The Incarnation of Ahriman comprises seven selected lectures by Rudolf Steiner in which he describes the impending incarnation of the Mephistophelian being, Ahriman, whose arrival is being prepared for through the blind acceptance of materialism and the all-pervasive spread of its offspring, technology.

While we know of Ahriman from Persian mythology, Rudolf Steiner spoke of him as an actual, living spiritual entity. This being, he said, works to embed people firmly into physicality, encouraging dull, materialistic attitudes and a philistine, dry intellect. In these extraordinary lectures Steiner, in rare prophetic mode, talks about an actual incarnation of Ahriman on the earth and its potential consequences. Just as Christ incarnated in a physical body, so would Ahriman incarnate in the Western world – before ‘a part’ of the third millennium had passed.

Steiner places this incarnation in the context of a ‘cosmic triad’ – Lucifer, Christ and Ahriman. Ahriman will incarnate in the West as a counterpoint to the physical incarnation of Lucifer which occurred in the East (in the region of China) in the third millennium BC, with the incarnation of Jesus Christ in Palestine as the balancing point between the two.

Steiner does not present this material to promote a sense of dread of the future; but stresses rather, the importance of this difficult pass which humanity must go through and above all how the situation can and must be used to advance human development through developing a clear and conscious relationship to all that will enter into human culture through the powerful influence of this being. Ahriman’s attempt to subvert the course of human evolution can only succeed if we allow ourselves to be stupefied by his inducements. Humanity will benefit through his presence, if we learn to master his influences within ourselves with clear and self-aware thoughtfulness, and this illuminated by the fruits of Spiritual Science.

Over the period during which Steiner developed anthroposophy – a speaking career that spanned two decades and more than six thousand lectures – he referred to the idea of Ahriman’s incarnation only seven times. Six lectures, together with an additional supporting excerpt, are reproduced here in their entirety – under one cover – for the first time.