JMG on Thoth Hermes podcast

[ecosophia]

I'm back on the Thoth Hermes podcast with host Rudolf, discussing the occult revival of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from Eliphas Lévi on. It was as always a good lively conversation covering a great deal of territory, some of which -- but not all! -- will be familiar to my readers.  Check it out here. 

Comments

[ahriman]

Your comments on the Anthroposophical society are spot on - especially the American branch.

Which in a sense is odd, because people there are actually not very dogmatic and naturally respectful of the freedom of others (that part of Steiner's view did survive in the current practice, yay!).

One of the things that make Steiner one of the most important figures ever is the fact that he left a lot of things that are practical implementations. Waldorf, Biodynamic agriculture, the 3 fold social organism, ... And many of these things were revolutionary at the time and very needed now.

But anthroposophists are stuck.

[ecosophia]

I probably would have ended up as an Anthroposophist in the 1980s -- I read several of Steiner's books then -- but every Anthroposophist I encountered in Washington state at that time was a dogmatic tub-thumping true believer with a decidedly angry streak. I was, ahem, unimpressed, since I've always tended to assess spiritual paths by the people they attract.

And it sucks, because Steiner's work -- especially the early stuff -- is extraordinarily useful, and can be combined with other Western esoteric traditions (how's that for blasphemy, according to the Dornach crowd?) with very good results.

[booklover1973]

From what I have read, the German anthroposophists seem to be particularly prone to group-think, illustrated by the fact that anthroposophical writings in the German-speaking parts of Europe come out from only two publishers: one in Dornach and one in Stuttgart, both rather wealthy, bourgeois places.