Rudolf Steiner Institute

NUM BERJOURNAL FORANTHROPOSOPHY 46 Creation ofMan W INTERMarc Chagall,The[Image:paintingby 1987 ISSN-0021-8235 EDITOR Arthur G. Zajonc MANAGING EDITOR Linda Fleishman The Journal for Anthroposophy is published twice a year by the Anthroposoph ical Society in America. Subscription is $10.00 per year (domestic); $12.00 per year (foreign). Manuscripts (double-spaced, typed), poetry, artwork, and advertising can be mailed to the editor. Back issues can be obtained for $5.00 ea. plus postage. All correspondence should be sent to: Journal for Anthroposophy P.O. Box 58 Hadley, MA. 01035 FRONT COVER: The Creation o f Man, Marc Chagall, 1956-58 Journal for Anthroposophy. N um ber 46, Winter, 1987 © 1988, The Anthroposophical Society in America. JOURNALFOR ANTHROPOSOPHY The weaving essence of the Light rays forth From Man to Man To fill the World with Truth. Love’s blessing warmeth Soul by Soul, To call forth bounty of all Worlds. And Angel-beings, they unite Man’s deeds of blessing with World-aims Divine. And when Man, welding both, beholds Himself in Spirit-Man, Then Light of Spirit rays through Warmth of Soul. from The Portal o f Initiation Rudolf Steiner [Image: photographofsculpture][Image: Christ the Teacher South Portal, Chartres Cathedral N U M B ER 46 • W INTER 1987[Note: thenextpage(2)wasblankandisomittedhere] CONTENTS 5 The Great Masters of Chartres— Their Importance for Our Time BY R E N É Q U E R ID O Part II 21 Marc Chagall— Gardens Are In Bloom In Me BY D IETH ER RU D LO FF • Translated by Catherine Creeger Social Dimensions of Agriculture 32 • Interview with Clifford Kurz 42 • Profiles of Biodynamic Communities in New England 48 The Singing Bow BY DOUGLAS MICHILINDA 63 Michael— Spirit of the Times BY GEORG KÜHLEWIND • Translated by Friedemann Schwarzkopf 72 Andrey Bely ’s First and Last Encounters with Rudolf Steiner: T w o Letters to M arie von-Sivers Introduction by Thomas R. Beyer, Jr. BOOK REVIEWS & NEWS 77 Andre Bely, The Major Symbolist Fiction BY VLADIMIR E. ALEXANDROV Selected Essays of Andre Bely EDITED & TRANSLATED BY STEVEN CASSEDY • Reviewed by Christopher Bamford 81 Movement and Rhythm of the Stars, A Guide to N aked-Eye Observation of Sun, Moon and Planets BY JOACHIM SCHULTZ • Reviewed by Johannes Hardorp 83 They Dance In the Sky: Native American Star Myths BY JEAN GUARD MONROE and RAY A. WILLIAMSON • Reviewed by N orm an D avidson 85 Journal Bookshelf 88 Notes on Contributors [Image: photographofsculpture]NO R T H PO RTA L. Virgin Bay, The Visitation The Great Masters of Chartres— Their Importance for Our Time P A R T II* RENÉ QUERIDO L et us continue our study of a very important period in the history of humanity by considering the School of Chartres which flourished in France for about two hundred years from 1000 A.D. You will recall that we have spoken of the Black Virgin, and that we have described how the genius of the Cathedral of Chartres is closely connected to the sacred places in different parts of the world related to the Virgin Mary. We have also seen that as early as the first Christian century the holy site of Chartres Cathedral was dedicated to the Madonna, at a time when this site was but a bare promontory. In the course of the ninth century the veil of the Virgin, said to have been worn by Mary at the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, was transferred to Chartres as the foundation relic for the building of the first chapel on the hill. And from that moment onward a clear spiritual stream led to the remarkable construction of the first cathedral under the direction of the great Fulbertus, who arrived in Chartres from Italy around the year 1000 A.D. ______________*The first part o f this article was published in N um ber 45, Spring/Sum m er 1987. 5 6 • Chartres Closer study reveals that the cathedral is not only dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but also to John the Baptist. In a unique way we find the mysteries of the depths of mid-winter are thereby related to those of the heights of mid-summer in alternating seasonal rhythm. The dedication to John the Baptist is clearly indicated in the ground plan of the cathedral itself, for the orientation of the building does not point due east. The axis is slightly shifted towards the northeast, exactly on a line along which the rays of the sun fall at dawn on mid-summer day. That is a Celtic-Hibernian orientation, found in stone circles generally, and marking the day of June 24, the birth of John the Baptist. This orientation, rarely seen in Romanesque or Gothic churches, shows that the Masters of Chartres sought to relate the cosmic forces of the Christ to the sun, which reaches its apotheosis at the time of mid-summer. They were still aware that Christ had dwelled in solar realms and had descended to the earth in order to become man in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. This double dedication clearly shows that Chartres stands between polar currents. [Image: photographofsculpture]NO R T H PO R TA L Central Bay, Saint John the Baptist Chartres • 7 The Chartres Masters deeply understood the Mystery of Christ mas, the mysteries of birth, and also the mysteries of the second birth, the new Advent that can occur in any human being able and willing to transform his innermost soul forces. But this transforma tion, this catharsis, cannot be accomplished without sacrifice, and in the life and death of John the Baptist we have a parable which is the epitome of sacrifice. John was beheaded. During his lifetime he spoke of himself as the one who had to diminish so that the other, the Christ, might increase. The same theme is found in the biography of Saint Denis. In Paris the legend is well known, and it may suffice just to sketch it. Saint Denis of Paris, we are told, was beheaded by an impatient henchman who was leading him to the top of the Hill of Montmartre where he was to suffer a martyr’s death. We read in legend—and let us consider this imaginatively rather than literally—that as his head rolled into the sand, Saint Denis himself lifted it, washed it at a nearby fountain, and then carried his head at the level of his heart to the very top of the hill, where he then expired. Here indeed we have a remarkable picture of the transformation of thinking. Ordinary thinking is a most valuable tool, but it cannot guide us into the highest realms of the spiritual world. Thinking must be transformed, and only by means of the forces of the heart, illumined by the light, can those realms be reached. Regarding the individuality of Saint Denis, it was recorded in ancient documents (and these were regarded as authentic until the ninth century) that Saint Denis of Paris was none other than Dionysius the Areopagite. In fact, he and his wife, Damaria, had been converted to Christianity upon hearing Saint Paul proclaim with fiery words his own experience of Christ in the threefold revelation received at the gate of Damascus. Dionysius became a friend of Saint Paul and subsequently taught the reality of the ninefold hierarchies of the divine world and described their working. What Saint Paul had imparted on the hill of the Areopagus in Athens was understood by very few. The scene is dramatically depicted in Raphael’s great car toon, housed in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. What is not generally known, however, is that from this moment of mutual recognition the first school of Christian esotericism was founded by Saint Paul and Saint Denis. The former traveled throughout the lands of the Mediterranean, finally suffering a martyr’s death in Rome; the latter remained in Athens, and was present in Ephesus at the death 8 • Chartres of Mary the Mother. Until the ninth century it was known that this same individuality, having now reached a venerable old age, jour neyed to Paris. There, at the foot of Montmartre (signifying both “Mount of Mars” and the “Hill of Martyrs,” depending on the derivation that is used), Dionysius the Areopagite became the first Christian martyr of Gaul. We thus see from this twofold dedication of the cathedral that the great Masters of Chartres were familiar with the mysteries of the depths and also with the mysteries of the heights. We can now more readily understand the indications given in England by Rudolf Steiner in the summer of 1924 (he spoke both in Torquay and in London): that Chartres is placed between the Grail stream coming from the southeast and the Arthurian stream from the northwest. The Arthurian-Hibernian stream was still familiar with the cosmic mysteries, of the Christ working and weaving through the elements, whereas the stream in quest of the Holy Grail sought to fathom how Christ works in the human soul. These two streams, the cosmic and the earthly, meet and interweave in Chartres and create the esoteric basis for what later was to become the teachings of the great Masters of Chartres for a period of about 200 years—from the arrival of Fulbertus in 1000 A.D. until the death of Alanus ab Insulis in 1203 A.D. Let us now attempt to enter into the mood of the great Chartres Masters by way of their writings. We shall soon discover that there is something totally different here from what is found in other streams prevalent during the Middle Ages.

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