The following summary is primarily based on the lectures, books, and articles of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy or "Spiritual Science". Others, including the book "Initiation" by Elizabeth Haich, can be very helpful for further research. Any inconsistencies or misstatements are the sole responsibility of the author.
Dr. Steiner's works are available for free on www.rsarchive.com.
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"Spiritual science points to the fact that there are highly developed individuals called the “initiates.” In every age there have been secret schools where it was taught how, through exercises in meditation and concentration, a person could reach higher stages of development. Such exercises lead to insight that cannot be attained by means of the five senses and the intellect.
Inner meditative work enables the soul to become free of the senses; something occurs in an individual that is comparable to what happens in someone born blind and whose sight is restored. An inner process takes place through which the spiritual eyes and ears are opened. The whole of humanity will reach this stage, but only after long periods of time." -Rudolf Steiner, Supersensible Knowledge, GA 55, IV. The Origin of Evil, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA055/English/AP1987/19061122p02.html
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In light of Anthroposophy, the world is led by a group of spiritual and thought leaders who incarnate periodically who are the intermediaries between the divine and humanity; they fulfill spiritual missions that influence the world. These missions are often conducted anonymously.
Sometimes, as was the case with Dr. Rudolf Steiner, a public mission was undertaken. Some of these leaders have been canonized as Saints while others, such as Buddha, have founded religions. Many of these leader's names, deeds, and sacrifices are unknown to history and have evolved over time as humanity as evolved. Some are well known publicly but the true nature of their roles was, and many times remains, a secret.
This group of leaders have passed through rigorous paths of spiritual transformation and accomplished important missions that served, and continue to serve, a higher purpose for the world over the course of many lifetimes. These lifetimes brought impulses, and changes, to the world in alignment with the divine plan of world and human evolution. This group of people consists of both men and women who are born and live in all cultures of the world. Dr. Rudolf Steiner mentioned some of these thought and spiritual leaders by name who attained a high degree of spiritual initiation including, but not limited to, Christian Rosenkreutz, Gautama Buddha, Zarathustra, Moses, Hermes, St. Francis of Assisi, Johann Wolfram von Goethe, Joan of Arc, Thomas Aquinas, St. Odilia, St. Augustine, St. Patrick, St. Columba, and others.
These individuals have developed their consciousness to such a high degree that they live between two worlds; the physical and the spiritual. They are able to do this through an objective, balanced, and mature disposition. The path is an art and a science. These leaders have been with humanity since the beginning of time and their path, which is a path of expedited inner transformation, is open to everyone.
These leaders have been known by a variety of names including “Initiates,” "Masters", and “Messengers". In the East, they are sometimes referred to as "Gurus", a term which has become sensationalized. The Christian Bible referred to three of these individuals, who traveled afar from the East, as "Magi" who journeyed to Bethlehem to observe the birth of Jesus; the greatest of all initiates who developed himself to such a high degree that he became the carrier for the Christ in the world. The resurrected Lazarus (who was present at the Crucifixion and later authored the Book of John and The Book of Revelations), the 12 apostles, and others who followed Jesus during his life, in light of Anthroposophy, were initiates; those who had attained some degree of spiritual initiation and attainment that led to inner soul transformation in an expedited and deliberate way.
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"Let us ask: What is an initiate? In all ages of the post-Atlantean human evolution, an initiate has been a person who could lift himself above the outer physical sense-world and have his own personal experiences in the spiritual worlds, a person who could experience the spiritual worlds just as the ordinary human being experiences the physical sense-world through the outer senses, eyes, ears, etc. Such an initiate becomes then a witness of those worlds and their truths." -Rudolf Steiner, Lecture XI, Christian Initiation, The Gospel of John, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA103/English/AP1962/19080530p01.html
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"...to the path of initiation there belongs a certain preparation, as should be understandable to everyone. In our time this requires us to go deeply, in a real and not merely theoretical way, into the true, genuine spiritual science which, at least in our present time, must always be the point of departure, if we wish to understand what the way of initiation is. Regarding the essence of initiation it would be well to give a few introductory remarks in a certain direction.
You see, initiation is the highest which man can achieve in the course of the Earth-evolution, for it leads man to a certain understanding, to a real insight into the secrets of the spiritual world. What occurs in the spiritual worlds is really the content, the object, of initiation, and a real knowledge, an immediate perception, of events in the spiritual worlds is attained on the path of initiation. When initiation is characterized in this way, something very special must strike everyone who lets this characterization work on his soul. This is really to say, fundamentally, that initiation is — allow me the expression — a super-religious way.
The religions which in the course of human epochs have spread over the surface of the earth, and which still prevail among men, all of these, in so far as they are great religions, and in so far as we study them at their points of origin, were originally founded upon initiation, by initiates. They have flowed out of what great initiates have been able to give to men. But the religions were given in such a form that, in their contents, men received what was suitable to the time in which they lived, to the race to which they belonged, even to the region of the earth in which they lived." -Rudolf Steiner, GA 143, The Three Paths of the Soul to Christ, II. The Path of Initiation
17 April 1912, Stockholm, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA143/English/AP1942/19120417p01.html
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All genuine initiates are led and guided by a Collegium, or Council, of 12 Masters who are referred to in the East, and Anthroposophy, as "Bodhisattvas". A Bodhisattva is a master-initiate who has achieved his or her initiation repeatedly over the course of many lifetimes an reached the highest degrees of attainment. Once a Bodhisattva completes his or her stream of activity, which occurs over long periods of time in the physical world, then they ascend to the next stage which Dr. Steiner referred to as "Buddha". A Buddha no longer incarnates in the physical world and influences humanity from the spiritual spheres.
"...in the individuality of Gautama Buddha, something had lived which could appear in the world only on the basis of a long development. This individuality went through many incarnations, achieved higher and higher grades of evolution, and finally came so far that in the 29th year of his life as Gautama Buddha, he was able to rise from Bodhisatva to Buddha, was able to rise in such a way that he need never more return to a physical body. How did that which flows out from this individuality come into being? Every unprejudiced mind can feel what speaks out of the Buddha, can feel all that first came about and developed through the Bodhisatva in earth evolution after developing through many incarnations." -Rudolf Steiner, The Three Paths of the Soul to Christ, GA 143, Lecture I. The Path through the Gospels and The Path of Inner Experience, 16 April 1912, Stockholm, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA143/English/AP1942/19120416p01.html
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"Christ works as a macrocosmic Power and is not a teacher like the other teachers of humanity. He has united Himself with the Earth, as a reality, as power, as very life.
The loftiest teachers of the successive epochs are the Bodhisattvas who already in the pre-Christian era pointed to Christ in His full reality of being; again in the post-Christian era they point to Him as a Power Who is now united with the Earth. Thus the Bodhisattvas work both before and after Christ's physical life on Earth. He who was born as the son of a King in India, 550 years before Christ, lived and taught for twenty nine years as a Bodhisattva, and then ascended to the rank of Buddha; thereafter he was never again to appear on the Earth in a body of flesh but from then onwards he worked from the spiritual world.
When this Bodhisattva had become Buddha, he was succeeded by the new Bodhisattva whose mission it is to lead mankind to an understanding of the Christ Impulse. All these things had come to pass before the appearance of Christ on the Earth." - Rudolf Steiner, The Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz, GA 130.V. The Christ Impulse as Living Reality, 18 November 1911, Munich https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA130/English/RSP1950/19111118p01.html
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The 12 Bodhisattvas, in light of Anthroposophy, draw their purpose, forces, and mission, which evolves over time, from HE who is sometimes referred to as 13th disciple; the Christ who incarnated in Christ-Jesus.
Initiates are born into the world in each century with specific spiritual missions; sometimes to teach, but always to bring transformative forces and impulses into the world as humanity evolves and changes. Their tasks extend far beyond the path of mere egotism; that is not present in these individuals. Their missions always serve a broader and higher purpose for the world and humanity. Some of the names of high initiates were revealed by Dr. Steiner throughout his works and lectures including Christian Rosenkreutz; founder and leader of the Rosicrucian stream which, in modern times, has become sensationalized.
Other names of great spiritual leaders mentioned and elaborated upon by Dr. Rudolf Steiner who have brought spiritual impulses, and changes, to humanity includes Manu, Zarathustra, Buddha, Moses, Baldur, Orpheus, Parsifal, King Arthur, and Hermes. Behind these great leaders are supporters and workers who support their missions. These individuals worked, and continue to work, through streams of activity that carried living spiritual impulses to humanity. Each of these streams of activity support, and revolve around, the Christ and His ongoing mission in the world.
Thus, while each of us is on a unique path of change, whatever it may be and in whatever venue, there is an ongoing process is at work for those who choose to pursue the deliberate transformative path of the human soul that requires commitment, sacrifice, and training. The path is an art and a science. In Elizabeth Haich's book "Initiation, she makes reference to the path of initiation as the "artless art".
"Talent without diligence and diligence without talent is not art. But if you combine your talent with diligence, that is real art! You have talents which you simply allow to lie idle: the ability to express the spirit. Practise, practise, practise ... and you will become an artist in the kingly art which stands above all other art: in the artless art!'" -Elizabeth Haich, Initiation, Chapter 20, "The Ayur-Vedas"
This transformative process is known historically as "initiation" and culminates gradually over the course of many lifetimes as Samskara, or residual karma that reflects our lower selves as a disposition or imprint, is transformed and redeemed. It is a gradual process that can be accelerated as an individual matures. Transforming our lower aspect leads to a truly objective perception of the universe, which is not to say that we are devoid of love and feeling. During that process, and indeed the process of life, when a person decides to do so, our lower primal aspects, or the "dragon" in light of St. George and St. Michael, are transformed. In light of the laws of physics, and spiritual laws, energy never ceases to exist, it is transformed.
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“…we want to see clearly that there are differences among the beings who occupy leading positions in the human evolution of the earth. We have to distinguish such leading individualities in the course of human evolution who, as it were, developed from the beginning with humanity on this earth as it exists, but with the important distinction that they progressed more rapidly. We might put it this way: If we go back in time…we find the most varied stages of development among the human beings then incarnated. All the souls incarnated at that time have been repeatedly reincarnated…
The speed with which these souls developed varied. Some souls are alive that developed relatively slowly as they went through various incarnations; they still have long distances to traverse in the future. But then there are also those souls who have developed rapidly and who, one might say, have utilized their incarnations in a more productive way.
They are now on a high plane of soul-spiritual development, one that will be reached by normal human beings only in the far-distant future. But as we dwell on this sphere of soul life, we can nevertheless say this: No matter how advanced these individual souls may be, however far they may tower above normal human beings, yet within our earthly evolution they have made a journey similar to the rest of humanity, except that they have advanced more rapidly.” -Steiner, Rudolf. The Principle of Spiritual Economy, Lecture 2, Christianity in Human Evolution: Leading Individualities and Avatar Beings, Berlin, February 15, 1909. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/19090215p02.html
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-“The primary field of activity of the Bodhisattva is to engage as a bridge between the spiritual worlds and the physical world as great teachers who bring transformative impulses to humanity. Each of the 12 leaders necessarily incarnate periodically for a specific purpose. At a certain point, however, the Bodhisattva transcends to “Buddhahood” and influences humanity from the spiritual worlds only and ceases to incarnate in the physical world. As long as a Bodhisattva holds this office he devotes himself first and foremost to the task of teaching; for, as we have heard, when he attains the rank of Buddhahood he does not again descend to incarnation in a physical body. A Bodhisattva is a teacher until he becomes Buddha; from then onwards he is a power, an organizing, life-bestowing power.” -Steiner, Rudolf. The Gospel of Matthew, Berne, September 5, 1910, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA123/English/RSPC1946/GosMat_index.html
-“A survey of the whole of Earth evolution would reveal that there are twelve such Bodhisattvas. They belong to that great community of Spirits which from time to time sends one of the Bodhisattvas to the Earth as a special emissary, as one of the great Teachers. A Lodge of twelve Bodhisattvas is to be regarded as the Lodge directing all Earth evolution. The concept of ‘Teacher’ familiar to us at lower stages of existence can be applied, in essentials, to these twelve Bodhisattvas. They are Teachers, the great Inspirers of one portion or another of what mankind has to acquire.” - Steiner, Rudolf. The Gospel of Luke, Lecture 7, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA114/English/RSP1964/19090921p01.html
-“The Bodhisattvas succeed one another in the evolution of humanity as great Teachers and must not be confused with the One who is the very source of their teachings, from whom they receive what it is their mission to impart to the several epochs. We must picture a 'college' of Bodhisattvas and at its center the living source of the teachings. This living source is none other than He whom we are accustomed to call ‘Christ’. It is from Christ that all the Bodhisattvas receive what they have to impart to men in the course of the ages.” - Steiner, Rudolf, The Gospel of St. Matthew, Lecture Five, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA123/English/RSP1965/GoMatt_index.html
-"Generally speaking, it will be difficult for the feelings and perceptive faculties of men at the present time to have even an inkling of what lies behind this mystery. The mission of the Bodhisattva who became Buddha was to incorporate into humanity the principle of compassion and love. Twelve such Beings are connected with the Cosmos to which the Earth belongs. The Bodhisattva who became Buddha in the fifth/sixth century B.C. is one of these Twelve, all of whom have specific missions: Just as the mission of this particular Bodhisattva was to bring to the Earth the teaching of compassion and love, the other Bodhisattvas too have their missions which must be fulfilled in the different epochs of Earth evolution.
Gautama Buddha's connection with the mission of the Earth is especially close inasmuch as the development of the moral sense is precisely the task of our own epoch — from the time when the Bodhisattva appeared five to six centuries B.C. to the time when the Bodhisattva who succeeded him in that office will live on Earth as the Maitreya Buddha. That is how Earth evolution advances; the Bodhisattvas descend and have to incorporate into evolution from time to time what constitutes the object of their mission.
A survey of the whole of Earth evolution would reveal that there are twelve such Bodhisattvas. They belong to that great community of Spirits which from time to time sends one of the Bodhisattvas to the Earth as a special emissary, as one of the great Teachers. A Lodge of twelve Bodhisattvas is to be regarded as the Lodge directing all Earth evolution. The concept of ‘Teacher’ familiar to us at lower stages of existence can be applied, in essentials, to these twelve Bodhisattvas. They are Teachers, the great Inspirers of one portion or another of what mankind has to acquire.' -Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of St. Luke, Lecture 7, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA114/English/RSP1964/19090921p01.html
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“It is therefore quite correct to speak of the twelve Bodhisattvas in the great Spirit-Lodge grouped around One who is their Centre (The Christ); they are wrapped in contemplation of the sublime Being from whom there streams what they have then to inculcate into Earth evolution in fulfillment of their missions…” -Steiner, Rudolf. The Gospel of Luke, Lecture 7, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA114/English/RSP1964/19090921p01.html
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"What man can accomplish to-day by means of his own capacities, he had at one time to be taught — as a child is taught by its parents or teachers — by Beings who though incarnated among men were more highly developed by virtue of their spiritual faculties and could hold converse in the Mysteries with divine-spiritual Beings even loftier than themselves. Individualities who, though themselves incarnated in physical bodies, could have intercourse with still higher, non-incarnated Individualities, existed at all times. For example, before men acquired the faculty of logical thinking by means of which they themselves are able to think logically to-day, they were obliged to learn from certain teachers.
These teachers themselves were not able to think logically through faculties developed in the physical body itself, but only through their intercourse in the Mysteries with divine-spiritual Beings in higher realms. Such teachers proclaimed the principles of logic and morality from revelations they received from higher worlds in times before men themselves were able, out of their own earthly nature, to think logically or discover the principles of morality.
The Bodhisattvas are one category of Beings who, though incarnated in physical bodies, have inter-course with divine-spiritual Beings in order to bring down and impart to men what they themselves learn from their divine Teachers. The Bodhisattva is a Being incarnated in a human body, whose faculties enable him to commune with divine-spiritual Beings.
When the Earth was still in early stages of development, even before the Atlantean and Lemurian epochs, the Bodhisattva who was incarnated and became Buddha six hundred years before our era, was assigned a task which he never abandoned. From epoch to epoch, through every age, his work was to impart to Earth evolution as much as the beings concerned enabled it to receive. For each Bodhisattva there comes a time when, with the mission entrusted to him in the primeval past, he reaches a definite point — the point when what he has been able to let flow into humanity ‘from above’ can become a faculty of man's own.
A human faculty to-day was once a faculty of divine-spiritual Beings brought down to man from spiritual heights by the Bodhisattvas. Hence there comes a time when a spiritual emissary such as a Bodhisattva can say; ‘I have accomplished my mission. Humanity has now received that for which it has been prepared through many, many epochs.’ Having reached this point, the Bodhisattva can become ‘Buddha’.
That is to say, the time has come when he, as a Being with the particular mission to which I have referred, need no longer incarnate in a human physical body; he has incarnated for the last time in such a body and need not incarnate again as a spiritual emissary in the above sense." -Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of St. Luke, Lecture 2, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA114/English/RSP1964/19090916p01.html
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In the ancient world before the Event of Golgotha in 33AD, individuals who were sufficiently prepared and ready for the great challenge of spiritual initiation were trained in what is referred to as "Mystery Centers" in Anthroposophical literature. These facilities existed in every culture in the world.
Each region and culture of the world contained within it, somewhere, Mystery Centers which resembled temples and academies. Training was intellectual, social, dietary, and spiritual. These academies were similar to universities in the modern world with teachers and a path of education that followed a curriculum tailored for the individual. It was a curriculum, however, that extended beyond intellectual testing. That was only part of it.
A path was revealed to the candidates at these small academies, each of which had a unique cultural character across the world, where they could cultivate and develop a genuine perceptive ability, and expanded faculty, so they could create and rely on an individual bridge to the spiritual worlds. They were spiritual teachers and messengers and were looked upon as such by the masses. Their advice and council were sought after.
Gaining entrance into these academies was a challenging proposition and most who applied and/or were admitted to these academies, which were well known in the ancient world, frequently failed their examinations and rigorous tests; both spiritual and intellectual. Karmic histories, for example, were examined and the student was placed before a series of challenges intended to get at the heart of the soul, and character, of the candidate. Moral testing was a key aspect of training in the mysteries. Once admitted, very few made it to the final stages of initiation. During the long path, training was gradual.
Thus, in times long since past, the hidden aspects of human existence were revealed only to those candidates for spiritual initiation who went through long, arduous, planned, and challenging cycles of discipline, training, and preparation at special training facilities and temples that were designed specifically for the purpose of expedited spiritual education and transformation.
If the candidate failed the tests or was unprepared, the outcome could be a diminution and contraction of consciousness, insanity, or perhaps even death. If the candidate returned successfully to his or her body after the 3 ½ day "temple sleep" period where the candidate slept in a sleep-like condition in a tomb that imitated the death experience that each person passes through at the end of our lives, he or she awakened as a transformed individual with greatly expanded faculties, insights, and capabilities that far exceeded those who lived otherwise traditional lives.
The knowledge accumulated by the student, or neophyte, was both scientific and spiritually founded. Thus, some students who were trained in the mysteries such as Pythagoras, who received his training at an Egyptian and Chaldean Mystery centers according to Dr. Steiner, fulfilled broader missions on behalf of humanity, and shared their knowledge. Others pursued unique paths, but Pythagoras' teaching task, which occurred through the Greeks, was through mathematics. These leaders, or "initiates", walked and lived the ennobled path of service to the world.
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“If we were to speak of the nature of the Mysteries and their Initiates in the language of current thought, we should say that the Mysteries are schools for the training of those faculties which enable the soul of man to have actual vision of the spiritual worlds. They are schools, where in a methodical and systematic way, man's soul is so guided and trained that he can finally perceive the higher worlds with spiritual eyes and ears.
Although modern scholarship knows little of the Mysteries, they are nevertheless still in existence today and are the means whereby man can be led consciously to the spiritual worlds. And the whole content of Spiritual Science, everything that is communicated in Spiritual Science, is, in its essence, Mystery-wisdom.” -Rudolf Steiner, The European Mysteries and their Initiates, GA57, May 6, 1909. Berlin. From: Anthroposophy: A Quarterly Review — Michaelmas 1929 No. 3 Vol. 4.
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"It is not easy for our present consciousness to form a true conception of these ancient Mysteries and their Initiates, for the nature of our education and the knowledge resulting therefrom does not conduce to an understanding of the nature of Initiation — far from it! If we were to speak of the nature of the Mysteries and their Initiates in the language of current thought, we should say that the Mysteries are schools for the training of those faculties which enable the soul of man to have actual vision of the spiritual worlds.
They are schools, where in a methodical and systematic way, man's soul is so guided and trained that he can finally perceive the higher worlds with spiritual eyes and ears. Although modern scholarship knows little of the Mysteries, they are nevertheless still in existence today and are the means whereby man can be led consciously to the spiritual worlds. — And the whole content of Spiritual Science, everything that is communicated in Spiritual Science, is, in its essence, Mystery-wisdom.
Through all the ages there have been centers for developing the faculty of fully conscious clairvoyance and the aim of the present lecture is to give a cursory survey of the European Mysteries. The man who so trains his soul that he can perceive in higher worlds, is an Initiate.” -Steiner, Rudolf. The European Mysteries and their Initiates, GA57, May 6 ,1909. Berlin.
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The Mystery Centers of old, which served as academies that guided candidates through a structured process of spiritual initiation over the course of many years, have changed due to the Christ Event, who was the fulfillment of all of the Mysteries, and the progress of history. Although not perceptible to most of us today, the Christ Event, in light of Anthroposophy, transformed the physical and spiritual worlds forever.
Dr. Steiner revealed that a certain diminution of consciousness, which had been progressing for some time due to a variety of influences, was offset by the Light of the World through the Christ Event which now permeates humanity, the physical world, and the spiritual worlds which allows us to fulfill our destiny.
Dr. Steiner wrote and lectured widely on the various aspects of the Cosmic Event which was gradually prepared for over the course of humanity history. A very real revivification, in light of Anthroposophy, occurred for the human spirit, the world, and our destiny that was passed on to everyone regardless of culture, creed, race, gender, education, or level of attainment...
In conclusion, the initiates were, and are, individuals who have attainment amongst humanity in both spiritual and intellectual terms. They are the bridges, and leaders, of humanity who often work anonymously in all cultures of the world. They serve to bring the Christ Event into the world over the long progress of history, and continue to support His mission today and will do so into the future; a mission which evolves over time as humanity evolves.
In the modern world, previously hidden knowledge has now been brought forth into the public domain through the activities of these spiritual and thought leaders who seek to bring that sacred knowledge to the public, in alignment with the Age of Michael which began in 1879AD in light of Anthroposophy, so that anyone can pursue the challenging and rewarding path of spiritual discovery, in light of the New Mysteries, as an individual mission.