C O N T E N T S : Foreword by the editors Introduction by the editors Preface (1918) by Rudolf Steiner Lecture One : June 7, 1910 On the necessity of a higher degree of impartiality regarding the contents of spiritual folk knowledge. Homelessness as a stage of occult development and the knowledge and self-knowledge of folk. On the idea of folk spirits, starting from the human being''s higher members and their development in former states of the Earth (old Moon, old Sun, and old Saturn stages). Higher entities at the level of humanity during earlier embodiments of the Earth (spirits of personality, archangels, angels). Archangels ( archangeloi ) working in the sphere of the earth as folk spirits, in alternation the working of spirits of personality (archai) as time spirits and their cyclic characteristics, angels ( angeloi ) as mediators between folk spirits and individual human beings. The human being as an individual and as a member of the hierarchies. Lecture Two : June 8, 1910 Diversity in the etheric aura throughout the regions of the earth and its connection with folk spirits. Etheric influence of the folk spirits on the human temperaments.

Spiritual entities remaining behind in evolution. Human languages as the result of the interaction of normally evolved archangels and spirits of form remaining at the archangelic level. Working of the time-spirits in the outer physical world (e.g., in inventions). How spirits of form remaining at the level of spirits of personality work in the inner configuration of the thinking of an age. The exceptional harmony in the interaction of the folk spirit, the spirit of thought, and the spirit of language determined the historical position of the ancient Indian people, the Sanskrit language, and Indian philosophy. Difficulty of the concept of a folk arising from the interaction of normal and abnormal archangels, the abnormal and normal spirit of the time.

The peculiarity of multilingual Switzerland; the character of the North American folk. Lecture Three : June 9, 1910 Soul forces of the human being, the higher inner life of the folk spirits, and their experiences of the human "I." Ascending and descending periods of folk life as the incarnation of archangels. Angels as mediators between folk spirits and individuals. The position of the human being as a member of a folk. Interaction of archangels with angels, abnormal archangels, abnormal and normal spirits of personality. The centuries-long splintering of the German nation into smaller folk groups as an example of the interaction of archangels and abnormal spirits of personality. Splintering of Holland from the German nation, splintering of the Portuguese nation from the Spanish nation as examples of the encroachment of the spirit of the age into the work of an archangel.

Interaction of normal and abnormal spirits of form as the basis of a unified humanity and racial formations. Difference between the concept of race and folk. Lecture Four : June 10, 1910 The human being and his four bodies as the result of the manifold activity of spiritual entities. Spirits of form (exusiai) as bestowers of the I-organization. Normal and abnormal spirits of form in relation to the first, middle, and last third of human life. Uniformity and differentiation of humanity into races by dependence on the abnormal spirits of form, location on earth, and heredity. Limited validity of the concept of races because they only came into being in a certain Earth epoch (Lemurian epoch) and will pass away again. Criticism of Sinnett''s concept of race.

Line of points on the earth from Africa through Asia and Europe to America with race-forming forces and characteristics of life ages. Rejuvenating repetition in later cultural development between East and West. Conditions in various regions of earth as part of the cultural development of the whole of humanity. The interaction of the higher entities during the Earth phase as the basis for the individual human being, Plato as an example. Lecture Five : June 11, 1910 Incarnation of the human individuality in the course of time in the most diverse peoples and races. Significance of the doctrine of karma and reincarnation for the objective understanding of the connections between peoples and races. Significance of small folk groups for the overall harmony of humanity. The three hierarchies and their work on the earth.

Formation of the configuration of the earth''s surface as the interaction between spirits of will (thrones) radiating out from the earth, spirits of motion (mights, dynamis ) radiating in from cosmic space, and spirits of form (powers, exusiai ). Example of the formation of the Alps. Radiance of the third and highest hierarchy (spirits of will, cherubim, seraphim) from the inside of the earth to the outside, radiance of the second hierarchy (spirits of form, spirits of motion, spirits of wisdom) from the cosmos to the earth and their effectiveness in the natural elements of earth, water, air, and fire. Work of the first hierarchy (angels, archangels, archai ) in the Earth''s development and cultural evolution. Physical body, etheric body, and astral body, willing, feeling, and thinking are the result of the interaction of the hierarchies in the former Saturn, Sun, and Moon phases of the Earth. Establishment of the balance in the trinity of willing, feeling, and thinking as the fourth element and Earth-mission of the spirits of form. Earth as the planet of love. Occult symbolism of the triangle and the words "making the trinity into the quaternity.

" Particular dangers in entering the occult realm through misplaced spirits of motion active in the formation of the races. Lecture Six : June 12, 1910, morning Original working of the third and highest hierarchy out of the cosmos from outside, the working from the interior of the earth as reflection. Interaction of abnormal and normal spirits of form in view of the uniformity of humanity and the diversity of races. The sun as the place of activity of six normal spirits of form ( Elohim ), the separated Moon as the place of the seventh ( Yahweh ). Influence of abnormal spirits of form from the five remaining planets. Geographical effect of Mercury on the African, Venus on the Malay, Mars on the Mongolian, Jupiter on the European, Saturn on the Native American races. Celestial forces in their reverberation from the earth constitute the universal human being and the differentiated races. Effect of abnormal spirits of form in the modifications of the race-formation on the images of the three higher members of the human being, in the blood, nervous and glandular systems.

Ethiopian, Malay, and Mongolian races. The uniqueness of the Semitic cultures. Mongols and Semites as a polarity. The Caucasian race. Polarity of the Venus Mystery Center with its starting point being respiration and the Jupiter Mystery Center starting from perceptions of the sense world. Work of Buddha, Zarathustra, and Scythianos. The Native American race and the words of a representative Native American to a European invader about the Great Spirit. Lecture Seven : June 12, 1910, evening Ascension of folk spirits to time spirits and spirits of form among folk currents of the post-Atlantean period.

Ascension of the archangel of the ancient Indian culture to the spirit of time and then to the direction of the entire evolution of post-Atlantean humanity. Ascension of the archangel of the ancient Persian culture to the spirit of the age. Ascension of the archangel of the Egyptian people to the leading time spirit of the Chaldean-Egyptian period. Parallel ascension of the archangel of the Semitic people to the spirit of the age. Monism and mono-theism versus the pluralism of cultures from Asia to Europe as the human mission of the Semitic peoples. The Christ event. The folk spirit of ancient Greece ascended to the spirit of the age as the guiding spirit of exoteric Christianity, the archangel of the declining Celtic peoples as inspirer of esoteric Christianity. Formation of an archangel of the Germanic peoples under the influence of the Roman and Christian time spirit and his rise to the spirit of the age for the fifth post-Atlantean culture.

The continuation of the Christian spirit of the age and the influence of the ascended Egyptian time spirit into the spirit of the age of our cultural epoch results in the variety of the culture and folk currents of our time. Region in Central Germany between Detmold and Paderborn as a former mystery center radiating inspiration before the transition to the work of the Celtic archangel with the mystery center of the Grail. The archangel of the Scandinavian peoples of the north and the configuration of Nordic mythology as his original plan in the development. Lecture Eight : June 14, 1910 Superficiality of comparative religious studies and mythology researchers. Evaluation of Germanic-Nordic mythology. Awakening of the I at different stages in the five post-Atlantean cultural epochs and the shaping of their mythologies. The advanced peoples of ancient India looked up to the spirits of motion and wisdom ( Mula-prakriti and Maha-purusha ), the peoples of Persian culture to the spirits of form ( Amshaspand ), the Chaldean peoples to the elemental forces or spirits of personality. The Greco-Roman period, their consciousness of the elemental forces and their memory images of the angelic and archangelic world.

Clairvoyant experience of the activity of the angelic and archangelic beings in the formation of the soul-bodily human being among the Germanic-Nordic peoples awakening at a later stage. Old gods of the Vanir and the Æsir. Odin (Wotan) and his initiation as an abnormal archangel who bestows speech. Hoenir and Lod.