June 7, 2016

1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed & 3,000 are seriously injured

1775 – The United Colonies changes their name to the United States

1776 – Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence

1843 – Deathday of Friedrich Holderlin, a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with & philosophical influence on Georg Wilhelm, Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm, & Joseph Schelling. Rudolf Steiner said he was a pupil of Plato in Karmic Relationships Vol. 1 lec. 12

1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons–Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade

1880 – Deathday of Karl Christian Planck who developed a completely original system of philosophy, based on the realistic view that thought should proceed from nature to the highest forms of existence in the spiritual life. His views were directly antagonistic to the Darwinian theory of descent

1914 – 1^st ship passes thru the Panama Canal

1924 – Beginning of the “Agricultural Course” on the Koberwitz estate of Count & Countes Keyserlingk. Founding of bio-dynamic agriculture by Rudolf Steiner.

1980 – Deathday of Henry Miller, American novelist & essayist

1991 – Mount Pinatubo erupts, generating an ash column 4.3 miles high

~   ~   ~

~Wings of The Dove the Comic Fire does Inspire

In my Head the Light of Thinking

In my Heart the Weaving Feeling

In my Limbs the Strength of Willing

~hag

~   ~   ~

In thinking about: “The Working of the Spirit” by Michael Burton & Marke Levene. Part 13 (program for the Chicago reading)  

The 3^rd Movement: Light into the darkest places, ends as it had begun with Reinecke, “The Fox”, a scientist working from the inspiration of Dr. Strader’s Tesla like machine, who reminds us: “…Those men & women who dedicate their lives to scientific progress – will they recall their sacred duty to preserve the Earth? Will they find courage that they make a stand against an alien power that would annihilate all things that are most precious in the human heart?  

When we look ahead it’s easy to feel anxiety about what approaches us from the future. And yet, against this danger, a benevolent science that can benefit humanity has the possibility to come thru, aligned with the cosmic thinking of Michael. Will we call it forth in our own thinking?

In The 4^th & final Movement: Wholeness in the human will, Felicia reminds us that we must serve the higher powers who carry us in the “flowing stream of their compassion & love”, even though they stand back from humanity in this day & age, waiting for us to step up to earn their trust.

This becomes a cue for Lucifer to enter, but Maria puts him in his place. She does not deny Lucifer’s ancient rights, yet she prompts him to remember that every being evolves; & that with the Christ impulse all has changed, bringing redemption to all who can consciously work out of a free & loving human will, including Lucifer himself.

This powerful truth sets up the opposite polarity to emerge. We are assaulted by blaring electronic thuds mixed with sounds of pain & violent tearing, as the Asuras, who were observing all along, reveal themselves: “Proud, pitiful, human creatures! You have not before encountered naked power like ours. Do you dare to meet us face-to face? We can obliterate you! We tear your flesh like flimsy cotton-rag & spill blood till the oceans run with red! Work of a lifetime we annihilate when we take hold of you. The substance of your Self is not immune. We take it & devour it for ourselves!  

This evil onslaught in turn calls forth the benevolent powers of Theodora & Strader from the spiritual world, to give encouragement – that with every step humanity makes into the mysteries of love, we can regain, from these formidable evil forces, their power.  Together they speak: Love is more powerful than death. When it is perfect, it casts out all fear! This powerful statement proclaimed from the spiritual world, opens the way for all the beings of the Hierarchies to come forth. A battle ensues. Benedictus appears with the Guardian of the Threshold, joining ranks with those who fight on the side of Michael.

Are we willing to do the work of Spiritual Science that will allow the seed of our divine potential to take root?

Can we transform ourselves so that our personal Guardian can become a beam of light amidst a sea of darkness?  

Do we dare to let the spirit’s light stream thru our human will?

Thus ends, for now, my thinking about: “The Working of the Spirit” by Michael Burton & Marke Levene.  

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

June 6, 2016

331- Birthday of Julian the Apostate. In Rudolf Steiner’s Kama Lectures Vol. 4, lec. 6, he hear about him as Herzeloyde & Tycho Brahe.

1882 – More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay are killed when a cyclone in the Arabian Sea pushes huge waves into the harbor

1889 – The Great Seattle Fire destroys all of downtown Seattle

1892 – The Chicago “L” commuter rail system begins operation

1934 – New Deal: The U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Act of 1933 into law, establishing the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission

1944 – D-Day -155,000 Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy in France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II.

1961 – Deathday of Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist & psychotherapist

1968 – Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, Democratic Party senator from New York, brother of 35th President John F. Kennedy, dies from gunshot wounds inflicted on June 5

1982 – The Lebanon War begins. Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon

2002 –A near-Earth asteroid estimated at ten meters in diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece & Libya; estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb

1875 – Birthday of Thomas Mann, German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, & the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic & ironic epic novels are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist & the intellectual. His analysis & critique of the German soul used modernized German & Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche & Schopenhauer.

~   ~   ~

~The Hive hums

Wings grow out of the ether of my bones

In anticipation of the rite

Steeped in royal jelly

I contemplate the hexagramma mysticum

& prepare to dance the lemnisus infinitorum…

~hag

~   ~   ~

In thinking about: “The Working of the Spirit” by Michael Burton & Marke Levene. Part 12 (program for the Chicago reading)  

If We The People could become the powers that be, shifting the worker from the economic realm into sphere of rights, a Threefold Republic would begin to be possible. Technology cannot be stopped, nor should it be, as it will bring a great transformation into human thinking. But this must be balanced with a true resonance of the heart, bringing a holistic picture of interconnectedness into society. Ahriman is the ruler of the present economic system, seeking to keep us selfish. Playing on greed & fear which keeps the resources locked up. If money cannot circulate, society becomes bloated & diseased, crippling creativity, unable to serve the future.

In scene 13 Benedictus, the spiritual teacher, speaking to Maria from across the threshold tells us: “Before the tides can turn, those who work spiritually together now must reunite upon the earth. Each one, alive in future times must recognize the others & thru meeting what is living in them, must recollect the tasks that they’ve prepared in this Earth-life.” This is what Rudolf Steiner was trying to get us to see thru his lectures on Karmic relationships. This reality was Steiner’s true spiritual mission.

The idea sparked in Maria by this inspiration takes hold in scene 14, the last scene of the play. Nine people have been gathered together on the physical plane, with 4 from the other side also present, to make 13. Michael Burton delineates the scene into 4 parts The “1^st movement” is called: “The human being speaking to the stars”. Maria begins by pointing out that they are meeting not as the brotherhood of old, but as individuals united in freedom, resolving to continue to work together thru various incarnations, since the tasks at hand will go on into the future. The hierarchies are called to witness their commitment.

In the 2^nd movement: The community of the Word, Each states what they are called to do. Johannes acknowledging his mistakes of the past, vows to bring to fruition thru deeds of love, a healing for the Earth. Hilary too looks to his past to inform his future deeds: a vow to support Johannes’s artistic vision by building a new “House of the Word, where your imaginations can be given form”. Theodosius offers his grounding support.

The 3 Soul Forces enter & weave between them blessing their endeavors. The “Other Phila:  “And wakening-dreaming will nurture soul-seeing. Though in life all are many, in the Word they are one.”

The 3^rd Movement: Light into the darkest places, begins with Reinecke, “The Fox”, having seen the light, so to speak, vowing to bring his technological expertise to bare, carrying light into the dark. Bell, who we saw as the accountant in scene 10, admits he has not been generous in the past, vows to support the furthering of Strader’s scientific work thru Reinecke’s new technology; which, as Maria points out, can only come about thru the control of the unconscious impulses. We must shine light into our will. “Let head & heart be joined in streams of power! You shall work magic in the realm of Earth, the magic of consecrated human will.”

Trautman, here referred to as Romanus, his occult name, is conspicuously missing from the group. Bell states that he needs to further advance spirituality, but will in future times be able to join them in the work.

Reinecke gives us a foreshadowing of “an alien power that would annihilate all things that are most precious in the human heart.”

And tomorrow we will complete this journey into “The Working of the Spirit”, by coming face to face with these powers.

Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

June 5, 2016

World Environment Day – raising global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature & the planet Earth.

1752 – Benjamin Franklin flew a kite for the first time to demonstrate that lightning was a form of electricity

1783 – Montgolfier Brothers 1st flight in a hot air balloon in France

1827 – Athens fell to the Ottomans

1832 – The ‘June Rebellion’ breaks out in Paris in an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis Philippe

1883 – The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris

1906 – Deathday of Eduard von Hartmann. According to Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual investigation as seen in Karma  Lecture Vol. 1 lec. 9, in an earlier life he was a philosopher & took part in the crusades against the Turks.

1915 – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women’s suffrage

1917 – American men began registering for the World War I draft

1924 – Ernst F. W. Alexanderson transmits the first ‘facsimile’ message across the Atlantic

1933 – President Roosevelt signed the bill that took the U.S. off of the gold standard

1968 – Robert F. Kennedy, is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles

1981 – The first recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS

2012 – The last transit of Venus of the 21st century begins

~   ~   ~

~I carry into the earth

The life of clouds

The breath of my body

A pulse of prose

Gained from pain

The twists of fate given into

With pleasure, An opening to moisture

An opportunity seized & released…

~hag

~   ~   ~

In thinking about: “The Working of the Spirit” by Michael Burton & Marke Levene. Part 11 (program for the Chicago reading)  

The “Trial by Earth”- the penultimate scene of the play, brings us into our own time & beyond. We see the factory has become more subject to mechanical laws. Michael Burton describes it complete with blaring electronic music, a driving beat with harsh sound effects; the workers moving like robots in a stylized way. We see Ahrimanic spirits compelling the moving tableau of automated mass production & the exploitation of the human being on a global scale.

Hilary gives up his managerial power, & Trautman is in charge. Much production is now going overseas, increasing profits, but leaving many workers unemployed. Yet Findig, acting as the new manager, stresses that because of the subsidized profits they can have adult education courses, as well as a school for the children.

Reinecke stresses the uniting of “technical excellence & innovation with craftsmanship of the highest quality ” – The new catch phrase for the company. Yet we see there has been a change in Reinecke “The Fox”, he has been able to merge “the scientific & technological strivings of (the late) Dr. Strader with the artistic & philosophical ideas of (the artist) Johannes & (the thoughts of) Capesius. The company itself is an attempt to fuse these two apparently conflicting streams”.

The goal is greater efficiency, a raised standard of living, with millions of workers freed to spend their free time on more significant pursuits. Hilary warns that nothing good will come unless people change the way they think, waking up from consumerism, & the distracting paralyzing effect that technology can have. We must kindle the deeper forces, to connect to the spiritual beings working in our will.

The answer lives in a new form of education, resting it free from the ‘no child left behind’ model used as a mechanism to keep people in their place. The ideal is for specialization to create inter-dependence, getting the government out of the human rights sector. We need free agreements among representatives of different groups in society to do no harm & to protect the vulnerable.

How can we develop the spirit of cooperation where human ingenuity works in the most productive & creative ways? How can we use technology, not to enslave, but as a way to free humanity to pursue higher knowledge?

Ahriman steps in, specifically aimed at Hilary, but heard by the others, pointing out that he must be considered; actually stating that people need to learn discernment, to be able to think as individuals. He says “I’m normally not one to be so nice to human beings as to give them wise advice that helps them in their opposition to my aims. But you have forced me to reveal these secrets of the spirit. Human beings will evolve through their involvement with this new technology. Their thinking will grow sharp. They will be able to encompass in their thoughts a far, far clearer picture of the world that they inhabit. They will experience a revolution in the way they see the world.” He can’t help revealing that if people such as Hilary, who work to use spiritual science, exercising common sense & good judgment, they can work in human freedom to become great benefactors in the world.

This visitation is followed by an appearance of Benedictus from the spiritual world, telling Maria that Ahriman has spoken true, but that there is more to understand.

More on that tomorrow 

Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg 

June 4^th, 2016

Tonight’s New Moon (10pm) is a powerful lunation as it forms a mutable Grand Cross with Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune & the Nodes.

1647 – Deathday of  Canonicus, Grand Chief Sachem of the Narragansett Indian Tribe at the time of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth.

1896 – Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, & gives it a successful test run

1913 – Emily Davison, a suffragette protesting for women’s rights is trampled by King George V’s horse.

1919 – Women’s rights: The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, & sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.

1939 – The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.

1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway begins.

1975 – The Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the U.S. giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights

1989 – The Tiananmen Square protests are violently ended in Beijing by the People’s Liberation Army, with at least 241 dead.

~   ~   ~

~I come

From light & to light

I return

My hands grasp the ring of colors

The gold beak of dawn

The blue eyes of day

The deep red blood of dusk

I gather

Myself, thought & bone

I come

To carry light

~hag

~   ~   ~

In thinking about: “The Working of the Spirit” by Michael Burton & Marke Levene. Part 10 (program for the Chicago reading)  

How can we see that the antipathies we feel towards others are really a karmic clue, a charge that can spark change? How can we meet each other “I” to “I”, each of us carrying our own unique aspect of spirit that informs our communal task?

Our own gifts balanced by a purposeful striving to understand & love whatever the other brings, opens us to inspiration from spirit.

When the ‘new spirit-economy group,’ thru their mutual pondering, come to the idea that instead of bemoaning the pain caused by pushing up against their antagonists, they could start having compassion for them, endeavoring to see things thru their eyes (“I”’s) then everything changes. The spiritual world opens & a mighty shift occurs. Hilary says: “ Why don’t we start by having empathy for Trautman! His powerful will-forces are needed on the earth! What he has done is deeply painful to each of us, but isn’t he actually helping us to make contact with the deeper parts of ourselves? He’s not our enemy, even though he seems to act like one.”

How can we see our nemesis as our greatest initiator?

Whether we are awake to it or not, we as anthroposophers are called to hold each other, to carry each soul within our karmic groupings, to foster & forgive each other, realizing that everything that happens with us effects what happens in world  events.

Are we willing to sacrifice what seems dearest to us, to trust that if we let something die, it will be reborn, refreshed, renewed – ready for the future we can then create? –To let go & let come – To take our powerlessness & turn it into power thru purposeful intention – Creating community on new soul-foundations of love – “A will to do the good. A will that is love”.

Can we awaken to the tidings of the spiritual world resounding in the ethers of the 2^nd coming of the Being of Love? Maria asks: “Is this the event whose light casts ever deeper shadows? How can we strengthen ourselves now that we can anchor it?” The answer comes from Theodora working in the spiritual world: “The consecration of the human will must be regained”. We must tear down the old structures of society & build a new foundation, on the stone of love.

We must not sleep thru this opportunity. In resistance to the might of this love & understanding fierce darkness arises. These trails can awaken us, if we do not fear & fall into despair.

So, how can we transform spiritual imaginations into actual realities of what we can do…?

 Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg