Theosophy Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neop ...

the Guardian of the Threshold (or Dweller on the Threshold) is a menacing figure described by a number of esoteric teachers. It is claimed to be a spectral image which manifests itself as soon as "the student of the spirit ascends upon the path into the higher worlds of knowledge". ''The Guardian of the Threshold'' is also the title of the third play (of a tetralogy of ''Mystery Dramas'') written by

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (; 27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century ...

in 1912.

According to theosophy

The "Dweller of the Threshold" (or "Guardian of the Threshold") as a literary invention of the English mystic and novelist

Edward Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (; 25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secr ...

is found in his romance '' Zanoni'' (1842). After the founding of the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...

in 1875, the term gained wide currency in theosophical circles. The Guardian of the Threshold is a spectral figure and is the abstract of the debit and credit book of the individual. "It is the combined evil influence that is the result of the wicked thoughts and acts of the age in which any one may live, and it assumes to each student a definite shape at each appearance, being always either of one sort or changing each time" "This Dweller of the Threshold meets us in many shapes. It is the

Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a polycephaly, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek underworld, underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring o ...

guarding the entrance to

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

; the

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

which St. Michael (spiritual will-power) is going to kill; the

Snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

which tempted

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

, and whose head will be crushed by the heel of the woman; the

Hobgoblin A hobgoblin is a household spirit, appearing in English folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his '' A Midsummer Nigh ...

watching the place where the treasure is buried, etc. He is the king of evil, who will not permit that within his kingdom a child should grow up, which might surpass him in power; the Herod before whose wrath the divine child Christ has to flee into a foreign country, and is not permitted to return to his home (the soul) until the king (Ambition, Pride, Vanity, Self-righteousness, etc.) is dethroned or dead."

Max Heindel Max Heindel (born Carl Louis von Grasshoff, July 23, 1865 – January 6, 1919) was an American Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic. Early life Carl Louis von Grasshoff was born in Aarhus, Denmark, into the noble family von Grasshof ...

, an American

occultist The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...

, claimed the Dweller on the Threshold must be confronted by every aspirant—usually at an early stage of their progress.

In Rudolf Steiner's drama

's play ''The Guardian of the Threshold'', first performed in 1912 and the third in a series of four "Mystery Dramas", the appearance of the Guardian is connected with

Lucifer The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology. He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...

and

Ahriman Angra Mainyu (; ) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, th ...

br>
Steiner explained that the meeting with the Guardian of the Threshold as presented in those dramas was to show that a person (man or woman) who had made the soul clairvoyant, must go back and forth across that threshold and know how to be rightly in the spiritual world on the far side, as well as on this side in the physical world.Rudolf Steiner, ''Secrets of the Threshold'', VII
/ref>

References

External links

The Guardian of the Threshold
excerpt from ''An Outline of Occult Science'' by Rudolf Steiner

- a play by Rudolf Steiner
''The Perfect Matrimony''
by Samael Aun Weor (see Chapter 19 'Initiation') {{DEFAULTSORT:Guardian Of The Threshold 1840s neologisms 1840s quotations Adam and Eve Cerberus Edward Bulwer-Lytton Initiation Michael (archangel) Quotations from literature Theosophical philosophical concepts

According to theosophy

In Rudolf Steiner's drama

See also

References

External links