“Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so, we ask ourselves; will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we're gone and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?”– Odysseus, From the Movie “Troy”, 2004

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The mythic characters as portrayed by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey such as Helen of Troy, Agamemnon, Odysseus, King Priamos, Achilles, Hector, and Paris were historical personalities. These individuals were also presented by Homer through a disposition and background in the Greek mysteries. Achilles is remembered as the tragic hero of the Greeks. He was also viewed, however, as an initiate in the Greek mysteries. He was a man of rage and vengeance, it is true, but he was also recognized for his heroism, commitment, and skill.

Priamos is portrayed as a rather weak character with many wives. Hector is portrayed as the nationalistic hero who fights for his country. Menelaus is portrayed as the King of Sparta who longs to get Helen back and forgives her for betraying him. Agamemnon murders his daughter to achieve victory over the Trojans. The historical personalities are quite different and yet share many of the same attributes. In actuality, in terms of his spiritual disposition of his aggressive nature to overcome his enemies, there was more than one Achilles who fought in the Trojan War and King Priamos was one of them.

This chapter on King Priamos and the Trojan War provides some insights from an esoteric, spiritual, and historical perspective with intuitive insights that were gleaned by the author’s limited view of things. It is supported primarily by the esoteric observations of Dr. Rudolf Steiner with some supporting details from the readings of Edgar Cayce, the “Sleeping Prophet”, and the intuition of the author.[1]  Dr. Steiner left behind a great gift in sharing some of the esoteric keys of the Greek mysteries which allow one, to some degree, to decipher the true meaning of tales, symbols, people, and transitions which have an anchor in the reality of the Trojan War. Edgar Cayce, in turn, provided several life readings to people who were karmically connected to the Trojan War (including himself).

The Trojan War was fought by a group of people who share a common karmic ancestry and thus reincarnate repeatedly together. Many of these people have led public lives. Several bitter civil wars, conflicts, and rivalries have occurred that are karmically related to one another, in some way, by the struggles of this karmic family. This confederation of people has produced many branches that have split off into the world over time as they pursued their individual destinies consisting of genuine spiritual initiates, philosophers, politicians, poets, and military leaders who have since led controversial, transformative, and influential lives.

Going forward, I shall refer to this karmic family as the “Trojan War Karmic Soul Group.”  This term is my innovation, but the concept was identified through the research of Anthroposophist Walter Johannes Stein (1891-1957).  Many of the members of this group reincarnated during the 20th century as otherwise anonymous people many of whom carried on their personal relationships in a transformed way. Some, such as Edgar Cayce, carried on their core task of spiritual discovery in light of initiation wisdom. As revealed intuitively to the author, some of these souls reincarnated in the 20th century in America and Europe as celebrities. Some were successful business people. Others were captains, generals, philosophers, and even spiritual initiates.

As a result of the spiritual trauma that wounded so many of the historical personalities who lived through this chaotic moment in history, the karmic threads that bonded these people, for better or worse, led to resolutions and fulfillments in many future lifetimes. These people, in karmic terms, looked for their loved ones, their destinies, and their enemies who appeared in the tapestry of destiny at critical moments in time. Priamos began his karmic journey much further back in time but the changes that began to work within his soul, as modern fulfillments and brought about by changes in consciousness during the Graeco-Roman Age, transformed him in unique ways and led him on a peculiar path.

The incarnation of Priamos is tied to the foundations of, in terms of the definitions provided by Dr. Rudolf Seiner in Anthroposophy, the Graeco-Latin/Roman Spiritual Cultural Age (747BC-1413AD) which was inaugurated by the fall of Troy and the founding of the Orphic Mysteries in Greece which gave rise to the world’s first true philosophers and thought-initiates such as Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. King Priamos (“First” or “Prime” or “King”; in the ancient Luwian language “Pariyamua” means “courageous” or “brave”) was the last Priest-King of Troy (Ilium, Troia, or Wilusa). This lifetime was a foundation point upon which a stream of karmic activity continued forward with vast, and sometimes painful, implications for Greece, Rome, Europe, and America.

As Dr. Steiner revealed, the Trojan War symbolically reflected an important change in humanity’s consciousness, in spiritual terms, through a historical event over the course of ten years and culminated in a battle between the Trojans and several Bronze Age Greek cultures. However, they were also living personalities upon which Homer created his poetic tale. Most everyone is familiar with the tale of Troy but very few people have provided any genuine esoteric insights behind the historical event. As with all of the myths from the ancient world, one is obliged to look at the poetic epic tales by Homer on two levels.

First, on the exoteric level as a historical event where the details and references to fantastical ideas and events by Homer necessarily call into question the historicity and common-sense steers one to a review of the mythos of the poem which is hard to grasp for one not familiar with the true insights of initiation science. Second, the tale can be viewed as a symbolic historical event tied to a spiritual event that describes a transitional period for humanity that is documented in a veiled form and is tied to spiritual events that were known only to those admitted and trained in the ancient Greek Mystery Centers.

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“The Trojan War did actually take place. Although it was a series of physical events, these events have a symbolic meaning as well, they are mystical facts. The concept of mystical fact comprehends not merely mystical content, but a mystical content which runs its course outwardly on the physical plane.” [2]

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Historical research is very limited on the Trojan War. Archaeological discoveries have revealed some details since the 19th century when the ruins of Troy were rediscovered with the discovery and excavation of the ancient city of Troy at Hisarlik, Turkey. The excavation was initially carried out by the entrepreneur and amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890). Through this eccentric businessman, a renewed interest gathered momentum and continued into the modern age.[3]

The archaeological excavations that followed in Mycenae, Sparta, Crete, and Thessaly have provided some insights into Bronze Age Greek cultures and have been topics of perpetual debate amongst scholars. However, the actual history of the event remains the stuff of myth and is only available to those capable of piercing the veil of true initiation science. Historically, Troy was an ancient Bronze Age city-state that passed through several rebirths over the centuries eventually dying away by the early Roman period. Excavations have revealed that at least nine foundations were built upon one another. Troy appears to have been leveled and rebuilt repeatedly by war or natural disasters.

The Iliad and the Odyssey are comprehensible only with the aid of spiritual keys to properly interpret these epic tales properly.  These keys are found only through the wisdom achieved through the Mysteries. Dr. Steiner brought the Mysteries forward in the 20th century as a genuine initiate through his lectures and writings which can enable one to begin a study of Homer’s tale on two levels.[4] In addition to the mythical component, which requires keys to understand, and the true historical component, there is a third which must consider that some of the people, such as Priamos, were connected to the Mysteries of that and had attained a degree of spiritual initiation.  For example, as perceived only through the author’s intuition, Priamos was an initiate of the 5th degree.  He was a true priest-king, in the old manner, and not simply a secular king in modern political terms.[5]

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“The human being of ancient times was especially a part of his community and therefore when he was conscious of his ego, he felt himself more as a member of a group-soul than as an individual. But the initiate of the fifth degree had made a certain sacrifice, had so far stripped off his own personality that he took the folk-soul into his own being. While other men felt their souls within the folk-soul, he took the folk-soul into his own being, and this was because all that belonged to his personality was of no importance to him but only the common folk-spirit. Therefore, an initiate of this kind was called by the name of his particular folk.

An initiate of the first degree is one who constitutes an intermediary between the hidden and the outer life…what he ascertains there, he must bring back into the Mystery Places. One speaks of the “Raven” when words have something to communicate to the inner world of the Mystery Places from the world outside. Just call to mind the ravens of Elias, or the ravens of Wotan, even the ravens of the Barbarossa Saga… The initiate of the second degree stood fully within the occult life. One who was of the third degree was allowed to defend occult knowledge.

The degree of the “Warrior” does not mean one who fights, but one who defends occult teaching, what the occult life has to give. One who is a “Lion” embodies the occult life within himself in such a way that he defends occultism, not only in words, but also in acts, that is, with deeds of a magical sort. The sixth degree is that of the “Sun-hero” and the seventh that of the “Father.”[6]

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As the leader of his people who was still connected to a group-souls spirit that united many of the Trojans, Priamos felt an inner and genuine spiritual bond with Troy and her people as if he were an anointed leader. Regarding an initiate of the fifth degree, Dr. Steiner also stated:

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“The person initiated in the fifth degree participated in the life of the archangels. Initiates in the fifth degree were needed in the cosmos. Therefore an initiation in this fifth degree existed on earth. When such a person was initiated in the mysteries and received the soul-content which corresponded to the fifth degree, the archangel looked at the soul of such a person and read in that soul as we read in a book that informs us of certain things which we must know in order to accomplish something. The archangel read in the person who was initiated in the fifth degree what a nation [an ethnic group] needed. Initiates of the fifth degree must be formed on earth in order for the archangeloi to lead correctly. Those initiates are the intermediaries between the leaders of the ethnic group and the people of the nation. They carry up to the sphere of the archangels what is needed in order for the nations to be correctly led.”[7]

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The group-soul was that element of the human soul that permeated the people of the Atlantean period and followed into the modern era. It was destined to change as a part of a divine plan so that people could find a genuine path to individuality. This was achieved by severing the old ties of the inherited spiritual disposition of the group-soul family by embracing the intellect and the power of individual thinking. The group-soul connection was felt within each cultural and national family including the Trojans who experienced a stronger sense of kinship and an inner familial relationship. It was not an intimate bond in the sense that all were truly one family, but the soul-link was certainly experienced at a deeper level based on the ties that made them “Trojan”. The Trojans, for example, were “fellows” in a certain sense that separated them from other groups.

I have observed several disparities between the historical reality of the Trojan War and Homer’s tale but the purpose of this chapter is not to review every aspect. For example, my perception of Priamos is that he was not an old and weak king, but rather a strong individual not prone to making political or military mistakes. For example, in the movie “Troy” released in 2004, Hector remarks that Priamos is making a military decision based on “bird signs”. This never would have happened in the way that it did. Rather, Priamos perceived the veil through initiation and possessed an inner sight that most of his fellows lacked.

The Trojan peoples were a hybrid of the cultures between East and West. They were, in fact, a people of ceremony who resembled the Persians yet were permeated by elements of Greek culture. Geographically, Troy stood at the entry point between mainland Greece and Persia. The ruins of Troy were Alexander the Great’s first stop on his journey East in 336BC where they contemplated and celebrated the victory of the Greeks over the Trojans. As Dr. Steiner observed through supersensible perception, the Trojan culture originated from one of three separate migrations of peoples, led by spiritual initiates who had been trained in the Atlantean Oracles, before/after the collapse of Atlantis. Each group carried a slightly different character.

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“We have therefore come to know three groups of Initiates, the task of the first having been to create religious culture, the task of the second to create the foundations of material culture, and the task of the third to build the foundations for the State, to galvanize passions. This takes place in forms adapted to the different peoples as in Troy or Alba Longa, or in the theocratic State, Palestine. But in reality, these were only preparations…

In this third migration, a group of Initiates went to the West… For it was a matter of bringing together everything that had originally been poured into this element, into the great idea of the organization of States. The result of this third migration is recorded in Genesis, in the Old Testament. A further branch of it went across to Asia Minor and there gave rise to what is contained in the Trojan civilization as well as in its settlements, one of which is that of Alba Longa (south of Rome). The task of these Initiates was to take in hand the formation of States suitable for the different peoples.”[8]

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This transition has multiple aspects. A key primary aspect is the movement away from group-soul consciousness, which inhibits freedom, to the ego-I which enables freedom and would come to transform all of humanity. The battle of Troy can be perceived in that way; the Geeks pressing the “I” aspects to overcome the “group” aspect of the Trojans. It was the destiny of the Greeks to bring a new impulse forward for all of humanity that came to expression through philosophy, thought (i.e., the nature of thinking), architecture, spirituality, and the foundations of democracy. This change began during the Atlantean period and reached a cultivation point, as it were, through the Greek peoples as a cultural-spiritual impulse that began in the West and spread East through the campaigns of Alexander the Great.

The most significant shift that occurred with the transition reflected in the Trojan War can only be perceived through initiation knowledge with regard to the evolution of human perception and consciousness. This aspect of human psychology was given the term “ego” by Sigmund Freud. Dr. Freud however, did not invent the term or concept. It is a much older and accepted aspect of human consciousness which was revealed, for example, through the works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814).

Dr. Steiner referred to this maturing sheath of the human being as the “I”, or ego-consciousness, which was imbued within humanity during the last third of the Atlantean period. In the new epoch, however, ego consciousness was to be further developed alongside the power of independent thought that could use concepts and ideas in a new way. It was a very gradual change that moved through the world, with all of its unique cultures, histories, and languages, in unique ways. 

Prior to this change, humanity relied solely on forms of a picture-based consciousness, an ancestral blood tie to the cultural and familial group, ancestry, and an inherited form of clairvoyance. During that period, life was a matter of perception and memory and not the capability of independent thought or improvisation. Those who could improvise, or think in concepts, were far ahead of their peers. Thus, people were compelled to seek freedom through the “I”, or Ego perception, and later through the new faculty of thinking but it came at the expense of an inherited vision of the spiritual worlds.

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“…the withdrawal of the old clairvoyance occurred in quite different ways and at different times in various countries. In the East, the old clairvoyance persisted up to a relatively late date. Over towards the West, among the peoples of Europe, clairvoyant faculties were less widely present. In the latter peoples, a strong ego-feeling came to the fore while other soul-powers and faculties were still relatively undeveloped. This ego-feeling emerged in the most varied ways in different parts of Europe — differently between North and West, and notably different in the South. In pre-Christian times it developed most intensively in Sicily and Italy. While in the East men remained for a long time without an ego-feeling, in these regions of Europe there were people in whom the ego-feeling was particularly strong because they had lost the old clairvoyance. In the proportion that the spiritual world withdraws externally from man does his inward ego-feeling light up.”[9]

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Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, when viewed in light of esoteric keys and insights, provide a foundation upon which one can perceive the true nature of the Trojan War and the gradual global shift in consciousness that was destined to move through the world through the Greek culture. The lives of historical personalities were used by Homer to demonstrate in the poetic epics of the Iliad and the Odyssey individual pictures of transformations that had taken place.

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“Hector was a living person who strode through Troy, and Achilles and the other figures were equally real. They still stand before us as personages of real earthly life. We look back to them as people of a different kind from ourselves, who are difficult to understand but whom the poet is able to bring before our souls in every detail.”[10]

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The author of the Iliad, Homer, was a wandering bard, poet, and a genuine spiritual seer (i.e., possessed an ancient form of clairvoyance).[11] Steiner revealed that Homer’s blindness, if he was genuinely blind, enabled an expanded spiritual faculty. Homer revealed the tale of Troy through a form of spiritual clairvoyance that was passed along as an oral tale by a now extinct, and yet superior, form of memory the substance of which was very different that today.

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“In museums everywhere you will find sculptured heads of Homer. I am not saying that the likeness is particularly good, but when we look at this blind Homer, whose eyes, in spite of blindness, have such a mysterious expression and whose head has a striking pose, the portrayal is good enough to make us feel perhaps he blinded himself voluntarily — I am, of course, speaking metaphorically — perhaps he deliberately made himself blind in order that sight should not disturb a certain kind of listening; for Homer listens. Without the distraction of sight, he experiences the interplay between the pulsation of the cosmos and the pulsing of human blood, the pulsing of the human ether body, where the Beings of the air carry out their dance of harmony and melody.”[12]

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The Trojan War occurred sometime between 1100-1200BC. My intuition points to a date of about 1120-1150BC.  This date is supported by a reading from the Edgar Cayce readings regarding a prior lifetime that was discussed in one of Cayce’s readings as a Trojan Advisor (to Priamos) and later Gatekeeper who took part in the conflict and lived from 1158 to 1012BC.[13] Dr. Steiner did not provide a precise date and defers to historians who placed the battle around 1200BC.  The Trojan War likely occurred in stages over 10 years. This battle was a series of skirmishes, ploys, and hit-and-runs that took place across the Aegean. Cayce stated in a spirit reading that the siege of Troy lasted seven years.[14]  My intuition, however, suggests that there were waves and intensifications of siege activity and battles followed by withdrawals and reengagements.

In ancient and medieval warfare, it was difficult, if not impossible, to maintain a continuous and uninterrupted siege for seven to ten years given supply constraints, illness, inclement weather, and incidents such as incursions and raids of rival city-states or kingdoms that would take advantage of the situation. The food stores, for example, in the city of Troy could not possibly have lasted seven years and must have been replenished on a regular basis. It is impossible that the Greek army, which was divided by separate leaders some of whom were competing with one another, had sufficient supply lines to sustain a consistent seven-year siege without constant reinforcements. Supplies could only be brought in through a manual process by way of ships, wagons, and horses which could only carry so much material.

Farming could only be conducted during certain times of the year thus a winter siege, for example, would have been impossible if the weather was severe. Typically combatting cultures preferred to fight during spring, summer, and fall months when the weather was suitable. Harvesting food and storing it was far more manual process than it is today. The Trojans, as an organized army with competent leadership, conducted counter-attacks, and raids, just as the Greeks did. Thus, the Greek army did not operate with impunity while conducting the siege off and on for ten years.

The Trojan War was the foundation point that set the tone for many changes and karmic relationships for a competing group of people who were destined to re-emerge in future lifetimes throughout Greece, Rome, and Western Europe. One individual, in particular, achieved a higher degree of spiritual initiation and emerged as one of the leading thought and spiritual leaders of his age:

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“Thence the remarkable fact that Pythagoras, the great initiator of a certain line of Greek culture, in an earlier incarnation had fought as a Trojan hero on the side of the Trojans. He himself says that he was a Trojan hero, mentioned in Homer, and that he recognized himself as an enemy of the Greeks because he recognized his shield. When Pythagoras says that he had been Euphorbos, Anthroposophy teaches a full understanding of this assertion. The Greeks, even the greatest among them, laid especial value on what the single physical incarnations meant for them.”[15]

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Modern portrayals of Priamos during the Trojan War are conflicted, however, the fact that Priamos was an older man during the war is, based on his intuition, unsubstantiated. Priamos was a proud man, and an initiate, who believed in his city’s greatness, culture, and spirit. The image of Priamos that the author has intuitively perceived was as a young man with dark features, athletic, and a well-trimmed beard. He took pride in his appearance and carried a diplomatic appearance. He was not old, weak, or frail but athletic in appearance and had a certain determined and piercing glare. It was the keen eye of an initiate who could see through people’s facades empowered by a degree of clairvoyance. So, Priamos’s age at the time of the war is unknown, but I speculate that he was in his 50s. Most of his children were young adults when the war began.

Thus, the tale of the Trojan War was a historical event but its true significance was taught, and shared, amongst those seeking spiritual initiation in the ancient Greek Mystery Centers of which Homer was a part. The ancient Greeks, as Steiner observed, had one foot on both worlds; the astral or spiritual worlds and the physical world. They did not look at historical events, or natural phenomena, as the modern person does. These events were perceived through a dim form of clairvoyance, heightened through spiritual initiation, that revealed that the “Gods” worked through human beings, history, and nature.

The epics of the Iliad and Odyssey are initiation documents that require a perspective, and background, that is only revealed only through training in the Mysteries or initiation knowledge. However, these tales also guide the reader through historical events and relationships that manifested through adventures, numeric correlations, challenges, Gods, shades, heroes, villains, tragedies, and victories. As a traveling bard, early Meistersinger, and genuine seer, Homer brought the tale of Troy to the public.[16] Others followed in Homer’s footsteps and made changes to his original work, some of which were valid modifications. Homer intentionally kept certain details concealed that he was not allowed to reveal under the oath of secrecy of the Mysteries at that time.

All spiritual events and changes manifest as events in the physical world. It is important to consider that humanity has experienced many transformative changes that extend far back in time. These changes have affected the world’s geography and the way human beings interact in the world in terms of consciousness, form, and one another. The transitions are typically earmarked by larger and sometimes global events and are a part of the overall divine plan of human evolution. The Trojan War is a symbolic and historical event of a turning point on this journey that occurred between the 4th and 5th Post-Atlantean Epochs.[17] The cultural period of the Graeco-Roman Age, in light of Anthroposophy, began in 747BC and ended in 1413AD. Thus, the Trojan War (circa 1100-1200BC) occurred just before this epoch began.

During the long periods of transformation that occurred during Atlantis and followed after the Great Flood in 9,500BC, humanity was progressively imbued with a new faculty by the spiritual hierarchies and the higher beings who oversee our transformation.  The intent was to enable humanity to find freedom. It hinged upon the Turning Point in Time; the incarnation of the Christ which was destined to occur at the precise midpoint of human evolution. The “I” gave way to new forms of thought, perception, writing, music, and the seeking, and expression, of individuality.[18] Seekers were no longer bound by a group construct and admission to closed Mystery Centers not open to the public. The new path, for each individual, is the Christ through the initiative of the individual.

Ad observed Dr. Steiner, the Mysteries existed in Atlantis through the seven Oracles or Mystery Centers. The Oracles were aligned with planets and their unique influences. He revealed that during the Atlantean period there were seven Oracles, or centers of spiritual initiation, consisting of the Sun (Christ), Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn. Each represented a unique connection to the “colonies” of higher beings who exist within the spiritual worlds and oversee human development over time.[19]

The Sun Mysteries permeated and led all of the Mystery Centers and was the only one to continue into the new world. After the fall of Atlantis, the Mysteries were brought to humanity through different cultural-spiritual streams that progressed from Atlantis to India (and Egypt), Chaldea, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, and so on. Humanity’s path is, by definition, a gradual transition. Each culture brought a significant and valuable impulse to the overall construct of humanity. Then, as the impulse was brought forth, cultures fell into decadence or were absorbed as their influences spread out in a diluted way across the world having accomplished their task from a higher spiritual perspective.[20] The Sun Mysteries, or Sun Oracle, weighed heavily in the minds of the Trojans and the Greeks. The Palladium was the physical talisman, or relic, of the Sun Mysteries.

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“Whatever Oracles existed in the post-Atlantean periods — in Greece, Egypt, Asia, all were successors of the Sun Oracle in Atlantis. This is true also for the Apollo Oracle in Greece. The initiate who headed this Sun Oracle was the guardian of the deepest Mysteries of our solar system. Together with his subordinates, he was called upon to investigate the nature of the spiritual life on the sun itself. His role was to proclaim to Atlantean humanity the secrets of the whole planetary system and to exercise supreme authority over the other Oracle centers.”

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While the new impulse of intellectual thought emerged within each human being gradually over time and led to a struggle for inner freedom, this change also yielded a trap that led to enhanced forms of egotism. The ego, or “I”, led to the ruination of Atlantis as the peoples became corrupted by self-interest and vanity. They misapplied the powers and their expanded knowledge of the spiritual worlds. The danger of the ego still exists as a double-edged sword but it works alongside the new faculty that relies purely on the intellect.

This change, while a necessary transition, caused a veil to appear between the individual and the spiritual worlds.[21] Before this change, the Atlanteans, and the cultures that descended out of its branches, relied heavily on an inherited form of clairvoyance.  Dr. Steiner revealed that the Atlanteans perceived the world in soft outlines and colors that reflected the inner states of living beings in the outer world and not the precise lines of the form itself. With this change, humanity began to perceive the outer world in sharply defined lines and became blind to the inner significance of an object outside of one’s self. Human beings could no longer live within an outer object as they once had.

The city of Troy was founded on the precept of the blood tie and the inherited forms of spiritual initiation that followed humanity out of Atlantis through the Mysteries of the Sun Oracle. Apollo was the master of the Sun. Troy was one of the last vestiges of the old priest-king wisdom that was destined to fade into history. For the royal family of Troy, an inherited familial bond of clairvoyance was passed down through the bloodlines. None of the leaders of Troy were elected officials. Through the Greeks, the power of thought and ego-consciousness brought a new form of secular government into the world that broke free from the old modes of expression but one should not imagine that the Greeks were running around saying “I am the bringer of the ‘I’ to humanity and Troy must fall”. This was certainly not the case.

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