Druid
Druids acted as initiates in the Druid Mysteries and in the Scandinavian Mysteries, the so-called Drottes Mysteries, and formed the spiritual elite of the Celts. Druidesses worked as seers and fortune tellers. The origin of the name is disputed. Pliny the Elder derives it from the Greek: δρυς (drys "oak"), since the mistletoe growing on the oaks was of particular cultic and medicinal importance to the Druids[1]. The well-known image of the white-clad druids cutting mistletoe from the trees with their golden sickle also goes back to Pliny. Posidonius (135-51 BC) characterises the Druids as wise philosophers. Other ancient authors, however, also describe the Druids hosting cruel sacrificial ceremonies in which people were killed by a dagger thrust above the diaphragm in order to predict the future from their death twitches[2] and people were offered as burnt offerings in willow braids that were supposed to represent images of gods. According to Caesar's account in the Gallic War[3], the Druids advocated the doctrine of rebirth. The church fathers Hippolytus of Rome and Clement of Alexandria saw a connection with the teachings of Pythagoras.
Literature
- Charles William Heckethorn: Geheime Gesellschaften, Geheimbünde und Geheimlehren, Autorisierte deutsche Ausgabe, bearbeitet von Leopold Katscher, Leipzig, Rengersche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1900 (neu verlegt im Anaconda Verlag, Köln 2007, ISBN 978-3-86647-087-3) [1]
- Rudolf Steiner: Wo und wie findet man den Geist?, GA 57 (1984), ISBN 3-7274-0570-8 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Die Tempellegende und die Goldene Legende , GA 93 (1991), ISBN 3-7274-0930-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Grundelemente der Esoterik, GA 93a (1987), ISBN 3-7274-0935-5 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Mythen und Sagen. Okkulte Zeichen und Symbole, GA 101 (1992), ISBN 3-7274-1010-8 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Das Lukas-Evangelium, GA 114 (2001), ISBN 3-7274-1140-6 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Der Jahreskreislauf als Atmungsvorgang der Erde und die vier großen Festeszeiten, GA 223 (1990), ISBN 3-7274-2231-9 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Initiationswissenschaft und Sternenerkenntnis, GA 228 (2002), ISBN 3-7274-2280-7 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Aus den Inhalten der esoterischen Stunden, Band I: 1904 – 1909, GA 266/1 (1995), ISBN 3-7274-2661-6 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
- Rudolf Steiner: Rhythmen im Kosmos und im Menschenwesen. Wie kommt man zum Schauen der geistigen Welt?, GA 350 (1991), ISBN 3-7274-3500-3 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
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References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF. |
References
- ↑ Pliny the Elder: Naturalis historia 16, 249.
- ↑ Diodorus: Bibliotheca historica, 5, 31; Strabo: Geographika, 4, 4, 5
- ↑ Julius Cäsar: Commentarii de bello Gallico 6, 13-14.
