Today‘s ‘I Think Speech‘ Podcast
Greetings dear friends, I woke up this morning with an earache, hanging on to the edges of a dream in which I lived with an old healer woman. I was her assistant helping her make plant medicines for the little village. She was stern & the work was hard, but I got to be out in nature gathering the plants which I loved. She was always telling me ‘be prepared, get ready’ but I never really knew what she meant.
Then one night the 3 kings arrived in the village with their caravans & came to visit the old woman. By now I am lucidly saying to myself in the dream, O geez this is La Bafana, I need to talk about her on Epiphany. Anyway in the dream I served the 3 wise men wine & cakes & sat by the fire listening to them speak about the stars. After they left the old woman said ‘& what will you bring’? I awoke feeling my angel was there. My left ear throbbing, thinking about what I would bring for the Festival tomorrow, entitled ‘Joan’s Epiphany ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’.
It’s interesting now to see that today’s 12th Holy Night deals with Aries the Ram, which represents the head, & in which the eurythmy gesture covers the ears.
Our journey, dear friends, taking us on the path from Jesus to Christ, is a divine archetype that every human being may follow thru the 12 regions of the Zodiac – & beyond, into the compass of the Holy Spirit & now on the Eve of Epiphany, we get a glimpse into the sphere of the Mystic Lamb.
We started in the feet with Pisces & the incarnation into the human realm on Christmas Eve –& now we have arrived at Aries, ruling the head – a glimpse of our reunion with the godhead. This is the prototype for our microcosmic metamorphosis from matter to spirit – a model for spiritualizing ourselves & the Earth. Let us receive this day the gifts of the ‘Three Kings’.
Aries is ‘at the head’ of the whole zodiac circle of ‘Adam-Kadmon’ – the Alpha to Omega Archetype of Humanity –from which the Christ descended – passing thru each sign – each Angelic realm – into the Spirit & Soul of the Sun, for the pre-earthly deeds.
Yay, I know I am falling into Anthro-speak, & this term pre-earthly deeds deserves its own seminar, but basically, we can think that there was a lot of preparation that had to happen in our evolution before the Christ could bring His impulse of Universal Love to earth. Human beings are gifted with these pre-earthly deeds in the 1st 3 years of life, when so much happens, we learn to stand upright & walk, we learn to speak & we learn to think & call ourselves “I”.
But let me get back to the fact that it is no coincidence that the sphere of the Mystic lamb in Aries stood in the heavens at the exact time of the Baptism, when the Christ being descended from the Sun into the vessel of the Nathan Jesus of the Luke Gospel, in order to perform, 3 years later, His 4th & most important deed on the hill at Golgotha, everything else was a preparation for this deed.
In John 1:35-36, the Baptist says: “Look, there is the Lamb of God”. With these words we hear a testimony of the cosmic connection of Christ with the heavenly region of the Ram, thru which Christ entered our cosmos from the realms beyond the zodiac.
It is thru this portal outside of The Trinity, related to more than our cosmos alone, that the ‘Voice from Heaven’ speaks at the baptism: “This is my Beloved Son, today I have begotten Him” or as Matthew 3:16-17 tells it: “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in him will I revel myself!”
From the Aries constellation flows the source of Christ’s spiritual influence in the cosmos which then spreads its emanations towards the 1st 7 ‘light or ascended’ zodiac signs, which goes down to the region of the Scales. This may be called the body of the Mystic Lamb.
And from Virgo to Pisces we have the body of the Divine Sophia. The overlapping center where they meet is where the ‘Mystic or alchemical Marriage’ takes place, an initiatory process in the New Mysteries open to humanity now. (Remember: the 13 Hidden Holy Night is New Year’s Eve, the center between the above & below, where we see the Sun at Midnight)
Those initiated in the ancient Jewish rites had an inkling of the connection between, what they called the ‘Messiah’ & the region of the Ram. This is seen in the practice of sacrificing lambs for the ‘sins of Israel’. The Passover was a pre-figuring of The Christ, the new ‘Sacrificial Lamb’ – freely offered as the medicine redeeming humanity from the fall, & ending the need for blood sacrifice.
John the Baptist was a leading initiate of the Jewish mysteries. In his earliest incarnation as ‘Adam’ – he was the 1st man to take up a physical existence on earth. Because of this he was given the task of baptizing people in preparation for the descent of Christ -the 1st God to enter physical existence on earth. His task was to sort the Lambs – those ready for the new initiation, from those not ready in that life. And Eve had the task of giving birth to the Matthew Jesus.
After the baptism, Christ-Jesus became the new archetype of the human being, which had fallen into disarray thru ‘the fall of Adam’. The human body was intended in the beginning to be more spiritual, but instead, it entered more deeply into materiality then what was intended by the gods. But thru the Resurrection, we can achieve the rise of Adam-Kadmon – the perfected human being – in times to come. It is for this reason that John the Baptist says that he (as the old Adam) must decrease, while Christ (the new Adam) must increase.
Later after John the Baptist dies, his spirit is able to unite with Lazarus/John during his initiation by Christ into the New Mysteries – so that Lazarus becomes John the Divine. In the Book of the Apocalypse he reveals the connection of Christ with the Sphere of the Mystic Lamb, in his description of the Heavenly Lamb who guards the Book of Seven Seals.
And so, thru our journey of Jesus to Christ we see the earthly reflection in the 13 Holy Nights between the festivals of Christmas to Epiphany, of our human evolution back to the Godhead. And at Epiphany, the festival of the Birth of Christ into the earthly body of humanity in the man Jesus, we get an insight into the journey that a god took to become human. For at the moment of the Baptism, the highest Trinity is reflected in the depths of earthly existence: the Holy Spirit as the Dove (Bull), the Son-Principle as the Lamb (Ram) & the Father-principle as the Voice from the Heavens beyond the zodiac – those realms where human imagination has yet to penetrate. But it is from there, from the bosom of the Father/Mother, that Christ descended into our cosmos. And from there He worked from the sphere of the Sun, as the 13th in the circle of the 12 – the Divine Spirit of our solar system; & then at the Baptism He descends from the Sun to the Earth, in order that the Earth may become a Sun.
It is ‘The Great Work’ of Being Human, to Become, each of us, a Sun – Recognizing & acknowledging this spark of Divinity in everyone we meet – supporting & adding to this light – to do as my friend Teddy Mowrey, who crossed the threshold 3 years ago now, said: “I resolve to Improve my awareness of the Christ in me, bringing it consciously into recognition of the Christ in others. The Christ in me responds to the Christ in you”. Thank you Teddy, I am still living into these living words that you have left us. To me this is the perfect expression of the Virtue: Devotion becomes the power of sacrifice.
To be devoted, is a commitment to act out of free will, selflessly, -to actively consecrate – to devote our life, like the 3 Kings did, to give our gifts – And thru this giving to be reborn, to rise up out of the waters newly baptized – ready to become a devoted human being, ready to serve.
Thank you to those intrepid souls who have willingly taken this powerful journey from 2020, thru the Holy Nights opening the way into 2021. May we devote this year to becoming one with the Earth-Sun. See you at 10:10, until then. Blessings & peace.
~hag
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Wednesday 6 January 2021, 2 pm – 4 pm CST
Joan’s Epiphany ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost
& online Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/7052931041
Meeting ID: 705 293 1041
As a celebration of the Birthday of Joan of Arc
We welcome special Guest Nancy Jewel Poer,
who will be premiering her Magnum Opus:
JOAN OF ARC – HER GIFTS FOR OUR TIME,
a film featuring Kai Migliaccio & Jospeh Seserman
We will also explore ‘The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations’, Lecture 5, ‘The Nature of the Christ Impulse and the Michaelic Sprit Serving It’
by Rudolf Steiner, with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Social Sculpture: Singing Through Joan of Arc “The Passage”
with Luicen Dante Lazar, + An Artistic exploration
Group Eurythmy with Mary Ruud
$ 10 donation at the door or http://donate.rschicago.org/
Enter on the branch side 4249 N. Lincoln
& proceed thru the Schreinerei into the Elderberries Space
Pot luck afterward in the Schreinerei – Please Bring Food to Share
For more info. contact Hazel Archer hag@rschicago.org
Dear Hazel,
I am always motivated and appreciative of your offerings, and this 12th Night is especially important for your insights about John the Baptist and his legacy as the Adam who was “formed from the dust of the ground and Life breathed into his nostrils”, Genesis, 2. Steiner spoke in the Luke lectures about Jesus and John being a part of the great Mother Lodge, wherein John was the old soul, and Jesus was the absolutely young soul who had never even been born in a human incarnation. His only interim incarnation was as Krishna as the result of the three pre-earthly deeds, and wherein the fourth deed involves the actual human incarnation in the flesh, and wherein Jesus brings forth those attributes needed for the Christ, i.e., 1) a physical phantom body with no guilt incurred, 2) a provisional ego for the first time, and 3), the two ethers which were withheld from Adam and Eve in the Garden. Ref. GA 131, “From Jesus to Christ”.
Now, when Jesus approaches his cousin John in order to receive the baptism, and only the Gospel of John expresses it in the form of an eyewitness fact in chapter one, John says: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And I did not recognize him”. Then, the next day, after the baptism, John is standing with two of his disciples, and Jesus passes. John says to them: “Behold the Lamb of God”, and they begin to follow. The ministry of Christ-Jesus on earth begins here.
Now, indeed, we are in the sign of Aries when this occurs, about 777 years since the fourth cultural epoch began in 747 BC. Yet, we also know that John is an Aquarius Initiate, as the water-man, and Jesus, his cousin, is a Pisces Initiate, of a higher rank, which John duly has acknowledged in the approach of his cousin. Ref. GA 124, “Background to the Gospel of Mark”.
We know that John would go on to see the increase of Christ-Jesus, and his own decrease, which would ultimately compel him to face King Herod over the issue of adultery. This is a complete recapitulation of what had previously occurred with Elijah coming before Ahab and Jezebel in 1st Kings. John the Baptist was imprisoned for some time, and then beheaded by the clever scheme of Herodias conducted through her daughter, Salome.
So, the Elijah-John stream became externalized with the death of John, and yet proved to still be effective in working to achieve the objectives of Christ-Jesus on earth. Steiner’s lectures on The Gospel of St. Mark, GA 139, make this very apparent. John continues to work in his beheaded condition until returning to earth with the raising of Lazarus.
This fact will prove to be the most crucial element; the raising of the Baptist in the body of Lazarus, who goes through death as the forerunner in death as the human sacrifice before the death of the Son of God on Golgotha. Thus, John returns in the body of Lazarus in order to live a long life according to the wishes of Christ, and finally dies at an old age on the island of Patmos, with the Mother of Jesus as his long companion. As we know, he writes the Book of Revelation, which is the very last book of the Bible, and foretells of the future evolution of the earth.
Now, at the center of the Book of Revelation, the Apocalypse of Saint John, is both the Mother of Jesus, who provides the source of the details seen in the several occult seal pictures, wherein John is transported back to the ancient Mystery of Ephesus, and also the Lamb of God, who John had first declared when his cousin Jesus approached him many years before at the time of the baptism. So, this further proves that John is the returned Baptist in the body of Lazarus. After his death, at an old age, the mother of Jesus continued to work for the good of Christianity for nearly two thousand years in alignment with Christ.
As such, she is the veritable supersensible presence seen in the various so-called, “Marian Apparitions” over the centuries, and especially beginning in 1531, with the appearance as the ‘Lady of Guadalupe’. This coincides with an event in the life of Christ, who had been evolving in the etheric envelope of the earth for many years after the crucifixion. Human souls began to die in the sixteenth century with something called ‘materialism’ in their veins. Christ was forced out of the etheric realm into the astral world. Yet, this gave the objective for a human experience of Christ in the Etheric. Much of importance takes place at an angle at right degrees.
I am really looking forward to January 6th as a 13th day ingredient, and I think you already have it with Joan, born on the last day of Epiphany in the year 1412. On her first birthday in 1413, the Fifth Cultural Epoch began. In just 19 years of life, she would shatter the paradigm of the old world!
Yet, will the new world ever arise as a result of such a sacrifice?
Blessings dear Steve, I am sorry i have not been so responsive to your missives, but in truth there is noting for me to add, but thank you.
I am especially grateful in this case for the Ahab/Jezebel reference!
Holy Nights New Year and Epiphany Blessings, dear Hazel! Kindly explain how the 13th Holy is the midpoint on New Year’s Eve and that tonight Jan 5, is the 12th Night! 🙏🏾🌌🌠👑🌠👑🌠👑💖
Hello dear one –
Rudolf Steiner calls NYE the 13th Hidden Holy Night, when the initiate can see the sun shining thru the earth at midnight.
This is the Christ Sun in the middle of the 12 signs of the Zodiac which then become 13 with Christ at the center.
Blessings to you
Mucho Gracias!
Maraming Salamat po!
Merci Beaucoup!
Ganz Vielen Danke!
Love Hugs, dear Hazel! 🙏🏾👑💖🍀🌠🌅
Hi Kathryn and Hazel,
I also think that it is important for the 13th configuration to consider that Christ is born on 6 January as the earth spirit out of the sun. This is very similar to Osiris of the third cultural epoch being killed and then cut up into twelve parts and planted into the earth. As we know, Christ is called, “the New Osiris”, and what could be more specific than that?
Thus, 6th January denotes the 12th day, but also a thirteenth, which is the birth of Joan that day in 1412. As such, Christ sees her as a salvatory being working with the same might and mane as Michael. I wrote a larger essay to this, but wanted to acknowledge Hazel and Kathryn in this matter. The figure of Joan is likened to the spirit of the mother, even as a kind of first birth out of the spirit. She accomplished a great deal in just a few short years. Then, when Christ was expelled from the etheric world that surrounds the earth in the 16th century, she came down to earth and made manifest the miraculous appearances which the Catholic church now holds sacred, and yet, knows nothing about except through faith, which is the great sifter.
So, we have it all on the 13th day, which is given to the little girl from Orleans, France, and her day. She would grow to be just a teenager, and fight for the freedom of France against the English. Her tears were only those which told the truth. She was burned at the stake. Just one hundred years before, in 1314, the Knights Templar were also burned at the stake, by the rule of France. So, go figure how it works between these two iconic countries.
In today’s world, we have it much easier to decipher. The world wants to be ruled by the forces of peace, harmony, and security. This is what the people of the world want. Yet, what is the contentious factor? The anti-Christ, of course, who would have a new world of groveling idiots living in the sub-earthly domain of materialism. This is why spiritual science exists today as the new cultural imperative. Sounds like it makes sense to you two, and kind regards for indicating it.