At every crossroad, be prepared to bump into wonder. Stand on every milestone in the triumph of discovery wrought thru the little things – take every step with reverence, ever aware that at every turning point, there is a stumbling into an opportunity disguised as a problem.
So whenever you want to take a magic twisty leap into the big fresh future, be willing to engage in one last wrestling match with the past – often accompanied by a slap in the face from the future.
~hag
The 18th day of Lenten-Tide – 1st reflection from the 2021 YIP 13 Initiative Forum = ‘Change begins with Listening’ (So much to digest as I rest from this powerful 5 day Conference – stay tuned)
7 March 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The brightest asteroid, 4 Vesta, is just past opposition in Leo and shining at a binocular-easy magnitude 5.8. Use the finder chart with the article about Vesta in the March Sky & Telescope, page 48. If you were to swap Vesta in for our Moon, “the asteroid would look like a baby white potato with an apparent diameter of 4.7 arcminutes, about half the width of the Moon’s Mare Imbrium. But Vesta would look spotlight-bright because it’s nearly four times as reflective as our satellite neighbor.”
“How is it they live in such harmony, the billions of stars, when most human beings can barely go a minute without declaring war in their minds?” ~Thomas Aquinas
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
321 – Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (Sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire
1274 – Deathday of Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican Friar & Theologian, “The prince of Scholastics”. Aquinas, who is most renowned for his Five Ways of Proving the Existence of God, believed that both faith and reason discover truth, a conflict between them being impossible since they both originate in God. Nickname in school=The ‘dumb ox’ – also known as the ‘Angelic Doctor’. “It must be realized that Thomas Aquinas, in the 13th Century, attained the concepts and ideas he elaborated in his writings in a completely different way from the way ideas are acquired today. One must think of his books as being inspired by a spirit from the Hierarchy of the Angeloi and that he recorded what came from a higher consciousness” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Karma of Materialism
Believing that reason can, in principle, lead the mind to God, Aquinas defended reason’s legitimacy, especially in the works of Aristotle. The philosophy of Aquinas continues to offer insights into many lingering problems in Metaphysics, the Philosophy of Mind, & the Philosophy of Religion & Ethics.
In Rudolf Steiner’s historic sketch of the life of thought in the Middle Ages, he shows how Albertus Magnus ( an earlier incarnation of Ita Wegman) & Thomas Aquinas ( an earlier incarnation of Aristotle & Rudolf Steiner himself) & the Scholastics of the 12th century gave an impetus towards what in the twentieth century has come to be known as Spiritual Science, or Anthroposophy.
“The Middle Ages would not have produced what is called Scholasticism — the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus and the other Scholastics — if this philosophy, this world conception, with all its social consequences, had not been inspired by the most important thought of the Church, by the Easter thought. In the vision of the descending Christ, Who lives for a time in man on Earth and then goes through the Resurrection, that soul impulse was given which led to the particular relation between faith and science, between knowledge and revelation which was agreed upon by the Scholastics. That out of man himself, only knowledge of the sensible world can be acquired, whereas everything connected with the super-sensible world has to be gained through revelation — this was determined basically by the way the Easter thought followed upon the Christmas thought.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Cycle of the Year as Breathing-Process of the Earth
“Thomas Aquinas made himself thoroughly familiar with the world conception of Aristotle, who becomes, as it were, his master in the life of thought…For centuries, he is il maestro di color che sanno, the master of those who know, as Dante expresses the veneration for Aristotle in the Middle Ages.”
“Thomas Aquinas had intended on the one hand to investigate the world through physical research and intellectual knowledge but, on the other hand, that he had wanted to supplement this intellectual knowledge with the truths of revelation. But he had done that precisely to gain access to the unifying principle of the world.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, 12 June 1923
“Of the great Dominicans, St. Thomas Aquinas is especially noteworthy because in him the influence of the astral body of Christ was manifest to a high degree.”
“St. Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas had copies of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their souls, and it is this fact that allowed them to be such dynamic teachers. They worked from a sphere in which Christ had once lived.
In some cases external events such as natural catastrophes or similar things enhance this weaving of spiritual bodies into the soul of the recipient. It is said of St. Thomas Aquinas that lightning struck and killed his little sister in the room where he happened to be standing, but spared him. He interpreted this lightning bolt next to him to the effect that elemental forces were necessary to help him take up the copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. Elisabeth of Thüringen also had an imprint of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth in her soul”. ~ Rudolf Steiner, The Principle of Spiritual Economy, Rome, March 28, 1909
1792 – Birthday of English astronomer Sir John Frederick William Herschel. In 1864, he published the General Catalogue of Nebulae & Clusters, which astronomers still use today
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the “telephone
1913 – The Berlin chapter of the Theosophical Society, of which Rudolf Steiner was president & Marie von Sivers secretary, is officially annulled.
1965 – Bloody Sunday: A group of 600 civil rights marchers is brutally attacked by state and local police in Selma, Alabama
POD (Poem Of the Day)
~I wander in the valley of The Word
Searching for the Sun inside…
~hag
We are looking forward to seeing you at
The Anthroposophical Café!
Speaker: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
When: Friday, March 19, 2021 at 5 pm (PT) 7 pm (MT) 8 pm (CT) 9 pm (ET)
Where: Zoom (code coming soon)
Holding the Chalice of Balance with Archangel Raphael – An exploration of the Vernal Equinox with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg*
At the time of the Spring Equinox, Raphael, Archangel of the East & the Element of Air, is active as the great Cosmic Physician. The Easter-Tide works on us thru the spiritual healing of inspiration, when we can open to the crowning of all truths found in the healing breath of humankind. In the Spring, the Easter event is recalled in many cultures & although the Mystery of Golgotha entered into the evolution of the Earth as a once-and-for-all event, it is renewed in us each year.
*Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Past Video Recordings
***
The 8-Fold Path to the Easter Elementals
Holy Week 2021 (March 28 – April 4): Starting on Palm Sunday then thru-out Holy Week including Easter Morning, we will meet every day on Zoom at 10:10 am (Central Time) to create together a Thought-Seed Egregore based on the Herbert Hahn Verse
“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”
& then we will take turns sharing the indications for that day from Rudolf Steiner / The Buddha’s 8 –fold Path, known as the ‘Weekday Exercises’ (let me know if you would like to lead one of the days? (5 min) Holy Week chart
Palm SUNDAY
Resolves or ‘RIGHT JUDGMENT.’ having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
Holy MONDAY
Talking – ‘RIGHT WORD.’
Holy TUESDAY
External actions- ‘RIGHT DEED.’
Holy WEDNESDAY
The ordering of life. – ‘RIGHT STANDPOINT.’
Maundy THURSDAY
Human Endeavour. – ‘TO LET ALL THE EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT.’
Good FRIDAY
The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life. – ‘RIGHT MEMORY.’ (Remembering what has been learned from experiences).
Holy SATURDAY
To pay attention to one’s ideas. – ‘RIGHT OPINION.’
The octave of the New Sun
EASTER SUNDAY
To turn one’s gaze inwards –
‘RIGHT EXAMINATION.’
Whoever is holding the leading thoughts for that day will tie it into some 5-10 min. artistic exercise based on the indications
Group sharing (5 min)
We close with the ‘reversed’ Hahn verse.
I am a True Human Being
For the Earth is a Star
The Earth is a Star
When I Think Light
When I think Light
My Soul Shines
Easter Sunday – 4 April 2021, in person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago & online 2 pm – 4 pm Central Time.
Group Eurythmy with Mary Ruud
Hazel Archer – The octave of the New Sun
Keynote with Ines Katharina (Bee Keeper, Founder of the Biodynamic Emerald Honeybee Sanctuary, Waldorf Teacher) Ines will connect the Easter Thought with the Elemental Beings & the flight of the Queen Bee.
Mary Ruud will give us a performance of ‘Rock Spring Wonder’
We close with singing ‘Now the green Blade Riseth’
Potluck Social Time in the Schreinerei – Please bring food & drink to share
$10 Suggested Donation (can’t make it? or joining us online? please consider supporting this event, Thank you)
*Dear friends, please join the call at 10:05 am to get settled in so we can begin the Thought-Seed promptly at 10:10 am
Topic: The 8-Fold Path thru Holy Week 2021
Time: Starting on Palm Sunday Mar 28 – thru Easter Morning, 2021 10:10 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Every day, 8 occurrence(s)
Mar 28, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 29, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 30, 2021 10:10 AM
Mar 31, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 1, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 2, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 3, 2021 10:10 AM
Apr 4, 2021 10:10 AM
Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/95633444828?pwd=Wk56K08vK2dNQUhhK0Q2S09zQWJrQT09 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: bee
Dial by your location Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aX8X3nrr3 Meeting ID: 956 3344 4828 – Passcode: 425730
Events & Festivals Committee of the Rudolf Steiner Branch
of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618 (map) https://donate.rschicago.org/