Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 114
Indeed, a ―Catholic Method‖ or ―Catholic-inspired‖ public district school or public charter
school describing itself thus would simply not be believed. Anthroposophy is getting away
with it because people don‘t know what it is.
A Racial Theory of History
Madame Blavatsky, drawing from Hindu traditions about events of history being predestined
to occur in cycles, defined an elaborate system of wheels within wheels. In Theosophy‘s
cosmology, seven Planetary Conditions (Mantavaras) each contain seven Life Kingdoms
each Life Kingdom contains seven Global States each Global State contains seven Root-
Races and each Root-Race contains seven Sub-Races. Sub-Race periods are 2160 years
long, 1/12 of the astronomical period of the precession of the equinoxes, called the Platonic
Year. Anthroposophy adopts this scheme directly. Anthroposophy‘s Sub-Race periods are
therefore ―Platonic Months.‖
According to Theosophy and Anthroposophy, the present time is in the ―Earth‖ Planetary
Condition, the ―Mineral‖ Life Kingdom, the ―Physical-Etheric‖ Global State, the ―Aryan‖ Root-
Race, and the ―Aryan‖ Sub-Race. Why are the smaller time periods called ―races‖? Because,
according to divine plan, humanity, which has always been present throughout cosmic
history, is supposed to evolve through higher and higher racial forms. According to the plan,
the races whose evolutionary tasks are done are supposed to die out. The actions of evil
deities flawed the plan, however, and so ―left behind‖ races still exist. Steiner taught:
We are within the great Root Race of humanity, which has peopled the earth,
since the land on which we now live rose up out of the inundations of the
ocean. Ever since the Atlantean Race began slowly to disappear, the great
Aryan Race has been the dominant one on earth. If we contemplate
ourselves, we here in Europe are thus the fifth Sub-Race of the great Aryan
Root Race. The first Sub-Race lived in the distant past in Ancient India. And
the present-day Indians are descendants of that first Sub-Race, whose
spiritual life is still extant in the ancient Indian Vedas. The Vedas are indeed
only echoes of the ancient culture of the Rishis. At that time there was of
course no writing yet — there was only tradition. Then came the second, third
and fourth Sub-Races. The fourth Sub-Race adopted Christianity. Then,
halfway through the Middle Ages, we see that the fifth Sub-Race formed
itself, to which we and the neighboring nations belong. (Steiner, 1985a, p.
220)
This mythology, of the Aryan race originating in Atlantis, migrating to Asia and then west to
Europe, provided what was claimed as a scientific foundation for racism and anti-Semitism
in Steiner‘s time. The mythology can be traced from its origin in Blavatsky to Steiner and
the Ariosophists, like List and Lanz in the next generation, and on to its tragic finale with
Nazi theorist Rosenberg and the Holocaust (Goodrick-Clarke, 1992, Rosenberg, 1993). It‘s
difficult to believe that there are still people studying and promulgating this pseudo-
historical theory today they‘d have to be Neo-Nazis or wearing cult blinders. There are neo-
Nazis in Europe who follow Steiner (Staudenmaier, date unknown), but the overwhelming
majority of Anthroposophical publications reject Naziism while at the same time defending a
racial theory that formed part of the philosophical foundation of Naziism (e.g. Kerkvliet,
2000). The examples that follow are all from Anthroposophic presses.
Jewry as such has long since outlived its time it has no more justification
within the modern life of peoples, and the fact that it continues to exist is a
mistake of world history whose consequences are unavoidable. We do not
mean the forms of the Jewish religion alone, but above all the spirit of Jewry,
the Jewish way of thinking. (Steiner, 1971, p. 152)
Indeed, a ―Catholic Method‖ or ―Catholic-inspired‖ public district school or public charter
school describing itself thus would simply not be believed. Anthroposophy is getting away
with it because people don‘t know what it is.
A Racial Theory of History
Madame Blavatsky, drawing from Hindu traditions about events of history being predestined
to occur in cycles, defined an elaborate system of wheels within wheels. In Theosophy‘s
cosmology, seven Planetary Conditions (Mantavaras) each contain seven Life Kingdoms
each Life Kingdom contains seven Global States each Global State contains seven Root-
Races and each Root-Race contains seven Sub-Races. Sub-Race periods are 2160 years
long, 1/12 of the astronomical period of the precession of the equinoxes, called the Platonic
Year. Anthroposophy adopts this scheme directly. Anthroposophy‘s Sub-Race periods are
therefore ―Platonic Months.‖
According to Theosophy and Anthroposophy, the present time is in the ―Earth‖ Planetary
Condition, the ―Mineral‖ Life Kingdom, the ―Physical-Etheric‖ Global State, the ―Aryan‖ Root-
Race, and the ―Aryan‖ Sub-Race. Why are the smaller time periods called ―races‖? Because,
according to divine plan, humanity, which has always been present throughout cosmic
history, is supposed to evolve through higher and higher racial forms. According to the plan,
the races whose evolutionary tasks are done are supposed to die out. The actions of evil
deities flawed the plan, however, and so ―left behind‖ races still exist. Steiner taught:
We are within the great Root Race of humanity, which has peopled the earth,
since the land on which we now live rose up out of the inundations of the
ocean. Ever since the Atlantean Race began slowly to disappear, the great
Aryan Race has been the dominant one on earth. If we contemplate
ourselves, we here in Europe are thus the fifth Sub-Race of the great Aryan
Root Race. The first Sub-Race lived in the distant past in Ancient India. And
the present-day Indians are descendants of that first Sub-Race, whose
spiritual life is still extant in the ancient Indian Vedas. The Vedas are indeed
only echoes of the ancient culture of the Rishis. At that time there was of
course no writing yet — there was only tradition. Then came the second, third
and fourth Sub-Races. The fourth Sub-Race adopted Christianity. Then,
halfway through the Middle Ages, we see that the fifth Sub-Race formed
itself, to which we and the neighboring nations belong. (Steiner, 1985a, p.
220)
This mythology, of the Aryan race originating in Atlantis, migrating to Asia and then west to
Europe, provided what was claimed as a scientific foundation for racism and anti-Semitism
in Steiner‘s time. The mythology can be traced from its origin in Blavatsky to Steiner and
the Ariosophists, like List and Lanz in the next generation, and on to its tragic finale with
Nazi theorist Rosenberg and the Holocaust (Goodrick-Clarke, 1992, Rosenberg, 1993). It‘s
difficult to believe that there are still people studying and promulgating this pseudo-
historical theory today they‘d have to be Neo-Nazis or wearing cult blinders. There are neo-
Nazis in Europe who follow Steiner (Staudenmaier, date unknown), but the overwhelming
majority of Anthroposophical publications reject Naziism while at the same time defending a
racial theory that formed part of the philosophical foundation of Naziism (e.g. Kerkvliet,
2000). The examples that follow are all from Anthroposophic presses.
Jewry as such has long since outlived its time it has no more justification
within the modern life of peoples, and the fact that it continues to exist is a
mistake of world history whose consequences are unavoidable. We do not
mean the forms of the Jewish religion alone, but above all the spirit of Jewry,
the Jewish way of thinking. (Steiner, 1971, p. 152)
