Four Mystery Plays
GA 14
The Portal of Initiation (Written 1910)
Scene 7
The domain of spirit: a scene of various coloured crystal rocks and a few trees. Maria, Philia, Astrid, Luna; the child; Johannes, first at a distance, then coming nearer; Theodora; lastly Benedictus.
Maria:
My sisters who of old
So oft my
helpers were;
In this hour help me too
That Ether of the
worlds
May quiver in itself;
Resound in harmony,
And
thus resounding reach
And permeate a soul
With knowledge
that is true.
I now can see the signs
Which guide us to our
work;
For your work must to-day
Unite itself with mine.
Johannes who doth strive
Must be by our designs
To real
existence raised.
Within the temple walls
The brethren
counsel took
How they should raise him up
From depths to
heights of light;
From us they do expect
To fill the soul
with power
For such high spirit flight.
From breadths of
space shalt thou,
My Philia, win for me
Clear essence of the
light;
And fill thyself with all
The charm of sound which
wells
From soul-creating power.
That thou mayst give to
me
Gifts gathered by thyself
From out the spirit's
depths.
Then can I weave for him
Their perfect harmonies
In the soul-stirring dance
And rhythm of the spheres.
And
thou, my Astrid,
Dear image of my spirit,
Shalt cause within
the light
The power of shade to grow
That colours may shine
forth.
To formless harmonies
Thou shalt give shape, and
thus
World-substance, weaving life,
May sound upon its
way.
So I can give to man
When he doth seek therefor
A
spirit consciousness.
And thou, strong Luna, too,
So firm in
thine own self;
E'en like the living sap
Hid deep within the
tree,
To these thy sister's gifts
Do then unite thine
own.
Impress thyself thereon
That he who seeks may find
True wisdom's surety.
Philia:
I will myself imbue
With clearest rays
of light
From cosmic spaces wide.
I will breathe deep
within
Sound-substance that gives life
From distant
ether-bounds,
Dear sister, that thou may'st
Succeed in this
thy work.
Astrid:
Through all the streaming light
I will
weave darkness in
To cloud its radiant beam.
I will make
dense and thick
The living life of sound;
That glowing it
may sound
And sounding it may glow,
Dear sister, that thou
may'st
Direct the soul-life's rays.
Luna:
Soul substance will I warm,
Life's ether
harden too.
That they may thus condense
And may thus feel
themselves
As living in themselves
And powerful to
create,
Dear sister, that thou may'st
Prove wisdom's
certainty
To mankind's seeking soul.
Maria:
From Philia's realm
Shall stream forth
delight;
And transforming powers
Of Undines arouse
The
sensitive soul.
That he who is roused
May feel all the
mirth
And feel all the woe
In cosmic domains.
From Astrid's close web
Love's joy shall come forth.
The
Sylphs' airy life
Shall rouse in the soul
Self-sacrifice
true;
That consecrate man
May rouse to new life
Souls
laden with grief,
Souls yearning for joy.
From Luna's
domain
Shall firmness stream forth.
And Fire-Beings'
might
Shall form for the soul
Security's strength.
That he who doth know
May find his own self
In weaving of
souls
And life of the worlds.
Philia:
From cosmic spirits I
Will beg their
being's light
The soul-sense to enchant,
The sound too of
their words
To charm the spirit's ear;
That he, whose
wakening nears,
May raise himself aloft
Upon the paths of
soul
Unto celestial heights.
Astrid:
The love-streams will I guide
That fill
the world with warmth
Unto the heart of man Who is initiate;
That thus he may bring down
Into his work on earth
The grace
of Heaven, and give
The joy of holy rite
Unto the sons of
men.
Luna:
From primal powers will I
For might and
courage pray
And lay them deep within
The human seeker's
heart:
That so trust in himself
May guide him through his
life,
Then shall he feel secure
In his own self, and
pluck
Each moment's ripened fruit
And draw the seeds
therefrom
For all eternity.
Maria:
With you, my sisters, joined in noble work
I shall succeed in what I long to do.
But hark! There rises to
our world of light
The cry of him who hath been sorely tried.
(Johannes appears.)
Johannes:
'Tis thou, Maria! Then my suffering
Hath at the last born richest fruit for me.
It hath withdrawn me
from the phantom shape
Which I at first did make out of myself,
And which then held me fast, a prisoner.
Pain do I thank for
thus enabling me
To reach thee o'er the pathways of the soul.
Maria:
And what then was the path that led thee
here?
Johannes:
I felt myself from bonds of sense
released:
My sight was freed from that close barrier,
Which
hid all but the present from mine eyes.
Quite otherwise I viewed
the life of one
I knew on earth, and looked beyond the space
Bound by the present moment's narrow ring.
Capesius, whom with the
eyes of sense
In his old age I saw — this man
The
spirit placed before my soul a youth;
As first he entered on
life's thorny path
Full of those dreams of hope, which ofttimes
brought
A group of faithful hearers to his feet.
And
Strader, also could I see e'en thus
As he appeared in earthly life
when young,
E'er he had full outgrown his cloistered youth:
And I could see what he might once have been,
If he had followed
out in that same way
The goal he set before himself of old.
And only those who in their earthly life
Are filled already with
the spirit's power
Appear unchanged within the spirit-realms.
Both Dame Felicia and good Felix too
Had kept the forms in
which they lived on earth,
When I beheld them with my spirit's
sight.
And then my guides showed kindness unto me,
And spake
of gifts which shall one day be mine
When I can reach to wisdom's
lofty heights.
And many things besides have I beheld
With
spirit-organs which sense-sight at first
Had shown to me in its
own narrow way.
And judgment's all-illuminating light
Irradiated this new world of mine.
But whether I lived in some
shadowy dream,
Or whether spirit-truth surrounded me
Already, I could not as yet decide.
Whether my spirit-sight was
really stirred
By other things, or whether mine own self
Expanded into some world of its own,
I knew not. Then didst thou
appear thyself;
Not as thou seemest at the present time,
Nor
as the past beheld thee; nay — I saw
Thee as thou art in
spirit evermore.
Not human was thy nature: in thy soul
Clear
could I recognize the spirit-light,
Which worked not as man
clothed in flesh doth work.
As spirit did it act, that strives to
do
Such work as in eternity hath root.
And only now, when I
dare stand complete
In spirit nigh thee, doth the full light
glow.
In thee my sight of sense already grasped
Reality so
fast, that certainty
Doth meet me even here in spirit-realms
And well I know that now before me stands
No phantom shape. 'Tis
thy true character
In which I met thee yonder, and in which
'Tis now permitted me to meet thee here.
Theodora:
I feel compelled to speak. A glow of
light
From out thy brow, Maria, upward mounts.
This glow
takes shape, and grows to human form.
It is a man with spirit deep
imbued,
And other men do gather round his feet.
I gaze into
dim times, long passed away
On that good man who rose from out thy
head:
His eyes do shine with perfect peace of soul;
And deep
true feeling glows in every line
And feature of his noble
countenance.
A woman facing him mine eye doth see,
Who
listens with devotion to the words
Proceeding from his mouth;
which words I hear,
And thus they sound: ‘Ye have unto your
gods
Looked up with awed devotion until now.
These gods I
love, as ye love them yourselves.
They did present unto your
thought its power,
And planted courage in your heart; but yet
Their gifts spring from a higher spirit still.’
I see how
rage doth spread amongst the throng
At this man's words. I hear
their mad wild cries:
‘Kill him; for he desires to take from
us
The gifts the gods have given to our race.’
But
unconcernedly the man speaks on.
He tells now of that God in human
form,
Who did descend to earth and conquer death.
He tells
of Christ; and as his words flow on
The souls around grow calm and
pacified.
One only of the heathen hearts resists,
And swears
it will wreak vengeance on the man.
I recognize this heart; it
beats again
In yonder child, that nestles at thy side.
The
messenger of Christ speaks to it thus:
‘Thy fate doth not
permit thee to draw nigh
In this life; but I shall wait
patiently,
For thy path leads thee to me in the end.’
The woman who doth stand before the man
Falls at his feet and
feels herself transformed.
A soul prays to the God in human
form;
A heart doth love God's messenger on earth.
(Johannes sinks upon his knees before Maria.)
Maria:
Johannes, that which dawneth in thy mind
Thou shalt awaken to full consciousness.
E'en now within thee hath
thy memory
Wrenched itself free from fetterings of sense.
Thou hast found me, and thou hast felt thyself,
As we were joined
in former life on earth.
Thou wast the woman whom the seeress
saw,
For so didst thou lie prostrate at my feet,
When I as
messenger of Christ did come
Unto thy tribe in days long since
gone by.
What in Hibernia's consecrated shrines
Was then
entrusted to me by that God,
Who dwelt in human form, and did
become
A conqueror o'er all the powers of death,
I had to
bring to tribes, in whom still lived
A soul that brought a willing
sacrifice
To mighty Odin, and with sorrow thought
Upon the
death of Balder, god of light.
The power, which from that message
grew in thee,
Attracted thee to me from the first day
Thine
eyes of sense beheld me in this life.
And since it strove so
mightily in us,
And yet remained unrecognized by both,
It
wove into our life those sufferings,
Which we o'ercame. Yet in
that pain itself
There lay the power to guide us on our way
To spirit-realms, where we might recognize
And know in very truth
each other's soul.
Intolerably did thy pain increase
Through
all the men who thronged thee round about,
With whom by fate's
decree thou art conjoined.
Hence was the revelation of their
selves
Able so fiercely to convulse thine heart.
These men
hath Karma gathered round thee now,
To wake in thee the power that
once did urge
Thee on the path of life, which selfsame power
Hath thus far roused thee, that, from body freed,
Thou couldst
ascend into the spirit-world.
Thou standest nearest to my soul,
since thou
Hast kept through pain thy steadfast faith in me.
And therefore hath it fallen to my lot
That consecration to
complete in thee,
To which thou owest this thy spirit-light.
The brethren, who within the temple serve,
Have wakened sight in
thee; yet canst thou know
That what thou seest is very truth
indeed,
Only when thou dost find in spirit-realms
A being,
unto whom in worlds of sense
Thou wast united in thine inmost
soul.
And that this being might thus meet thee here,
Before
thee did the brethren send me out.
And this did prove the hardest
of thy tests,
When I was summoned here to wait for thee.
Our
leader, Benedictus, did I ask
To solve for me the riddle of my
life,
That seemed to be so cruel and unkind;
And blessedness
streamed from his every word,
Telling of his own mission and of
mine.
He told me of the spirit I must serve
With all the
power which I have found in me.
And at his words it seemed to me
as though,
All in a moment clearest spirit-light
Streamed
through and through my soul, and suffering
Was changed to joyous
blessedness; one thought
Alone then filled my soul; — he
gave me light,
Yea, light, that gave to me the power of sight;
—
And in that thought there lived the firm resolve
To
this same spirit to devote myself
And make me ready for the
sacrifice
Which in due time would draw me near to him.
This
thought did generate the highest power:
It gave wings to my soul
and wafted me
Into that realm where thou hast found me now.
In that same moment when I felt released
From my sense body, I was
free to turn —
My spirit's eye upon thee, and I saw
Not only thee, Johannes, standing there;
I saw the woman too, that
followed me
In ancient times; and had bound close to mine
Her destiny. E'en thus was spirit-truth
Revealed to me in
spirit-realms through thee,
Who in the world of sense already
wast
Made one with me in inmost consciousness.
So did I gain
this spirit-certainty
And was endowed to give it unto thee.
Sending a ray of highest, tenderest love
To Benedictus, I went on
before;
And he hath given unto thee the power
To follow me
into the spirit-spheres.
(Benedictus appears.)
Benedictus:
Ye here have found yourselves in
spirit-realms;
And so it is permitted unto me
To stand once
more beside you in these realms.
I could confer the power that
urged you here,
But I could not conduct you here myself.
Thus reads the law, which I must needs obey: —
Ye must
through your own selves first gain the eye
Of spirit, which doth
here make visible
My spirit to you. Ye have just begun
E'en
now the path of spirit-pilgrimage.
Henceforth indeed upon the
plane of sense
Endowed with novel powers shall ye both stand,
And with the spirit in your hearts unsealed
The cause of human
progress shall ye serve,
For Fate itself hath so united you,
That ye together may unfold the powers
Which needs must serve
divine creative work.
And as ye journey on the path of souls
Wisdom will teach you that the loftiest tasks
May be achieved for
the weal of men
When souls that gave each other spirit
certainty
Unite in faith to do salvation's work.
My
spirit-guidance hath united you
To realize each other: now do
ye
Unite yourselves to do the spirit's work.
May powers that
dwell within this realm confer
On you through these my lips this
Word of strength: —
‘The weaving
essence of the light streams forth
From man to man to fill all
worlds with truth.
The grace of love spreads warmth from soul to
soul
To work out bliss eternal for all worlds.
And
spirit-messengers come forth to wed
Man's works of love and grace
to cosmic aims.
And when the man who finds himself in man
Can wed these twain, there doth stream forth on earth
True
spirit-light from his warm loving soul.’