This five-part lecture series, Embryology: The Becoming of a Human, offers a deep integration of embryology, spiritual science, and contemporary medicine through the lens of Rudolf Steiner’s work. Beginning with the embryo as a “living book” of archetypal forces, the series explores how form, energy, and consciousness interweave from the earliest stages of human development. Topics include the role of imagination in organ formation, the polarity of surface and center in embryogenesis, the spiritual foundations of epigenetics, and the evolving function of the heart as a cognitive and diagnostic organ. Participants will engage with both scientific and esoteric perspectives, examining the influence of spiritual hierarchies on sensory perception, the endocrine and nervous systems, and the incarnation of the Ego-organization. Practical exercises, ranging from meditative inner picturing to mandala drawing, support the development of diagnostic insight and healing imagination. This series is intended for those seeking a more integrative view of medicine, where biology, soul, and spirit cohere in the shaping of human life.

Lecture 1

This lecture opens the series with a contemplative approach to embryology, viewed not only as a biological unfolding but as a revelation of spiritual intention in form. Drawing on the imaginations of Rudolf Steiner, the embryo is seen as a living scripture, a dynamic record of the human being’s journey toward incarnation. The forces that shape the organs are presented as living archetypes, imaginations that guide form from within. The heart is offered as more than a pump; it is a perceptive organ, able to read these formative gestures, and essential to diagnostic insight in healing work. The lecture also explores the law of minimal surface and the role of hormones as mediators of form and time. A meditative practice using Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man concludes the talk, inviting inner picturing as a pathway to deeper understanding.

Lecture 2

The second lecture moves further into the dance of form and energy, examining the embryo through the polarity of surface and center. With careful attention to the forming of the gut and nervous system, Dennis shows how secretions and surfaces serve as sites of transformation. Steiner’s spiritual physiology of secretion and growth is placed alongside contemporary embryological knowledge, offering a unified picture. These biological processes are not merely mechanical but echo cosmic rhythms, and the human body is shown to be a temple built from both spirit and substance. The conversation invites the listener to consider how spiritual archetypes pulse within living tissue and how such recognition can guide both healing and reverence for life.

Lecture 3

This lecture enters the threshold where anthroposophical medicine meets the field of epigenetics. Steiner’s suggestion that the healer must first master modern science before spiritualizing it sets the tone. Dennis describes how an invisible organizing principle precedes the genetic script, suggesting that what is upstream of DNA is formative will. This organizing field guides the embryo’s shaping, the birth of organs, and the heart’s dynamic role as a rhythmic mediator. Attention is given to how inner and outer surfaces communicate, and how meditative practice can open the healer’s capacity to perceive these formative gestures. Through such perception, one can begin to glimpse the spiritual embryo, the future human being carried within each of us.

Lecture 4

In this lecture, the great spiritual hierarchies come into view as co-creators of the human sensory system. From the Thrones of Old Saturn to the Angels of the Earth era, Dennis traces how each hierarchy contributes to the weaving of consciousness. The senses are shown to be gifts from the cosmos, shaped not only by biology but by beings of wisdom and will. This sacred anatomy is placed alongside modern understandings of neurogenesis, memory, and sensory integration. By recognizing the interplay of hormones, neurotransmitters, and spiritual archetypes, we begin to see how individual consciousness emerges. Participants are invited into symbolic thinking and guided in exercises such as mandala drawing, deepening the inner engagement with these spiritual realities.

Lecture 5

The final lecture explores the incarnation of the ‘I’ through the lens of Rudolf Steiner’s teachings on Ego-organization. From sensation to cognition, from the body to the soul, the journey of the self is traced as a process of awakening. The layered relationship between the physical body, life forces, soul activities, and the individuality of the ‘I’ is explored with both philosophical depth and practical insight. Chronic conditions such as inflammation and sclerosis are examined not only as physiological states but as expressions of spiritual tension, calling for healing on multiple levels. Drawing on the imagery of Christian Rosenkreutz and alchemical wisdom, the lecture invites us to engage with illness and health as part of a sacred dialogue between spirit and form.