Greetings friends – We are on the other side of the Resurrection – although the Orthodox celebration of Easter comes Sunday the 24th of April, so during the Sophia Rising Convergence we have the opportunity to recapitulate Holy Week. In the meantime my house is filled with the lingering scent of Easter lilies.
And of course we are still in the Easter-tide – for it is a 3-fold Festival. We are now in the 40 days when the disciples received the esoteric teachings of the Risen Christ leading up to the Ascension – & then at 50 days – Pentecost, bestowing its Baptism with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
I am leaving tomorrow for the Convergence with my daughter Ultra-Violet, so I just wanted to share a few thoughts here before we head off to this milestone event…
First of all I want to thank everyone who came out to the Rudolf Steiner Branch & those that attended on Zoom our Easter offering featuring Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer who gifted us with their amazing Anthroposophical Musical Initiative: Velsum, which can be defined as Victory in Wholeness. They also call their music Ancient Futurism.
They shared a powerful set of acapella songs called: New Nightingale, New Rose.In-between these harmonious airs they told the stories of their wondrous collaboration, & how each song came to be – describing the potent inspirations they received from Spiritual Science & from the being of Anthroposophia ever unfolding from within their individual & collectively Christ imbued “I” forces. They spoke & sang with such ease & grace, finishing each other’s sentences with humor. These stories with all the riveting details & spiritual synchronicities added a true enlightenment – revealing their spirit filled process.
The uplifting resonance of Agape that their presence exudes takes every listening heart into the Harmony of the Spheres. I was so engrossed that I’m sorry to say I took no pictures.
The title of their set: New Nightingale, New Rose, came from a book of poems by the Sufi poet Hafiz, which jumped off Lucien’s shelf. When I first heard this title, it felt like an ancient memory had surfaced.
I finally woke up with an image. When Ultra was about 12 years old we went to Turkey with CG’s parents. We took a side trip & visited The House of the Virgin Mary (Turkish: Meryemana Evi or Meryem Ana Evi, “Mother Mary’s House”) located on Mt. Koressos (Turkish: Bülbüldağı, “Mount Nightingale”) in Ephesus.
That was it – “Mount Nightingale” – the home of the Mary-Sophia!How perfect – since Velsum’s mission carries the impulse of Christ-Sophia thru the Logos.
The Gospel of John 19:25-28 tells the story of The Mother of God and the Beloved Disciple at the Foot of the Cross
25 “Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”
27 then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her to himself.”
Lazarus, who became John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, received from Christ the impulse that the Mother of God carried – The Divine Sophia – into himself – inspiring him after that to write his Gospel & the Book of Revelation, there in Ephesus, where John took Mary to escape persecution. They lived peacefully on Mount Nightingale for many years, until The Dormition (“falling asleep”) or Assumption of Mary – a teaching that says, after the mother of Christ died, she was resurrected, glorified, & taken bodily to heaven. Lazuas-John lived to be almost 100 years old…
Going there was the highlight of our trip. On the way to the shrine, you must walk up the steep hill of the mount; at the crest, by the humble home, there is a key-hole shaped baptismal pool. The house is now a chapel, where an altar featuring a large statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is prominently displayed in the center. Off to the right is the chamber where the Virgin Mary is said to have slept. The legends say that an underground stream flowed from the foot of her bed out to the baptismal font. Outside the shrine there is also a well, believed to have miraculous powers of healing or fertility. Near the well is a “wishing wall” where pilgrims leave their personal prayers & intentions on paper or fabric.
It is a desert area, but all around the house there are many types of flowers & fruit trees.
I’m sure we have pictures. I remember Ultra wearing a blue silk scarf, & I wore a yellow one, as the woman always had to have their heads covered to enter these sacred sites. I will have to look for those pictures when we return from Sophia Rising…
“A jubilant breath pervades the prayers of Easter, expressing itself twice, as with inward necessity, in the word “rejoice”…First, the breathing soul-sphere of the whole planet rejoices, that renewed cosmic sphere of sunlit clouds, air and wind into which the earth grows in Spring; then, the inward life of man, touched by the Risen Christ, rejoices too. We recognize the wide span of the soul at Easter: it comprises the outward and the inward world, macrocosm and microcosm.” – excerpt from “The Three Years” by Emil Bock.
CG & hag attending the Easter Sunrise at the Magic Hedge. We arrived in time for the Easter parade of planets: Jupiter, Venus, Mars & Saturn all in a row…Our human evolution inscribed in the heavens as the herald of the culmination of the Christmas Conference.
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated with added titles by Roy Sadler
HOLY WEEK Communion In The Body v52 When from the depths of soul the spirit’s drawn towards the beauty arising from the springlife’s cosmic harmony, then streaming from the heavens life’s force invigorates the human body and powerfully binds the spirit’s being to the human presence.
And so by experiencing the vibrant beauty of the spring and the Cosmic Spirit’s life force streaming through us, we can rejoice in the bliss of Easter by uniting with the light, the Light Being of the Christ. May the Sun commune with us!
EASTER In Unison With Light v1 When streaming from the cosmic spheres the sun to human sense is speaking and joy from depths of soul is with the light as one in seeing, then drawn from sheath of self thoughts rise to far horizons and dimly bind the human being to the spirit’s presence.
485 – Death-Day of Proclus – dubbed ‘The Successor’ – a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher. He studyed mathematics & the works of Aristotle under Olympiodorus the Elder. As a gifted student, he eventually became dissatisfied with the level of philosophical instruction available in Alexandria, & went to Athens, the pre-eminent philosophical center of the day, to study at the Neoplatonic successor of the famous Academy founded 800 years earlier (in 387 BC) by Plato; there he was taught by Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, & Asclepigenia; he succeeded Syrianus as head of the Academy, & would in turn be succeeded on his death by Marinus of Neapolis.
He lived in Athens as a vegetarian bachelor, prosperous & generous to his friends, until the end of his life. He was not appreciated by the Christian rulers; he spent time traveling & being initiated into various mystery cults. He was also instructed in the “theurgic” Neoplatonism, as derived from the Orphic & Chaldean Oracles.
His house has been discovered recently in Athens, under the pavement of Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, south of Acropolis, opposite the theater of Dionysus. He had a great devotion to the Goddess Athena, whom he believed guided him at key moments in his life. Marinus reports that when Christians removed the statue of the Goddess from the Parthenon, a beautiful woman appeared to Proclus in a dream & announced that the “Athenian Lady” wished to stay at his home. Proclus died aged 73, & was buried near Mount Lycabettus in a tomb. It is reported that he was writing 700 lines each day.
1622 – Birthday of Thomas Vaughn, a Welsh philosopher, famous for his writings in the area of natural magic, with his book Anthroposophia Theomagica, a magico-mystical work. (Some say Rudolf Steiner got his idea for to name the AS from this treatise)
Although he did not practice medicine, Vaughan sought to apply his chemical skills to preparing medicines in the manner recommended by Paracelsus. Vaughan was also the author of tracts published under the pseudonym Eugenius Philalethes.
Vaughan was unusual amongst alchemists of the time in that he worked closely with his wife Rebecca Vaughan. He was a self-described member of the “Society of Unknown Philosophers”, & was responsible for translating into English in 1652 the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis, an anonymous Rosicrucian manifesto first published in 1614 in Kassel.
He placed himself in the tradition of the Rosicrucian reformers of education, &of Johannes Trithemius, his teacher Libanius Gallus, and Pelagius of Majorca.
1787 – Goethe’s experience of the archetypal plant in Palermo – “Goethe narrates a conversation that once ensued between Schiller and himself after they had both attended a meeting of the Society for Nature Research in Jena. Schiller was dissatisfied with the results of the meeting. He had found there a most disintegrating method for the study of Nature and he remarked that such a method could never appeal to a layman. Goethe replied that “possibly this method was cumbersome for the initiated also and that there might well exist yet another way of portraying Nature active and living, struggling from the whole into the parts, and not severed and isolated.” And then Goethe evolved the great ideas which had arisen within him concerning the nature of plants. He drew “with many characteristic strokes, a symbolic plant” before Schiller’s eyes. This symbolic plant was intended to give expression to the essential being lying in every single plant, whatever particular form it assumes. It was intended to demonstrate the successive development of the single portions of the plant, their emergence from each other and their mutual relationship. In Palermo, 17th April, 1787, Goethe wrote these words in reference to this symbolic plant form: “There must be such a thing; if not, how could I recognise this or that structure to be a plant if all were not moulded after one pattern?” Goethe had evolved in himself the conception of a plastic, ideal form that was revealed to his spirit when he surveyed the diversity of the plant forms and observed the element common to them all.” Rudolf Steiner Goethe’s Conception of the World: Chapter I: Goethe and Schiller
1790 – Death-Day of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a renowned polymath & a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, & diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment & the history of physics for his discoveries & theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, & the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia’s fire department & the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution.
Benjamin Franklin, then 21, created the Junto, a group of “like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community.” The Junto was a discussion group for issues of the day; it was modeled after English coffeehouses that Franklin knew well, & which became the center of the spread of Enlightenment ideas in Britain.
Franklin became Grand Master of the Freemasons & published the first Masonic book in the Americas, a reprint of James Anderson’s Constitutions of the Free-Masons. Franklin remained a Freemason for the rest of his life
Franklin earned the title of “The First American” for his early & indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author & spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, & opposition to authoritarianism both political & religious, with the scientific & tolerant values of the Enlightenment
Franklin became a successful newspaper editor & printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23. He became wealthy publishing this & Poor Richard’s Almanack, which he authored under the pseudonym “Richard Saunders”. After 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments & criticisms of the British policies.
He pioneered & was 1st president of The Academy & College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751 & later became the University of Pennsylvania. He organized & was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society & was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a national hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris & was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France.
He was promoted to deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies in 1753, having been Philadelphia postmaster for many years,& this enabled him to set up the first national communications network. During the Revolution, he became the first US Postmaster General. He was active in community affairs & colonial & state politics, as well as national & international affairs. From 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He argued against slavery from an economic perspective & became one of the most prominent abolitionists.
His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, & his status as one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers have seen Franklin honored more than two centuries after his death the $100 bill.
1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150
1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed & trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
Kaysha Siemens
‘Velsum’ (Victory in Wholeness) an Anthroposophical Musical Initiative created by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer performing New Nightingale, New Roseon Easter Sunday
Live streaming from the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago.
Join us in-person or online.
PLEASE NOTE: BELOW IS THE NEW ZOOM CODE
This offering will not be recorded – it is meant for Easter Sunday only.
These 2 Christened voices came together for the “Building the Temple of the Heart” 2021 ASA AGM conference & have gone on to co-create a new musical genre that they call: Ancient Futurism. This past year they have been workshopping this initiative at Angelic Organics Farm graciously hosted by Haidy & Farmer John Peterson, who have put culture back into Agriculture by building a Temple stage to host Anthroposophical events in their glorious Barn building. The Debut of Velsum occurred there on Lazarus Saturday 2022.
Easter Sunday 17 April 2022 Doors open at 12:30 pm CDT 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, Il. 60618 NEW TIME: Performance 1-2pm CDT Potluck Easter Feast 2-3 pm CDT
$10 or more suggested donation goes to the artists –
Chicago Friends – Please Bring Hardy Festive Food & Drink to Share
Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651 One tap mobile +13126266799,,85964975651# US (Chicago) +16468769923,,85964975651# US (New York)
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651 Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb1j1PB3WR
In the New Mysteries we follow the path of Rosicrucian/Christian initiation through Holy Week. With every step, from the recognition of the old atavistic Sun on Palm Sunday, through to the meeting of the Saturn-Spirit and The Harrowing of Hell – TODAY on Holy Saturday; we sow healing seeds, sprouted in the blood of Christ, that spark the rising of the New Sun of Easter, within ourselves and in the Universe. Each of these steps through the planetary spheres leads to a conquest of a corresponding layer in the interior of the earth. The Beatitudes are the spiritual weapon we must wield to fortify the development of self-determination in the human ego led by Christ, giving us the strength to make the darkness transparent. Like Christ, we must descend to ascend.
Every year we have a chance to recapitulate the original Easter event. We rest on the Sabbath, Saturn-day – In Christo morimur – This is the Mystic-death or temple sleep of the initiate; remembering that In the Garden of Gethsemane – the midpoint of the earth, the epicenter of the cosmos – between the rocky hill of Golgotha, part of the lunar Mount Moriah, and it’s polar opposite the Solar Mount Zion, there was a New Tomb where the body of Christ rested, and yet it was the Oldest Tomb, for it was formerly a primal fissure, a gorge splitting Jerusalem in two, called by some Adam’s Grave –known as the gate to the underworld.
The earthquakes of Good Friday and Holy Saturday tore open the original fissure. The veil of the Temple “was rent in twain”. Vistas were opened into the interior of the earth. “He was lowered into the grave of the earth’, and so it was, that The Christ went into the Earth’s Interior, His blood becoming the medicine for our continued evolution. The darkness of Saturn is lit up from within by the Resurrected Sun. The Easter garden begins to bloom, so that our soul can behold, like the Magdalana before us, The Risen One as the gardener of the New Jerusalem.
In ‘The Birth of a New Agriculture: Koberwitz 1924’ , we learn that the earth underwent a change through the deed of redemption on Golgotha, a transformation of the unruly Mars powers of rusty iron into the silvery light of Mercury. This transforming of iron thru the sacred mystery of the Christ-blood is a determining factor in the transformation of earthly substance, which will later be carried over into the transubstantiation of the earth. The spirit radiates from the heights and yet is also carried to us by the eternal divine world of the depths. ‘May there ascend from the Depths the prayer that is heard in the Heights’.
We can send our prayer to the Christ-heart in the earth’s depths, to help overcome and redeem the adversarial powers that hold sway in the nine layers of the earth’s interior. The agricultural course was a stepping stone to this ultimate aim.
Spiritual science tells us that when the blood flowed into the earth from the cross on Golgotha, a new Sun-globe was born in the interior of the earth. This golden earth-center is the legendary land of Shambhalla, hidden away, yet waiting to be re-discovered by the seeking, Christ-guided human soul.
The Tomb becomes the altar, a sacred place to commune with the gods – with the souls of the departed as our intermediaries. The tomb becomes the Round table, and the Parsifal question leads us to find Christ in the etheric.
Also working with us from the time of the Vernal Equinox is the Archangel Raphael, who holds the staff of Mercury, offering us the healing power of the Caduceus through the grace of the living Christ, who stands as the middle pillar within us all.
Before the mystery of Golgotha, the task of evolution was that the cosmos would become human, after this turning point, the human becomes cosmos -The New Sun -The imperishable resurrection-body uniting with the Cosmic- Sophia.
~hag
Easter Morning
16 April 2022 “Speaking with the Stars”: From Jonathan Hilton: “A first necessary step in the path of astrosophy is the cultivation of wonder when contemplating or viewing the starry heavens. I would even describe the feeling as “holy awe” when gazing at the heavens. Truly they are a glimpse of Sophia if we can lift the veil to meet Her. Though She is silent, through our development of spiritual cognition She is awakened to new life in us. This new life can begin with Imagination through which an outer image can become a living picture of divine being. When we look at the stars we are of course seeing images, or as Steiner called them, wrought work, but of course our spiritual task is to see behind the images to the reality of their being. Truly the planets and stars are images for us of being…
To go out before dawn on any Easter Sunday is always quite a special time to contemplate that original Easter when the women went to the tomb before dawn to find the stone removed and the first encounter by Mary Magdalene with the Risen One, whom she mistook for the gardener until He spoke her name. This Easter, out of this mood, we can now also look to the east and see, aligned one after the other ascending from the horizon, Jupiter near the horizon, then Venus, then Mars, then Saturn. A rare sight to behold…
One should think of the visible planet itself as merely a pointer for earthly humanity, an indicator, telling us about that whole sphere of planetary being. So, in this picture, it is as if the cosmos is presenting us the story of our whole past and future spread out in this simple line up. It is a tableau of evolution, perhaps as a challenge or a question or a reminder to us from where we have come and to where we are going, precisely because of this Easter morning deed of the Christ. It is a bit like when we perhaps contemplate our biography…where we came from and where we hope to go…before a major life event or decision…
We contemplate the Father deeds of sacrifice on ancient Saturn and our journey into separation and individuation in Mars, to our reunion with the Divine Will through love, in Venus, leading to the future New Jerusalem, in Jupiter. In this way, a simple string of four stars (planets) in the sky on Easter morning can open mighty vistas of our humanity, expanding us and inspiring us to strive towards the power of the true I AM, the Christ, in us that we might fulfill our cosmic goals.” ~Jonathan Hilton 4/16/2022 astrosophy.com
According to Dr. Steiner TODAY is the birthday of Aaron = mountain of strength, illuminator – born in Egypt three years before his brother Moses, & after his sister Miriam.
When the time for the Exodus out of Egypt came, Aaron was the “mouth” or “prophet” of Moses, because he was gifted speaker.
When Moses ascended the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, Aaron was permitted to accompany him part of the way, & to behold the manifestation in the burning bush.
Later the chiefs of the tribes were each required to bring Moses a rod bearing the name of his tribe. These were laid overnight in the tabernacle, & in the morning it was found that Aaron’s rod “for the house of Levi” budded, blossomed, & yielded almonds. Aaron was able to turn that rod into a snake to try & persuade the Pharaoh to ‘Let the people go’.
Aaron was considered a type of Christ figure in his official character as the 1st high priest, & was intended to lead the people of Israel to look forward to the time when “another priest” would arise “after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:20).
1889- Birthday of Charlie Chaplin, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, & composer
1828 – Death-day of the painter Francisco de Goya
In 1944, during World War II, the allied forces start bombing for the 1st time in Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. It was Orthodox Easter.
Kaysha Siemens
‘Velsum’ (Victory in Wholeness) an Anthroposophical Musical Initiative created by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer performing New Nightingale, New Roseon Easter Sunday
Live streaming from the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago. Join us in-person or online.
PLEASE NOTE: BELOW IS THE NEW ZOOM CODE – AND NEW TIME – (Please disregard the last notices & use the new link to register for this event even if you think you have already registered – sorry for the confusion)
This offering will not be recorded – it is meant for Easter Sunday only.
These 2 Christened voices came together for the “Building the Temple of the Heart” 2021 ASA AGM conference & have gone on to co-create a new musical genre that they call: Ancient Futurism. This past year they have been workshopping this initiative at Angelic Organics Farm graciously hosted by Haidy & Farmer John Peterson, who have put culture back into Agriculture by building a Temple stage to host Anthroposophical events in their glorious Barn building. The Debut of Velsum occurred there on Lazarus Saturday 2022.
Easter Sunday 17 April 2022 Doors open at 12:30 pm CDT 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, Il. 60618 NEW TIME: Performance 1-2pm CDT Potluck Easter Feast 2-3 pm CDT
$10 or more suggested donation goes to the artists –
Chicago Friends – Please Bring Hardy Festive Food & Drink to Share
Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651 One tap mobile +13126266799,,85964975651# US (Chicago) +16468769923,,85964975651# US (New York)
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651 Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb1j1PB3WRFor more info. contact Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
“On Good Friday, 1857, Wagner was sitting in the Retreat, “the sanctuary on the green hill.” Looking out over the fields watching the plants come to life, sprouting from the earth, an inkling arose in him of the Power of the germinating force emerging from the Earth in response to the rays of the sun: a driving force, a motivating force that permeates the whole world and lives in all beings; a force that must evolve, that cannot remain as it is; a force that, to reach higher stages, must pass through death. Watching the plants, he felt the force of sprouting life, and turning his gaze across the Lake of Zürich to the village; he contemplated the opposite idea, that of death — the two polar concepts to which Goethe gives such eloquent expression in his poem, Blessed Longing.
And until thou truly hast, This dying and becoming, Thou are but a troubled guest O’er the dark earth roaming.
Goethe rewrote the words in his hymn to nature saying: “Nature invented death to have more life; only through death can she create a higher spiritual life.”
On Good Friday, as the symbol of death came before humankind in remembrance, Wagner sensed the connection between life, death and immortality. He felt a connection between the life sprouting from the earth and the Death on the Cross, the Death that is also the source of a Christian belief that life will ultimately be victorious over death, will become eternal life. Wagner sensed an inner connection between the sprouting life of Spring and the Good Friday belief in Redemption, the belief that from Death on the Cross springs Eternal Life. This thought is the same as that contained in the Quest for the Holy Grail, where the chaste plant blossom, striving towards the Sun, is contrasted with human desire filled nature. On the one hand Wagner recognized that human beings are steeped in desires; on the other he looked towards a future ideal — the ideal that human beings shall attain a higher consciousness through overcoming their lower nature, shall attain a higher fructifying power, called forth by the Spirit.
Looking towards the Cross, Wagner saw the blood flowing from the Redeemer, the symbol of Redemption, being caught in the Grail Chalice. This picture, linked itself within him to the life awakening in nature. These thoughts were passing through Wagner’s soul on Good Friday, 1857. He jotted down a few words that later became the basis from which he created his magnificent Good Friday drama. He wrote: “The blossoming plant springs from death; eternal life springs from the Death of Christ.” At that moment Wagner had an inner awareness of the Spirit behind all things, of the Spirit victorious over death.
For a time other creative ideas pushed those concerned with Parsifal into the Background. They came to the fore once more near the end of his life, when, clearer than before, they conveyed to him a person’s path of knowledge. Wagner portrayed the path to the Holy Grail to show the cleansing of a human beings’ desire nature. As an ideal this is depicted as a pure holy chalice whose image is the plant calyx’s chaste fructification to new creation by the sunbeam, the holy lance of love. The sunbeam enters matter as Amfortas’ lance enters sinful blood. But there the result is suffering and death. The path to the Holy Grail is portrayed as a cleansing of the sinful blood of lower desires till, on a higher level, it is as pure and chaste as is the plant calyx in relation to the sunbeam. Only he who is pure in heart, unworldly, untouched by temptation, so that he approaches the Holy Grail as an “innocent fool” filled with questions of its secret, can discover the path.
This idea led to his wonderful artistic interpretation of the Good Friday tradition, so that it can truly be said that Wagner has succeeded in bringing religion into art, in making art religious.
In his artistic new creation of the Good Friday tradition, Wagner had the ingenious idea of combining the subject of faith with that of the Holy Grail. On the one hand stands the belief that humankind will be redeemed, and on the other, that through perfecting its nature humanity itself strives towards redemption; the belief that the Spirit permeating humankind — a drop of which lives in each individual as his higher self — in Christ Jesus foreshadowed humanity’s redemption. All this arose as an inner picture in Wagner’s mind already on that Good Friday in 1857 when he recognized the connection between the legend of Parsifal and Redemption through Christ Jesus.
We can begin to sense the presence of the Christ within mankind’s spiritual environment when, with sensitivity and understanding, we absorb the story of the Holy Grail. And it can deepen to concrete inner spiritual experience when we sense the transition from the midnight of Maundy Thursday — events of Maundy Thursday — to those of Good Friday, which symbolize the victory of nature’s resurrection.
Wagner’s Parsifal was inspired by the festival of Easter. He wanted new life to pour into the Christian festivals, which originally were established out of a deep understanding of nature. This can be seen especially in the case of the Easter festival, which was established when it was still known that the constellation of Sun and Moon affected human beings. When the spirit was regarded as a reality it was sensed in all things. If we could still sense what was bequeathed to us through traditions in regard to the festivals, then we would also have a feeling for how to celebrate Good Friday. Richard Wagner did have that feeling, just as he also perceived that the words of the Redeemer: “I am with you to the end of the world,” called human beings to follow the trail that led to the lofty ideal of the Holy Grail. Then people who lived the Truth would become redeemers.
Mankind is redeemed by the Redeemer. But Wagner adds the question: “When is the Redeemer redeemed?” He is redeemed when He abides in every human heart. As He has descended into the human heart, the human heart must ascend. Something of this was also felt by Wagner, for from the motif of faith he lets sound forth what is the mystical feeling of mankind in these beautiful words from Parsifal:
Greatest Healing Wonder – Redemption for the Redeemer!
These words truly show Wagner’s deep commitment to the highest ideal a person can set himself: to approach that Spiritual Power that came down to us and lives in our world. When we are worthy, we bring what resounds at the dose of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal: Redemption for the Redeemer” ~ Rudolf Steiner, Supersensible Knowledge, Lecture XII, Richard Wagner and Mysticism From death comes life
15 April 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: This evening Bella Luna is not quite full – It will be exact at 1:55 tomorrow afternoon CDT. Look below the Moon after dark for Spica glimmering through its glare. Much farther to the Moon’s left shines brighter Arcturus. During dawn tomorrow morning the 16th, spot Venus shining in the East. Upper right of it are Mars and then Saturn, much fainter. Lower left of Venus Jupiter is also coming into view. WOW The Spiritual world is lining up for an Easter Parade!
1452 – The Birthday of Leonardo da Vinci – According to the spiritual scientific research of Rudolf Steiner this individuality incarnated before as Augustine, Judas Maccabee & then…
“What is inscribed in the Akasha Chronicle between the earth and the moon is of special importance because it is there that among other things all imperfections are recorded. It should be realized that the inscribing of these imperfections is governed by the view that every record there is of significance for the individual’s own evolution, either furthering or hindering his progress. Because it is there inscribed in the Akasha Chronicle between earth and moon, it also becomes significant for the evolution of the earth as a whole. The imperfections of really great men are also recorded in that sphere. One example of tremendous interest for clairvoyant observation is Leonardo da Vinci. He is a spirit of greatness and universality equaled by few others on earth, but compared with what he intended, his actual achievements in the external world in many respects remained incomplete. As a matter of fact, no man of similar eminence left as much uncompleted as Leonardo da Vinci. The consequence of this was that a colossal amount was inscribed by him in the Moon sphere, so much indeed that one is often bound to exclaim, “How could all that is inscribed there possibly have reached perfection on the earth!”
At this point I want to tell you of something that seemed to me quite significant when I was studying Leonardo da Vinci. I was to give a lecture about him in Berlin and a particular observation made in connection with him seemed to be extremely important. It fills one with sadness today to see on the wall of the Church of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan the rapidly disappearing colors that now convey no more than a faint shadow of what the picture once was. If we remember that Leonardo took sixteen years to paint this picture, and think of how he painted it, we gain a definite impression. It is known that he would often go away for a long time. Then he would return to the picture, sit in front of it or many hours, make a few strokes with the brush and go off again. It is also known that many times he felt unable to express what he wished in the painting and suffered terrible fits of depression on this account. Now it happened that a new prior was appointed to the monastery at a time when Leonardo had already been working at the picture for many years. This prior was a pedantic and strict disciplinarian with little understanding of art. He asked impatiently why the painter could not finish the picture, reproached him for it and also complained to Duke Ludovico. The Duke repeated the complaint to Leonardo and he answered, “I do not know whether I shall ever be able to complete this picture. I have prototypes in life for all the figures except those of Judas and Christ. For them I have no models, although in the case of Judas, if no model turns up I can always take the prior. But for the Christ I have no prototype.”
What I want to say is that when one looks today at the figure of Judas in the picture that has almost completely faded, a shadow is to be seen on this figure, a shadow that cannot be explained in any way, either by the instreaming light or by anything else. Occult investigation finds that the painting was never as Leonardo da Vinci really wanted it to be. With the exception of the figures of Judas and the Christ he wanted to portray everything through light and shadow, but Judas was to be portrayed in such a way as to give the impression that darkness dominated the countenance from within. This was not intended to be conveyed by external contrasts of light and shadows. In the figure of Christ the impression was to be that the light on His countenance was shining from within, radiating outwards from within. But at this point disharmony beset Leonardo’s inner life, and the effect he desired was never produced. This affords a clue when one is observing the many remaining inscriptions made by Leonardo in the Moon sphere. It is an example of something that could not be brought to fulfillment in the earth sphere.
When the period following that of Leonardo da Vinci is investigated, it is found that Leonardo continued to work through a number of those who lived after him. Even externally there can be found in Leonardo’s writings things that later on were demonstrated by scientists and also by artists. In fact, the whole subsequent period was under his influence. It is then discovered that the inscribed imperfections worked as inspirations into the souls of Leonardo’s successors, into the souls of men who lived after him.
The imperfections of an earlier epoch are still more important for the following epoch than its perfections. The perfections are there to be studied, but what has been elaborated to a certain degree of perfection on the earth has, as it were, reached an end, has come to a conclusion in evolution. What has not been perfected is the seed of the following divine evolutionary process. Here we come to a remarkable, magnificent paradox. The greatest blessing for a subsequent period is the fruitful imperfection, the fruitful, justifiable imperfection of an earlier period. What has been perfected in an earlier epoch is there to be enjoyed. Imperfection, however, imperfection originating in great men whose influences have remained for posterity, helps to promote creative activity in the following period. Hence, there is obviously tremendous wisdom in the fact that imperfections remain in the neighborhood of the earth, inscribed in the records of the Akasha Chronicle between earth and moon.
This brings us to the point where we can begin to understand the principle that perfection signifies for the different epochs the end of a stream of evolution, and imperfection, the beginning of an evolutionary stream. For imperfection in this sense men should actually be thankful to the gods.” ~Rudolf Steiner Life Between Death and Rebirth Man’s Journey through the Cosmic Spheres after Death
‘The Devil Presenting Saint Augustine with the Book of Vices’; painting by Michael Pacher, fifteenth centuryJudah Maccabee by Arthur Szyk
“Among the five sons of Mattathias is one who is already called Judas in the Old Testament. He was the one who at that time fought more bravely than all the others for his own people. In his whole soul he was dedicated to his people, and it was he who was successful in forming an alliance with the Romans against King Antiochus of Syria (I Maccabees, Chap. 8). This Judas (Maccabeus =The Hammer) is the same who later had to undergo the test of the betrayal, because he who was most intimately bound up with the old specifically Hebrew element, could not at once find the transition into the Christian element, needing the severe testing of the betrayal. Again, if we look at the purely artistic aspect, how wonderfully do the two figures stand out: the grand figure of the Judas in the last chapters of the Old Testament and the Judas of the New Testament. It is remarkable that in this symptomatic process, the Judas of the Old Testament concluded an alliance with the Romans, prefiguring all that happened later, namely the path that Christianity took through the Roman Empire, so that it could enter into the world. If I could add to this something that can also be known but that cannot be given in a lecture to an audience as large as this, you would see that it was precisely through a later reincarnation of Judas that the fusion of the Roman with the Christian element occurred. The reincarnated Judas was the first who, as we might say, had the great success of spreading Romanized Christianity in the world. The treaty concluded by the Judas of the Old Testament with the Romans was the prophetic foreshadowing of what was later accomplished by another man, who is recognized by occultists as the reincarnation of that Judas who had to go through the severe soul-testing of the betrayal. What through his later influence appears as Christianity within Romanism and Romanism within Christianity is like a renewal of the alliance concluded between the Old Testament Judas and the Romans, but transferred into the spiritual.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Gospel of Mark: Lecture 2
“If we let his “Last Supper” work on us, we find two things of which we can say that they do not altogether agree with Leonardo’s view of the principles of painting. One is the figure of Judas. From the reproductions and also to a certain extent from the shadowy painting in Milan, one gets the impression that Judas is quite covered in shadow — he is quite dark. Now when we study how the light falls from the different sides, and how with regard to the other eleven disciples the lighting conditions are represented in the most wonderful manner in accordance with reality, nothing really explains the darkness on the face of Judas. Art can give us no answer as to the wherefore of this darkness. This is fairly clear as regards the Judas figure. If we now turn to the Christ Figure, approaching it not according to Spiritual Science but according to the external view, it only produces, as it were, something like a suggestion. Just as little as the blackness, the darkness of the Judas figure seems justifiable, just as little does the “sunniness” of the Christ Figure, standing out as it does from the other figures, seem to be justified, in this sense. We can understand the lighting of all the other countenances but not that of Judas nor that of Christ Jesus. Then, as if of itself, the idea comes into one’s mind: surely the painter has striven to make evident that in these two opposites, Jesus and Judas, light and darkness proceed not from outside but from within. He probably wished to make us realize that the light on the face of the Christ cannot be explained by the outer conditions of light, and yet we can believe that the Soul behind this Countenance is itself a light force, so that It can shine of Itself, in spite of the lighting conditions. In the same way the impression with respect to Judas, is, that this form itself conjures up a shadow which is not explained by the shadows around it.
This is, as already said, a hypothesis of Spiritual Science, but one that has developed in me in the course of many years and we may believe that the more we considered the problem the more we would find it substantiated. According to this hypothesis one can understand how Leonardo, who strove to be true to nature in all his work and study, worked with trembling brush to present a problem that could only be justified with respect to this one figure. We can then understand that he might well be bitterly disappointed, indubitably so, because it was impossible by means of the then existing art to bring this problem to expression with complete truthfulness and probability. Because he could not yet do what he wanted, he finally despaired of the possibility of its execution and had to leave a picture behind him which still did not satisfy him, and the question as to the feelings with which Leonardo left his picture can be answered in full accord with the whole figure and spiritual greatness of Leonardo. He left it with a feeling of bitterness, realizing that in his most important work he had set himself a task, the execution of which could never be satisfactory with the means available to man. If in the centuries to come no eye will see the picture Leonardo had conjured on to the wall at Milan — that, in any case, was certainly not what lived in his soul. If we picture him thus before his most important creation, we are indeed tempted to ask: What secret really lay behind this figure?”
“…We see very little of Leonardo by looking at his external creations; we get the idea that this soul has still to carry out something in a super-sensible existence and we say to ourselves: Oh! We understand! In order that this soul, in the whole course of its collective existence, which runs through many earth lives, could always reveal something to mankind, it had in its Leonardo existence to pass through a life in which it was only able to bring to expression the very smallest part of what lived within it. Such souls as Leonardo are world riddles and life riddles — world riddles incarnate… Leonardo’s greatness only becomes evident to us when we get an inkling of what he could NOT accomplish. ~Rudolf Steiner, Leonardo da Vinci – His Spiritual and Intellectual Greatness At the Turning Point of the New Age
Kaysha Siemens
‘Velsum’ (Victory in Wholeness) an Anthroposophical Musical Initiative created by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer performing New Nightingale, New Roseon Easter Sunday
Live streaming from the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago. Join us in-person or online.
PLEASE NOTE: BELOW IS THE NEW ZOOM CODE – AND NEW TIME – (Please disregard the last notices & use the new link to register for this event even if you think you have already registered – sorry for the confusion)
This offering will not be recorded – it is meant for Easter Sunday only.
These 2 Christened voices came together for the “Building the Temple of the Heart” 2021 ASA AGM conference & have gone on to co-create a new musical genre that they call: Ancient Futurism. This past year they have been workshopping this initiative at Angelic Organics Farm graciously hosted by Haidy & Farmer John Peterson, who have put culture back into Agriculture by building a Temple stage to host Anthroposophical events in their glorious Barn building. The Debut of Velsum occurred there on Lazarus Saturday 2022.
Easter Sunday 17 April 2022 Doors open at 12:30 pm CDT 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, Il. 60618 NEW TIME: Performance 1-2pm CDT Potluck Easter Feast 2-3 pm CDT
$10 or more suggested donation goes to the artists –
Chicago Friends – Please Bring Hardy Festive Food & Drink to Share
Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651 One tap mobile +13126266799,,85964975651# US (Chicago) +16468769923,,85964975651# US (New York)
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651 Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb1j1PB3WRFor more info. contact Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
Dear friends – I am not a tech person, I research & write & contemplate Anthroposophy, & I do a lot of work to find the images that highlight the content, BUT I do not understand the tech behind the web site. I apologize. So if an issue comes up where something isn’t functioning I have to ask for help. Often my beloved husband can lend a hand, even though he is very busy like myself & not a tech savvy guy either. So if you see that something isn’t working – Kindly email me, or volunteer to help on the backend.
It appears GoDaddy the host for this site has updated something with their firewall that has been treating your comments as spam. So if you tried to comment recently, which BTW I really appreciate, you probably experienced a message that said: ‘Access Denied – GoDaddy Website Firewall’. I discovered this by trying to share a comment myself.
Please friends I would never block your comments intentionally, I wouldn’t even know how to do that. My beloved CG helped me contact GoDaddy & they are working on fixing the problem. Sorry for the inconvenience. Yours in service ~hag
14 April 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”
“Everybody should be reminded by the Easter festival, that there will be the resurrection of the spirit out of the present darkened nature of the human being”. ~Rudolf Steiner, The Riddles of the World and Anthroposophy
215 – Birthday of Mani the prophet & founder of Manichaeism – see Rudolf Steiner’s lectures GA 104 & 113
1126 – Averroes, a medieval Spanish polymath. He wrote on logic, Aristotelian & Islamic philosophy, theology, the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, psychology, political & Andalusian classical music theory, geography, mathematics, & the mediæval sciences of medicine, astronomy, physics, & celestial mechanics. Averroes was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy against Ash’ari theologians led by Al-Ghazali.
In1561 on this date it was Good Friday. Around dawn there was a mass sighting of celestial phenomena over Nuremberg, residents of Nuremberg saw what they described as an aerial battle, followed by the appearance of a large black triangular object & then a large crash outside of the city. According to witnesses, there were hundreds of spheres, cylinders & other odd-shaped objects that moved erratically overhead.
A broadsheet news article was printed later that month, describes objects of various shapes including crosses, globes, two lunar crescents, a black spear & tubular objects from which several smaller, round objects emerged & darted around the sky at dawn.
“In the morning of April 14, 1561, at daybreak, between 4 and 5 a.m., a dreadful apparition occurred on the sun, and then this was seen in Nuremberg in the city, before the gates and in the country – by many men and women. At first there appeared in the middle of the sun two blood-red semi-circular arcs, just like the moon in its last quarter. And in the sun, above and below and on both sides, the color was blood, there stood a round ball of partly dull, partly black ferrous color. Likewise there stood on both sides and as a torus about the sun such blood-red ones and other balls in large number, about three in a line and four in a square, also some alone. In between these globes there were visible a few blood-red crosses, between which there were blood-red strips, becoming thicker to the rear and in the front malleable like the rods of reed-grass, which were intermingled, among them two big rods, one on the right, the other to the left, and within the small and big rods there were three, also four and more globes. These all started to fight among themselves, so that the globes, which were first in the sun, flew out to the ones standing on both sides, thereafter, the globes standing outside the sun, in the small and large rods, flew into the sun. Besides the globes flew back and forth among themselves and fought vehemently with each other for over an hour. And when the conflict in and again out of the sun was most intense, they became fatigued to such an extent that they all, as said above, fell from the sun down upon the earth ‘as if they all burned’ and they then wasted away on the earth with immense smoke. After all this there was something like a black spear, very long and thick, sighted; the shaft pointed to the east, the point pointed west. Whatever such signs mean, God alone knows. Although we have seen, shortly one after another, many kinds of signs on the heaven, which are sent to us by the almighty God, to bring us to repentance, we still are, unfortunately, so ungrateful that we despise such high signs and miracles of God. Or we speak of them with ridicule and discard them to the wind, in order that God may send us a frightening punishment on account of our ungratefulness. After all, the God-fearing will by no means discard these signs, but will take it to heart as a warning of their merciful Father in heaven, will mend their lives and faithfully beg God, that He may avert His wrath, including the well-deserved punishment, on us, so that we may temporarily here and perpetually there, live as his children. For it, may God grant us his help, Amen”. Art by Hanns Glaser, letter-painter of Nurnberg
1759 – Deathday of G.F. Handel – composer
1865 Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln died the next day
1900 – The Exposition Universelle – a world’s fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century & to accelerate development into the next. The fair, visited by nearly 50 million, displayed many machines, inventions, & architecture that are now nearly universally known, including the Grande Roue de Paris Ferris wheel, Russian nesting dolls, diesel engines, talking films, escalators, & the telegraphone (the first magnetic audio recorder)
1912 – The sinking of the Titanic
1935 – Exclusion from the General Anthroposophical Society of Ita Wegman, Elisabeth Vreed & other members also 2 national societies
1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck is first published
2010 – Over 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
2014 – 276 schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria
Moving thru Easter-Tide with more thoughts from Velsum: The Songs As Spiritual Scientific Documents
During Velsum’s writing process, spiritual scientific research is a central activity. The songs are born directly out of a spiritual scientific interest in the human being and reality as a whole. Due to this central aspect of Velsum’s initiative, Ultra-Violet and I felt it to be of service to these song beings, as well as to all the other spiritual impulses and beings who have helped form Velsum’s initiative, to offer some writing on this multi-faceted topic. With Ultra’s help, I have therefore taken the songs as an opportunity to do this. In the following paragraphs, you will be able to explore not only the lyrics of Velum’s songs; additionally you will be able to read spiritual scientific writings on their meanings, as well as historical anecdotes that help contextualize Velsum’s music and initiative as a whole in a variety of ways.
In reading this writing, it should be recognized that Velum’s music, like all music, exists on multiple levels of consciousness. While these songs were born out of specific spiritual scientific conversations and experiences, they do not exist solely within the meanings through which we have described them. They exist in whichever way they are beheld by one who engages with them. Beings and realities are infinitely sided—indeed, they have no sides—and therefore, these writings are a perspective written by an informed individual, and they are intended to serve as a potential inspiration for anyone who is interested in a deeper inquiry into the nature of anthroposophy, music, social relationship, and how life and art may become self-consciously unified as one spiritual initiative.
It is with great joy that I am able to share my spiritual scientific research in this context. And I pray that these extremely condensed explorations may become unfolded in the hearts and heads of those who have interest in their inner content. If read with care and openness, I believe this unfolding will occur.
For the Love of I Am
Where do we go from here? Do we say I do? How will we pray For the Love of I Am? Where do we go from here?
Blessed be the Son of our hearts Who enkindles the light of the world As consciousness of Amen. Let us in freedom be singing. Let us in truth be.
For the Love of I Am is a foundation stone for our initiative, Velsum. It is an acknowledgement of the present, and the unique way in which the present may serve the future. It recognizes that once we have asked the divine question, we have already been received by its answer. The marriage of this sacred call and response is the being of this song. While the questions in the first stanza may be regarded as sacraments, the statements in the second stanza may be experienced as the prayers in which these sacraments are blessed. When, through Sophianic thought, we bless these sacraments with these prayers, we invite ourselves into the divine marriage of Christ and the human being. For the Love of I Am knows that humanity’s Love is the consciousness of Amen. And in that freedom, we behold the truth of the human being, who is the script of the Trinity. May this foundation stone be set in music. ~Lucien & Ultra
‘Velsum’ (Victory in Wholeness) an Anthroposophical Musical Initiative created by Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer performing New Nightingale, New Roseon Easter Sunday
Live streaming from the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago. Join us in-person or online.
PLEASE NOTE: BELOW IS THE NEW ZOOM CODE – AND NEW TIME – (Please disregard the last notices & use the new link to register for this event even if you think you have already registered – sorry for the confusion)
This offering will not be recorded – it is meant for Easter Sunday only.
These 2 Christened voices came together for the “Building the Temple of the Heart” 2021 ASA AGM conference & have gone on to co-create a new musical genre that they call: Ancient Futurism. This past year they have been workshopping this initiative at Angelic Organics Farm – graciously hosted by Haidy & Farmer John Peterson, who have put culture back into Agriculture by building a Temple stage to host Anthroposophical events in their glorious Barn building. The Debut of Velsum occurred there on Lazarus Saturday 2022.
Easter Sunday 17 April 2022 Doors open at 12:30 pm CDT 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, Il. 60618 NEW TIME: Performance 1-2pm CDT Potluck Easter Feast 2-3 pm CDT
$10 or more suggested donation goes to the artists –
Chicago Friends – Please Bring Hardy Festive Food & Drink to Share
Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651 One tap mobile +13126266799,,85964975651# US (Chicago) +16468769923,,85964975651# US (New York)
Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 859 6497 5651 Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb1j1PB3WRFor more info. contact Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
