Healing Madonnas

This book presents and explores a little-known example of Rudolf Steiner’s efforts to bring, in a practical way, a contemporary embodiment of the wisdom that once lived in the ancient mysteries. In this instance, a sequence of fifteen images of the Madonna, intended originally for contemplation under supervision in a clinical setting as a new form of therapy for those suffering soul wounds.

In a 1908 lecture, Steiner addressed the subterranean spiritual links connecting ancient Egypt and our own time and described certain healing functions of the Isis Mysteries. He connected the Madonna Mary, in a sense, as the evolutionary metamorphosis of Isis, focusing on Raphael’s visionary image of her in the Sistine Madonna.

The sequence consists of fifteen images (predominantly by Raphael) and a sculpture. The first half begins and ends with the Sistine Madonna, which frames it. The second half is similarly framed, but by two details from The Transfiguration. One first establishes a meditative soul mood and then slowly contemplates the sequence of images.

Among the numerous topics discussed are divine feminine Wisdom, the Holy Mother, the origin of the Madonna sequence, the etheric body and the sequence, and Rudolf Steiner’s healing mission.