'The dreamsong of Olav Asteson'.

The meaning of the poem is related closely to Christmas and the Christmas season. It is an medieval Norwegian ballad of Olav Asteson, a young man whom passed the 13 day's and nights between Christmas Eve (24 december) and the day of Epiphany (6 january) into a very deep sleep. Now he has awakened and standing in the church porch on the morning of Epiphany he is telling or rather singing to the men around him about his dream. He had experienced a journey of inner awakening into another world, were he leaves the earth and his own body, and this journey had taken him through the elements, through all heights and depth and opposing forces of human experiences. By being caught up in the macrocosmos he learns many  secrets of the universe, in sofar as the union of the human soul with the world- soul, is a cosmic mysterery. This saga which had been lost has now been recorded again from Folk memories.

This period of the year is also called the 'twelf holy nights', they are the longest and darkest nights of the year. In Scandinavië where winter is stronger and day's shorter then here, people where usually more withdrawn into themselves, and in silence received images from an other world. These images could be seen while the clear stars in the long dark nights sparkled in the white snow as a world in enchantment. We know that during these days when in a sense the deepest outer darknes prevails over the earth, when the growth of vegetation is at its lowest ebb, when in a sense everything external in physical earth-life is at a standstill, that the earth-soul awakens and attains its fullest waking consciousness. Christmas is in reality an fact of the cosmos, of the life of the earth and the stars.There are therefore 12 days and 13 nights of this holy season which begins at the night of Christmas Eve and lasts until the festival of the Three Kings on January 6 th. A time of stillness in which a great cosmic happening takes place which must not be disturbed. The heavens are nearest to the earth, nearer than at any other season, so close that they bend down over the still, dark land. It is the midnight of the year, the turning earthward of the sun is the great event in the sky, ever since midsummer the sun has been withdrawn from the earth, the days have shortened and now comes the turningpoint the shortest day is past and the sun begins to turn earthward again, with the promise of light, warmth and life renewed. On Christmas night the experience comes again of the spirit-born sun into the darkness of earth at the midnight  hour of the world, Christ brought the sun to men at midnight. In ancient times there was a spiritual experience of man with great souls whom could see 'the sun at midnight', all our understanding of oneselves comes from the light.

This special dream of Olav Asteson resembles the initiation rituals known through other old civilisations( Greece, Egypt) where a priest or an initiator could lead a pupil into great experiences of the wisdom and mysteries of existence. It is possible Olav Asteson was a pupil of the early school of ancient 'Mystery- Wisdom', wich had  existed in the south-west of Norway. In Christmas time when the outer- sun is at its weakest particular mysteries can be revealed by priest whom work with the position of the stars and planets where the elements can be experienced from within.

The men around Olav Asteson listened in great awe to this dream, this journey through  trials: being lifted high up into the clouds and thrown deep into the sea. Just like in the old 'Mystery-School' he had to learn to  be acqainted with the elements in order to understand his task in life. After his struggle with the elements he can pass the Gjallarbridge into the realm of the spirit, no one can enter without complete clarity about  himself and the world. His red cloak has been torn, a lonely world enfolds around him as still as death, the ice is shimmering in blue flames.Till he can sea the sun shining in the dark in a lightening paradise, the highest moment of the initiation. A voice directs him to Broksvalin where the last judgement will be heard, the future of mankind. Next to Christ the Archangel Michaël is present with the scales weighing, how much soul warmth do we have ?

About 100 song verses have been gathered, some date from 400 a.Chr. they probably were divided in 12 parts related to the 12 zodiacal signs.To day  people use about 40 verses as song tekst. Initiates in old times describe in all times and all places the same and come to the logical  and the meaning of our existance.

Through encounters with the great powers in nature man is winning selfknowlegde, the mysteries of the north are of 'courage', of the Sun, Moon and Earth. At the end of Olav Astesons journey he is no longer the young man, who fell asleep on the 24 th of december, but a man whom has awakened. So the verse ends with the words: 

"You  were asleep so long even...Awake now, O Olav Asteson".

(lecture 6. on the poem of Olav Asteson by R.Steiner,   Berlin 21 th December 1915)