Primal Turanians

The primal Turanians were, according to Rudolf Steiner, the fourth subrace of ancient Atlantis. In the meantime, the Atlantians had gained great power over the life forces. This fullness of power was now put more and more into the service of personal self-love:

„This was done in full measure by the fourth sub-race (the primal Turanians). The members of this race, who were instructed in the mastery of the aforementioned powers, frequently used them to satisfy their self-willed desires and lusts. Used in this way, however, these powers destroy each other in their effect on each other. It is as if a man's feet were obstinately moving him forward while his upper body wanted to move backwards.

Such a destructive effect could only be stopped by the development of a higher power in the human being. And that was the power of thinking. Logical thinking has a restraining effect on selfish personal desires. We have to look for the origin of this logical thinking in the fifth subrace (the primal Semites).“ (Lit.:GA 11, p. 39f)

Out of their personal abundance of power, the primal Turanians turned to black magic.

„The fourth race, the primal Turanians, was the first to descend. They snatched the secret of vril power and became black magicians.“ (Lit.:GA 90a, p. 205)

„There are times when it is particularly dangerous to penetrate the occult world by external sorcery. This was the case in the Atlantean period, in its fourth sub-race, with the primal Turanians. That is when the real black magic developed. That is why the priests had to keep part of the wisdom secret. The other epoch is our present time. We are the fifth subrace in the Aryan [post-Atlantean] epoch. All external means today are more likely to bring people down. Therefore it is necessary that today a number of people make themselves acquainted with the intimate ways that lead into the spiritual world.“ (Lit.:GA 265, p. 239f)

In particular, the primal Turanians became acquainted with the elementary beings who inhabit the lower astral world, know no moral principle and are in descending development.

„The elementary spirits are those beings in whom form is more powerful than life and consciousness, whose form must therefore be dominated by consciousness and life. They are the exact opposite of the dhyanic beings. These can control more than their form and life. With the elemental spirits, form is more comprehensive than life and consciousness. They therefore demand other life and other consciousness to master their form. That is to say, the elemental spirit has to establish itself in other life and other consciousness in order to use it for itself. Therefore, it is the retardant that holds back other life and consciousness. Thus the elemental spirits are the actual restraining beings of evolution. All parasitic entities are dominated by such elemental spirits. They are those entities for us human beings which in the lunar epoch were already perfected in their kind, hence the form prevalent in them. They are now flooding away, they are in descending development.

[...]

Before that, man himself was an elementary being. Not everything physical about the human being is destined to be redeemed. A dross remains from the human being. This dross that remains is constantly present in the human being, therefore he is under the influence of the astral elemental beings; the corresponding elemental being is attached to him. Man is therefore in constant contact with that which is an impeding enemy, a disturber of his development. In German mythology, the beings that attach themselves to the human being are called the Alben. They appear in an undefined form in the so-called nightmare. These dreams manifest themselves in such a way that one believes that a being is sitting on one's chest. When one becomes astrally sighted, one first sees these beings (The Dweller on the Threshold in Bulwer's "Zanoni"). It is the reflection of man's astral acquaintance with his alb, a man's fighting back against his enemy. The being is the projection of an astral being in ourselves. It is the [lesser] Guardian of the Threshold. The man who cannot overcome the fear of the inner enemy usually turns back at the gate of initiation.

In the higher realm of the astral plan, it is [the image of] the Sphinx, who must be thrown into the abyss before one can progress. The human being who has to develop is approaching this moment. But not every human being has to go through this stage of development in the same way. It is possible that he will be led through it as if blindfolded. By developing our moral nature we can overcome. If one can bring the moral nature higher before one sees in the astral world, the appearance of the Guardian of the Threshold becomes less terrible.

In the Atlantean race it is chiefly the Turanians who have given themselves up to black magic and have become acquainted with the elemental world to the most extensive degree.“ (Lit.:GA 89, p. 133ff)

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Cosmic Memory, translated by Karl E. Zimmer, Harper & Row Publishers 1981, ISBN 0-06-067572-1 rsarchive.org

German

• Rudolf Steiner: Aus der Akasha-Chronik, GA 11 (1986), ISBN 3-7274-0110-9 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Bewußtsein – Leben – Form , GA 89 (2001), ISBN 3-7274-0890-1 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Selbsterkenntnis und Gotteserkenntnis I, GA 90a (2017), ISBN 978-3-7274-0900-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Die Grundimpulse des weltgeschichtlichen Werdens der Menschheit, GA 216 (1988), ISBN 3-7274-2160-6 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Zur Geschichte und aus den Inhalten der erkenntniskultischen Abteilung der Esoterischen Schule von 1904 bis 1914, GA 265 (1987), ISBN 3-7274-2650-0 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.