The Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc, born in the Epiphany of 1412 and burned alive today, May 30, 1431. A sublime individuality that came to be embodied in the small village of Domremy, where a Druidic legend foretold the coming of a maiden, a virgin, chosen by the fairies.
The Maiden of Orleans, Joan of Arc, was born in the Epiphany of 1412 and burned alive today, on 30th May 1431. A sublime individuality that came to be embodied in the small village of Domremy, where a Druidic legend foretold the coming of a maiden, a virgin, chosen by the fairies.
It was necessary that the Maiden of Orleans had gone through a kind of unconscious initiation to carry out her historical mission. It was about an initiation as described in the legend of Olaf Åsteson. Such initiations, for which certain karmic conditions were necessary, could take place during the period of thirteen nights between December 25 and January 6. If the outer light is at a minimum of strength, then it is possible to have an inner enlightenment. Thus Olaf Åsteson had true spiritual experiences in the state of sleep during thirteen nights, which he then brings back to the portal of a church, as shown in his Song of Dream. The Maiden of Orleans also spent thirteen nights in a state of sleep, i.e. in her mother’s body. In the last period before birth the human being is particularly accessible to the unconscious influences of the spiritual world. On 6 January the Maid of Orleans was born. During this day all the inhabitants of her hometown gathered together because something quite unusual had to be perceived in the aura of the village. It was the birth of the Maid of Orleans, to whom the impulse of Christ was infused just before he saw the physical sunlight. – Rudolf Steiner “Spiritual Science and the Mystery of Death. Deepest relationships in European history”, Bremen, 21 February 1915
At only 13 years of age, through the intermediary of the Archangel Michael, he came to incarnate the destiny of the Soul of the French People and to allow the destinies of Europe to be fulfilled in the proper way, with the evolution of the rational soul entrusted to the French people and that of the consciousness soul to the English people. It was Michael himself who led her to find a sword that was also her cross. To represent her divine mission, he had a banner made with a Cornflower halfway between the Archangels Gabriel and Michael. In her, the ancient clairvoyant ability of the Sybils returned in a completely Christified form.
The counter-image of Joan of Arc was Gilles de Rais, later mythologized in Bluebeard, one of the greatest black magicians in history, alchemist and serial murderer who was nevertheless convinced by the power of the Maiden and fought at her side. This should not surprise us, because Evil recognizes Good and, finally, contributes to its fulfillment.
The chronicles of the time remind us with miraculous amazement how the Banner of Joan was constantly accompanied by a swarm of butterflies on the battlefields. Spiritual science explains how these are the external reflection of the elemental activity of the Fairies, elemental of the air, in turn in connection with the spiritual activity of the Archangels. Steiner counts Joan among the heralds of the Michaelic and therefore Rosicrucian Stream.
Here portrayed by Jean Bastien-Lepage at the moment when Michael, along with Saint Margaret and Catherine, appeared to inspire her to accomplish her deed.