yellow leaves, or none, or few
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
—William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 73"
Featured Titles
Bridges between Life and Death
Iris Paxino
How can we change the way we think about dying and death? Can we build a new relationship with loved ones who have passed? Iris Paxino leads the reader through the process of dying and the moment of death and goes on to explore different aspects of death, from fear of death, to meeting with Christ, to materialistic and atheist outlooks. These thoughtful insights help readers to understand more about death and dying, as well as the journey of the soul after life, leading to the possibility of a new connection with lost loved ones. READ MORE
Meditations for the Dead
Connecting to Those Who Have Died
Rudolf Steiner
As a spiritual teacher, Rudolf Steiner wrote many inspired and beautifully crafted verses. Often they were given in relation to specific situations or in response to individual requests; sometimes they were offered to assist generally in the process of meditation. Regardless of their origins, they are uniformly powerful in their ability to connect the meditating individual with spiritual archetypes.
Staying Connected
How to Continue Your Relationships with Those Who Have Died
Rudolf Steiner
How can we change the way we think about dying and death? Can we build a new relationship with loved ones who have passed? Iris Paxino leads the reader through the process of dying and the moment of death and goes on to explore different aspects of death, from fear of death, to meeting with Christ, to materialistic and atheist outlooks. These thoughtful insights help readers to understand more about death and dying, as well as the journey of the soul after life, leading to the possibility of a new connection with lost loved ones. READ MORE
Books by Arie Boogert
What Happens After We Die
Making the Connection between the Living and the Dead
Arie Boogert, a seasoned priest of The Christian Community, offers a detailed description of what happens after we die. He begins with the days immediately following death and, juxtaposing descriptions by Rudolf Steiner, shows how we separate gradually from our earthly existence, beginning with a vivid review of our life on Earth.
What Happens Before We Are Born
Creating Our Living Web of Destiny
Arie Boogert extends much of what he expressed in What Happens after We Die. He maps out many facets of Rudolf Steiner's insights into the life that follows death, focusing especially on the period leading to a new birth. The author describes the experiences of the deceased, who—along with others who have died—is preparing a new incarnation on Earth and setting a course toward a “revised and improved edition” of one’s human adventure on Earth.
From the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner
The Mystery of Death
The Nature and Significance of Central Europe and the European Folk-Spirits
15 lectures, various cities, January 31 – June 19, 1915 (CW 159)
Translated by Simon Blaxland-de Lange
Here we have an example of what must arise within humanity if it is to develop the state in which it is now living into a higher one for the future of the Earth. It must indeed become something that people all share that such thinking is possible, and that only through such thinking is a person able to make his acquaintance with the spiritual world. This does not mean that everyone needs to become a spirit-researcher, no more than anyone wanting to understand the achievements of chemistry needs to become a chemist. After all, even though there can be only a small number of spirit-researchers, anyone can, through unprejudiced thinking, see and understand the truth of what the spirit-researcher says. But it must become clear that in the course of life there reside within a person soul-capacities which, once he has passed through the gate of death, likewise of themselves become what they become in an initiate. When someone crosses the threshold of death, thinking becomes a completely different capacity of soul: it reaches out into the world of being. It is a continual extending of feeling-antennae, and the higher worlds are embraced within these feeling-antennae and one experiences them directly . . .
—Rudolf Steiner, in a lecture of March 7, 1915,
in The Mystery of Death (CW 159)