Foreword to the Third Edition and Acknowledgements (1998)

Among the various friends and members of the Society to whom I sent copies of the first edition of this working translation during my first visit to America in November 1997 was David Schwartz, who in turn sent a photocopy to Bernard Wolf. This led to the invitation to attend the above-mentioned social scientific and members conference entitled "Threefoldness and the Anthroposophical Society". Included among the reading material mailed to the coming participants of this conference was the translation of the statutes (principles) with footnotes from the first edition of this publication, found here slightly revised in Appendix I.

The conference itself took place from June 17 - 21 at Rose Hall, Camphill Village at Kimberton Hills, Pennsylvania, and provided a welcome and indeed golden opportunity to finally introduce this spiritual and social scientific research done by Herbert Witzenmann on the ‘principles’ to a larger audience than the one in Wilton, New Hampshire in 1997. Two slide shows on the Parzival and Willehalm geography based on the research by Werner Greub and on the Anthroposophical Society as Grail Chalice were also held in the beautiful Myrin Library of the Kepler House, adjacent to the Rose Hall

Since the demand for the second edition of this working translation gradually came to exceed the short supply, this third revised edition has been made during a two-week stay at my parents in Lachine, Montreal, to whom I hereby wish to express my gratitude. I also want to thank Guy Agoston, President of Aston Laser Connections in Montreal, for the kind use of his company computer and laser printer to prepare this edition. It is appearing simultaneously with a third edition of Munsalvaesche in America - Towards the New Grail Community which has been enlarged with a Postscript about my second visit to North America. In New York further contact was also made, through the good offices of David Gilmartin, with Sylvia Witzenmann and Daisy Aldan, through which hopefully another step toward a public presentation of this precious work has been taken. Lastly I extend my sincere thanks to Denis Schneider, a General Secretary of the Society in Canada, for inviting me to give a slide show on June 27 in Montreal, a great city whose connection with the history of the Grail, as I see it, lies not so much in the past, but – with the aid among other things of this inspiring study on the ‘principles – in the future. 

Robert J.  Kelder

Montreal, Canada, July 6, 1998