Monthly Archives: August 2021

Union

Today is the 20 year anniversary of the Wedding of Hazel Archer & Chuck Ginsberg, married in Berkley Springs, West Virginia. Our karmic meeting & whirlwind engagment would make a great movie, but long story short: We decided to elope, so I began to research a place where we could go with our girl Ultra-Violet who was 1 & a half & still nursing. I had a long list of requisites: Hot Springs, natural child care, & the perfect non-denominational minister, chief among them. I wrote our ceremony & found an amazing officiant in the area who loved our concepts & added to our vision of what we wanted to bring forth. I am in awe of the myriad layers of magic that came together to create the best Wedding & Honeymoon ever.

We chose August 4th for our Wedding date because in 2001 it was the ‘Kabbalistic Day of Love’. Known as the ‘Jewish Valentine’s Day’, Tu B’Av is celebrated for 3 days around the Lammas Full Moon.

It is written, “There is no better time than Tu b’Av, a time when nations are meant to mingle with each other and where each and every person bestowed their goodness upon their fellow human beings” (Tiferet Shlomo). The kind of love Tu b’Av represents is an unconditional love that has to spread thru out the whole of humanity. (And it is no coincidence that it comes right after Tisha B’Av, which represents the polar opposite—unfounded hatred)

The recognition of an unfounded hatred that dwells in our hearts is the precondition for the attainment of unconditional love between us, as it is written, “Tu b’Av is the correction and mitigation of Tisha b’Av” (Likutey Halachot).

It may not be intuitive to us humans at every moment, but the whole of nature works in this way. Evolution displays a dynamic interplay of two opposite forces, to create a transcendent third. Whether the poles manifest as plus & minus, hot & cold, ebb & flow, male & female, night & day…these often adversarial swings create levels of conflict & self-interest which can then open us to greater levels of reciprocity & connection. This is how ancient bacteria evolved from hostile competition, to shared responsibility, for the advancment of evolution. Our bodies also exemplify this perfectly, with up to 100 trillion individual cells, integrated to create a unified level of life. This way of seeing science is helpful during this confusing corona-crisis.

About 4,000 years ago, Abraham, understood that this natural dynamic also applies to human society. When the Babylonians around him sank into self-interest & separation, he recognized that stuck state as a precursor for the possibility of a new degree of human connection. Abraham “seeded love for all people” with the vision of a higher human union & “went from city to city, kingdom to kingdom, until thousands joined him…& they became a unified people” Which as Anthroposophy tells us gave us the vessel for the Christ – the Universal Impulse of Love to become human.

The Hebrew calendar says it is time for the ‘Festival of Love’, but our current reality shows that people are more divided than ever. Yet, just as Abraham saw thousands of years ago, the hatred & separation that persist today are not coincidental. It’s an evolutionary stage, a precursor to the next degree of unity. And in our time, there is even more that’s brewing under the surface.

How can we hold altruistic connections above the growing self-interest? The method of attaining true love unconditional among human beings must become a priority.

We are called to upgrade our human nature from the annihilation of selfish-love which leads us to crises, & leaves us with a very limited perception of reality; to a transformation – a force of universal love that permeates all of nature – a spiritual harvest waiting to be sown.

Tu B’Av, is marked by being on the Full Moon when the spiritual powers are strong & available to us so that we can bring all polarized energies into balance. This harmony creates the perfect environment for love.

May we seize every opportunity, awakening to the cosmic clues in every milestone!

~hag loves CG + you…xox

4 August 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

The Holy Grail Study Group with the Central Regional Council
of the Anthroposophical Society in America

TONIGHT August 4, 2021 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)
 

~Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 2“The Birth of Higher Perception”, excerpts from Steiner’s The Gospel of St. John in its Relation to the Other Three Gospels given at Kassel on 24 June, 1909 is the  focus of the August 4 meeting.

This chapter from the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link
The complete transcript of the lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this linkThe Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing  study conversation. The study has been divided among two 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: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail — from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  

Video Conference Details:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106
Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcHr5EVwrv

If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
 
Agenda for this meeting (CST)
 
7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
          Kate – pg. 15 to 17
          Michael – pg. 18 to 20
8:05  Conversation
8:28  Close with verse

We had a lively discussion during our July 7 meeting.  Here are two lectures that may shed some lights on two of the more hard-to-grasp ideas discussed. You can click on the “Prev” or “Next” button to scroll through other lectures in the same series.

1. About the Holy Trinity:
 The Mystery of the Trinity (Dornach, July 23, 1922)
2. About the Seven Elohim and the Christ Logos:
The Challenge of the Times (Dornach, Dec 7, 1918)

 ‘There is a knighthood of the 21st century whose riders do not ride through the darkness of physical forests as of old, but through the forest of darkened minds. They are armed with a spiritual armor and an inner sun makes them radiant. Out of them shines healing, healing that flows from the knowledge of the human being as a spiritual being. They must create inner order, inner justice, peace and conviction in the darkness of our time’. ~Karl Konig

Mysteries of the Body & Blood

William Brassey Hole

Greetings friends on this the Feast day of Nicodemus. As fate would have it, yesterday as I was doing some research about the Holy Grail for the Pageant: ‘The Royal Art: A Social Pilgrimage of the Soul’ (for the ASA AGM on Sunday 10 October); I was reading from Sergei O. Prokofieff’s book ‘The Spiritual Origins of Eastern Europe and the Future Mysteries of the Holy Grail’ Chapter 3 ‘Scythianos & the Grail Stream’, where he reveals the connection between this great initiate of the mysteries of the physical body (The blood & body) & his 2 pupils – Joseph of Arimathea & Nicodemus.  So this powerful individuality was already ‘visiting me in the night’.

Zosia Nowak

Just like Lazarus, Nicodemus does not belong to the tradition of the Synoptic Gospels & is only mentioned by John, who brings him in 3 times, devoting more than half of Chapter 3 of his Gospel, a few verses of Chapter 7 & again in Chapter 19.

The first time Nicodemus is mentioned, he is identified as a Pharisee who comes to see Jesus “at night”. John places this meeting shortly after the Cleansing of the Temple & links it to the signs which Jesus performed in Jerusalem during the Passover feast. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2).

Then follows a conversation with Nicodemus about the meaning of being “born again” or “born from above” (Greek: ἄνωθεν), & the mention of seeing the “kingdom of God”.

In Chapter 7, Nicodemus advises his colleagues among “the chief priests and the Pharisees”, to hear & investigate before making a judgment concerning Jesus. Their mocking response argues that no prophet comes from Galilee. Nonetheless, it is probable that he wielded a certain influence in the Sanhedrin.

Finally, when Jesus is buried, Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh & aloes—about 100 lbs [John 19:39]

We have already pointed out in these lectures that in the words of Christ-Jesus to Nicodemus, we must recognize a conversation between Christ and a personality who is able to perceive what can be beheld outside of the physical body by means of higher organs of cognition if developed to a certain stage. For those who understand such things, this is clearly and distinctly indicated in the Gospel wherein it is stated that Nicodemus came to Christ-Jesus “in the night,” meaning in a state of consciousness in which the human being does not make use of his outer sense organs.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of St. John, lecture VI -THE “I AM”

You can also find some amazing insights about Nicodemus from the work of Emil Bock in his book ‘The Three Years’ Chapter 8.

Betta Uyne

3 August 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Today is a great day to view Saturn, which reached opposition at 1 am last night. If you’re up early, the ringed planet won’t set until nearly sunrise; if you’re an evening observer, it will rise again as the Sun sets in Capricornus the Sea Goat.

Bella Luna reaches apogee, the farthest point from our planet in its orbit. ~astronomy.com

Laurence Oliphant

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1829 – Birthday of Laurence Oliphant – a Member of the British Parliament, was a South African-born British author, traveler, diplomat, intelligence agent, & Christian mystic. (see Steiner’s Quote below that in a former life he was Ovid)

From Rudolf Steiner in Karmic Relationships, VIII: Lecture V

 “In the early years of this century I was several times in London. On the occasion of one of these visits I was prompted to make myself acquainted with an extraordinarily significant personality — to begin with, simply in his writings. And as in those days there were rather longer intervals between the journeys than there are now, I obtained from the Theosophical Library the books he had written — the books that is to say, of Laurence Oliphant.

Laurence Oliphant is a remarkably interesting and significant personality: he strikes you in this way directly you begin to study his writings. These books deal with the similarities to be found in different religions, with spiritual religions, and so forth; and all of them bear evidence of a deep understanding of how in the various processes of his body and soul, man is connected with the secrets of the universe. When you read Oliphant’s writings you have the impression: Here is a picture of man in his earth-life that owes its inspiration to deep cosmic instincts. The processes of the earthly life of man that are connected with birth, embryonic life, descent and so forth, are described in such a way as to show how man, as microcosm, is wondrously rooted in the macrocosm.

Now I was very soon led in this study to a point where the figure of the dead Laurence Oliphant stood before me, but not in a form which suggested that I had here to do with the individuality as he was then living after death; it was rather that what was contained in these writings (which may be described as setting forth a kind of cosmic physiology, a cosmic anatomy) began to come alive, began to spiritualise; and a figure appeared, not all at once entirely clear, but unquestionably there before me on many different occasions. I was able to make occult investigations into the matter and I could never do otherwise than bring the figure into connection with what came to me from reading Oliphant. It was very often there before me. At first I was often unable to satisfy myself as to what this figure wanted, what its manifestations meant. The whole manner of its appearance however, left me in no doubt whatever that it was none other than the individuality of Laurence Oliphant; and it was likewise clear to me that this figure had had a long life in the time between death and a new birth — that is to say, the birth as Laurence Oliphant — probably only broken by one earth-life that was not very significant for the rest of the world. What might not then be hidden in the personality of Laurence Oliphant! In short, this appearance of the figure of Laurence Oliphant suggested significant questions of karma.

When I entered on an investigation of the karma, a spiritual Being became manifest who is engaged in the elaboration of human karma

Now the investigations which I described in Torquay led me into close contact with the spirit of Brunetto Latini, the teacher of Dante. When one penetrates into these spiritual worlds in the manner described, it also becomes possible to stand before individualities in the form in which they lived in a particular epoch. Thus one can stand face to face with Brunetto Latini, the great teacher of Dante in the 13th century. Brunetto Latini still possessed a knowledge whereby nature was seen, not in the abstraction of natural laws, but as under the influence of living spiritual Beings. On the way back to his native town of Florence from his post as Ambassador in Spain, Brunetto Latini heard all kinds of reports that troubled and disturbed him, and in addition he had a slight sunstroke. In this condition and under the influence, too, of the pathological disturbances, glimpses came to him of nature in her creative work, of cosmic creation, and of the connection of man with the planetary world. What he was able to see was wonderful and sublime and no more than a shadow-picture of it subsequently found its way into the great work of Dante — the Divine Comedy.

But now if we follow this Brunetto Latini, we find that in a critical moment, when the knowledge was like to suffocate him, when it seemed to him that he might go astray from true knowledge and fall into error — in this critical moment, Ovid became his guide, Ovid, the Roman author of the Metamorphoses which contain such wonderful visions of the old Greek age, though expressed in the prosaic, characteristically Roman style.

And so we meet the individuality of Ovid together with Brunetto Latini. If we have a true grasp of the connection we can see Brunetto Latini, in the pre-Dante time, actually together with Ovid. Ovid is with him. And now, precisely in connection with the scientific, medical researches of which I was speaking, Ovid revealed himself as Laurence Oliphant.

In reality, Ovid was the guide in the spiritual world for many Initiates, appearing again as Laurence Oliphant with his sublime treatment of physiology and pathology. This connection between Laurence Oliphant and Ovid is of most far-reaching import and is one of the most illuminating examples one could possibly find.  ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships, VIII: Lecture V

1929 – Krishnamurti dissolves the Order of the Star in the East

1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.

1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers

On August 3, 2019, a mass shooting occurred at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, United States. 21 year old Patrick Crusius shot & killed 23 People & injured 23 others, in an act of domestic terrorism -a hate crime described as the deadliest attack on Latinos in modern American history.

Shortly before the shooting  Crusius posted a manifesto with white nationalist anti-immigrant themes, online, citing  that year’s earlier Christchurch mosque shootings & the right-wing conspiracy theory known as the Great Replacement as inspiration for the attack.

more Lammas Love

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I travel inwardly
I gather berries that have fallen
Fully ripened to the ground
& swing the scythe under hot blue skies…
What is remembered, lives…
~hag

The Central Regional Council’s Holy Grail Study Group
Mysteries of the Holy Grail – from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation
August 4, 2021 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern)

We had a lively discussion during our July 7 meeting.  Here are two lectures that may shed some lights on two of the more hard-to-grasp ideas discussed. You can click on the “Prev” or “Next” button to scroll through other lectures in the same series.

1. About the Holy Trinity:
 The Mystery of the Trinity (Dornach, July 23, 1922)
2. About the Seven Elohim and the Christ Logos:
The Challenge of the Times (Dornach, Dec 7, 1918)View this email in your browser

The higher I which may be born in every human soul points to the rebirth of the divine I in the evolution of humanity through the events in Palestine. In the same way that the higher self can be born in every human being, the higher self of humanity as a whole was born in Palestine and is preserved and further developed behind the external symbol of the Rose Cross.”~Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy GrailChapter 2“The Birth of Higher Perception”, excerpts from Steiner’s The Gospel of St. John in its Relation to the Other Three Gospels given at Kassel on 24 June, 1909 .. focus of the August 4 meeting.

This chapter from the book can be found online at the CRC’s website by clicking this link
The complete transcript of the lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this linkThe Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing  study conversation.  The study has been divided among two 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: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail — from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.”  The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010.

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:

Video Conference Details:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106

Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106
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Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106

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If you have questions, please contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu
Agenda for this meeting (CST)

7:15  Welcome and Introductions        
7:18  Verse
7:25  Study led by volunteers
Note: CRC team will ID volunteers
          Kate – pg. 15 to 17
          Michael – pg. 18 to 20
8:05  Conversation
8:28  Close with verse
There is a knighthood of the 21st centurywhose riders do not ride through the darknessof physical forests as of old,but through the forest of darkened minds.They are armed with a spiritual armorand an inner sun makes them radiant.Out of them shines healing,healing that flows from the knowledgeof the human being as a spiritual being.They must create inner order, inner justice,peace and conviction in the darknessof our time.~Karl Konig

Harvest Home

O sweet sacrifice, teach me your Love –

Just like in days of old, we come can together, each from our own homestead, farm or condo, we can come together, to help our neighbor gather the 2nd harvest home…


As we enter the time of the grain harvest, a wealth of beauty in nature surrounds us…Mid-Summer has past & the fruits are ripening…now we begin to take this abundance in, digesting & cultivating seeds in our memory.

Like the animal kingdom storing food for a barren winter, we store the meaning of Summer’s richness within our souls, harvesting with a discerning eye – full of appreciation & compassion for our current crop – looking ahead to the next harvest…

Learning from our endeavors…we take the late Summers gifts into our heart & soul & belly – we know, that like the season’s inevitable movement, one into the next, we too are always becoming…We are always creating, always moving from the already been, to the not yet, always strengthening in the present what will happen in the soon to be…& as we do this, we give ourselves a gift grander than any earthly gift…We reap truth… We give ourselves to our Self…

We need the outer world of nature to understand our inner nature…just as we need both the in-breath & the out-breath, we need to see what we are in the world, to see our authentic Self & purpose…

We stand at the Cross-quarter a powerful turning point on the wheel of the year…between the Summer Solstice & the Fall equinox…we have breathed out into the lushness of Summer…& now we can hold the memory of Summer within us – as soul strength – as we prepare to turn inward during the winter’s long in-breathing…

We know that as we feel our existence in the world, we are a part of an ongoing cosmic dance…the endless dance of becoming…& we feel the stirrings of our soul longing to be gathered in…We know we must feed the inner fruit, at the same time that we harvest the earth, which in turn feeds the World Soul…


Invisibly & silently, the cosmic light is moving into each of us, just as it goes into the grain, preparing us for the threshing floor…even as we nourish our bodies from the fruits of the earth, we become the fruit that will sustain the Soul of the World…it is a dance of being & becoming, waxing & waning, feeding & being fed…Such is the dance of life…

Some Divine Archetypes to tap into:



Lugh the Long Arm – This festival is also called “Lugnasadh” (Loo-nah-sah), “nasadh” Gaelic, “to give in marriage,” Tailltean marriage.

Demeter (the Greek version of the Roman goddess Ceres = cereal) is the goddess of grain. It is her job to feed the world. After her reunion with her daughter Persphone, Demeter gave the gift of agriculture to humankind, so we could cultivate for ourselves.

Freya on the Boar – The boar as totem personified prosperity, vitality & ceremonial feasting for both the Norse & Celts also represented the time before agriculture, when food was foraged, the Boar is a great forger. Freya riding the Boar is a symbol of the cultivated grain overcoming the old ways of hunting & gathering.

creativecommons

Born from a tree that was gouged open by a boar, Adonis was later killed by a boar, he is an example of the dying vegetation god, sacrificed so that all may live.

Henry Meynell Rheam

Danu – Irish Goddess of fertility & plenty, Mother of the fairies – the force that turns the flower to the sun.


John Barleycorn” is a personification of the important cereal crop barley, & of the spirit beverages made from it, beer & whiskey. In the old English song, “John Barley Corn must die”, He is represented as suffering attacks, death, & indignities that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping & malting – emulating also the passion of The Christos.

John Barleycorn represents the ideology of nature’s cycles, the spirit within nature, & the harvest. As a result of his being cut down, bread can be produced; therefore, Barleycorn dies so that others may live. His body eaten as bread.

The Empress –represents the Mother principle, referring to reproduction & growth; she sets all things in order. Symbolic of Venus & the material world, she rules the senses, teaching us to appreciate beauty in all forms. She is the figure of Creative Imagination, displaying the art of visualization. She is fertile & nurturing, providing the means to attract our desires. Confer with The Empress to increase creativity, manifest prosperity, & magnetize love…She is a wise woman who makes decisions based on her intuition & the facts at hand. She is a woman who can be forceful & strong willed in her position of authority…She is a business-woman who is level-headed & practical but she is also kind & charitable, one who instills confidence & nurtures others. She is a role model. The throne of The Empress is built of endurance, tenacity, loyalty & sheer determination…

I am The Empress, I celebrate this knowing,
I am The Empress, I am ripe, I am growing…

Abundant Blessings of Lammas
& Peace –
~hag

PS. Gather the seeds you want to save, & feed the rest to the birds of the air…Thank the Farmer (Bless you Farmer John & your Biodynamic abundance https://angelicorganics.com/ ) & enjoy the feast…!!!

xox

Vali Irina Ciobanu

2 August 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: With the advance of Summer the Sagittarius Teapot, in the south after dark now, is tilting and pouring from its spout to the right. The Teapot will tilt farther and farther for the rest of the summer — or for much of the night if you stay out late.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

An ethical misunderstanding, a clash, is impossible among ethically free human beings. Only someone who is ethically unfree, who obeys natural drives or the conventional demands of duty, will thrust aside someone who does not follow the same instincts and the same demands. To live in love of action, and to let live in understanding of the other’s will, is the fundamental maxim of free human beings. — Rudolf Steiner, The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

216 BC – The Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of Cannae

Feast day of “The Virgen de los Angeles” (the Virgin of the Angels) is Costa Rica’s patron saint, also known as La Negrita. According to tradition, La Negrita, the Black Virgin, is a small (less than a meter tall), representation of the Virgin Mary found on this spot on August 2, 1635 by a native woman. As the story goes, when she tried to take the statuette with her, it miraculously reappeared twice back where she’d found it. The townspeople then built a shrine around her. In 1824, the Virgin was declared Costa Rica’s patron saint. La Negrita now resides on a gold, jewel-studded platform at the main altar in the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago. Each August 2, on the anniversary of the statuette’s miraculous discovery, pilgrims from every corner of the country (and beyond) walk the 22 km from San José to the basilica. Many of the penitent complete the last few hundred meters of the pilgrimage on their knees.

1832- Birthday of Henry Steel Olcott – an American military officer, journalist, lawyer & the co-founder & 1st President of the Theosophical Society. Olcott was the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. From 1874 on, Olcott’s spiritual growth & development with Helena Blavatsky & other spiritual leaders would lead to the founding of the Theosophical Society. In 1875, Olcott, Blavatsky, & others, notably William Quan Judge, formed the Theosophical Society in New York City. Olcott financially supported the earliest years of the Theosophical Society & was acting President while Blavatsky served as the Society’s Secretary. In December 1878, they left New York in order to move the headquarters of the Society to India.

1921 – Birthday of Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor & actor

1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-Canadian engineer, invented the telephone

1922 – A typhoon hits Shantou, Republic of China killing more than 50,000 people

1924 – The last of Rudolf Steiner’s “19 Class Lessons” was given in Dornach.

1934 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg

1939 – Albert Einstein & Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon

1943 – Jewish prisoners stage a revolt at Treblinka, one of the deadliest of Nazi death camps where approximately 900,000 persons were murdered in less than 18 months

1968 – Deathday of Antonio d’Achille , Aquinas scholar

1969 – Deathday of Anna Samweber – an active co-worker in Berlin with Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner-von Sivers. Her anecdotes & recollections were recorded by Jacob Streit during an intensive two days shortly before Anna’s death. They contribute a warm & intimate picture of Rudolf Steiner, the man, & his work. “Frau Dr Steiner owned a lovely diamond watch with her initials inscribed on the lid. It was broken, and I had to take it to a well-known watchmaker who lived a long way from the Motzstrasse (the house at 17 Motzstrasse in Berlin was where Rudolf and Marie Steiner lived from 1903 – 1913, and where the work of the Anthroposophical Society was carried on). It was late on a cold and foggy November evening when I made my way in the direction of Nollendorfplatz, where the building site for a subway was situated. I was walking along a long, wooden blank wall when suddenly two human shapes appeared from the dark and attacked me. I remembered that once Rudolf Steiner had told me that if ever I was in need I could call on him. So when these two attackers went for me, the one holding me from behind so that the other could rob me, I called inwardly and spontaneously: ‘Doctor, help me!’ At the same moment both fellows fell back like lightning and were gone. When Rudolf Steiner came for breakfast the next morning he greeted me with the words ‘Good morning, Sam. What was the matter that you cried so loud last night?’ When I told him about my experience and he had listened quietly, he said simply: ‘But I did help you, didn’t I?’ “ ~Anna Samweber from her book Erinnerungen an Rudolf Steiner (Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner)

***

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is sag2_1024x1024.jpg
Tashina Suzuki

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~i am the reed from which words flow…
the honey i’ve tasted, the lips i’ve kissed
have all left their marks upon me…
this body is the book of all i remember
open me ever wider
beloved, i am yours…
~hag

The Anthroposophic Movement

Baron Arild Rosenkrantz

Greetings friends – I shared in the last post how Sergei O Prokofieff affirmed my connection  to the Being of Anthroposophia, & a long time participant of ReverseRitual Steve Hale recalled a lecture by Steiner, which I quote in part below. In re-reading this, other important aspects caught my attention; specifically in regard to the difference between modern science & Spiritual Science.

“As long as so much of the present scientific mode of thinking is carried unconsciously into the anthroposophical movement it will not be able to make progress productively.

In particular, there will be a lack of progress as long as people believe that the current scientific establishment can be persuaded about anything without their first adopting a more positive attitude towards anthroposophy. Once they have done that, a dialogue can begin. Our task with regard to those who are fighting against anthroposophy today can only be to demonstrate clearly where they are not telling the truth. That is something which can be discussed. But of course there can be no dialogue about matters of substance, matters of content, with people who not only do not want to be convinced, but who cannot be convinced because they lack the necessary basic knowledge.

That, above all, is where the work needs to be done: to undertake basic research for ourselves in the various fields, but to do that from the core of anthroposophy…

The only proper course we can pursue is to tell the world what we have found through anthroposophy itself, and then wait and see how many people are able to understand it. We certainly cannot approach the world with the core material of anthroposophy in the hope that there might be a party or a person who can be won over.”

Baron Arild Rosenkrantz

Also what struck me was the idea that we must each come to our own understanding of Anthroposophy by consulting as free individuals with the Being of Anthroposophia as Steiner says.

Below are some other interesting quotes & also the link to the entire lecture which is worth studying.

David Newbatt

The Anthroposophic Movement, Lecture 7, The Consolidation of the Anthroposophic Movement, Dornach, 16 June 1923 https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA258/English/RSP1993/19230616p01.html

Anthroposophists today must not think that they have only the same commitments which future anthroposophists will have when they exist by the million rather than the thousand. When limited numbers are active in the vanguard of a movement they have to show commitment of a much higher order. It means that they are obliged to show greater courage, greater energy, greater patience, greater tolerance and, above all, greater truthfulness in every respect. And in our present third stage a situation arose which specifically tested our truthfulness and seriousness. It related in a certain sense to the subject matter discussed at one point in the lectures to theologians. [ Note 5 ] Irrespective of the fact that individual anthroposophists exist, a feeling should have developed, and must develop, among them that Anthroposophia exists as a separate being, who moves about among us, as it were, towards whom we carry a responsibility in every moment of our lives. Anthroposophia is actually an invisible person who walks among visible people and towards whom we must show the greatest responsibility for as long as we are a small group. Anthroposophia is someone who must be understood as an invisible person, as someone with a real existence, who should be consulted in the individual actions of our lives.

Thus, if connections form between people — friendships, cliques and so on — at a time when the group of anthroposophists is still small, it is all the more necessary to consult and to be able to justify all one’s actions before this invisible person.

This will, of course, apply less and less as anthroposophy spreads. But as long as it remains the property of a small group of people, it is necessary for every action to follow from consultation with the person Anthroposophia. That Anthroposophia should be seen as a living being is an essential condition of its existence. It will only be allowed to die when its group of supporters has expanded immeasurably. What we require, then, is a deeply serious commitment to the invisible person I have just spoken about. That commitment has to grow with every passing day. If it does so, there can be no doubt that everything we do will begin and proceed in the right way…

As long as so much of the present scientific mode of thinking is carried unconsciously into the anthroposophical movement it will not be able to make progress productively.

In particular, there will be a lack of progress as long as people believe that the current scientific establishment can be persuaded about anything without their first adopting a more positive attitude towards anthroposophy. Once they have done that, a dialogue can begin. Our task with regard to those who are fighting against anthroposophy today can only be to demonstrate clearly where they are not telling the truth. That is something which can be discussed. But of course there can be no dialogue about matters of substance, matters of content, with people who not only do not want to be convinced, but who cannot be convinced because they lack the necessary basic knowledge.

That, above all, is where the work needs to be done: to undertake basic research for ourselves in the various fields, but to do that from the core of anthroposophy.

When an attempt was made after the war to tackle practical issues in people’s lives and the problems facing the world, that again had to be done on the basis of anthroposophy, and with the recognition that with these practical tasks in particular it was hardly possible to count on any sort of understanding. The only proper course we can pursue is to tell the world what we have found through anthroposophy itself, and then wait and see how many people are able to understand it. We certainly cannot approach the world with the core material of anthroposophy in the hope that there might be a party or a person who can be won over. That is impossible. That is contrary to the fundamental circumstances governing the existence of the anthroposophical movement. Take a women’s movement or a social movement, for instance, where it is possible to take the view that we should join and compromise our position because its members’ views may incline towards anthroposophy in one way or another; that is absolutely impossible. What matters is to have enough inner security regarding anthroposophy to be able to advocate it under any circumstances…

A society cannot be sectarian. That is why, if the Anthroposophical Society were standing on its proper ground, the we should never play a role. One repeatedly hears anthroposophists saying we, the Society, have this or that view in relation to the outside world: Something or other is happening to us. We want one thing or another. In ancient times it was possible for societies to face the world with such conformity. Now it is no longer possible. In our time each person who is a member of a society like this one has to be a really free human being. Views, thoughts, opinions are held only by individuals. The Society does not have an opinion. And that should be expressed in the way that individuals speak about the Society. The we should actually disappear…

There is something else connected with this. If this we disappears, people in the Society will not feel as if they are in a pool which supports them and which they can call on for support when it matters. But if a person has expressed his own views in the Society and has to represent himself, he will also feel fully responsible for what he says as an individual.

This feeling of responsibility is something which has to grow as long as the Society remains a small group of people. The way in which that has been put into practice so far has not succeeded in making the world at large understand the Anthroposophical Society as an eminently modern society, because this practice has repeatedly led to a situation in which the image which has been set before the public is we believe, we are of the opinion, it is our conception of the world. So today the world outside holds the view that the Society is a compacted mass which holds certain collective opinions to which one has to subscribe as a member. Of course this will deter any independently minded person…

But people will only be able to think in this direction if they radically discard the petty aspects of their character and truly begin to be understand the need to recognize Anthroposophia as an independent, invisible being…”

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
LAMMASTIDE II

Can I Imagine Spiritual Need?
v18
Can I make wide my soul
that she unite with seed
of Cosmic Word conceived?
I feel my foresight asking me
to find the strangth my soul will need
to form her spirit garment worthily.

v18 and its mirror, v35, are the only question verses.

ADVENT II
Can I Be Present?

v35
Can I absorb true being
that it may find itself anew
within my soul’s creative urge?
I feel a power trusting me
to make myself with modesty
a member of the Cosmic Self.