There is an important spiritual link between Steiner and Cagliostro (1743-1795), through the Rosicrucians. Steiner mentions Cagliostro in his lecture series given in Berlin dedicated to Freemasons, entitled the 1904 Legend of the Temple. Steiner describes here the true origin and function of the High Degrees, and in one of the lectures he describes Cagliostro's Rosicrucian work and defends his person against the defamation operated by the Jesuits, sworn enemies of the Rosicrucians. It was in fact the Holy Inquisition that identified the Masonic magician with Joseph Balsamo, a fraud. Cagliostro prophesied the end of the Holy Inquisition, being the last inquisite in 1795: since he could not bring the Rosicrucians to the Vatican, redeeming the church, Cagliostro's final mission was to bind his etheric body to the Holy Inquisition to end its persecution once and for all. The same thesis would later be argued in Martinist circles by Marc Haven (Emmanuel Lalande) in his "The Unknown Master: Cagliostro."
Steiner states about Cagliostro:
I must now mention the various currents of Freemasonry and their tendencies, although I shall only indicate them briefly. First of all, it must be kept in mind that the complex of Masonic High Degrees goes back to a personality who is talked about as much as he is misunderstood. He was especially misunderstood by the historians of the 19th century, who had no idea of the difficult situations occultists might face in life. This personality is the infamous and little understood Cagliostro. Count Cagliostro, so called, in whom an individuality was hidden and who was recognized in his true nature only by the highest initiates, originally sought to bring Freemasonry in London to a higher level. For during the last third of the 18th century, Freemasonry had by then well reached the level I have described. It was not successful in London at that time. So he tried in Russia and also in The Hague. Everywhere he failed, for well-defined reasons.
So, although he was successful in Lyon, he formed an occult Masonic Lodge of Philalethes [Seekers of Truth] from a group of local Masons, which was called the Lodge of Triumphant Wisdom. The purpose of this lodge was specified by Cagliostro. What can be read about this is, however, nothing more than the work of ignorant people. What can be said of this is only an indication. Cagliostro was connected with two things: first, with instructions to produce the so-called Philosopher's Stone; second, with creating an understanding of the mystical pentagram. I can only give a nod to the significance of these two things. They can be approached with a certain amount of contempt, but they should not be taken in a merely symbolic way; they are based on real facts.
The Philosopher's Stone has a specific purpose, which was stated by Cagliostro; it is believed that it can extend human life by a period of 5527 years. To a free thinker this appears laughable. In fact, however, it is possible, through special training, to prolong life indefinitely by learning to live outside the physical body. In any case, anyone who imagined that no death, in the conventional sense of the word, could befall an adept would have a fairly false view of the matter. So, anyone who imagined that an adept could not be struck and killed by falling from a tile falling from the roof would still be mistaken. To be sure, this would have happened only if the adept had allowed it to happen. We are not referring to physical death, but to what follows. Physical death is only an apparent occurrence for the one who has understood the Philosopher's Stone for himself, and who has learned to separate it. For other people it is a real happening, signifying a great division in their lives. Because the one who understands how to use the Philosopher's Stone in the way Cagliostro had informed his disciples to do, death is only an apparent happening. It does not even constitute a decisive turning point in life; it is, in fact, something that is there for others to observe the adept and say that he is dying. He himself, however, does not really die. It is more the case that the person concerned has learned to live without his physical body; that he has learned during the course of life to let all those things take place gradually, all that happens suddenly in the physical body at the time of death. Everything has already happened in the affected person's body, what would otherwise happen at death. He lays down the physical body in the same way he takes off a coat, and puts on a new covering as one puts on a coat.
Now all this will give you an idea. This was a lesson that Cagliostro taught-the Philosopher's Stone-that allows physical death to become a minor event.
The second lesson was about the knowledge of the Pentagram. This is the ability to distinguish the five bodies of man from one another. When someone says: physical body, etheric body, astral body, Kama-Manas body, causal body [Higher Manas or Spiritual Self], these are mere words, or at best, abstract ideas. Nothing, however, is achieved through this. A person living today as a rule already knows little about the physical body; only a person who knows the Pentagram learns to know the five bodies. One who does not know a body by living in it, but by having it as an object. This is what distinguishes an average person from one who has gone through such teaching that the five bodies have become objects. The ordinary person undoubtedly lives in these five bodies, however, he lives in them, he cannot go outside [himself] and observe them. At best he can see his physical body when he lowers his gaze to the torso, or sees it in a mirror. Those disciples of Cagliostro who followed his method would then achieve what some Rosicrucians achieved, who basically went through training with the same orientation. They were in a school of the great European adepts, who taught that the five bodies were realities, and did not remain merely as mere concepts. This is called "Knowing the Pentagram" and "Moral Rebirth."
I am not saying here that Cagliostro's disciples never achieved anything. In general they proceeded to the point of understanding the astral body. Cagliostro was extremely skilful in imparting a vision of the astral body. Even before catastrophe befell him, he succeeded in establishing a school in Paris, Belgium, St. Petersburg and a few other places in Europe, in addition to the one in Lyon, from which later emerged the last people who possessed the basis for proceeding to the 18th, 19th and 20th High Degrees of Freemasonry. So, Count Cagliostro at least had an important influence on occult Freemasonry in Europe before ending his days in prison in Rome. The world should not swear an oath about Cagliostro. As I have already indicated, when people talk about Cagliostro, it is as if the Hottentots are talking about the construction of an elevated railway, because the relationship of seemingly immoral outward acts is not understood in the happenings of the world.
- Quoted from the lecture "The Essence and Task of Freemasonry from the Point of View of Spiritual Science," December 16, 1904, contained in Rudolf Steiner, The Temple Legend, GA93, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2014, p. 94-97
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