The concept of the comes primarily from the prophetic lectures of Rudolf Steiner , given in 1919. According to Steiner, Ahriman is a real spiritual entity—the embodiment of materialism, cold intellect, and technological enslavement—who is destined to incarnate in human form in the West during the third millennium.

The Incarnation of Ahriman: The Embodiment of Materialism in a Digital Age

Steiner placed Ahriman within a "cosmic triad" of forces that shape human history:

Below is a blog post exploring this esoteric concept and its relevance to our modern age.

In the winter of 1919, Rudolf Steiner stood before audiences in Zurich and Dornach to deliver a series of startling warnings. He spoke not of a metaphor, but of a coming event: the physical .