medieval ancestral por la fisica clasica newtoniana y por la biologia evolucionista neodarwinista, el progreso de la parapsicologia en las ultimas decadas del pasado siglo XX, el estudio de los estados alterados de consciencia, de los fenomenos psiquicos(PSI Phenomena), de las experiencias cercanas a la muerte y la aparicion de nuevos paradigmas en los dominios de la fisica cuantica, la neurociencia, la biologia, la tanatologia y de la psicologia ha insuflado un nuevo vigor a la hipotesis de la inmortalidad. Una hipotesis cientifica que goza de suma actualidad y que empieza a ser debatida y planteada seriamente en los ambientes cientificos y academicos mas ortodoxos. Este impresionante y extraordinario libro, fruto de mas de 12 años de investigacion periodistica sobre el tema, aborda con todo el rigor, seriedad, amplitud y profundidad suficiente el fenomeno de las experiencias cercanas a la muerte (ECMs) desde una perspectiva metodica, tecnica y cientifica. Para ello analiza con el maximo rigor, imparcialidad y objetividad posible la cuestion de las ECMs desde todos los angulos posibles (fenomenologia, tipologia, casuistica, etiologia, incidencia estadistica, referencias historicas, efectos post-ECM, explicaciones cientificas naturales, casos reales ilustrativos, etc.), asi como otros marcos teoricos mas amplios o nuevos paradigmas cientificos de corte multdisciplinar, principalmente del campo de la cosmologia y la fisica cuantica, para una comprension profunda, seria y lucida sobre la eterna y mas primordial cuestion de la condicion humana: ¿que nos espera realmente al morir?

¿Qué podría pensar el pueblo romano sobre lo que tenía que venir después de la muerte?; indudablemente partieron de los paisajes del allende de sus antiguos predecesores, los griegos, pero les confirieron un punto de vista propio. Por las lineas de este nuevo trabajo de Alfredo Tiemblo pasan, por orden cronologico, todas las tendencias filosoficas que, sobre el particular, surgieron. Se habla de los Eclecticos, con Ciceron a la Cabeza; del Estoicismo romano tan propio de autores como Seneca o Marco Aurelio, tan fundamental en la estructura politico-administrativa del Imperio; del escepticismo y su demoledora accion; del Cinismo de Luciano de Samosata; de los voluntariamente marginados Epicureos, con Lucrecio a la cabeza; de todas las versiones, a cual mas bella en su mensaje, del Platonismo y Pitagorismo, de un enorme desarrollo ambas a partir de los siglos II y III d.C.; de lo misterico y lo Hermetico; de los nuevos cultos orientales, Isis Mitra y Demeter y sus iniciaciones etc. Pero, no solo los grandes pensadores piensan sobre la muerte, valga la redundancia: se habla ademas, en la medida de lo posible, del comun de los mortales: los que asisten a las comedias, de Plauto por ejemplo, y lo que ellas les transmiten; de los mensajes conmovedores de las gentes, a sus llorados muertos, plasmados en las lapidas funerarias etc.

El cuarto camino es la obra más influyente de P. D. Ouspensky, discípulo del místico ruso Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff. Publicada en 1957, recoge conferencias, diálogos y enseñanzas impartidas entre 1921 y 1947, en las que Ouspensky expone de manera sistematica la filosofia y el metodo de Gurdjieff para el desarrollo espiritual. El titulo hace referencia a un camino alternativo a las tres sendas tradicionales de evolucion interior: la del faquir (control del cuerpo), la del monje (dominio de las emociones) y la del yogui (disciplina mental). Ouspensky presenta el "cuarto camino" como un metodo integral que puede practicarse en la vida cotidiana, sin necesidad de aislamiento del mundo, equilibrando cuerpo, mente y emociones para alcanzar la conciencia plena.La obra aborda temas fundamentales como la naturaleza del hombre, los niveles de conciencia, la lucha contra la mecanicidad de la vida, el papel de la atencion, y la posibilidad de alcanzar un despertar espiritual a traves de un esfuerzo consciente.Con un estilo claro y estructurado, Ouspensky ofrece una guia teorico-practica que ha inspirado a generaciones de buscadores espirituales, convirtiendose en un clasico de la literatura esoterica del siglo XX y una referencia esencial para quienes desean comprender y aplicar las enseñanzas de Gurdjieff.

"La vida después de la muerte es una obra que invita al lector a reflexionar sobre uno de los mayores misterios de la existencia humana: ¿qué ocurre después de nuestro último aliento? Con una mirada profunda y abierta, el libro explora tradiciones espirituales, filosoficas y testimonios que buscan dar respuesta a la inquietud universal sobre la continuidad de la conciencia.A traves de un recorrido que abarca enseñanzas ancestrales, relatos misticos, experiencias cercanas a la muerte y enfoques contemporaneos de la espiritualidad, el texto ofrece una vision integradora. No se limita a un solo dogma o creencia, sino que presenta multiples perspectivas que enriquecen la comprension del lector. Desde las antiguas civilizaciones hasta el pensamiento moderno, se revelan simbolos, metaforas y reflexiones que sugieren que la muerte no es un final, sino una transformacion.Mas que una obra de especulacion, el libro inspira al lector a enfrentar la vida con mayor serenidad, aceptando la muerte como parte natural de un ciclo mas amplio. Con un estilo accesible y reflexivo, invita a cultivar la esperanza y la busqueda de sentido, recordando que la trascendencia puede encontrarse tanto en lo espiritual como en la forma en que vivimos el presente."