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Greetings friends – Yes, it’s true, I often become a pricky pear around the time of my natal return. So I am striving to move thru this time as consciously as possible, opening to insight & grace.  I picked up ‘The Human Life’ by George & Gisela O’Neil to remind myself of some basics on The Phases of Human Life.

Our lives unfold in 3 main phases of development (bear in mind that the ages can vary for each individual, but the phases remain, so don’t get stuck on the numbers):

• Body: maturing until age 21
• Soul: emotional/psychological stability building up until around age 42
• Spirit: potential spiritual maturity after age 42

These 3 groups can be divided into 7 year growth phases – (the ending or transition of each can be especially intense & challenging):

Bodily Development – 0-21yrs – The ultimate goal is to Awaken to Ego or ‘I’ awareness

• 0-7yrs – Unfolding the physical body. Learning: TRUST ‘The world is good’
• 7-14yrs – Unfolding the etheric body. Learning: FELLOWSHIP ‘The world is beautiful’
• 14-21yrs – Unfolding the astral body. Learning: INDEPENDENCE ‘The world is true’

Soul Development – 21-42yrs – Awakening the Eyes of the Soul – The Transformative Years (the fight years)

• 21-28yrs – Birth of the ‘I’ within the sentient soul. Learning: Experience becomes the primary urge
• 28-35yrs – Birth of the ‘I’ within the intellectual soul, also called the rational/feeling soul. Learning: Confronted by the realities of the world here we are struggling with ideals & necessities (31-33 are called ‘The Christ Years’ when we really ‘carry our own cross’ & take ourselves on)
• 35-42yrs – Birth of the ‘I’ within the consciousness soul. Learning: How to activate the will; sensing our own identity; ‘nothing happens anymore unless I make it happen.’

Spiritual Development – 42-63yrs – Awakening Our Spiritual Eyes – Gaining Wisdom (Notice I use the word potential here, as I believe not every human being strives for these)

• 42-49yrs – Potential awakening of spiritual-self. Learning: New possibilities & potentials appear – Personal Authority – Striving -finding our direction ‘The world turns upside down’
• 49-56yrs – Potential life-spirit unfolding. Learning: Change of life; promoting new causes; gaining strength to bring ideas into life. Expertise – ‘The world becomes harmonious’
• 56-63yrs – Potential spirit-man unfolding. Learning: That we must awaken to love & commitment to others; working as a healing force in communities. Role Modeling – ‘The world is filled with Wisdom’
• 63-until death – ‘Years of Grace’. Freedom to Be- to serve humanity – sharing the fruits of our life’s work – ‘The world is creative, AND this is not all there is’ 

Of course the earlier phases continue to work into the later phases, building on them, filling them out with experience & the wisdom gained.

Along with the O’Neil’s amazing work, I have dipped into Bernard Lievegoed’s book ‘Phases: The Spiritual Rhythms of Adult Life’ & a compilation of lectures on Biography from Rudolf Steiner put out by Steiner Press as ‘Biography: Freedom & Destiny, Enlightening the Path of Human Life.

It’s interesting to look at the connection between illness & biography. And also to see how not just human beings, but all the phases of human evolution seen throughout the epochs are reflected in the birth, maturation & death of civilizations & nations.

I am struck by the fact, that some human beings don’t have the inner strength to develop their true potential. They never really leave adolescence, so they aren’t able to truly bring in their ego or ‘I’ forces. Perhaps this is what we are seeing reflected in society today in the form of impulsiveness & a propensity toward violence.

I leave you with ‘The 3rd Tablet’ by Rudolf Steiner:
“I entered this sense-world
The heritage of thinking I bore with me
The power of a god has lead me here
(Ex deo nascimur – Out of the Godhead we are born)

And death stands at this journey’s end
I will to feel the Being of Christ
In matters dying He awakens Spirit Birth
(In Christo morimur – In Christ death becomes life)

In Spirit thus I find the World
And know myself amidst the Worlds evolving.
(Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus – In the spirit’s cosmic thoughts the soul awakens)”

Blessings & Peace ~hag

10 July 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: You can see Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer on these July nights. Its stars are faint, and you’ll need a dark sky. Look for Ophiuchus in the south at nightfall. The bright red star Antares in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion can help you find it. Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer is depicted as holding Serpens the Serpent, which is considered a separate constellation. According to ancient Greek star lore, Ophiuchus is Asclepius, the physician who concocted a healing potion from the Serpent’s venom, mixing it with the Gorgon’s blood and an unknown herb. This potion gave humans access to immortality, until the god of the underworld appealed to Zeus to reconsider the ramifications of the death of death.

Even today, the Staff of Asclepius – the symbol of the World Heath Organization – pays tribute to the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer…hmmm…

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (RSarchives) 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (Rudolf Steiner’s original Calendar of the Soul; The Present Age, Wikipedia)

Nikola Tesla Day

138 – Deathday of Emperor Hadrian, Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian is known for building Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the northern limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon & constructed the Temple of Venus & Roma. An admirer of the Greeks, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, & he is regarded as one of the Five Good Emperors.

165 – Deathday of Felicitas of Rome is a saint numbered among the Christian martyrs. A legend presents her as the mother of the seven martyrs: Alexander, Vitalis, Martialis, Januarius, Felix, Philip, Sylvanus. In Rudolf Steiner’s original Calendar of the Soul we see listed for today the Fairy Tale The Seven Ravens (Sieben Bruder) by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm

1212 –London burns to the ground

1509 – Birthday of John Calvin, an influential French theologian & pastor during the Protestant Reformation

1778 – American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain

1832 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoes a bill that would re-charter the Second Bank of the United States

1856 – Birthday of Nikola Tesla, a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, & futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system

1871 – Birthday of Marcel Proust, French novelist, critic, & essayist

1921 –‘Bloody Sunday’: 160 people are killed & 161 houses destroyed during rioting & gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland

1925 – Scopes Trial: the so-called “Monkey Trial” – a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.

1938 – Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world

1962 – Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.

1966 – The Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. As many as 60,000 people come to hear Dr. King as well as Mahalia Jackson, Stevie Wonder, & Peter, Paul and Mary.

1991 – Boris Yeltsin takes office as the first elected President of Russia.

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~i am
the sun roaring
beside 2 lions
named yesterday & tomorrow…
my feet are dusty
my lungs are full
for i am
the hostess of eternity
hot on the trail of Now…
~hag