25 | January | 2021 | Cognitive Ritual

The Conversion of Saul – Works – THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY, ART MUSEUM, AND BOTANICAL GARDENS

In Honor of the anniversary of the vision of Paul on the road to Damascus I created this ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Columbia-america-by-Alice-Walker-pp.png

Dear friends –

We come here
To embrace what is common in each one of us –
Our love for a higher knowledge
which unites us in understanding.
Let this Light of Knowledge unite
Each and All of us,
Making rise in each,
The raising of the Other.

Thank you to all who participated in the live stream of our event. Here is a link to the recording of ‘Reclaiming the Wisdom of America‘ Love Donations Welcome

From Ite Van Til: Spirit of Place,
I am so happy you are there, so grateful you give your fragrance, your essence

To us, youngsters living together with you for years, gone out and dispersed, meeting each other after a year, and suddenly all four felt your presence at the same time.

To the farm barn where my love and i partied after our wedding
To the door where we first kissed
To the room where we looked at each other closely, speechless, and felt bygone times

To the house near the sea that we entered, visiting you as object for sale and feeling your presence in our guts, as you pulled us near

I long to feel you, to see you, to speak to you, as a friend
I know I need to let go of feelings and thoughts beforehand

Dear Spirit of Place
Please bear with us, one day we will meet

Special Thanks to our contributors:

Social Scientist Anne Nicholson, Anne Dale & Sally Greenberg

Singer/composer/producer: Ultra-Violet Archer

Stewart Lundy co-owns Perennial Roots Farm in Accomac, Virginia. Since 2010, he and his wife Natalie have farmed with a vision of reducing waste and growing as much of their own food as possible. They run a vegetable CSA as well as raising cattle, sheep, & hogs. They are currently finishing their own translation of Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course.

Rosemary McMullen, Ph.D. in English literature, taught several decades at the college level, is certified in poetry therapy, family constellations, Waldorf teacher training, and biodynamic agriculture. She has facilitated group work in many of the above fields. Publications include essays, poetry, and fiction. She is a professional editor; she researches and blogs on emergent topics: rosemarymcmullen.blogspot.com and TimeSculpture2011.blogspot.com

There are many of us that feel this theme of AMERICA is worthy of continued investigation. Our presentation is meant to be the start of an ongoing conversation. And so with that in mind I wanted to feature these other events, for those that would like to continue this work.

The Goddesses of America
A 7-week group course with Lila Tresemer
New group starting now, and you can join anytime
Few people realize that there clearly exist feminine archetypes ~ guiding lights that can help us balance the strong masculine energies that rule our nation, which can be physically located in the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Jacob Needleman beautifully writes: “We need to rediscover the deeper, mythic meaning of our heroes and our nation…. Adults need mythic symbols just as much ~ or even more ~ than children. We need to remythologize the idea of America.” (Excerpt from The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders, Penguin/Random House 2003)

***

THE CALENDAR OF THE SOUL, by Rudolf Steiner, translated – with added titles – by Roy Sadler
(who would be happy to share in the comments section any thoughts anyone may have about the translations)
v43
Epiphany IV
THE CONSECRATION OF THE WORLD
In winter’s depths
true spirit presence warms;
it makes appearance real
and through the forces of the heart
empowers earth life’s newborn glory;
the soul’s revitalising fire in the human core
defies world cold.
v10
Trinity II
THE CONSECRATION OF THE SOUL
To summer’s heights
the sunlight’s being rises;
it lifts my human feeling far and wide
and into the sublime, the cosmic harmony
wherein a dawning vision’s intimating faintly,
in future you will know:
a holy being felt you now.

***

25 January 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Watch Bella Luna journey across a field of stars termed the “Winter Hexagon.”

Tanya Jacobsz Art | Vibrant colors of winter — Tanya Jacobs

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Apostle! -a sonnet for St. Paul | Malcolm Guite

The Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on the road to Damascus. Before this, he was known as Saul, “a Pharisee of Pharisees”, who “intensely persecuted” the followers of Jesus.

The Acts of the Apostles says that Paul was on his way from Jerusalem to Syrian Damascus with a mandate issued by the High Priest to seek out & arrest followers of Jesus, with the intention of returning them to Jerusalem as prisoners for questioning & possible execution. The journey is interrupted when Paul sees a blinding light, & communicates directly with a divine voice.

Acts 9 tells the story as a third-person narrative: As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

Acts 9:3–9, NIV

Ananias restores Saul's sight – Art and the lectionary

The account continues with a description of Ananias of Damascus receiving a divine revelation instructing him to visit Saul at the house of Juda on the Street Called Straight & there lay hands on him to restore his sight. Ananias is initially reluctant, having heard about Saul’s persecution, but obeys the divine command:

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Acts 9:13–19, NIV

Acts’ second telling of Paul’s conversion occurs in a speech Paul gives when he is arrested in Jerusalem.[Acts 22:6-21] Paul addresses the crowd & tells them of his conversion, with a description essentially the same as that in Acts 9. Acts’ third discussion of Paul’s conversion occurs when Paul addresses King Agrippa, defending himself against the accusations of antinomianism that have been made against him. [Acts 26:12-18] This account is more brief than the others. The speech here is again tailored for its audience, emphasizing what a Roman ruler would understand: the need to obey a heavenly vision,[Acts 26:19] & reassuring Agrippa that Christians were not a secret society.

The conversion of Paul, in spite of his attempts to completely eradicate Christianity, is seen as evidence of the power of Divine Grace: “no fall is so deep that grace cannot descend to it” & “no height so lofty that grace cannot lift the sinner to it.” It also demonstrates “God’s power to use everything, even the hostile persecutor, to achieve the divine purpose.” The transforming effect of Paul’s conversion influenced the clear antithesis he saw “between righteousness based on the law,” i.e. the letter of the law, which he had sought in his former life; & “righteousness based on the death of Christ,” which he describes, for example, in the Epistle to the Galatians.

Interesting that in rural England, the feast day celebrated on 25 January, functioned much like Groundhog Day does in our modern-day US. With prophecies ranged from fine days predicting good harvests, to clouds & mists signifying pestilence & war in the coming months.

1366 – Deathday of Henry Suso, a German Dominican friar & mystic, the most popular writer of the 14^th century. He is also notable for defending Meister Eckhart’s legacy after Eckhart was condemned for heresy. Suso also studied philosophy in Strasbourg, where he would have come into contact with Meister Eckhart, & Johannes Tauler, both celebrated mystics. Suso was esteemed as a preacher, in the cities of Swabia, Switzerland, Alsace, & the Netherlands, speaking with individuals of all classes who were drawn to him by his attractive personality, & to whom he became a personal director in the spiritual life. Suso was reported to have established among the Friends of God a society which he called the Brotherhood of the Eternal Wisdom. The so-called Rule of the Brotherhood of the Eternal Wisdom is a free translation of a chapter of his Horologium Sapientiae, which did not make its appearance until the 15^th century. Suso was beatified in 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI.

Lucas Cranach, the Younger - Gelonch-Viladegut Collection

1586 – Deathday of Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter.

Sir Edmond Halley (1656-1742), English Astronomer, Appearance Editorial Stock Image - Image of design, appearance: 130843969

1742 – Deathday of Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, & physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain. From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena, Halley recorded a transit of Mercury across the Sun. He realized a similar transit of Venus could be used to determine the size of the Solar System. He also used his observations to expand contemporary star maps. He aided in proving Isaac Newton‘s laws of motion, & funded the publication of Newton’s influential Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. From his September 1682 observations, he used the laws of motion to compute the periodicity of Halley’s Comet in his 1705 Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets. It was named after him upon its predicted return in 1758, which he did not live to see. Beginning in 1698, he made sailing expeditions & made observations on the conditions of terrestrial magnetism. In 1718, he discovered the proper motion of the “fixed” stars.

Every Day Is Special: January 25 – Strides in Tele- Tech Day

1881 – Thomas Edison & Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.

1882 – Birthday of Virginia Woolf, English novelist, essayist, short story writer, & critic

Image result for Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days

1890 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

Image result for 1915 â Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service,

1915 – Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.

Timeline of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 - Wikipedia

2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labor strikes, & violent clashes.

***