 Calendar
of the Soul
Facsimile Edition of the original book
containing the
calendar created by
Rudolf Steiner for the year 1912-1913
At the Turn
of Time
Cosmic-Spirit-Light descended
Into the earth's stream of being.
Night's darkness
Had run its course.
Day-bright Light
Streamed into human souls . . .
The Calendar of the Soul,
Rudolf Steiner's book of fifty-two weekly meditative verses
that run from Easter to Easter is familiar to most
anthroposophists. Few, however, know anything of its history. The form in which it
usually appears
today derives from the 1925 edition, which appeared only a few
days after Steiner's death. This was the first printing of the
verses in their current form in a commercially available
edition. Seven years earlier, in 1918, an edition with a short
introduction by Rudolf Steiner appeared as the thirteenth of
the "Colourful Waldorf Astoria Booklets," tiny books packaged
with Waldorf Astoria cigarettes and intended for soldiers in
the trenches. The project was the initiative of Emil Molt, the
owner of the cigarette company, who was an anthroposophist and
close friend of Rudolf Steiner. Molt was also a friend of
Hermann Hesse. This is why, as the Calendar of the Soul
accompanied cigarettes into the trenches, it also appeared in
a series of books edited by Hesse for German prisoners of war.
Neither of these editions was available in bookstores.
The Calendar itself,
however, had
come into being seven years previously. Imma von Eckhardstein,
who had been a member of Steiner's inner circle of co-workers
since 1904, first had the idea in spring 1911. Soon
thereafter, for reasons of health, Marie von Sivers (Steiner)
decided to spend three months at Portorose, near Trieste, on
the Adriatic. Imma von Eckhardstein accompanied her. Rudolf
Steiner also spent much time there when not lecturing. Imma
von Eckhardstein was given the task of illustrating the
calendar following Steiner's indications for new monthly
zodiacal images, as well as for other images.
Publication was planned for
the end of 1911, with the help of a grant from the Foundation
for Theosophical Art. The actual printing occurred in Munich
in March 1912 under the watchful eyes of Imma von Eckhardstein.
Books were available in April. Only a limited edition was
published, and it was never reissued.
This original edition is
now available with an introduction and translations by
Christopher Bamford. It includes the original illustrations of
the new zodiac signs as well Steiner's own preliminary
sketches and oral explanations of them.
Steiner Books
Translation by Christopher Bamford
Illustrations by Imma von Eckhardstein
160pp; paperback
ISBN: 0-88010-534-8
To purchase this title, click here:
Calendar of the Soul 1912-1913 - Rudolf Steiner
Prompt
delivery within the United Kingdom and overseas.
Copyright © 2005 Skylark Books
|
