Sunday, September 29, 2024

The Golden Soldier

by Christine Natale

Illustrations by Natalya Yeshchenko

This story is lovingly dedicated to

Alan Howard

Waldorf Educator and Mentor

Who saw the Golden Soldier in me

Straw Into Gold Press

Once upon a time, there was a handsome young soldier who had just finished fighting in a war. His country was now at peace, but the young man decided that he liked to fight in battle and that he would become a soldier of fortune. So the young man set off into the world, looking for battles to join and glory to win.

After a while he came to a village. When he entered the village, he found people sitting in the streets. He was amazed to find no one working. The people were mostly sitting quietly on logs or benches, or under trees. No one was building or fixing or moving anything. Even the children were too lazy to play and sat about idle. Everyone looked hungry and filthy and many were sick. The young soldier stopped in front of a large group and asked why they were not working.

“What is the use?” replied one old man slowly, “I remember a day, long ago, when people worked but that was before we fell under the rule of our king.”

“The king forbids you to work?” asked the soldier.

“No, but he taxes us so heavily that there is nothing left for our use. He takes all of our food, money, craft items and anything useful for himself so that we have no more than you see now.

We decided long ago not to produce anything, as it will only be taken away.” replied the old man.

“That is ridiculous!” exclaimed the young man, “Why do you not take up arms against him and rebuild your village?”

“There is no use,” answered the villager, “We have no weapons, our tools are broken, we have no money for materials and most of our young people are ill or undernourished. There is nothing that we can do.”

The young soldier thought to himself, “I could fight with these people and help them but I cannot fight for them all by myself.”

So he left the village in disgust.

After a while, he came to a town. The people in the town seemed busy enough but as soon as they saw the soldier, they scurried into their houses like mice into their holes and the soldier could hear all the bolts slam shut.

“Hallo-o! Hallo-o!” cried the soldier, “Good day to ye!

But no one answered him and no one came out of their house.

The soldier passed through he town, unable to find a bite to eat, even where the sign said tavern or inn.

When he reached the other side of the town though, one door opened a see crack and a lady stretched out her finger and beckoned to him.

“What do you want here - what is your business?” she hissed through the crack.

“Good day mother! I’ve come into the world to fight battles,” said the soldier.

“Hush! Not so loud! The walls have ears and even the trees have eyes, you know.”

Then she explained to the soldier that the town was under the control of a terrible tyrant. This tyrant had created such a big web of spies and trickery that the people had become afraid of each other. People were thrown into dungeons anytime their neighbors reported any misdeed, however small. And everyone told tales about everyone else in an effort to keep themselves out of trouble. No one liked or trusted anyone else, not even in their own families.

“How can you live in such a way!” said the soldier, “Why do you not take up arms and overthrow the tyrant?”

“No one could trust anyone else to make such plans and not turn them in. It is quite impossible.” answered the lady.

Just at that moment, a band of townspeople swarmed down the street, eagerly pointing to the young man and he could see that they were leading the way for the tyrant’s guards, so he took to his heels and ran until he was well away.

In a week or two he found himself in a city that was beautifully built and gloriously decorated. The citizens wore gold and jewelry and much finery and the soldier was greatly impressed. But after he had been in the city a while, he began to notice that the people all had very haughty and superior expressions on their faces and that everyone looked at him like he was a simpleton.

In fact, they all looked at each other that way, too!

So he asked his innkeeper why everyone seemed so proud.

“Why shouldn’t we be proud,” asked the innkeeper in return, “We live in the biggest city in the world, the richest city in the world and everyone is so educated that we all know everything.”

The soldier had already seen bigger and finer cities and it was a little hard to believe that everyone could know everything, so he asked the innkeeper to prove it.

“Sure.” said the innkeeper, “Just ask me anything.”

So the young man began to ask questions like what are two and two, what kind of animal lays eggs, what color is the grass and how do you say the alphabet?

“Two and two are nine, donkeys lay eggs, the grass is blue and the alphabet goes S,Q,O,L,T,I . . . ”

“Stop!” shouted the soldier, “That is all wrong!”

"It cannot be wrong,” said the innkeeper indignantly, “Because we have all of our facts straight from our ruler, who is a very wise dictator. His answers are the only ones allowed and they are always right!”

The innkeeper went off in an angry huff and the soldier decided to leave a city where everyone was ignorant and proud of it. He passed through the city gates in great despair

* * * * * *

The road led him through a great forest and after three days he found a little hut. He knocked and a kind old woman came to the door and bade him enter. When the young soldier was fed and rested, he told the old woman all that he had seen and heard and he said,

“I would like to fight to free those people from their oppressors but I can’t do it alone and they don’t seem to want to free themselves.”

“No one will follow you, my son, until you have the golden sword and shield which the dragon is guarding in a cave on the mountain. If you had the golden sword, they would all follow you into freedom.”

“Is that all?” said the soldier. “Fighting a dragon is not too difficult. That is what I’ll do – I’ll get the sword and come back to free the people.”

“You have my blessing my son.” said the old woman. And the young man set off again.

When he reached the dragon’s cave in the mountain, the brash young fellow whooped and hollered until the dragon woke up from his nap. The dragon slithered off his glittering treasure hoard and crawled out of the cave into the daylight. The dragon did not take kindly to being woken up.

He fought a great battle with the soldier but in the end, the soldier won and the dragon lay dead.

Then the young man rushed into the cave and began to look for the golden sword. He spent hours and hours. He opened every treasure chest and he moved every diamond bracelet. He turned over every gold coin but he finally realized that there was no golden sword to be found. He was so angry and frustrated that he sat down on a treasure chest and cried.

The soldier had never cried before in his life - but he had never felt so frustrated before, either. He cried and cried so much that a pool of tears began to form on the floor at his feet. He did not notice until he stopped, that the floor of the dragon’s cave, being magic, had turned the tears to gold, which lay in a solid lump at his feet. He picked up the heavy lump and wondered aloud,

“Now what in the world should I do with this?”

“Take it to the dwarfs.” said a mysterious voice.

The soldier looked around and he saw a golden cup encircled with jewels standing alone on a high stone pedestal. A light was shining from the cup and the voice seemed to come from it, too. As the soldier stared, it spoke again.

“Take it to the dwarfs deep in the mountain and they will fashion the gold into a sword for you. And take me with you, too.”

Then the light went out and the soldier took hold of the cup. Behind the pedestal was a door. There was a long narrow stairway that went down. The soldier went down, down, down hundreds and hundreds of stairs until it seemed that he was at the very center of the earth. There he found an enormous cavern full of dwarfs busily working at goldsmithing. They did not seem surprised to see him and they took the gold from him and set to work on the sword.

Although the dwarfs appeared to be working very busily, every time the soldier asked for the sword, the dwarfs said, “It is not ready yet.” The task was taking so long that he grew very impatient. To amuse himself, he took the golden cup out of the sack and began to examine it. There were seven jewels embedded around the cup and the soldier spent one day looking at each jewel.

On the first day,

the soldier looked at a beautiful green emerald.

As he did so, it revealed to him everything there is to see of the beauty of the earth.

On the second day,

a deep blue sapphire showed him

the unfathomable mystery of the heavenly sky.

On the third day,

a fiery red ruby taught him about

the purifying power of flame.

On the fourth day,

a golden yellow topaz took him through

the secrets of time.

On the fifth day,

a delicate peach tourmaline brought him to

the mystery of the human heart.

On the sixth day,

a violet amethyst taught him

the language of the wind.

On the seventh day,

the purest sparkling diamond gave him

the wisdom of the light.

When the soldier had completed the round of jewels he began to weep. This time his tears were tears of compassion for the earth and everything upon the earth, for mankind and everything that mankind is, was and could be. And so many tears of love were shed that they filled the cup to the brim.

When he stopped crying, the soldier looked up and saw a great crowd of dwarfs in a circle around him.

“That is what we have been waiting for.” said the chief goldsmith, “Now pour your tears into the fire.”

The soldier emptied the cup into the forge, where the tears immediately became molten gold. From this gold, the dwarfs fashioned a magnificent shield.

“Now the sword can be completed.” said the chief dwarf, “We could not do so without the shield.”

Last, he took the cup from the soldier and melted it down and made a golden crown with the jewels set all around it.

When all was ready, the dwarfs presented the sword, shield and crown to soldier and showed him the way back to the surface of the earth.

When the young man arrived in the world again, he found to his surprise that each day that he had spent looking at the jewels had been ten years upon the earth! He had not aged at all but everyone else had. The people he had met were either very old or had died and a new generation of young people had been born.

The soldier found that the evil king who ruled the village had been replaced by his son and his son’s son, both of whom were just as oppressive. The people still had not begun to work at all. But as the soldier entered the village, he carried the golden sword high and upright. And as it shone in the sun, they young people picked themselves up out of the dust and began to follow in a crowd behind him.

Then the soldier spoke to the young people about freedom and the satisfaction to be found in good labor.

The young people heard and understood and for the first time in memory, they began to collect materials and to fashion tools. They worked long and hard and in the end were able to create for themselves all that they needed to rebuild their lives. They also fashioned weapons to defend themselves against the king. They decided to give the king a small share, but only as much as was his due and they were able to uphold that decision.

Then the golden soldier passed on to the hostile town. There, the younger people came out from behind closed doors and when they were assembled, the soldier turned his shield to face them. The mirror-smooth golden surface reflected each one back and revealed every fault and every lie. No deception could live in the face of it.

When the intricate web of mistrust and lies broke down, each young man and woman turned to their neighbor and embraced him or her. They found trust and love in the knowledge of who they really were and from that day on, the tyrant’s power was broken.

The golden soldier then came to the city. Since the young people had never seen anyone like him, they were full of curiosity. They followed him to the plaza in the center of the city. When they were all gathered together, the soldier began to turn slowly and the diamond on his crown began to shine.

The diamond light filled the young people’s eyes and opened them to the light of real wisdom. For the first time, they could see for themselves the difference between truth and falsehood and their pride was melted. Armed with this inner knowledge, they closed their ears to the wicked dictator and listened only to the truth within their hearts.

The golden soldier, having completed these tasks, journeyed on throughout the wide world – helping people set themselves free everywhere he went.

Golden Soldier

Golden is my helmet

Golden is my shield

Golden is my shining sword

That with my strength I wield

Golden is my armor

That bears the sign of God

Golden are my leather boot

As ‘cross the Earth I tread

I also have a golden crown

With jewels are bright as stars

That helps me see what we can be

When hate no longer mars

My crown and helmet stand for truth

My shield for brotherhood

My sword gives strength unto my will

To do what’s right and good

So come with me, my loyal friends

And be a soldier, too

A Golden Soldier brave and strong

Together – me and you

We’ll fight for truth and justice

We’ll fight for good and right

We’ll fight for freedom and for God

We’ll fight with all our might

Whenever strength and might are joined

With healing, hope and love

Our world will ever closer come

To Heaven’s joy above

Christine Natale

To purchase this story as a hardcover, heirloom quality book,

please visit Christine's author page.

https://www.lulu.com/shop/christine-natale/the-golden-soldier/hardcover/product-zmk5kzr.html?page=1&pageSize=4

LUCIFERIC AND AHRIMANIC IMPULSES WITHIN MICHAELMAS

LUCIFERIC AND AHRIMANIC IMPULSES WITHIN MICHAELMAS

As Michaelmas approaches, those of us involved with Waldorf education, in the home or in a school setting find ourselves presented with copious amounts of stories, poems, and images of brave knights and dragons. There is not the same emphasis on Michaelmas as a holiday or as a season in the general culture, at least here in the United States. In the cross over from Catholicism to Protestantism, there was a great lessening of emphasis on traditional “saints” and in the church calendars, the Being who we refer to as Archangel Michael is usually designated as Saint Michael. Dragons are still very popular, although in widely different ways from their portrayals in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. With a revival of interest in Asian cultures, kicked off in the 1960s, dragons became more recognized as a symbol of “heavenly” energy with meanings greatly different than the tie in with the “devil” widely popular in the European past.

These days, much that was once taken fairly seriously by adults has become the “plaything” of children. Now that we don’t “believe in” dragons anymore, we have relegated them to the level of dinosaurs, fit for speculation but best left to children’s imaginations. Dragons, like dinosaurs are very popular subjects for books, poems, songs and film and television entertainment created for and directed to children. Many of these mediums are now portraying various versions of 'friendly' dragons. If we consider it at all, we have come to expect dragons who can interact in a playful way with children, in the manner of gnomes, fairies and nature spirits, and other imaginary friends - even to the point of being of great help to innocent little children.

The main argument for these portrayals includes not exposing children to disheartening material deemed too mature or saddening for them. So Michael’s Dragon is replaced by a sweet, flighty friend who pulls the unsuspecting child into an alternate reality. In some version, there is the dragon who is a sarcastic, passive aggressive little companion who is constantly at his master’s heels, alternatively nipping and serving him.

But from an Anthropsophical point of view, these friendly but delusory dragons have nothing in common with the Dragon that Saint (or Archangel) Michael overcomes. Our modern dragons are born out of a materialistic world view where people no longer understand the world of Archetypes that lie behind these “fantastical” images. We live in a world where most people no longer see such pictures as realities or believe that such realities exist. Nevertheless, if a new/ old “festival” or “holiday” such as Michaelmas is to have any kind of meaning or relevance in today’s world, it must be brought into consciousness. Most people are quite satisfied with a fairly simplistic understanding of Christmas and Easter as they are handed down through their families, bolstered by media and advertising. But there is basically no such cultural base for Michaelmas and St. John’s Day, the other two cardinal “festival days” of the year. Not only then, is there a need to “renew” the understanding of these feast days if we are to celebrate them at all, but also to totally re-create them in light of a new understanding for our time.

Why the “Fight between Michael and the Dragon?” what does this represent? What meaning can it have, does it have to the individual and to our society and culture as a whole? Where lies the “reality” of a Dragon? Is it merely a symbol of a psychological and/ or spiritual state, some kind of obstacle or inner challenge? Or does it also exist as something external to ourselves although unseen and unrecognized?

The Dragon, like the ancient concept of The Devil, is actually an amalgamation of two forces which exist internally and externally to the Human Being. One is the force of Illusion, embodied according to Rudolf Steiner in the Being traditionally called “Lucifer”. The other is the force of Materialism even more anciently referred to as “Ahriman”. Ahriman was/ is the Spirit of Darkness recognized in Ancient Persia which the Lord of Light, Ahura Masdao had to battle and overcome. In every spiritual tradition of the world, there is an ancient and ongoing battle of “Light and Dark” or the Forces of Light versus the Forces of Darkness, or simply the battle of Good versus Evil.

There are stories, from ancient myths to fairy tales to real biographies of battles of Light against Dark, of warriors, great and small who fight these battles in many ways. The “dragons” they fight may be symbolic or they may be embodied in a variety of ways. But once one is conscious of the true nature of these battles, it is easy to see the Dragon or Dragons in our midst.

Ahriman is embodied in the dragon that wants to drag human kind down into materialism, to pull our consciousness down into the merely earthly; as in our time the tendency is to see only the physical and not to be able to recognize the spiritual reality intrinsic in all of creation.

The object here, in the Ahrimanic influenced portrayal of the dragon, is to “hoard” the treasures of the Spirit in a dark cave, jealously guarding them from Humanity, keeping the Human Being “poor in Spirit.” Our most modern representation is Smaug in the “Lord of the Rings Trilogy”. He is a very dangerous dragon that can’t be conquered, but can be tricked. The Ahrimanic Dragon, like Ahriman himself is extremely intelligent, extremely clever in a cold and heartless way. This Dragon is a threat, a very real threat, to the “Woman Clothed With the Sun” who is about to give birth to the Child, which is the new spiritual evolution of Humankind. The Dragon of Materialism is content to allow Humanity to exist but not to dare to intrude on the spiritual world in which he slumbers. He wants us to slumber also! Not to “wake up” to our true spiritual nature. This Dragon is no playmate of Mankind. He is usually portrayed in films and stories as needing to be “slain” – put to death. Of course, no spiritual entity can actually “die.” But Michael and His forces can banish him from “Heaven” and with Michael’s help, humans can “slay” him in our plane of existence, ultimately. But this “death” is still in the future. The battle goes on and will go on for many centuries yet. Everyday we battle these dragon forces within our own soul – greed, fear, anger, depression, sloth, hatred, prejudice and the slumbering contentment of material well being when we possess it. The “death” of this Dragon and these “dragon forces” is not a one time event. But the stories and Imaginations of this battle are meant to bolster our courage and determination to win in the end, to triumph ultimately over the evil prospect of a world gone cold in materialism without the Fire of Divine Love to keep us alive and warm in Spirit.

The other kind of Dragon is what in Anthroposophical terms is called “Luciferic.” This kind of dragon is sometimes harder to conquer because its aspect is so friendly and seemingly benign. Lucifer was/ is that “devilish” being called “The Father of Lies.” Lucifer was a great Archangel, truly the greatest of all who fell, by some accounts due to a kind of jealousy of God Himself, especially when Human Beings were created materially with the potential for full Spiritual consciousness and development. Lucifer’s pride and ego could not abide “sharing” the Presence and Being of God with created beings of such a lower order. Lucifer’s purpose, since he tried and failed to “fight” God (through God’s representatives, the Angels) is to sabotage God’s creation through the “flaw” in Man’s psychological and spiritual make up – Free Will. The stories of all cultures abound with temptations. Lucifer plays with humanity’s foibles – pride, gullibility, lust, desire for pleasure and desire for power. Lucifer and Ahriman often work together. Ahriman may use greed as represented by love for actual gold whereas Lucifer compounds it with love for the pleasures wealth can bring – often at great expense to ourself - materially and spiritually. Lucifer usually appears to us in very pleasant aspects (while Ahriman usually uses fear as his preferred tool.) Lucifer is the “Candy Man” who only wants to make us happy, to solve our problems, to lead us to the playground of life.

But the Eastern cultures were well aware of the Dragon Lucifer’s dual nature. Yes, he has an important function on the Earthly plane. Asian dragons symbolize power – elemental power. Long before the “discovery” of electricity, the Dragon was its symbol. And just like electricity, it can come from dark, extremely dangerous underground forces like oil, coal or uranium, or, as we are finally discovering, it can come from more benign elements like the sun, wind and water. Where ever it comes from, however it is produced, it always has the power to harm or to bestow blessing. As Jimmy Buffett said, “The difference between lightning and a harmless lightning bug.”

This energy must be “conquered” by the Human Being. It must be harnessed to the Good and made to serve only the Good. This too, is an ongoing struggle, destined for eons yet to come. There are many stories for children and novels for adults (Dragonriders of Pern and many others) where a hero or heroine or a whole culture has become adept at “taming” dragons, riding them and putting them to use, often in a symbiotic yet still uneasy social structure.

But when we find Lucifer embodied by the “friendly” dragon such as Puff the Magic Dragon, Pete’s Dragon and others, we are succumbing to the trivialization of this mighty Cosmic Being. This kind of “harmless” trivialization of cosmic forces swelled with the advent of television from the 1950’s turning the powerful images and ideals of the Archetypes first into Stereotypes (the hardened out forms) and ultimately into Caricatures. The great Dragon Archetype becomes a “harmless” Saturday morning cartoon for children’s entertainment. But the joke is on us, really, because those Saturday morning cartoons were far from “harmless.” It would take a separate thesis to go into all of the subliminal messages and propaganda imposed on the young minds of the past half century or so. There he is – Lucifer – Father of Lies – coming to us in the benign, playful, happy aspect – setting up residency in the imaginations of us as children an of our own children. Studies have been done, or at least attempted, on the connection between the growth of hallucinogenic drug use and cartoon watching among the “boomer” generation. Even more significant is the proven connection between the reliance on even the most “beneficial” “children’s” programming and the actual decline of verbal skills. The Father of Lies has had generations believing that “children’s programming” i.e. Sesame Street et al, was improving children’s later aptitude for school and academics, whereas it has been shown to be just the opposite.

The very expectation that “education” should be “painlessly” introduced through media that does not require consciousness on the part of the child is an underlying falsehood controlling much of our failed educational systems today.

The very force embodied in the Luciferic portrayal of the dragon lifts one out of the earthward pulling forces into levity, away from the proper incarnation into your earthly tasks and therefore leads to dreamy, hallucinatory states of mind. Out of these thoughts people want to change the image/concept of the dragon to something safe and friendly and to change the development of the child in such a way that the Ego (“I” – true self) is weakened rather than strengthened as it is through wrestling with academic subjects (at the proper times) until one is able to “master” them. For many children today, it has become impossible to engage in any task or subject that doesn’t “come easily.” For many young adults, this has resulted in submission to a kind of social system in which the individual is merely a “cog in a wheel” or an ineffective kind of rebellion which results in escapism and self-harm, even self-destruction.

In our current time, of course, we grapple with the Ahrimanic forces of the great globally directed social machine. The Ahrimanic Dragon and his legion of helpers are the materialistic forces that want to entice human beings to strive for personal and social security, material wealth and power and a “perfect” world. Lucifer is a great ally to this, spinning dreams of a “perfect” world in which all problems have been overcome – at the expense of true freedom of thought and action, of the development of full Individuality and even at the expense of real Love, which is of the nature of sacrifice and struggle more than of pleasure and satisfaction.

We who recognize or who are willing to acknowledge and entertain the ideas presented here are challenged to find creative, living and true ways to re-introduce mythology to children and young people. We have the option, some might say obligation, to reject the dragons of the cartoon world and to create new stories and celebrations that portray The Dragon as something that threatens Humanity once again. Of course, these stories, ancient and modern, need to correspond properly to the psychological and spiritual stages of childhood and be appropriate for the ages they are presented to. But even in the “fairy tales” the Dragon must be “overcome” – if not slain, then “tamed” and required by might to be the servant of the Human Being rather than the Human Being becoming or remaining the Slave of the Dragon. Only by speaking, celebrating and living this Truth will we, our children and those yet to be born be inspired to ultimately overcome the dragon forces of illusion and materialism and bring the balancing power of the Christ, whose visage is Michael, Archangel and Archai of our Time Period, back into the Spiritual Evolution of Humanity and of the Earth.

Michelle Missel
Christine Natale
Nesta Carsten

September 20, 2015