“We need new “impulses” (or springs of action). If one comes to-day with a new “impulse,” it is the last thing that people understand. For if one brings a new “impulse,” whose source is entirely within the spiritual world, and presents it as a remedy for the evils of our age, complaints are heard on all sides, from the extreme right to the extreme left, that it is all incomprehensible. Of course one does not understand it if one wants to retain the old forms of thinking. But to-day it is necessary to overcome these old forms, re-modelling one’s whole soul inwardly. All external revolutions, no matter how agreeable to this or that party or class, lead into the worst of blind alleys and will bring the greatest misery to humankind if not illuminated by the inner revolution of the soul. This means throwing off one’s absorption in the purely materialistic view of the world and preparing actively to receive the spiritual wave that is willing to invade human evolution as a new revelation”. ~Rudolf Steiner – GA 193 – Some Characteristics of To-day – Heidenheim, June 12th, 1919
~What mystery is unfolding
In the heart-fires we are holding
In our hand we our molding
A new destiny…
~hag
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (Help support the RSarchives!)
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (resourses include The original Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner, Wikipedia, Anthrowiki, EarthSky.org, Skyandtelescope.org)
17 May 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: It’s time for Mars’ first conjunction — there are two this Merry Month of May! An hour before sunrise this morning, look east to find Mars above the horizon. The Red Planet, easily visible to the naked eye, sits in far northeastern Aquarius, west of bright Jupiter in Pisces. Venus lies east of Jupiter.
Mars will pass due south of Neptune at 6 P.M. CDT, when the planets aren’t visible above the horizon. However, tomorrow morning Mars is southeast of Neptune.
The Moon now officially reaches perigee, the closest point to Earth in its orbit, at 10:27 A.M. CDT.
Sunrise: 5:43 A.M.
Sunset: 8:10 P.M.
Moonrise: 10:31 P.M.
Moonset: 6:41 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (97%)
1510 – Death-day of Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter of the “golden age” of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the Florentine School under the patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Among Botticelli’s best-known works are The Birth of Venus & Primavera.
1606 – Murder of False Dmitriy I, the only Tsar ever raised to the throne by means of a military campaign. He was the first, & most successful, of three “impostors” who claimed, during the Time of Troubles, to be the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible.
Dmitriy married polish priestess Marina Mniszech. It was the usual practice that when a Russian Tsar married a woman of another faith, she would convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, but she didn’t because Dmitriy had obtained the support of Polish King Sigismund III Vasa & Pope Paul V by promising to reunite the Russian Orthodox Church & the Holy See.
This was considered a betrayal. Ten days after his marriage, commoners stormed the Kremlin & killed Dmitriy. The body was put on display & then cremated, the ashes shot from a cannon towards Poland.
He was the primary character in the opera Boris Godunov, & Modest Mussorgsky’s opera of the same name. His story is also told by Schiller in Demetrius, by Antonín Dvořák in his opera Dimitrij, & Rainer Maria Rilke recounts the overthrow of the False Dimitriy in The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge; Rilke’s only longer prose work. Harold Lamb fictionalizes the demise of the False Dimitriy in “The Wolf Master”.
1792 – New York Stock Exchange founded
1922 – Riot at a Rudolf Steiner lecture in Munich, reported in the New York Times
1973 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.
Announcing an exciting Event on Ascension Thursday, May 26th 7 – 8:30 pm Eastern time.
Climbing Jacob’s Ladder – Celebrating the Festival of Ascension with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
& Eurythmy with Maria Ver Eecke
“In heavy clouds let Him ascend
And so also let Him downward tread.
In cooling streams let Him be sent,
In flames of fire blaze His descent,
In air & essence, sound & dew
To permeate our whole earth thru” ~Novalis
Ascension is a Festival of the Elements, & of the Hierarchies, it relates to the Transfiguration & the fulfillment of the promise of the ‘Second Coming’. Together we will explore the mystery of ‘As Above so Below’.
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg is a trans-denominational minister, essayist, lecturer, performer, and poet. She writes and curates ‘Reverse Ritual, Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year’ and the ‘I Think Speech’ podcast. Hazel’s been the Cultural Events and Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago for over 10 years. She is a member of the Central Regional Council, the School for Spiritual Science, the Esoteric Youth Circle, and the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America.
Register by contacting Diane McGary, mcgary.family@comcast.net, by Sunday, May 22nd. You will receive an email with the zoom link on Tuesday May 24.
Hope to see you there!! – YES! Please feel free to spread the word!
Yours, Diane McGary, mcgary.family@comcast.net, for the the Eastern Region
A Whitsun Festival of United Soul Endeavor & Spirit Community
with the Eastern, Central and Western Regional Councils of the Anthroposophical Society in America
Sunday 29 May 2022 – 3 – 4:30 pm PT, 4-5:30 MT, 5-6:30 pm CT, 6-7:30 pm ET
We will be working with Rudolf Steiner’s THE FIFTH GOSPEL GA 148, Lecture II, 2 October 1913, Oslo
The Whitsun Festival highlights one of the greatest challenges of being human: placing our individual gifts, our individual “I”, in right relationship within the social realm. This challenge is strongly felt during this time of the consciousness soul age. Our groups striving to know Spiritual Science must work together as a community, to have the possibility to create this type of culture, and the opportunity is here for each of us to meet, human to human, where a sacrament is possible in every encounter. Our individual strength comes from our personal development and is enhanced by weaving our gifts together with others, knitting our social world in conscious community.
For more info. contact Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
Topic: All Regions Whitsun
Time: May 29, 2022 05:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7050174041?pwd=WkNaNDlPS0VIMTJUUkE1ZkFMaDh5dz09
Meeting ID: 705 017 4041
Passcode: Whitsun
| The Holy Grail Study Group with the CRC Mysteries of the Holy Grail – from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation June 1, 2022 – 7:15 pm Central (8:15 pm Eastern) “Anyone who approaches these mysteries today must feel that they are confronting and challenging themselves by striving for the virtues of Parzival, while knowing that — because of modern conditions — they are in fact someone else also, the wounded Amfortas. Today we bear this divided nature within us: aspiring Parzival, wounded Amfortas. That is what self-knowledge must lead us to feel. From this recognition will flow the forces which make a unity again of this duality, and will thus advance us a little further in world evolution.”~ from Chapter 15, Rudolf Steiner, The Mysteries of the Holy Grail, Chapter 15 “Acknowledging Amfortas,” excerpts from Steiner’s lecture given at Berlin on 7 February 1913 (GA 144, lecture IV), will be the focus of the June 1 meeting. A transcript of the entire lecture can be found on the RS Archive by clicking this link. * Please consider giving to the development and maintenance of the digital library of Rudolf Steiner’s work. Scroll to the bottom of this message to read more about the RSArchive.org and SteinerLibrary.org |
| The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided among two volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group. This collection of lectures has been republished by Rudolf Steiner Press under the title: “The Mysteries of the Holy Grail — from Arthur and Parzival to Modern Initiation.” The book was compiled and edited by Matthew Barton, published by Rudolf Steiner Press in 2010. This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference: Video Conference Details:Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88210505106 Meeting ID: 882 1050 5106 One tap mobile +13017158592,,81116556762# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,81116556762# US (Chicago) Dial by your location +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcHr5EVwrv If you have questions, please contact Mary Mertz mary.mcginnis@juno.com or Alberto Loya aloyavaca@utexas.edu. There is a knighthood of the 21st century whose riders do not ride through the darkness of physical forests as of old, but through the forest of darkened minds. They are armed with a spiritual armor and an inner sun makes them radiant. Out of them shines healing, healing that flows from the knowledge of the human being as a spiritual being. They must create inner order, inner justice, peace and conviction in the darkness of our time. ~Karl Konig Agenda for this meeting (CST) 7:15 Welcome and Introductions 7:18 Verse 7:25 Study led by volunteers Note: CRC team will ID volunteers Mariarosa – pages 117-123b Marianne – pages 123b-129 7:50 Conversation 8:25 ID volunteers for next meeting 8:28 Close with verse |
