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In an absorbing series of lectures, Rudolf Steiner discloses factors in a person's life on Earth that will influence their experiences in the spiritual world after their death – and conversely, factors in the spiritual world that will affect their next life on Earth. Steiner focuses on the period in the afterlife when the individual has been through kamaloka – the purgatorial place where the soul is purified. Once the soul has been cleansed of its astral sheath, it becomes open to cosmic influences, expanding into the planetary sphere. Now it can begin preparation for reincarnation – for a new human life on Earth. Steiner addresses the vital relationship of the living to the dead – in particular, how those on Earth can influence the souls of the dead. He also speaks on themes of 'Sleep and death', 'The seven-year life cycles of man', and offers a 'Christmas gift' in the form of a lecture on Christian Rosenkreutz and Gautama Buddha. He ends with a mighty picture of the Mystery of Golgotha: Jesus Christ's death on the cross was only seemingly a death; in reality it enabled the momentous birth of the Earth-Soul.Long out-of-print, the freshly-revised text of the ten lectures in this new edition is complemented with an introduction, notes and appendices by Professor Frederick Amrine, and also features an index.