The Three Flames: Hermes' Lamp and Inner Development

GA 266I — 25 September 1907, Hanover

Esoteric Lesson

Three occult things are important for inner development:

1. The lamp of Hermes Trismegistos with three flames,
2. The triple-folded cloak of Apollonius,
3. The triple-branched staff of the patriarchs, the masters. The three flames with which one must immerse oneself in the teachings are thinking, feeling, and willing. (The study of theosophical teachings, of occult reports, to which one must devote oneself. One must not be satisfied with the “exercises.” One must immerse oneself completely with will, feeling, and thinking in the teachings of the three flames.)

The “cloak” is, as it were, the skin from which one must emerge. Stepping out into the second fold of the cloak; and turning back to the body: the third fold (or turn).