‘I THINK SPEECH‘ : Welcome to my adventure into the PODCAST world.
There are so many ways to look at life; it can be super simple or profoundly complicated. Today I was thinking, that the way to thrive is by becoming a mix between a mish-mash & a medley – part hodgepodge & part amalgamation of all the finest virtues our collective experience has garnered.
The best elixir will result from embracing the simple AND the complicated, mixing several different potions derived from our highest intentions & letting it ferment into a potentized medicine,which will only work from the inside out.
Yes, our strongest impact, our true cure, will come from blending our most diverse effects together to create a freshly refined reality, where the human being is Holy.
Paige Saywer
When you think about it, the human being is a divine wonder. Our bodies, for one thing, are miraculous, able to adapt & recreate itself every 7 years. In fact it’s mind blowing to try to even contemplate the metabolic system. I marvel at the fact that the hydrochloric acid in our digestive system is so corrosive it can dissolve a nail. In other words, we contain within us the power to dematerialize solid metal.
Why is it so hard, then, for us to conceive of the possibility that we can vaporize a virus with our immaculately conceived immune systems, or stand up to those that would enslave us?
Friends, the power of the highest hierarchies live in our limbs, waiting for us to active them with our will to reclaim our divine birthright as spiritual beings.
What would it be like to imagine that all the fear & doubt & hatred designed to confuse us & make us forget who we really are, are really just rusty nails – & that we are dropping them into a vat of spiritually charged hydrochloric acid. Ha – if we come back every day & revisit this vision – we can watch the nails steadily dissolve. As they yield to our power, we tame & embrace their forces, extracting the iron to fortify our resolve for r-evolution.
~hag
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Wed. 2 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT The Karma Project
The Karma Project Manifestations of Karma Study Group December 2, 2020 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“… We have now learned that it is possible to seek out accidents or other causes of illness due to karmic effects. In due course we will deal with the details of such processes, such as the way in which the forces in deeper levels of consciousness work within the human being, or to what extent our ordinary consciousness may avoid such accidents. We can understand that someone who goes to a place where he may succumb to an infection will have been driven there under the influence of a certain level of consciousness; in like manner we must be able to understand how it is that human beings take certain measures to render such infections less and less effective; in other words, that through our ordinary consciousness we are able to avert certain consequences by means of hygiene.“
~Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, Chapter 6, “Karma in Relation to Accidents”, Hamburg, 21 May, 1910 … focus of the December 2 meeting.
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among four volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.
This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “Manifestations of Karma.” This book is a translation from German of Die Offenbarung des Karma (Ga 120), published in English by Rudolf Steiner Press in 1996.
This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:
If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu Agenda for our Study Call
7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by five volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Laura – pg. 106 to 110 Ana – pg. 111 to 115 Camille – pg. 116 to 120 Alberto – pg. 121 to end 8:05 Conversation 8:28 Close with verse
Holy Nights 2020-21 “A Rose By Any Other Name…” The many faces of The Sophia
Dennis-Klocek
24 December 2020 – 5 January 2021
International online gathering on the Theme of the Divine Feminine.
Hosted by Laura Scappaticci & Tess Parker, featuring the Sophia Working Group
Everyday 9 am – 9:30 am PT, 10 am – 10:30 am MT, 11 am – 11:30 am CT, 12 pm – 12:30 pm
Sunday 27 December 2020: The Alchemical Marriage of Christos-Sophia – Presented by Hazel Archer Ginsberg
Tuesday 29 December – The Full Moon: Presenter: Ultra-Violet Archer calling in from YIP in Sweden
More details to follow
Our Annual Conscious NYE gathering 8 pm 1 am
Marcel Garbi
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultural Hub & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave. 60613
This Years Theme is a Masked Ball –
Live Music, Folk Dancing, Potluck, Mask-making with Lucien Dante Lazar, more TBA
$20 per person
Stay tuned for details
Joan’s Epiphany 6 January 2021 ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’ 2 pm – 4 pm CT
Albert-Lynch
In-person at Elderberries Chicago & online
Today on the Birthday of Joan of Arc we welcome special Guest Nancy Poer
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 Leading Thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Social Sculpture: “The Passage” with Luicen Dante Lazar – Eurythmy
One tap mobile +13126266799,,7052931041# US (Chicago) +19292056099,,7052931041# US (New York)
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aeoRtxhpwY
‘I THINK SPEECH‘ Welcome to this PODCAST of my spiritual research into the ‘New Mysteries’ of ‘The Word’. May we rise in our thinking to meet the science of Love through Wisdom, in the true communion of the Reverse Ritual.
Светлана Соло
Rudolf Steiner’s 82 ‘Karmic Relationships’ lectures, which he gave after the Christmas Conference, from February thru September, 1924, can be read as given in volumes 1-8 translated into English, which are arranged by location; or as Fred Amrine recommends, they can be worked with sequentially by date. Lecture # 49 in the series, was not included in the English volumes. It only appears in the lectures on ‘The Festivals and Their Meaning’ as ‘The Whitsuntide Festival – Its place in the study of Karma’, given in Dornach on 4 June 1924.
Yesterday after my ‘Monday Musing’Angela Foster, who facilitates the 6B, contacted me saying what I spoke about reminded her of this ‘hidden’ lecture. Anthroposophy Atlanta has worked with Fred Amrine who postulates that this singular lecture was the center point of the whole series, a real turning point. Angela felt compelled to share it because of its reference to Time in relation to the Sun. I had of course worked with it in the past as Festivals coordinator, but looking at it in the light of Karma & in regards to the origin of Time, as well as in light of our Thought-Seed Project, brings its significance alive anew. Here are a few inspiring highlights:
“Our true being lies in the ego; and it is the ego which both suffers karma and creates it…
The moment, we really take hold of Man as he stands within the Universe, we become able to discover the relationships between the several instrumental members of man’s nature, the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body and the corresponding entities, the corresponding realities of Being, in the Cosmos.
In regard to the etheric body of man, we find spread out in the Cosmos the universal Ether… The cosmic Ether is fundamentally of like nature with what we find in the human etheric body. In the same way we can speak of a similarity between what is found in the human astral body and a certain astral principle that works through all things and all beings out in the far-spread Universe.
Steiner drew this on the board at this point
The Ether is like an empty nothingness to you. But when you regard the etheric environment as a totality, you behold the blue sky, of which we also say that it is not really there but that you are gazing into empty space. Now the reason why you see the blue of the sky is that you are actually perceiving the end of the Ether. Thus you behold the Ether as the blue of the heavens. The perception of the blue sky is really and truly a perception of the Ether. We may therefore say: In that we perceive the blue of the sky we are perceiving the universal Ether that surrounds us. In fact the boundary of the supersensible world becomes visible here.
Every star that we see glittering in the heavens is in reality a gate of entry for the Astral. Wherever the stars are twinkling and glittering in towards us, there glitters and shines the Astral…In all this wonderful configuration of radiant light, the invisible and super-sensible astral body of the Cosmos makes itself visible to us…In the starry heavens, we actually behold an expression of the soul-life of the cosmic astral world.
Think how living it all becomes when we know that the stars are an expression of the love with which the astral Cosmos works upon the etheric Cosmos — for this is to express it with perfect truth. Think then of those mysterious processes when certain stars suddenly light up at certain times. Stars that were not there before, light up for a time, and disappear again. For it is true indeed that in epochs when divine Beings desire to work in an especial way from the astral world into the etheric, we behold new stars light up and fade away again. (including comets)
The etheric body is laid aside soon after death. It is only the astral world that shines in towards us through the stars that has significance for the Ego in the life between death and a new birth. And in that world which glistens in towards us through the stars, in that world there live the Beings of the Higher Hierarchies with whom man forms his Karma between death and a new birth.
Indeed, when we follow this Ego in its successive evolutions through lives between birth and death and between death and a new birth, we cannot remain within the world of Space at all. For two successive earthly lives cannot be within the same space. They cannot be within that Universe which is dependent on spatial co-existence. Here therefore we go right out of Space and enter into Time. This is actually so. We go out of Space and come into the pure flow of Time when we contemplate the Ego in its successive lives on Earth.
Now consider this, my dear friends. In Space, Time is still present, of course, but within this world of Space we have no means of experiencing Time in itself. We always have to experience Time through Space and spatial processes. For example, if you wish to experience Time, you look at the clock, or, if you will, at the course of the sun. What do you see? You see the various positions of the hands of the clock or of the sun. You see something that is spatial. Through the fact that the positions of the hand or of the sun are changed, through the fact that spatial things are present to you as changing, you gain some idea of Time. But of Time itself there is really nothing in this spatial perception. There are only varied spatial configurations, varied positions of the hands of the clock, varied positions of the sun. You only experience Time itself when you come into the sphere of the soul’s experience. There you do really experience Time, but there you also go out of Space. There, Time is a reality, but within the earthly world of Space, Time is no reality.
David Brook
On Earth we experience Time only through Space — through points in Space, through the positions of spatial things. On Earth we do not experience Time in its reality at all. Once you grasp this, you will say: “Really to enter into Time we must go out of Space, we must put away all things spatial.”
Darwin Leon
Thoughts about repeated lives on Earth were possessed only by those human beings and groups that were able to conceive Time in its pure essence, Time in its spaceless character…Then we have a conception of what was called “God” by those peoples who centered their outlook to the world of space alone.
Van James
And now he may gaze upon the Christmas Mystery — the new-born Child, the Representative of Humanity on Earth, who, inasmuch as he is entering into childhood, is born into this world of Space. In the fullness and majesty of this Christmas thought, as he gazes on the Child that is born on Christmas Night, he exclaims: “Ex Deo Nascimur — I am born out of the Divine, the Divine that weaves and surges through the world of Space.”
When a man has felt this, when he has permeated himself through and through with it, then he may also recall what Anthroposophy has revealed to us about the meaning of the Earth. The Child on whom we are gazing is the outer sheath of That which is now born into Space. But whence is He born, that He might be brought to birth in the world of Space? According to what we have explained to-day, it can only be from Time. From out of Time the Child is born.
Ron Candrell
If we then follow out the life of this Child and His permeation by the Spirit of the Christ-Being, we come to realise that this Being, this Christ-Being, comes from the Sun. Then we shall look up to the Sun, and say to ourselves: “As I look up to the Sun, I must behold in the sunshine that Time, which in the world of Space is hidden. Within the Sun is Time, and from out of the Time that weaves and works within the Sun, Christ came forth, came out into Space, on to the Earth.”
What have we then in Christ on Earth? In Christ on Earth we have That, which coming from beyond Space, from outside of Space, unites with the Earth.
Ananda Telli
When we look up from the Earth to the Sun, we are at the same time looking into the flow of Time.
Now from this there follows something of great significance. Man only looks up to the Sun in the right way (even if it be but in his mind) when, as he gazes upwards, he forgets Space and considers Time alone. For in truth, the Sun does not only radiate light, it radiates Space itself, and when we are looking into the Sun we are looking out of Space into the world of Time. The Sun is the unique star that it is because when we gaze into the Sun we are looking out of Space. And from that world, outside of Space, Christ came to men.
Peter fenffe
At the time when Christianity was founded by Christ on Earth, man had been all too long restricted to the mere Ex Deo Nascimur, he had become altogether bound up in it, he had become a Space-being pure and simple.
Christ came to bring the element of Time again to men, and when the human heart, the human soul, the human spirit, unite themselves with Christ, then man receives once more the stream of Time that flows from Eternity to Eternity. What else can we human beings do when we die, i.e. when we go out of the world of Space, than hold fast to Him who gives Time back to us again? At the Mystery of Golgotha man had become so great an extent a being of Space that Time was lost to him. Christ brought Time back again to men.
Joffa Boschart
If, then, in going forth from the world of Space, men would not die in their souls as well as in their bodies, they must die in Christ, We can still be human beings of Space, and say: Ex Deo Nascimur, and we can look to the Child who comes forth from Time into Space, that he may unite Christ with humanity. But since the Mystery of Golgotha we cannot conceive of death, the bound of our earthly life, without this thought: “We must die in Christ.” Otherwise we shall pay for our loss of Time with the loss of Christ Himself, and, banished from Him, remain held spell-bound. We must fill ourselves with the Mystery of Golgotha. In addition to the Ex Deo Nascimur, we must find the In Christo Morimur. We must bring forth the Easter thought in addition to the Christmas thought. Thus the Ex Deo Nascimur lets the Christmas thought appear before our souls, and in the In Christo Morimur the Easter thought.
The Sun not only radiates the light; the Sun creates the Space itself. And the movement of the Sun is only a spatial movement within this created Space. Outside of Space it is a movement in Time. What seems apparent to us — namely, that the Sun is speeding on towards the constellation of Hercules — is only a spatial image of the Time-evolution of the Sun-Being.
To His intimate disciples Christ spoke these words: “Behold the life of the Earth; it is related to the life of the Cosmos. When you look out on the Earth and the surrounding Cosmos, it is the Father whose life permeates this Universe. The Father-God is the God of Space. But I make known to you that I have come to you from the Sun, from Time — Time that receives man only when he dies. I have brought you myself from out of Time, (“Time,” as here used, is what we usually designate as “Eternity”, i.e. a continuous, unbroken time-experience.) If you receive me, you receive Time as eternity, and you will not be held spell-bound in Space. But you find the transition from the one trinity — Physical, Etheric and Astral — to the other trinity, which leads from the Etheric and Astral to Spirit-Selfhood. Spirit-Selfhood is not to be found in the earthly world, just as the Earthly-Physical is not to be found in the Cosmos. But I bring you the message of it, for I am from the Sun.”
When those to whom Christ revealed these things had let the revelation sink deep into their being, then the moment came when they experienced the working of this mighty concept, in the fiery tongues of Pentecost. At first they felt the falling away, the discarding of the earthly-Physical as death. But then the feeling came; This is not death, but in place of the physical of the Earth, there now dawns upon us the Spirit-Selfhood of the Universe. “Per Spiritum Sanctum Reviviscimus.”
George O’Neil, Gisela O’Neil
Thus may we regard the threefold nature of the one half of the year. We have the Christmas thought — Ex Deo Nascimur; the Easter thought — In Christo Morimur; and the Whitsun thought — Per Spiritum Sanctum Reviviscimus.
In the interconnection of the Christmas, Easter and Whitsun festivals we understand the human freedom on Earth.
It is indeed the language of the stars which sounds towards us from the thoughts of Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide; from the Christmas thought, inasmuch as the Earth is a star within the Universe; from the Easter thought inasmuch as the most radiant of stars, the Sun, gives us his gifts of grace; and from the Whitsun thought inasmuch as that which lies hidden beyond the stars lights into the soul, and lights forth again from the soul in the fiery tongues of Pentecost.
Meditate this through, ponder it well; then for all the descriptive foundations I have already given you for an understanding of Karma, you will gain a right foundation of inner feeling.
Try to let the Christmas, Easter and Whitsun thoughts, in the way I have expressed them to you to-day.
Bert Kaplin
Just as once upon a time at the first Whitsun Festival something shone forth from each one of the disciples, so the thought of Pentecost should now become alive again for our anthroposophical understanding. Something must light up and shine forth from our souls…about the inner connections of Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide”.
Michael Richardson
“I hear the Word of the Sun, It reads: Let light shine into your heart, To strengthen your human power. Heart light shining You will be healthy Through the Solar Word”. ~Rudolf Steiner, 6 November 1922
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All are welcome to join our Study of Karmic Relationships, every Wednesday 9:30 am – 11 am Central Time. We are currently in Volume 7. https://zoom.us/j/98689103462 Meeting ID: 986 8910 3462
***
24 November 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”:Mars shines about a fist-width to the upper left of the waxing gibbous Moon this evening.
Feast Day of St. Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Catherine of the Wheel, a Christian virgin saint, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess & a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity, & was martyred around the age of 18. More than 1,100 years after Catherine’s martyrdom, Joan of Arc identified her as one of the saints who appeared to & counselled her. Some modern scholars consider that the legend of Catherine was probably based on the life & murder of the Greek philosopher Hypatia, with reversed roles of Christians & pagans.
1632 – Birthday of Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher & scholar. Rudolf Steiner speaks of a former incarnation as Philo of Alexandria in GA 88, 24 August 1924
Cathy Millerkin
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (OK so what is it about this day which has brought so many ‘natural’ disasters…?)
1667 – A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha in the Caucasus, killing over 80,000 people.
1759 – An earthquake hits the Mediterranean destroying Beirut & Damascus & killing over 40,000 people.
1783 – American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
1839 – A cyclone slams into south-eastern India, with high winds & a 40-foot storm surge destroying the port city of Coringa (which has never been completely rebuilt). The storm wave swept inland, taking with it 20,000 ships & thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths resulted from the disaster.
1915 – Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
1947 – Red Scare: The “Hollywood Ten” are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
1950 – The Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950 impacts 22 American states, killing 1353 people, injuring over 160
1960 – The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated, turning them into “symbols of both popular and feminist resistance”. In 1999, in the sisters’ honor, 25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
1987 – Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph &a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.
1996 – An ice storm strikes the central U.S., killing 126 people. A powerful windstorm affects Florida & winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees & flipping trailers.
2000 – The Baku earthquake, with a Richter magnitude of 7.0, leaves 1,226 people dead in Azerbaijan.
2008 – Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 1,500 people & displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades.
2009 – Jeddah floods: Freak rains swamp the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during an ongoing Hajj pilgrimage. Three thousand cars are swept away & 1,222 people perish in the torrents.
***
Wed. 2 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT The Karma Project
The Karma Project Manifestations of Karma Study Group December 2, 2020 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“… We have now learned that it is possible to seek out accidents or other causes of illness due to karmic effects. In due course we will deal with the details of such processes, such as the way in which the forces in deeper levels of consciousness work within the human being, or to what extent our ordinary consciousness may avoid such accidents. We can understand that someone who goes to a place where he may succumb to an infection will have been driven there under the influence of a certain level of consciousness; in like manner we must be able to understand how it is that human beings take certain measures to render such infections less and less effective; in other words, that through our ordinary consciousness we are able to avert certain consequences by means of hygiene.“
~Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, Chapter 6, “Karma in Relation to Accidents”, Hamburg, 21 May, 1910 … focus of the December 2 meeting.
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among four volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.
This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “Manifestations of Karma.” This book is a translation from German of Die Offenbarung des Karma (Ga 120), published in English by Rudolf Steiner Press in 1996.
This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:
If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu Agenda for our Study Call
7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by five volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Laura – pg. 106 to 110 Ana – pg. 111 to 115 Camille – pg. 116 to 120 Alberto – pg. 121 to end 8:05 Conversation 8:28 Close with verse
Holy Nights 2020-21 “A Rose By Any Other Name…” The many faces of The Sophia
24 December 2020 – 5 January 2021
International online gathering on the Theme of the Divine Feminine.
Hosted by Laura Scappaticci & Tess Parker, featuring the Sophia Working Group
Everyday 9 am – 9:30 am PT, 10 am – 10:30 am MT, 11 am – 11:30 am CT, 12 pm – 12:30 pm
stay tuned for details
Our Annual Conscious NYE gathering 8 pm 1 am
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultural Hub & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave. 60613
This Years Theme is a Masked Ball –
Live Music, Folk Dancing, Potluck, Mask-making with Lucien Dante Lazar, more TBA
$20 per person
Stay tuned for details
Joan’s Epiphany 6 January 2021 ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’ 2 pm – 4 pm CT
In-person at Elderberries Chicago & online
Today on the Birthday of Joan of Arc we welcome special Guest Nancy Poer
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 Leading Thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Social Sculpture: “The Passage” with Luicen Dante Lazar – Eurythmy
One tap mobile +13126266799,,7052931041# US (Chicago) +19292056099,,7052931041# US (New York)
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aeoRtxhpwY
I woke up this morning thinking about the concept of time. And so it formed the theme for my ‘Monday Musing‘, a short weekly offering that I share with our 6B group, working with Steiner’s ‘6 Basic Exercises‘ (see more about that below)
Chronos, depicted in Greco-Roman mosaics as an old bearded man turning the Zodiac Wheel is the personification of Time in pre-Socratic philosophy; giving rise to the allegory of “Father Time” wielding the harvesting scythe during the Renaissance.
The Greeks also had another name for Time, personified by his son Kairos, whose name means ‘the right, critical, or opportune moment’.
Rembrandt
Aristotle & his followers discussed the importance of kairos in their teachings as one of the most fundamental laws of the universe: ‘the uniquely timely; the radically particular’.
It has association with both archery & weaving – hitting the target; & the perfect moment in which the shuttle must pass thru threads on the loom.
In the ancient solar allegories, time becomes separated into seasons. The divisions of Time were personified & seen to pay homage to the Triune Deity, enthroned above the firmament.
The spirit of each second, every hour, was seen as an angel. Each day of the week represents the Beings of the Planetary Spheres – The Months: The Spiritual Beings of the Zodiac constellations.
David Nebatt
And of course, in Anthroposophy, we speak about the ‘Turning Point of Time’, with Christ’s deed on Golgotha; & Steiner’s deed of the Christmas Conference.
Einstein’s discoveries exploded our concept of time. He showed us that time is created by things; that time is eternal until things act upon it. He demonstrated that time is relative, moving more slowly if an object is moving fast. And that events don’t always happen in a set linear order. Of course it’s true that many events in the Universe can be put into sequential order, but time is not always segmented neatly into the past, the present & the future. Einstein showed that some equations work in either direction. And, although some physicists say that time is an illusion, our time perception – our sense of time – does exist. And it exists to serve a purpose for us in this life.
Amanda Sage
Here’s what Steiner says about time in ‘The World of the Senses and the World of the Spirit’ lecture 4: “What we, experience in the soul is subject to time. In the outer world things happen in such a way that they are spread out in space and also follow one another in time. Before we can come to the occult truth about all this we must put the question: How then does space stand in relation to time? In this anthroposophical course of lectures we come quite innocently up against a very great philosophical question, one upon which countless heads have been broken!…
We come, to the relation of time to space.
We can put memories behind us, and yet keep them, like continually cast-off skins — in this possibility lies the reality of our soul-life. So you have a continuous re-shaping of the soul-life. During this expansion and contraction one thing is unquestionably present, and that is inner spiritual movement. Movement! Soul-life is movement. And this expansion and contraction gives forms. Therein live your feelings, thoughts, impulses of will.
If you consider how this soul-life is at times in quicker motion and at times in slower motion, you will perceive that it is really Will itself which brings it into motion. If you stimulate your Will you can bring the thoughts and feelings into quicker flow; if the Will is indolent then it all moves along more slowly. You need the Will in order to expand your life of soul.
Within your soul-life: will, wisdom, movement, form, weave and live. Now you will see that these are the names for the successive hierarchies — Spirits of Will, Spirits of Wisdom, Spirits of Movement, and Spirits of Form. In presenting our soul-life in this manner we have, so to say, surprised the hierarchies in one spot, we have really caught them inside us. There they reveal themselves in a most singular way in the inner soul-life of the human being — and they reveal themselves in such a way that their activity is entirely unspatial, it is eternal.”
That makes me think of that famous line from Parsifal: ‘Here time becomes space’. Wagner wanted to portray the home of the Grail as a mystical place, outside of earthly constraints, like how it is in the spiritual world. And then the question becomes: How do we bring that back to earth – To ask the right question at the right time?
So in working with the ‘Will Exercise’, the 2nd of the 6 Basic, I often picture the ‘Hands of time’ – this idea of my will working thru my limbs. I think of my beating heart, or the rhythm of a drum keeping time – the rhythm of the seasons, the cycles of the moon, the pulsing stars.
This week we celebrate Thanksgiving, a yearly place holder in time to help us remember & practice being grateful.
Sulamith Wulfing
Next week we enter the time of Advent, the time of waiting, the time of preparing, of creating a manger in our hearts for the light to be reborn.
And in the Holy Nights we are in a sort of ‘Time out of Time’where we can make Time a Sacred Space.
Dali
Time is our initiator, sacrificing itself by popping up out of the eternal to help us find our way on the path of life. Creating milestones that we can use as a foundation within the flow.
Tamara Adams
We can think about the time or phase of our life…Maiden, Mother, Crone. These aspects don’t replace one another, each phase builds on the next & then they can work together in wholeness, just like the 6 Basic Exercises.
Bella Candor
Yes, for me, time is relative. It needs to be in relationship to something. I can remember that I am always in the right place at the right time – Each moment a journey. We go on a trip & say, yay, wow, were making good time. So let’s remember that Time is on our side, yes it is.
Arrati Morjoto
So I’ll close by asking: Are you taking time for yourself? Maybe we need to give ourselves a ‘Time Out’? Isn’t that part of what the Corona Crisis is bringing us? Let’s live into the eternal Now, & make Time our ally; working with us to firm up our Will.
~hag
The ARC (Anthroposophical Resorce Center in Atlanta) holds a Six Basic Exercise Practice Group weekdays 9 am PT/ 11 am CT / 12:00 pm ET. All are invited to join in a 15 minute practice group focusing on Rudolf Steiner’s foundational exercises. We begin the time each day with a 5 minute leading thought from Angela Foster, focusing one aspect of the practice. We will follow that with a 5 minute period in which we turn off our cameras and practice on our own. After the five minute bell, we take 1-2 minutes to journal about our experience and the end the call with a 3 minute closing thought. Come when you can, and leave when you must. Monday Musing with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg; and Friday’s are open discussion led by Joan Jackeal.
23 November 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Starting an hour before sunrise, both Mercury & Venus are easy to spot in the brightening sky. Mercury, just rising among the stars of Libra; Venus is impossible to miss due east of bright Spica.
“People will have to learn through the idea of karma that they may not repudiate their earlier deeds with their later deeds. A certain consequentiality in life, a readiness to take on the consequences of what one has done, will have to emerge in human evolution. When one looks more closely, one sees how far removed from this people still are. A greater feeling of responsibility for one’s actions, a greater awareness of karma, that is what a study of this sort might yield.” ~Rudolf Steiner
Belenca Kentloo
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Feast day St. Columban, Stories claim that as he walked in the woods, it was not uncommon for birds to land on his shoulders to be caressed, or for squirrels to run down from the trees & nestle in the folds of his cowl. He was a strong defender of Irish traditions. The following are the principal miracles attributed to his intercession: Procuring food for a sick monk and curing the wife of his benefactor Escaping injury while surrounded by wolves Causing a bear to evacuate a cave at his biddings Producing a spring of water near his cave Replenishing the Luxeuil granary Multiplying bread and beer for his community Curing sick monks, who rose from their beds at his request to reap the harvest Giving sight to a blind man at Orleans Destroying with his breath a cauldron of beer prepared for a pagan festival Taming a bear and yoking it to a plough.
1644 – John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.
1889 – The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
1924 – Edwin Hubble‘s discovery, that the Andromeda “nebula” is actually another island galaxy far outside of our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times.
1978 – Cyclone kills about 10,000 people in eastern Sri Lanka.
1978 – The Geneva Frequency Plan goes into effect, realigning many of Europe’s longwave & mediumwave broadcasting frequencies.
1981 – Iran–Contra affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit & support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
1992 – The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
***
Jerzy Bettler
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Yes, it’s true My tone is often sharp, never flat A briny crusted argot. With cutting honesty I push into fathomless oceans Reaching out to the ancient Mother who is all gristle Bitter Trusting in nothing but death Scoured by truth & karma. My single solace, the fate That defines the map Of a star spoken sentence Striking out in pure tones Of too bright a light. ~hag
***
Wed. 2 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT The Karma Project
The Karma Project Manifestations of Karma Study Group December 2, 2020 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“… We have now learned that it is possible to seek out accidents or other causes of illness due to karmic effects. In due course we will deal with the details of such processes, such as the way in which the forces in deeper levels of consciousness work within the human being, or to what extent our ordinary consciousness may avoid such accidents. We can understand that someone who goes to a place where he may succumb to an infection will have been driven there under the influence of a certain level of consciousness; in like manner we must be able to understand how it is that human beings take certain measures to render such infections less and less effective; in other words, that through our ordinary consciousness we are able to avert certain consequences by means of hygiene.“
~Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, Chapter 6, “Karma in Relation to Accidents”, Hamburg, 21 May, 1910 … focus of the December 2 meeting.
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among four volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.
This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “Manifestations of Karma.” This book is a translation from German of Die Offenbarung des Karma (Ga 120), published in English by Rudolf Steiner Press in 1996.
This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:
If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu Agenda for our Study Call
7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by five volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Laura – pg. 106 to 110 Ana – pg. 111 to 115 Camille – pg. 116 to 120 Alberto – pg. 121 to end 8:05 Conversation 8:28 Close with verse
Holy Nights 2020-21 “A Rose By Any Other Name…” The many faces of The Sophia
24 December 2020 – 5 January 2021
International online gathering on the Theme of the Divine Feminine.
Hosted by Laura Scappaticci & Tess Parker, featuring the Sophia Working Group
Everyday 9 am – 9:30 am PT, 10 am – 10:30 am MT, 11 am – 11:30 am CT, 12 pm – 12:30 pm
stay tuned for details
Our Annual Conscious NYE gathering 8 pm 1 am
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultural Hub & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave. 60613
This Years Theme is a Masked Ball –
Live Music, Folk Dancing, Potluck, Mask-making with Lucien Dante Lazar, more TBA
$20 per person
Stay tuned for details
Joan’s Epiphany 6 January 2021 ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’ 2 pm – 4 pm CT
In-person at Elderberries Chicago & online
Today on the Birthday of Joan of Arc we welcome special Guest Nancy Poer
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 Leading Thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Social Sculpture: “The Passage” with Luicen Dante Lazar – Eurythmy
One tap mobile +13126266799,,7052931041# US (Chicago) +19292056099,,7052931041# US (New York)
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aeoRtxhpwY
10:10 Testament, Inspired by Alice Groh & given by Rudolf Steiner:
The opposite force of gravity, is light. But we must bear the cross of our body, living consciously into this gravity-being of the Earth. Steiner says “Only when you immerse yourself completely in the element of weight or gravity can you advance to the experience of lightness” Light is connected with the Sun. In Winter the light & warmth rest in the Earth. “When you immerse yourself spiritually in gravity, you are led back to the cosmic past of the Earth & thereby to the experience of the moment when Earth was born out of the Divine Father-forces.
Terrence Gendle
How can we “strive to experience the Earth as a Star – as a star among stars”…? Steiner asks: “What makes something a star? Something is a star when it rays out, gleams, & has form & weight in it that holds the body together. But what is it that rays out from the star? It is the will of the beings that reside in the star. You will – & the Earth radiates out into the universe.
It is in the feeling of the beings that reside in a star that make it gleam & sparkle. You feel – & the earth gleams as star into the universe.
It is the thinking that wraps light-filled around the star. You think – & your thinking allows the Earth to shimmer in waves of light.
In the perceiving & ‘touching’ of the beings that reside in the star, the star builds its density. Through your touch (referring to all we perceive) the Earth achieves its form.
It is just that you must so train your consciousness that your thinking, feeling & willing is not for you, but for the cosmos; so that it rays out, gleams, & shines into the widths of the cosmos. Through your thinking, feeling & willing, the Earth becomes visible to the beings on the other stars.
In the ray lives my will – for the good rays forth from the star In the gleam lives my feeling – for love gleams on the star In the sheath lives my thinking – for light works in the star In gravity lives my touch – for density builds the star.
If you approach the Earth from out of the cosmos, you experience it as closed within an atmosphere of human karma. It surrounds the Earth like a warmth-love cloak, out of which your own karma speaks to you world-mightily.
When however human beings do not think, feel & will spiritually, when they refuse to meet the Guardian consciously, then no human experience shines into the cosmos. In the 19th century, as human beings stopped thinking spiritually, human thinking was not sufficient to let the Earth radiate. Yet a star must radiate. Because of that, in the last third of the 19th century, the higher animal group souls had to step in & send out their light.
At that time the cosmic disgrace of humanity began to radiate into the cosmos.
The evil that human beings think, feel, & will radiates out into the cosmos. It is still visible in the starry space after millions of years.
Alex Slopi
For that reason, there must be found in humanity souls whose spiritual knowledge allows the Earth to shine out as star into cosmic space for the residents of the other stars”.
~Rudolf Steiner, from Two Esoteric Lessons for the Youth Group, Stuttgart 13 July 1923 & Dornach 30 December 1923
***
22 November 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Today is the 326th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 39 days remain until the end of the year. In the ancient astrology, it is the cusp day between Scorpio & Sagittarius. In some years it is Sagittarius, but others Scorpio. We’re two thirds of the way through fall, so Capella shines in the northeast as soon as the stars come out.
As night grows dark, look to Capella’s right by about three fists at arm’s length for the 7 Sisters Pleiades cluster.
Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Stiner, translation & leading thoughts by Roy Sadler: After last week’s challenging transition, death verse from autumn to winter, the present verse, Advent I (the week before Advent Sunday, the fourth Advent Sunday being in Christmas week) is followed by the Carnival verse as our solar calendar moves to Easter time, the Whitsun verse – the Carnival mirror as the lunar calendar ends – and the last summer verse, this week’s mirror towards August’s end.
v34, Advent !, Mysteriously to feel with newly risen sense of who I am old treasure re-enlivening within me shall rouse a tide of cosmic forces that pouring into my endeavour for the world will let my work imprint me into that which is.
v45, Carnival, In concert with the spirit’s birth the mind grows firm; it lifts the senses’ vaque allure to perfect clarity. When soul abundance would bond with springlife’s coming the mind must shine its light on sense appearance.
v8, Whitsun, In concert with the gods’ creating the senses’ power grows; it presses thinking down to dimness of a dream. When bonding with my soul would be a holy being my mind must rest, be stilled, in dreamlife’s presence satisfied.
v19, Lammastide III, Mysteriously to sheathe my life’s new seed with memory be now my striving’s further aim that strengthening it shall awake my own true force within me and in becoming give me who I am.
Feast Day of Saint Cecilia patroness of musicians.
1744 – Birthday of Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, 2nd First Lady of the United States
1819 – Birthday of Mary Ann Evans known by her pen name George Eliot, an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator & one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Throughout her career, Eliot wrote with a politically astute pen, presenting the cases of social outsiders, small-town persecution & depictions of rural society. Much of the material for her prose was drawn from her own experience. She shared with Wordsworth the belief that there was much value & beauty to be found in the mundane details of ordinary country life.
1963 – Deathday of President John F. Kennedy, assassinated by…???
1963 – Deathday of C. S. Lewis, British writer, critic & Christian apologist – one of the ‘Inklings’, some of whom were academics at Oxford University: Owen Barfield, J. A. W. Bennett, J. R. R. Tolkien, Percy Bates…
1968 – The Beatles release The White Album.
1999 – Birthday of Ultra-Violet Archer, born butt 1st on the Full Moon 9:44 pm.
A Poem for your 21st spin around the Sun:
~Reach down & pull up song Dance the name of everything… Spin & chant & exalt the power of flesh on bone Return the rhythm to the water Reclaiming the dark waves of your mother’s belly… Give voice to the Spirit In whirling Autumn as it teases Open the mysteries of Winter… Hone your tone & Spit flame like a melody to eternity ~hag
***
Wed. 2 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT The Karma Project
The Karma Project Manifestations of Karma Study Group December 2, 2020 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“… We have now learned that it is possible to seek out accidents or other causes of illness due to karmic effects. In due course we will deal with the details of such processes, such as the way in which the forces in deeper levels of consciousness work within the human being, or to what extent our ordinary consciousness may avoid such accidents. We can understand that someone who goes to a place where he may succumb to an infection will have been driven there under the influence of a certain level of consciousness; in like manner we must be able to understand how it is that human beings take certain measures to render such infections less and less effective; in other words, that through our ordinary consciousness we are able to avert certain consequences by means of hygiene.“
~Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, Chapter 6, “Karma in Relation to Accidents”, Hamburg, 21 May, 1910 … focus of the December 2 meeting.
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among four volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.
This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “Manifestations of Karma.” This book is a translation from German of Die Offenbarung des Karma (Ga 120), published in English by Rudolf Steiner Press in 1996.
This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:
If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu Agenda for our Study Call
7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by five volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Laura – pg. 106 to 110 Ana – pg. 111 to 115 Camille – pg. 116 to 120 Alberto – pg. 121 to end 8:05 Conversation 8:28 Close with verse
Holy Nights 2020-21 “A Rose By Any Other Name…” The many faces of The Sophia
24 December 2020 – 5 January 2021
International online gathering on the Theme of the Divine Feminine.
Hosted by Laura Scappaticci & Tess Parker, featuring the Sophia Working Group
Everyday 9 am – 9:30 am PT, 10 am – 10:30 am MT, 11 am – 11:30 am CT, 12 pm – 12:30 pm
stay tuned for details
Our Annual Conscious NYE gathering 8 pm 1 am
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultural Hub & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave. 60613
This Years Theme is a Masked Ball –
Live Music, Folk Dancing, Potluck, Mask-making with Lucien Dante Lazar, more TBA
$20 per person
Stay tuned for details
Joan’s Epiphany 6 January 2021 ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’ 2 pm – 4 pm CT
In-person at Elderberries Chicago & online
Today on the Birthday of Joan of Arc we welcome special Guest Nancy Poer
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 Leading Thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Social Sculpture: “The Passage” with Luicen Dante Lazar – Eurythmy
One tap mobile +13126266799,,7052931041# US (Chicago) +19292056099,,7052931041# US (New York)
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 705 293 1041 Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aeoRtxhpwY
Imagine Rudolf Steiner standing, in his black suit as we know him from many pictures. About, five feet behind him stand two figures, one to the right – the other to the left. The one on the right appears in red regalia. It is Christian Rosenkreutz, who renewed the Mysteries for the Western World in such ways that his students could remain engaged in worldly pursuits.
The one on the left appears almost transparent, of a bluish hue. It is the Initiate who is most closely associated with the Christ Mystery, the “Master Jesus.” About fifteen feet behind these two, on a slight elevation, stands Michael, and on a somewhat higher elevation about fifteen feet behind Michael stands the radiant figure of Christ, surrounded behind Him by a semicircle of Angelic Beings of the various hierarchies.
From Christ streams forward a rose-pink stream of divine love towards the smaller hill where Michael, the Ambassador of Christ, stands. He adds brilliant cosmic light to the stream of divine love. Now this stream of light-permeated divine love streams further forward, spreading slightly, reaching the two Great Initiates of the Western World. They focus the stream onto Rudolf Steiner in front of them.
As Rudolf Steiner receives this stream from the spiritual world behind him, he transforms it so that it becomes a power that fills the entire space in front of him. We can then see Steiner as the Ambassador of Michael, in a living three-dimensional mosaic of constantly moving little luminous cells of the most variegated colors and brightness, a spectacle that tells, in a secret language of light and love, how the human being can find who he or she really is, and what the mission of each one is, in being active, always true to oneself. Thus Rudolf Steiner, the Ambassador of Michael, who is the Ambassador of Christ, brings to humankind, in a form appropriate for our consciousness, the inspiration of cosmic light-permeated divine love.
On his sickbed, only a couple of weeks before he died, he wrote a poem unlike others he wrote during his creative life. This last verse is a declaration of his Will, what he wanted to accomplish against the odds of the forces that want to degrade the human being to the level of being merely a thing; a thing that can be fashioned to specifications, that is bound by external rules, and can be discarded after being used. The human thing. This verse starts with the words “I want …” (Ich möchte …):
I want with cosmic spirit To enthuse each human being That a flame they may become And fiery will unfold The essence of their being.
The other ones, they strive To take from cosmic waters What will extinguish flames And pour paralysis Into all inner being.
O joy, when human being’s flame Is blazing, even when at rest. O bitter pain, when the human thing Is put in bonds, when it wants to stir.
~Dr. Ernst Katz, part of an address given at the ASA AGM November, 2004.
***
Beth Jennkins
10:10 Testament: Thank you friends for all the wonderful feedback around your experiences with our Thought-Seed Experiment. Keep the conversation going! Deborah Rogers made a powerful suggestion to do the verse in reverse. 1st:
“When I think light, My soul shines, When my soul shines, The earth is a Star, When the earth is a star, then I am, A true human being”. ~Herbert Hahn
Which then Becomes: I am a true human being, When the Earth is a Star. The Earth is a Star When my soul shines. My soul shines When I think light.
***
21 November 2020– “Speaking with the Stars”: First-quarter Moon (exact at 10:45 pm CT.). Growing Bella Luna shines between dim Aquarius & Capricornus. Look to her lower left for Fomalhaut. And above for Mars.
As dawn brightens on Sunday morning the 22nd, Mercury is still nicely visible in the east-southeast. Look for it lower left of Venus as shown below. Day by day it will descend toward the dawn horizon & out of sight.
164 BCE – Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.
1676 – The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.
1694 – Birthday of Voltaire, a French Enlightenment writer, historian, & philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church, as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile & prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, & historical & scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters & more than 2,000 books & pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. He adopted the name Voltaire in 1718, following his incarceration at the Bastille. It is an anagram of AROVET LI, the Latinized spelling of his surname, Arouet, & the initial letters of le jeune (“the young”). According to a family tradition he was known as le petit volontaire (“determined little thing”) as a child, & he resurrected a variant of the name in his adult life. The name also reverses the syllables of Airvault, his family’s home town in the Poitou region. Voltaire perceived the French bourgeoisie to be too small and ineffective, the aristocracy to be parasitic and corrupt, the commoners as ignorant and superstitious, and the Church as a static and oppressive force useful only on occasion as a counterbalance to the rapacity of kings, although all too often, even more rapacious itself. Voltaire distrusted democracy, which he saw as propagating the idiocy of the masses. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, & the French institutions of his day.
1811 – Death day of Heinrich von Kleist, German poet & author, spoken about by Rudolf Steiner in THE INNER ASPECT OF THE MOON-EMBODIMENT OF THE EARTH.How can we fail to recognise that this man’s spirit in its entirety as he stands before us, is an actual living embodiment of that which dwells in the depths of the Soul, which we must trace back to something other than the life of earth if we wish to recognise it? Has not Heinrich Von Kleist described in the most significant manner what may live within a man (a description of which you will find at the very beginning of The Spiritual Guidance of Man and Mankind), as something transcending him and driving him, and which he will only understand later on if he does not snap the threads of his life before! Think of his ‘Penthesilea’; how much more there is in her than she can span with her earthly consciousness! We should not be able to describe her at all, did we not take for granted that her Soul was immeasurably further advanced than the narrow little soul (although it was a great one) which she could span with her earthly consciousness. Hence a situation must arise which artistically introduces the whole process of the Drama. Indeed, it was necessary to prevent the whole transaction — which Kleist introduces with Achilles — from being grasped with the higher consciousness; otherwise the whole tragedy could not be perceived. Hence Achilles is called ‘her’ Achilles. What lies in the higher consciousness must be plunged into the non-conscious. Again, what part does this subconsciousness play in Katchen Von Heilbronn, especially in the remarkable relation between her and Wetter Von Strahl, which plays no part in the higher consciousness, but in the deeper strata of the Soul where dwells the forces of which man knows nothing, which pass from one to another. When we have this before us we can trace the spiritual nature of the world’s forces of gravity and attraction. For instance, in the scene where Katchen stands before her admirers, do we not feel what lives in the subconsciousness, and how it is related to what is outside in the world which has been dryly called the forces of our planet’s attractions? Yet only 100 years ago a truly penetrating and striving mind was not able to find his way into that subconsciousness. But it must be done to-day. And the tragedy of a Prince of Homburg strikes us in a very different way now. I should like to know how an abstract thinker, one who accounts for everything by reason alone, could account for a figure such as the Prince of Homburg, who carried out all his great deeds in a kind of dream-state, even those leading finally to victory. Kleist indicates very clearly that he could not possibly gain the victory by means of his higher consciousness, for as far as that was concerned he was not a particularly great man, for he whines and whimpers over everything he has to do. Only when by a special effort of the will, he brings up what dwells in the depths of his Soul, does he play the man.
1877 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.
1905 – Albert Einstein’s paper that leads to the mass–energy equivalence formula, E = mc², is published in the journal Annalen der Physik.
The Emperor of Austria, who now belongs to the deposed royalty, before he was chased out carried around along with his other titles a most unusual one: Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slovenia, Galizia, Lodomeria, Illyia and so on. Among all these titles was also “King of Jerusalem!” The Austrian Emperor also carried, until he was no longer emperor, the title “King of Jerusalem.” It came from the crusades. It would be impossible to give a better example of meaninglessness than this. And such meaninglessness plays a much greater role than you imagine. It is a question of whether we can arise to a recognition of the present-day platitudes. It is made difficult because those who live in platitudes are the verbal representatives of the old concepts that stagger around in their brains imitating thoughts. But one can only achieve real thinking again when the inner soul-life is filled with substance and that can only come from knowledge of the spiritual world, of spiritual life. Only by being relieved by the spirit can one become a complete person, after having been constipated with platitudes. What I described yesterday as a feeling of shame will result in the call for the spirit. And the propagation of the spirit will only be possible if the spiritual/cultural sector is allowed to develop independently.
1927 – Columbine Mine massacre: Striking coal miners are attacked with machine guns by a detachment of state police dressed in civilian clothes.
***
Eurika Urbonaviciute
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Now thoughts hover near like the weaving of dreams arising as beings essential to souls; self-quickening will, self-wakening feeling, self-mastering thinking, emerge for the dreamer… there I create… ~hag
***
Wed. 2 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT The Karma Project
The Karma Project Manifestations of Karma Study Group December 2, 2020 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
“… We have now learned that it is possible to seek out accidents or other causes of illness due to karmic effects. In due course we will deal with the details of such processes, such as the way in which the forces in deeper levels of consciousness work within the human being, or to what extent our ordinary consciousness may avoid such accidents. We can understand that someone who goes to a place where he may succumb to an infection will have been driven there under the influence of a certain level of consciousness; in like manner we must be able to understand how it is that human beings take certain measures to render such infections less and less effective; in other words, that through our ordinary consciousness we are able to avert certain consequences by means of hygiene.“
~Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, Chapter 6, “Karma in Relation to Accidents”, Hamburg, 21 May, 1910 … focus of the December 2 meeting.
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among four volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.
This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “Manifestations of Karma.” This book is a translation from German of Die Offenbarung des Karma (Ga 120), published in English by Rudolf Steiner Press in 1996.
This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:
If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu Agenda for our Study Call
7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by five volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Laura – pg. 106 to 110 Ana – pg. 111 to 115 Camille – pg. 116 to 120 Alberto – pg. 121 to end 8:05 Conversation 8:28 Close with verse
Holy Nights 2020-21 “A Rose By Any Other Name…” The many faces of The Sophia
24 December 2020 – 5 January 2021
International online gathering on the Theme of the Divine Feminine.
Hosted by Laura Scappaticci & Tess Parker, featuring the Sophia Working Group
Everyday 9 am – 9:30 am PT, 10 am – 10:30 am MT, 11 am – 11:30 am CT, 12 pm – 12:30 pm
stay tuned for details
Our Annual Conscious NYE gathering 8 pm 1 am
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultural Hub & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave. 60613
This Years Theme is a Masked Ball –
Live Music, Folk Dancing, Potluck, Mask-making with Lucien Dante Lazar, more TBA
$20 per person
Stay tuned for details
Joan’s Epiphany 6 January 2021 ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’ 2 pm – 4 pm CT
In-person at Elderberries Chicago & online
Today on the Birthday of Joan of Arc we welcome special Guest Nancy Poer
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 Leading Thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Social Sculpture: “The Passage” with Luicen Dante Lazar – Eurythmy
One tap mobile +13126266799,,7052931041# US (Chicago) +19292056099,,7052931041# US (New York)
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