
In my dream last night I ask the dragon: ‘What light is more radiant than the Sun?’ The dragon being caught off guard answers off the cuff. ‘A light born from out of the darkness of the human soul!’ And just as he says this, the dragon immediately turns into an angel! We are both astonished, but I take it in stride, & then it comes to me to say:

‘Is this the secret of the demons then?’. ‘Yes’, says the angel, ‘When the light of the Sun – the Word, entered into the darkness of the earth, a seed was set for a New Sun. This New Sun is the Light born from darkness. This is Christ in you.

The demons work to keep this truth from the consciousness of humanity; & so you must seek it from the wisdom of Isis-Sophia spread out in the starry heights.

There, written like a script, is her wise reflection. Re-member her, & the way is revealed, in which evil can be used against itself, so that it can be transformed into goodness – But, it must be thru the human consciousness imbued with an Active Love-filled Will, that it shall come to light.’
And so it is – from a Longest Night – Great Conjunction inspiration…
~hag
***

22 December 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Use the waxing gibbous moon to find the red planet Mars. Mars isn’t exactly blazing now, as it was some months ago when Earth was passing between it & the sun. But Mars is still bright, & still very red, a stunning sight high in the sky at nightfall.
***

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

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
***

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
***
Wednesday 23 December 2020 – 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm CT
Unwrapping our Cosmic Gift: Thoughts on the Christmas Conference 1923
with the Central Regional Council. Themes inspired by Prokofieff’s book: May Human Beings Hear it! include: Turning Points of Time; Christ, Sophia and Michael; Foundation Stone Meditation.Two Turning Points in Time – The Mystery of Wisdom, and The Mystery of Will
In 1923/24, during the Christmas Conference, Rudolf Steiner presented humanity with the Foundation Stone Meditation: an amazingly rich imagination, planted in our hearts and shining brightly like a guiding star. Steiner also gave us many other gifts during that time which we will ponder in our hearts.
Leading thoughts, verses, songs and imaginations will be woven together in this artistic offering before the Holy Nights.
Special guest Lucien Dante Lazar will provide a sprinkle of musical interludes throughout our event.
We will be joined by our old friend Dennis Dietzel in this performance.
We will go into small breakout groups to explore the theme: “How does the Foundation Stone Meditation speak to you?”
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83533262486 Meeting ID: 835 3326 2486 One tap mobile +13017158592,,81116556762# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,81116556762# US (Chicago) Dial by your location +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 835 3326 2486 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kclU2SSTF If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu |
May this Advent Season permeate our hearts with Love and Joy – The CRC – Marianne Fieber, Alberto Loya, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton |
***

The Festivals Committee for the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago invites you to Holy Nights December 24, 2020, through January 5, 2021
*Please note–No meeting December 29th and 31st. See special offerings below for these dates.
The Fifth Gospel by Rudolf Steiner – Each evening we will study together
on Zoom from 7 pm – 8 pm CST
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/92592034861?pwd=Mmo0eURaWDVqYVlabTdSY1ltcUFxdz09
Meeting ID: 925 9203 4861 – Passcode: Peace

On Tuesday, December 29th, 6 pm – 8:30 pm CST,
we will join The ARC in Atlanta for a reading of Goethe’s fairy tale, The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily
This has a separate zoom code: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82656914578?pwd=MHN3Mmt3OEhtQlZTMlc1NHFtUm80QT09 Meeting ID: 826 5691 4578 Passcode: Goethe
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New Year’s Eve, there will be NO zoom call

Thursday 31 December 2020-21 Our Annual Conscious NYE Gathering 6 pm-10:10 pm CT
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago
6 pm Potluck and artistic mask making with Lucien Dante Lazar
8pm – 9:30 Live Music with Jutta and the Hi-Dukes
10:10 pm Project Thought-Seed
The evening ends at 10:30 pm
$20 per person http://donate.rschicago.org/
For more info. contact Hazel Archer hag@rschicago.org
***
Nancy Poer
Wednesday 6 January 2021, 2 pm – 4 pm CT
Joan’s Epiphany ‘What Joan of Arc Calls for Today’
In-Person at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost & The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/7052931041 Meeting ID: 705 293 1041
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,
+ An Artistic exploration, Singing & Eurythmy
For more info. contact Hazel Archer hag@rschicago.org
Blessings of the Season
~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Festivals & Events Coordinator
for the Rudolf Steiner Branch
of The Anthroposophical Society,