Lucifer, Ahriman & the Adversaries
The adversary powers in anthroposophy: Lucifer, Ahriman, Sorat and the double, and their balance through the Christ-impulse. Part of Thalira's Anthroposophical Glossary of 515 terms, and companion to the in-depth guide Anthroposophy.
The cosmological being of materialisation. The downward-pulling, mechanising actor in human evolution, distinct from Lucifer above and balanced by Christ at centre.
The materialising, hardening, mechanising tendency in human evolution. One of three opposing impulses balanced by Christ at centre.
The Ahrimanic Deception names the specific lecture-cycle (GA 191, 1919) in which Steiner warns of Ahriman's coming attempt to incarnate in a single human body in the third millennium.
In anthroposophy, the Eighth Sphere is a spectral counter-world Lucifer and Ahriman build by tearing matter from Earth, set against the seven spheres of evolution.
The upward-pulling, ego-inflating, mystical-escapist force. Distinguished from Satan, balanced by Christ at centre.
Steiner's tripolar moral cosmos: Christ at the heart, balancing the Luciferic upward pull and the Ahrimanic downward pull.
The third-century teaching of the Persian prophet Mani, rehabilitated by Steiner as the path of redeeming evil through love, distinct from the Augustinian heretic-narrative.
Steiner's name for the Sun-Demon, the being hidden behind the apocalyptic number 666 and pictured as the two-horned beast opposing the Christ.
The realm of purely earthly, mechanical forces that work one step below nature, the field Steiner named in 1925 as the home of technology and Ahriman.
An Ahrimanic spirit-being that enters the human body shortly before birth, leaves at death, and carries cold intelligence and sub-earthly electrical force.