When people close to us pass away the profound sense of loss is often a cause for feelings of helplessness and despair. In ancient times rituals were devised to help those left behind to understand that the so called dead are in reality still available for relationships with the living.

These four lectures paint a broad picture of some of the subtle patterns of consciousness that Rudolf Steiner has presented as the basis for a new relationship to departed souls. The esoteric foundation for such a communication is presented in these lectures as a backdrop for a ritual for honoring departed souls. This ritual has been enacted in many communities over the years and provides a soul strengthening activity for those who have the deep sense of loss at the departure of a loved one across the threshold of death. The ritual can also be used as a focal point for community activity to celebrate All Souls Day in the waning part of the year when Nature manifests the death process and human souls must find sources of strength to push towards the light of new consciousness.

• Lecture 1
  Forces of thinking feeling and willing on both sides of the threshold, old clairvoyance, the four bodies, vowel/consonant exercise
• Lecture 2
  Kamaloca, karma, collaborative will, reading to the dead, dinner party exercise, sacred sleep, life as an art form
• Lecture 3
  Family irritation patterns, personality, a wound is a gift, forming analogs for irritations, space and time planetary loops, soul orbit
• Lecture 4
  Q and A, the great passage diagram, kamaloca , devachan, the midnight hour, ritual for honoring the dead