This essay is addressed to readers familiar with the concepts and the esoteric understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha in anthroposophy. Hence we take for granted the knowledge of the third Sorath-impulse in 1998 as predicted by Rudolf Steiner from the apocalyptic number of the beast, 666, and how this impulse generates special significance from four circumstances: 1) simply by being the third in the sequence: 666, 1332, 1998, since Sorath, the Sun Demon, wishes to mock the Holy Trinity and the Mystery of Golgotha associated with the number 333 (1998 = 3 x 666 or 6 x 333); 2) due to the fact that this third impulse is the first after the beginning of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural age in 1413 and the dawn of the consciousness soul, which is also the start of the direct influence of the Asuras on man in consequence of this new exceedingly individualized thought- and ego structure; 3) because of the conjunction with the predicted appearance of the Etheric Christ in the first third of the twentieth century (1933) and his taking over the function as Lord of Karma at the end of the century; 4) and finally owing to the impending incarnation (incorporation) of Ahriman in a human being in the beginning of the third millennium. If we pause and consider for a moment the pivotal cosmic and evolutionary meaning of the Mystery of Golgotha in the middle of creative time and space, then we can also appreciate the importance of the year 1998 and the present period only some 2000 years after the Resurrection of Christ. Actually they are highly integrated, synchronized and coordinated events.

Not that this urgent situation has drawn much attention outside anthroposophical circles and even within these only to some degree, although several books have been published on the subject. In comparison to the apocalyptic fuss about the year 2012 and the date 21.12 of winter solstice, where the Maya calendar ends and abruptly stops its “long count” of 5.125 years … signalling what? … the end of the world or a total New-Age-style beginning? … there has been next to silence in the public at large with regard to this crucial time for esoteric (and exoteric) Christianity, and, frankly, the true spiritual future of man. The most recent anthroposophically inspired book[i] on 1998 and the coming of Ahriman tries to remedy this omission by combining these two dates and themes (1998 and 2012). The authors take their point of departure in Rudolf Steiner’s account of the ahrimanic Mexican mysteries of cruel black magic concomitant with the Christ-events of Palestine and try to approximate time cycles and specific dates of esoteric Christianity (based on the factor: 1 day in the 1290 days of the ministry of Jesus Christ = 1 orbit of Saturn = 29½ years) to the year 2012, which takes them to the year 2018. Yet another approximation relates to the astronomic importance of winter solstice 2012 due to its very rare alignment with the centre of our galaxy, actually a “window of alignment” spanning the period 1980-2016. The authors fasten on the year 2016 as a final limit for this alignment and the proximity of the “2012-window” (1980-2016) with the “present Christ-day”, the “thirty-ninth day” of the temptation of Christ in human calendar (1988-2018). But actually the midpoint of the “2012-window” is 1998, making this year even more decisive. Surely the linking together of the ahrimanic Mexican mysteries of black magic with the present-day Sorath-impulse and the coming of Ahriman from the American continent and hence the possible relevance of the Mayan calendar for our understanding of the present time is undeniable, but the connection between the years 1998 and 2012 can readily be understood on a more evident background.

In order to understand this connection, we must first point out some other landmarking dates and cycles pertaining to this whole time-complex. Of course these dates and periods are also discussed in the above-mentioned book as elsewhere in anthroposophical literature with references to Rudolf Steiner’s work. We have the battle between Michael and the ahrimanic angels around the earth and their downfall from 1841-79. Michael is appointed the new Time Spirit in 1841 (for the rest of the fifth period until 3573) and is also the leading Archangel from 1879 (for the next 350 years). This adds enormous weight to the importance of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Then in 1899 we have the end of the Kali Yuga, the dark age of materialism, lasting 5000 years! And finally we have the forthcoming appearance of Christ in the etheric, the Parousia or the Second Coming of Christ in the Christian tradition, anticipated by Rudolf Steiner to occur in 1933. In connection with the Etheric Christ we have the cycle of 33.33 years corresponding with the total lifetime of Jesus Christ [ii], which demarcate the years 1899, 1933, 1966 and 1999 as important (56^th – 59^th cycle since the Resurrection, 5. April, A. D. 33), and we notice here the remarkable coincidence of those years with the end of Kali Yuga 1899 and with the Sorath impulse of 1998.

Now, to understand the connection between the years 1998 and 2012, we can draw on an interesting work on The Occult Significance of the 12 Years, 1933-45, in the Light of Spiritual Science.[iii] In this book the author reflects on the (perhaps too) early death of Rudolf Steiner in 1925, which prevented him from carrying over the impulse of anthroposophy to the decisive year 1933. The author then conveys a supersensible event in the Michael-community during the years 1933-45 based on the surplus of life force from the “missing” years (1924-1931/3) of Rudolf Steiner’s lifetime on earth, and he expands this Michaelic influence to the periods 1967-79 and 1999/2000-12, pointing out that 1979 is the “first full resurrection cycle (3 x 33.33 years) of Michael’s epoch (1879-1979)”. We might add that 1979 is also 3 x 33.33 years after the downfall of the ahrimanic angels after their heavenly battle with Michael (1841-79). There is every reason to believe that Michaels activity responds to and is coordinated with the 33.33 year cycle of the Etheric Christ, and so we must understand the 12-year periods of 1933-45, 1966/67-79 and 1999/2000-12 as a timeframe in which Michael battles intensively on behalf of Christ with the opposing powers carrying on his achievement in 1841-79, and we might add to this scheme the period from 1899-1911/12. It seems as if there is a 12 year displacement between the two 33.33 cycles of Michael and the Etheric Christ leading up to the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the new millennium. The “battle-periods” correspond with yet another feature of the Etheric Christ-cycle.[iv] We must assume that the last 3½ year of the 33.33 year cycle corresponding with the ministry of Jesus Christ is a period of special positive impulse generation, for example in 1962-66/67, then followed by a battle in 1966/67-79. We see here a pattern of synchronized cooperation between Christ and Michael. Since the 33.33 years cycle of the etheric Christ beginning in 1999 corresponds with the 1998 Sorath impulse and is followed by the 12 year Michael-battle 1999/2000-12, evidently the two years 1998 and 2012 are closely linked together in esoteric Christianity. These considerations leave us with an overall time schedule for this whole complex of supersensible and historic events in which Sorath is mimicking and shadowing the etheric Christ.    

1841-79                   Michael-battle with the ahrimanic angels and their downfall

1896-99                   Christ-impulse shadowed by coming Sorath-impulse

1899-1911/12           Michael-battle with opposing powers

1899-1933               1st endgame-cycle of the etheric Christ

1929-33                   Christ-impulse shadowed by coming Sorath-impulse

1933-45                   Michael-battle with opposing powers

1933-66/67              2nd endgame-cycle of the etheric Christ

1962-66/67              Christ-impulse shadowed by coming Sorath-impulse

1966/67-79              Michael-battle with opposing powers

1966/67-99              3rd endgame-cycle of the etheric Christ

1996-99                   Christ-impulse shadowed by actual Sorath-impulse 1998

1999/2000-12           Endgame: Michael-battle with opposing powers.

Before we discuss this time-schedule in detail, we shall address our primary concern in this essay, namely the workings and strategy of Sorath from his 1998-vantage point. That same year saw a book with an independent and fresh view of the evil powers,[v] proposing a different appraisal of the traditional polarity of luciferic and ahrimanic powers after 1413 and the beginning impact of the Asuras – and, we might add – after Sorath settled in the inner of the earth during the mystery of Golgotha and made himself the directing and organizing principle of all three evil powers, thereby gaining direct access to all the lower members of man, the astral, the etheric and the physical. When the Asuras are working behind Lucifer and Ahriman, these agents of evil are more closely bound together with a spill-over effect between all three principles and an intensification creating a new organism of dynamic evil never seen before. When Christ became man, Sorath wanted to become God and henceforth erected his evil trinity opposing the Holy Trinity. This coordination has speeded up the human confrontation with evil in the last two or three centuries giving men opportunities of hitherto unsurpassed self-responsibility and individual freedom and community, but at the same time opening up to the possible downfall of man to Sorath in 2012. The author mentions some illustrative examples of this new dynamic in his discussion of the signatures of Sorath-activity in the twentieth century (nuclear power, Fascism and AIDS), and in order to illuminate the matter further, let us here bring one more example in a brief sketch.