Monthly Archives: December 2016

3rd Holy Night

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

26 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: The brightest star in the sky (after our Sun, of course) puts on quite a show on December evenings. Gleaming Sirius is nearly 4x’s brighter than the next brightest star – Arcturus in the constellation Boötes. Sirius rises before 6:30pm CST & ascends in the southeast throughout the evening hours

Before 2017 even begins, you can catch the very beginning of the apparition of Saturn & Antares which will culminate in the summer. In the early dawn tomorrow, the 27th, if the air is clear, go out & look very low in the southeast. Saturn is below the thin waning crescent Moon, & twinkly Antares is off to their right

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Pascal Dagnan Bouveret

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

“The soul of the seer lives on from the festival of Jesus’ birth to that of the Epiphany in such a way that the Christ Mystery is revealed. It is during these Thirteen Holy Days and Nights that the soul can grasp most deeply of all, the import and meaning of the Baptism by John in the Jordan.” ~ The Birth of the Sun-Spirit as the Spirit of the Earth – THE THIRTEEN HOLY NIGHTS, Hanover, 26th December, 1911

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast of St. Stephen venerated as the Proto-martyr or first martyr of Christianity. According to the Acts of the Apostles he was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy, at his trial he made a long speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him & was then stoned to death. His martyrdom was witnessed by Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who would later himself become a follower of Jesus

3rd day of Hanukkah

 

Mummer’s Day, or ” Darking Day” is an ancient Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on Boxing Day in Cornwall. It was originally part of the pagan heritage of midwinter celebrations that were regularly celebrated, where people would take part in the traditional custom of guise dancing, which involves disguising themselves by painting their faces or wearing masks

Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day on which post-men, errand-boys, & servants of various kinds expect to receive a ‘Christmas-box’. It originated in the United Kingdom, but is very popular in Canada, where this was the day to exchange gifts, or return the ones not wanted

1st Day of Kwanzaa – a week-long celebration that honors African heritage, culminating in a feast & gift-giving. It was created by Maulana Karenga and was first celebrated in 1966–67. Seven candles in a candelabra symbolize the seven principles of Kwanzaa:

Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle

1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington’s funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen”

1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union

2003 – The 6.6 Mw Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran leaving more than 26,000 dead & 30,000 injured

2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Mw Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra. One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting the coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, &  Indonesia; death toll is between 230,000–280,000

2006 – An oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria explodes, killing at least 260 people

2009 – China opens the world’s longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing & Guangzhou

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 Van James

3rd Holy Night: Boxing Day – Feast of St. Steven, Constellation of Capricorn, The Goat (ruling the knees & bones) The Sphere of the Archangel, Fire-Spirits

The birth of Jesus could only occur in the seasonal round during the influence of Capricorn, when the Earth is frozen & dark, ie. purified of the Ahrimanic forces, with the light of the outer Sun, focused into Spiritual Sun within. These forces were gifted to us from the Archangels on Old Sun. So whenever we perceive light, with our eyes, or with our hearts, the Archangels are behind it.

So today, here in Chicago, with the weather in the 50’s – I can’t help thinking of this Steiner quote from The Cycle of the Year:  “While the summer out-breathing occurred, the Earth was ahrimanized. Woe if Jesus had been born into this ahrimanized Earth! Before the cycle is completed again and December approaches, which brings about the birth of the Christ Impulse in the ensouled Earth, the Earth must be purified by spiritual forces, from the Dragon, from the Ahrimanic forces. And the purifying force of Michael, which subdues the evil Ahrimanic forces, must unite itself, from September into December, with the in-flowing earth breath, so that the Christmas festival may approach in the right way, and the birth of the Christ Impulse take place in the right way…”

Is this global warming a sign of the coming incarnation of Ahriman in the West?

Chris Manvell

This push of activity from Ahriman manifests itself every year in the sphere of the Goat, where he is the chief antagonist of the 12 Archangels. Ahriman hopes ever & again at this darkest & coldest time of the year to prevent the rising of the spiritual sun in the earthly sphere. And every year he is overcome by the Archangel Michael so that the Christ Sun may rise for the earth. How can we as Michaelites help in this endeavor?

We see this image of Ahriman depicted, especially in the Middle Ages, thru the imagination of ‘Satan’ portrayed with the horns & lower body of a goat -all the negative characteristics of the animal nature – a tradition followed by Goethe in his character of Mephistopheles with cloven feet.

Interesting to think that the 7th American cultural epoch will stand under the sign of the goat. How can we prepare the way in the purity of the ideal?

The 12 Archangels were the 1st beings to receive the Christ into themselves during the epoch of Ancient Persia. The Persians knew that the 12 Archangelic Beings, operating from the 12 signs of the Zodiac, work thru the 12 main nerves that connect the human brain with the rest of our body, in order to gradually summon forth what appears today as our intelligence. And Human intelligence is most awake, most light filled, precisely at the time of the year which stands under the rulership of the cosmic forces proceeding from the region of the goat.

Zarathustra (who later became the Matthew Jesus) called them the 12 Amshaspands, the envoys of the great Sun-Spirit Ahura-Mazdao, & described them as a kind of cosmic aura surrounding the Sun, holding the Christ-Impulse that was to be born in the sphere of Earth.

Capricorn is connected to the knee.  So when we kneel in prayer, we spiritualize our speech. Bending the knee is a sign of reverence, helping us draw near to the Archangels who rule the element of speech.

According to spiritual science, in the Venus epoch there will arise from the knee-cap, the outer form of the human head.

The Archangels worked thru the 12 disciples as their representatives.  In our time these Beings are the inspirers of the Holy Nights.

Each of the Archangels have their own qualities. The Archangel Gabriel had the task of bringing the divine forces to bear in the womb of Mary

May we bend our knee to speak from spirit-fired, christened heads & hearts

xox~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Virtue: Courage becomes the power of redemption

hi-dukes-new-year-lucky-stars-branch-poster-8-5x11-web-2

Current Festival & Program Events

2nd Holy Night: Christmas Day

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

25 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: This year provides a stunning “Christmas Star” for early evening viewers. Head outside during the deepening twilight & look to the southwest for the brilliant light of Venus, the planet of Love. She shows up nicely from half an hour past sundown until it sets after 8 pm CST.

Jim Zinanti

The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point in its orbit around Earth, at 11:55 am CST. It is then 252,196 miles from Earth’s center

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

“With Christmas there should pour into our hearts the fundamental human feeling of love — the fundamental feeling that says: compared with all other forces and powers and treasures of the world, the treasures and the power and the force of love are the greatest, the most intense, the most powerful.” ~Rudolf Steiner

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The birth of the Luke Jesus

 

The 2nd night of Hanukkah

304 – Deathday of Saint Anastasia – “Anastasia the Deliverer from Potions”, “Anastasia the Healer” or “Anastasia of Sirmium – venerated as a healer & exorcist. Her relics lie in the Cathedral of St. Anastasia in Zadar, Croatia. She is one of seven women, who along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass

336 – 1st documented celebration of Christmas in Rome

1156 – Death day of Peter the Venerable, French abbot of Cluny. Despite his active life & important role in European history, Peter’s greatest achievement is his contribution to the reappraisal of the Church’s relations with the religion of Islam. He was well known for collecting original sources on & writing about Islam & also as the author of vast amounts of correspondence, reflecting his almost encyclopedic knowledge of theological questions. His writings are counted as some of the most important documents of the 12th century. He took a long sabbatical journey to Spain to study with Islamic scholars of all ranks & published the first Latin edition of the Koran

1642 – Birthday of Isaac Newton, English physicist & mathematician

1923 – Laying of the Foundation Stone in the hearts of the General Anthroposophical Society

1977 – Deathday of Charlie Chaplin

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2nd Holy Night: Christmas Day

Constellation of Aquarius, (Ruling the calves, & ankles of the human body)

Symbol: The Water-Bearer

The Sphere of the Angeloi, also called ‘Sons of Life’ or ‘Sons of Twilight’

Just as the constellation of Pisces is connected with the physical realm, the region of the Water-Bearer is linked with the etheric or Life-body, & with the Hierarchy of the Angels. In Occult Science they are referred to as the ‘Sons of Life’, as the etheric body is the lowest member of their being. They can find form in water. This goes back to Old Moon when they had their human stage. At that time the task of the angels was to pour into humanity (then in the animal stage) the fluid substances of blood & lymph. On earth Angels are entrusted with the mission of guiding individual human beings during their successive earthly lives. They preserve the memory of former incarnations, until we can do this for ourselves. In the future time of the ‘Jupiter epoch’ when humans will be as Angels, water will be the densest element.

The etheric body has 2 major qualities: Life or formative forces & Memory. We encounter these qualities in stories, legends, & in the image of ‘the living water’ or ‘the water of life’ – a symbol of the life giving forces of the cosmic ether. We find this in Dante’s Divine Comedy, when crossing from the Soul-world to the Spirt-land, Dante has to bathe in the waters of Remembrance & Forgetfulness – in Lethe (goddess of water) & Eunoe (a river nymph). In the book ‘How To Know Higher Worlds’ Rudolf Steiner speaks about these waters as 2 draughts that the pupil must take to be initiated.

In the circle of the zodiac the sign of the Water-Bearer represents the image of the ideal, spiritualized human being -humanity when it reaches the stage of the Angelic Being.

Paul Kiritsis

For now, the angels, our role-models, work to reveal to us this spiritual ideal, hoping to stimulate our highest strivings. We can look up to & learn from their ability to govern their astral body. We see this pictured in the symbol of the Water-Bearer, pouring forth pure water in perfect peace & harmony. This will be us – especially in the 6th cultural epoch when we are under the sign of Aquarius. Then we will be completely imbued with Manas-substance, which the Angelic beings will send down as a gift from the heavenly world.

John the Baptist had a special initiation connected to the spiritual teachers in the Moon-Sphere, which relates to the cosmic realm of Aquarius. At night he could look thru the earth, to this constellation, to see the ‘Midnight Sun’ (something we will contemplate further on the 13th hidden Holy Night) And as a consequence of this exceptional initiation, a spiritual being from the Hierarchy of the Angels was able to work thru him when he baptized.  This power loosened their etheric body when dunked in the waters of the Jordan, giving them a direct experience of their guardian angel, who could then direct them to the Christ-Being as He approached Earth. (Mark 1-11)

Our job tonight (& every night), is to develop a direct, intimate relationship to our Angel, stating now in this age, to prepare for this.  Thru inner study & the spiritualizing of our thinking, working to make our Heart-Thinking alive & fluid, we can grasp the Angelic impulses that can lead us into the world of imaginative cognition, giving us the password into the etheric surroundings of the earth (the moon-sphere) & like the Water-Bearer, pour forth Christened good will & peace

Herbert Witzenmann

Virtue: Discretion Becomes the Power of Meditation

May you drink freely from the Waters of Life & never thirst

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Susan Seddon Beulet

Current Festival & Program Events

 

1st Holy Night: Christmas Eve, Adam & Eve’s Day

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

24 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: The Pleiades & Hyades star clusters climb highest in the south during mid-evening & remain visible nearly the whole night. The Pleiades, also known at the Seven Sisters, appears like a small dipper. The larger Hyades forms the V-shaped head of Taurus the Bull

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“To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.” Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The Feast of the Seven Fishes (Italian: Festa dei sette pesci), also known as The Vigil (Italian: La Vigilia), an Italian-American celebration of Christmas Eve with meals of fish & other seafood

1st Night of Hanukkah 

1914 – The marriage of Rudolf Steiner to Marie von Sivers

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 1st Holy Night: Christmas Eve, Adam & Eve’s Day

Constellation of Pisces, Fishes

The Sphere of the Human Being (ruling the feet)

‘From the light, thru the darkness, to the light’ – this is the path of human evolution symbolized by the region of the 2 Fishes. One fish swims down into the physical, where we are graced with 2 feet to walk upright upon the earth, until we are ready to swim back up to spirit.

It’s thought-provoking to remember that each epoch is ruled by a prevailing constellation, guided by a particular Time Spirit. Right now we are in the age of Pisces, guided by Michael. For our contemplation of the Holy Nights, it is interesting to think back to the last time the forces from this region of the Zodiac were raying down their influence. Rudolf Steiner’s research tells us it was when the Sun separated from the earth. The Christ-Being left the Earth with the Sun. The light that was within, began to shine from outside us.

And this constellation will be active again when the Inner Spiritual Sun, won thru individual freedom, begins to rise out of the darkness in the human soul. This is possible because Christ made the descent & united Himself with earthly evolution thru the mystery of Golgotha, gradually awakening the higher Sun-Self in humanity, making us worthy to become the 10th Hierarchy.

This has been the work of the Mystery schools since Lemurian times, referred to as the initiation of the Fishes. We see this reflected in many cultural legends: The great Manu learns of the impending flood from the Fishes. While in the Gilgamesh epic Enkidu is called ‘Son of the Fish’. The Guardian of the Grail receives the name the Fisher-King…etc…

John the Baptist had the task of preparing Jesus of Nazareth for the Fish-initiation which he performed at the Baptism in the Jordan.  And of course the closest disciples of Christ-Jesus were fishermen (Luke 5:10). Later the ancient symbol of the Fishes came to be associated with those that could be called the Bearer of the Christ.

David Newbatt

How striking it is to think that at the 1st Christmas, the symbol of the Fishes pointed, not only back, to the epoch when Christ left the Earth together with the Sun; but also prophetically, to our time now, (since 1930) where humanity has the possibility to experience the ‘Second Coming’ of Christ in the etheric; & then to the future time, when Christ will shine fully once again within the free & conscious human soul.

So here on the 1st Holy Night, in the constellation of Pisces, we find the Alpha & Omega of human evolution, expressing the very essence of Anthropos.

On this night what would it be like to hold a picture of our past selves, informing our present & future selves?

Mary Nichols

Virtue:  Magnanimity Becomes Love

Blessings & Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Preparing for the Journey

Celestial Event, Festival, Insight, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

23 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: Head outside in the early evening & you can see the Big Dipper scraping the northern horizon. This conspicuous asterism never rises or sets (“circumpolar” in astronomical parlance), though December evenings find it at its lowest ebb. This means that the constellation on the opposite side of the North Celestial Pole, the familiar W-shaped Cassiopeia, currently rides highest in the sky.

Sirius, the Dog Star, sparkles low in the east-southeast after dinnertime. Procyon, the Little Dog Star, shines in the east about two fist-widths at arm’s length to Sirius’s left. The two canine stars will be at the same height above your horizon soon after they rise.

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“Study the past if you would define the future.”  ~Confucius

160  – Saints Victor & Corona are two Christian martyrs. They were killed in Roman Syria during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Their legend states that Victor was a Roman soldier of Italian ancestry, serving in the city of Damascus. He was tortured -including having his eyes gouged out- by a commander named Sebastian. While he was suffering from these tortures, the sixteen-year-old spouse of one of his brothers-in-arms, named Corona, comforted & encouraged him. For this, she was arrested & interrogated. Corona was bound to two bent palm trees & torn apart as the trunks were released

562 – Hagia Sophia in Constantinople reopened with a rebuilt dome after a series of earthquakes caused the original to collapse

605 – Deathday of Dagobert, murdered while hunting. The last Frankish king of the Merovingian dynasty . The prosperity of Dagobert’s reign, & the revival of the arts during this period, can be judged from the rich contents of the tombs of the period & from the goldsmiths’ work for the churches. Dagobert revised Frankish law, encouraged learning, patronized the arts, & founded the first great abbey of Saint-Denis

1539 – 1st mention of a Christmas tree at the Strasbourg Minster

1805 – Birthday of Joseph Smith, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1888 – Deathday of Laurence Oliphant, occultist. Rudolf Steiner speaks of him: In the early years of this century I was several times in London. On the occasion of one of these visits I was prompted to make myself acquainted with an extraordinarily significant personality — to begin with, simply in his writings. And as in those days there were rather longer intervals between the journeys than there are now, I obtained from the Theosophical Library the books he had written — the books that is to say, of Laurence Oliphant.

Laurence Oliphant is a remarkably interesting and significant personality: he strikes you in this way directly you begin to study his writings. These books deal with the similarities to be found in different religions, with spiritual religions, and so forth; and all of them bear evidence of a deep understanding of how in the various processes of his body and soul, man is connected with the secrets of the universe. When you read Oliphant’s writings you have the impression: Here is a picture of man in his earth-life that owes its inspiration to deep cosmic instincts. The processes of the earthly life of man that are connected with birth, embryonic life, descent and so forth, are described in such a way as to show how man, as microcosm, is wondrously rooted in the macrocosm.

Now I was very soon led in this study to a point where the figure of the dead Laurence Oliphant stood before me, but not in a form which suggested that I had here to do with the individuality as he was then living after death; it was rather that what was contained in these writings (which may be described as setting forth a kind of cosmic physiology, a cosmic anatomy) began to come alive, began to spiritualise; and a figure appeared, not all at once entirely clear, but unquestionably there before me on many different occasions. I was able to make occult investigations into the matter and I could never do otherwise than bring the figure into connection with what came to me from reading Oliphant. It was very often there before me. At first I was often unable to satisfy myself as to what this figure wanted, what its manifestations meant. The whole manner of its appearance however, left me in no doubt whatever that it was none other than the individuality of Laurence Oliphant; and it was likewise clear to me that this figure had had a long life in the time between death and a new birth — that is to say, the birth as Laurence Oliphant — probably only broken by one earth-life that was not very significant for the rest of the world. What might not then be hidden in the personality of Laurence Oliphant! In short, this appearance of the figure of Laurence Oliphant suggested significant questions of karma.

When I entered on an investigation of the karma, a spiritual Being became manifest who is engaged in the elaboration of human karma, in the same way as the Mars Being of whom I told you in connection with Voltaire and with Ignatius Loyola.~ Cosmic Christianity: Lecture V

One of the most important guidelines that the masters of wisdom and of the harmony of feelings communicate to pupils through a teacher is: Learn to be silent and you’ll get power; give up power and you’ll get will; give up will and you’ll get feeling; give up feeling and you’ll get knowledge. An esoteric must place these occult propositions before his soul in all work and action, and then some day he’ll experience that the four verses are true. One should note that the various forces can only be attained in sequence, so that one can never attain knowledge first and maybe then feeling and then will, and then power. For will arises from the renunciation of power, etc. We’ll give an example from the life of a very rich Briton, Laurence Oliphant, who lived in the middle of the last century. He and his wife had a noble love for their poorer neighbors and moved by this feeling they gave most of what they had to them; and then they migrated to New York. There they made enough money to go to Mt Tabor near Haifa. Here a strange phenomena arose. Oliphant began to write some very interesting and strange books about Genesis that were some of the strangest things that were written about the Bible at the time. But he could only have these thoughts with the help of his wife. After she died Oliphant could only keep on working for a short time, and then the inspiration of his deceased wife no longer reached the physical plane.~ From the Contents of Esoteric Classes, EL, Koeln, 12-1-’06

1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System

1972 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000

1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan & Jeana Yeager -the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without refueling

2002 – A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone & conventional aircraft

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Connor Zendejas

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~We are gods in the body of god…
Truth & Love Our Destiny…
Go then & make of the world something beautiful…
Set up a light in the darkness..
~hag

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Mieke Filmich

Tomorrow we begin our annual journey thru the HOLY NIGHTS, so I wanted to connect with you today, on this eve of the eve, to prepare the way, in the hopes that we can take this powerful initiatory passage together.

Each of the 12 days & 13 nights – From the Eve of the Sacred Birth, to the Eve of Epiphany, can be seen as a micro-cosmic experience of the macro-cosm, allowing us to approach the sublime gesture of the divine spiritual beings, whose outer vestments are the constellations of the zodiac – while simultaneously contemplating the events in our own lives, in order to uncover the golden threads connecting us to each other, as well as to the goals of Earth evolution, & to the divine spiritual nature that comes to birth again & again at this darkest time of year.

This sacred ‘Time out of Time’ provides an opportunity to contemplate, not only the great journey of the Cosmic Christ thru the zodiac into the body of Jesus; but also the path of Jesus to Christ; as well the evolution of every Human Being as a Star unfolding in an Earthly biography – for we as human beings are following both paths.

Lucas Cranach the younger

On Christmas Eve, we begin the contemplation with Adam & Eve, remembering that the fall was the reason The Christ Being made the sacrificial journey from the Godhead to become the Son of Man. The Holy Nights are completed on Epiphany, also recognized as the Baptism -when the Son of God – The Christ – entered human form.

So, when we look at the circle of the Zodiac during the Holy Nights we can find imprinted there a memory of that significant track from spiritual heights to human depths. The 12 apostles formed an outer version of these constellations around Jesus Christ. And we all incarnate into these various signs on our way to becoming spirit once again.

On December 25th, we are invited to consider the historical events behind the first Christmas. A thoughtful way to approach the birthday of Jesus is through the two Nativity stories in the Gospels, each very different from the other.  St. Matthew’s Gospel points to the Solomon Jesus, a re-incarnation of the great sage Zarathustra, actually born earlier in Bethlehem, in the time of Herod, when he is visited by Magi & then fled to Egypt. The Gospel of St. Luke points to the Nathan Jesus, born in Nazareth, a pure divine soul never incarnated before, that part of Adam that stayed in the spiritual world & prepared the way for the Christ.

The two Jesus children unite when the Luke child is twelve & the Matthew child is 14. We find this story in Luke 2:41-52 when his parents find him teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem. As Rudolf Steiner explained in the ‘Fifth Gospel’, the Luke Nathan Jesus takes on the soul forces (Ego) of the wise Matthew Jesus who sacrifices his life on the physical plane.

Di Vinci

Shortly before the Baptism in the Jordan, when Jesus was 30 years old, the Ego of the Solomon soul leaves Jesus & enters Mary, to make room for the Christ at the Baptism by John.

During the Renaissance, some artists knew of these profound secrets, & painted this occult theme showing 3 sacred children: the Luke Nathan Jesus as a boy & a second older boy, The Jesus form the Matthew Gospel, along with John the Baptist (cousin of the Luke Jesus)

 David Newbatt

Of course the mystery schools of old prepared their pupils for this journey even before the birth of Jesus. And any one familiar with the Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson knows that the legend speaks well to this:

“Come listen to me and hear my song
The song of a wonderful youth,
I’ll sing you of Olaf Åsteson
Who slept many days — ’tis the truth.

‘Twas Christmas Eve when down he lay
And slept so long all unknowing,
He never woke till the thirteenth day
When to Church the people were going.
Yes, it was Olaf Åsteson
Who lay so long a-sleeping… ”

Take these ideas into your thoughts, into your sleep – for tomorrow we begin to traverse the return path that leads thru the 12 constellations of the zodiac to a conscious union with the whole world of the Hierarchies.

Until soon –

Xox ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Current Festival & Program Events

The dark space between the stars

Insight, Meditation, Poetry, Quote, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Winter

22 December 2016 – Astro-Weather: This is the time of year when Orion shines in the east-southeast after dinnertime. He’s well up now, but his three-star Belt is still nearly vertical. The Belt points up toward Aldebaran &, even higher, the 7 Sisters: the Pleiades. In the other direction, it points down to where bright Sirius is about to rise twinkling in the bright colors of the rainbow

The waning crescent Moon appears just above Jupiter in this morning’s sky. The benevolent king rises about a half-hour after our satellite bella Luna, & both are clear of the horizon by 2 am CST. They remain conspicuous until twilight is well underway. If you look carefully, you also should see Spica in their vicinity. Virgo the Maiden’s luminary lies about the same distance below Jupiter as the Moon stands above it.

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O Rex Gentium – Prince of Peace

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.

O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.

Isaiah had prophesied: “For a child has been born for us, a son given us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 – “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” ~Aldous Huxley

304 – Deathday of Saint Florian a Christian holy man, and the patron saint of Linz, Austria; chimney sweeps; soapmakers, & firefighters. The “Florian Principle” (known in German language areas as “Sankt-Florians-Prinzip”) is named after a somewhat ironic prayer to Saint Florian: “O heiliger Sankt Florian, verschon’ mein Haus, zünd’ and’re an”, equivalent to “O Holy St. Florian, please spare my house, set fire to another one”. This saying is used in German much like the English “not in my back yard“, when the speaker wants to point out that some person tries to get out of an unpleasant situation by an action that will put others in that very same situation. The name Florian is considered synonymous with fireman in the German speaking world. In some cases call for a fireman will actually be spoken as calls for Florian.

856 – Damghan earthquake kills an estimated 200,000 people, the sixth deadliest earthquake in recorded history

1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts & performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) & Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano)

1851 – India’s first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India

1890 – Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kentville &Kingsport, Nova Scotia.

1891 – Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography

1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City

1942 –Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon

1989 – Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East & West Germany

1989 – Deathday of Samuel Beckett, Irish author, poet, & playwright, Nobel Prize laureate

2008 – An ash dike ruptured at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons of coal fly ash slurry

2010 – The repeal of the Don’t ask, don’t tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Darkness gives
Way to light…
Confusion to understanding…
My green heart
Witch was pitched into the fire
Sizzles like fresh kill…
& the stars fade like memory
The instant before dawn…
High in the East, Bella Luna rounds space
Opening like a laughing eye…
That which can be named must exist…
That which is named can be written…
That which is written is remembered…
What is remembered lives…
Let the rest
Rest…
~hag

***

…’The wine dark sea’…
…The active dark womb…
…The dark space between the stars…
Wrap this darkness gently about you like a comfortable blanket…Float gently now in its depths…Grow here, nourished by an invisible cord that connects you to the Source of all life…Floating gently in the dark…Softly rocking in the dark…And although it is dark, we realize that what surrounds us is not empty, but – like the womb – full of life. Take a moment now to sense the swirling, nurturing energy of the dark.

And now, as the energy increases, there is a spark…& the  dark gives birth…See that spark now as it glows, watch that spark now, watch it as it grows. Glowing brighter & brighter, it grows into a flame. And as you look at this flame, its light fills you with warmth…the light fills you with love. And as you feel the increased love & warmth within you, the visible intensity of the flame slowly diminishes & as it does, in its place, slowly coming to light, is the outline of a present. A gift…becoming more solid, until you can see its form clearly. Look how it is wrapped in a glistening filament of light.

This gift has your name on it, inscribed in the glimmering material. Is your name written in a special color? Is the inscription special in any other way? Approach your wrapped present now more closely. What shape is it? How big is it? What color is its wrapping? Pick it up: is it light? heavy?

And now you unwrap your gift. How easy or difficult is it to unwrap?

You finish opening your present….now receive your gift. What is it? Look at it carefully. Experience it fully. Accept it. Accept your gift with joy. Feel your heart warm with the love with which this gift is given to you.

And now, from your heart, send out gratitude for this gift, send out thanks for this gift, send it out like light, like a beacon back to the Great Mother, back to the Father Ground, out to the Universe- both the dark & the light. Send out your thanks for this gift.

Now, if you wish, find a place for this gift, a safe place where you can access this gift, a place to put this gift to work, that it may bless the world & give you the strength you need during the whole of the New Year.

Lighting a candle:
Deep in the ground of the human soul
Of victory assured
The Spirit-Sun is living
All through the winter of the inner life
The faithful heart divines it

See you in the dark
Find you in the light
Xox ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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