# 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.’