Monthly Archives: February 2022

Preparing the Preparers

Rita Cassia

10:10 TestamentIn this present age of Michael, we have a mighty opportunity to give birth to the being of Anthroposophia – to develop our higher ‘I’ on the earth. In the ‘Apocalypse of John: Lecture XII’ Rudolf Steiner said: “We are preparing for the preparers. The Anthroposophical spiritual movement is today but a very small flame; in the future it must develop into a mighty spiritual fire!” 

Terry Randel Cantrell

Our current world situation calls us to be alert to the formative forces that are seeking to be developed now into a New Etheric Heart, which must begin to be enlivened even if at 1st it is just thru our Cognitive-Imagination, so that in our next major incarnation in the Michael stream, it can take full effect.

etheric heart ~Rudolf Steiner

This New Etheric Body must be formed thru our individual efforts, which we then co-create into the larger Christic egregore – A New Etheric Body of the Michaelic Movement – as a seed for all of human evolution, in which we consciously participate in a Sun-becoming process. This is a systematic, spiritual-scientific practice. It is built up & formed, step by step, in a most disciplined, consistent way – a fully conscious & experiential application of the 4 stages of the Reverse-Cultus:

  1. Communion as pure thinking – “Spiritual Knowledge is a real communion, the beginning of a cosmic ritual that is suitable for human beings today”. We rise in our thinking to meet the spiritual world behind sense perception.
  2. Transubstantiation or Transformation, from matter to spirit
  3. Offering a meeting Ego to Ego “That good can become
  4. Revelation of destiny unfolding as “Christ in Me

These essential guidelines of the modern spiritual path, that were given to us a 100 years ago by Rudolf Steiner, are the ‘New Mysteries‘ which will prepare us for the Social-Heart-Thinking Art of a modern community of Anthroposophia.

etheric heart ~Rudolf Steiner

BTW: Please don’t get discouraged if you can’t always join into the 10:10 Thought Seed. Set your alarm to at least mark it. Even a split second moment of attention adds to the spark.

~hag

‘The Angel Standing in the Sun’, Joseph Mallord William Turner

Sun, thou bearer of rays,
Thy light’s power over matter
Magics life out of the earth’s
Limitless rich depths.

Heart, thou bearer of soul,
Thy light’s power over spirit
Magics life out of the human being’s
Limitless deep inwardness.

If I gaze upon the Sun
Her light speaks to me in radiance
Of the Spirit, filled with grace,
Wielding through the beings of worlds.

If I feel within my heart
The Spirit speaks its own true word
About the human being, loved by him
Through all time and eternity.

Looking upwards, I can see
In the Sun’s bright disc
The mighty heart of worlds.

Looking inwards, I can feel
In the heart’s warm beat
The human Sun ensouled.
~Rudolf Steiner

10 February 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Taurus the Bull resides near the constellation Orion. In particular, it contains two famous star clusters that are easy to spot: the Pleiades and the Hyades.

Antique etching of front half of a bull superimposed over a star chart.

According to Greek mythology, the constellation Taurus commemorates the god Zeus changing himself into a beautiful white Bull to win the affections of the Phoenician princess Europa. After Europa hopped onto the Bull’s back, the Bull swam across the Mediterranean Sea, taking Europa all the way to the island of Crete. Later, Zeus and Europa became the parents of Minos, the legendary king of Crete.

Europa carried by Zeus, after he was transformed into a bull. This is a terracotta figurine from Boeotia, ca. 470 BCE–450 BCE ~ Wikimedia Commons.

Meanwhile, the Zuni of New Mexico used the Pleiades cluster as an agricultural calendar. When the Pleiades – which the Zuni called the Seed Stars – disappeared into the western dusk in spring, they knew it was safe to plant their seeds, as the danger of frost had passed. However, the Zuni also knew the planting must be done before the Pleiades reappeared in the east before sunrise, or immature plants would succumb to autumn frosts.

The Zuni were hardly alone in their reverence for Taurus’ Pleiades star cluster. Indeed, probably no other star formation has enjoyed such worldwide renown for timekeeping, celebration and storytelling. ~earthsky

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY sourced from Commons

547 – Death day of St. Scholastica, foundress of the women’s branch of Benedictine Monasticism. The patron saint of nuns, & convulsive children. She is invoked against storms & rain. The most commonly told story about her is that she would go & visit her twin brother Benedict of Nursia near his abbey once a year, They would spend the day praying & discussing sacred texts. Sensing the time of her death was drawing near, Scholastica asked him to stay with her for the evening so they could continue their discussions. Not wishing to break his Rule, Benedict refused, insisting that he needed to return to his cell. At that point, Scholastica closed her hands in prayer, & after a moment, a wild storm started outside. Benedict asked, “What have you done?”, to which she replied, “I asked you & you would not listen; so I asked my God & he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me & return to your monastery.” Benedict was unable to return to his monastery, & they spent the night in discussion. Three days later, from his cell, her twin saw her soul leaving the earth & ascending to heaven in the form of a shining white dove

630 – Feast Day of St. Austrebertha. A popular legend states that one day, while looking for the donkey whose task it was to carry the laundry of the monks to the convent, she came across a wolf. The wolf admitted to killing the donkey & begged for forgiveness. Austrebertha forgave the wolf but commanded him to carry the laundry himself, a task that the wolf performed for the rest of its life

1909 – Deathday of Felix Koguzki – a herb collector, a simple man from the people who had deep insights into the spiritual world . Rudolf Steiner got to know him during his student days in 1880, when he regularly took the train from Inzersdorf to Vienna. He was the living model of Felix Balde from Steiner’s Mystery Dramas . Felix Koguzki is also regarded as the messenger of the secret master reported in GA 262 (pp. 30-31 ). There it says: “I did not meet M. ( Master), but first of all to a messenger from him who was fully initiated into the secrets of the effectiveness of all plants and their connection with the cosmos and with human nature. “( GA 262 , p. 16). It is sometimes assumed that Alois Mailänder is the secret M, but there is no clear evidence. Steiner writes about his encounter with Koguzki in “My Course of Life”:

as if he as a personality were only the organ of speech for a spiritual content that wanted to speak from hidden worlds. When you were with him you could look deep into the secrets of nature. He carried his bundle of medicinal herbs on his back; but in his heart he carried the results which he had gained from the spirituality of nature in his gathering. I have seen some people smile, who at times joined them as a third party when I walked through Wiener Alleegasse with this “initiated” person. It was no wonder. Because its expression was not understandable from the start. In a sense, you first had to learn your “intellectual dialect”. At first I couldn’t understand him either. But from the first time I met him, I had the deepest sympathy for him. And so it gradually became to me.

If one takes the usual concept of “learning”, one can say: “Learning” could not be done from this man. But if you yourself had the view of a spiritual world, you could gain deep insights into it through someone else, which was completely fixed in it.

And at the same time everything that was enthusiasm was far removed from this personality. When you came into your home, you found yourself in the midst of the most sober, simple country family. Above the door of his house were the words: “In God’s blessing everything lies.” One was entertained, as with other villagers. I always had to drink coffee, not from a cup, but from a “mug” that held almost a liter; in addition I had to eat a piece of bread that was huge. But the villagers didn’t look at the man for a fanatic either. The way he behaved in his hometown made every ridicule bounce off. He also had a healthy sense of humor and knew how to talk to young and old at every meeting in the village in such a way that people enjoyed his words.

This man remained close to my soul, even when life had led me away from him again. You can find him in my Mystery Dramas in the figure of Felix Balde. “( GA 28)

The Anthroposophical Society in America presents Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human – Santa Fe, New Mexico ~ April 21-24, 2022 Hotel Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 

***Early Bird Rate Until February 26 ~ Exclusively For Those Who Book With Hotel Santa Fe***


Join us in New Mexico, the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia. Join together in community as Sophia emerges and rises in her many facets and expressions- past, present, and future. 

You will be an active participant in this gathering that will engage storytelling and biography, art and color, eurythmy and movement, singing and speech, with offerings from speakers Carrie Schuchardt, Mary Stewart AdamsHazel Archer-GinsbergStephanie Georgieff, and more. 

Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other. 


VENUE & TRAVEL 

Our gathering will take place at the lovely Native American-owned Hotel Santa Fe. We recommend you book your stay with the hotel to create a connected communal atmosphere for our gathering. The hotel has a full restaurant, pool, hot tub, and spa, as well as kivas and cozy sitting areas. Please call or email to make reservations with our special room rate for suites at $179/night. Each suite includes a refrigerator, microwave and sitting area. So much of what Santa Fe has to offer is within walking distance from the hotel. 

HOW TO BOOK: Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call reservations at  877-259-3409 

**Ask for ASA Gathering to book with our special rate of $179/night for a suite. **

Registrants will receive suggested activities from our local organizers to explore in Santa Fe before or after our gathering. Extending your stay? The special ASA hotel rate is available for 3 days prior to and 3 days after the ASA gathering. 

AIR TRAVEL: Fly to Albuquerque or Santa Fe (note that flights are more limited and subject to the weather as Santa Fe is a small airport.)

There is a shuttle from Albuquerque to Santa Fe or car rentals available. Uber or Lyft is available if you fly into Santa Fe.

HOTEL and VENUE ADDRESS:
1501 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone: (877) 259-3409 


TICKETS
The ticket price includes access to all conference activities, snacks, coffee/tea and beverages, dessert reception Thursday, dinner Friday, lunch Saturday and brunch on Sunday.

No refunds after March 21, 2022

EARLY BIRD with ROOM BOOKING (until 2/26): $295*

STANDARD TICKET (After 2/26): $350

SUPPORTER TICKET: $425 

*Must book at Hotel Santa Fe to receive this special early bird rate! Email stay@hotelsantafe.com or call 877-259-3409 to book. Please specify your reservation is for the ASA Gathering. 

EXHIBITORS: If you are interested in being an exhibitor please fill out this form. 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: Limited assistance is available, please fill out this form. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! 

Early Bird Only with Room Booking – After 2/26 more tickets will be released!


SCHEDULE  
(subject to minor changes) 

THURSDAY, April 21

7 pm               Gathering Together  – with a dessert reception 

7:30- 8:30 pm  ArtActs: Past – Present – Future Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech
 

FRIDAY, April 22

                        Explore Santa Fe on your own and continued arrivals 

1:00 – 2:30 pm   Welcome: Spirit of Place with organizers 

                          WEAVING EARTH Opening Ceremony with Angela Foster and friends

2:30pm-3:00pm  Break 

3:00-4:30 pm     Encountering the Celestial Goddess Anthroposophia with Mary Stewart Adams 4:30-4:45 pm     Break

4:45- 6:00 pm    WEAVING AIR ArtActs  Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech 

6:00-7:30 pm     Dinner Together*

8:00 pm             Fireside Chats – Story and Sharing.  Breakout circles lead by friends and organizers 

8:30 pm             Stargazing with Mary Stewart Adams 
 

 SATURDAY, April 23

                         Breakfast – On your own

8:30 – 9:30 am    WEAVING ETHER Eurythmy

9:30 – 10:00 am  Break  

10:00-11:15am   Presentation with Stephanie Georgieff 

11:30 – 12:30pm WEAVING STORIES Biography Work

12:30 – 2pm        Lunch Together*

2:00 – 3:30pm    Anthroposophia: Our Alchemical Wedding  with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg and Friends – At the heart of the gathering is a Grand Experiential Soul Journey to ‘Know    Thyself’’ – a movable feast, with various stations engaging us in group eurythmy, singing, speaking verses, color gestures in art, and a telling of the New Isis Myth with Hazel Archer- Ginsberg. This experience is built up and worked on during all the WEAVING sessions. 

3:30 – 4 pm        Break

4:00 – 5:00 pm   WEAVING COLOR Invoking Natura: Sensing the Cosmic  within the Earthly Pastels with Helen-Ann Ireland

5:00 – 5:30 pm   WEAVING STORIES Biography Conversation

5:30pm              Dinner – On your own

7:30-9:30pm      WEAVING COMUNITY Sophia Rising- Past, Present, and Future. Bring something to share! Poetry, Instruments, Story 
 

SUNDAY, April 24

8:00 – 9:00 am      WEAVING LIGHT Bathe in the Natural Warmth and Harmony of the Metal Gold with Helena Hurrell – A metal color light therapy experience inspired by the glass windows at the Goetheanum 

9:00-10:30 am      WEAVING FIRE with Carrie Schuchardt 

10:30 – 12:00pm  Brunch Together*

12:00-1:00 pm    WEAVING WATER Water Ritual with Joyce Reilly and Friends
                          WEAVING WHOLENESS Closing with Angela Foster and Friends 

Notes:

*Meals marked with an asterisk are included in the price of the ticket 

Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided through the conference 

A quiet room will be provided for contemplation 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

See you Santa Fe! 


PRESENTERS AND GUIDES (Not a full list-more to come!) 

Eyahnna DalBo (artist of the Sophia Rising painting) came to anthroposophy 30 years ago when her daughter attended a Waldorf school. Her studies have included an undergraduate degree in fine art and graduate work in psychology using the arts for healing.  In her private practice, she developed various energetic modalities. Her experience with subtle energy fields gave her the opportunity to teach and take part in designing a curriculum for a 2-year program focusing on energy healing. As a consultant, she initiated numerous therapeutic programs to assist in pioneering the field of art therapy. Through the gift of an apprenticeship with indigenous people she was able to bring their practices and ceremonies to what she offered deepening her ability to be of service.  As an artist, she continues to utilize the spoken word, movement, sound, and visual imagery to honor and create a field that fosters awareness, growth, and transformation.

Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian, and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky”.  Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars.  Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas of contemporary astronomy in order to understand the new star wisdom of astrosophy.

Carrie Schuchardt co-founded The House of Peace in 1990, a home that is a physical and spiritual refuge for victims of war in a community with adults with special needs. In the last 15 years over 400 refugees from approximately 30 countries have been received in the healing embrace of The House of Peace, giving supportive assistance in establishing themselves in the US. In addition to the daily work of The House Peace, Carrie participates in many activities for the conversion of consciousness and policies from war to peace. Carrie has begun a network of women who witness publicly, Women Weeping, where women dress in mourning carrying symbolic lifeless children in order to help people feel what is rarely expressed in the media: the grief of hundreds of thousands of mothers in war zones around the world who lose their children to the terrible violence of war.

Stephanie Georgieff After nearly thirty years as a practicing Naturopath and Acupuncturist, Stephanie Georgieff has chosen to transform her healing vocation into writing and lecturing on various aspects of Christian Spirituality and its relationship to emotional and physical health. She has lectured throughout Europe and North America on various subjects, but her passion is on the Middle Ages and the Divine Feminine. Georgieff hosts a podcast “The Black Madonna Speaks,” writes for numerous publications, and has her own Blog: The Heart of the Black Madonna. The Black Madonna, Mysterious Soul Companion is the first in a series of books examining how the Black Madonna as an art form offers healing insights to our collective past and present. These volumes also explore the invitation humanity has from the spiritual world to co-create a healthy and peaceful future.

Helena Hurrell is an art and metal color Light therapist trained in the UK/Germany and certified by the Medial Section at the Goetheanum 

Angela Foster has been an active student of anthroposophy since 2008. After growing up in Texas, Angela is now embracing life in Atlanta, Georgia as an artist, teacher, and mom of two daughters, shepherd to two mini sheep. As a conscious practitioner of “beginner’s mind”, Angela has completed programs in foundation studies in Anthroposophy numerous times and is currently enrolled in Foundation Studies in Goethean Science through the Nature Institute. She and her husband manage the Anthroposophical Resource Center (ARC) an initiative in Decatur, Georgia that offers space for community events and serves as a little house for Anthroposophia.

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & theI Think Speech’ Podcast.

Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & as the Central Regional Council representative on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. Past Video Recordings

Helen-Ann Ireland has been involved in anthroposophical studies for over 30 years as a Waldorf teacher, member of the School for Spiritual Science, Class holder, and now as chair of the Anthroposophical Society of America. A special interest has been in the area of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia.

Michele Mariscal has 30 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She is a skilled facilitator in soft skills, speaker, coach and author. She is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist as well as a Trainer and Coach with the Institute of HeartMath. She facilitates greater heart-based living for individuals and organizations Michele is also a five-time author with her most recent publication of Growing Through Grief – The Alchemy of Healing from Loss. 

Joyce Reilly Joyce studied psychology in college and was fascinated by the idea of a therapeutic community. She has worked in Camphill for many years, and is trained as a Waldorf and Therapeutic teacher.  She founded Gheel House, a therapeutic community near Kimberton Pennsylvania, still thriving after 37 years. Joyce’s interests expanded to international conflict work and refugee resettlement. She works with organizations such as the Janusz Korczak Association, Karuna Peacebuilders, Kiwimbi International, Good Grief, the Worldwide Storytelling and Puppetry Association, and especially with the New York Anthroposophical Branch, and also works part-time at the local public library. Joyce is also trained in Psychosynthesis therapy and Anthroposophical psychology – currently practicing as a life coach and counselor.

For questions or inquiries please email programs@anthroposophy.org or call the office at 734-662-9355 

Sculpting Sacrifice

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~TODAY I AM –
An old gnarled tree near the shore,
Roots swallowing the sand & rock
Pecked by the high-tide & the wild wind…
A 1000 fledglings have nested in my boughs
& beneath, I give shelter to all…
How do you see me?
As firewood or freedom…?
~hag

Prayer to our Angel by Rudolf Steiner

You my heavenly friend, my angel who has led me to the earth and who will lead me through the gate of death, into the spirit-home of the human soul; You who knows the paths since millennia, do not cease to enlighten me, to strengthen me, to advise me so that I will emerge from the weaving fire of destiny as a stronger destiny vessel and will learn to fill myself ever more with the meaning of divine world goals.

Lanie Gentlen

Rudolf Steiner goes on to say:

‘This prayer is a direct invocation of the human soul to their angel. Every human being has an angel, an individual guiding being, who constantly accompanies the individual, and who gives this earthly human being, out of immediate perception of the total web of destiny, the right impulses and indications – IF this soul wishes to take them up. The angel accompanies this human soul intimately, its strivings, tasks, needs and fears. The angel grabs this soul with its entire being, at the same time grasping the spiritual world with its laws and possibilities. The angel helps and guides the human soul on its assigned paths.

9 February 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Venus (occult Mercury) has returned as a dazzling morning lantern, emerging into view from beyond the southeast horizon well before sunrise. A month ago, on Jan. 8, Venus had her inferior conjunction – passing between the Sun and Earth to make her transition from evening to morning star. And now Venus is at her brightest.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1872 – Birthday of Edith Maryon. She studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London & exhibited her work at the Royal Academy. When she met Rudolf Steiner & Anthroposophy she discovered her raison d’être. Maryon wrote to Steiner that “for some years I have always felt there is something for me to do, and that sometime I shall meet the Master who will tell me what it is and explain some of the things that have puzzled me so much. For a long time I searched…and when I saw you in Berlin I knew at last I was right about the Master…is there really any definite thing for me to do… if there is may I know now what it is?” (1 Jan 1913). Months later, from Munich, Maryon wrote to Steiner: “I must find some definite work to do, or be forced to return to England. There is a feeling that perhaps there may be something for me to do here, so I will not go back unless absolutely obliged. You will see that it is necessary for me to come to a conclusion about the kind of work I will do during the rest of my life, and I do want some advice…Your pupil, L Edith C Maryon” (10 Jun 1913).

Sculpture by Edith Maryon

Maryon arrived at Dornach, Switzerland, in January 1914. These were very early days for the project of relocating Anthroposophy headquarters to Switzerland. It was propitious timing since six months later the Great War would begin & engulf Europe & the world in catastrophe. Maryon was a trailblazer: “There was hardly any other artist coming to work in Dornach before her, capable in the way Edith Maryon was, of sacrificing – that is, largely giving up her own deeply rooted style, born out of the aesthetics of Greece, in favour of a new Mystery art”.

The next decade was a period of intense industry & creativity for the English sculptor, a period in which she found her life’s purpose. “Edith Maryon…was helping him [Steiner] with the Goetheanum building and above all with the great wooden sculpture The ‘Representative of Humanity’…Miss Maryon throughout those years was one of his closest collaborators…the studio in which the work was going on became his study for a great part of the day. Here he received his visitors, and she was acting very largely as his secretary” (George Kaufmann Adams, 1958). Adams related a visit to Dornach after the war: “We were received in the most friendly way by the Dornach members and above all by Miss Maryon herself. She gave us mallet and chisel and let us help with parts of the sculpture where there was much superfluous wood and our unskilled hands could do no harm”.

Adams reported that Steiner was “anxious for an English edition of the book [on the Threefold Social Order], and as no one else was at hand, Miss Maryon had undertaken to translate it. In style – like many of the attempted translations of Dr Steiner’s works in those days – it was impossible…and we said so frankly. We were then invited to Dornach to go into the whole question”. (Adams went on to extemporaneously translate many of Steiner’s lectures, for example at Oxford & Torquay, as well as books, for example Steiner’s Agriculture Course)

by EM

Edith Maryon & Rudolf Steiner carried on an extensive exchange of correspondence beginning in 1912, when Maryon wrote to Steiner on 16 October from London. Steiner wrote to Maryon from his travels including from Ilkley, Penmaenmawr, London, Stuttgart, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Mannheim, Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, Kristiania (Oslo), and & The Hague. Steiner’s salutation to Maryon progressed in the course of 1919 to 1920 from “Mein liebes Fraulein E. Maryon” (My dear Miss E Maryon) to “Mein liebes Fraulein Edith Maryon!” (My dear Miss Edith Maryon) to “Meine liebe Edith Maryon!)“ (My love Edith Maryon!)

Theirs was an artistic partnership: “Rudolf Steiner stood, day after day, beside his colleague in the high ceilinged sculpture studio. During this time they not only worked with their hands, but also conversed intensively on every imaginable subject – from art, through politics to things of the deepest concern. Over & above this his studio had become for Rudolf Steiner a refuge of inner peace in which – well protected from visitors by Edith Maryon – he could both do a lot of esoteric work & also relax”. Maryon worked tirelessly with Steiner to create the ‘The Representative of Humanity’. She was “one of the closest colleagues and pupils of Rudolf Steiner”.

Maryon was appointed by Steiner as the leader of the Section for Sculptural Arts at the Christmas Conference of the Anthroposophy Society at Dornach in December 1923, & was unanimously elected as the vice-president of the Anthroposophy Society at the General Assembly on 21 January 1924.

Edith Maryon died on 2 May 1924 reportedly of tuberculosis, & many say from a broken heart (a depletion of her etheric forces  which were tied up in the burning of the Goetheanum.) In his memorial tribute, Steiner stated of Edith Maryon that: “When we began to build the Goetheanum, she was one of the first to devote herself to the work…With a perfect control of her technique, her special gift was to give spirituality to stately form. This artistic skill she devoted entirely to the service of the Goetheanum…earnestness showed itself in her appearance. One could see a person who had not been spoiled by the amenities of life, though she had been sorely tried by the hand of fate…She participated most actively in all that went on at the Goetheanum. The spiritual contents of the Christmas Assembly and the Class lectures…up to the last days of her life she pondered on how this Section [Sculptural Arts] should develop its activity in the right way…Her work for the this Society will always be remembered as being most earnest and devoted”.

1881 – Deathday of Russian novelist Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky – Rudolf Steiner speaks about him in GA157 – The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations – 14 lectures Berlin

Sophia%20Postcard%202022.png 
Early bird registration is now open for  
Sophia Rising: Unveiling the Wisdom of Being Human…
Converge with us this April 21-24 in Santa Fe, New Mexico! 

Join us in the ‘land of enchantment’, resonant with light ether and deep history, as we enliven Sophia in her many facets and expressions – past, present, and future. We will explore the divine feminine through storytelling, biography, art, color, eurythmy, singing, speech,

amazing offerings from Carrie Schuchardt, Mary Stewart AdamsHazel Archer-GinsbergStephanie Georgieff, and more. 

Click here for more info & to register for the Early Bird Rate*

*Early Bird Rate until February 26 ~ exclusively for those who book their lodging with Hotel Santa Fe (which is also our venue for the gathering!)

After February 26 we will release the next round of tickets. 

EARLY BIRD with ROOM BOOKING (until 2/26): $295STANDARD RATE (after 2/26): $350SUPPORTER RATE: $425 

Find out all you need to know on our event registration page!

Come and experience Sophia Rising as we honor the elements, the landscape, and each other.

See you soon!Tess Parker, Director of Programs , and the Sophia Rising Organizing Committee   

Art by Eyahnna DalBo

Name it

Dear friends, We are being asked to awaken in our soul forces of Thinking, Feeling & Willing, to recognize the signs of the times. There is an occult rule that what is revealed must often lay in the grave for 100 years before it can bear fruit. Here is a Quote from Rudolf Stiner given 102 years ago which I believe speaks especially to our current world crisis:

“There are in fact a large number of people, for example in the West, who are not simply reincarnated human beings but are the bearers of beings who make use of the metabolic system of these Western human beings….Thus, for example, a large number of those individuals who belong to Anglo-Saxon secret societies and who have great influence — we have spoken on a number of occasions in past years of the roll of these secret societies. In this way a completely different spirituality is working into present-day human beings and it will be an essential task to be able to take up a stand towards life from this point of view.

The first kind of beings are beings that have a particular attraction to the elemental forces of the earth and are thus able to sense how, in any particular place, colonization could be carried out in accordance with the conditions of the climate and any other conditions of the earth, or how a trading connection can be established there, and so on.

The second kind of spirits of this nature are those that set themselves the task within their sphere of action of suppressing consciousness of self, of preventing full consciousness of the consciousness-soul from emergingand thus produce in other people around them, amongst whom something like this spreads like an epidemic, a certain desire not to call themselves to account concerning the real motives behind their actions. 

One could say that an untruthful element which does not wish to look into the real impulses, but glosses over them; uses beautiful words, and all the while there is beneath it nothing, basically, but untruthful impulses. These [second kind of] beings, therefore, incarnate through the rhythmic system of certain people in the West.

The third kind of beings that work in the West are those which make it their task to cause the individual abilities in the human being to be forgotten — those abilities which we bring with us from the spiritual worlds when, through conception and birth, we come into physical existence — and to turn human beings more or less into a stereotyped replica of their nation. This is what this third kind of being gives itself as its special task: to prevent the human being from coming to individual spirituality. This last class of beings incarnates in the West through the head system, through the sensory-nervous system

So, while the first kind of beings had an affinity with the elemental nature of the ground of the earth, of the climate and so on, the second kind has a particular tendency to breed a certain superficial, untruthful element, and the third type of being the tendency to root out individual abilities and to turn people more or less into a stereotype, a copy of their nation, their race.

Thus we have here, observed from different angles, the characteristic of the Western world, by getting to know a fairly large number of people who are scattered in secret societies, in sects and the like, but whose humanity is constituted in the fact that it is not simply a matter of repeated incarnations, but the incarnation, in a way, of beings who in their development are prematurely here an the earth and who, therefore, attract particular followers or radiate like an epidemic their own exceptional qualities onto other human beings. These three different types of beings do indeed work through human beings and we understand human character only if we know what I have just related — if we know that what lives in public life cannot be simply explained superficially but has to be explained in terms of the intrusion of spiritual forces of this kind.

The appearance in Western human beings of these three kinds of forces, of beings at this particular stage of development, is encouraged by the fact that it is given to the West to develop a specifically economic way of thinking. The economic life is, as it were, the ground and soil from which something like this can spring up. And what then, in total, is the task these beings have set themselves?

They have set themselves the task of keeping life as a whole restricted to the mere life of economics. They seek gradually to root out everything else — everything of the spiritual life which even where it is most active, has shrunk into the abstractness of Puritanism — to root out spiritual life, to chip away the political life and to absorb everything into the life of economics.

In the West the people who come into the world in this way are the real enemies and opponents of the threefold impulse.

The beings of the first type prevent the emergence of an economic life that stands as an independent entity alongside the political-legal and spiritual facets of the social organism.

The beings of the second type, who make superficiality, phrase-mongering and untruthfulness their task, seek to prevent the establishing, alongside the economic life, of an independent democratic life of the State.

And the third kind of being those that suppress the individual abilities of the human being and do not want the human being to be anything other than a kind of stereotype of his race, his nation — work against the emancipation and independence of the spiritual life.

Thus in the West there are such forces which work in this way against the impulse of the threefold social organismAnd anyone who, in a deeper sense, wishes to work for the spread of this threefold impulse must be aware that he has also to take into account spiritual factors like these that are present in human evolution. Indeed the powers on which one must call when one wants to bring something new into the development of humanity are faced not only with the things that any hard-headed philistine notices but also with things that are only laid open to a spiritual knowledge.

What use is it when people of today regard this as superstition and do not want to hear that such spiritual beings intrude through human beings? They are nevertheless there, these spiritual beings! And anyone who does not merely want to go through life with a sleeping soul, but with a fully awake soul, can observe the influences of these beings everywhere. If only, from the presence of the effects, people would allow themselves to be convinced a little of the existence of the causes!

This is the characteristic we find when looking towards the West. The West takes on this form because it lives completely in the most fundamental expression of the present epoch — in economic concepts, economic thinking.

And here again there are three types of beings working in the East who likewise have a great influence. Whereas in the West one has to draw attention to individual human beings through whom these beings incarnate, in the East one must point to a kind of hierarchy that can appear to the most varied people. Again it is three types of beings; not, however, beings that incarnate through people but beings that appear to people and also inspire them during sleep at night.

The first type of these beings prevents the human being from taking full possession of his physical body, hinders him from finding a connection with the economic element, with the public conditions of the present-day in general. These are the beings who seek in the East to hold back the economic life as it is needed in the threefold social order.

The second type of beings are those that produce over-individualization — a kind of, unegoistic egoism. This is all the more subtle in the way it is so frequently found in people, particularly of the East, who fancifully attribute to themselves all possible selflessness — a selflessness which, however, is in fact a particularly subtle form of self-seeking, a particulary subtle egoism. They want to be absolutely good, they want to be as good as it is ever possible to be. This, too, is an egoistic sentiment. This is something that can be called, paradoxically, an unegoistic egoism, an egoism arising from an imagined selflessness.

The third type of being that appears to human beings of the East are those beings that hold back the spiritual life from the earth; that spread, as it were, a dull mystical atmosphere over human beings, as can be found so frequently today, particularly in the East.

And again, these three types of spiritual beings, which work down from the spiritual world, are the enemies of the threefold social organism. In this way the threefold impulse is hemmed in from the spiritual side in the East and from the human side, as described, in the West. Thus we see here the spiritual foundations underlying the differentiation.

We still have to add to this what is hostile to the threefolding in the European Centre so that, from a spiritual point of view, we gradually gain an idea of how one must equip oneself in order that the opposing powers — whether from the spiritual world, as in the East, or from human beings, as in the West, or from the Centre of Europe, in a way which I shall relate tomorrow — can be met by the threefold idea with an impulse that is of the greatest conceivable importance for humanity’s evolution. And in order to know how one must act with regard to these things one must be equipped with an armour of thoughts.

The human being of the Centre was thrown into the extremes of west and east. He had to take in everything he experienced in the West but did not absorb it as deeply as the Westerner; he suffused it with what also came from the East. Hence the more malleable equilibrium in the Centre; but hence also the inner strife, the duality in the individualization of the souls of human beings of the Centre. The striving to find a harmony, a balancing out of this duality — which is so classicially, so magnificently, portrayed in Schiller’s Letters an Aesthetic Education in which two driving forces that are to be united — that of Nature and that of Reason — points clearly to this duality…” ~Rudolf Steiner, The New Spirituality and the Christ Expereience of the Twentieth Century, Lecture 1 & 2, Dornach, 22-23 October, 1920

Astro Bob, Duluth News

8 February 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The first-quarter Moon of February shines very high after dark. When you face her after nightfall, look for the Pleiades above& Aldebaran farther to the upper left. Lower left from there, Orion stands upright.

Remedios Varo

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

According to the original; Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner today it the Birthday of King Solomon. In the ‘Temple Legend’ lectures by Rudolf Steiner, he speaks of King Solomon as the reincarnation of Abel. (And the Master Builder of the Temple Hiram Abiff, Cain)

Image result for carninval brazil painting
Julio Rodrigues

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
This year verses 44 & 45 have to be extended through February before verse 46 can begin on Feb. 29th in the first week of Lent. extended CANDLEMAS Verse: Mindful of the Spirit’s Birth Fulfilled
v44

And when I grasp the senses’ new allure
the clarity of soul,
mindful of the spirit’s birth fulfilled,
imbues the world’s bewildering,
fresh sprouting growth
with my creative will of thinking.

Mindful of the Spirit’s Birth Fulfilled, “Eingedenk vollzogener Geistgeburt”,
is the only trochaic line in the Soul Calendar, as if it balances all the other 336 lines of the iambic, natural meditative rhythm, whose meaning would be irrelevant without the consciousness of the spirit’s birth fulfilled’.

The mirror verse
CORPUS CHRISTI
Lose Yourself In Light
v9

And when I let my own will go
the summer’s coming fills my soul
and spirit life with cosmic warmth;
my spirit vision is commanding me
to lose myself in light, and ardently
my foresight’s calling: lose yourself.
to find your Self.

1810 – Birthday of Eliphas Levi, a French sage, poet, & author of more than twenty books about magic, Cabbalah, alchemical studies, & occultism.

“There was a personality who lived in the later period of Mexican civilisation and was connected with the utterly decadent, pseudo-magical Mystery cults of Mexico; with an intense thirst for knowledge he studied everything with close and meticulous exactitude. My attention was attracted to him through having made the acquaintance some years ago of a curious man who is still engaged in a primitive form of study of the decadent superstitions of the Mexican Mysteries. Such lore is of negligible importance, because anyone who studies these things at the present time is studying pure superstition; it has all become decadent to-day. But the other personality to whom I am referring imbibed with fervent enthusiasm all that could be learnt from the still flourishing Mexican civilisation before the discovery, the so-called ‘discovery’ of America. In those days Mexican civilisation was still influenced by the Mysteries but was already in the throes of decline. When mention is made to-day of Taotl, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoka — the Beings of the Mexican Mysteries — little more is known than the names and a few scattered images. But this personality still knew that Taotl is a Being who as a cosmic, universal Spirit weaves in the clouds, lives in the lightning and the thunder. He knew too that under certain given conditions this Spirit could be invoked into consecrated water by enactments of sacred ritual. And he knew that Quetzalcoatl was a Divine Being who could take hold of man in his circulating blood, in the working of his breath. Living reality of Being was experienced in the Mexican Mysteries by the personality of whom I am speaking. He was reborn in a later age without any intermediate life as a woman. He had been a man in Mexico and was born again as a man. But in his life between death and rebirth this individuality passed through the super-sensible world in such a way that in the development of his karma — this in turn was the outcome of still earlier incarnations not in Mexico but elsewhere — he bore through the Jupiter region all that he had experienced in Mexico: knowledge that had degenerated into superstition but was nevertheless replete with vitality, saturated with the fruits of older civilisations. In the Jupiter-sphere all this assumed the form of wisdom, but a wisdom that is in truth automatic, unconscious, when compared with the wisdom man should make his own by individual effort.

When in the elaboration of karma between death and a new birth, the living, weaving wisdom of the Jupiter-sphere pours over what has been experienced by a man in a previous earthly life, wisdom and its light can still shine forth in the subsequent life. But the wisdom, then, is founded on the experiences of earthly life.

The individuality of whom I am speaking was born again in modern civilisation as Eliphas Levi. Eliphas Levi, therefore, had spent his previous incarnation in the Mexican civilisation, had then passed through the sphere of Jupiter with its wisdom, and in this sphere of Jupiter everything was worked through once again. But Mexican culture is a decadent culture and if you read the books of Eliphas Levi to-day you will find evidence of great wisdom spread out as it were over something extremely primitive. And one who has insight into these things will say: all this is Jupiter, but inferior Jupiter!” ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships, Volume II: Lecture XII

1894 – Birthday of George Adams Kaufmann, a British mathematician, translator & anthroposophist. He travelled widely, spoke several languages & translated many of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures into English. Through his studies in theoretical physics he contributed to the expansion & development of the natural sciences as extended by the concepts of anthroposophy.

In 1914 he had encountered Rudolf Steiner’s “Occult Science” and become a member of the Emerson Group in London in 1916. During his time as conscientious objector he had come to know Mary Fox, a Quaker & in 1920 they married.

His interest in Steiner’s ideas on social reform & his intention to translate the book The Threefold Social Order (GA 23) caused him to visit Steiner together with Ethel Bowen Wedgwood in Dornach, Switzerland. Steiner advised him to become involved in some form of social work, something Adams could readily accept amid the social collapse in Central & Eastern Europe following the war. He went on several journeys to Poland as part of the English & American Quaker organization.

In 1920 he took part in the inauguration of the first Goetheanum building. On his return to England, he cooperated with some friends on spreading the ideas of Social threefolding as well as the anthroposophical ideas of Steiner. His wife Mary Adams began her work as librarian & translator for the Anthroposophical Society in London that she was to carry for many years. In addition, Adams was the free verbal translator of around 110 lectures of Steiner into English. He went on to translate many of Steiner’s written works, often with Mary Adams.

He was often in Dornach during these times and experienced the burning of the first Goetheanum on New Year’s Eve 1922/23 & was part of the Christmas Foundation meeting of the General Anthroposophical Society in 1923/24. In 1924 he became one of the Goetheanum-Speakers authorized by Steiner.

While working as a free co-worker of the Anthroposophical Society in Britain as lecturer & workshop holder after 1925, Adams turned again to the study of the natural sciences & mathematics, concentrating particularly on projective geometry & working with Elisabeth Vreede, leader of the Section for Mathematics & Astronomy at the Goetheanum. At the beginning of the 1930s, Adams published a series of articles & essays about projective, synthetic geometry & its relationship to physics, to Goethe’s theory of metamorphosis & to anthroposophical spiritual science, particularly the pioneering work “Of Etheric Space” in the magazine Natura of the Goetheanum’s Medical Section. Here for the first time is mentioned the concept of “counter-space”, as Steiner indicated in the third of his courses on the Natural Sciences (GA 323), explained by means of non-Euclidean geometry. Some years later Louis Locher was to discover the same thing independently of Adams. From that time on the conceptual development of the idea of counter-space in its relation to normal spatial thinking became the focal point of Adams’ further scientific research. In 1933 the comprehensive work Space & the Light of the Creation – Synthetic Geometry in the light of Spiritual Science appeared, which was an overview of the spiritual scientific meaning of synthetic geometry.

When Elisabeth Vreede & Ita Wegman were dismissed from the executive of the General Anthroposophical Society in Dornach, a number of other prominent members of the German, Dutch & British Societies were expelled, including Adams. This brought to an end his cooperation with the Mathematical/Astronomical Section. When the Chairman of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain, D. N. Dunlop, died in May 1935, Adams took over as general secretary.

1907 – Birthday of Charles Kovacs – born in Vienna. When he was still a young child the family moved to Nussdorf on the Danube, where the river flowed just before the house, so that he could see & hear the barges passing by, loading & unloading. Behind the house were forests of nut trees; to the left there shone a special light over the Kahlberg. It was here that he first went to school.

With the sudden death of his father, the family – his grandmother, mother & his younger brother Erwin – moved to their uncle’s lovely villa in Baden at the foot of the Vienna Woods. At that time the inhabitants of Baden were forward-looking & had high civic standards. They built fine modern art galleries to show the new styles of painting that had become popular. Charles was very interested in painting. He visited these galleries & then worked on his own pictures when he went home. He was about twelve years old when he showed his paintings to his respected art teacher, Professor Friedrich Thetter. Thetter’s two children were also Charles’ friends at the school & Charles was invited to come regularly and to bring his paintings. Professor Thetter, a long-standing anthroposophist, then introduced Charles to the fundamentals of art, to Goethe, then to Rudolf Steiner & anthroposophy. It was an encounter Charles never forgot. He was deeply grateful to Professor Thetter & they remained close friends, corresponding even when they were far apart. Charles & his brother Erwin both became members of the Anthroposophical Society, Charles when he was 22 years old.

Life was lively in Vienna. Charles would listen to the latest hits on the wireless in the evenings & next day he would play them to his friends, for both brothers had learned from their mother to play the piano. His uncle employed him for a time in his warehouse, selling coffee & tea, & it was his son who later, when Charles was 32, invited him out to Kenya. He enjoyed working on a large farm; the compound was so extensive that he needed a horse to get around it all & for a while he was in charge of a sawmill. It was during that time that he drew (on the backs of reference cards used at the mill) & compiled a small book of Pietas – each drawing so different!

Then came the Second World War & he volunteered to join the British Army. After the war he returned briefly to Kenya where he had started an anthroposophical study group. In April 1948 Charles came to London. A relative needed somebody to take on the responsibility of his firm in Golden Square, Piccadilly, & Charles worked there for about eight years. It was well-paid work, but it was a heavy burden. Before long he came to the anthroposophical group meeting one Monday evening; this was where he met Dora, & within six months they were married. Charles was soon asked to take over the study group at Museum Street & as part of his work for this group he translated works by Rudolf Steiner not then available in English. He became a member of the Council of the Anthroposophical Society & gave many lectures. His home was frequented by members of the group most evenings. When they had left he would often paint or draw, an activity which for him seemed a necessity. It was a member of the group who urged Charles to become a teacher. And so it came about that he came to Edinburgh in 1956 to teach at the Rudolf Steiner School.

Then his most productive years began. He took over a Class 4 of thirty-five children. As part of his preparation, he wrote out his lessons day by day so that he built into his teaching a structure, inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s curriculum, which could satisfy the growing child. These notes now stand as a fine example of the new & living way Steiner wanted his curriculum presented to children. ~Charles Kovacs – Reflecting on His Life, by Floris Books

Charles Kovacs – Christianity and the Ancient Mysteries

As a Waldorf teacher, Charles’ creative talents were called on more than ever before. His special gift for painting & drawing was put to good use & his work was much in evidence around the school. For example the kindergarten, which I took over, was blessed & looked upon by the guardian angel that Charles painted. He composed songs & poems, he wrote plays for his classes; Charles was completely given over to his teaching. At the same time he held parents’ evenings, had regular study groups & gave lectures within the Anthroposophical Society & to the public. For a time he travelled regularly to Ilkeston in Derbyshire to work with a group of friends there. His pupils wanted him to come to the upper school to give them the philosophy main lesson when he had already retired.

2018 – Death day of Christopher Mann, a long time Anthroposopher, His parents knew Rudolf Steiner & did the Mann translation of the Calendar of the Soul. Christopher & his wife Martina were champions of Biodynamics & eurythmy. https://www.biodynamics.com/…/celebrating-lifelong-work…Christopher produced the movie The Alchemist – A film by Frigyes Fogel and Christopher Mann Following those on their mission who have been called upon to form the earth throughout four continents…Dedicated To all who want to heal and consecrate the earth…https://vimeo.com/181737300

The picture above is Christopher at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, which he helped build. He came to support my workshop on the Spiritual Hierarchies. He was quite lively, sharing about his early life, & then his work with land trusts & such. He was so proud of his movie The Alchemist…After a day on Zinniker Farm he invited a bunch of us to a showing in his home, & there were several teenagers from the Chicago Waldorf School Community with us, & because of that film, 1 of them wants to go into Bio dynamic farming! He touched many lives. And now he is our ally on the other side. Blessings dear friend on your spiritual journey! xox ~hag

~I am an old soul
Many nights I look into the fire
The blue & orange tongues
of the salamander speak in the spark
My angel touches me in a glass of water
The sylphs are never silent
& the earth thinks me deep…
But Today I feel weary…
& yet I have no fear for
I quiver in communion
with The Time Spirit
His hand on my head
Lifts my limbs
to create my own destiny…
~hag

Become the Seed

POD (Poem Of the day)

~My roots thickening
Tether me like a kite –
That I may Rise with the Sap.
In the Hexagonal Snow Swirl
Formula Becomes Motion.
Come sit with the Crescent Moon
Sharing the Sun Rise,
Together We Sing into the Seven Stars.
Beyond the false history of men
Beyond numbers & letters that bind them
I go Home where
My Thought Becomes Word, Becomes Memory, Becomes
The Seed that Becomes Me.
~hag

10:10 Testament: an affirmation from ‘The Influence of Spiritual Beings on the Human Being’ ~Rudolf Steiner, Lecture 2, January 27, 1908

“What has been achieved in a planetary existence and has become sun, ascends to “heavenly” existence and becomes zodiacal existence.

And having reached zodiacal existence, what does it do? It offers itself in sacrifice! Please take account of this particular word. The first dawn-condition of the Earth, ancient Saturn, arose in a mysterious way as the result of sacrifice on the part of the Zodiac. The forces which caused the first, rarefied Saturn-masses to gather together were those which streamed down from the Zodiac, producing on Saturn the first germinal inception of physical man. This continued without cessation. You must not picture it as happening only once. Fundamentally speaking, what is happening continuously is that within what we call a planetary system the forces which evolved to a higher stage after having themselves passed through a planetary system, are sacrificed.

Zoran Chikovik

We can say in effect: what is at first contained in a planetary system evolves to a “sun” existence, then to zodiacal existence and then has the power to be itself creative, to offer itself in sacrifice within a planetary existence.

The forces from the Zodiac “rain” down continuously into the planetary existence and continuously ascend again; for that which at one time became our Zodiac must gradually ascend again. The distribution of forces in our earth existence may be conceived as follows: — on the one side forces are descending from the Zodiac and, on the other, forces are ascending to the Zodiac. Such is the mysterious interplay between the Zodiac and our earth. Forces descend and forces ascend. This is the mysterious “heavenly ladder” upon which forces are descending and ascending. These forces are indicated in various ways in the different scriptures; you find them indicated, too, in Goethe’s Faust:

“What heavenly forces up and down are ranging, The golden vessels interchanging.”

As far as our human understanding goes, these forces began to descend during the Saturn-existence of our Earth and when the Earth-existence proper had reached its middle point, the stage had arrived when they gradually began again to ascend. We have now passed beyond the middle point of our evolution, which fell in the middle of the Atlantean epoch; and what human beings have lived through since then is a phase of existence beyond the middle point. In a certain sense, therefore, we may say that at the present time, more forces are ascending to the Zodiac than are descending from it…

In this way you will realize that there is interaction between everything in cosmic space, that everything in cosmic space is interconnected, inter-related. But it must never be forgotten that these operations and activities are going on all the time, that they are ever-present. At any given moment in our evolution we can therefore speak of forces which are going forth from man and forces which are coming in; forces are descending and forces are ascending. For all and each of these forces there comes, at some point, the moment when from being descending forces they are transformed into ascending forces. All forces which eventually become ascending forces are at first descending forces. They descend, so to say, as far as man. In man they acquire the power to ascend.” ~Rudolf Steiner

almanac.com

7 February 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”:  Bella Luna barely half a day short of first quarter, shines high in the southwest this evening. Sirius the Dog Star blazes in the southeast after dinnertime, the brightest star of Canis Major.

Thomas Jackson

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1478- Thomas More, Chancellor of England, author of Utopia, was condemned to death for betraying ‘occult’ secrets. Rudolf Steiner speaks about this in ‘Things in Past and Present in the Spirit of Man’ Lecture VIII – THOMAS MORE’S “UTOPIA”, May 2nd, 1916 Dornach

1878 – The doctrine of papal infallibility was established during the pontificate of Pope Pius IX.

1966 – Death day of Leopold van der Pals was a Danish/Dutch Anthroposophical composer He was in close contact with authors, musicians, artists & poets his whole life. Among them were Rudolf Steiner, Andrei Belyj, Rainer Maria Rilke, Friedrich Lienhard, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Serge Koussevitzky & Alexander Scriabin. In 1907 he moved to Belin & met Rudolf Steiner, who made a great impression on him & introduced the idea of metamorphosis, derived from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. At the time, Berlin was a melting pot of musical development in the wake of the romantic era. Van der Pals experimented with new harmonic ideas & alternative cadenzas. He shaped his personal expression, a hybrid of different styles such as romanticism, impressionism, free tonality & inspiration from Russian & Nordic folklore. When his wife Marussja died in 1934. he withdrew himself to Ascona, Switzerland. Here Van der Pals wrote 80 poems to her memory; 45 of them were put to music. He then finally settled down in Dornach in Switzerland, where he lived during the remaining 31 years of his life.

Ask

Image result for brigid goddess art
Fay Denny

The Celtic Triple Goddess Brigid has a lot to say: SHE SPEAKS on the ‘I Think Speech‘ podcast

Love Equals Freedom Digital Art by Su Ferguson - Don Burkheimer

Dear friends – I am forever finding myself in the great Quest – a mind-set that asks questions – a mood of wondering. So when this quote came up in our CRC study of the Holy Grail I knew it was meant to be shared & hopefully received by those who are also on the Quest…

“…The overwhelming impression for us today certainly is that there are too few individuals who can be active representatives of our spiritual movement. It is generally still easier to be effective among human beings by means of force, control, and injustice than by means of freedom. The truth that is to be proclaimed through anthroposophical spiritual science is permitted to count only on human freedom. It must find people who ask questions. One certainly cannot say, Why doesn’t this truth possess in itself the strength to compel human souls by virtue of divine-spiritual power? It does not wish to do that; it cannot do that. The reason is that it will always consider inner freedom, the freedom of the human being in general, to be something absolutely inviolable. If the human being is to come to anthroposophy out of his own judgment, he must become one who asks questions; out of the innermost freedom of judgment he must convince himself. The word of spiritual truth will be spoken to him; convincing himself of it is something he must do on his own. If he wishes to cooperate and be active in society, he must do so out of the innermost impulse of his heart. Those who belong in the truest sense of the word to anthroposophical spiritual science must become people who ask questions.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy by Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, 17 April 1921

Peter Olsen

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~may we walk the middle path
between fire & ice…
where the shadows of forever
& the light of now
pulse the world.
such is the way.
the empty filling & the full emptying…
so live with the certainty
that your yin loves your yang
over & over in to the out…
& dance the joy of movement ever changing…
~hag