Christ Module 6 - Principle in image and story

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Introduction

This Module follows from the Guided study approach to Christ and Proposed segmentation in study modules, and approaches the subject of the Mystery of Golgotha and the Christ Impulse along two main threads:

  • [1] looking at nature and the plant kingdom along the yearly cycle of the seasons; and specifically the symbolism of the plant in the sun that:
    • [1.1] was used in the old Mystery center teachings,
    • [1.2] and whose deeper meaning was intuited by Wagner
  • [2] looking into the linked storylines of the three legends of Arthur stream, Holy Grail, and Parsifal. These legends also have several dimensions, or layers of meaning (see illustration below):
    • [2.1] an exoteric storyline: stories with characters that experience adventures (and where many elements have deeper symbolic meaning, wrapped in the storyline).
    • [2.2] we can also lift out the symbols and the challenges that these characters face, to contemplate their deeper meaning
    • [2.3] from a spiritual scientific perspective, most importantly, the symbols map to what takes place in Man - and thàt is ultimately what is described and wants to be conveyed here
    • [2.4] furthermore, also in a spiritual scientific framework, the characters (and their challenges) symbolically represent a historical stream of humanity along its development.
    • [2.5] historical figures in the stories, that have really existed, so one can do historical research into locations and individualities of Arthur, Parsifal, Klingsor etc.
    • [2.6] last, given the fact these legends are 1000 years old and many versions abound through the centuries, the works of art themselves also represents a thread of historical art research. The first written copies date from 12-13th centuries but were changed and added to, with a revival in the 15th and 19th centuries. And even Wagner's opera is morphed to contemporary staging and presentation. In this module we will not go into [2.5] and [2.6]

The stories [2] are not told just to tell us a nice story about the adventures and mundane life of the characters, but are a form of packaging for the meaning[2.3] and [2.4] to be conveyed. Study of the legends of Arthur-Holy-Grail-Parsifal can become complex and confusing, as authors and studies focus on one or a combination of perspectives without making the various threads or their mapping explicit.

Often the legend of the Holy Grail, or Arthus and his knights, or Parsifal, or studied separately. In this Module we take an integrated approach as they belong together [2], ànd: we combine them with another major thread [1] coming from the symbolism of the plant chalice. Because, what both threads have in common is the grail chalice.

Making abstraction of the subthreads for a moment, the two main threads above are connected through the chalice of (in the first thread) the plant, and (in the second thread) the grail that uses the symbol of the cup used at the Mystery of Golgotha to really mean the chalice of Man. Hence by combination, the symbol of the chalice is used to describe the process that takes place in the plant in nature, but also the process that takes place in Man. In the framework of modern spiritual science, both can be described in the language of the higher ethers.

First explanation

The two main threads above are:

  • the essence of the Christ Impulse conveyed in a symbolism of metaphoric imagery inspired on nature: the plant in the sun.
  • Elements that play a role in this symbolism are the chalice and the plant, the sun and the moon, the challenges faces by Parsifal and Amfortas.

Sunrays into the plant chalice bring life energy and the higher ethers into the plant (carried on the warmth ether of the sunlight). Man is like a reversed plant, but also the Christ Impulse ethers now come from the Earth. Christ has become the spirit of the Earth. In the process of the etherization of blood, Man can awaken the spirit.

Now as the Christ power was first in the Sun, it worked on Earth externally, and could be perceived in nature, in nature's elements. This was the pagan christianity represented by the stream of Arthur (and his twelve knights).

Now the story of the grail - as in 'the physical chalice in which blood of christ was collected' - is not about the physical cup but really about the symbol of true esoteric christianity, hence the Holy Grail. In the middle ages the truth about the Christ Impulse was a secret kept by initiates of the Templars stream, which contrasted with the exoteric or wordly catholic Christianity of a Church that was more focused on running the empire of the largest center of worldly power in the Middle Ages.

Parsifal who goes on a quest to look for the grail, the essence of Christianity - of the Mystery of Golgotha and the Christ Impulse - has to go through learnings and come to a new way of finding it. Because: he represents the newborn consciousness soul, and has to learn how to ask questions. Why? He is the modern man that has the spark of the Christ Impulse inside, but is not aware of it because it is lurking subsciously as a latent power awaiting awakening. So it does not make sense to look for the essence of Christianity in the outside world any more, it is to be found in oneself, in one's Self.

This therefore flows logically into the beginning of the Rosecrucian movement and way of initiation which was, then, the modern way to set up the path of initiation for the individual who did this out of conscious free will - out of the then-new consciousness soul. It brought the new way of initiation, in contrast with old mysteries that were based on the authority of a master.

From the above follows that the topic pages of the Holy Grail and Parsifal really belong together and have to be studied together, also the reference literature will overlap.

The storyline of the quest for the grail exists in many versions in the various european cultures. Mostly is referred to the two earliest versions of Chrétien de Troyes and Wolfram von Eschenbach. Rudolf Steiner always refers to von Eschenbach whom he calls an inspired initiate

  • Wolfram von Eschenbach (1160/80-1220) largely adapted this story which is dated to the first quarter of the 13th century
  • Chrétien de Troyes (late 12th century) wrote the Grail romance 'Perceval, the Story of the Grail' in Old French during the 1180s or 1190s , but (probably) left it incomplete.
  • Wagner (1813-1883) worked on the opera in the period 1857-1882

Aspects

This Module will cover the aspects below, as usual closely interlinked:

  • the old Mystery teachings: incl.
    • the link with the plant kingdom
    • use of the metaphoric images of the inverted plant and the flower
  • the story of the Holy Grail and of Parsifal, and the relation with Arthur's round table and knights, ie the Arthur stream

The link with the plant kingdom also directly links to

  • The Earth's cycle of the year - see Rhythm of a year - and Christ as spirit of the Earth.

Notes from old site

1/ There is a link between nature budding in spring, as we see it each year in the plant kingdom, and the Mystery of Golgotha. The link may seem far fetched at first, but it simply has to do with a) the fact that what brings nature to life are etheric forces, and b) ever since the MoG, also the Christ has merged with the earth and thereby 'perfused' the earth with additional new chemical and life forces that were previously not there for Man.

From 1906-07-29-GA097 (Wagner lecture):

When we look back to these ancient schools of initiation, what sort of a teaching do we find there?What was the Mystery that was taught in them?.. the secret of how the new budding life of nature in Springtime is connected with the Mystery of the Cross

In 1906-09-16, the plant kingdom is put forth as the kingdom of Life (Christ principle) and as an example for learning about evolution and involution.

From here, contemplating the Christ as the spirit of the Earth, there is a link between the yearly rhythm of the Earth and the process in Man related to getting to know the Christ. Re quote Steiner to Rittelmeyer. Link with three yearly meetings

2/ There are three stories: Arthur, Grail and Parsifal. To understand why and how they are used, we need to get familiar with the storylines but more importantly their spiritual scientific context.

  • King Arthur and his twelve knightsrepresent the 'old' tradition, , to connect to the spiritual Sun via the elements of nature. It is related to the Hibernian mysteries going back millenia ago, but also to Pagan Christianity. The trwelve knights represent the zodiacal influences streaming in.
  • The Grail represents the struggle with the new Cosmic Intelligence, now human and earthly and no longer cosmic. It is also the story of a castle in Spain where the cup was guarded, etc.
  • Parsifal represents the new and future way whereby in Man awakens the Christ's influence (as the Earth spirit) .. it represents Christ in the heart and blood of people. The point being that Parsifal and people may not even be aware of it, despite what is happening. A key lesson is that Parsifal ought to have asked questions: Man should ask questions as a way to aid the development of the new consciousness. Asking is the right attitude towards the spiritual, and it is necessary. Hence the link with spiritual science, and don't seek Christ where he is not (the grave after death, the crusadors in Jeruzalem, etc)


3/ From the above, the symbolism becomes clear. The cup is a symbol for the sun, hence the spiritual sun and its etheric forces, shining into the plant. The inverted cup is the symbol of Man, with the higher etheric Christ forces now streaming into Man from the Earth.

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.118 depicts four layered levels of meaning. Below: the storyline we get through poems, novels, operas of the arthurian legend, the holy grail and Parsifal. The symbols and challenges of the characters have a deeper meaning. They map to the two esoteric levels above. On the one hand what is happening in Man's spiritual constitution (ennobling the astral body, the food in the cup of the grail, ..) and the developmental phase for the whole of mankind (developing the consciousness soul).

FMC00.118.jpg

Schema FMC00.114 is an overview table with the key names for the three stories, and the link to the threefold soul (see 1913-02-07-GA144)

FMC00.114.jpg

Schema FMC00.110 depicts the metaphoric imagery of

  • the sunray and the flower chalice .. how the plant takes the energy (and higher ethers) contained in the light of a sunray
  • the symbol of the spear and cup directly relating to the same image
FMC00.110.jpg


Schema FMC00.110 illustrates 'Man as an inverted plant', that is: how the three functional subsystems in Man (left) correspond to the same subsystem functions in a plant (right). See also Man as a threefold being.

FMC00.111.jpg

Schema FMC00.113 depicts the meeting of two streams of Christ experience: the old 'outer' pagan christianity seeing the spiritual sun in nature's elements, and the new 'inner' christianity living in the hearts of Man. This leads to the struggle and change symbolized by the Parsifal story. Parsifal does not have to search or find the grail externally but in his own heart, symbolized by the 'asking questions'.

FMC00.113.jpg

Steiner drawing taken from 1904-09-03-GA091: the reversal, through the MoG, of the old Sun forces to the etheric forces of the Earth spirit Christ.


see link with Blood where we make the mapping to the higher ethers, the chemical and life ethers

The plant kingdom, the old Mystery teachings

Preparatory study topics

- Man as an inverted plant- Wagner's inspiration for Parsifal

Related

- the two streams meeting eachother - see 1924-08-27-GA240, and the related point: Christ Impulse travelling from East to West and then North

Earth's cycle of the year


This is covered in depth in Christ Module 17 - The experience of the year

Since MoG the Christ, Logos has become the spirit of the Earth. This links to the Last Supper (this is my body, this is my blood) and to the rhythm of the year. The latter has multiple aspects, but not in the least the 'soul mood' of the human being, and the alchemycal processes of nature in the four seasons, the archangels. Imagine the role that the H3 plays in our own being on the one hand, and on nature and earth and its kingdoms on the other (re study elementary kingdoms and interface with etheric formative forces) .. and realize how closely the two are intertwined and connected.


- four seasons, two equinoxes and solstices, link nature and four archangels -> representation as lemniscate

- weekly linked to the above: the anthroposophical calendar of the soul

- twelve months, zodiac signs, virtues

- three meetings: astral body with life spirit, around Xmas, archangelic connection, Son principle meeting with Christ

Lecture coverage and references

In overview, the story of the Grail was covered

  • in lectures in the period 1905-1907, focusing on the symbolism of the ancient mystery teachings and the link with nature (inverted plant chalice, chaste plant, mystery of the blood), some of the clearest info is in the lectures covering Wagner.
  • then there was a period in 1913-14, eg the summary of the threefold soul in 1913-02-07-GA144, 1913-03-25/26-GA145, and then 1914-01-01/02/06-GA149 on ganganda greida, Parsifal in the subconscious, the name in the stellar script
  • and in the 1924-08 lectures the story of the streams is sketched.


Discussion

Schema FMC00.116 can be contemplated in many ways, eg as sign of the resurrection and the etheric Christ appearing out of the physical Christ .. even if the sunlight is not there like with full moon, the spiritual spirit force is there. The dark vs light symbolizes the spiritual vs the physical, and the physical (crescent moon) is like a cradle that holds the spiritual .. from which the spiritual will arise.

Related pages

References and further reading