11 January 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”: As twilight fades this evening, how soon can you detect Mars glimmering above the Moon?
Orion is on display in the southeast these evenings, higher every week. But when the stars come out he’s still lower, and his three-star Belt is still nearly vertical. The Belt points up toward Aldebaran and, even higher, the Pleiades. Down below, the Belt points to where Sirius rises around the time twilight fades away.
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
“If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.” ~Joseph Campbell
1825 – Birthday of Karl Julius Schroer, professor of German literature & language. Political developments in 1860 forced Schröer to leave Hungary for Vienna. In the following years, Schröer researched the folklore of the ethnic Germans, or Danube Swabians, of Hungary. As part of his research, Schröer discovered a Medieval cycle of Danube Swabian mystery plays in Oberufer, a village since engulfed by the Bratislava’s borough of Ružinov. Schröer collected manuscripts, made meticulous textual comparisons, & published his findings in the book Deutsche Weihnachtspiele aus Ungarn (“The German Nativity Plays of Hungary”) in 1857/1858. Several scholars later extended this work.
In Vienna, Schröer became a major figure in Goethe scholarship. He was a founding member of the Goethe Society of Vienna in 1878 & edited the society’s official publication, “Die Chronik”, from 1886 to 1894.
Schröer was especially devoted to Faust scholarship, editing the work & providing a commentary in a two-volume edition of that play. In 1884 he published one of his most well-known works, a text dedicated to Goethe’s biography, manner of poeticizing, & relation to women: “Goethe und die Liebe” (Goethe and Love). Schröer also edited a six-volume edition of Goethe’s dramas. He campaigned for the erection of a Goethe monument in Vienna, which was approved in 1894 with a design by Edmund Hellmann. Schröer died on 16 December 1900, one day after the monument was unveiled.
He was Rudolf Steiner’s professor & the son of the educator & writer Tobias Gottfried Schröer. Steiner speaks about these 2 individualities in their former incarnations. Tobias as Socrates & Karl as the nun Hroswitha & Plato. See Karmic Relationships, Volume IV: Lecture X
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POD (Poem Of the Day)
~May I ride in calm waters toward destiny
May my flesh be a sail propelled by the breath of true knowing
May the rhythm of my heart stir music that embraces darkness
May my spirit witness what my hands create,
The words I utter, the worlds I think…
~hag
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January Story (adapted from an Italian legend my Strega Nona used to tell)
It was early in the year still cold & biting was the wind. A poor mother & her sweet daughter Ella lived in a small cottage outside the city near the great woods. One morning, Ella put on her warmest winter clothes & went with her basket to look for a morsel of food for her good mother.
Ella asked everywhere for a crust of bread or a bit of carrot, but no one could spare a bite. Ella did not want to take an empty basket home, so she went into the woods to look for nuts & roots hidden under the snow. On the way she found a little mouse whose tail was caught under a stone. Ella gently freed him, & the mouse said, ‘Thank you kind child, I have been trapped here for a long time. May good fortune find you’. Then he scampered away through the frosty forest.
As she wandered on, she noticed a tree whose branches were so weighed down with snow, she thought they would break. So she shook the tree until it could stand up straight again. ‘Oh my,’ said the tree, ‘that feels much better, thank you dear child, may good fortune find you.’
Ella went on through the forest, & saw a little robin shivering from the cold. She picked the robin up & wrapped her carefully in her warm woolen hat until the robin stopped shivering. ‘Thank you dear child,’ sang the robin, ‘I feel warm enough to fly now. May good fortune find you.’ The bird flapped her wings & flew toward to cloud covered sun.
Ella had now walked deep into the woods where she knew a hazelnut tree grew. ‘Perhaps I will find nuts here,’ she thought to herself. So she started to dig under the snow, & sure enough her hard work payed off for she did indeed find nuts enough to fill her basket. As she was digging here & there, a kind old man with a long white beard appeared dressed all in white. He spoke to her with a voice as warm as light.
‘I am the Grandfather of the Year. My 4 sons & I have seen how thoughtful you are. My children each have a question for you.’
One brother came all dressed in light green. He smiled at Ella & asked her, ‘What is Spring like dear child?’
Ella answered, ‘Oh Spring is fresh & new & full of crocuses & daffodils & baby birds. I love Spring!’ The green brother smiled at Ella & nodded.
Then a second brother came all dressed in yellow, & asked, ‘What is Summer like dear child?’
‘Oh,’ said Ella, ‘Summer is a time to run & play in sunshine, plant a garden of flowers, & chase butterflies & fireflies. I love Summer!’ The yellow brother smiled & nodded.
Then a third brother appeared dressed in orange & reds. He asked Ella, ‘What is Autumn like dear child?’
‘Autumn,’ said Ella, ‘is full of dancing leaves like flames, apples & pumpkins, & it is harvest time. I love Autumn!’ The orange & red brother smiled & nodded.
Then the Grandfather of the Year’s 4th son appeared all dressed in pale blues. ‘What is Winter like dear child,’ he asked.
‘Winter snow sparkles like the stars’, replied Ella. ‘Our cheeks get rosy as we make snowmen, & we light candles in the house, & read books. I love Winter!’ This blue brother also smiled & nodded.
Then the 4 brothers & the Grandfather of the Year who stood before her, disappeared. Ella thought she had been dreaming, but when she looked in her basket of old nuts, they had turned into gold, frankincense & myrrh!
When she returned home her mother rejoiced. They shared these riches with all who asked & were never poor & hungry again!
~hag
