Marie Steiner-von Sivers, “Novalis,” and the Founding of the first Anthroposophical Society; Köln, Germany, December 1912

Rudolf Steiner placed enormous emphasis on the German early romantic poet Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg, 1772-1801). This aspect of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy is often underestimated, even by dedicated anthroposophists. Whereas Goethe and Goethe’s scientific writings and Goethe’s theories of aesthetics represent the well-known exoteric side of anthroposophy, Novalis is the often-unperceived esoteric side of anthroposophy. Rudolf Steiner’s Christology becomes incompressible without an understanding of Rudolf Steiner’s unique reading of Novalis, whom he identified as the herald of anthroposophy. This reading of Novalis evolved during the very dynamic, formative theosophical years of the anthroposophical movement, 1902 – 1914. During these years, Rudolf Steiner’s intimate collaborator, the theosophist Marie von Sivers, played a decisive role. She and Rudolf Steiner collaboratively presented Novalis and Novalis’s poetry at theosophical events. These events occurred in the context of the impending split of the German Section of the Theosophical Society (under the leadership of Rudolf Steiner) from the worldwide Anglo-American Theosophical Society. These are also the years of conflict over the context and importance of Buddhism, the so-called Boddhisattva conflict, and the lectures concerning the reappearance of the etheric Christ. Rudolf Steiner’s unique reading of Novalis, which he arrived at in collaboration with Marie von Sivers (not yet his wife at that time), provided the justification for his split from the Theosophical Society—it provided the justification for the anthroposophical movement (in contradistinction to theosophy), and it eventually provided the justification for the founding of the first anthroposophical society in Köln, December 1912. Indeed, this unique reading of Novalis is foundational to an understanding of Rudolf Steiner’s Christology, without which his anthroposophy makes no sense. From a literary perspective, if anthroposophy were a novel written by Rudolf Steiner, Novalis would be the all-important protagonist, without whom the plot would fall apart.