Four Mystery Plays

Document text

Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http: //books .google .com/I 



I 



?K(i ?7a.^^^5)Sc; 6) 



J^artiarli €oiksf Eitarari! 



FKOH THE GIFT OF 

ELLIS LORING DRESEL 

(CUw ot 1S87} 
OF BOSTON 

FOR GERMAN DRAMA 



s^ 



4 



HALi-'S BOOK SHOP 
3e1 BOVL8TON 8T. 

BOSTON, Mass. 



Four Mystery Plays 



BY 

RUDOLPH STEINER 



Tnmilated and Edited with the Author*! PermiMioii 
by H. Colliion, M. A. Ozon., S. M. K. Gendell, 
M. A. Ozon., end R. T. Gladitone, M. A. Cantab. 



The Portal of Initiation 
The Soul's Probation 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 
XTbe ImicfterbocRet press 

1920 



/ 






/ 



P 



V 



Copyright, 1920 

BY 

HARRY COLLISON 




INTRODUCTION 

The four plays here produced in an English transla- 
tion in two volumes, are perhaps best described as 
Christian Mystery Plays. They are intended to 
represent the experiences of the soul during initiation; 
or» in other words, the psychic development of man 
up to the moment when he is able to pierce the veil 
and see into the beyond. Through this vision he is 
then able to discover his real self and carry into effect 
the cryptic injtmction graven on the old Greek tem- 
ples FvcoSe aeauT^v, know thyself. At a later stage he 
comes to 'realize' himself , and finally learns the true, 
significance of the Second Advent of our Lord. This 
process is known as the * Rosicrucian * initiation — ^an 
initiation specially adapted to modem days — ^the time 
and manner of which depend on the individual nature 
and circumstances of each person. 

The four plays form one continuous series, and the 
characters portrayed are of quite an ordinary kind 
except that they take more than the usual interest 
in spiritual matters, their first desire being so to 
improve their own mental and moral state as to make 
them able to benefit their fellows. 

We find amongst them many types — the occult 
leader and the seeress who explains the coming of 
Christ. We are shown the spiritual development of 

•• • 



iv Introduction 

an artist, a scientist, a philosopher, a historian, a 
mystic, and a man of the world; and we hear too the 
scoffing cynicism of Germanus and the materialistic 
views of Pox. We are led to realize how the charac- 
ters are connected on the physical as well as the 
spiritual plane; and we learn also about the nature 
of elementals and the twin forces of hindrance known 
as Lucifer and Ahriman; the former of whom may 
be described as. an embodiment of the ^iritual im^ 
pulse to action^ an impulse alwa3rs necessary but 
often distorted to faring about self-glorification rather 
than the ambition to do good; the latter as an embodi- 
m^it of an influence which seeks to materialize every- 
thing, thus hindering true spiritual growth and free- 
dom. These two influences are given to man that he 
may gain free will by having perfect liberty to guide 
them in the one direction or in the other. 

With regard to the writing and production of the 
plays. Doctor Steiner's habit is to write a play whilst 
the rehearsal are actually in progress, finishing it 
a few days before the first public performance, and 
the first play was written and acted in this manner 
in August, 1910, the second in At^^ust, 191 1, the 
third in August, 1912, and the fourth in August, 1913. 
It was not until then that the complete key to the 
development of the characters was attainable. The 
last play explains the progress of the other three, and, 
following out the hint given in the second play by 
the account of the previous incarnation in the Middle 
Ages, traces the characters right back to their earlier 
incarnation in ancient Egypt. 

The plays were performed in Munich every summer 



Introduction v 

under the personal direction of the author and were 
acted by men and wom^i of several nationalities — 
all students of his teaching. The audiences numbered 
some two thousand and were composed entirely of his 
followers. 

In 1913, owing to the difficulties and expense in* 
curred each year in securing an appropriate theatre, 
his supporters acquired a plot of ground in Munich, 
and plans were designed for a theatre of their own, but 
the Munich authorities after much prevarication and 
delay finally prohibited its building, exhibiting in their 
treatment of Rudolph Steiner the same illiberal spirit 
as they had shown at an earlier date in the case of 
Richard Wagner. 

Because of this, and because of the hostility which 
his writings and lectures had aroused in other parts 
of Germany, Doctor Steiner was led to set up his 
theatre in Switzerland at the little village of Domach 
— ^not far from BAle. Here a theatre is being built 
in accordance with his own designs and it is hoped 
that the plays will be performed there regularly as 
soon as the edifice is complete. 

In conclusion I should like to express my gratitude 
to my friends and fellow students R. T. Gladstone, 
M.A., Cantab., and S. M. K. Gandell, M.A., Oxon., for 
their most valuable help in the very difficult task of 
translating the plays into English verse. Only a 
translator can appreciate the difficulties involved in 
preserving both the sense and rhythm of the original, 
and it is no exaggeration to say that without their 
aid the production of these works in English would 
not have been possible at the present time. 



vi Introduction 

I should also like to take this occasion of thanking 
Doctor Steiner himself for permitting me to attend 
the rehearsals and assist in the performances of the 
plays. It was a great privilege and pleasure for which 
I can never fed sufficiently grateful. And last, but 
not least, I have to thank him for his ever kind and 
patient attention to all my questions on the subject 
of these plays and of spiritual science in general. 

H. COLUSON. 
Nbw York, 19 19. 



CONTENTS 

PAGB 

The Portal of Initiation . . . . i 
The Soul's Probation 141 



vu 



THE PORTAL OF INITIATION 



The general public has never been admitted to the performance 
of these plays. The English editor has. however, ventured to give 
some indication of the costumes and scenery, though this can 
only be sufficient to give a general idea. The following is a sum- 
mary of the scenes: 

A Pbbludb 

ScBNB i: A debating room. Theodora's vision of the 

coming Christ. 
Scene 2: Johannes' meditation among the moimtains: 'Know 

thou thyself.' 
Scene 3: Meditation chamber. Maria's separation. 
Scene 4 : The Spirit of the Elements. The Soul-world. 
Scenes: The subterranean rock temple. The consultation 

of the hierophants. 
Scene 6: Continuation of Scene 4. Felida: her First Fable. 

Germanus. 
Scene 7: The Spirit- world. Maria and her soul powers. 

Theodora's vision of the past incarnation of 

Maria and Johaimes. The scene ends with 

Benedictus' great mystic utterance. 
An Intbslude 
Scene 8: The portrait of Capesius by Johannes. Strader's 

bewilderment. 
Scene 9: Johaimes' second meditation among the mountains 

three years later than Scene 2. 'Fed thou 

thyself. ' 
Scene 10: As in Scene 3. A trial for Johannes. 
Scene i i : The Temple of the Sun. Destiny and debtors. 



BEINGS AND PERSONS REPRESENTED 

In the Prelude and Interlude: 

Sophia. 
Estdla. 
Two Children. 

In the Mystery: 

Johannes Thomasius. 

Maria. 

Benedictus. 

Theodosius, whose prototype, as the Mjrstery pro- 
ceeds, reveals itself as that of the Spirit of Love. 

Romanus^ whose prototype, as the Mystery proceeds, 
reveals itself as that of the Spirit of Action. 

GermanuSy whose prototype, as the Mystery pro- 
ceeds, reveals itself as that of the Earth-brain. 

Helena, whose prototype, as the Mystery proceeds, 
reveals itself as that of Lucifer. 

Retardus, active only as a Spirit-influence. 

PhiUa \ Friends of Maria, whose prototypes, as the 

Astrid V Mystery proceeds, reveal themselves as 

Luna j spirits of Maria's soul-powers. 

Professor Capesius. 

Doctor Strad^. 

Fdix Balde, who reveals himself as representative 
of the Spirit of Nature. 

3 



4 The Portal of Initiation 

Felicia BaldCf his wife. 

The Other Maria, whose prototype, as the Mystery 

proceeds, reveals itself as the Soul of Love. 
Theodora, a Seeress. 

Ahriman and Lucifer, conceived as Soul-influences 
only. 

The Spirit of the Elements, conceived as a Spirit- 
influence. 

A Child, whose prototype, as the Mystery proceeds, 
reveals itself as a young soul. 

As is usual in English stage directions, right means 
right of the stage, and not right of the audience as in 
the original German. So too the left is left of the stage. 

The music at the representation of each play was 
by Mr. Adolf Arenson. 

Notes on the Costumes Worn: The costumes worn are 
those of every day, except that the female characters, over their 
dress, wear bright broad stoles of a colour to suit their character. 

Benedictus is usually in a black riding suit, top boots, and a 
black mantle. 

Lucifer has golden hair, wears crimson robes, and stands upon 
the right of Johannes, Lucifer appears as female. 

Ahriman, the conventional Satan, wears yellow robes and 
stands upon the left of Johannes, 

In the fifth and eleventh scenes and when in spirit form or 
acting as hierophant Benedictus wears a long white robe over 
which is a broad golden stole with mystic emblems in red. He 
also wears a golden mitre and carries a golden crosier. 

On such occasion Theodosius is similarly robed except that the 
stole, mitre, and crosier are silver and the emblems blue. Simi- 
larly the stole, mitre, and crosier of Romanus are bronze and the 
emblems green. ReUirdus' costume is a mixture of the above 
three. 



The Portal of Initiation 5 

Germanus wears long brownish robes and is made to appear like 
a giant with heavy clogs, as if tied to earth. Scene 6. 

Philia, Astrid, and Luna in the seventh and eleventh scenes and 
in the other plays have conventional angel-forms; Astrid is always 
in the centre of this group ; Luna is on her right; PhUia on her left. 

Theodora wears white and has angel's wings in the seventh and 
eleventh scenes. 

The Other Maria is dressed Uke a spirit (except in Scene i) but 
one associated with rocks and precious stones. 



THE PORTAL OP INITIATION 

Prelude 

Sophia*s room. The colour scheme is a yellow red. 
Sophia, with her two children, a boy and a girl; 
later, Estella. 

Children {singing, whilst Sophia accompanies them 
on the piano) : 

The light of the sun is flooding 

The breadths of space; 
The song of the birds is filUng 

The heights of the air; 
The blessing of plant-life unf oldeth 

Elemental Beings of earth; 
And human souls in reverent gratitude, 

Rise up to the spirits of the world. 

Sophia: Now, children, go to your room and think 
over the words we have just practised. 

(Sophia leads the children out.) 
(Enter Estella.) 

Estella: How do you do, Sophy? I hope I'm not 
intruding? 

Sophia: Oh no, Estelle. I am very glad to see you. 
(Asks Estella to be seated and seats herself.) 

7 



8 The Portal of Initiation 

Estdla: Have you good news from yotir husband? 

Sophia: Very good. He writes to me saying that 
he is interested in the Congress of Psychologists; 
though the manner in which they treat many great 
questions there does not appeal to him. However, 
as a student of souls, he is interested in just those 
methods of spiritual shortsightedness which make it 
impossible for men to obtain a clear view of essential 
mysteries. 

Estella: Does he not intend speaking on an im- 
portant subject, himself? 

Sophia: Yes, on a subject that seems important 
both to him and to me. But the scientific views of 
those present at the Congress prevent his expecting 
any results from his arguments. 

Estella: I really came in, dear Sophy, to ask 
whether you would come with me this evening to a 
new play called Outcasts from Body and from Sotd. 
I should so like to hear it with you. 

Sophia: I'm sorry, my dear Estelle, but tonight 
is the date set for the performance of the play, which 
our society has been rehearsing for a long time. 

Estella: Oh yes, I had forgotten. But it would 
have been such a pleasure to have spent this evening 
with my old friend. I had set my heart on having you 
beside me, and gazing with you into the hidden depths 
of our present-day life. ... I only hope that this 
world of ideas, in which you move, and which is so 
strange to me, will not finally destroy that bond of 
sympathy, which has united our hearts since we were 
at school together. 

Sophia: You have often said that before; and yet 



The Portal of Initiation 9 

you have always had to admit that our divergent 
opinions need not erect barriers between those f eeUngs 
which have existed between us in otir companionship 
from our youth upwards. 

Estella: True, I have said so. Yet it always 
arouses a sense of bitterness in me, when, as the years 
roll on, I see how your affections are estranged from 
those things in life that seem to me worth while. 

Sophia: Still, we may be of much mutual help to 
one another if we recognize and realize the various 
points of view which we reach through our different 
inclinations. 

Estella: Yes! My reason tells me that you are 
right. And yet there is something in me that rebels 
against your view of life. 

Sophia: Why not candidly admit that what you 
require of me is the renunciation of my inmost 
soul-life? 

Estdla: But for one thing, I should admit even 
that. And that is, that you always claim that your 
view is the more profound. I can readily understand 
that people whose conceptions differ radically may 
still meet in sympathy of feeling. But the nature of 
your ideas actually forces upon you an inner assump- 
tion of a certain superiority. Others can compare 
views and realize that they do indeed diverge towards 
different standpoints, but they nevertheless stand 
related by an equality of values. You, however, seem 
unable to do this. You regard all other views as pro- 
ceeding from a lower degree of human development. 

Sophia: But you realize, I hope, from our previous 
discussions, that those who think as I do, do not 



10 The Portal of Initiation 

finally meastire the character of man by his opinions 
or by his knowledge. And while we consider our ideas 
such, that without vital realization of them life has 
no valid foundations, we nevertheless try most ear- 
nestly not to over-estimate the value of the individual, 
who has been permitted to become an instrument for 
the manifestation of this view of life. 

Estdla: All that sounds very well, but it does not 
remove my one suspicion. I cannot dose my eyes to 
the fact, that a world-view which ascribes to itself 
illimitable depth must needs lead by the circuitous 
route of a mere appearance of such depth to a certain 
superficiality. I rate our friendship too high to point 
out to you those among your companions who, whilst 
they swear allegiance to your ideas, yet display spirit- 
ual arrogance of the most unmitigated sort, despite 
the fact that the barrenness and banality of their soul 
speaks in their every word and in all their conduct. 
Nor do I wish to call your attention to the callousness 
and lack of sympathy shown by so many of your ad- 
herents towards their fellow men. The greatness of 
your own soul has never permitted you to stand aloof 
from that which daily life requires at the hands of the 
man whom we call good. And yet the fact that you 
leave me alone on this occasion, when true and artistic 
life comes to be voiced, shows me that your ideas 
too with reference to this life are to a certain extent 
superficial — ^if you will forgive my sa3ring so. 

Sophia: And wherein lies this superficiality? 

Estdla: You ought to know. You have known me 
long enough to understand how I have wrenched 
myself away from that manner of life, which, day in 



The Portal of Initiation ii 

and day out» only straggles to follow tradition and 
convention. 

I have sought to understand why so many people 
suffer, as it seems, undeservedly. I have tried to 
approach the heights and depths of Hfe. I have 
consulted the sciences, so far as I could, to learn what 
they disclose. 

But let me hold fast to the one point which this 
moment presents to us. I am aware of the nature of 
true art ; I believe I understand how it seizes upon the 
essentials of life and presents to our souls the true 
and higher reality. I seem to feel the beating of the 
pulse of time, when I permit such art to influence me, 
and I am horrified when I have to think what it is 
which you, Sophy, prefer to this interest in living art. 
You turn to what seem to me the obsolete, dogmatic- 
ally allegorical themes, to gaze on a show of puppets, 
instead of on living beings, and to wonder at sjrmboli- 
cal happenings which stand far away from all that 
appeals to our pity and to our active sjrmpathies in 
daily life. 

Sophia: My dear Estelle, that is exactly the fact 
that you will not grasp — ^that the richest life is to be 
found just there where you only see a fantastic web 
of thoughts: and that there may be, and are, people 
who are compelled to call your living reality mere 
poverty — ^if it be not measured by the spiritual source 
from whence it comes. Possibly my words sound 
harsh to you. But otu* friendship demands absolute 
frankness. Spirit itself is as unknown to you as it is to 
the multitude. In its place you know oiily the bearer 
of knowledge. It is only the thought side of spirit of 



12 The Portal of Initiation 

which you are aware. You have no conception of the 
living, the creative spirit, which endows men with 
elemental power, even as the germinal power of nature 
shapes living entities. Like many another, for in- 
stance, you call things in art which deny the spirit, as 
I conceive it, naive and original. Our conception of 
the world unites a full and conscious freedom with the 
power of naive creation. We absorb consciously that 
which is naive, and do not thereby rob it of its fresh- 
ness, its fulness, and its originality. You believe that 
the character of man shapes itself, and that we can 
merely form thoughts and considerations about it. 
You will not see that thought itself actually merges 
into creative spirit; reaching the very fountain of 
Being; and developing thence into an actual creative 
germ. 

Our ideas do not teach, any more than the seed- 
power within a plant teaches it how to grow. It is the 
actual growth itself, and in like manner do our ideas 
flow into our very being, kindling and dispensing life. 
To the ideas that have come to me, I am indebted for 
all that makes life worth while; not only for the cour- 
age, but also for the insight and power that make me 
hopeful of so training my children, that they shall not 
only be capable and useful in ordinary everyday life, 
in the old traditional sense, but that they shall at the 
same time carry inward peace and contentment within 
their souls. I have no wish to stray from the point, 
but I will say just one thing. I believe — nay I know — 
that the dreams which you share with so many can 
only be realized when men succeed in uniting what 
they call the realities of life with those deeper ex- 



The Portal of Initiation 13 

periences, which you have so often termed dreams and 
fantasies. You may be astonished if I confess it to 
you: but much that seems true art to you is to me a 
mere fruitless critique of life. No hunger is stilled, no 
tears are dried, no source of degeneracy is discovered, 
when merely the outer show of hunger, or tear-stained 
faces, or degenerate beings is shown upon the stage. 
And the customary method of that presentation is un- 
speakably distant from the true depths of life, and the 
true relationship between beings. 

Estdla: I understand your words indeed, but they 
merely show me that you do prefer to indulge in 
fancies, rather than to look upon the realities of life. 
Our ways, indeed, part. — I see that my friend is denied 
me tonight. {Rises.) I must leave you now. But 
we remain friends, as of old, do we not ? 

Sophia: We must indeed remain friends. {While 
these Idst words are spoken, Sophia conducts her friend 
to the door.) 

Curtain 



Scene i 

Room. Dominant note rose-red. Large rose^red chairs 
are arranged in a semicircle. To the left of the 
stage a door leads to the auditorium. One after the 
other, the speakers introduced enter by this door; each 
stopping in the room for a time. While they do so, 
(hey discuss the discourse they haoejust heard in the 
auditorium, and what it suggests to them. 

Enter first Maria and Johannes, then others. The 
speeches which follow are continuations of discus^ 
sions already begun in the auditorium. 

Maria: 
My friend, I am indeed distressed to see 
Thy spirit and thy soul in sadness droop, 
And powerless to help the bond that binds 
And that has bound us both for ten blest years. 
E'en this same hour, filled with a portent deep 
In which we both have heard and learned so much 
That lightens all the darkest depths of soul. 
Brought naught but shade and shadow unto thee. 
Aye, after many of the speakers* words, 
My listening heart could feel the very dart 
That deeply wounded thine. Once did I gaze 
Into thine eyes and saw but happiness 
And joy in all the essence of the world. 

14 



The Portal of Initiation 15 

In pictures beauty-steeped thy soul held fast 

Each fleeting moment, bathed by sunshine's glow — 

Flooding with air and light the forms of men 

Unsealing all the depths and doubts of Life. 

Unskilled as yet thine hand to body forth 

In concrete colour-schemes, those living forms 

That hovered in thy soul; but in the hearts 

Of both of us there throbbed the joyous faith 

And certain hope that future days would teach 

Thine hand this art — ^to pour forth happiness 

Into the very fundaments of Being; 

That all the wonders of thy spirit's search 

Unfolding visibly Creation's powers 

Through every creature of thine art would pour 

Soul rapture deep into the hearts of men. 

Such were our dreams through all those days of yore 

That to thy skill, mirrored in beauty's guise, 

The weal of future men would trace its source. 

So dreamed mine own soul of the goal of thine. 

Yet now the vital spark of fashioning fire 

That burned within thee seems extinct and dead. 

Dead thy creative joy: and well-nigh maimed 

The hand, which once with fresh and youthful strength 

Guided thy steadfast brush from year to year. 

Johannes: 
Alas, 'tis true; I feel as if the fires 
That erstwhile quickened in my soul are quenched. 
Mine eye, grown dull, doth no more catch the gleam 
Shed by the flickering sunlight o'er the earth. 
No feeling stirs my heart, when changing moods 
Of light and shade flow o'er the scenes around. 



i6 The Portal of Initiation 

Still ]ies my hand, seeking no more to chain 
Into a lasting present fleeting charms, 
Shown forth by magic elemental powers 
Prom utmost depths of Life before mine eyes. 
No new creative fire thrills me with joy. 
For me dull monotone obscures all life. 

Maria: 
My heart is deeply grieved to hear that thou 
Dost find such emptiness in everjrthing 
Which thrives as highest good and very source 
Of sacred life itself within my heart. 
Ah, friend, behind the changing scenes of life 
That men call ' Being, * true life lies concealed 
Spiritual, everlasting, infinite. 
And in that life each soul doth weave its thread. 
I feel afloat in spirit potencies. 
That work, as in an ocean's unseen depths, 
And see revealed all the life of men, 
As wavelets on the ocean's upturned face. 
I am at one with all the sense of Life 
For which men restless strive, and which to me 
Is but their inner self that stands revealed. 
I see, how oftentimes it binds itself 
Unto the very kernel of man's soul, 
And lifts him to the highest that his heart 
Can ever crave. Yet as it lives in me 
It turns to bitter fruitage, when mine own 
Touches another's being. Even so 
Hath this, my destiny, worked out in all 
I willed to give thee, when thou cam'st in love. 
Thy wish it was to travel at my side 



The Portal of Initiation 17 

Unhesitating all the way, that soon 
Shotdd lead thee to a full and perfect art. 
Yet what hath happened? All, that in mine eyes 
Stood forth revealed in its own naked Truth 
As purest life, brought death, my friend, to thee 
And slew thy spirit. 

Johannes: 

Aye. 'Tis so indeed. 
What lifts thy soul to Heaven's sun-kissed heights 
When through thy life it comes into mine own 
Thrusts my soul down, to death's abysmal gloom. 
When in our friendship's rosy-fingered dawn 
To this revealment thou didst lead me on, 
Which sheds its light into the darkened realms. 
Where human souls do enter every night. 
Bereft of conscious life, and where full oft 
Man's being wanders erring: whilst the night 
Of Death makes mock at Life's reality. 
And when thou didst reveal to me the truth 
Of life's return, then did I know full well 
That I should grow to perfect spirit-man. 
Surely, it seemed, the artist's clear keen eye. 
And certain touch of a creator's hand, 
Would blossom for me through thy spirit's fire 
And noble might. Full deep I breathed this fire 
Into my being; when — ^behold — ^it robbed 
The ebb and flow of all my spirit's power. 
Remorselessly it drove out from my heart 
All faith in this our world. And now I reach 
A point where I no longer clearly see, 
Whether to doubt or whether to believe 

VOL. I — a 



i8 The Portal of Initiation 

The revelation of the spirit-worlds. 
Nay more, I even lack the power to love 
That which in thee the spirit's beauty shows. 

Maria: 
Alas! The years that pass have taught me this: 
That mine own way to live the spirit-life 
Doth change into its opposite, whene'er 
It penetrates another's character. 
And I must. also see how spirit-power 
Grows rich in blessing when, by other paths. 
It pours itself into the souls of men. 

{Enter Phiiia, Astrid, and Luna.) 

It floweth forth in speech, and in these words 

Lies power to raise to realms celestial 

Man's common mode of thinking; and create 

A world of joy, where erstwhile brooded gloom. 

Aye, it can change the spirit's shallowness 

To depths of earnest feeling; and can cast 

Man's character in sure and noble mould. 

And I — ^yes, I am altogether filled 

By just this spirit-power, and must behold 

The pain and desolation that it brings 

To other hearts, when from mine own it pours. 

Philia: 
It seemed as though the voices of some choir 

(Enter Prof, Capesius and Dr. Strader.) 

Mingled together, uttering manifold 
Conceptions and opinions, each his own. 
Of these who formed our recent gathering. 



The Portal of Initiation 19 

Full many harmonies there were indeed, 
But also many a harsh-toned dissonance. 

Maria: 
Ah, when the words and speech of many men 
Present themselves in such wise to the soul, 
It seems as though man's very prototype 
Stood centred there in secret mystery : 
Become through many souls articulate, 
As in the rainbow's arch pure Light itself 
Grows visible in many-coloured rays. 

Capesius: 
Through changing scenes of many centuries 
We wandered year on year in earnest search; 
Striving to fathom deep the living force 
That dwelt within the souls of those who sought 
To probe and scan the fundaments of being, 
And set before man's soul the goals of life. 
We thought that in the depths of our own souls 
We lived the higher powers of thought itself; 
And thus could solve the riddles set by Fate. 
We felt we had, or seemed at least to feel. 
Sure basis in the logic of our mind 
When new experiences crossed our path 
Questioning there the judgment of our soul. 
Yet now such basis wavers, when amazed 
I hear today, as I have heard before. 
The mode of thought taught by these people here. 
And more and more uncertain do I grow. 
When I perceive, how powerfully in life 
This mode of thought doth work. Full many a day 



20 The Portal of Initiation 

Have I spent thus, thinking how I might shape 

Time's riddles as they solved themselves to me 

In words, that hearts might grasp and trembling fed. 

Happy indeed was I, if I could fill 

Only the smallest comer of some soul 

Amongst my audience with the warmth of life. 

And oftentimes it seemed success was mine, 

Nor would I make complaint of fruitless days. 

Yet all results of teaching thus could lead 

Only to recognition of this truth 

So loved and emphasized by men of deeds, 

That in the clash of life's realities. 

Thoughts are dim shadows, nothing more nor less: 

They may indeed wing life's creative powers 

To due fruition, but they cannot shape 

And mould our life themselves. So have I judged 

And with this modest conmient was content : 

Where pale thoughts only work, all life is lamed 

And likewise all that joins itself to life. 

More potent than the ripest form of words. 

However art might weave therein her spell, 

Seemed nature's gift, man's talents — ^and more strong 

The hand of destiny to mould his life. 

Tradition's mountainweight, and prejudice 

With dull oppressive hand will always quench 

The strength of e'en the very best of words. 

But that which here reveals itself in speech 

Gives men, who think as I do, food for thought. 

Clearly we saw the kind of consequence 

That comes when sects, in superheated speech. 

Blind souls of men with dogma's seething stream. 

But nought here of such spirit do we find; 



The Portal of Initiation 21 

Here only reason greets the soul, and yet 

These words create the actual powers of life, 

Speaking unto the spirit's inmost depths. 

Nay even to the kingdom of the Will 

This strange and mystic Something penetrates; 

This Something, which to such as I, who still 

Wander in ancient ways, seems but pale thought. 

Impossible, it seems, to disavow 

Its consequences; none the less, myself 

I cannot quite surrender to it yet. 

But it all speaks with such peculiar charm 

And not as though it really meant for me 

The contradiction of experience. 

It almost seems as if this Something found 

The kind of man I am, insufferable. 

Strader: 
1 would associate myself in fullest sense 
With every one of thy last spoken words: 
And still more sharply would I emphasize 
That all results in our soul-life, which seem 
To spring forth from the influence of ideas. 
Cannot in any wise decide for us 
What actual worth of knowledge they conceal. 
Whether there lives within our mode of thought. 
Error or truth — 'tis certain this alone 
The verdict of true science can decide. 
And no one would with honesty deny 
That words, which are, in seeming only, clear, 
Yet daim to solve life's deepest mysteries. 
Are quite unfit for such a scrutiny. 
They fascinate the spirit of mankind. 



22 The Portal of Initiation 

And only tempt the heart's credulity; 

Seeming to open door into that realm 

Before which, humble and perplexed, now stands 

The strict and cautious search of modem minds. 

And he who truly follows such research 

Is bound in honour to confess that none 

Can know whence streams the wellspring of his 

thought, 
Nor fathom where the depths of Being lie. 
And though confession such as this is hard 
For souls who all too willingly would gauge 
What lies beyond the ken of mortal mind, 
Yet every glance of every thinker's soul 
Whether directed to the outer side. 
Or turned towards the inner depths of life, 
Scans but that boundary and naught beside. 
If we deny our rational intellect 
Or set aside experience, we sink 
In depths unfathomable, bottomless. 
And who can fail to see how utterly 
What passeth here for revelation new, 
Fails to fit in with modem modes of thought. 
Indeed it needs but little thought to see. 
How totally devoid this method is 
Of that, which gives all thought its sure support 
And guarantees a sense of certainty. 
Such revelations may warm listening hearts. 
But thinkers see in them mere mystic dreams. 

Philia: 
Aye, thus would always speak the science, won 
By stem sobriety and intellect. 



The Portal of Initiation 23 

But that suffices not unto the soul, 
That needs a steadfast faith in its own self. 
She ever will give heed to words that speak 
To her of spirit. All she dimly sensed 
In former days, she striveth now to grasp. 
To speak of the Unknown may well entice 
The thinker, but no more the hearts of men. 

Strcder: 
I too can realize how much there lies 
In that objection; how it seems to strike 
The idle dreamer, who would only spin 
The threads of thought, and seek the consequence 
Of this or that premise, which he himself 
Hath formed beforehand. Me — it touches not — 
No outer motive guided me to thought. 
In childhood I grew up *mid pious folk 
And, following their custom, steeped my soul 
In sense-intoxicating images 
Of future sojourn in celestial realms, 
Wherewith they seek to comfort and beguile 
Man's ignorance and man's simplicity. 
Within my bojdsh soul I sensed the throb 
Of utmost ecstasy, when reverently 
I raised my thoughts to highest spirit-worlds ; 
And prayer was then my heart's necessity. 
Thereafter in a cloister was I trained; 
Monks were my teachers, and in mine own heart 
The deepest longing was to be a monk, — 
An echo of my parents' ardent wish. 
For consecration did I stand prepared 
When chance did drive me from the cloistered cell; 



24 The Portal of Initiation 

And to this chance I owe deep gratitude. 
For, many days before chance saved my soul 
It had been robbed of inward peace and quiet; 
For I had read and learned of many things, 
That have no place within the cloister-gate. 
Knowledge of nature's working came to me 
From books that were forbidden to mine eyes. 
And thus I learned new scientific thought. 
Hard was the struggle as I sought the path 
Wandering through many a way to find mine own; 
Nor did I ever gain by cunning thought 
Whate'er of truth revealed itself to me. 
In fierce-fought battles have I torn the roots 
From out my spirit's soil of all that brought 
Peace and contentment to me when a child. 
I understand indeed the heart that fain 
Would soar up to the heights — ^but for myself, 
When once I recognized that all I learned 
From spirit-teaching was an empty dream, 
I was compelled to find the surer soil 
That science and discovery create. 

Luna: 
We may surmise, each after his own kind. 
Where sense and goal of life doth lie for each. 
I altogether lack the power to prove 
According to the science of today, 
What spirit-teaching I have here received: 
But clear within my heart I feel and know 
My soul would die without this spirit-lore, 
As would my body, if deprived of blood. 
And thou, dear doctor, 'gainst our cause dost fight 



The Portal of Initiation 25 

With many words, and what thou now hast told 
Of thy life's conflict lends them weight indeed 
Even with those who do not understand 
Thy learned argument. Yet would I ask 

(Enter Theodora.) 

Exactly why it is that hearts of men 

Receive the word of Spirit readily, 

As though self -understood: yet when man seeks 

Pood for his spirit in such learned words 

As thou didst use his heart grows chill and cold. 

Theodora: 
Although I am at home *mid just such men 
As circle round me here, yet strangely sounds 
This speech I have just heard. 

Capesius: 

What strangeness there? 
Theodora: 

I may not say. Do thou, Maria, tell. 

Maria: 
Our friend has oftentimes explained to us 
What strange experiences come to her. 
One day she felt herself completely changed. 
And none could understand her altered state. 
Estrangement met her wheresoe'er she turned 
Until she came into our circle here. 
Not that we fully understand ourselves 
What she possesses and what no one shares. 
Yet we are trained by this our mode of thought 
The unaccustconed to appreciate, 



26 The Portal of Initiation 

And feel with every mood of humankind. 

One moment in her life, our friend perceived, 

All that seemed hers aforetime, disappear; 

The past was all extinguished in her soul. 

And since these wondrous changes came to her, 

This mood of soul hath oft renewed itself; 

It doth not long endure; and other times 

She lives her life as ordinary folk. 

Yet whensoever she falls into this state, 

The gift of memory doth fade away. 

She loseth from her eyes the power to see 

And senseth her surroundings, seeing not. 

With a peculiar light her eyes then glow, 

And pictured forms appear to her. At first 

They seemed like dreams; anon they grew so dear. 

That we could recognize without "a doubt 

Some prophecy of distant future days. 

Pull many a time have we seen this occur. 

Capesius: 
It is just this that little pleaseth me 
Amongst these men; who mingle with good sense 
And logic, superstition's fallacies. 
*Twas ever thus where men have walked this path. 

Maria: 
If thou canst still speak so, thou dost not yet 
Perceive our attitude towards these things. 

Strader: 
Well, as for me, I freely must confess, 
That I would sooner revelations hear 



The Portal of Initiation 27 

Than speak of questionable spirit-themes. 

Pot even if I fail to read aright 

The riddle of such dreams, yet those at least 

I count as facts; and would 'twere possible 

To see one instance of the mystery 

Of this strange spirit-mood before mine eyes. 

Maria: 
Perchance it is — for look, she comes again. 
And it doth seem to me as though e'en now 
This mystic spirit-mood would show itself. 

Theodora: 
I am compelled to speak. Before my soul 
A pictured form stands wrapped in robes of light; 
Prom which strange words are sounding in mine ears. 
I feel myself in future centuries, 
And men do I behold as yet unborn: — 
They also see the pictured form; they too 
Can hear the words it speaks, which thus resound — 
* O ye, who lived in faith's sincerity, 
Take comfort now in sight, and look on Me. 
Receive new life through Me. Por I am He 
Who lived within the souls of those who sought 
To find Me in themselves, by following 
The gospd-words My messengers did bring 
And by their own devotion's inward power. 
The light of sense ye saw — ^believe ye now 
In the creative spirit-world beyond. 
Por now indeed ye have yourselves achieved 
One atom of divine prophetic sight. 
Oh, breathe it deep, and feel it in your souls.' 



28 The Portal of Initiation 

A human form steps from that sphere of light. 

And speaks to me: *Thou shalt make known to all 

Who will give ear to thee, that thou hast seen 

What all mankind shall soon experience: 

Once, long ago, Christ lived upon the earth, 

And from this life ensued the consequence 

That in soul-substance clad He hovers o'er 

The evolution of humanity, 

In union with the earth's own spirit-sphere; 

And though as yet invisible to men, 

When in such form He manifests Himself, 

Since now their being lacks that spirit sight. 

Which first will show itself in future times; 

Yet even now this future draweth nigh 

When that new sight shall come to men on earth. 

What once the senses saw, when Christ did live 

Upon the earth; this shall be seen by souls 

When soon the time shall reach its fulness due.' 

(Exit.) 
Maria: 

This is the first time we have heard her speak 

In such a manner to so many folk. 

At other times she felt constrained to speech. 

Only when two or three were gathered round. 

Capesius: 
To me indeed it seems most curious. 
That she, as though commanded or required. 
Should find herself to revelation urged. 

Maria: 
It may so seem; but we know well her ways. 
If at this moment she desired to send 



The Portal of Initiation 29 

Her inward soul-voice deep into your souls, 

The only reason was, that unto you 

The source, whence came her voice, desired to speak. 

Capesius: 
Concerning this strange future gift of sight, 
Whereof she spake, as dreaming, we have heard 
That he, who of this circle is the soul, 
Hath oft already given full report. 
Is it not possible that from his words 
The content of her speech hath origin. 
The mode of utterance coming from herself? 

Maria: 
If matters thus did stand, we should not deem 
Her words of any consequence or weight: 
But we have tested this condition weU. 
Before she came into our circle here. 
Our friend had never heard in any way 
Of that same leader's speeches, nor had we 
Heard aught of her before she came to us. 

Ca^pesius: 
Then what we have to deal with is a state, 
Such as so often happens, contrary 
To all the laws of nature; and which we 
Must merely estimate as some disease. 
And only healthy thought, securely based 
On fully conscious sense-impressions, can 
Pass judgment on the riddles set by life. 

Strader: 
Yet even here one fact presents itself; 
And what we now have heard must have some worth — 



30 The Portal of Initiation 

For, even if we set aside all else 

It doth compel the thought that spirit-power 

Can cause thought-transference from soul to soul. 

Astrid: 
Ah me, if ye would only dare to tread 
The ground your mode of thought doth choose to 

shun: 
As snow before the sunlight's piercing glare 
Your vain delusion needs must melt away, 
Which makes the moods revealed, in such minds 
Appear diseased, abnormal, wonderful. 
They are suggestive, but they are not strange. 
And small this wonder doth appear to me 
When I compare it with the myriad 
Of wonders that make up my daily life. 

Capesiiis: 
Nay, nay, one thing it is to recognize 
What lies before our eyes on every side. 
But quite another, wh^t is shown us here. 

Strader: 
Of spirit 'tis not necessary to speak 
Until there are things shown to us which lie 
Outside the strictly circled boundary 
Set by the laws of scientific thought. 

Astrid: 
The clear shaft of the sunlight on the dew 
Which glistens in the morning's golden light, 

(Enter Fdix Balde.) 



The Portal of Initiation 31 

The htirling stream that riseth 'neath the rock, 
The thtinder rumbling in the cloud-wrapped sky, 
All these do speak to me a spirit tongue: 
I strove to understand it ; and I know 
That of this speech's meaning and its might, 
Only a faint reiSection can be glimpsed 
Through your investigations, as they are. 
And when that kind of speech sank deep within 
My heart, I found my soul's true joy at last. 
Nor could aught else, but human words alone 
And spirit teaching grant this gift to me. 

FeUx Balde: 
Those words rang true indeed. 

Maria: 

I must essay 
To tell what joy fills all my heart to see 

{Enter Felicia Balde.) 
For the first time here with us yonder man, 
Of whom we oft have heard; and joy doth cause 
The wish to see him here ftill many times. 

Felix Balde: 
It is not usual for me that I should 
Associate with such a crowd of men: 
And not alone unusual 

Felicia: 

Aye, 'tis so. 
His nature drives us into solitude 
Away from all; year in, year out, we hear 



32 The Portal of Initiation 

Scarce any other converse save our own. 
And if this good man here from time to time 

(Pointing to Capesius.) 
Came not to linger in our cottage home, 
We scarce should realize that other men, 
Besides ourselves, live on the earth at all. 
And if the man, who spake such wondrous words 
But recently in yonder lecture-hall. 
And who aflEected us so potently. 
Did not full many a time my Felix meet. 
When he is gone about his daily tasks, 
Ye would know nought of our forgotten life. 

Maria: 
So the professor often visits you? 

Capesius: 
Assuredly. And I may tell you all. 
The very deep indebtedness I feel 
To this good woman, who doth give to me 
In rich abundance, what none other can. 

Maria: 
And of what nature are these gifts of hers? 

Capesius: 
If I would tell the tale, then must I touch 
A thing that verily doth seem to me 
More wonderful than much that here I've heard. 
In that it speaks more nearly to my soul. 
And were I in some other place, these words 
Would hardly pass the barrier of my lips; 



The Portal of Initiation 33 

Yet here they seem to flow therefrom with ease. 

In my soul-life there often comes a time 

When it doth feel itself pumped out and dry. 

It seems as though the very fountain-head 

Of knowledge had run dry within my heart. 

Then can I find no word of any kind 

Worthy to speak or worthy to be heard. 

And when I fed such spirit barrenness 

I flee to these good people, and seek rest 

In their reviving, peaceful solitude 

Then Mistress Felix tells me many a tale 

Set forth in wondrous pictures, manifold, 

Of beings, dwelling in the land of dreams, 

Who lead a joyous life in fairy realms. 

When thus she speaks, her tone and speech recall 

Some legend oft-told of the ancient days. 

I ask n:o question whence she finds these words 

But this one thing alone I clearly know: 

That new life flows therefrom into my soul, 

And sweeps away its dull paralysis. 

Maria: 
To hear such splendid witness to the skill 
Of Dame Felicia doth, in wondrous wise. 
Harmoniously blend in every way 
With all that Benedictus told to us 
About his friend's deep hidden knowledge-founts. 

Fdix Balde: 
He who spake words to us just now, which showed 

(Benedictus appears at the door.) 

VOL. 1—3 



34 The Portal of Initiation 

How in the realm of universal space, 
And vast eternities his spirit dwelt, 
Hath surely little need to speak o'er much 
Of simple men. 

Benedictus: 

Thou errest friend. For me 
Infinite value hath each word of thine. 

Fdix Balde: 
It was presumption only, and the bent 
Of idle talk, when thou didst honour me 
To wander at thy side our mountain paths. 
Only because thou didst conceal from me 
How much thyself dost know, I dared to speak. 
But now our time is up, and we must go — 
A long way hence doth lie our quiet home. 

Felicia: 
It hath been most refreshing once again 
To come amongst mankind: and yet I fear 
It will not happen very soon again: 
There is no other life which Felix deems 
Better than living in his mountain heights. 

{Exeunt Felix and his wife.) 

Benedictus: 
Indeed I well believe his wife is right, 
Nor will he come again for many days. 
It needed much to bring him here today. 
And yet the reason lies not in himself 
Why no one knoweth aught of him or his. 



The Portal of Initiation 35 

Capesius: 
He only seemed to me eccentric, strange; 
And many an hour I found him talkative 
When I was with him; but his mystic speech 
And strange discourse remained obscure to me, 
When he revealed all that he claims to know. 
He spoke of solar beings housed in rocks; 
Of lunar demons, who disturb their work; 
And of the sense of number hid in plants; 
And he who listens to him cannot long 
Keep clear the thread of meaning in his words. 

Benedictus: 

And yet 'tis also possible to feel 

As if the powers of Nature, through these words, 

Sought to reveal themselves in their true state. 

(Exit.) 

Strader: 
Already do I feel forebodings strange 
That now dark hours are coming in my life. 
For since the days of cloistered solitude. 
Where I was taught such knowledge, and thereby 
Struck to the very darkest depth of soul. 
Not one experience has stirred me so. 
As this weird vision of the seeress here. 

Capesius: 
Indeed I cannot see that aught of that 
Should prove unnerving. And I fear, my friend, 
That if thou once dost lose thy certainty. 
Dark doubt will soon envelop all thy thought. 



$6 The Portal of Initiation 

• 

Strader: 
Too true! And 'tis the fear of just this doubt 
That causeth me full many an anxious hour 
From my experience I know nought else 
Of this strange gift of seership, save that when 
Life's vexing problems sorely trouble me, 
Then, ghostlike, riseth from dark spirit-depths, 
Before my spirit's eyes, some phantom form 
Like some dream-being, grim aiid terrible, 
Pressing with fearful weight upon my soul, 
And clutching horribly around my heart. 
It seems to speak right through me words like these: 
* If thou dost fail to gain the victory 
O'er me with those blunt weapons of thy thought, 
Thou art a fleeting phantom, nothing more, 
Formed by thine own deluded imagery.' 

Theodositis: 
That is the destiny of all such men. 
As do approach the world by thought alone. 
The spirit's voice dwells deep in every soul. 
Nor have we strength to pierce the covering 
That spreads itself before our faculties. 
Thought doth bring knowledge of things temporal. 
Of things that vanish in the course of time: 
The everlasting and all spirit-truth 
Are found but in the inner depths of man. 

Strader: 
If, then, the fruitage of a pious faith 
Is able to give rest to weary souls. 
Such souls may wander safely in that path, 



The Portal of Initiation 37 

And find sufficiency within themselves. 

And yet the power of knowledge, pure and true, 

Doth never bloom on such a path as this. 

Theodosius: 
Yet there can be no other way to light 
Ttue spirit-knowledge in the hearts of men. 
Pride may seduce and change to fantasies 
The soul's true depths of feeling, and may see 
A vision only where faith's beauty lies. 
One thing alone of all we here have heard 
Prom spirit-teaching of the higher worlds. 
Strikes clear upon our honest human sense: 
That only in the spirit- world itself 
The soul can feel itself in its true home. 

The Other Maria: 
So long as man feds need of speech alone, 
And nought besides, so long such words as these 
May satisfy him: but the fuller life 
With all its strife, its yearnings after joy, 
And all its sorrow, needeth other food 
To nourish and sustain the fainting soul. 
For me, an inner voice did drive me on 
To spend all the remaining days of life 
Which were allotted me, in helping those 
Whom stress of destiny had smitten down 
And plunged in deepest poverty and need. 
And far more oft I found it necessary 
To soothe the anguish of the soul of man 
Than heal his body's pain and suffering. 
But I have felt indeed in many ways 



38 The Portal of Initiation 

My will's weak impotence to comfort men. 

So that I am compelled to seek fresh strength 

Prom out the treasured store which floweth forth 

Abundantly from spirit-sources here. 

The quickening warmth of words which greet mine 

ear, 
Flows forth with magic force into my hands; 
And thence, like healing balsam, forth again, 
When those hands touch some sorrow-laden soul. 
It changeth on my lips to strengthening words 
Which carry comfort unto pain-racked hearts. 
The soiirce of words like these I do not ask; 
I feel their truth — ^they give me living life. 
And every day more clearly do I see, 
That they derive their strength not from my will 
In all its weakness, but create anew 
Myself each day unto myself again. 

Capesius: 
Yet siirely there are men enough on earth 
Who, though they lack such revelation's aid, 
Perform innumerable deeds of good? 

Maria: 
In sooth there is no lack of men like these 
In many places; but my friend doth mean 
A different thing; and if thou didst but know 
The life she led, thou wouldst speak otherwise. 
Where unused powers in full abundance dwell 
There love will cause the seed to germinate 
In rich abundance in the heart's good soil. 
But our friend here exhausted life's best powers 



The Portal of Initiation 39 

In never-ending toil beyond her strength; 

And all her will to live lay crushed and dead 

Beneath the cruel weight of destiny, 

Which fell upon her. All her strength she gave 

To careful guidance of her children's weal: 

And low already had her courage ebbed 

When early death took her loved husband home. 

In such a state as this, days dull and drear 

Seemed all fate had in store whilst life remained. 

But then the powers of destiny prevailed 

To bring her 'neath the spell of spirit-lore; 

And soon with us she felt the vital force 

Of life break forth in her a second time. 

Fresh aims in life she found, and with them came 

Fresh courage once again to fight and strive. 

And thus in her the spirit hath achieved 

In very truth to fashion from decay 

A new and living personality. 

And when the spirit in such fruit as this 

Shows its creative potency, we learn 

Its nature, and the way it speaks to us. 

And, if no pride lies hidden in our speech, 

And highest moral aims live in otu* hearts; 

If we believe that in no way at all 

Our teaching is our own; — but that alone 

The spirit shows itself within our souls — 

Then may we siirely venture to assert 

That in thy mode of thinking may be found 

But feeble shadows waving to and fro 

Athwart the real true source of human life: 

And that the spirit, which ensouls our work 

Is linked in inward harmony with all 



40 The Portal of Initiation 

That weaves the web of destiny for man 

Deep in the very fundaments of life. 

I have been privileged for many years 

To give myself to vital work in life: 

And during all this time more bleeding hearts 

And yearning souls have come before mine eyes, 

Than many would conceive were possible. 

I do esteem thy high ideal flight, 

The proud assurance of thy sciences: 

I like to see the student-audience, 

Respectful, sit and listen at thy feet: 

And that to many souls thy work doth bring 

Ennobling clarity of thought, I know. 

But yet regarding thought like this, it seems. 

Trustworthiness can only dwell therein 

So long as thought lives in itself alone. 

Whereas the realm of which I am a part 

Sends into deep realities of life 

The fruitage of its words, since it desires 

To plant in deep realities its roots. 

Par, far away from all thy thought doth lie 

The written word upon the spirit-heaven 

Which with momentous tokens doth announce 

New growth upon the tree of humankind. 

And though indeed such thought seems clear and sure 

As follows faithfully the ancient path. 

Yet can it only touch the tree's coarse bark. 

And never reach the marrow's living power. 

Romanus: 
For my part I do seek in vain the bridge 
That truly leadeth from ideas to deeds. 



The Portal of Initiation 41 

Capesius: 
On one side thou dost over-estimate 
The power which can be wielded by ideas, 
And on the other thou dost fail to grasp 
The actual course of true reality: 
For it is certain that ideas must form 
The germ of all the actual deeds of men. 

Romanus: 
If this friend doth so many deeds of good, 
The impulse thereunto lies in herself 
And her warm-hearted nature, not in thought. 
Most certainly 'tis necessary for man, 
Whene'er he hath accomplished any work. 
To find foundation for it in ideas. 
But yet 'tis only schooling of man's will 
In hannony with all his skill and power 
To undertake some real work in life 
Which will help forward all the human race. 
When whirr of busy wheels sounds in mine ears, 
Or when I see some creaking windlass drawn 
By strong stout hands of men content to work. 
Then do I sense indeed the powers of Life. 

Germanus: 
Often in careless speech have I maintained 
That I preferred things droll and humorous 
And held these only full of wit and charm, 
Deeming that for my brain at any rate. 
They always would provide material 
Best fitted to fill up the time that lies 
Between my recreation and my work. 



42 The Portal of Initiation 

But now quite tasteless to me seem such things; 
The Power Invisible hath conquered me; 
And I have learned to feel that there may be 
More powerful forces in humanity, 
Than all our wit's frail castles in the air. 

Capesius: 
And did it seem that nowhere else but here 
*Twas possible to find such spirit-powers? 

Germanus: 
Indeed the life I lived did offer me 
Pull many a tjrpe of intellectual works: 
Yet cared I not to pluck or taste their fruit. 
But this strange mode of thought which blossoms here 
Seemed t6 attract and draw me to itself 
However little I desired to come. 

Capesius: 
Most pleasant hath this hour of converse been, 
And we are debtors to our hostess here. 

{Exeunt all, except Maria and Johannes,) 

Johannes: 
Oh, stay a little while yet by my side, 
I am afraid: — so desperately afraid: — 

Maria: 
What is it aileth thee, my friend? Speak forth. 

Johannes: 
The first cause was our leader's speech; and then 
The chequered converse of these people here. 



The Portal of Initiation 43 

It all hath moved and stirred me through and 
through. 

Maria: 
But how could simple speeches such as these 
Seize on thine heart with such intensity? 

Johannes: 
Each word seemed in that moment unto me 
A dreadful symbol of our nothingness. 

Maria: 
Indeed it was significant to see 
Pour forth in such short time so many kinds 
Of life and man's conflicting tendencies, 
In all the speeches that we lately heard. 
Yet 'tis indeed a most peculiar trait 
Of life, as it is lived amongst us here, 
To bring to speech the inner mind of man; 
And much that otherwise comes slowly forth. 
Stands here revealed in little space of time. 

Johannes: 
A mirrored picture 'twas of fullest life 
That showed me to myself in clearest lines: 
This spirit-revelation makes me feel 
That most of us protect and train one trait 
And one alone in all our character, 
Which thus persuades itself it is the whole. 
I sought to unify these many traits 
In mine own self and boldly trod the path 
Which here is shown, to lead unto that goal; 



44 The Portal of Initiation 

And it hath made of me a nothingness. 

Keenly I feel what all these others lack, 

And yet I sense as keenly that they all 

Have actual part in life itself, whilst I 

Stand but on tmsubstantial nothingness. 

It seemed whole lines of life ran into one 

Significant in those brief speeches here. 

But then mine own life's portrait also rose 

And stood forth vividly within my soul. 

The days of childhood first were painted there, 

With all its ftdness and its joy in life: 

Then came the picture of my youthful prime 

With that proud hopefulness in parent-hearts 

Awakened by the talents of their son. 

Then dreams concerning my career in art, 

Which formed life's all in those old happy days, 

Surged up from out my spirit's inmost depths 

Exhorting to fulfil my cherished hopes; 

And then those dreams in which thyself didst see 

How I translated into coloured form 

The spirit-life that liveth in thy soul. 

Then saw I tongues of fire spring up and lick 
Around my youthful dreams and artist hopes, 
Reducing all to dust and nothingness. 
Thereafter rose another pictured form 
From out that drear and dreadful nothingness — 
A htmian form, which once had linked its fate 
In faithful love with mine in days long past. 
She sought to hold me by her when I turned 
Long years ago unto my home again. 
Called to attend my mother's funeral rites. 



The Portal of Initiation 45 

I heeded not, but tore myself away. 

For mighty was the power that drew me here 

To this thy circle and the goals of life 

Which here are set before our eager gaze. 

In those dark days I felt no sense of guilt 

When I did rend in twain the bond of love, 

That was unto another soul its life. 

Nor later when the message came to me 

How that her life did slowly pine away, 

And finally was altogether quenched 

Did I feel aught of guilt tmtil today; 

But full of meaning were those recent words 

In yonder chamber which our leader spake; 

How that we may destroy by power misused 

And perverse thought the destiny of those 

Whom bonds of loving trust link to our souls. 

Ah, hideously these words again resound 

Out of the picture, thence re-echoing 

With ghastly repetition from all sides: 

'Her murderer thou art! her hast thou slain!' 

Thus whilst this weighty speech hath been for all 

The motive to probe deep within themselves. 

Within my heart it hath brought forth alone 

The consciousness of this most grievous guilt. 

By this new means of sight I can perceive 

How far astray my striving footsteps erred. 

Maria: 
And at this moment, friend, in dark domains 
Thou walkest, and none else can help thee there, 
Save he, in whom we all do put our trust. 

(Maria is called away; re-enter Helena.) 



46 The Portal of Initiation 

Helena: 
I feel constrained to linger by thy side 
A little while; since now for many weeks 
Thy gaze hath held so much of grief and care. 
How can the light, which streams so radiantly 
Bring gloom unto thy soul, which only strives 
With utmost strength to seek and know the truth? 

Johannes: 
Hath then this light brought naught but joy to thee? 

Helena: 
Not the same joy as that which once I knew, 
But that new joy which springeth from those words, 
Through which the spirit doth reveal itself. 

Johannes: 
Nathdess I tell thee that the self -same power, 
Which doth in thee create, can also crush. 

Helena: 
Some error must have crept into thy soul 
With ctmning tread, if this be possible; 
And if dull care instead of happiness, 
And moods of sorrow flow forth from the source 
Of truth itself instead of spirit-bliss 
In free abundance: seek then in thyself 
The stumbling-blocks that thus impede thy way. 
How often are we told that only health 
Is the true fruitage of our teaching here. 
Which makes to blossom forth the powers of life. 
Shall it then show the contrary in thee? 



The Portal of Initiation 47 

I see its fruitage in so many lives, 
Which, trusting me, find union in themselves. 
Their former mode of life grows day by day 
Strange and still stranger to such souls as these; 
As well-springs are fresh opened in their hearts, 
Thenceforth renewing life within themselves. 
To gaze into the primal depths of being 
Doth not create those passionate desires 
Which torture and torment the souls of men. 

{ExU.) 
Johannes. 
It took me many years to understand 
And know the vanity of things of sense 
When spirit-knowledge is not joined with them 
In dose and intimate companionship : 
And yet one single moment proves to me 
That e'en the highest wisdom's words may be 
But vanity of soul in man's own self. 

Curtain 



SCBNE 2 

In (he open. Rocks and springs. The entire scene is 
to be thought of as taking place in the soul of 
Johannes Thonuisius. What follows is the content 
of his meditation. 

(There sounds from the springs and rocks:) 
Enow thou thyself, O man. 



Johanttes: 
'Tis thus I hear them, now these many years, 
These words of weighty import all around. 
( hear them in the wind and in the wave : 
Out from earth's depths do they resound to me: 
And as a tiny acorn's mystery, 
Confines the structure of a mighty oak, 
So in the kernel of these words there lies. 
All elemental nature: all I grasp 
Of soul, of spirit, time, eternity. 
It seems mine own peculiarities 
And all the world besides live in these words : 
' Know thou thyself, O man. Know thou thyself.' 

(From the springs and rocks resounds:) 
Enow thou thyself, O man. 

48 



The Portal of Initiation 49 

Johannes: 

And now — I fed 

Mine inmost being terrified to life: 

Without the gloom of night doth weave me roxmd, 

And deep within my soul thick darkness yawns: 

And sounding from this universal gloom 

And up from out the darkness of my soul 

These words ring forth: 'Ejiow thou thyself, O man.' 

{From the springs and rocks resounds:) 

Know thou thyself, O man. 



Johannes: 
It robs me of my very self: I change 
Each hour of day, and am transformed by night. 
The earth I follow on its cosmic course: 
I seem to rumble in the thunder's peal, 
And flash adown the lightning's fierce-forked tongue — 
I AM. — ^Alas, already do I feel 
Mine own existence snatched away from me. 
I see what was my former carnal shape. 
As some strange being, quite outside myself. 
And infinitely far away from me. 
But now another body hovers near. 
And through its mouth I am compelled to speak: — 
*Ah, bitter sorrow hath he brought to me; 
So utterly I trusted him of old. 
He left me lonely with my sorrow's pain. 
He robbed me of the very warmth of life, 
And thrust me deep beneath the chill, cold ground.' 
Poor soul, 'tis she I left, and leaving her 
It was in truth mine own self that I left; 

VOL. 1—4 



50 The Portal of Initiation 

And I must suffer all her pain and woe. 

For knowledge hath endowed me with the power 

Myself into another's self to fuse. 

Ah me! Ye quench again by your own power 

The light of inner knowledge ye have brought, 

Ye oruel words, ' Know thou thyself, O man.' 

{From the springs and rocks resounds:) 

Know thou thyself, O man. 



Johannes: 
Ye lead me back again within the sphere 
Of mine own being's former fantasies. 
Yet in what shape know I myself again! 
My human form is lost and gone from me; 
Like some fierce dragon do I see myself; 
Begotten out of primal lust and greed. 
And clearly do I see how up till now 
Some dim deluding veil of phantom forms 
Hath hid from me mine own monstrosity. 
Mine own self's fierceness must devour my Self. 
And through my veins run like consuming fire 
Those words, that once with elemental force 
Revealed the core of stms and earths to me. 
They throb within my pulse, beat in mine heart; 
And even in mine inmost thoughts I feel 
Strange worlds e'en now blaze forth like passions fierce. 
They are the fruitage of these very words: 
' Know thou thjrself , O man. Know thou thjrself ,' 

{From the springs and rocks resounds:) 

Know thou thyself, O man. 



The Portal of Initiation si 

Johannes: 
There, — from that dark abjrss, what creature glares? 
I feel the chains that hold me chained to thee. 
So fast was not Prometheus rivetted 
Upon the naked rocks of Caucasus* 
As I am rivetted and forged to thee — 
Who art thou, fearful, execrable shape? 

(From the springs and rocks resounds:) 

Know thou thyself, O man. 

Johannes: 
Oh yea, I know thee; for thou art myself: 
Knowledge doth chain to thee, pernicious beast, 

{Enter Maria unnoticed by Johannes.) 

Chain mine own self to thee, pernicious beast. 

I willed to flee from thee; but I was blind. 

Blinded by glamour of the worlds, whereto 

My folly fled to free me from myself; 

And now once more within my sightless soul 

Blind through these words : ' EInow thou thyself, O man.* 

{From the springs and rocks resounds:) 

Know thou thyself, O man. 

Johannes: {As though coming to himself, sees Maria. 
The meditation passes to the plane of inner reality.) 

Thou here, my friend? 

Maria: 
I sought thee, friend, although I know full well 
How comforting to thee is solitude, 



52 The Portal of Initiation 

When many varying thoughts of many men 

Have flooded o'er thy soul. I also know 

I cannot by my presence help my friend 

In this dark hour of strife — yet yearnings vague 

Drive me in this same moment unto thee; 

When Benedictus' words, instead of light, 

Such grievous sorrow drew from thy soul's depths. 

Johannes: 
How comforting to me is solitude! 

Yea, I have sought to find myself therein. 
So often when to labyrinths of thought 
The joys and griefs of men had driven me. 
But now, O friend, that, too, is past and gone. 
What Benedictus' words at first aroused 
Within my soul, and all that I lived through 
When listening to the speeches of those men. 
Seems but indeed a little thing, when I 
Compare therewith the storm that solitude 
With sullen brooding hath brought forth in me. 
Ah me! when I recall this solitude! 
It hounded me into the voids of space, 
And tore me from my very self in two. 
Within that sotil to whom I brought such pain 
I stood, as though I were some other man. 
And there I had to suffer all the pain 
Of which I was myself the primal cause. 
Ah cruel, sombre, fearful solitude 
Thou giv'st me back unto myself indeed, 
Yet but to terrify me with the sight 
Of mine own nature's fathomless abyss« 



The Portal of Initiation 53 

Man's final refuge hath been lost to me: 
I have been robbed of solitude itself. 

Maria: 
I must repeat what I have said before. 
Alone can Benedictus succour thee; 
Only from him may we obtain support 
And that firm basis which we both do lack. 
For know thou this: I also can no more 
Endure the riddle of my life, unless 
His gentle guidance solveth it for me. 
Full often have I kept before mine eyes 
This truth sublime, that o'er all life doth float 
Appearance and deception if we grasp 
Life's surface only in our moods of thought. 
And o'er and o'er again it spake to me: 
Thou must take knowledge how illusion's veil 
Weaves all around thee; and however oft 
It n:iay appear to thee as truth, beware; 
For evil fruitage may in truth arise 
If thou shouldst try within another's soul 
To wake the light that lives within thyself. 
Yet in the best part of my soul I know 
That even this oppressive weight of care 
Which hath o'erwhelmed thy soul, dear friend of mine* 
As thou didst tread with me the path of life, 
Is part and parcel of the thorny way, 
That leads unto the light of Truth itself. 
Thou must live through each horror and alarm 
That can spring forth from vain imagining 
Before the Truth in essence stands revealed. 
Thus speaks thy star ; and by that same star speech 



54 ^The Portal of Initiation 

It doth appear to me that we shall walk 

One day united, on the spirit-paths. 

And yet whene'er I seek to tread these paths 

Black night doth spread a curtain round my sight. 

And many things that I must live and do, 

Which spring as fruitage from my character, 

Intensify the darkness of that night. 

We two must seek dear vision in that light, 

Which, though it vanish for a while from sight. 

Can never be extinguished in the soul. 

Johannes: 
But then, Maria, dost thou realize 
Through what my soul hath fought its way but now? 
A grievous destiny awaiteth thee, 
Most noble friend. For well I know that far 
From thy pure nature lies that potent force. 
That hath so wholly shattered me to bits. 
Thou canst ascend the clearest heights of truth, 
And scan with steadfast gaze life's tangled path; 
And whether in the darkness or the light 
Thou wilt retain thine own identity. 
But me each moment may deprive of Self. 
Deep down I had to dive within the hearts 
Of those who late revealed themselves in speech. 
I followed one to cloistered solitude, — 
And in another's soul I listened to 
Felicia's fairy lore. I was each one; 
Only unto myself I seemed as dead; 
For I must fain believe that primal life 
Did spring from very Nothingness itself, 
If it were right to entertain the hope. 



The Portal of Initiation 55 

That out of that dread nothingness in me 

A human being ever could arise. 

For I am driven from fear into the dark 

And from the darkness back again to fear 

By wisdom stored within these living words: 

* Know thou thyself, man. Know thou thyself.* 

(From the springs and rocks the words resound:) 
Know thou thyself, O man. 

Curtain 



Scene 3 

A room for meditation. The background is a great 
purple curtain. The scene is purple in colour 
with a large yellow pentagonal lamp suspended 
from the ceiling. No other furniture or ornaments 
are in the room except the lamp and one chair. 
BenedictuSt Johannes, Maria, and a child. 

Maria: 
I bring to thee this child who needs some word 
From out thy mouth. 

Benedictus: 

My child, henceforth each eve 
Thou shalt come unto me to hear the word 
That shall fill full thy soul ere thou dost tread 
The realm of souls in sleep. Wilt thou do this? 

Child: 
Most gladly will I come. 

Benedictus: 

This very eve 
Fill thy soul full ere sleep embraceth thee, 

56 



The Portal of Initiation 57 

With strength from these few words : ' The powers of 

Ught 
Bear me aloft unto the spirit's home.' 

{Maria leads the child away.) 
Maria: 

And now, that this child's destiny doth flow 

Harmoniously through future days beneath 

The shadow of thy gracious fatherhood, 

I too may claim my leader's kind advice, 

Who am its mother, not by bond of blood 

But through the mighty power of destiny. 

For thou hast shown to me the way wherein 

I had to guide its footsteps from that day. 

When I discovered it before my door 

Left by its unknown mother desolate. 

And wonder-working proved themselves those rules 

Whereby thou madest me train my foster-child. 

All powers, that deep in body and in soul 

Lay hidden, issued forth to light and life: 

Clear proof it was that all thy counselling 

Sprang from the realm which sheltered this child's soul 

Before it built its body's covering. 

We saw the hopes of manhood blossom forth 

And radiate more brightly each new day; 

Thou dost know well how hard it was for me 

To gain the child's affection, at the first. 

It grew up 'neath my care, and yet nought else 

Save habit chained its soul at first to mine. 

It only realized and felt that I 

Gave it the nurture and the food that served 

The needs of body and the growth of soul. 

Then came the time when in the child-like heart 



58 The Portal of Initiation 

There dawned the love for her who fostered it. 

An outer incident brought forth this change — 

The visit of the seeress to our group. 

Gladly the child did go about with her 

And soon did learn full many a beauteous word 

Steeped in the mystic charm that graced her speech. 

Then came the moment when her ecstasy 

Descended on otir friend with magic power. 

The child could see her eyes' strange smouldering light, 

And, terrified unto its vital core. 

The young soul dawned to consciousness of self. 

In her dismay she fled unto mine arms; 
And from that hour did grow her love for me. 
Since that same time she doth accept from me 
The gifts of life with her full consciousness 
Not with blind instinct: aye, and since that day 
When this young heart first quivered into warmth, 
Whene'er her gaze met mine with loving glance. 
Thy wisdom's treasures of their fruitage failed. 
And much already ripe hath withered up. 
I saw appear in her those tokens strange 
That proved so terrible unto my friend. 

A dark enigma am I to myself, 
And grow still darker. Thou wilt not deny 
To solve for me life's fearful questionings? 
Why do I thus destroy both friend and child, 
When I in love approach my work with them 
To give them knowledge of that spirit-lore 
Which in my soul I know to be the good? 
Oft hast thou taught me this exalted truth — 



The Portal of Initiation 59 

'Iflusion*s veil o'erspreads life's surfaces' — 

Yet must I see with greater clarity 

Why I must bear this heavy destiny, 

That seems so cruel and which works such harm. 

Benedtctus: 
Within our circle there is formed a knot 
Of threads that Karma spins world-fashioning. 
Thy sufferings, my friend are links in chains, 
Forged by the hand of destiny, whereby 
The deeds of gods tmite with htmian lives. — 

When in life's pilgrimage I had attained 
That rank which granted me the dignity 
To serve with counsel in the spirit-spheres, 
A godlike Being did draw nigh to me, 
Who would descend into the realms of earth. 
And dwell there, veiled in form of flesh, as man. 
For just at this one turning-point of time 
The Karma of mankind made this demand. 
For each great step in world-development 
Is only possible when gods do stoop 
To link themselves with human destiny. 
And this new spirit-sight that needs must grow 
And germinate henceforth in sotils of men 
Can only be unfolded when a god 
Doth plant the seed within some human heart. 
My task it was to find that human soul 
Which worthy seemed to take within itself 
The powerful Seed of God. I had to join 
The deed of heaven to some human lot. 
My spirit's eye then sought, and fell on thee. 



6o The Portal of Initiation 

Thy course of life had fitted thee to be 

The mediator in salvation's work. 

Through many former lives thou hadst acquired 

Receptiveness for all the greatest things 

That human hearts can e'er experience. 

Within thy tender soul thou didst bring forth, 

As spirit heritage, the noble gift 

Of beauty, joined to virtue's loftiest claim: 

And that which thine eternal Self had formed 

And brought to being through thy birth on earth 

Did reach ripe fruitage when thy years were few. — 

Too soon thou didst not scale steep spirit-heights; 

Nor grew thy yearning for the spirit-land 

Before thou hadst the full enjojrment known 

Of harmless pleasures in the world of sense. 

Anger and love thy soul did learn to know 

When thy thoughts dwelt yet far from spirit-life. 

Nature in all her beauty to enjoy, 

And pluck the fruits of art, — ^these didst thou strive 

To make thy life's sole content and its wealth. 

Merry thy laughter, as a child can laugh 

Who hath not knowii as yet life's shadowed fears. 

And thus thou leam'dst to understand life's joy, 

And mourn its sadness, each in its own time. 

Before thy dawning conscience grew to seek 

Of sorrow and of happiness the cause. 

A ripened fruit of many lives that soul, 

That enters earth's domains, and shows such moods. 

Its childlike nature is the blossoming 

And not the ground-root of its character. 

And such a soul alone was I to choose 

As mediator for the God, who sought 



The Portal of Initiation 6i 

The power to work within our human world. 

And now thou leamest that thy nature must 

Transform itself into its opposite, 

When it flows forth to other human souls. 

The spirit in thee ripens whatsoe'er 

In human nature can attain the realm 

Of vast eternity; and much it slays 

That is but part of transitory realms. 

And yet the sacrifices of such deaths 

Are but the seeds of immortality, 

All that which blossoms forth from death below 

Must grow unto the higher life above. 

Maria: 
E'en so it is with me. Thou giv'st me light: 
But light that doth deprive me of my sight, 
And sunder me from mine own self in twain. 
Then do I seem some spirit's instrument 
No longer master of myself. No more 
Do I endure that erstwhile form of mine 
Which only is a mask and not the truth. 

Johannes: 

friend, what ails thee? Vanished is the light 
That filled thine eye: as marble is thy frame. 

1 grasp thine hand and find it cold as death. 

Benedictus: 
My son, full many trials have come to thee; 
And now thou stand'st before life's hardest test. 
Thou seest the carnal covering of thy friend; 
But her true self doth float in spirit-spheres 
Before mine eyes. 



62 The Portal of Initiation 

Johannes: 

Seel Her lips move; she speaks. 

Maria: 
Thou gav'st me clearness; yet this clearness throws 
A veil of darkness round on every side. 
I curse thy clearness; and I curse thee too, 
Who didst make tool of me for weird wild arts 
Whereby thou willedst to deceive mankind. 
No doubt at any moment hitherto 
Had crossed my mind of heights thy spirit reached; 
But now one single moment doth suffice 
To tear all faith in thee from out my heart. 
Those spirit-beings thou art subject to, 
I now must recognize as hellish fiends. 
Others I had to mislead and deceive 
Because at first I was deceived by thee. — 
But I will flee unto dim distances, 
Where not a sotmd of thee shall reach mine ears; 
Yet near enough that thy soul may be reached 
By bitter curses framed by these my lips. 
For thou didst rob my blood of all its fire. 
That thou mightst sacrifice to thy false god 
That which was rightly mine and mine alone. 
But now this same blood's fire shall thee consume. 
Thou madest me trust in vain imaginings; 
And that this might be so, thou first didst make 
A pictured falsehood of my very self. 
Often had I to mark how in my soul 
Each deed and thought turned to its opposite; 
So now doth turn what once was love for thee. 
Into the fijre of wild and bitter hate. 



The Portal of Initiation 63 

Through all worlds will I seek to find that fire 
Which can consume thee. See — I cur — ^Ah — ^woe I 

Johannes: 

Who speaketh here? I do not see my friend. 
I hear instead some gruesome being speak. 

Benedictus: 
Thy friend's soul hovers in the heights above. 
Only her mortal image hath she left 
Here with us: and where'er a human form 
Is found bereft of soul, there is the room 
Sought by the enemy, the foe of good, 
To enter into realms perceptible, 
And find some carnal form through which to speak. 
Just such an adversary spake e'en now. 
Who would destroy the work imposed on me 
For thee, my son, and millions yet xmbom. 
Were I to deem these wild anathemas. 
Which our friend's shell did utter here and now. 
Aught else but some grim tempter's cunning skill. 
Thou durst not follow more my leadership. 
The enemy of Good stood by my side, 
And thou hast seen into the darkness pltmged 
All that is temporal of that dear form. 
For whom, my son, thy whole love .bums and glows. 
Since through her mouth spirits spake oft to thee, 
The Karma of the world cotild not restrain 
Hell's princes also speaking thus through her. 
First now thou maj^t seek her very soul 
And learn her nature's inmost verity; 
For she shall form for thee the prototype 



64 The Portal of Initiation 

Of that new higher type of humankind 

To which thou dost aspire to raise thyself. 

Her soul hath soared aloft to spirit-heights, 

Where every man may find his being's source 

Which springs to life and fulness in himself. 

Thou too shalt follow her to spirit-realms, 

And see her in the Temple of the Sun. — 

Within this circle there is formed a knot 

Of threads which Karma spins, world fashioning. 

My son, since thou hast now attained thus far, 

Thou shalt still further pierce beyond the veil. 

I see thy star in fullest splendour shine. 

There is no place within the realm of sense 

For strife, such as men wage when they do strive 

And struggle after consecration's gift. 

The riddles which arise in worlds of sense 

Must find solution through man's intellect; 

From all that sense engenders in man's heart 

Whether of love or hate, whate'er its source 

And howsoever direful its results. 

The spirit-seeker needs must stand aloof, 

Whence he may cast his glance all undisturbed 

Upon the fields where such contentions rage. 

For him must other powers unfold themselves 

Which are not found upon that field of strife. 

So didst thou need to fight to prove thy soul 

In combat such as comes to him alone. 

Who finds himself accoutred for such powers 

As do belong unto the spirit-worlds. 

And had these powers found thee not ripe enough 

To tread the path of knowledge, they needs must 

Have maimed thy powers of feeling, ere thou daredst 



The Portal of Initiation 65 

To know all that which now is known to thee. 
The Beings, who can gaze into world-depths, 
Lead on those men, who would attain the heights, 
First to that summit whence it may be shown 
Whether there lies in them the power to reach 
To conscious sight within the spirit-realms. 
And those in whom such powers are found to lie 
Are straightway from the world of sense set free. 
The others all must wait their season due. 
But thou, thou hast preserved thy Self, my son, 
When Powers on high stirred to its depths thy soul. 
And potent spirits shrouded thee with fear. 
Right powerfully thy Self hstth fought its way 
E'en though thy very heart was torn by doubts, 
That willed to thrust thee into darksome depths. 
True pupil of my teaching hast thou been, 
First since that hour, so fraught with fate for thee, 
When thou didst learn to doubt thy very self. 
And gavest up thyself as wholly lost. 
But yet the strength within thee held thee fast. 
Then might I give thee of my treasured store 
Of wisdom, whence to draw the strength to stand 
Assured, e*en when mistrusting thine own self. 
Such was the wisdom which thou didst attain 
More steadfast than the faith once given to thee. 
Ripe wast thou found, and thou naay'st be set free. 
Thy friend hath gone before and waits for thee 
In spirit-worlds, and thou shalt find her there. 
I can but add this guidance for thee now: 
Kindle the full power of thy soul with words 
Which through my lips shall grant to thee the key 
To spirit-heights, and they will lead thee on 

VOL. I — S 



66 The Portal of Initiation 

When naught else leads, that eyes of sense can see. 

Receive them in the f tdness of thy heart : 

* The weaving essence of the light streams forth 

Through depths of space to fill the world with light; 

Love's grace doth warm the centuries of time 

To call forth revelation of all worlds. 

And spirit-messengers come forth to wed 

The weaving essence of creative light 

With revelation of the souls of men: 

And that man, who can wed to both of these 

His very Self, he lives in spirit-heights.' 

spirits, who are visible to man, 

Quicken with life the soul of this our son: 

From inmost depths may there stream forth for him 

That which can fill his soul with spirit-light. 

From itunost depths may there resound for him 

That which can wholly wake in him his Self 

To the creative joy of spirit-life. 

A SpirU-Vaice behind the stage: 
To founts of worlds primeval ^ 

His surging thoughts do motmt; — 
What as shadow he hath thought 
What as fancy he hath lived 
Soars up beyond the world of form and shape; 
On whose fulness pondering 
Mankind in shadow dreams, 
O'er whose fulness gazing forth 
Mankind in fancy lives. 

Curtain 



Scene 4 

A landscape, which seeks to express the world of souls 
by its characteristic peculiarities. 

Enter Lucifer and Ahriman. Johannes is seen at the 
fight of the stage in deep meditation. What 
follows is experienced by him in meditation. 

Lucifer: 
O man, know thou th3rself ; O man» feel me. 
From spirit guidance, thou hast freed thyself, 
And into earth's free realms thou hast escaped. 
Midst earth's confusion thou didst seek to prove 
Thine own existence; and to find thyself 
Was thy reward, and was thy destiny. 
Me didst thou fijid: for certain spirits willed 
To cast a veil before the eyes of sense; 
Which veil I rent in twain. Those spirits willed 
To follow out their own desires in thee; 
But I gave thee self-will and foiled their aim. 
O man, know thou thyself; O man, feel me. 

Ahriman: 
O man, know me; O man, feel thou thyself. 
Thou hast escaped from darkened spirit-realms 
And thou hast fotmd again the earth's pure light. 
So now from my sure ground drink strength and truth. 

67 



68 The Portal of Initiation 

I make earth hard and fast. The spirits willed 
To snatch away from thee the charm of sense; 
Which charm I weave for thee in light condensed. 
I lead thee unto true reality. 

man, know me; O man, feel thou thyself. 

Lucifer: 
Time was not when thou didst not live through me. 

1 followed thee throughout the course of life, 
And was permitted to bestow on thee 

Strong personal traits and joy in thine own self. 

Ahriman: 
Time was not when thou didst not me behold. 
Thy mortal eyes saw me in all earth's growth; 
I was permitted to shine forth for thee 
In beauty proud and revelation's bliss. 

Johannes {to himself in meditation) : 
This is the sign as Benedictus told. 
Before the world of souls stand these two powers: 
The one, as Tempter, lives within the soul ; 
The other doth obscure the sight of man 
When he directeth it to outward things. 
The one took on the woman's form e'en now. 
To bring the soul's illusions 'neath my gaze; 
The other may be found in everjrthing. 

{Enter the Spirit of the Elements with Capesius 
and Strader, whom he has brought to the 
earth's surface from the earth's depths. They 
are conceived cls souls looking out upon the 
earth's surface. The Spirit of the Elements 



The Portal of Initiation 69 

is aged and stands erect upon a sphere. 
Capesius and Strader are in astral garb; the 
former t though the older man of the two in 
years, here appears the younger. He wears 
blue robes of various shades, Strader wears 
brown and yellow.) 

Spirit: 
So have ye reached the spot ye longed to find. 
It proved indeed a heavy care to me, 
To grant your wish. Spirits and elements 
Did rage in mad wild storm when their domain 
I had to enter with your essences. 
Your minds opposed the ruling of my powers. 

Capesius: 
Mjrsterious Being, who art thou, who hast ~ 
Brought me to this fair realm through spirit-spheres? 

Spirit: 
The soul of man may only look on me, 
Whene'er the service which I render it 
Hath been achieved. Then may it trace my powers 
Through all the moving sequences of time. 

Capesius: 
It matters little to me to enquire 
What spirit led me hither to this place. 
I feel life's powers revive in this new land. 
Whose light doth seem to widen mine own breast; 
In my pulse-beat I feel the whole world's might; 
And premonitions of exalted deeds 
Thrill in my heart. I will translate in words 



70 The Portal of Initiation 

The revelation of this beauteous realm, 

That hath refreshed me in such wondrous wise; 

And souls of men shall bloom, as choicest flowers 

If I can pour into their life on earth 

The inspiration flowing from these foimts. 

{Lightning and thunder from the depths and 
heights.) 

Strader: 
Why quake the depths, and why resound the heights? 
When hope's yotmg dreams surge upward in the soul? 

{Lightning and thunder,) 

Spirit: 
To human dreamers words of hope like these 
Sound proud indeed; but in the depths of earth 
The vain illusions of mistaken thought 
Awake such thunderous echoes evermore. 
Ye mortals hear them only at those times 
When ye draw nigh to my domain. Ye think 
To build exalted temples unto Truth, 
And yet your work's eflEects do but unchain 
Storm-spirits in primeval depths of earth. 
Nay more, the spirits must destroy whole worlds, 
That deeds ye do in realms where time hath sway 
May not cause devastation and cold death 
Through all the ages of eternity. 

Strader: 
So these eternal ages must regard 
As empty fantasy what seems the truth 
To man's best observation and research. 

{Lightning and thunder.) 



The Portal of Initiation 71 

spirit: 
An empty fantasy, so long as sense 
Doth only search in realms to spirit strange. 

Strader: 
Thou may'st well call a dreamer that friend's soul 
Which in the joy of youth its goal doth set 
With such a noble strength and high desire; 
But in mine aged heart thy words fall dead 
Despite their summoned aid of thunderous storms. 
I tore myself from cloistered quietude 
To proud acluevement in my search for truth. 
In life's storm-centres many a year I stood, 
And men had confidence in me, and what 
I taught them through my deep strong sense for truth. 

{Lightning and thunder,) 

Spirit: 
'Tis fitting for thee to confess that none 
Can tell whence stream the f oimtains of our thought, 
Nor where the fundaments of Being lie. 

Strader: 
Oh this same speech, which in youth's hopeful da)rs 
So oft with chill persistence pierced my soul 
When thought-foundations quaked, which once 
seemed firm! 

{Lightning and thunder.) 

Spirit: 
If thou dost fail to gain the victory 
0*er me with those blunt weapons of thy thought 



72 The Portal of Initiation 

Thou art a fleeting phantom, nothing more, 
Formed by thine own deluded Imagery. 

Strctder: 
So soon again such gruesome speech from thee ! 
This too I heard before in mine own soul, 
When once a seeress threateningly did wish 
To wreck the firm foundations of my thought 
And make me feel the sharp dread sting of doubt. 
But that is past, and I defy thy might, 
Thou aged rogue, so cunningly concealed 
Beneath a mask devised by thine own self 
To counterfeit the form of nature's lord. 
Reason will overthrow thee, otherwise 
Than thou dost think, when once she is enthroned 
Upon the proud heights of the mind of man. 
As mistress will she reign assuredly 
Not as some handmaiden in nature's realm. 

Spirit: 
The world is ordered so, that every act 
Requires a like reaction : unto you 
I gave the self; ye owe me my reward. 

Capesius: 
I will myself create from mine own soul 
The spirit counterpart of things of sense. 
And when at length all nature stands transformed, 
Idealized through man's creative work. 
Her mirrored form shall be reward enough; 
And then if thou dost feel thyself akin 
To that great mother of all worlds, and spring'st 



The Portal of Initiation 73 

Prom depths where world-creating forces reign. 

Then let my will, which lives in head and breast, 

Inspiring me to aim at highest goals, 

Be thy reward for deeds done at my best. 

Thy help hath raised me from dtdl sentiment 

To thought's proud heights — Let this be thy reward! 

(Lightning and thunder.) 

Spirit: 
Ye well can see, how little your bold words 
Bear weight in my domain: they do but loose 
The storm, and rouse the elements to wrath, 
Pierce adversaries of the ordered world. 

Capesius: 
Take then thine own reward where't may be found. 
The impulse that doth drive the souls of men 
To seek true spirit-heights within themselves 
Set their own measure, their own order make. 
Creation were not possible for man 
If others wished to claim what he had made. 
The song that trills from out the linnet's throat 
Sufficeth for itself; and so doth man 
Pind his reward, when in his fashioning work 
He doth experience creative joy. 

{Lightning and thunder.) 

Spirit: 
It is not meet to grudge me my reward. 
If ye yourselves cannot repay the debt 
Then tell the woman, who endowed your souls 
With power, that she must pay instead of you. 

{Exit.) 



74 The Portal of Initiation 

Capesius: 
He hath departed. Whither turn we now? 
To find our way aright in these new worlds 
Must be, it seems, the first care of our minds. 

Strader: 
To follow confidently the best way, 
That we can find, with sure but cautious tread, 
Methinks should lead us straightway to the goal. 

Capesius: 
Rather should we be silent as to goal. 
That we shall find if we courageously 
Obey the impulse of our inner self. 
Which speaks thus to me: * Let Truth be thy guide; 
May it unfold strong powers within thyself 
And mould them with the noblest fashioning 
In all that thou shalt do; then must thy steps 
Attain their destined goal, nor go astray.' 

Strader: 
Yet from the outset it were best our steps 
Should not lack consciousness of their true goal, 
If we would be of service unto men 
And give them happiness. He, who would serve 
Himself alone, doth follow his own heart; 
But he, who wills to serve his neighbour best, 
Must stirely know his life's necessities. 

(The Other Maria^ also in sotU-form, emerges 
from the rocks, covered with precious stones,) 

But see ! What wondrous being's this ? It seems 



TI\e Portal of Initiation 75 

As though the rock itself did give it birth. 

From what world-depths do such strange forms arise? 

The Other Maria: 
I wrest my way through solid rock, and fain 
Would clothe in human speech its very will; 
I sense earth's essence and with human brains 
I fain would think the thoughts of Earth herself. 
I breathe the purest airs of life, and shape 
Tne powers of air to feel as doth mankind. 

Strader: 
Then thou canst not assist us in our quest. 
For far aloft from men's endeavour stands 
All that which must abide in nature's realm. 

Capesius: 
Lady, I like thy words, and I would fain 
Translate thy form of speech into mine own. 

The Other Maria: 
Most strange doth seem to me your proud discourse. 
For, when ye speak yourselves, unto mine ear 
Your words do soimd incomprehensible. 
But if I let them echo in my heart 
And issue in new form, they spread abroad 
O'er all that lives in mine environment 
And solve for me its hidden mystery. 

Capesius: 
If this, thy speech, be true, then change for us 
Into thy speech, that nature may respond, 



76 The Portal of Initiation 

The question of the true worth of our lives. 
For we ourselves lack power to question thus 
Great mother nature that we may be heard. 

The Other Maria: 
In me ye only see an humble maid 
Of that high spirit-being, which doth dwell 
In that domain whence ye have just now come. 
There hath been given me this field of work 
That here in lowliness I may show forth 
Her mirrored image unto mortal sense. 

Capesiiis: 
So then we have just fled from that domain 
Wherein our longing could have been assuaged .^^ 

The Other Maria: 
And if ye do not find again the way, 
Your eflEorts shall be fruitless evermore. 

Capesius: 
Then tell which way will lead us back again. 

The Other Maria: 
There are two ways. If my power doth attain 
To its full height all creatures of my realm 
Shall glow in beauty's most resplendent dress. 
From rocks and water, glittering light shall stream. 
And colours in their richest fulness flash 
On all aroimd, whilst life in merry mood 
Shall fill the air with joyous harmony. 
And if your souls do then but steep themselves 



The Portal of Initiation 77 

In mine own being's ptirest ecstasy 

On spirit pinions shall ye wing your way 

Unto primeval origins of worlds. 

Strader: 

That is no way for us; for in our speech 
We name such talk mere fancy, and we fain 
Would seek firm ground, not fly to cloud-capped 
heights. 

The Other Maria: 

Then if ye wish to tread the other path 

Ye must forthwith renounce your spirit's pride. 

Ye must forget what reason doth command, 

And let the touch of nature conquer you. 

In your men's breasts let your child-soul have sway, 

Artless and undisturbed by thought's dim shades. 

So will ye surely reach Life's fountain-head, 

Although unconscious of the way ye go. 

(Exit.) 
Capesius: 

Thus are we thrown back on ourselves alone, 

And have but learned that it behoveth us 

To work and wait in patience for the fruit 

That future days shall ripen from our work. 

Johannes {speakings as it were, from his meditation. 
Here and in the following scene he sits aside and takes no 
part in the action) : 

So do I find within the soul's domain 
Those men who are already known to me : 
First he who told us of Felicia's tales, 



78 The Portal of Initiation 

Though here I saw him in his youthful prime; 

And also he who in his younger days 

Had chosen for his life monastic rule, 

As some old man did he appear: with them 

There stood the Spirit of the Elements. 

Curtain 



Scene 5 

A subterranean rock^temple: a hidden site of the 
Mysteries of the Hierophants. 

At the right of the stage, Johannes is seen in deep medi- 
tation. 
Benedictus (in the East) : 

Ye, who have been companions unto me 

In the domain of everlasting life, 

Here in your midst I stand today to ask 

The help of which I stand in need from you 

To weave the thread of destiny for one, 

Who from our midst must now receive the light. 

Through bitter trials and sorrows hath he passed, 

And hath in deepest agony of soul 

Prepared the way to consecrate his life 

And thus attain to knowledge of the truth. 

Accomplished now the task assigned to me. 

As spirit-messenger, to bring to men 

The treasured wisdom of this temple's shrine. 

And now, ye brethren, *tis your sacred task 

To bring my work to full accomplishment. 

I showed to him the light that proved the guide 

To his first vision of the spirit-world. 

But that this vision may be turned to truth 

Your work must needs be added unto mine. 

79 



8o The Portal of Initiation 

My words proceed from mine own mouth alone, 
But through your lips world-spirits do sound forth. 

Theodosius {in the South) : 
Thus speaks the power of love, which bindeth worlds 
And filleth beings with the breath of life : — 
Let warmth flow in his heart that he may grasp 
How by the sacrificing of that vain 
Illusion of his personality 
He doth draw near the spirit of the world. 
His sight from sleep of sense thou hast set free; 
Love's warmth will wake the spirit in his soul: 
His Self from carnal covering thou hast drawn; 
And love itself will crystallize his soul 
That it may be a mirror to reflect 
All that doth happen in the spirit-world. 
Love too will give him strength to feel himself 
A .spirit, and will fashion thus his ear 
That it can hear and know the spirit-speech. 

Romanus (in the West) : 
Nor are my words the revelation true 
Of mine own self. Through me the world-will speaks. 
And since thou hast thus raised unto the power 
To live in spirit-realms the man to thee 
Entrusted, now this power shall lead him forth 
Beyond the bounds of space and ends of time. 
To those realms shall he pass wherein do work 
Creative spirits, who shall there reveal 
Themselves to him; demanding from him deeds; 
And willingly will he perform their work. 
The purposes of Him who moulds the worlds 



The Portal of Initiation 8i 

Shall fill his soul with life; there too the earth's 
Primeval sources shall enspirit him; 
World potencies shall there empower him; 
The mights of spheres shall there enlighten him, 
And rulers of the wodds filKhim with fire. 

Retardus {in the North) : 
Prom the foundation of the world ye have 
Been forced to suiSfer me within your midst. 
So must ye also to my words give ear 
In your deliberations here today. 
Some little time must surely yet elapse 
Before ye can fulfil and bring to pass 
What ye have set forth in such beauteous words. 
No sign as yet hath come to us from earth 
That she doth long for new initiates. 
So long as this spot, where we council hold, 
Hath not been trodden by the feet of those 
Who, uninitiate still, caimot set free 
Their spirit from realities of sense, 
So long the task is mine to check your zeal. 
First must they bring us message that the earth 
Doth seem in need of revelations new. 
Por this cause hold I back your spirit-light 
Within this temple, lest it may bring harm 
Instead of health to souls that are not ripe. 
Out of myself I give to man on earth 
That faculty which lets the truths of sense 
Appear to him the highest, just so long 
As spirit wisdom would but blind his eyes. 
Nay more, e'en such belief may also lead 
Him nearer to the spirit, for the aims 

VOL. 1—6 



82 The Portal of Initiation 

Penned by his will may yet be guided right 
Through his blind tastes and gropings in the dark. 

Romanus: 
Prom the foundation of the world we have 
Been forced to suffer thee within our midst. 
But now at length the time hath run its course 
That was allotted to such work as thine. 
The world-will in me feels that they approach — 

(Felix Balde appears in his earthly shape: (he 
Other Maria as a souUform from out of the 
rock,) 

— ^Who, uninitiated, can release 

The spirit from the outward show of sense. 

No more 'tis granted thee to check our steps. 

They near our temple of their own free wiU 

And bring to thee this message, that they wish 

To help our spirit labours, joined with us. 

They found themselves till now not yet prepared 

For tmion, since they clung to that belief 

That seership's power with reason needs must part. 

Now have they learned whither mankind is led 

By reason, which, when severed from true sight, 

Doth err and wander in the depths of worlds. 

They now will speak to thee of fruits which needs 

Must ripen through thy power in htmian souls. 

Retardus: 
Ye, who unconsciously have forwarded 
My work till now, ye shall still further help — 
If ye will distant keep from all that doth 
Belong tmto my realm and that alone. 



The Portal of Initiation 83 

Then shall ye surely find a place reserved 
For you to work as hitherto ye worked. 

Felix Balde: 
A power, which speaks from very depths of earth 
Unto my spirit, hath commanded me 
To come unto this consecrated place; 
Since it desires to speak to you through me 
Of all its bitter sorrow and its need. 

Benedictus: 
My friend, then tell us now how thou hast learned 
The woe of world-depths in thine own soul's core. 

Felix Balde: 
The light that shines in men as learning's fruit 
Must needs give nourishment to all the powers 
Which serve world-cycles in the earth's dark depths. 
Already now a long time have they starved 
Well-nigh entirely reft of sustenance. 
For that which grows today in human brains 
Doth only serve the surface of the earth, 
And doth not penetrate unto its depths. 
Some strange new superstition now doth haunt 
These clever human heads: they turn their gaze 
Unto primeval origins of earth 
And will but spectres see in spirit spheres, 
Thought out by vain illusion of the sense. 
A merchant surely would consider mad 
A purchaser, who would speak thus to him : 
* The mists and fog, that hover in the vale, 
Can certainly condense to solid gold; 



84 The Portal of Initiation 

And with such gold thou shalt be paid thy debt.' 

The merchant will not willingly await 

To have his ducats made from fog and mist; 

And yet whene'er his soul doth thirst to find 

Solution of the riddles set by life, 

Should science offer him such pa3nnents then 

For spirit needs and debts, right willingly 

Will he accept whole solar systems built 

Out of primeval world-containing fog. 

The teacher who discovers some unknown 

And luckless layman, who hath raised himself 

To heights of science or of scholarship 

Without examinations duly passed 

Will surely threaten him with his contempt. 

Yet science doth not doubt that without proof 

And without spirit earth's primeval beasts 

Could change themselves to men by their own power. 

Theodosius: 
Why dost thou not thyself reveal to men 
The sources of this light of thine, which streams 
Forth from thy soul with such resplendent ray? 

Felix Balde: 
A fancy-monger and a man of dreams 
They call me, who are well-disposed to me: 
But others think of me as some dull fool 
Who, all tmtaught of them, doth follow out 
His own peculiar bent of foolishness. 

Retardus: , 

Thou show'st already how untaught thou art 
By the simplicity of this thy speech : 



The Portal of Initiation 85 

Thou dost not know that men of science have 
Sufficient shrewdness to make just the same 
Objection to themselves as tmto thee. 
And if they make it not they know well why. 

Felix Balde: 
I know full well that they are shrewd enough 
To imderstand objections they have made, 
But not so shrewd as to believe in them. 

Theodosius: 
What must we do that we may forthwith give 
The powers of earth what they do need so much ? 

Felix Balde: 
So long as on the earth men only heed 
Such men as these, who wish not to recall 
Their spirit's primal source, so long will starve 
The mineral forces buried in earth's depths. 

The Other Maria: 
I gather, brother Felix, from thy words. 
That thou dost think the time hath now expired 
When we did serve earth's purposes the best 
Through wisdom's light, ourselves unconsecrate — 
When we showed forth from roots in our own life 
The living way of spirit and of love. 
In thee the spirits of the earth arose 
To give thee light without the lore of books: 
In me did love hold sway, the love that dwells 
And works within the life of men on earth. 
And now we wish to join our brethren here, — 



86 The Portal of Initiation 

Who, consecrate, within this temple serve, — 
And bring forth fruitful work in human souls. 

Benedictus: 
If ye unite your labour now with us, 
Then must the consecrated work succeed. 
The wisdom which I gave unto my son 
Will surely blossom forth in him as power. 

Theodosius: 
If ye unite your labour now with us. 
Then must the thirst for sacrifice arise. 
And through the soul life of whoever seeks 
The spirit-path, will breathe the warmth of love. 

Romanus: 
If ye unite your labour now with us. 
Then must the fruits of spirit ripen fast. 
Deeds will spring up, which through the spirit's work 
Will blossom from your soul's disdpleship. 

Retardus: 
If they unite their labour now with you 
What shall become of me? My deeds will prove 
Fruitless to those who would the spirit seek. 

Benedictus: 
Then wilt thou change into thine other self : 
Since now thou hast accomplished all thy work. 

Theodosius: 
Henceforth thou wilt live on in sacrifice 
If thou dost freely sacrifice thyself. 



The Portal of Initiation 87 

Romanus: / 

Thou wilt bear fruit on earth in human deeds 
If I myself may tend the fruits for thee. 

Johannes {speaking out of his medikUion^ as in the 
previous scene) : 

The brethren in the temple showed themselves 
To my soul-sight, resembling in their form 
Men whose appearance I already know. 
Yet Benedictus seemed a spirit too. 
He who stood on his left seemed like that man 
Who through the feelings only would draw nigh 
The spirit-realms. The third resembled him, 
Who doth but recognize the powers of life 
When they show forth through wheels and outward 

works. 
The fourth I do not know. The wife who saw 
The spirit's light after her husband's death, 
I recognized in her own inmost being. 
And Felix Balde came just as in life. 

The curtain fails slowly. 



Scene 6 

Scene the same as the Fourth. 

(The Spirit of the Elements stands in the same 
place,) 

Felicia: 
Thou calledst me. What wouldst thou hear of me? 

Spirit: 
Two men did I present tmto the earth 
Whose spirit-powers were fructified through thee. 
They found their soul's awakeiling in thy words 
When meditation dry had lamed them both. 
Thy gifts to them make thee my debtor too. 
Their spirit doth not of itself suffice 
To render full repayment unto me 
For all the service which I did for them. 

Felicia: 
For many years one of these men did come 
To our small cottage, that he might obtain 
The strength that lent unto his words their fire. 
Later he brought the other with him too; 
And so they two consumed the fruits, whose worth 
Was then unknown to me: but little good 
Did I receive from them as recompense. 

88 



1 



The Portal of Initiation 89 

Their kind of knowledge to our son they gave, 
With good intent indeed, but yet the child 
Pound nought therein but death unto his soul. 
He grew to manhood steeped in all the light, 
His father Felix, through the spirit-speech. 
Taught him from fountains and from rocks and hills : 
To this was joined all that had lived and grown 
In my own soul from my first childhood's years; 
And yet our son's clear spirit-sense was killed 
By the deep gloom of sombre sciences. 
Instead of some blithe happy child, there grew 
A man of desert soul and empty heart. 
And now forsooth thou dost demand of me 
That I should pay what they do owe to thee! 

Spirit: 
It must be so, for thou at first didst serve 
The earthly part in them; and so through me 
The spirit bids thee now complete the work. 

Felicia: 
'Tis not my wont to shrink from any debt; 
But tell me first what detriment will grow 
In mine own self from this love-service done? 

SfnrU: 
What thou at first didst do for them on earth, 
Robbed of his spirit-powers thine only son; 
And what thou givest to their spirits now 
Is lost henceforth to thee from thine own self; 
Which lessening of the powers of life in thee 
Will show as ugliness in thine own flesh. 



SK> The Portal of Initiation 

Felicia: 
They robbed my child of all his spirit-power, 
And in return I needs must wander forth 
A monster in the sight of men, that fruits 
May ripen for them, which work little good! 

Spirit: 
Yet thy work aids the welfare of mankind 
And leads as well to thine own happiness. 
Thy mother's beauty and thy child's own life 
Will blossom for thee in a loftier way, 
When one day in the souls and hearts of men. 
New spirit-powers shall seed and fructify. 

Felicia: 
What must I do? 

Spirit: 

Mankind thou hast inspired 
Pull often with thy words. Inspire then now 
The spirits of the rocks : in this same hour 
Thou must bring forth from out thy treasured store 
Of fairy pictures some one tale to give 
Those beings who do serve me in my work. 

Felicia: 
So be it then: — ^A being once did live 
Who flew from East to West, as rtms the sun. 
He flew o'er lands and seas, and from this height 
He looked upon the doings of mankind. 
He saw how men did one another love, 
And, how in hatred they did persecute. 
Yet naught could stay this being in his flight. 



The Portal of Initiation 91 

For love and hatred none the less bring forth 
Pull many thousand times the same results. 
Yet o'er one house — ^there must the being stay; 
For therein dwelt a tired and weary man, 
Who pondered on the love of humankind, 
And pondered also over human hate. 
His contemplations had already graved 
Deep furrows on his brow; his hair was white. 
And, grieving o'er this man, the being lost 
His sun-guide's leadership, and stayed with him 
Within his room e'en when the sun went down. 
And when the sun arose again, once more 
The being joined the spirit of the sun; 
And once again he saw mankind pass through 
l*he cycle of the earth in love and hate. 
But when he came, still following the sun, 
A second time above that selfsame house. 
His gaze did fall upon a man quite dead. 

(Germanus, invisible behind the rock, speaks. 
As he speaks, he gradually drags his un- 
wieldy size on to the stage; his feet like clogs 
are almost earth-bound,) 

Germanus: 
A man once lived, who went from East to West: 
Whose eager thirst for knowledge lured him on 
O'er land and sea; and with his wisdom's sight 
He looked upon the doings of mankind. , 
He saw how men did one another love. 
And, how in hatred they did persecute; 
And at each turn of life the man did note 
How blind was wisdom's eye to probe its depths. 



92 The Portal of Initiation 

For, though the world is ruled by love and hate, 
Yet could he not combine them into law. 
A thousand single cases wrote he down 
Yet still he lacked the comprehending eye. 
This dull, dry seeker after truth once met 
Upon his path a being formed of light; 
Who found existence fraught with heaviness 
Since it must live in constant combat with 
A darksome being formed of shadows black. 
' Who art thou then ? ' the dry truth-seeker asked. 
'Love, ' said the one; the other answered, ' Hate. ' 
But these two beings' words fell on deaf ears; 
The man heard not, but wandered blindly on 
In his dry search for truth from East to West. 

Felicia: 
And who art thou, who thus against my wish 
Dost parody my words in his own way 
Until they sound a very mockery? 

Gertnanus: 
Only a dwarf-like image of me lives 
In man, and therein many things are thought, 
That are but mockery of their own selves. 
When I do show them in the actual size, 
In which they do appear within my brain. 

Felicia: 
And therefore dost thou also mock at me? 

Germanus: 
I must right often ply this trade of mine; 
Yet mostly men do hear me not, so now 



The Portal of Initiation 93 

I seized for once this opportunity 

To speak as well where men can hear my words. 

Johannes {oiU of his meditation) : 

This was the man, who of himself did say 
That spirit-light grew of its own accord 
Within his brain; and Dame Felicia came, 
Just like her husband, as she is in life. 

Curtain 



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: 
Ye sisters, who so often proved of old 
My helpers, help me also in this hour; 
That I may cause to vibrate in itself 
The ether of the worlds. Let it resound 
In harmony, and thus resounding reach 
And permeate a soul with knowledge true. 
Signs can I see which guide us to our work; 
For your work must unite itself with mine. 
Johannes, he who strives, by our designs 
To real existence shall be lifted up. 
The brethren in the temple counsel took 
How they should guide him to the heights of light 
Out of the depths, and they expect of us 
To fill his soul with power for such high flight. 
Thou shalt absorb for me, my Philia, 
The light's clear essence from the breadths of space; 
And fill thjrself with all the charm of sound, 
Which wells from out the soul's creative power; 

94 



The Portal of Initiation 95 

That thou mayst then impart to me the gifts 
Which thou dost gather from the spirit's depths. 
Then can I weave their perfect harmonies 
In the soul-stirring rhythmic dance of spheres. 
Thou, Astrid, too, loved mirror of my soul, 
Thou shalt produce within the flowing light,^ 
The power of shade that colours may shine fprth; 
Thou shalt give shape to formless harmonies. 
That as world-substance weaveth to and fro 
It may sound forth upon its living way. 
So am I able to entrust to man. 
When he doth seek, a spirit-consciousness. 
And thou, strong Ltma, firm in thine own self, 
E'en like the living marrow, which doth grow 
Within the centre of the tree, do thou 
Unite unto thy sisters' gifts thine own; 
Impress thereon thy personality. 
That he who seeks may wisdom's surety find. 

PhUia: 
With clearest essence of the light will I 
From world-wide breadths of space myself imbue; 
From distant ether-bounds will I breathe deep 
Living sotmd-substance that such things may cause 
Thy work, beloved sister, to succeed. 

Astrid: 
I will weavQ through the beaming web of light 
Subduing darkness, and I will condense 
The living sounds, that, sounding, they may glow, 
And glowing, sound; that thou mayst thus direct, 
Beloved sister, soul-life's radiant beam. 



96 The Portal of Initiation 

Luna: 
Soul-substance will I warm; and will make hard 
The living ether; that they may condense, ' 
And feel themselves as living entities 
With active power to fashion their own life; 
That thou, beloved sister, majrst create 
True wisdom's surety in man's seeking soul. 

Maria: 
Prom Philia's realm shall stream forth conscious joy; 
And water nymphs with their transforming power 
Shall then unfold receptivenes^ of soul; 
That the awakened one may undergo 
And live the mirth and sorrow of the world. 
Prom Astrid's web shall grow the joy of love; 
And sylphs, that live in air, shall then incite 
The soul's desire to willing sacrifice; 
That thus the consecrated one may give 
New life to sorrow-laden souls of men, 
And comfort those who crave for happiness. 
Prom Luna's power shall stream forth solid strength; 
And salamanders with their fiery breath 
Shall then create security of soul ; 
That he who knows may find himself again 
In weaving soul-streams and the life of worlds. 

Philia: 
I shall implore the spirits of the world 
That their own being's light may so enchant 
The senses of the soul; and their words' sound 
So fill with happiness the spirit ears; 
That he, whose wakening nears, may thus ascend 
The path of sotds unto celestial heights. 



The Portal of Initiation 97 

Astrid: 
The streams of love, which warm the worlds, will I 
Direct unto his consecrated heart; 
That he may bring into his work on earth 
The grace of heaven, and create desire 
For consecration in the hearts of men. 

Luna: 
From earth's primeval powers will I implore 
Courage and strength, that may lay them deep 
Within the seeker's heart; that confidence 
In his own Self may guide him through his life. 
Then shall he feel secure in his own soul 
And pluck each moment's ripened fruit, and draw 
The seeds therefrom to foimd eternities. 

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 bom 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 pathwajrs of the soul. 

Maria: 
And what then was the path that led thee here? 

VOL X — 7 



98 The Portal of Initiation 

Johannes: 
I felt m3rself from bonds of sense released: 
My sight was freed from that close barrier, 
Which hid all but the present from mine eyes. 
Qtiite 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, who in his older years 
Hath but employed the sight of sense — ^this man 
The spirit placed before my soul a youth. 
As first he entered on life's thorny path 
Pull of those dreams of hope, which ofttimes brought 
A group of faithful hearers to his feet. 
And Strader, also coiild 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. 
For judgment's all-illuminating light 



The Portal of Initiation 99 

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 Imew not. Then didst thou appear thjrself ; 
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 htmian 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 tdces shape, and grows to human form. 
It is a man with spirit deep imbued, 
And other men do gather round his feet. 



100 The Portal of Initiation 

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 
Aiid 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 



The Portal of Initiation loi 

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 myself, 
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 Hibemia'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 nughty 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 nughtily in us. 
And yet remained unrecognized by both, 
It wove into our life those sufferings. 
Which we overcame. Yet in that pain itself 
There lay the power to guide us on our way 



102 The Portal of Initiation 

To spirit-realms, where we might recogxuze 

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 stimmoned 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. 



The Portal of Initiation 103 

He told me of the spirit I must serve 
"With all the power which I have found in mte. 
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; — 
It was the will that lived within the thought 
Wholly to give myself to spirit-life, 
To make me ready for the sacrifice 
Which would unto our leader draw me near. 
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 
Prom 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 Benedicjus, I went on before; 
And he hath given unto thee the power 
To follow me into the spirit-spheres. 
(Benedictus appears.) 



104 The Portal of Initiation 

Benedictiis: 
Ye here have found yourselves in spirit-reahns 
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 read 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 htunan 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 herself will teach you that the heights 
May only be obtained by souls of men. 
Who have gained spirit-certainty, when they 
Unite in faith to do salvation's work. 
My spirit-guidance hath united you 
To realize each other: now do ye 
Unite yotirselves 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. 



The Portal of Initiation 105 

And spirit-messengers come forth to wed 
Man's works of love and grace to cosmic aims. 
And when a man who dwells amongst mankind 
Can wed these twain, there doth stream forth on 

earth 
True spirit-light from his warm loving soul.' 

Curtain 



Interlude 

Scene: same as in the Prelude. The day after the play 
to which Estella, in the Prelude, invited her friend 
to accompany her. 

Sophia: Forgive me, dear Estelle, for keeping you 
waiting. I had to attend to something for the children. 

Estella: Here I am back again with you already. 
I long for your sympathy, whenever anything stirs me 
deeply. 

Sophia: Well, you know that I shall always sym- 
pathize most warmly with you in your interests. 

Estella: This play, of which I spoke to you, Out- 
casts from Body and from Soul touched me so deeply. 
Does it seem to you odd when I say that there were 
moments when all I had ever known of human sorrow 
stood before me? With highest artistic force the 
work not only gives the outer mischances, met with by 
^ many people, but also points out with wonderful 
penetration the deepest agonies of the soul. 

Sophia: One cannot, I fear, form a proper concep- 
tion of a work of art by simply hearing of its contents. 
But I would like you to tell me what stirred you so. 

Estella: The construction of the play was admir- 
able. The artist wished to show how a young painter 
loses all his creative desire, because he begins to doubt 

io6 



The Portal of Initiation 107 

his love for a woman. She had endowed him with the 
power to develop his promising talents. Pure en- 
thusiasm for his art had produced in her the most 
beautiful love of sacrifice. To her he owed the fullest 
development of his abilities in his chosen fidd. He 
blossomed, as it were, in the sunshine of his bene- 
factress. Constant association with this woman de- 
veloped his gratitude into passionate love. This 
caused him to neglect, more and more, a poor crea- 
ture who was faithfully devoted to him, and who 
finally died of grief, because ^he had to confess to her- 
self that she had lost the heart of the man she loved. 
When he heard of her death, the news did not seriously 
disturb him, for his heart belonged entirely to his 
benefactress. Yet he grew ever more and more cer- 
tain that her noble feeling of friendship for him would 
never turn to passionate love. This conviction drove 
all creative joy from his soul, and his inner life grew 
constantly more desolate. In this condition of life 
the poor girl, whom he had forsaken, came again into 
his mind, and a wrecked life was all that resulted from 
a hopeful and promising man. Without prospect of a 
single ray of light he pined away. All this is portrayed 
with intense dramatic vividness. 

Sophia: I can easily see how the play must have 
worked upon your f eelidgs. As a girl you always suf- 
fered intensely at the destiny of such people, who had 
been driven to bitterness by heavy misfortunes in 
their life. 

Estella: My dear Sophy; you misunderstand me. 
I can easily distinguish between what is real and what 
is merely artistic. And criticism fails, I know, if one 



io8 The Portal of Initiation 

carries into it the feelings one had in life. What 
stirred me here so deeply was the really perfect repre- 
sentation of a deep problem of Uf e. I was once again 
able to realize clearly how art can only mount to such 
heights, when it keeps dose to the fulness of life. As 
soon as it departs therefrom, its works are untrue. 

Sophia: I understand you perfectly when you 
speak like that. I have always admired the artists 
who could represent what you call the reality of life. 
And I believe a great many have that power, — espe- 
cially nowadays. Nevertheless even the very highest 
attainments leave behind them in my sotd a certain 
discomfort. For a long time I was unable to explain 
this to myself, but one day the light came that brought 
the answer. 

Estella: You mean to tell me, that your conception 
of the wqpld has dispelled your appreciation of so- 
called realistic art? 

Sophia: Dear Estelle, let us not speak of my con- 
ception of the world today. You know quite well, 
that the emotion you have just described was entirely 
familiar to me long before I knew anything at all about 
what you call my 'conception of the world.' And 
these feelings are not only aroused in me with refer- 
ence to so-called realistic art: but other things also 
create a similar feeling in me. It grows especially 
marked when I become aware of what I might call, 
in a higher sense, the want of truth in certain works 
of art. 

Estella: There I really cannot follow you. 

Sophia: .A vivid grasp of real truth must needs 
create in the heart a sense of a certain poverty in works 



The Portal of Initiation 109 

of art. For of course the greatest artist is always a 
novice compared with nature in her perfection. The 
most accomplished artist fails to give me what I can 
get from the revelation of a landscape or a human 
countenance. 

EsteUa: But that is in the nature, of the case and 
cannot be altered. 

Sophia: But it could be altered, if men would only 
become clear on one point. They could say that it is 
irrational for the soul to reproduce what higher powers 
have already set before us as the highest form of art. 
Yet these same powers have implanted in man a de- 
sire to continue to work upon creation in a certain 
sense, in order to give to the world what these powers 
have not yet placed before the senses. In all that 
man can create, the original powers of creation have 
left nature incomplete. Why should he reproduce her 
imperfections in an imperfect form, when he has the 
ability to change that imperfection into perfection? 
If you think of this assertion as changed into an ele- 
mental feeling you will understand why I feel a sense 
of distress towards much that you call art. This 
perception of an imperfect reproduction of some ob- 
vious truth must needs produce distress. On the 
other hand, the least perfect representation of what 
is concealed behind the outwardly observed phe- 
nomenon may prove a revelation. 

EsteUa: You are really talking of something that 
nowhere exists. No true artist really tries to give 
a bare reproduction of nature. 

Sophia: That is just why so many works of art 
are imperfect; for the creative function leads of itself 



no The Portal of Initiation 

beyond nature, and the artist cannot know the appear- 
ance of what is outside his senses, 
s Estella: I see no possibility of our coming to any 
understanding with one another on this point. It is 
indeed sad that, in these most important problems of 
the soul, my best friend follows views so different 
from my own. I hope our friendship may yet fall on 
better days. 

Sophia: On such a point we shall surely be able to 
accept whatever life may bring us. 

Estella: Au revoir, dear Sophy. 

Sophia: Good-bye, dear Estelle. 

Curtain 



Scene 8 

Same room (is for Scene i. Johannes at an easd, 
before which Capesius, Maria, and Strader are also 
seated. 

Johannes: 
I think those are the final touches now, 
And feel that I may call my work complete. 
Especial pleasure hath it given me 
Thy nattire to interpret through mine art. 

Capesius: 
This picttire is a marvel unto me 
And its creator a still greater one. 
For naught, which men like me have up till now 
Considered possible, can be compared 
With this change that hath taken place in thee. 
One only can believe, when actual sight 
Compels belief. We met three years ago; 
And I was then allowed to count myself 
A member of that small commtmity, 
In which thou didst attain thine excellence. 
A man of sad demeanour wast thou then, 
Witness each glance and aspect of thy face. 
Once did I hear a lecture in thy group. 
And at the end felt urged to add thereto 
Words that were wrenched with pain from out my souL 

III 



112 The Portal of Initiation 

I spake in such a mood wherein one doth 

Think ahnost always of oneself alone; 

And none the less my gaze did ever rest 

Upon that painter, whelmed 'neath sorrow's load, 

Who sat and kept still silence, far apart. 

Silent he pondered in a fashion strange, 

And one might well believe that he heard not 

A single word of all those spoken near. 

The sorrow unto which he gave himself 

Seemed of itself to have a separate life; 

It seemed as though the man himself heard not, 

But rather that his very grief had ears: 

It is perhaps not inappropriate 

To say he was by sorrow quite obsessed. 

Soon after that day did we meet again. 

And even then there was a change in thee; 

For happiness did beam forth from thine eyes; 

Within thy nature power did dwell again. 

And noble fire did ring in all thy words. 

Thou didst express a wish to me that day — 

Which seemed to me most strange and curious — 

To be my pupil didst thou then desire. 

And of a truth thou hast throughout these years 

With utmost diligence absorbed thyself 

In all I had to say on world events. 

And, as we grew more intimate, I then 

Did know the riddle of thine artist life, 

And each new picttire proved a fresh surprise. 

My thought in former days was ill-inclined 

To soar to worlds beyond the life of sense — 

Not that I doubted them — ^but yet it seemed 

Presumptuous to draw near with eager mind. 



The Portal of Initiation 113 

But now I must admit that thou hast changed 
My point of view. I hear thee oft repeat 
That thine artistic skill depends alone 
Upon the gift to function consciously 
In other worlds; and that thou canst implant 
Naught in thy work but what thou hast first seen 
In spirit worlds: indeed thy works do show 
How spirit stands revealed in actual life. 

Strader: 
Never so little have I understood 
Thy speech; for surely in all artists' work 
The living spirit is thus manifest. 
How therefore doth thy friend, Thomasius, 
Differ from other masters in his art? 

Capesiiis: 
Ne'er have I doubted that the spirit shows 
Itself in man, who none the less remains 
Unconscious of its nature. He creates 
Through this same spirit, but perceives it not. 
Thomasius however doth create 
In worlds of sense what he in spirit-realms 
Can consciously behold; and many times 
Hath he assured me, that, for men like him, 
No other method of creation serves. 

Strader: 
Thomasius is a marvel unto me. 
And freely I admit this picture here 
Hath first revealed to me in his true self 
Capesius, whom I thought I knew full well. 

VOL. I — 8 



114 The Portal of Initiation 

In thought I knew him; but his work doth show 
How little of him I had really known. 

Maria: 
How comes it, doctor, that thou canst admire 
The greatness of this work so much, and yet 
Canst still deny the greatness of its source? 

Strader: 
What hath my wonder at the artist's work 
In common with my faith in spirit-sight? 

Maria: 
One can indeed admire a work, e'en when 
One hath no faith in that which is its source; 
Yet in this case there would be naught to rouse 
Our admiration, had this artist not 
Trodden the path that led to spirit-life. 

Strader: 
Yet still we must not say that whosoe'er 
Doth to the spirit wholly give himself 
Will consciously be guided by its power. 
The spirit power creates in artists' souls, 
E'en as it works within the trees and stones: 
Yet is the tree not conscious of itself. 
And only he, who sees it from without, 
Can recognize the spirit's work therein. 
So t<K> each artist lives within his work 
And not in spiritual experience. 
But when mine eyes now on this picture fall, 
I do forget all that allures to thought; 
The very soul-force of my friend doth gleam 



The Portal of Initiation us 

Prom out those eyes, and yet — ^they are but paint! 

The seeker's thoughtfuhiess dwells on that brow; 

And e'en his noble warmth of words doth stream 

From all the colour-tones with which thy brush 

Hath solved the mystery of portraiture. 

Ah, these same colours, surely they are flat! 

And yet they are not; they seem visible 

Only to vanish straightway from my sight. 

The moulding too doth seem like colour's work; 

And yet it tells of spirit intertwined 

In every line, and many things besides, 

That are not of itself. — ^Where then is that 

Whereof it speaks? Not on the canvas there, 

Where only spirit-barren colours lie. 

Is it then in Capesius himself? 

But why can I perceive it not in him? 

Thomasius, thou hast so painted here 

That what is painted doth destroy itself. 

The moment that the eye would fathom it. 

I cannot grasp whereto it tirgeth me. 

What must I grasp from it? What should I seek? 

I fain would pierce this canvas through and through 

To find what I must seek within its depths; 

To find where I may grasp all that which streams 

From this same picture into my soul's core. 

I must attain it. — Oh — deluded fool! 

It seems as though some ghost were haunting me, 

A ghost I cannot see, nor have I power 

Which doth enable me to focus it. 

Thou dost paint ghostly things, Thomasius, 

Ensnaring them by magic in your work. 

They do allure us on to seek for them, 



ii6 The Portal of Initiation 

And yet they never let theknselves be found. 
Oh — ^how I find your pictures horrible! 

Capesius: 

My friend, in this same moment hast thou lost 
The thinker's peace of mind. Consider now, 
If from this picture some ghost speaks to thee 
Then I myself must surely ghostly be. 

Strader: 
Forgive me, friend, 'twas weakness on my part. 

Capesiiis: 

Ah, speak but good, not evil, of this hour! 

For though thou seemed'st to have lost thyself. 

Yet in reality thou wast upraised 

Par, far above thyself; and thou didst feel, 

Even as I myself full oft have felt. 

At such times, howsoe'er one feels oneself 

Strong-armoured at all points with logic's might. 

One can but be convinced that one is seized 

By some strange power that can have origin 

Not in sense-knowledge or sense-reasoning. 

Who hath endowed this picture with such power? 

To me it seems the symbol in sense-life 

Of soul-experiences gained thereby. 

It hath taught me to recognize my soul. 

As never heretofore seemed possible; 

And most convincing this self-knowledge proved. 

Thomasius did search me through and through: 

For unto him was given power to pierce 

Through sense-appearance unto spirit-self. 

With his developed sight he penetrates 



\ 



The Portal of Initiation 117 

To spirit verity; and thus for me 
Those ancient words of wisdom: *Know thyself,' 
In new light do appear. To know ourselves 
E'en as we are, we must first find that power 
Within ourselves, which, as true spirit, doth 
Conceal itself from us in our own selves. 

Maria: 
We must, to find ourselves, that power unfold 
Which can pierce through into our very souls: 
And truly do these words of wisdom speak — 
Unfold thyself and thou shalt find thyself. 

Strader: 
If we admit now, that Thomasius 
Hath through th* unfolding of his spirit power, 
Attained to knowledge of that entity, 
That dwells, invisible, in each of us. 
Then must we say that on each plane of life 
Knowledge doth differ. 

Capesitis: 

So would I maintain. 

Strader: 

If matters thus do stand, then is all thought 

Nothing: all learning but illusory; 

And every moment I must lose myself. . . . 

Oh, do leave me alone. . . . 

{Exit.) 

Capesius: 

I'll go with him. 
(Exit.) 



ii8 The Portal of Initiation 

Maria: 
Capesius is nearer far today 
To spirit lore, than he himself doth think; 
And Strader suffers deeply. What his soul 
So hotly craves, his spirit cannot find. 

Johannes: 
The inner nature of these two did stand 
Already then before my spirit's eye 
When first I dared to tread the realm of souls. 
As a young man I saw Capesius, 
And Strader in the years he hath not reached 
By some long span as yet. Capesius 
Did show a youthful promise which conceals 
Much that this life will not allow to come 
To due fruition in the realms of sense. 
I was attracted to his inner self: 
In his sottl's essence I could first behold 
What is the essential kernel of a man; 
And how a man's peculiarities 
In earthly life do manifest themselves 
As consequences of some former life. 
I saw the struggles that he overcame, 
Which in his other lives had origin. 
And which have shaped his present mode of life. 
I could not see his death-discarded selves 
With my soul's vision, yet I did perceive 
Within his nature that which could not rise 
From his surroundings as they are today. 
Thus in the picture I could reproduce. 
What dwells within the basis of his soul. 
My brush was guided by the powers, which he 



The Portal of Initiation 119 

Unfolded in his former lives on earth. 
If thus I have revealed his inmost self, 
My picture will have served the aim, which I 
Did purpose for it in my thought : for as 
A work of art I do not rate it high. 

Maria: 
It will confirm its work within that soul 
Which it hath showed the path to spirit-realms. 

Curtain fails whilst Maria and Johannes are still in 

the room 



Scene 9 

Same region as in Scene 2. From rocks and springs 
resounds: *0 man, feel fhou fhjrself.' 

Johannes: 

man, feel thou thyself! For three long years 

1 have sought strength of soul, with courage winged. 
Which doth give truth imto these words, whereby 
A man may free himself to conquer first; 

Then conquering himself may freedom find 
Through these same words : * O man, feel thou thyself.' 

(From rocks and springs resounds: * O man, feel 
thou thyself.') 

I note their presence in mine inmost soul, 
Their whispered breathing thrills my spirit-ear; 
And hid within themselves they bear the hope, 
That they will grow and lead man's spirit up, 
Out of his narrow self to world-wide space. 
E'en as a giant oak mysteriously 
Builds his proud body from an acorn small. 
Spirit can cause to live in its own self 
All weaving forms of water and of air, 
And all that doth make hard the solid earth. 
Man too can grasp whatever hath ta'en firm hold 
Of being, in the elements, in souls, 

120 



The Portal of Initiation 121 

In time, in spirits and eternity. 
The whole world's essence lies in one soul's core, 
When such power in the spirit roots itself, 
Which can give truth unto these selfsame words: 

man, experience and fed thyself — 

{From rocks and springs resounds: ^O man, 
feel thou thjrself •') 

1 feel them sounding in my very soul. 

Rousing themselves to grant me strength and power. 
The light doth live in me; the brightness speaks 
Around me; soul light germinates in me; 
The brightness of all worlds creates in me: 

man, experience and feel thyself; 

(From rocks and springs resounds: ' O man, feel 
thou thyself.') 

Johannes: 

1 find myself secure on every side. 
Where'er these words of power do follow me. 
They will give light in sense-life's darkened ways: 
They will sustain me on the spirit-heights: 
Soul-substance will they pour into my heart 
Through all the aeons of eternity. 

I fed the essence of the worlds in me, i 
And I must find myself in all the worlds. 
I gaze upon the nature of my sotil, 
Which mine own power hath vivified; I rest 
Within myself; I look on rocks and springs; 
They speak the native language of my soul. 
I find myself again within that sotil. 



122 The Portal of Initiation 

Into whose life I brought such bitter grief; 

And out of her I call unto myself: 

'Thou must find me again and ease my pain.' 

The spirit-light will give to me the strength 

To live this other self in its own self. 

Oh hopeful words, ye stream forth strength to me 

From all the worlds: O man, feel thou thyself. 

(From rocks and springs resounds: ^ O man^ 
feel thou thyself.') 

Johannes: 
Ye make me feel my feebleness, and yet 
Ye place me near the highest aims of gods; 
And blissfully I feel creative power 
From these high aims in my weak, earthly form. 
And out of mine own Self shall stand revealed 
Those powers, whereof the germ lies hid in me. 
And I will give myself unto the world 
By living out mine own essential life; 
Yea, all the might of these words will I fed. 
Which sound within me softly at the first. 
They shall become for me a quickening fire 
In my soul-powers and on my spirit-paths. 
I feel how now my very thought doth pierce 
To deep-concealed foundations of the world; 
And how it streams through them with radiant light. 
E'en thus doth work the fructifying power 
Of these same words : O man, fed thou thyself. 

{From rocks and springs resounds: * O man, feel 
thou thyself!') 



The Portal of Initiation 123 

Prom heights of light a being shines on me, 
And I feel wings to lift myself to him: 
I too will free myself, like all those sotils, 
Who conquered self. 

(From springs and rocks resounds: * O maxii feel 
thou thyself.') 

That being do I see 
Whom I wotild fain be like in futiu'e times. 
The spirit in me shall grow free, through thee 
Sublime example, I will follow thee. 

(Enter Maria) 

Johannes: 
The spirit-beings, who did tak^ me up, 
Have woken now the vision of my soul. 
And as I gaze into the spirit worlds, 
I feel in mine own self the quickening power 
Of these same words: O man, feel thou thyself. 

(From springs and rocks resounds: ^ O man, feel 
thou thyself r) 

Johannes: 
Thou here, my friend? 

Maria: 

My soul did urge me here. 
I saw thy star shining in fullest strength. 

Johannes: 
This strength can I experience in myself. 



124 The Portal of Initiation 

Maria: 
So closely are we one, that thy soul's life 
Allows its light to shine forth in my soul. 

Johannes: 
Maria, then thou also art aware 
Of what has just revealed itself to me. 
Man's first conviction has just come to me, 
And I have gained the certainty of self. 
I feel that power to guide me everywhere 
Lies in these words : O man, feel thou thyself. 

{From rocks and springs resounds: * O mani 
feel thou thyself I') 

Curtain 



SCENB 10 

A room for meditation as in Scene 3. 

Theodosius (in spirit-garb) : 
Now canst thou feel all worlds within thyself: 
So now feel me as love-power of all worlds. 
A nature, that is lighted up by nae, 
Feels its own being's power enhanced, whene'er 
It gives itself to give another joy. 
Thus do I work with true creative joy 
To build the worlds. Without me none can live, 
And naught without my strength can e'er exist. 

Johannes: 
So thou dost stand before my spirit's eye, 
Joy-giver of all worlds. My spirit's strength 
Doth feel creative joy, when I behold 
Thee as the fruit of self -experience. 
Within the temple to my spirit's eye 
Once didst thou show thyself, yet at that time 
I knew not whether dream or truth appeared. 
But now the scales have fallen from mine eyes. 
Which kept the spirit's light concealed from me: 
I know now that thou really dost exist. 
I will reveal thy nature in my deeds; 
And they shall work salvation through thy power. 
To Benedictus too I owe deep thanks : 

125 



126 The Portal of Initiation 

Through wisdom hath he given me the strength 
To turn my spirit's sight unto thy world. 

Theodosius: 
Peel me in thy soul-depths, and bear my power 
To all the worlds. Thus, serving Love's behests 
Thou shalt experience true blessedness. 

Johannes: 
I feel thy presence through its warming light ; 
I feel creative power arise in me. 

(Theodosius disappears.) 
He hath departed : but he will return 
And give me strength from out the springs of 

love. 
His light can disappear but for awhile; 
Then, in its own existence, it lives on. 
I can resign m3rself unto my Self, 
And feel Love's very self in mine own soul: 
By Love uplifted I can feel my Self: 
Love shall through me reveal himself to man. 

(He grows uncertain, as is gradually made mani- 
fest by his gestures,) 
Yet how shall I experience myself? 
It seems some spirit-being draweth near. 
Since I was counted worthy to receive 
The spirit's sight, I feel it ever thus, 
When evil powers desire to seize on me. 
Yet, come what may, I have strength to resist; 
For I can feel myself within my Self; 
Which quickening words give strength invincible. 
Yet now most strong resistance do I feel : 



Tlie Portal of Initiation 127 

Well may it be the fiercest of all foes: 

But let him come, for he will find me armed. 

Thou foe of Good; 'tis surely thine own self! 
For near me I can feel thy potent strength. 
I know thou dost desire to rend in twain 
Whate'er has wrenched itself from thy control. 
But I shall strengthen in me that new strength, 
Wherein thou canst have neither part nor lot. 
(Benedictus appears.) 

Johannes: 
O Benedictus, fount of my new life! 
It is not possible. It cannot be. 
Nay, nay, it cannot be thyself. Thou art 
Some vain illusion. Oh, revive in me 
Ye good powers of my soul, and straightway crush 
This phantom image, that would mock at me! 

Benedictus: 
Ask of thy soul now, whether it can feel. 
What through these years my nearness meant to 

it. 
Through me the fruits of wisdom grew for thee; 
And wisdom only now can lead thee on. 
And fend from error in the spirit's realm. 
So now experience me within thyself. 
Yet wouldst thou go still further, thou must then 
Enter that way, which to my temple leads. 
And if my wisdom is to guide thee still 
To loftier heights, it must flow from that spot 
Where with my brethren close conjoined I work. 



128 The Portal of Initiation 

The strength of truth I gave to thee myself; 
And if this kindles power from its own £u:e 
Within thyself, then shalt thou find the way. 

(ExU.) 

Johannes: 
Oh, he doth leave me. How shall I decide 
Whether I have some phantom form dispelled, 
Or if reality hath left me now? 

Yet do I feel in me my strength renewed. 
'Twas no illusion, but the man himself. 
I will experience thee within myself, 

Benedictus, for thou gav'st me power. 
Which, growing of itself within myself, 
Taught me to sever error from the truth. 
And yet to vain illusion I succtmibed: 

1 felt a shudd'ring fear at thine approach; 
And could consider thee a fantasy, 

When thou didst stand before my very eyes. 
(Theodosius appears.) 

Theodosius: 
From all illusion thou shalt free thyself. 
When thou dost fill thyself with mine own strength: 
To me could Benedictus lead thy steps, 
But thine own wisdom now must be thy guide. 
If thou dost only live what he hath put 
Within thee, then thou canst not live thyself. 
In freedom strive unto the heights of light ; 
And for this striving now receive my strength. 

' (Exit.) 



The Portal of Initiation 129 

Johannes: 
How glorious these words of thine do sound! 
I must now live them out within myself. 
From all illusion they will set me free, 
If they but fill my nature to the full. 

Work on then further in my soul's deep core, 
Ye words, sublime and grand ! Ye surely must 
Proceed from out the temple's shrine alone, 
Since Benedictus' brother uttered you. 
I feel already how ye mount within 
Mine inmost being. 

Soon shall ye resound 
From out my very Self, that I may read 
Your meaning rightly. Spirit, that doth dwell 
Within me, forth from thy concealment come! 
Now in thine own true nature show thyself! 
I feel thy near approach : thou must appear. 
{Lucifer and Ahriman appear,) 

Lucifer: 
O man, know me. O man, feel thou thyself. 
From spirit guidance hast thou freed thyself, 
And into earth's free realms thou hast escaped. 
Midst earth's confusion thou didst seek to prove 
Thine own existence; and to find thyself 
Was thy reward. So now use this reward. 
In spirit-ventures keep thyself secure. 
In the wide realms on high a being strange 
Thou shalt discover, who to human lot 
Will fetter thee, and will oppress thee too. 
A man, feel thou thyself: O man, know me. 



I 
I 

! VOL. 1 — 9 



130 The Portal of Initiation 

Ahriman: 
O man, know thou thyself: O man, fed me. 
From spirit darkness hast thou now escaped; 
And thou hast found again the light of earth. 
So now from my sure ground draw strength and 

truth. 
The solid earth do I make hard and fast : 
Yet canst thou also lose that certainty. 
Weak hesitation can e'en now destroy 
The power of being, and thou canst misuse 
The spirit-strength e'en in the heights of light. 
Thou canst be rent in twain within thyself. 
O man, fed me. O man, know thou thysdf . 

(ExU with Lucifer.) 

Johannes: 
What meaneth this? First Lucifer arose 
From me, and Ahriman did follow hini. 
Doth now some new illusion haunt my soul. 
Although I prayed so ardently for truth? 
Hath Benedictus* brother roused in me 
Only those powers, which in the souls of men 
Do but create illusion and decdt? 

{The following is a spirit voice coming from the 
heights.) 

Spirit: 
To founts of world primeval 
Thy surging thoughts do motmt. 
What unto illusion urged, 
What in error held thee fast, 
Appeareth to thee now in spirit-light. 



The Portal of Initiation 131 

Through whose fulness seeing, 
Mankind doth think in truth; 
Through whose f uhiess striving, 

Mankind doth Uve in Love. 

Curtain 



Scene ii 

The Temple of the Sun. Hidden site of the mysteries 
of the Hierophants, 

Capesius and Strader appear as in Scene 4. 

Retardus (to Capesius and Strader before him) : 

Ye have brought bitter grief to me, my friends. 
The office which I did entrust to you 
Ye have administered with ill success. 
I call you now before my judgment seat. 
To thee, Capesius, I did entrust 
Pull measure of the spirit, that ideas 
Of mankind's upward striving might compose. 
With graceful words, the content of thy speech, 
Which should have worked convincingly on man. 
Then thine activity I did direct 
Into those gatherings of men, wherein 
Thou didst Johannes and Maria meet. 
Their tendency towards the spirit-sight 
Thou shouldst have superseded by the power 
Which thy words should have exercised on them. 
Instead of that thou didst th3rself give up 
Unto the influence which flows from them. — 
And to thee, Strader, did I show the way 
That leads to sdentiflc certainty. 

132 



The Portal of Initiation 133 

Thou hadst by rigid thinking to destroy 
The magic power that comes from spirit-sight. 
But yet thou lackedst feeling's certain touch. 
The power of thought did slip away from thee, 
When opportunity for conquest came. 
My fate is close-entwined with your deeds, 
Through you are these two seekers after truth 
Now lost for evermore from my domain; 
For to the brethren I must give their souls. 

Capesius: 
Thy trusty messenger I could not be. 
Thou gav'st me power to picture human life; 
And I could well portray whatever inspired 
The souls of men at this time or at that: 
But yet it was impossible for me 
To gift my words, which painted but the past. 
With power to fill and satisfy men's souls. 

Strader: 
The weakness which must needs befall me too 
Was but a truQ reflection of thine own. 
Knowledge indeed thou couldst give to me: 
But not the power to still that yearning voice. 
Which strives for truth in every yearning heart. 
Deep in mine inmost soul I none the less 
Felt other powers continually arise. 

Retardus: 

See now then what result your weakness brings. 
The brethren are approaching with those souls 
In whom they will overthrow my power. E'en now 
Johannes and Maria feel their might. 



134 The Portal of Initiation 

(Enter Benedictus with Lucifer and Ahriman; 
behind them Johannes and Maria.) 

Benedictus {to Lucifer) : 
Johannes' and Maria's souls have now 
No longer room for blind unseeing power: 
To spirit-life they have been lifted up. 

Lucifer: ^ 

Then must I straightway from their souls depart. 
The wisdom unto which they have attained, 
Doth give them power to see me, and my sway 
O'er souls of men doth only last so long 
As I remain invisible to them. 
Yet doth the power continue which hath been 
Prom the creation of the worlds mine own. 
And though I cannot tempt their souls, yet still 
My power will cause within their spirit-Hf e 
Most beauteous fruits, to ripen and endure. 

Benedictus (to Ahriman): 
Johannes' and Maria's souls have now 
Destroyed all error's darkness in themselves; 
And spirit-sight hath been revealed to them. 

Ahriman: 
I must indeed renounce their spirits then; 
For they will turn henceforth unto the light. 
Yet one thing hath not yet been ta'en from me; 
With sense-appearance to delight their souls. 
And though no longer they will deem it truth, 
Yet will they see how truth it doth reveal. 

(Enter the Other Maria.) 



The Portal of Initiation 135 

Theodosius {to the Other Maria) : 
Close intertwined was thy destiny 
With thine exalted sister's loftier life: 
The light of love I cotdd impart to her : 
But not the wannth of love» so long as thou 
Didst always let thy noblest impulses 
Ftom dim sensations only rise in thee, 
And didst not strive to see them clear and bold 
In the full light of wisdom's certainty. 
The influence of the Temple does not reach 
Unto the nature of vague impulses, 
E'en though such impulse wills to work for good. 

The Other Maria: 
I needs must recognize that noble thought 
Can only work salvation in the light. 
So to the temple I now wend my way. 
My own emotion shall in future times 
Not rob the light of love of its results. 

Theodosiiis: 
Through this, thine insight, thou dost give me power 
To make Maria's soul-light on the earth 
Run smooth and evenly upon its path : 
For aye aforetime it must lose its n:iight 
In souls, such as thine own was heretofore. 
Which would not unify their light with love. 

Johannes {to the Other Maria) : 
I see in thee the nature of that soul, 
Which also holdeth sway within mine own. 
I was unable to find out the way 
Which led to thine exalted sister's soul 



136 TTie Portal of Initiation 

So long as in my heart the warmth of love 
Prom love's light ever held itself apart. 
The sacrifice which to the temple's shrine 
Thou bring'st, shall be repeated in my soul. 
Therein the warmth of love shall sacrifice 
Itself imto love's wonder-working light. 

Maria: 
Johannes, in the realm of spirit-life 
Thou hast attained to knowledge through myself. 
To spirit knowledge thou canst only add 
True soul-existence, when thou findest too 
Thine own soul, as thou didst find mine before. 
{Enter PhiUa, Astrid, and Luna,) 

PhUia: 
Then from the whole creation of the worlds 
The joy of souls shall be revealed to thee. 

Astrid: 
Prom thine whole being then can be outpoured 
The light and radiance of the warmth of souls. 

Luna: 

Then shalt thou dare to live out thine own self. 
When such light can illuminate thy soul. 
(Enkr Felix and Felicia Balde,) 

Romanus (to Felix Balde) : 
Long hast thou from the temple held thyself. 
Thou only wouldst admit enlightenment, 
When light from thine own soul revealed itself. 



The Portal of Initiation 137 

Men of thy nature rob me of the power 
To give my light unto men's souls on earth. 
They wish to draw from darksome depths alone, 
What they should freely oflfer unto life. 

Feiix Balde: 
Yet 'twas man's own illusion in itself, 
That brought me light from out the darkest depths: 
And let me to the temple find my way. 

Romanus: 
The fact that thou hast hither found thy way 
Gives me the power to give light to the will 
Of both Johannes and Maria here. 
That it no more may follow forces blind, 
But from world-aims henceforth direct itself. 

Maria: 
Johannes, thou hast seen thine own self now 
In spirit in myself. Thou shalt live out 
Thine own existence as a spirit, when 
The world's light can behold itself in thee. 

Johannes {to Felix Balde) : 
In thee, good brother Pelix, do I see 
That soul-power which did hold my will fast bound 
In its own spirit. Thou wouldst find the way 
Unto the temple : with the strength of will 
Within my spirit I would fain point out 
The path unto the temple of the soul. 

Retardus: 
Johannes' and Maria's souls e'en now 
Escape from my domain: how then shall they 



138 The Portal of Initiation 

Discover all that springs forth from my might ? 
So long as they did lack within their souls 
The fundaments of learning, they did still 
Find joy and pleasure in my gifts, but now 
I see myself compelled to let them go. 

Felicia: 
That man without thine aid, may £u:e himself 
To rational thought, that have I shown to thee 
From me a learning streams that dare bear fruit. 

Johannes: 
This learning shall be wedded to the light, 
Which from this temple's source can fill men's souls. 

Retardus: 
Capesius, my son, thou art now lost. 
Thou hast withdrawn thyself from my domain 
Before the temple's light can shine for thee. 

Benedictus: 
He h^th begun the path. He feds the Ught. 
And he will win the strength to search and know 
In his own soul all that, which up till now 
Good Dame Felicia hath produced for him. 

Strader: 
Then I alone seem lost, for of myself 
I cannot cast all doubts from out my heart; 
And surely I shall never find again 
The way that doth unto the temple lead. 

Theodora: 
From out thine heart a glow of light spripads forth; 



The Portal of Initiation 139 

A human image now is bom therefrom; 
And I can hear the words, which do proceed 
From this same human form. E'en thus they sound: 
'I haye achieved the power to reach the light/ 
My friend, trust thou thyself ! These very words, 
When thy time is fulfilled, thyself shalt speak. 

Curtain 



THE SOUL'S PROBATION 



141 



SUMMARY OP THB SCBNBS 

Scene i : Capesius. His occult exercises and his despair. 

Scene 2: Meditation chamber the same as Scenes 3 and 10 
of Play I. Benedictus warns Maria that Jo- 
hannes must be free. She resolves to look back 
upon past incarnations. 

Scene 3: Johannes and his painting. Maria resolves not to 
hinder his freedom by her love. 

Scene 4: As Scene i. Capesius and Strader. 

Scene 5: Capesius at the Balde's cottage. Dame PeUcia's 
table. Johannes and his double. 

Scene 6: The 14th century. The meadows by the Castle 
of tiie Mystic Knights. Country folk. The 
Jew. Thomas confesses to the Monk his love 
for Keane's daughter. 

Scene 7: Same period. The Interior of the Castle. The 
Grand Master and Council. The Monk's de- 
mand. The apparition o£ his late Master^ 
Benedictus. 

Scene 8: Same period. Keane has discovered that Thomas 
and his sweetheart are the children of the ist 
Preceptor and informs the ist Preceptor of the 
fact. The scene closes with a discussion on evo- 
lution, and the inspired warning of the Second 
Master of Ceremonies. 

Scene 9: Same period. TheKeanes. Dame Keane's fable. 
The Country folk. Thomas and Cecilia. 

Scene 10: Scene same as Scene 5. The return to the present 
day. Explanation of Scenes 6 to 9. 

Scene ii : Meditation chamber as in Scene 2, Maria defeats 
Ahriman. 

Scene 12: The same. Johannes and Lucifer. 

Scene 13: The Temple of the Sun. 



142 



PERSONS, FORMS, AND FEATURES 

The spiritual and psychic experiences of the char- 
acters appearing in this ''Soul's Probation" are a con- 
tinuation of the experiences given in the scenes of 
''The Portal of Initiation," and the events related 
occur several years later. 

Benedictus ) 

Theodosius r Hierophants of the Temple of the Sun. 
Rotnanus ) 
Professor Capesius. 
PhiUa) 

Astrid \ The spiritual beings who facilitate the con- 

Luna ) nection between the Soul and the Cosmos. 

They are not allegorical, but are realities 

for the spirit Seer. 

The Other Philia, The spiritual being who hinders the 

connection between the Soul and the Cosmos. 
The Voice of Conscience not allegorical, but a reality, 

for the spirit Seer. 

Maria. 

Johannes Thomasius. 

Doctor Strader. 

Felix Balde. 

Felicia, his wife. 

The * Double* of Johannes Thomasius. ^ 

Lucifer. 

Ahrinum. 

143 



144 The SouFs Probation 

The events of the Sixth to the Ninth Scenes con- 
tain the spiritual vision of Capesius into his f onner life. 
Maria and Johannes share the experiences at the 
same time; but Strader's former incarnation is only 
seen by Capesius, Maria, and Johannes. 

These scenes back into the fourteenth century are 
conceived as results of imaginative cognition, and in 
the physical world are only recognizable by their effect. 
The way in which a life is repeated (from occurrences 
of the fourteenth century into the present day) should 
not be taken arbitrarily, but merely as what may hap- 
pen at any turning point of time. These conflicts and 
consequences of a former life are only possible at such 
a time. 

The Vision of Capesius into the Fourteenth 
Century 

The Spirit of Benedicius. 

The Grand Master, chief of a branch of mystic brother- 
hood. 

First Preceptor, of the mjrstic brotherhood. (A former 
incarnation of Professor Capesius.) 

Second Preceptor, of the m3rstic brotherhood. 

First Mctster of the Ceremonies, of the mystic brother- 
hood. 

Second Master of the Ceremonies, of the mystic brother- 
hood. 

Simon, the Jew (a former incarnation of Dr. Strader).. 

Thomas (a former incarnation of Johannes Thoma- 
sius). 

A Monk (a former mcamation of Mana). 



The SouFs Probation 145 

Joseph Keane (a former incarnation of Felix Balde). 
His Wife (a former incarnation of Felicia Balde). 
Bertha^ their daughter (a former incarnation ^f the 

Other Maria). 
CeciUa, their foster-daughter (a former incarnation of 

Theodora) . 
Six Country Men, and 
Six Country Women. 

Note on thb Costumes Worn (see also notes to the "Portal 
of Initiation"). The knights are in chain armour and dark blue 
robes of their order, with a white Maltese cross on their mantle 
and on their tunic. The mantle of the Grand Master is crimson ; 
his tunic is white with a red cross. Their blue caps and the Grand 
Master's red cap are flat and triangular. The apparition of 
Benedictus in Scene 7, is in pink peach blossom colour. He 
appears in the background about nine feet above the stage and 
remains rigid with his arms extended in cross fashion the whole 
time of his appearance in this scene. 

VOL. I — 10 



THE SOUUS PROBATION 

Scene i 

The library and study of Capesius, Prevailing colour 
brown. Evening. First Capesius, then the Spirit^ 
Forms who are powers of soul; later Benedictus, 

Capesius (reading in a book) : 
* By inward gazing on the Beingless, 
And dreaming through the shadowy picttire realm 
Of thought, conformably to self-made laws: — 
Thus erring human nature often seeks 
To find the meaning and the goal of life : 
The soul from its own depths would draw replies 
To questions that concern the universe. 
Yet such attempts are vain, illusory 
E'en at the outset, and they lead at last 
To feeble visions which destroy themselves. ' 

(Speaking as follows.) 
Thus is portrayed in words of import grave 
Through Benedictus' noble spirit-sight, 
The inward life of many human souls. 
Each phrase goes home destructive to my heart — 
Unfolding truly mine own way and life 
Until this day, with cruel vividness. 
And should a god this very hour appear 
Descending on me in a raging storm 

147 



148 The Sours Probation 

And clad in wrath, yet could his threatening might 

Not torture me with more appalling fears 

Than do the Master's words, as strong as fate. 

Long hath my life been, but its web displays 

Nothing but pictures shadowy and dim 

Which haunt my dreaming soul and fondly strive 

To mirror truths of nature and of mind. 

With this dream-fabric hath my thought essayed 

To solve the riddle of the universe. 

Down many a path my restless soul I turned. 

Yet do I clearly see that I myself, 

Was not the active master of my soul 

When threads of thought along illusion's path 

Spun themselves out to cosmic distances. 

So that which I in my content beheld 

In pictures, left me empty, led to naught. 

Then came across my path Thomasius, 

The youthful painter. He indeed strode on. 

Upheld by truest energies of soul 

To that exalted spiritual way 

Which transforms human life, and makes to rise 

Prom hidden gulfs of soul the energy , 

Which feeds the springs of life within ourselves. 

That which awoke from out his inmost soul 

Abides in every man. And since from him 

I gained this revelation, I do count 

As chief amongst the many sins of life 

To let the spirit's treasure grow corrupt. 

I know henceforth that I must search and seek 
And nevermore allow myself to doubt. 



The Soufs Probation 149 

In days gone by my vanity of thought 
Could have enticed me to the false belief 
That unto knowledge man aspires in vain; 
And only failure and despair belong 
To those who would lay bare the springs of life. 

And were all wisdom to unite in this, 
And were I powerless to reject the claim 
That htiman destiny demands of man 
That he shall lose his individual self 
And sink into the gulf of nothingness, 
Yet would I make the venture unafraid. 
Such thoughts would be a sacrilege today, 
Since I have learned I cannot win repose 
Until the spirit treasure in my soul 
Hath been unveiled to the light of day. 

The fruits of work of spirit-entities 

Have been implanted in the htunan soul, 

And whoso leaves the spirit seed to lie 

Unheeded and decay, he brings to nought 

The work divine committed unto man. 

Thus do I recognize life's highest task; 

Yet when I try to take one single step 

Across the threshold that I dare not shun, 

I feel my strength desert me, which of yore 

Did pride itself on elevated thought. 

And sought the goals of life in time and space. 

Once did I reckon it an easy thing 

To set the brain in action and to grasp 

The nature of reality by thought. 

But now, when I would search the fotmt of life 



ISO The Sours Probation 

And comprehend it as in truth it is, 

My thought appears as some blunt instrument ; 

I have no power, no matter how I strive, 

To form a clear thought-image from the words 

Of Benedictus, though his earnest speech, 

Should now direct me to the spirit's path. 

(Resuming his reding.) 
* In silence sound the depths of thine own soul. 
And ever let strong courage be thy guide. 
Thy former ways of thinking cast away 
What time thou dost withdraw into thysdf ; 
For only when thine own light is put out 
Will spirit-radiance show itself to thee.' 

(Resuming his soliloquy.) 
It seems as though I could not draw my breath 
When I attempt to understand these words. 
And ere I feel the thoughts that I must think, 
Fear and misgiving have beset my soul. 
It is borne in on me that everything 
Which hitherto was my environment 
Is crumbling into ruin, and therewith 
I too am crumbling into nothingness. 
An hundred times at least have I perused 
The words which follow, and each several time 
Darkness enfolds me deeper than before. 

(Resuming his reading.) 
'Within thy thinking cosmic thought doth live, 
Within thy feeling cosmic forces play, 
Within thy will do cosmic beings work; 
Abandon thou thyself to cosmic thought, 
Experience thyself through cosmic force, 
Create thyself anew from cosmic will. 



The Soul's Probation 151 

End not at last in cosmic distances 

By fantasies of dreamy thought beguiled. 

Do thou begin in farthest spirit-realms 

And end in the recesses of thy soul. 

The plan divine then shalt thou recognize 

When thou hast realized thy Self in thee. ' 

(Becomes entranced by a visum, then comes to 
himself and speaks,) 
What was this? 

(Three Figures, representing sotd-forces, float 
round him,) 

Luna: 
Abtmdant power is thine 
For lofty spirit-flight; 
Its sure foundation rests 
Upon the human will. 
Its temper hath been tried 
By sure and certain hope. 
It hath grown strong as steel 
By sight of future times. 
Thou dost but courage lack 
To pour into thy will 
Thy confidence in life. 
Into the vast Unknown 
Dare but to venture forth I 

Astrid: 
From cosmic distances 
And from the sun's glad light, 
From utmost realms of stars 
And magic nught of worlds, 



152 The Soul's Probation 

From heaven's ethereal blue 
And spirit's lofty power, 
Win mightiness of sottl ; 
And send its radiant beams 
Deep down within thine heart; 
That knowledge glowing warm 
May thus be bom in thee. 

The Other PhUia: 
They are deceiving thee 
This evil sisterhood; 
They seek but to ensnare 
By trickery and guile. 
The gifts so seeming fair 
Which they have offered thee 
Will vanish into air 
When thou wouldst hold them fast 
With all thy human strength. 
They lead thee on to worlds 
Inhabited by gods, 
Where thou wilt be destroyed 
If, once within their realm, 
Thou strivest to o'ercome 
By human strength alone. 

Capesius: 

It was quite plain that here some beings spake — 
And yet it is most sure that no one else — 
Beside myself — is present in this place. 

So have I but held converse with myself 
And yet that too seems quite impossible — 



The Soul's Probation i53 

For ne'er could I imagine such discourse 
As here I listened to. . . . 

Am I still he 
I was before? 

{From his gestures it is plain he feels unable to 
reply 'yes.') 

Oh ! I am — I am not. 

« 

The Spirit-Voice of Conscience: 
Thy thoughts do now descend 
To depths of htiman life 
And what, as soul doth compass thee around 
And what as spirit is enchained in thee, 
Is lost in cosmic depth, 
From whose fulness quafGing 
Mankind doth live in thought; 
From whose fulness living 
Mankind illusion weaves. 

Capesius: 

Enough . . . Enough . . .Where is Capesius? 

You I implore ... ye forces all unknown . . . 

Where is Capesius? Where is . . . myself? 

(Once more he relapses into a reverie.) 

{Enter Benedictus. Capesius does not notice 
him at first. Benedictus touches him on the 
shoulder.) 

Benedictus: 
I learned that thou didst wish to speak with me, 
And so I came to seek thee in thy home. 



154 The Soul's Probation 

Capesiiis: 
Right good it is of thee to grant my wish. 
Yet it had scarce been possible that thou 
Shouldst find me in worse case than now I am. 
That I am not this moment on the ground 
Prostrate before thy feet, after such pain 
As even now h^th racked my soul, I owe 
To thy kind glance alone which sought mine own. 
So soon as thou didst with thy gentle touch 
Arouse me from the horrors of my dream. 

Benedictus: 
I am aware that I have found thee now 
Fighting a battle for thy very life. 
Since I have known full well this long time past 
That thus it was appointed us to meet. 
Prepare \o change the sense of many words 
If thou wouldst understand my speech aright 
And do not marvel that thy present pain 
Bears in my language quite another name — 
I call thy state good fortune. 

Capesius: 

Then indeed 
Thou dost but heap the meastire of the woe 
Which casts me into gloom's abysmal depths. 
Just now I felt as if my real self 
Had flown afar to cosmic distances, 
And unfamiliar beings through its sheaths 
Were speaking here. But this I took to be 
Hallucination, spirit mockery. 
And mourned that thus my soul could be deceived; 



The Soul's Probation i55 

This thought alone kept me from breaking down. 

Take not away my right thus to believe, 

The only prop I lean on; tell me not 

My fevered dreaming was good fortune; else 

I shall be lost indeed. 

Benedictus: 

A man can lose 
Nought else but that which keeps him separate 
Prom cosmic being. When he seems to lose 
That which in dreamy fantasies of thought 
He misapplied to labours purposeless, 
Then let him seek for what has gone from him. 
For he will surely find it, and withal 
The proper use to which it should be put 
In htunan life. Mere words of comfort now 
Were nothing more than clever play on words. 

Capesius: 
Nay — ^lore that may by simple human wit 
Be comprehended thou dost not impart. 
Bitter experience has shown me this. 
Like deeds which lead one on to lofty heights 
And also cast one to abysmal depths, 
Thy counsels pour a stream of fiery life. 
And also deathly chill into men's souls. 
They work at once e'en as the nod of fate 
And also as a storm of living love. 
Much had I sought and thought in earlier da3rs 
Before I met thee; yet the spirit's powers, 
Creative and destructive, I have learned 
Only since I have followed in thy steps. 



156 The Soul's Probation " 

The turmoil and confusion of my soul, 

Caused by thy words, was evident when thou 

Didst come within my chamber. Oft I felt 

Much pain whilst reading in thy book of life, 

Until today my cup of woe was full. 

And so my agony of soul o'erflowed, 

Spilled by thy fateful words. Their meaning swept 

O'er all my soul unrecognized, and yet 

Like some elixir they revived my heart. 

In such wise wrought they in the magic worlds 

That all my clarity of sense was lost. 

Then ghostly phantoms made a mock of me, 

And words of import dark I seemed to hear 

Issue from my distraught tormented soul. 

I know that all the secrets thou dost guacrd 

For human souls may not be written down. 

But that the answer to men's doubts may be 

Revealed to each according to his need. 

So grant me that of which I stand in need; 

For verily I must indeed be told * 

What robbed me of my senses and my wits 

And compassed me with magic's airy spells. 

Benedictus: 
Another meaning hides within my words 
Than that of the ideas which they convey; 
They guide the natural forces of the soul 
To spirit-verities; their inward sense 
Caimot be understood until the day 
On which they waken vision in the soul 
That yields itself to their compelling power. 
They are not fruitage of mine own research; 



The Soul's Probation 157 

But spirits have entrusted them to me, 
Spirits well skilled to read the signs in whidi 
Hie Karma of the world doth stand revealed. 
The special virtue of these words is this, 
Unto the source of knowledge they can guide. 
Yet none the less it must be each man's task, 
Who understands them in their truest sense, 
To drink the spirit-waters from that source. 
Nor are my words designed to hinder thee 
From being swept away to worlds that seem 
To thee fantastic. Thou hast seen a realm 
Which must remain illusion just as long 
As thou dost lose thyself on entering it. 
But wisdom's outer portal will be fotmd 
Unsealed to thine advancing soul so soon 
As thou dost near it with self -consciousness. 

Capesius: 
And how can I maintain self -consciousness? 

Benedictus: 
The answer to this riddle thou shalt find 
When, with awakened inner eye, thou dost 
Perceive before thee many wondrous things, 
Which shortly will be found to cross thy path. 
Know that a test hath been ordained for thee 
By lords of fate and by the spirit-powers. 

(ExU.) 

Capesius: 

Althought their meaning is not clear to me 
I fed his words at work within myself. 



158 The Soul's Ptobation 

He hath appointed me a goal; and I 

Am ready to obey. He doth not ask 

For stress of thought; it seems that he desires 

I should press forward with exploring feet 

To find the spirit-verities myself. 

I cannot tell how he was sent to me; 
And yet his actions have compelled my trust; 
He hath restored me to myself once more. 
So though at present I may not divine 
The nature of the spell that shook me so, 
I will not shrink from facing these events 
Which his prophetic vision hath foretold. 

Curtain whilst Capesius remains standing 



Scene 2 

A tneditoHon chamber. Prevailing colour violet. 
Serious, bui riot gloomy atmosphere. 

Benedictus, Maria, then the Spirit-Figures represent^ 
ing soul-powers, 

Maria: 
Great conflicts in my soul bid me invoke 
Wise cotmsel from my master in this hour. 
Gloomy forebodings rise within my heart. 
And I am powerless to withstand the thoughts 
That overwhelm me ever and again. 
They pierce me to my being's inmost core; 
They seek to lay upon me a command 
Which to obey doth seem like sacrilege. 
Deceitful powers must be obsessing me; 
Oh, I implore thee — ^lend me aid . . . that I 
May exorcise them. 

Benedictus: 

Never shalt thou lack 
What thou dost need of me at any time. 

Maria: 
I know how closely to my soul are knit 
Johannes' life and aims. A stony road 

159 



i6o The SouFs Probation 

Of fate brought us together; and God's will 
Hath hallowed in high spirit-realms our bond. 
All this stands out before me e'en as clear 
As only truth itself can be. And yet — 
Horror o'erpowers me that these Ups of nune 
Must utterance give to sacril^ous words — 
And yet — deep in my soul I hear a voice 
Which tells me plainly and repeatedly 
Despite my utmost will to fight it down: 
'Thou must give up Johannes, let him go. 
No longer mayst thou keep him at thy side 
If thou wouldst not work evil to his soul. 
Alone he must proceed along the road 
On which he travels to his longed for goal. ' ^ 
I know that if thou dost but speak the word 
This lying dream will cease to haunt my soul. 

Benedictus: 
Maria, noble grief leads thee astray 
To see the truth yet call it counterfeit. 

Maria: 
What I have seen — is truth. ... It cannot be! 
Between my master's utterance and mine ear 
Delusion steals. O speak to me again. 

Benedictus: 
What I have spoken, thou hast heard aright : 
Thy love is noble, and Johannes stands 
Close-knit to thee. But love must not forget 
That she is wisdom's sister. Long indeed 
For his salvation hath Johannes been 
With thee united. Now his soul demands, 



The Soul's Probation i6i 

For its own progress, freedom to pursue 
Its aims unhindered. Fate doth not decree 
That ye shall be no longer outward friends; 
But this it doth demand with strict decree 
Johannes' freedom, in the spirit-reahn. 

Maria: 
Still do I hear delusion: so let me 
Alone continue speaking, for I know 
That thou must understand me without fail. 
For sure it is no lying shape will dare 
To change the words unto thine ear addressed. 
My host of doubts were easily dispersed 
If earth-life's tortuous course alone it were 
That knits Johannes' soul unto mine own. 
But to our bond was lofty sanction given 
Which knits soul unto soul eternally. 
And spirit-powers did speak with blessings meet 
The word that bans all doubt for evermore: 
'He hath won truth within th' eternal realms 
Because in worlds of sense his inmost self 
Already was united with thine own. ' 
What can this revelation mean to me 
If now its very opposite is true? 

Benedictus: 
Thou hast to learn that even one to whom 
There hath been much revealed, may yet be found 
Lacking perfection still in divers ways. 
Tangled the paths that lead to higher truth : . . . 
And only those may hope to reach the goal 
Who walk in patience through their labyrinths. 

VOL. I — XX 



i62 The SouFs Probation 

Thou didst but see one part of what is real 
In that great realm of everlasting light. 
When with thine inner vision thou didst gaze 
Upon a picture of the spirit-land. 
Not yet hast thou seen full reality. 
Johannes' soul is knit unto thine own 
By earthly ties of such complexity 
That it may be allotted unto each 
To find his way into the spirit-realm 
Through forces borrowed from the other one. 
But nothing hitherto hath clearly shown 
That thou hast conquered each and every test. 
To see a picture hath been granted thee 
Of what the future holds for thee in store 
When thou canst pass unscathed the full ordeal. 
That thou hast seen the ultimate reward 
Of unremitting effort is no sign 
That thou hast reached the end of all thy strife. 
Thou hast beheld a picture, which thy will 
Alone can turn tmto reality. 

Maria: 
Although thy words just spoken fall on me 
Like bitter pain that follows hours of bliss, 
There is at least one lesson I have learned, 
Which is to bow my head to wisdom's light 
When it doth prove itself through inward force. 
Already something is becoming clear 
Which up till now lay hidden in my heart. 
But when in highest bliss delusion's snare 
Doth wear the mask of truth to human minds, 
Darkness of soul is difficult to ban. 



The Soul's Probation 163 

V 

I need still more than that which thou hast given 

To pltimb the depth of meaning in thy words. 

Thou once didst lead myself to those soul-depths 

Wherein a light was then vouchsafed to me 

By which I could behold the lives I spent 

In previous incarnations long ago. 

Thus was it granted me to learn the way 

In which my soul was linked unto my friend's. 

My act of bringing, in those days of old» 

Johannes* soul unto the spirit-fount 

I felt and recognized to be the seed 

Which grew and bore such •cherished friendship's 

fruit. 
As was found ripe for all eternity. 

Benedictus: 
Thou wast accounted worthy to retrace 
Thy path on earth in days long since gone by. 
But thou must not forget to look and see 
If thou canst be assured with certainty 
That of thine actions none remain concealed 
When backward thou didst turn thy spirit's eye. 

Maria (after a pause betokening deep reflection) : 
How could I be so blinded, so misled? 
The rapture which I felt on looking back 
Over a period of bygone times 
Deluded me to vain f orgetfulness 
Of manifold shortcomings. Not till now 
Did I foresee that I must turn my gaze 
Into the darkness ere I comprehend 
The road that^ leads back from this present life 



\ 



i64 The Soul's Probation 

To olden days when my friend's soul sought mine. 

To thee, my master, will I make my vow 

Henceforth to bridle my soul's arrogance ... I 

Now for the first time do I realize 

How pride of knowledge leads the soul astray; 

So that, instead of its imbibing strength 

From freely offered stores of spirit-wealth. 

It misapplies the gift in wanton use 

And only holds the nwror up to self. 

I know at last from my heart's warning call. 

To which thy words lend added power, how fai 

I am today e'en from the nearest goal. 

No more will I be overswijt to read 

A meaning into words from spirit-lands. 

I will esteem them power wherewith my soul 

May shape its course — , not as some message seat 

To free me from the need of finding out 

The goal of action in my daily life. 

Had I paid earlier heed tmto this truth 

And gone my way in due humility; 

I had not failed to see that only then 

When he decides to tread a path not traced 

By me beforehand, can my friend unfold 

To fullest bloom his richly-gifted soul. 

And now that this is clear I shall not fail 

In finding strength sufficient to fulfil 

What love and duty may require of me. 

Yet do I feel assured this very hour 

More clearly than I ever was before 

That some grave testing of my soul draws nigh. 

For mostly, when men tear from out their hearts 

That of themselves which in another lives, 



The Soul's Probation 165 

Love hath been changed into its opposite. 
Themselves they change the ties that coupled them» 
Yet passion's impulse gives to them the power. 
Whilst I must of mine own free will uproot 
The workings of my soul's life, which I saw 
Accomplishing themselves in my friend's acts; 
And still tmchanging must my love abide. 

Benedicius: 
If thou wouldst steer thy course direct, thou must 
Become aware of what thou most didst prize 
In this thy love. For once thou knowst the force 
That leads thee all unknown within thy soul, 
Thou wilt find power to do what duty bids. 

Maria: 
By saying this thou giv'st e'en now that aid 
Of which my soul so sorely stands in need. 
I must investigate mine inmost self 
With earnest questioning: and so I ask, 
What potent cause impels me in my love? 
I see my own soul's life and strength at work 
In my friend's nattire and activities. 
So that which I desire to satisfy 
Is nothing but the hunger of myself. 
Which I, deluded, call unselfishness. 
Thus it hath been concealed from me till now 
That in my friend I mirror but myself. 
It was the dragon Selfishness who veiled 
The truth from me in wrappings of deceit. 
And selfishness can take an hundred forms: — 
I see it clearly now. And when one thinks 



i66 The SouFs Probation 

The enemy subdued, behold him rise 
Out of defeat and stronger than before. 
Moreover: 'tis a foe with added skill 
To hide the truth with cloak of counterfeit. 

{Maria sinks into deep thought,) 

(The three Spirit-Figures of the soid-^owers 
appear.) 

Maria: 
Ye sisters, whom I find in Being's depths 
Whene'er my soul expands and guides herself 
To cosmic distances, release for me 
From out the ether's heights the powers of sight 
And lead them hence to earthly paths, that I 
May know myself as I exist in Time, 
And may be able to direct my course 
From Life's old ways tmto new spheres of Will. 

Philia: 
From my heart's depths will I myself imbue 
With soul's aspiring light; I will breathe deep 
From spirit-forces living powers of Will; » 

That thou, beloved sister, mayest seek 
And find the light in bygone spheres of life. 

Astrid: 
With selfhood, conscious of itself, will I 
Weave in the self -surrendering Will of love; 
I will set free from fetters of desire 
The budding powers of Will, and will transform 
Thy crippled wish to spirit-certainty; 



The Soul's Probation 167 

That thou, beloved sister, mayest learn 
To find th3rself in distant paths of life. 

Luna: 
I will call self-denying powers of heart ; 
And will make firm enduring soul-repose; 
Then shall they wed, and raise up spirit-light 
In all its power from out the depths of soul. 
Then shall they interpenetrate and force 
Earth's bounds to heed the listening spirit-ear, 
Compel earth's distances to answer. 
That thou, beloved sister, mayest find 
Life's varied traces in Time's vast expanse. 

Maria {after a pause) : 
If I can only tear myself away 
From my bewildered consciousness of self 
And give myself to you: that thus ye may 
Reflect my very soul from cosmic space; 
Then from this sphere of life I gain release. 
And find myself in other states of being. 

(Long pause, then the following:) 
In you, my sisters, I see spirit-forms 
In whom dwell cosmic souls. Ye have the power 
To bring seed-forces from eternal realms 
To fruitage in humanity itself. 
Through my soul's gates oft have I found the way 
Into your kingdom, and have there beheld 
The primal shaping of this earthly globe 
With inner vision. Now your help I crave 
Since I am bidden to retrace the way 
That stretches back far from my present life 



i68 The SouFs 



To long past ages of humanity. 
Release my soul from consciousness of self 
In time-enclosed existence, and reveal 
The duties laid on me by former lives. 

A SpirU-voice, — the spiritual conscience: 
Her thoughts are seeking now 
For clues in Time's vast space. 
What as debt she still doth owe, 
What as duty is imposed, 
Arise from out her inmost depths of soul, 
From whose deepness dreaming 
Mankind doth guide his life. 
In whose deepness stra3dng 
Mankind himself doth lose. 

Curtain falls; everybody still standing on 

the stage 



Scene 3 

A room whose prevailing tint is rose-red, cheerftd 

atmosphere. 
Johannes at an easel; Maria enters later; finally the 

Spirit- Figures representing sotd-powers. 

Johannes: 
Maria, when she saw my picture last, 
Stood silent. Heretofore she ever gave 
Hints to assist the progress of my work 
From her rich store of wisdom manifold. 
Little as I can trust myself to judge 
Whether my art indeed accomplishes 
The task our spirit-current hath imposed, 
Yet is my confidence in her complete. 
And ever through my spirit ring her words 
Which lent me strength and brought me happiness 
When I took courage and began this work. 
' In such a way as this, ' she said, ' thou canst 
Attempt this enterprise, and so reveal 
Thy spirit's visions tmto earthly eyes. 
Thou wilt not fail to recognize how forms, 
Fashioned like thoughts, shape matter to their will; 
Nor yet how colour, to desire akin. 
Doth fill thy vital energy with warmth. 
In such wise canst thou even represent 

169 



I70 The Soul's Probation 

On canvas through thy skill the higher realms. ' 

I feel the power that dwells within these words 

And di£5;dently yield to that belief 

That I am drawing nearer to the goal 

Which Benedictus hath appointed me. 

Full oft I sat discouraged at my work; 

It seemed at one time so presumptuous, 

And at another so impossible 

To represent in colour and in form 

The visions that are granted to my soul. 

How can the ceaseless web of spirit-Ufe, 

Which is revealed to inner sight alone 

And is so far withdrawn from outward sense, 

Be manifest in n:iatter which is drawn. 

As drawn it must be, from the realm of sense? 

This question have I asked myself full oft. 

Yet when I banish personality, 

And follow spirit-teaching faithfully. 

And feel myself caught up in blessedness 

Unto creative forces of the worlds, 
…[truncated]