7 lectures, Dornach, January 4-13, 1918 (CW 180); 1 lecture, December 24, 1920 (CW 202)

In this series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner repeatedly challenges us to awaken a new way of thinking that can truly penetrate into the social questions surrounding us. As he so often did, Steiner emphasizes how Spiritual Science can, indeed must, address the pressing issues of the day. It might seem strange to some readers that a book with the title Ancient Myths should be a call to a new understanding of our modern condition, yet it is through an appreciation of the significance of myths in the lives of ancient peoples that Steiner makes clear the challenges we face in our modern ways of knowing (from the introduction).

Ancient myths are an expression of great truths about the nature of the universe and human development. Through mysterious, lively images, they describe knowledge of a people’s origin, their place in the cosmos, and their unique state of consciousness. Because modern consciousness has become so abstract, such stories challenge us to exercise a different kind of consciousness to experience their truths and reunite with the realities they describe.

In these eight lectures, Steiner looks at Egyptian, Greek, and Hebrew myths, illustrating how they express people’s consciousness then. He views in the Osiris-Isis story an expression of the loss of direct perception of the invisible, suprasensory realm. He shows the connection between that loss and the challenge we face today in bringing new life to our abstract thinking and understanding the world.

Steiner offers remarkable a new Isis legend. In the Egyptian myth, the veiled Isis says, I am the All. I am the Past, the Present, and the Future. No mortal has yet lifted my veil. In the New Isis legend, as told by Rudolf Steiner, the Isis figure states, I am the Human Being. I am the Past, the Present, and the Future. Every mortal should lift my veil. This extraordinary story challenges modern humanity to awake to a new consciousness of the spiritual forces that work in our lives and in society. We are to bear this new spirit within us with increasing understanding and a fresh sense of responsibility.

This book offers tremendous inspiration to transform our head knowledge into heart knowledge and to lift the veil to spirit and know our place and purpose in the past, present, and future.

Ancient Myths and the New Isis Mystery is a translation from German of 7 (of 16) lectures from Mysterienwahrheiten und Weihnachtsimpulse. Alte Mythen und ihre Bedeutung. Geistige Wesen und Ihre Wirkung Band IV (GA 180) and one lecture from Der Mensch in Zusammenhang mit dem Kosmos 2: Die Brucke zwischen der Weltgeistigkeit und dem Physischen des Menschen. Die Suche nach der neuen Isis, der goettlichen Sophia (GA 202). Cover image The Goddess Isis stretching her winged arms in a protective gesture (from the tomb of Seti, 19th Dynasty).