“The Ascension of Christ — the sky into which the Risen One grows — is our very Earth itself. Through Him, the Earth is transformed into Heaven.” ~Emil Bock, The New Testament in the Light of Spiritual Science

Here is the link to last nights Ascension presentation for The Boston Branch.

To continue this contemplation, here are a few more thoughts that I didn’t have time to bring yesterday:

With Anthroposophy we know that the victory over death thru Christ’s deed on Golgotha makes it possible for humanity to continue to reincarnate into physical bodies. Our physical bodies have earth-gravity, but our etheric bodies have Sun levity, SO if Christ’s deed had not taken place, not only would our physical bodies deteriorated over time, but also our etheric bodies would have left the physical for good as well, & the existence of humankind would have come to an end, having no formative forces to give them life.

Christ remains in union with the Earth, which rescues for the Earth the Sunward-striving etheric body.

We know that until the Mystery of Golgotha, the Sun was the dwelling place of the Christ. The human etheric body, which was in danger of being drawn out towards the Sun, like clouds, & dispersed –is held together, contained thru Christ’s cosmic deed, so that we are not dispersed, but can remain individuals.

At the Baptism the Christ Being united with the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth & was therefore united with earthly evolution as a whole.

At the Transfiguration The Christ permeates the etheric body of Jesus.

In the scene of the transfiguration, Christ reveals his higher Sun nature –to the 3 chosen disciples – A visionary manifestation of the fully transformed etheric body, which radiates light like a Sun.

These events are mirrored, & transformed by the mystery of Golgotha. Ascension relates to the Transfiguration & Whitsun to the Baptism.

In the Ascension Christ showed the connection to the spiritual Sun forces which became manifest in the Transfiguration with the etheric bodies of all human beings.

When Christ entered into Jesus at the Baptism, His Sun-Being took over the ego of Jesus, the Zarathustra soul had to leave the body or be completely overpowered.

After the Resurrection the Christ impulse can live within humankind without taking over the ego-consciousness. But in order for this to happen Christ had to Ascend, to open the way for the Holy Spirit to descend.

The benevolent Sun, that gives life generating warmth to all existence, is a bridge, connecting the macrocosm with the microcosm.

Christ has united with the earth in order to make it the New Sun of a New Universe.

The Descent into Hell rescued the physical forces for humanity; the Ascension rescued the formative forces. We can picture the connection between the descent into Hell on Holy Saturday with the Ascension which is the metamorphosis of the scene of the Transfiguration; – & in Whitsun, the transformation of the Baptism.

Just as the experience of the Ascension lies between Easter & Whitsun, so between Good Friday & Easter lies the event known as Christ’s Descent into Hell. Both hold the image of Christ disappearing from sight.

The image of The ‘phantom body of Christ’ is the reconstituted New Adam.

And the ‘Resurrection Body’, points us in the direction of our future evolution, not back to the garden, but going forward, toward the New Jerusalem.

That is why after the Resurrection the Being of Christ couldn’t be touched by Mary Magdalana in the old garden. But then after the time of meeting the 2 on the road to Emmas, Christ in His Angelic form continued materializing & dematerializing at will. This ‘etheric body of Christ’ encompasses the whole of humanity. It is like a cell that is multiplying; growing ever more evident in the etheric realm. –

Rudolf Steiner calls it a redeeming of the group-soul of humankind. A group-soul unified thru Christ in Free Will.

The expression “Put on the Resurrection Body” used by the apostle Paul, is a true picture of what can happen for us. – An imagination of this is secreted in the allegory of the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz , an initiatory image of the 3-fold Festival of Easter-tide…

May we ever strive to ascend, honing our individual development, so that together we can ‘worthily fulfill’ the chalice in the Upper room of our conscious community, into which the Sophia can enkindle & overflow – pouring thru us into the world…

~hag

27 May 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Waning Bella Luna & Venus (occult Mercury) in conversation

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (RSarchives)

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

Birthday of Mary Magdalene – “…Mary Magdalene focuses on the inner worlds of initiation. We imagine that, not through outer pomp and pageantry, but through gnosis or direct knowing, she seeks union with the Divine. Hers is the path of the sacred marriage, accomplished within.” ~ from the preface of ‘The Gospel of Mary Magdalene’ by Jean-Yves Leloup, David Tresemer, PhD, and Laura-Lee Cannon.

1265 – Birthday of Dante (thought to be reincarnated as King John of Saxony. Beyond his political work, John was busy with literature. Under the pseudonym Philalethes he translated to German Dante’s Divine Comedy)

1564 – Deathday of John Calvin an influential French theologian & pastor during the Protestant Reformation, called Calvinism, influenced by the Augustinian tradition. The aim of Calvin’s political theory was to safeguard the rights and freedoms of ordinary people.

1840 – Deathday of Paganini an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, & composer – the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time.

1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian unification.

1907 – Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco

1907 – Birthday of Rachel Carson, American biologist, environmentalist, and author


1933 – The Century of Progress World’s Fair opens in Chicago – Anthroposophers Ehrenfried Pfeiffer & Guenther Wachsmuth came to this!

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 –  at 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