Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation by Rudolf Steiner

"Steiner has been able to clarify the historical reality behind the Rosicrucian story, with all its aura of glamor 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" called the Christmas Foundation Conference, Rudolf Steiner chose to speak on the subjects of Rosicrucianism and modern initiation and the mystery centers of the Middle Ages. Clearly connected to the events that had just occurred in Dornach--in which he not only reestablished the Anthroposophical Society but also assumed a formal position within it--Steiner begins by exploring the intellectual life of the Middle Ages and the role that the mysteries played within it. He illumines 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 o