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Aino put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder, who gasped. “Ebdomade corresponds to the Book of Life, it is the truth. If you are not lying, nothing bad can happen to you.”
Fantasy and Anthroposophy
It is no exaggeration to say that the Fantasy genre as we conceive it today is the secret child of anthroposophy, however incredible it may seem at first sight. Take for example William Golding, Nobel Prize winner for literature and author of “Lord of the Flies”, who lived in a community of anthroposophical inspiration, absorbing Steiner’s teachers.
We then have C.S. Lewis with “Narnia”, as well as Tolkien with “The Lord of the Rings” who met anthroposophy through the philosopher and anthroposophist Owen Barfield in the literary-philosophical circle of the Inklings. Barfield used to refer to Steiner as “The greatest secret of the 20th century”, as there were many areas in which his activity had created new realities of human culture, sometimes without the name “Anthroposophy” appearing. It is in this circle that the two main sub-genres of Fantasy were born, those that today we call low-fantasy, like “Narnia”, in which the imaginary world is juxtaposed to the real one; and high-fantasy, like “The Lord of the Rings”, in which the imaginary world is an independent cosmos.
Evidence has recently emerged that the script for Star Wars, written by George Lucas’ ex-wife, Marcia, was also written in California’s Waldorf-Steiner circles, which should come as no surprise.
The fantasy author who most of all recounts anthroposophy is Michael Ende, the author of “The Neverending Story” and “Momo”. Ende frequented the Waldorf-Steiner circles and was close to various anthroposophical circles, especially in Japan where he became very well known. All Infinite History is permeated by the relationship of man, divided between materialistic and spiritual thinking. The creation and destruction of Fantasy teaches to develop Imagination: it is in fact the astral world with its inhabitants. The Nothing is the Arymanic materialism, the chilling and seductive Nothing. At the same time, wisely, the book shows the luciferic dangers of the astral plane, and this occurs especially in the second part of the book, when Bastiano recreates Fantasia and experiences by himself the danger of fantasy as an end in itself, deprived of the spiritual meaning of morality. As for Wolfgang Petersen’s Hollywood film, Michael Ende himself called it a “crime against humanity”. He repudiated it even before its completion.
When I finished reading The Neverending Story, I knew it would never end for me. The powerful image painted by Michel Ende lived in me and merged with Western esotericism and its Mysteries: astrology, Kabbalah, Gnosis, Alchemy and Anthroposophy. It is precisely the inspiration I had by immersing myself in Infinite History that guided my hand to write a fantasy entirely based on esotericism, in which history, which becomes infinite, is inscribed in the very Life of the reader: you.
It is precisely the inspiration I had reading the Infinite History that guided my hand to write a fantasy entirely based on anthroposophy and Western esotericism called “The Book of Life” which later became “The Book of Gaia”. The Book is a great parable about the ego and the relationship with the Earth.
What does The Book of Gaia say?
Sofia, teacher of alchemy, works to create a prodigious crystal with individuality in the laboratory. Teleo studies the secrets of nature, dreaming one day to know what lies beyond the known lands of Kronion.
The two boys live opposite lives until they are united by a mysterious entity, Gaia. Called by the voice of the spirit, they will leave family and friends fleeing their world dominated by tyrannical rulers, the seven Arcons.
They will be initiated into the mysteries of soul and spirit, developing mystical powers: Sofia and Teleo will travel to unexplored continents in search of the seven Heralds, the only ones capable of overcoming the world’s rulers and freeing Gaia.
In unison, they will fight to unite microcosm and macrocosm, to regain the original unity and thus begin a new stage of cosmic evolution.
Why did I write this book?
When I finished reading The Endless Story, I knew it would never end for me. The powerful image painted by Michel Ende lived in me and merged with Western esotericism and its Mysteries: astrology, Kabbalah, Gnosis, Alchemy and Anthroposophy. It is precisely the inspiration I had by immersing myself in Infinite History that guided my hand to write a fantasy entirely based on esotericism, in which history, which becomes infinite, is inscribed in the very Life of the reader: you.
Who’s the author?
Mine is a long story that begins with an even longer story, the story of the evolution of the Cosmos. As a child I could not fall asleep without listening to the deeds of the beings who have preceded us on this Earth. I developed a sense for the story “Where did it come from? Where does it go?” were my questions, everything that existed in the present day must have had a name, a past existence and thus, for metamorphosis, a future one. So I dedicated my life to the study of evolution, first from the point of view of Nature and then from the point of view of the Spirit: no contradiction, it is only in esotericism that all the opposites are convolved in a mystical marriage. This is why I am a free researcher of Science of the Spirit, Anthroposophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, combining the rigour of the scientific investigation of nature with the understanding of the world of the soul and spirit, in man and the Cosmos.