Death, Karma & Reincarnation

Death, karma, and reincarnation form one of the most architecturally developed domains in Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy. Steiner's treatment goes well beyond the general theosophical inheritance he drew upon, offering detailed phenomenological accounts of the soul's passage through successive post-mortem states — kamaloka (a purgatorial sphere of review), followed by the planetary spheres of Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn — before a 'cosmic midnight' and eventual return toward rebirth. These accounts are developed most systematically in GA 140 and GA 141, where Steiner describes how the moral constitution of the soul during earthly life directly shapes the quality of consciousness experienced in each post-mortem sphere: for instance, an immoral soul constitution produces a darkening of consciousness in the Mercury sphere, accompanied by states of fear, while the depth and duration of the entire post-mortem journey is said to influence the timing of the next incarnation.