Rudolf Steiner (Feb. 27, 1861-Mar. 30, 1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austria (now in Croatia) in 1861 and died in Dornach, Switzerland in 1925. In university, he concentrated on mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Having written his thesis on philosophy, Steiner earned his doctorate and was later drawn into literary and scholarly circles and participated in the rich social and political life of Vienna.

During the 1890s, Steiner worked for seven years in Weimar at the Goethe archive, where he edited Goethe's scientific works and collaborated in a complete edition of Schopenhauer's work. Weimar was a center of European culture at the time, which allowed Steiner to meet many prominent artists and cultural figures. In 1894 Steiner published his first important work, Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path: A Philosophy of Freedom, now published as one of the Classics in Anthroposophy.

"Human beings must attain an esoteric maturity in order to think not merely abstractly, 

but to be able to think so concretely that they can again become festival-creating. 

Then it will be possible again to unite something spiritual with the cycle of sense 

phenomena." These five lectures were given at Easter, 1923. Rudolf Steiner, 

in a fully conscious way, laid a foundation for celebrating the Christian 

festivals -Christmas, Easter, St. John's, and Michaelmas. This is begun with 

a description of how the festival year evolved over long ages from the 

Earth's cycle of inbreathing and outbreathing. 

These forces are the Earth's soul activities in relation to the cosmos. 

Steiner reveals the deep relationship between humanity and the seasons of the Earth,

 the solstices, and the equinoxes. And through the festivals of the seasons, 

he reveals humanity's relationship to the Christ Being The esoteric realities 

behind the festivals are also discussed in relation to sub-earthly and 

supra-earthly forces, the ancient Mysteries, the activity of the Archangel Michael, 

morality, and the arts.

 96pages/8.7 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches

• Publisher: Anthroposophic Press; 1st edition (November 1, 1984)
• • ISBN-13: 978-0880100816