4 May 2018 – Astro-Weather: A grand dance: METEORS FROM HALLEY’S COMET Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley’s Comet, source of the annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower. This year’s shower is expected to produce the greatest number of meteors in the small hours before dawn on May 5 & 6th. The meteors tend to enter the atmosphere at speeds of around 148,000mph — so don’t blink. The best time to watch these fast & often bright meteors is in the early morning hours, before twilight. Meteors tend to come in spurts that are interspersed by lulls.
ALSO:
Keep a watch on the changing patterns Venus makes with Her background stars from week to week. As Aldebaran & the Pleiades sink away, Beta Tauri (El Nath) above Venus closes in.
Summer is seven weeks off, but the Summer Triangle is making its appearance in the east, one star after another. The first in view is Vega. It’s already shining low in the northeast as twilight fades out.
Next up is Deneb, lower left of Vega by two or three fists at arm’s length. Deneb takes about an hour to appear after Vega does.
The third is Altair, which shows up far to their lower right by midnight.
As dawn begins on Saturday morning May 5th, the waning gibbous Moon shines between Saturn & Mars.
Salvador Dali
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Past/Present/Future:
250 AD – Feast day of St. Florian the patron of Upper 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. 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.
1493 – The Division of the world: The Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI decreed in a Papal Bull that all lands west & south of a pole-to-pole line one hundred leagues west & south should belong to Spain. Portugal objected because its status & rights had been omitted & overlooked. King John II of Portugal began negotiations directly with King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella of Spain to push the line west & allow him to lay claim to lands discovered east of it. The result was the Treaty of Tordesillas.
1875 – Birthday of Hermann Beckh a pioneering German Tibetologist & prominent promoter of anthroposophy.
Due to his unusual memory skills, & his many interests & talents, his peers encouraged him towards law. It became clear to him that he was not made out to be a judge when he had to impose a fine on a poor married couple for stealing wood. He paid the couple’s fine out of his own pocket & left his position.
He later took up the study of oriental languages, Indology, & Tibetology. In 1907, he received his doctorate with a thesis on Kalidasa’s poem Meghaduta.
In 1911, he met Rudolf Steiner & Friedrich Rittelmeyer, which led to his intensive study of Steiner’s work. On Christmas Day, 1912, he became a member of the Anthroposophical Society.
In 1916, Beckh was drafted into military service, shortly after he published two volumes about the Buddha & his teachings. Stationed in the Balkans, he was called to work in the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Due to his task, he learned the Scandinavian languages in addition to: English, French, Italian, Classical Greek & Latin, Hebrew, Egyptian, Sanskrit, Tibetan & Old Persian.
From 1920 onwards, he worked as a lecturer of anthroposophy. In March 1922, he joined the Circle of Priests of The Christian Community & worked until his death as a priest, seminary teacher, lecturer, independent researcher & writer. In 1928, “Mark’s Gospel: The Cosmic Rhythm” was published, in which he related the narration of the gospel of Mark to the path of the sun through the twelve zodiac signs. In Beckh’s exposition, Mark’s gospel could be understood more in connection with the “earthly” signs seen in the planets, & John’s gospel more in connection with the “stellar” zodiac of the fixed stars. At the time of The Mystery of Golgotha the planets & the constellations were together, not separate as they are now, due to the progression of the equinoxes. In the Introduction to the sequel, “The Cosmic Rhythm, the Secrets of the Stars & Earth in the Gospel of John” (1930), Beck favorably mentioned Wilhelm Kaiser’s “Die geometrischen Vorstellungen in der Astronomie” (1928), & referred to The Novices of Sais, of Novalis. Beckh died in Stuttgart, in 1937.
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POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Light stands behind
The clouds gifting rain
A question in reflection
Hovers
Moving about in my bones
Rise up I shout
There is work to do
~hag
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Yoram Raanan
Climbing Jacob’s Ladder – A Festival of Ascension, part 2 of a Lecture by ~Hazel ArcherGinsberg
Ascension is a festival of the hierarchies. Remember, that when Christ descended thru the heavens, & came into human form, the hierarchies lost His presence. They could only find Him by looking into the depths – bearing witness to the God Who entered physical existence to remind earthly humanity of its cosmic citizenship.
At the Ascension, the mystery of the resurrection was brought for the 1st time to the company of heaven – Signaling the return of the lost world of earth into the community of the stars. Since that time, the life of this planet is renewed with the cosmic forces that stream earthward.
The sacrifice of Christ initiated on earth, was the antidote to the consequences of death brought on by the Fall – the redemptive deed that turns death into life.
The Concentrated seed of Christ’s deed, continues to grow in the earth thru the connection to the stars. When the Risen Christ returned ‘to sit at the right hand of the Father’, at the Ascension, He became the bridge between the above & below.
As the Christ has ascended, so too, in the fullness of time will humanity be transfigured. The company of the hierarchies wait, for us, their younger siblings to ascend in our thinking to meet them in fellowship, as they work all the while at our sides.
To read the entire lecture: Ascension 2014 Climbing Jacobs Ladder
Blessings & Peace –
~hag = Hazel ArcherGinsberg
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Saturday 5 May 2018 – SPECIAL EVENT – Our Branch is hosting The General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America
6 pm – Community PotLuck – Let’s show these 12 guests from around the country some good hospitality from the Heart-Land – Please bring a dish to share.
7:30 pm – Open Community Conversation with John Bloom & the GC of the ASA
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Dali
Thursday 10 May 2018 – 7 pm – 9 pm
A Special Study for Ascension Thursday– “Easter, Ascension, Whitsun and the Essntial Nature of the Foundation Stone of the Christmas Conference” by Sergi O. Prokofieff from his book “The cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation”
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Stephen B Whatley
Friday 18 May 2018, 7 pm – 9 pm, –
Whitsun: A Festival of United Soul-Endeavor,
Art Projections & Lecture with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.
Experiential Social Art with special guest TBA
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Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)
The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…
