The sword will withstand the first blow without harm,
however, it shatters at the second.
If you bring him to the well,
The flow of water will make it whole again.
Take the water from the spring that flows by the rocks,
but before the dawn illuminates it.
Rudolf Steiner listened attentively, and then turned to his disciples: “The Grail comes from the word gradalis [3] , which means gradually . Step by step, the path of Parzival is realized: from dullness ( Dumpfheit ) through doubt ( der Zweifel ) to bliss ( Saelde ).” Then he took chalk and wrote the word Saelde on the blackboard , and said: “That is bliss. It contains the word Seele (soul). Saelde is related to the soul.”
Then he asked: “Tell me, when did all this that Dr. Stein just told you about actually take place?” The children answered: “It was the Middle Ages.” “Well, yes,” said Dr. Steiner, „it could be said even more precisely. You see, from the description of Parzival’s experiences it is very clear that these are the conditions of the 8th / 9th century, which are described there. Those were bloody times. People were used to living in blood. There was still wild forest everywhere at that time. There was fighting. Bloody sacrifices were the order of the day. From time to time, bright, clear figures in shining armor would walk through this forest. When they came to places where people lived in the forest, these people put their heads together and agreed with each other, and no longer went to fight or to plunder. These wandering knights, who appeared here and there in their glittering armor, were the ones who took care of the bloody order in these bloody times. The center of this everywhere scattered chivalry was Arthur’s knights, or, as they can also be called, the knights of the sword. They had their center in northern France and England. But there were other knights back then. Think about it: Arthur’s knights were knights of the sword, what kind of knights could the others have been?
Now Dr. Steiner let the children guess. He helped them until finally one student said: „The others were knights of the word .“
„Yes, indeed,“ said Dr. Steiner, „that is absolutely correct. The others were truly knights of the word. The word is also a sword, but an extraordinary sword. The word is a sword that comes out of the mouth of men. And you see, this sword is spoken of here.“
The Word is a sword that comes out of the human mouth, says Rudolf Steiner. Yes, man is an imitation of his Creator. And if at the beginning of time God breathed out the Word – Logos, a sword that cut through the unity of original being with the mighty power of sounds and letters, then man, who is not only a small universe, a microcosm, but also a small Word, a microlog, is endowed with the same creative power. The Word of God resides in humans, creates our essence of being, is what we call our true self, it is our highest and actually only treasure. Only for this reason can it come out of the human mouth, from this gate of birth [4] .
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me: and when I had turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a long robe, and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and the hair of his head were white as wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire. And his feet were like fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice was as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not: I am the first and the last. [5]
The word – the sword coming out of the human mouth symbolizes the Son of God, Christ, the ruler of the inner sun. The King who gives form to perceptible things and the concepts of human speech. The light of life, which is the eternal star of the core of every human being.
There is a sword in our universe that could be called the Sword of the Word . It is the sword of light of Saint Michael, the sword that overcomes the forces of darkness and ignorance.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. But they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. [6]
Although old legends tell of the Archangel Michael as the one who cast Lucifer and his host of angels into the dark regions of matter, these stories must be read with some caution. Mythical language is the language of image and story, and its expression cannot be other than dualistic. Today we suspect that the old perspective of viewing Michael as the one who, with the power of light and good, overcomes the powers of darkness and evil, has already been overcome. The fight only brings the need for a new fight, the wounds it inflicts yearn for compensation. This model is doomed to eternal wandering in a circle. If Saint Michael were only a warrior who brandishes his victorious sword, he could not be what he is, the servant of Christ and the chief administrator of human affairs (from November 1879 according to R. Steiner).
Rudolf Steiner says about this: Michael, the spirit who lived in the sun, was the most important servant of the Christ spirit in the sun, experienced this mystery from the other side at the time of the mystery of Golgotha. Humanity on Earth experienced the mystery of Golgotha in such a way that it saw Christ coming. Michael and his loved ones, who were still in the sun at that time, experienced it in such a way that they had to say goodbye to Christ. So, my dear friends, it is necessary to let both poles of this all-pervading cosmic event work on one’s soul: Hosanna on Earth, the coming of Christ to Earth, and the separation from Michael’s hosts up in the sun. This belongs together.
But Michael has undergone a great transformation in our own time. The beginning of his reign means following Christ down to earth, and in the future it will mean walking before the actions of Christ on earth. Man will learn to understand again what it means: Michael walks before the Lord. Just as in the Old Testament – for before Oriphiel there was also the time of Michael – the initiates of Asia spoke of Michael walking before Yahweh, just as the face of a man, his most anterior part, walks before him, so they spoke of Michael as the face of Yahweh, and so we must learn to speak of Michael as the face of Christ. [7]
Michael is the face of Christ. In this sentence is hidden the secret of Michael’s flaming sword. This sword is not brandished, it is not a weapon that cuts off the heads of opponents. The energy of Christ, his love and wisdom are present in it. And these are the only weapons in the universe that have the power to overcome strife and ignorance. Rudolf Steiner says: The salvation of Lucifer is through love, through a higher love that is free from egoism. The salvation of Ahriman is through thought. [8]
These are extremely important words. On the path of salvation, it is also necessary to think about the so-called fallen beings. If we remain in the model of good and evil, we are firmly caught in the traps of satanic duality, our own soul is divided, and thus the creative power is broken. Duality and tension are overcome by love, the power of unification, the love of Christ. The Ahrimanic clinging to the fact that the only reality is the material world, overcomes the wisdom of Christ by the power of the word.
Love and wisdom are more powerful than strife and the escalation of polarity. These are the stairs that will lead humanity to heaven. The central image of the red window of the Goetheanum in Dornach, which shows Michael and the „force of evil“, expresses this message.
Image: https://anthrowiki.at/Goetheanum
Michael no longer holds a spear in his hands as in earlier times, Satan beneath him, it is no longer an image of overcoming and victory. On the stained glass window there is a sea creature, probably Leviathan, and Michael is lovingly caressing it. Instead of a spear, we experience a loving caress. This is the new message of the Grail: Lucifer is overcome by love, Ahriman by wise insight. This is the future of humanity. The awareness that salvation is indivisible.
If the seekers of the Holy Grail are knights of the Word, and if their common mark is the flaming sword of the Logos, it is impossible not to see their essential connection with the power of the solar Christ. In fact, the entire Grail story is imbued with the deepest symbolism of esoteric Christianity. This universal spiritual form is only gaining strength, but one day it will become a spiritual platform for all humanity.
Michael’s lightsaber is related to Grail symbolism in one more way. It is the key that opens the gates of the Grail Castle. There is no direct path to this castle, the Grail itself determines whom it calls to itself. The prerequisite for entry is the Grail Sword [9] , which Michael lends to his servants. Only thanks to the magical power of this sword can one pass past the dark guardian of the castle. Then the adept meets the one who carries the Grail. In the chalice of the emerald virgin, he glimpses something essential from his own soul. The seeker, when he first steps into these sacred places, is uncertain and confused. He is not yet mature enough to ask the king the cause of his pain. He lacks insight and understanding. Many important struggles and lessons are yet ahead of him [10] . He is a mere fool, a Pecival – Parsifal, naive, childish, fearless, for he has no idea what fear is. They need to learn compassion.
The Holy Archangel Michael, the noble prince of the heavenly host, is a powerful protector of the human race. He is our HIEROPHANTÉS – a being who manifests the sacred presence of Christ. At the same time, he is a PONTIFEX – a builder of bridges, for he shows us the possibility of connecting our earthly self with the star of the core of the soul, with the divine Word. In this way, he helps us in our efforts to find ourselves, for the path to Christ is the path of self-knowledge.
[1] Emil Molt founded the Waldorf-Astoria-Zigarettenfabrik in Stuttgart and Hamburg in 1906 with two partners. On April 23, 1919, Rudolf Steiner appeared at the Waldorf-Astoria-Fabrik with a proposal to establish a new school where the children of the factory employees could also study, which was subsequently done. Emil Molt bought a building in Stuttgart from his own funds and donated 100,000 marks to the school as initial capital. The school opened on September 7, 1919, initially with eight classes. A total of 256 students studied there, 191 children from working-class families – their tuition was paid by the factory – and 65 children came from wealthier, anthroposophical backgrounds.
Molt supported the school until the end of his life, and even after selling his company, he continued to pay the school fees of „his“ working-class children from his own money. After the National Socialists seized power, he tried with all his might to prevent the school from being closed, which finally happened in March 1938. /source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil Molt /
[2] WJ Stein, Weltgeschichte im Lichte des heiligen Gral – das Neunte Jahrhundert, chap. 1.
This is a quote from Wolfram from his fragment Parzival und Titurel, 254:
Das Schwert besteht den ersten Schlag
Doch von dem andern brichts entzwei.
Bringst du’s zum Brunnen, wieder neu
Wird es von des Waßers Guß.
Doch von der Quelle nimm den Fluß
Am Fels, eh ihn beschien der Tag.
[3] The etymology of the word Grail is unclear. The most plausible to me is its derivation from the ancient Hebrew גוֹרָל goral – fate, destiny, but originally actually a stone or stones , the arrangement of which was one of the possibilities of how to glimpse that destiny. Arthur Schult quotes in his book Die Weltsendung des Heiligen Gral im Parzival des Wolfram von Eschenbach Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic at the College de France Andre Dupont-Sommer, who says: „The word goral (lot, destiny) occurs as a significant term repeatedly in various Qumran texts, its frequency corresponds to a certain all-controlling idea, a precisely defined predestination. Even before birth, people belong either to the goral of light or to the destiny of darkness; their fate is clearly given. It is even written in the stars; one very special fragment from Cave IV shows a real horoscope, which determines the supernatural destiny of each person according to the day of birth, the share of good and evil spirits that mingle and fight in him. This fatalism betrays the obvious influence of astrological views, which enjoyed considerable popularity throughout the Hellenistic world of that time.“ (Die essenischen Schriften, Tübingen 1960, p. 59 ff.)
Wolfram of Eschenbach’s imagination presents the Grail not as a cup, but as a stone:
It is called lapsit exillis. By the power of the stone, the Phoenix bird burns to ashes. But the ashes give it [new] life. (II,9,469)
Er heizet lapsit exillis. von des steines craft der fenis verbrinnet, daz er ze aschen wirt: diu asche im aber leben birt.
… After them the princess entered. Everyone thought that a new day was coming, so radiant was the beauty of her face. She was a virgin dressed in a green velvet dress from Arabia. On a green silk pillow she carried the root and shoot of paradise’s desires. That object was called the Grail, stronger than any earthly desire. (I,5,235)
nach den kom diu künigin. ir antlütze gap den schin, si wanden alle ez wolde tagen. man sach die maget an ir tragen pfellel von Arabi. uf einem grüenen achmardi truoc si den wunsch von pardis, bede wurzeln unde ris. daz was ein dinc, das hiez der Gral, erden wunsches überwal.
The Grail is the root and the offshoot of the desire for paradise. The Grail is the beginning and the end of everything, the alpha and omega of reality. What is that desire for paradise, literally the wish for paradise – wunsch von pardis? It is God’s desire for his own image, the desire to see himself through creation, but at the same time man’s desire to realize his return to God’s arms.
The Grail is the root – the beginning of manifested being. The green emerald, which once fell from the crown of the mighty Lightbearer, symbolizes the spiritual matrix, the so-called upper spiritual waters, from which everything corporeal arises. In this sense, the Grail is an image of the etheric plane.
But the Grail also symbolizes the desire of reality for the upward journey towards unity. It is not only a root, it is also a shoot that points upwards towards the heavens. This symbolic level is beautifully captured by the image of the green stone and the Phoenix bird.
Everything corporeal imitates the fate of the mythical Phoenix. It is born and dies. It acquires corporeality and returns it to Mother Earth. We humans have been oscillating between the astral and earthly worlds for ages. Up and down, over and over again. However, what is always within us, what experiences that oscillation with us, is the breath of the holy green stone.
There have been many attempts to decipher the mysterious cipher lapsit exillis. Let us add another, let us say that it could have this meaning: LAPIS SIT EX ILLIS – LET THEM BE STONE! It sounds a bit like a fairy-tale magic formula. What is a stone to be made of? Well, from everything, from all things. In the sense of the downward path – the path of creation – the green emerald is a symbolic expression of the upper spiritual waters, from which everything that is arose. On the contrary, in the spirit of the upward path – the path of knowledge – all creation calls out – let all things be stone again! In that exclamation sounds the unquenchable desire of nature for its beginning, the essential, ineradicable desire of many for the One. The Creator sowed love in his work, the desire for himself, thereby ensuring feedback. The human desire for self-knowledge is part of this universal flow of love. Not only man, but the whole of physics is governed by the will to return, this striving for an ever more perfect representation of one’s own being lies behind all natural processes; it is their driving force and inner motivation. Only for this reason is the universe a unity, and not a heap of things standing side by side, for it is inwardly imbued with love and desire for its beginning. Reality has not forgotten the days of its childhood, the goddess Mnemosyne, although often neglected, is the mother of all muses, memory is the mother of everything.
[4] Deepest in the throat are born the most powerful forces of the beginning – vowels. Their common mother is the letter of breath itself H, barely audible, the letter H is the expression of the Holy Spirit, from which all other letters arise. The Word of God proceeds from the Holy Spirit. The mysterious path of the birth of the word continues in the cavern of the mouth with the so-called back-floor consonants – CH, G, K. These are the consonants of the center, the heart. Christos, Grail, Christ. The letter G is a spiral of love coiled around itself, it is the Grail, the beginning and center of all worlds. The king of the process of creating sounds is the tongue, by its oscillation the most powerful fiery force R is born, by limiting the solar R to a single oscillation by the tongue then from the royal power of R arises the gentle lunar force L, which hides the energies of growth and reproduction. In the confrontation of the tongue with the rock solidity of the teeth, the so-called dental consonants T, D, S, Z, C are born. They are the earthly forces of storage, solidity and memory. The sword of the word then passes through the gate of the mouth, which is controlled by the guardians P, B, M. They are responsible for opening and closing the gate of creation. Thus the sword of the word emerges from the mouth into the light of day, this whole process is truly a micrological repetition of the great macrological process of cosmogenesis.
[5] Revelation of John, King James Version, 1:12-17.
The old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan.
ὁ ὂφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος , ὁ καλούμενος Διάβολος καὶ Σατανᾶς
ho ofis ho archaios, ho calúmenos Diabolos kai Satanas
In the Old Testament book of Job /1:6/ it is said: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
The above-mentioned Kralice translation is, as usual, laudably faithful, but apart from the words …Satan also came among them … This phrase apparently tries to give the impression that Satan stands somehow apart, that he came among the sons of God as if from outside, that he is not one of them. However, the Hebrew original seems to indicate something else, it reads וַיָּב֥וֹא גַֽם־ַשָּׂטָ֖ן בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ va yavo gam ha satan betocham. And Satan also came in their midst . In this spirit, the Septuagint translates καὶ ὁ διάβολος ἦλθεν μετ᾽ αὐτῶν – and the devil also came with them . St. Jerome is also accurate, the Vulgate translates – affuit inter eos etiam Satan – Satan was also among them .
It seems, then, that Satan did not come among them, but rather that he came with them as one of them.
The Book of Job comes in connection with the lord of darkness with the remarkable title of firstborn of death, bechor mavet
בְּכוֹר מָוֶת . 18/13.
This name is interesting because there is a similar title for Christ in the New Testament book of Revelation. St. John the Theologian (Rev. 1:5) calls the Savior the firstborn from the dead / πρωτότοκος τῶν νεκρῶν – prōtotokos τον νεκρόν/: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
Satan means adversary in Hebrew, the one who is on the other side; he is a force that ignites an inner duality in man, which subsequently manifests itself in the outer world as conflict and strife. It is an important dimension of material reality that allows man to grow internally. The beauty of the human soul is like a pearl. It is born from pain. From the awareness that true progress does not occur within the framework of a mode of struggle, but on the basis of an inner metamorphosis.
[7] GA: 346, p. 95
[8] GA: 266c, p. 167
[9] The Grail Sword leads one to love and compassion. It is not surprising, then, that it is closely related to the heart. In fact, it is the nail that the seeker tears out of the rock of his heart.
My father promised me a sword, so that I might find it in my greatest need.
Unarmed I entered the enemy’s house, being a pledge of his vengeance, I burst in here –
But I saw a woman, lovely and noble: my heart trembles with blissful anxiety.
Desire now leads me to her, wounding me with sweet charm,
The man holds her by force, and he mocks me, defenseless!
Wälse! Wälse! Where is your sword?
Is the strong sword I wield in the storm supposed to drive out of my chest what my wild heart still harbors?
R.Wagner, Walküre, Act 1
[10] But let us admit for a moment the possibility that our hero would indeed ask the sorrowful king the reasons for his suffering. How would the king answer him? Probably something like this: You ask me about the source of my suffering, my son. Well, know that the cause of my endless torment is you yourself. As long as man wanders in the darkness of oblivion, as long as he does not remember his true home, the star shining in the depths of his soul, and remains torn from the arms of God, until then blood will flow from my wound. Only thanks to this terrible wound does man survive with his sin, only thanks to the cleansing power of my blood does he have the opportunity to walk the paths of bodily experience. This is what strict justice demands.