Two Lectures given by Adriana Koulias in Sydney 26 October and 2nd November 2004©

This article is also availible for download as a MS Word document here.

Thank you for coming tonight, I have missed being here and it is so good to come to you now with the fruits of my research of the last four months. This lecture is a culmination of work on the Grail in relation to Rudolf Steiner’s “Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric”, “The Mission of the Folk souls” and a trip that I have made to France in June.

We will ask the question what is the Grail? We will explore the mystery stream of the Grail past and present. We will discover who are the human and the supersensible guardians of the Grail and how they inspire human beings and this will lead us to the opposing Anti Grail Stream. We will explore what guides it and how it has manifested in the past and continues to do so today.

Rudolf Steiner has said that it is through absorbing the knowledge of the Grail that the impulse of the Christ event, its significance, will be revealed and will become a power in the life of the human being.[1] So …

What is the Holy Grail?

Before the Mystery of Golgotha:

Before the mystery of Golgotha human beings sought for communion with spiritual worlds through initiatory paths that led to ‘Revelation’ – the passive ‘Revelation’ of the Sun Being as the highest expression of the spiritual world in the human being.[2]

Human beings experienced revelation of the Spiritual World through the great Sacrifice made by the Sun Being who descended to regions where in the ‘mysteries’ He could be ‘revealed’ to human beings. From Indian times to Persian times this ‘revelation’ occurred in the Etheric body (Indian Epoch) and in the Astral body (Persian Epoch). But it was not until the Egypto Chaldean Epoch that man developed ‘Gnosis’ or ‘knowledge’, that is, a relationship to what is experienced as a feeling within the human being for the revelation. But this relationship, or this knowledge remained of a passive kind, that is, man could not be a conscious participator. The story of the young man of Sais who tries to take a peak behind the veil of Isis and is punished with death[3] illustrates this point. The human being who bore ‘within’ a picture of the Sun Being only ‘felt’ this picture in the Sentient soul by undergoing a kind of death to the physical world - a sleep, a passive acceptance.

By the time evolution had reached the age of the Intellect and Roman times human beings had acquired a clearer consciousness of the physical world at the expense of consciousness into worlds of spirit and it was now necessary for the Sun Being to descend into the physical organisation of a human being, Jesus of Nazareth in order for His  ‘revelation’ to take place.

Indian ------------------Etheric Body ------Vishvakarman----------------Higher Devachan

Persian -----------------Astral Body--------Ahura Mazdao----------------Lower Devachan

Beginning of ‘Gnosis’

Egypto Chaldean------Sentient Soul---------Osiris------------------------Astral World

Greco Roman----------Intellectual Soul------Christ------------------------Physical World

The ‘Gnosis passes over into the safekeeping of the Angels.

After the Mystery of Golgotha:

After the mystery of Golgotha, what had once been achieved in the mysteries as a result of ‘gnosis’ or ‘revelation’ of the Sun Being within man became the ‘revelation’ of Christ in the physical world. Christ who had shed his blood and died an earthly death. Christ’s blood, the expression of his Ego had united with the earth on mount Golgotha and this opened the way for human beings to unite with Him in a conscious active way through their own efforts.[4]

As a result the ‘Gnosis’ had to be carried to the Astral world by the Angels.[5] This ‘Gnosis’ or ‘revelation’ in the Sentient Soul since the time of the ancient Egyptians became transformed into an imagination in the Intellectual Soul steeped in feeling.[6] This imagination was the imagination of the human being as a cup, a perfect vessel for ‘receiving’ the Being of Christ, that is,  a vessel into which Christ could not only be revealed but also ‘reborn’. Revelation becomes Rebirth.[7]

This imagination was given by Christ Jesus to his Apostles the night before the Crucifixion. This was a formula by which they would be able to remember that after His death and subsequent resurrection it would be possible for human beings to ‘receive’ Him into themselves consciously.[8] Human beings would one day receive an imprint of his I into themselves as it would be received into the Earth[9].  This He gave in the twofold imagination of the bread and the wine – the taking in of His body[10]:

1. Microcosmically --- the wine represented His Etheric blood the expression of His Ego residing in the vessel of the human being – man would one day actively and consciously work at the perfection towards His ‘rebirth’ in the various human sheaths.

2. Macrocosmically ---- the bread was His Etheric blood or the expression of His Ego residing in the Etheric vessel of the Earth – the forces of the Cosmos[11] residing in the earth. This is what will make His rebirth possible into macrocosmic sheaths, thereby fashioning, through the Earth’s redemption by human beings, an inverted cup from which will pour out the Being of love that is Christ through man into the entire Cosmos.

After the mystery of Golgotha this knowledge was kept alive in two ways:

1 Exoterically in the ritual of the High Mass

Because humanity had to be brought gradually to these secrets what could be given exoterically was of a less conscious nature and was a preparation for a later time when it could be understood. That is why for a long time the Mass was said in two parts, the Low and the High mass. The word mass itself stands for the Latin word Missa, from the word dismissed. This referred to the practice of dismissing the Catechumens or Deacons - those not initiated before the Offering.[12]

The mass itself occurred in three parts,

1. The Gospel – The reciting of the Creed the ‘I believe in one God’
Deacons are dismissed.

2. The Offering - The bread and wine are presented to God on an Altar, here a prayer is said silently by the priest - the Oration Super Oblata which was the ‘secret’ – the private Loving offering to Christ.

3. Transubstantiation – in which the wine and bread are transformed into the blood and body of Christ. The priest says “Deus qui humanae substantiae” God that is human in substance…and the trinity is called upon with the words “Suspice Sancta Trinitas”.

Rudolf Steiner tells us that the entire mystery of Golgotha is hidden behind these Mantrams[13]. It depicts an initiatory path, which enables the human being to ultimately commune with Christ.

Think of the word nave, that is, the central isle of a church. Nave is derived from the word ‘Navis’[14] a ship or ‘Navalis’ which means to sail or navigate. The initiate is led down a central Nave that is, he sails or navigates down the central nave towards the Altar in a similar way that an Egyptian initiate sailed down the river of souls on the boat of Isis to the gates of Duat. The English word ‘Altar’ is derived from the Latin words ‘Altus’[15] or ‘Alte’ meaning high and the word ‘Alter’[16] meaning to become the other way, or to change to become another person – in other words, putting the two words together it means: to change into something ‘higher’- Initiation.

In Anthroposophical terms we can say that the three parts therefore relate to the three sheaths and the six planetary epochs as:

1. The Gospel - to the Astral body  – the belief – Moon and Jupiter.

2. The Offering – to the Etheric body – the loving offering – Sun and Venus

3. The Transubstantiation – Physical body – the transformation of the sacrament - Saturn and Vulcan

The priest is the representative of the Ego – the lower Ego and of Earth Evolution.

The secrets of the Higher Ego of Christ in the purified vessel of man and the Ego of Christ residing in the body of the Earth given in the Mass were esoteric secrets not to be given to all. As they became less and less understood the high mass became an exoteric experience, whose only purpose was in retaining a connection with worlds of spirit and the possibility of the future.

2 Esoterically in the myth of the Grail cup

The memory of Christ having been a Sun Being began to die and it[17] became more and more important for the Esoteric stream to preserve these secrets for a later time when it could be understood. It could only be known by special human beings who were the first to work through imagination in the Intellect. The chalice or cup of the Mass became the Holy Grail  - the cup that could only be found after much hardship and would only descend to earth when man had built the castle. This means that it could descend only when human beings had so perfected the Astral body, Etheric body or Physical body respectively. At the time of Parzifal this was the perfection of the Astral body through the Consciousness soul - a selfless love turned into action (will made conscious).

This perfected human sheath is the Holy Grail that like the pure plant calyx is pierced by the rays of the Sun.[18] It is the cup used by Christ Jesus at the last supper, the cup that Joseph of Arithmathea used to catch the blood of the Crucified Jesus Christ on Mount Golgotha. It was also that cup which was given to the angels for safe keeping until Titurel could build the castle of the Grail. It was synonymous with the Knights of king Arthur, with the quest led by Parzifal to find it and with the Templars and Rosicrucians who were their successors.[19] Human eings could achieve this through a path of perfection that led to the conscious participation in the ‘Receiving’ or ‘Rebirth’ of Christ[20] in the various perfected sheaths.

The Grail Stream is then that stream that works from a Brotherhood of initiates formed to guard these mysteries and to distribute through mystery centres what was appropriate for humanity. This was called the Brotherhood of the Holy Grail.[21] The Brotherhood of the Holy Grail has the responsibility of guiding the Grail stream in its task of carrying the transformation of this ‘gnosis’ or ‘revelation’ into the intelligence, or ‘Rebirth’ that leads the human being from being a ‘Christophoros’ or Christ Bearer to a ‘Christodekteros’ a Christ Receiver. It safeguards the secret of:

1. How humanity can achieve the task of so purifying the various bodily sheaths Physical Etheric Astral through the power of the Ego so that they may be fashioned into a microcosmic Grail into which the Holy blood of Christ - an expression of His Ego can enter

2. How humanity can through purifying these sheaths redeem the earth so that it can become the macrocosmic Grail into which the Ego of Christ can enter.

The Four Esoteric Streams, which took up what had been given Exoterically and carried it Esoterically in the Mysteries of the Grail.

The Eastern Stream - Astral Body- The Gospel:

Belonged to Manes and was taken from East to West by him in his incarnation as Parzifal.  Parzifal journeys from fool to Grail king by working out of the forces of the highest member of the soul possible at that time, the consciousness soul. The Consciousness soul works thinking and feeling into the realm of will so that it becomes conscious. It therefore is able to ask the unselfish question, “What ails thee brother?” This active conscious sacrifice or selfless love points to one of the most exalted tasks of this stream, to lead a brother to the Grail. It is the transformation, through the forces of the spiritualised will to counteract the effects of Lucifer in the Astral body,[22] Doubt[23]. In the Astral body lies the Secrets of Faith, the Creed - I believe! Faith in the Astral body leads to a lighting up of the Ego of Christ and transforms it to Spirit Self[24], this is what lives in the cup of Joseph of Arithmathea and keeps him alive, the mana - the faith - that was given to the Jewish people followers of Moses. It is what keeps the Knights of the Grail alive. It is the secret of Eternal life and the reversal of the effects of the fall.

The Western Mystery Stream Etheric Body – The Offertory:  The deadly wound and the divided soul occurs through a lack of love. This stream understood that when man had undergone the fall something had been taken away from him. Something inside him was in fact dead or lost to his consciousness. The human being became an Amfortas (wounded in the groin or through the fall and the separation of the sexes) and a part of the Physical and Etheric bodies was dead. Not dead as we know death, but the life that ran through it had a disposition towards death[25] (degenerating Ethers). An initiate knew he must bring life back into those dead portions of the physical and Etheric bodies that were unconscious through selfless love, which is ‘life’. It was for this reason that the two mystery streams were united by Parzifal, for only he could temper the wound brought about by the fall by redeeming the Astral body through the work of the Consciousness soul. This in turn would, through the intellectual soul, heal that part of the Etheric body that was ‘wounded’ or that had remained unconscious. The place in which this teaching was taught was called the Castle of the Grail.

Parzifal the greatest of all earthly initiates knew that in that dead part where man had no consciousness, in that space beings of opposition could take up abode. The Domain that was most vicious and hostile to the Grail was seen as Chastel Marveil where hate and division prevailed. This was the place where all forces which attack human beings in the unconscious aspect of the Etheric and Physical body, gathered. The healing of the deadly wound that was acquired through an illegitimate selfish love with the love that is beyond the self[26] was integral to enabling the lighting up of the Ego of Christ in the spiritualised human Etheric body – Life Spirit - as well as the redemption of the fallen Ethers. This is the healing of Amfortas by Parzifal.

The Southern Mystery Stream – the Transubstantiation of the Chalice belonged to both the Templars and the Rosicrucians and concerned itself with the building of the physical Temple for the incarnation of the Word in Matter. John the Beloved was the Initiate guide of this stream. He was once incarnated as Hiram Abiff the builder of the Temple of Solomon and Charibert von Laeon founder of the Brotherhood of the Holy Grail.  He becomes Christian Rosencreutz in the fourteenth century - the first human being to have experienced an initiation in which he receives the imprint of the Ego of Christ[27] right down into his physical body.  This is the Final Conclusion to the shaping of the philosopher’s stone, the perfection of the physical body from Carbon to Diamond in readiness for the down-pouring of the blood – ego substance of Christ. It is the phantom or resurrection body. It is a symbol for the transfiguration that is witnessed by Christ’s disciples after His death.

The Northern Mystery Stream – Holy Communion - belonged to the Germanic people and concerned itself with the secrets of the Ego – the secrets of the sacrifice of the lower Ego into which the Christ Ego or higher ego could enter. This stream belonged to Rudolf Steiner whose task it was to lead the human being towards a perception of the Ego through the act of Will toward a revelation of it as a self contained spiritual Being[28] - Spirit Self.

It was through Rudolf Steiner that these four streams came together.

How did they come together?

Preparations were made in the early centuries after the Mystery of Golgotha where it was decided by the great initiates, Zarathustra, Buddha, Scythianos and the great Manes, when the coming together of these streams should occur.[29] It was decided that in the ninth century Manes would be incarnated as Parzifal who had in the past been incarnated as Mani. Parzifal was inspired by the Celtic folk Soul or Archangel to bring the Eastern mystery Stream together with the Western Mystery stream in becoming Grail king. This allowed the Celtic Archangel to withdraw from its people. The Celtic tradition had to be sacrificed for this to happen. This was the preparation for a further unification of the Southern mystery stream the stream that dealt with the transformation of the moon forces in physical body the female element[30], with the Eastern stream that concerned itself with the Catharsis of the Astral body and the Western stream that concerned itself with the Etheric body at around 1254 in the initiation of the young boy (Christian Rosencreutz) surrounded by the twelve at Montsalvat – a sanctuary set up by the Templars in what was once Aragon and North of Spain but is now a part of France[31]. During this initiation he received into him an imprint of the ego of Christ through all his sheaths right into his physical body.[32] This young boy would go on to become Christian Rosencreutz. Thus the Rosicrucian stream now embodied the knowledge of the Ethers, Astral body and the transformation of the physical body illuminated by the light of the Christ ego and became known as the mysteries of the Rose Cross.

It was only after the period of darkness or Kali Yuga that it was possible for the final unification of the four streams to come about through Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy in the laying down of the foundation stone meditation 25 December 1923 as a kind of High Mass or Cultus in which higher beings participated in communion with human beings. We can see this if we study closely how in the foundation stone Meditation there is given the path through which man can experience the cosmic Rose Cross, the ultimate conscious experience of the transformed physical body as the end of a path towards becoming the vessel of the Christ Ego.[33]

The Unification of the Four Mystery Streams and the White Lodge.

After the Mystery of Golgotha the Ether body of Christ Jesus was taken up into the cosmos,[34] to the sphere of Saturn or father Chronos and began its descent back towards the earth like an echo at around 948 AD. This began His second coming. Between the years 1920 – 1935[35] Christ had descended as far as the sphere of the Angels and it was this that made it possible once again for a great human initiate to receive what had been taken up to the angelic realms after the Mystery of Golgotha and to give it to mankind once again as Exoteric knowledge - the Grail mysteries. This is what made the unification of the mystery streams at the Christmas Foundation meeting by Rudolf Steiner possible.

There are now four new mystery streams whose task it is to guard and to distribute the knowledge of the Grail, that is, the knowledge of Christ Consciousness Consciously received by man so that it can be reborn, that is the ‘receiving’ of it by which man is made a Christo-dekteros[36].

Rudolf Steiner said in his last address to the Anthroposophical Society at Michaelmas 1924 that four groups of twelve individuals will represent the start of four new esoteric impulses.  The Microcosmic Grail streams seen from the standpoint of the earth look like this:

As we see above each stream has 12 initiates working under one great ‘Human’ guardian who works from the Brotherhood of the Grail. This brotherhood of the Grail works towards imparting the secret of the grail to individuals, that is, how the individual must prepare his vessel for a conscious communion with Christ.

This brotherhood is presided over by higher beings (Archangels) of the White Lodge known as the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings and sensations. These Archangelic Teachers form the circle of twelve Bodhisattvas who reflect the Cosmic forces of the Christ Being as His being is understood from the standpoint of the different signs of the Zodiac through the power of the Holy Spirit that descends down into their circle from the region of the Bull. In the Grail Motif the Christ becomes known to human initiates through the power and grace of the Holy Spirit – the Dove.

There are other supersensible beings that have another task in this respect. Their task  has more to do with humanity as [37] a whole. These five beings have a special interest in all that is given to mankind concerning the substance of Christ that will enter the microcosmic Grail of the human being and the Macrocosmic Grail of the Earth. Rudolf Steiner mentions them in his book The Mission of the Folk Souls. They are especially interesting because they all share a common pattern of sacrifice. Each being has sacrificed a move to a higher rank, that is, agrees to remain behind in order to accomplish a particular task. This must not be construed as a Luciferic form of remaining behind as we have seen occurred to those beings that chose to develop their own consciousness and became beings of untruth. This kind of remaining behind entails a great sacrifice a renunciation of what was due them for the sake of world evolution. This was not done out of a selfish desire but out of a self less love.

Supersensible Inspirers of the White Lodge and the Grail Stream.

Michael – Cosmic Intelligence –– Mediator of the Cosmic Consciousness of Christ through the Spiritualised Ego - Anthroposophy – from the Sphere of Sun as a Star.

Michael was that being that renounced becoming a spirit of the Times so that he could guide the Semitic people, the Hebrew people.[38] He was the Sun Archangel and highest of all Archangels, Rudolf Steiner describes him as a ‘sort of’ Archangel, a ‘spirit of the age who in a certain respect appears in the mission of a Folk –Spirit, one whom we must call the Semitic Folk-Spirit’. This signifies that Michael must have agreed to remain an Archangel so that he could work the impulse of Jahve – a spirit of Form into the  Hebrew race in preparation for the incarnation of the Ego of Christ into the body of the Luke Jesus who was a descendent of David. The Hebrew people were to develop to the utmost the path of Monotheism in preparation for the power of thought as it is experienced by the Ego. Michael has a special connection to the Ego not only through his connection to Jahve but also because he sacrificed the cosmic intelligence which he guarded by casting Lucifer from heaven[39] thereby ensuring the fall that allowed human beings to acquire Ego forces, individual freedom and the power of reason. Michael is the Son of the Sophia and the guiding spirit of her daughter Anthroposophia who was brought to a human incarnation by the great human initiate Rudolf Steiner. Since this time, Michael has become an Archai, and the Guiding Spirit of the Times[40]. He has also become the group I of the Michael community at the supersensible foundation of the community of Michaelites with the founding of the Michael School which is the forerunner of a future Michael community when Michael will work with Christ in the Realm of Karma – as a spirit of Form he will then work right down into the physical body (in a higher reflection of the way he worked via Jehova into the Hebrew people) to create a Michaelic race of the Grail.[41] That is a race that will separate itself from the rest because it has a special task – to take into the spiritualised Astral body or Grail through the selfless ego that has acquired and understood the Cosmic intelligence, the consciousness of Christ,[42] the substance of Christ.

Guiding Spirit of Exoteric Christianity - Mediator Between The Sphere of the Father and Human beings - The Healing experience of the Consciousness of Christ in the Spirit Self as a Product of the Work of the lower Ego - Exoteric Christianity – From the Sphere of Sun as a Planet.

The Archangel of the Greek people had so excelled at his task that he was able to raise himself to the rank of Spirit of the Age or Archai to become Spirit of the fourth Post Atlantean Epoch or the Greek age.[43] During the time that the Mystery of Golgotha took place he had the opportunity to rise to the rank of Spirit of Form. This he renounced to become a spirit of the age that acts through the Ages with a special mission. This mission was to become the Guiding Spirit of Exoteric Christianity or the guiding spirit of what can be divulged concerning the way to a communion with Christ to the outer world.

This Archai thus placed himself ‘in front’ of the Christ impulse in order to do this. After this the Greek nation crumbled away as it no longer had a guiding spirit.
Through his inspiration worked St Dionysus the Arapogite the first bishop of Athens, and the Templars who turned their esoteric knowledge of the Grail into an Exoteric form of Christianity.

It was also through Raphael’s impulse that the Christianising of Aristotle was taken up by Thomas Aquinas so that man could begin to understand Christianity in a clear logical way. Through Raphael’s impulse the knowledge of Plato contributed to the great Renaissance period.

Through his position as Archai he is also able to mediate between the world of man and revelation from the sublime macrocosmic sphere of the Father[44]. It was his task to inspire men to an understanding of what blossoms in the soul as the Sacred Child that comes from the union of the Heavenly Father and the Earthly Mother.

That is also the spiritualised Astral body or Spirit Self that comes into being through the workings of the selfless Ego in the human Astral body[45]. This child or Spirit Self becomes irradiated by the Ego of Christ that comes to dwell within it as consciousness.

Who is this mysterious Archai? It is a difficult matter to discover his identity since Rudolf Steiner has made a point of omitting his name. I will tentatively propose to you that he is the same being as that being that works closely with Michael and has a special relationship to human thought. This being I will propose to you to be known as the Archangel Raphael. Why do I say this? To begin with the Archangel Raphael directs the season of spring, and this means he has a special connection to the mystery of Golgotha, to Easter and the being of Christ and the whole of the fourth post Atlantean epoch. It is evident that he has already moved away from being an Archangel since he not only directs the seasons but also periods of time (Archangelic periods) He is that being that works from the macrocosmic sphere of Mercury and works microcosmically in human breathing. Rudolf Steiner tells us that the forces that prevail in our breathing system are not only healing forces but when they rise into the head, these forces become spiritual forces that are active in sense perception and in thinking. He goes on to say that thought perception , the inner spirititual life of man are the higher metamorphosis of therapy, the healing process [46] and that when this healing element is driven up it becomes the material foundation for the spiritual life of man. The preliminary foundation for the development of human thinking was established during the Greek Epoch of human evolution. At this time Plato and to a greater extent Aristotle developed clear philosophical thought – intellectual thought, which in our sphere of existence is derived from the sun[47]. We see how Raphael is connected therefore with the development of thought necessary for an eventual understanding of the Cosmic Intelligence. Here we see his connection with the being of Michael. We see this complimentary relationship reflected in the yearly cycle; when Michael is in the cosmos working from above, Raphael is below working within human beings and when Raphael weaves and works in the cosmos, Michael is below close to human beings.  It is therefore not difficult to imagine how this relationship continues one level higher, Michael prepares the Hebrew people not only as a race whose bloodline will lead to the development of a physical body suitable for the incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth but also working through Abraham to establish a foundation for the development of human thinking. Later Raphael works with the Greek people to develop the sheaths for Christianity as well as developing the  intellectual soul, once again through the incarnated Abraham - Aristotle and at the turning point in time is able to work in the sheaths of John the Baptist in order to bring about the idea of ‘Metanoia’ the conscious knowledge of right and wrong conscience as an impulse to change. Metanoia in Greek actually means, change your breathing. We see here, with regards to the development of conscience as a task of Buddha, a special relationship then also with the Nathan Jesus of the Luke Gospel whose Astral body was permeated by the Nirmanakaya of Buddha.

He returns again to work with John the Baptist[48] in his next incarnation as “Raphael”. Due to a special relationship which occurred in the spiritual world following John the Baptist’s death[49] to the extent that the individuality of John the Baptist takes on his inspirer’s name and is then able to permeate the mostly esoteric pagan Greek renaissance in Italy, with the fruits of an exoteric Christianity in a remarkably healing way (Sistine Madonna) he is once again the herald of a new Christianity.

He continued to work as the guiding spirit of John the Baptist in his next incarnation as Novalis and we see this in connection with the sphere of Mercury [50] and true imaginations. There occurred also, in this incarnation a particular relationship with the region of the Sophia, in the sphere of the Sun as a planet. The Archai known to us as Raphael will continue to work with the entelechy of John the Baptist when he returns again to carry the exoteric Macrocosmic Grail impulse as it is experienced in the region of the Sophia into the age of Aquarius or Waterman or the ‘Kyrios’ the Christ within the Soul[51] (Spirit Self) Christosophia. This will be the Sixth Epoch or the Russian epoch of Post Atlantean evolution. There are indications that suggest that this Archai will go on to have a special position during this epoch which will once again be predominantly Eastern in character and it is for this reason that this Archai has been entrusted with carrying through the vehicle of Religion, the memory or knowledge of the Christ in order that ordinary people may not forget Him and spirituality until then. This is necessary so that in future times human beings can commune with Christ when clairvoyance in the Spirit Self begins and humanity moves from Religion to Knowledge. In this way he continues to work with Michael.

I know this may seem to be at variance with Sergei O Prokofief who alludes to the fact that the being of Raphael and the Archai who was once the Archangel of the Greek people are two separate individualities, however this may be resolved by taking into consideration the particular dual nature of such a being that works at one time from without by developing the physical Etheric and Astral sheaths of Christianity and then inspiring the ‘foreunner of Christ’ John the Baptist, having placed himself in a position as he who stands or ‘goes’ before the Christ’. In the next life he works more intimately within the human being in the Etheric body of Raphael, inspiring a love of beauty and art as a vehicle for a new form of Christianity.

Guiding Spirit of Esoteric Christianity - Experience of the Consciousness of Christ in the Spiritualised Etheric Body from the Sphere of the Planets

The Celtic Folk soul worked in the Germanic and Celtic people – this was an important Archangel who at the time of the descent of the Christ impulse to earth renounced his move to Archai to become the Guiding Spirit of Esoteric Christianity which led to the decline of the Celtic people.[52] This Archangel is especially important to Anthroposophists as he has guided those who have preserved occult knowledge through the ages in the sphere of the Sun, the School at Montsalvat the Castle of the Grail wherein lies the Grail, and where dwell the knights who keep watch and ward over the great mystery of the sacred replica of Christ’s Ego substance, or consciousness and how it is attained. This had to wait for the time when Michael would become Time Spirit. In the meantime during the period of darkness the mysteries were kept alive in the Grail romances and literature that carried the esoteric Grail knowledge of the Cathars, Templars and genuine Rosicrucians, through various lines of the Grail family to the world. After this period of darkness it was to be given as wonderful imaginations in the worlds of Spirit from the Sphere of the Sun as the Grail school the School of Michael. Later it would find its way to the world once again in Anthroposophy as Rudolf Steiner’s Science of the Grail. Today this guiding being also inspires the development of the Grail as a path of Love – the New Manichean Stream (whose first deed was made manifest through the great sacrifice that Rudolf Steiner made when he became president of the Anthroposophical society thereby uniting his Karma with it for all times, and at the laying down of the Foundation stone of Love). This stream will seek more and more to work in the Etheric body of man and in the Etheric body of the Earth to understand and transform evil. It works through the greatest of all human initiates Manes who will guide this stream into the future. He is the pupil of the Great Manu who walked among men and inspired them during Atlantean times[53]. He is the ‘fool’ that journeys towards becoming wise through the efforts of the Ego in the soul becoming conscious of the spirit – The Consciousness or Spiritual Soul. He was the first to achieve this for all mankind in his unification of the Eastern and Western Streams - the knowledge concerning the overcoming of evil through the building up of forces for the good in the soul. He will become the first human Manu in the Seventh Cultural Epoch and will guide mankind from the 6th Post Atlantean Epoch to the Seventh.[54]

Once again, I am tentatively going to suggest to you that the Celtic Archangel is the same being as that being that we have come to know by the name Uriel. Little is known about Uriel, but Rudolf Steiner tells us he is the Archangel directly related to summer and the earth’s Etheric nature[55] of spirit woven through with matter (Gold and Silver). He weaves the Golden garment worn by Michael. His name in Hebrew means God is the radiating principle of light. He is the archangel that leads the path to divine love in the Etheric body through the planetary intelligences. Uriel's symbol of an open hand holding a flame depicts a great gift to humanity.  It is the flame of Love to ignite the heart in service to God. Uriel resounds in the Ether in musical tones[56] and becomes Inspiration. He is responsible for illuminating us so that we acquire human wisdom. The divine art of alchemy is supposed to have been his inspiration, and it was also this angel who gave the Kabbalah to the Hebrew mystic tradition. In this tradition Uriel is associated with the middle pillar of the Tree of Life (Ethers), and specifically to the sephirah Malkuth, the kingdom. "He is the keeper of the mysteries which are deep within the planet, underground and in the hidden depths of the living world, that is, the mysteries of human being’s errors that contribute to the degenerating Ethers[57] and therefore he has a relationship to Karma and conscience. St John’s tide is his time of year and this ties him not only with St John the Baptist but also with St John the Apostle. “The highest initiatory teachings belonging to the New Age... are under the direction of Uriel." [58] Here we see the connection with Christian Rosencreutz and Esoteric Christianity. It is my tentative proposition that this Archangel is not the same as Oriphiel but is synonymous with Zuriel. This became his name when he took on the task of Guiding Esoteric Christianity: Z – transition - u – (Space) ra (Sun) el (archangel)[59] that is the Archangel that guards the mysteries of the transition of Christ from the sphere of Space to time, from heaven to the human being and the earth.

Vidar/Ramael – Supersensible experience of the consciousness of Christ in the Etheric Realm - New Clairvoyance.

Vidar was at one time the Angel of Odin (previous incarnation of Buddha) of the Northern mysteries.[60] He followed Buddha into his next incarnation and when Buddha ascended and no longer needed to incarnate, his Angel Vidar, the most developed of all the angels, that is the angel that had taken into himself the impulse of Christ in the Sun before all other angels[61] was no longer needed and could have ascended to Archangel. Vidar chose instead to sacrifice his ascent to Archangel in order to continue to work in the service of Christ as the angel that in the Luke gospel announces the birth of Jesus to the Shepherds[62] and through the individuality of John the Baptist[63].  This sacrifice occurred during the Epoch that stands under the sign of the Ram until 1879[64] at which time he ascended to Archangel taking Michael’s vacated place to become Sun Archangel, the Archangel of Christ, Ram – a – el and so became the guardian Spirit of the pre-fall forces of the four ethers, the youthful fructifying forces through his guardianship of the Nathan soul. He will fashion the Etheric sheath out of spiritualised universal love into which Christ will incarnate out of the medium of the Sound or Chemical Ether. This will inspire the Maitreya Buddha (Jeshu ben Pandira) to announce the Christ being in the 6th epoch by using a new kind of inspired Speech, a moral speech.[65] In the human being he works to strengthen human thinking and thereby the Etheric body. This will ultimately lead human beings to a conscious supersensible experience of Christ - imagination[66] that is protected from the intrusion of the old Clairvoyance or Fenris – Wolf – untruthfulness in the Etheric Body[67]. He is the inspirer of a new clairvoyance which will battle the old clairvoyance that is perceived through the use of unredeemed fallen Etheric forces.

Nathan  Soul ---  Grail Angel ---- has Sacrificed itself four times and will sacrifice itself three more times as a vehicle for the Christ Being (Grail Receiver) in the Sphere of Astral World ( Moon Sphere), Lower Devachan (Sun as a Planet) and Higher Devachan ( Sun as a Star).

The Nathan soul is that being that in Lemuria chose to remain in spiritual worlds and not descend into the world of matter in order to be the guardian of the pure pre-fall Etheric forces. She did this in order that she might be the vehicle by which the Sun being of Christ could make Himself known to the world of men through her three sacrifices on her descend to the world of men. The Nathan soul which bears a feminine quality descended for the first time into the world as the Luke Jesus in order to provide a perfected Astral Body and Ego[68] so that it could become the vehicle of the Ego of Christ during the three years before the Mystery of Golgotha. She is the jewel struck from Lucifer’s crown, the angel that fell but did not follow Lucifer.[69] The Angel who creates out of spiritualised thoughts the Astral light that will illuminate the Christ being. She will awaken a new capacity of spiritual thinking amongst mankind.[70]

Together these higher beings direct the knowledge that the world receives concerning the Renewed mysteries of the Grail.

Before the mystery of Golgotha the Grail was experienced as something that existed outside the human being ‘gnosis’. After the mystery of Golgotha, the human being could no longer wait for the gnosis to come to him, the gnosis had died away, the human being had to find his or her own way to a renewal of the gnosis, to the Grail. Parzifal characterises this journey through  wilderness and loneliness, through trials and temptations to the attainment of the Grail. This legend in fact characterises his future mission when the Grail will then be experienced from within to shine outwards. It makes sense of the biblical question ‘have you sufficient oil in thine own lamp?’

In this journey towards the Grail the human being is not only responsible for him or herself but also for his brother or sister. This means not only the human brother but also the spiritual brother as well as the double that resides as a negative aspect of the human being, and the earth and all its beings both physical and spiritual.

This double which is made up of all that is unconscious in the human sheaths due to the results of the fall is transformed and brought to the service of Good- that is to the service of the Grail when Christ consciousness enters into that unconscious aspect of the physical and Etheric bodies in man. Likewise Lucifer and Ahriman are also redeemed along with the unredeemed elemental beings of Luciferic and Ahrimanic nature trapped in man when the Consciousness of Christ resides is the Astral and Etheric bodies. Macrocosmically the redemption of these beings and of man allows for the consciousness of Christ to redeem the fallen ethers. This will create a Macrocosmic sheath into which His Macrocosmic Ego can enter. The consciousness of Christ therefore acts like a healing balm not only to man but to the Earth.

It stands to reason then that the Anti Grail stream would work most especially against this ‘Consciousness’ of Christ from penetrating into those ‘Unconscious’ parts of man and of the earth. These opponents - the Anti Grail Stream have worked in the past and continue to work in the present and the future in opposition to the knowledge concerning the descent of the Ego of Christ into the various bodily and spiritual sheaths of man and of the Earth. They are inspired by those beings who do not wish to see human beings progress to full balanced consciousness of the world and of the spirit but wish to

1. Bind the Ego Consciousness to matter - Materialisation of Ego Consciousness Loss of memory of the Spirit – Abandonment of the Spiritual World.
2. Bind the Ego Consciousness to illusion – clouding of Ego Consciousness – Loss of memory of the World – Abandonment of the Physical world.

This will be the subject of next week’s lecture, where we will not only discover who the opponents of the Grail are but also how they have opposed it and continue to do so in the present.

Footnotes

1.  Rudolf Steiner Occult Science Present and Future Evolution of the World and Mankind

2.  Rudolf Steiner Karmic Relationships vol VIII 21 August 1924

3.  Rudolf Steiner Fifth Gospel – The Akashic Investigation Lecture 6 Jan 1914

4.  Rudolf Steiner Occult Science and Outline VI Ther present and future of Comsic and Human Evolution.

5.  Rudolf Steiner Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts 15 Feb 1925

6.  Rudolf Steiner The Mysteries of the East and of Christianity lecture 4, 7 February 1913

7.  Rudolf Steiner The Gospel of St John Lecture 1 24th June

8.  Rudolf Steiner Occult Signs and Symbols – “the upward growth of these higher powers makes it possible for man to become the recipient or chalice of purely spiritual cosmic being, expressed in the dove.”

9.  Rudolf Steiner The Festivals and their meaning II Easter lecture 8, 11 April 1909

10.  Rudolf Steiner Greece in the Period of its Decline – The Mystery of the Grail Lecture 16 April 1921

11.  Rudolf Steiner Greece in the Period of its Decline – The Mystery of the Grail Lecture 16 April 1921

12.  Rudolf Steiner Temple Legend page 152

13.  Rudolf Steiner: The Festivals and their Meanings II Easter, The Teachings of the Risen Christ

14.  JC Cooper Cassel Dictionary of Christianity

15.  Ibid

16.  Oxford Latin Dictionary

17.  Ibid

18.  Rudolf Steiner The Music of Parcifal as an Expression of the Supersensible World 16 Jan 1907

19.  The Grail Mystery in Richard Wagner’s Work lecture 29th July 1906

20.  Rudolf Steiner Karmic Relationships VIII lecture III Page 41

21.  Rudolf Steiner The Holy Grail

22.  Rudolf Steiner The Deed of the Christ Being and the Opposing Spiritual Powers

23.  Rudolf Steiner The Driving Force of Spiritual Powers in World History Lecture 23 March 1923

24.  Rudolf Steiner compilation under the Name of The Holy Grail

25.  Rudolf Steiner Richard Wagner in Light of Anthroposophy lecture 19 May 1905

26.  Rudolf Steiner Foundations of Esotericism

27.  Rudolf Steiner Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts page 19

28.  George Adams Mystery of the Rose Cross page 6

29.  Rudolf Steiner The spiritual individualities of the Planets

30.  Rudolf Steiner  The Grail Mystery in Richard Wagner’s Work, lecture 29 July 1906

31.  Sergei O Prokofief The Twelve Holy Nights and the Spiritual Hierarchies

32.  Sergei O Prokofief Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries page 263

33.  W Sucher Cosmic Christianity an Outline page 52

34.  Robert Powell Star Wisdom and the Holy Grail

35.  Dekteros is the Greek word for official or anointed ‘receiver’.

36.  Sergei O Prokofief The Heavenly Sophia and the Being of Anthroposophia.

37.  Rudolf Steiner The Mission of the Folk Souls page 83

38.  Rudolf Steiner The Mission of the Archangel Michael: The Revelation of Essential Secrets of Human Nature.

39.  Rudolf Steiner The Festivals and their Meanings - The Michael Impulse and the Mystery of Golgotha

40.  Sergei O Prokofief Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries page 310-311

41.  Karmic Relationships Vol. VIII 21 August 1924

42.  Rudolf Steiner The Mission of the Folk Souls page 87

43.  Sergei O Prokofief Eternal Individuality  Towards a Karmic Biography of Novalis

44.  Mission of Folk Soul page127

45.  Rudolf Steiner The Four Seasons and the Archangels

46.  Rudolf Steiner has said that the sun is the source of all intellectual life – Lecture21 August 1924.

47.   Sergei O Prokofief ibid

48.  ‘Then we behold him wander through the Mercury sphere where in association with the great cosmic healers he transformed for his spirituality the power that had been his to create what is so infinitely whole and healthy in colour and line.’ Rudolf Steiner Lecture 28 September 1924.

49.  Sergei Prokofief Eternal Individuality page 50.

50.  Sergei O Prokofief The Cycle of the Year as a Path to Initiation page 311

51.  Rudolf Steiner Mission of Folk Souls

52.  Rudolf Steiner Cosmic Memory page 61- 63

53.  Rudolph Steiner Cosmic Memory

54.  Rudolf Steiner The Four Seasons and the Archangels Lecture 4

55.  Ibid

56.  Ibid

57.  Corinne Heline.  The Blessed Virgin Mary.  New Age Press, 1971, p. 110.

58.  This is only the beginning of my research into this and in no way should it influence those here tonight except in firing up enthusiasm to test it and to find out for
themselves. What I say should not be taken as dogma but are only the results of my own spiritual research.

59.  Rudolf Steiner

60.  Rudolf Steiner The Guidance of Man chapt 3

61.  Sergei O Prokofief The Cycle of the Year as a Path to Initiation page 310

62.  ibid page 311

63. ibid page 308

64.  See the present Author’s Lecture entitled, Rosicrucianism and the Maitreya Buddha

65.  Sergei O Prokofief – Encounters with Evil page 154

66.  Rudolf Steiner The Mission of Folk Souls page 113

67.  Rudolf Steiner The Gospel f Matthew Page 96

68.  WJStein The ninth Century page 79

69.  Sergei O Prokofief page 145

70.  Rudolf Steiner The Mission of Folk Souls