Esoteric Lessons 1913–1923

GA 266III

Preliminary Remarks on Part II

The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 led Rudolf Steiner to close the Esoteric School. As a result, there were no esoteric events during the war. He later commented on this (lecture in Dornach, August 22, 1915, in GA 253, p. 159): "There has been a break in our ES lessons since the outbreak of the war ... for the simple reason ... that it is necessary to maintain the meaning of our society .... And then, of course, it is necessary – regardless of whether one is in a country that is hostile to another or in a country that is neutral – not to hold meetings that are not public."

One exception was a lesson, but this was of a completely private nature. During a trip to Austria in the summer of 1918, Rudolf and Marie Steiner visited the Polzer-Hoditz family at their estate in Tannbach near Gutau. On this occasion, as Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz recounts in his memoirs¹

After the war ended in late 1918, Rudolf Steiner was asked by members of the esoteric school that had existed before the war to resume the earlier esoteric lessons. At the beginning of 1920, after a five-and-a-half-year break, he began to comply with this request. In Dornach, following his evening lecture on February 7, 1920, he announced this as follows, according to the notes of stenographer Helene Finckh:

"Allow me to announce the following: I would like to ask those of our esteemed members whose names I am about to read out to come here, if they wish, not only tomorrow but also on Monday at 8 o'clock. Most of them are people who have been with the Society for a very long time and who are involved in various ways. That is why I have had this list drawn up. I would like to emphasize that those who do not wish to come are of course not obliged to do so."

(List of names is read out) [Not available]

So, those whose names I have read out (as I said, you don't have to comply if you don't want to), I would ask those whose names I have read out to come tomorrow and on Monday evening at 8 o'clock.“

Helene Finckh comments: ”(NB. However, it did not begin until a day later, as all sorts of people who had not been read out also wanted to come.)“

And so, the following evening, after the lecture on February 8, further names were announced:

”I can now read out the names I forgot yesterday" (a number of names were read out) [names not noted] – and Helene Finckh adds: "but apparently not all those who had been expecting it; there were some tears, and when everyone gathered for the first hour, some were standing in front of the carpentry workshop (the venue for lectures and events at that time); especially Mrs. X, who was in tears because only her husband had been called up at the time, but not her. It was an experiment that, due to various circumstances, did not go beyond a second hour at that time. Dr. Steiner had been asked repeatedly by old members to hold more intimate hours again; he hinted at this a few times, but always said that the time was not yet right."

These Dornach sessions were not continued at that time. Even when the question of esoteric lessons was raised at the teachers' conference of the Free Waldorf School in Stuttgart on November 16, 1921 (GA 300 II), Rudolf Steiner responded very cautiously and emphasized that the appropriate mode for this would first have to be found. Nevertheless, an esoteric lesson took place shortly afterwards, on December 4, 1921, in Norway (Kristiania/Oslo). There are no records of this, but according to Helene Finckh, who took part, its content was similar to that of the Dornach lesson. Further such sessions took place at Easter and in November 1922 in England (London); on May 18, 1923, again in Norway (Kristiania); and on September 30, 1923, in Vienna.

In addition, on the initiative of a few members who were particularly interested in the content of the earlier work on the culture of knowledge, a number of esoteric lectures were held. Rudolf Steiner named this circle after its main speakers, the “Wachsmuth-Lerchenfeld Group.” This group of about 15 personalities met three times in Rudolf Steiner's apartment in Dornach, “Haus Hansi”: twice before and once after the Christmas Conference: Dornach, May 27 and October 23, 1923, and January 3, 1924. (The notes available on these meetings can be found in GA 265). Known participants (though not all) were: Maria Röschl, Marie Steiner, Harriet von Vacano, Elisabeth Vreede, Ita Wegman, Margarita Woloschin, Jürgen von Grone, Kurt Piper, Otto von Lerchenfeld, Albert Steffen, Günther Wachsmuth, Wolfgang Wachsmuth, and Mrs. Between the first and second hours, another meeting had been scheduled to take place in Stuttgart in July 1923 (probably on Sunday, July 15), to which Friedrich Rittelmeyer had also been invited. However, Rudolf Steiner canceled this lesson because he considered the publication of the Rittelmeyer-Lempp discussion in the journal Anthroposophie to be a serious mistake (for more details, see GA 259). Like these three lectures, the lecture held in Vienna on September 30, 1923, was also based more on the knowledge cult section of the former Esoteric School.

The participants in all these lectures in the post-war period were either members of the former Esoteric School or people who had already received personal meditations from Rudolf Steiner.