Spiritual Friendship

Goethe’s Fairytale “The Green Snake and Beautiful Lily.”

An introductory video made for the Anthroposophical Society in America.

A brief introduction to a text that Rudolf Steiner hailed as the “germinal seed” of the anthroposophical movement: Goethe’s enigmatic Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and Beautiful Lily.

Rather than peel back the layers of the onion in search of the hidden esoteric meaning, this video proposes that we read the fairytale as a story of friendship. This is the theme that Goethe identified when he pointed to the significance of the symbol of the Oroboros, or the Snake that Bites Its Own Tail. Watch the video for more details about the Tale!

Artwork, in order of appearance: Marion Donehower “Beauty”; Bruce Donehower “Video Photo”; Hermann Linde “Sleeping Prince”