Monthly Archives: August 2022

Portals of Perception

History, Insight, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote
David Anderson

Some notes & thoughts gleaned from a zoom session with Dr. James Dyson during our recent AAP  training: Why did Anthroposophy come into the world when it did? While pondering this question in my meditation this morning I came across this quote by Steiner:

“The change took place to begin with in the spiritual world, in that the Beings who had been leading hitherto were replaced by that spiritual Being who may be described as the Being of Michael. Michael, has taken over the Spiritual guidance of humankind. The fact that Michael is now entering the soul-life and spiritual life of humankind has its visible counterpart on Earth. An ever growing number of people begin to realize that  the human being is livingly and constantly connected, not only through their physical body with the Earth, but through their soul and spirit with the spiritual world.

The human being is thus growing into conscious spiritual knowledge. This is the one aspect of the leadership of Michael, but there is also another. To be sincerely filled with spiritual knowledge also affects the human heart, the human soul. The more the light of Spiritual Science spreads, the less will it remain a mere theory; it will pour out into human feeling, — it will be present in the form of true human love, in ever widening circles.” ~Rudolf Steiner, PLANETARY SPHERES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON MANS LIFE ON EARTH AND IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLDS, VI. Christ and the Metamorphoses of Karma, 19 November 1922, London

Besides the fact that Anthroposophy was primed in the spiritual world thru the Michael School & the Cosmic Cultus in preparation for the New Michael age which began in 1879, just as the kali Yuga was ending, Dyson also thinks Anthroposophy came into the world to usher in the new clairvoyance. (Something we have been exploring thru the Vidar research )

But Dyson asks, How can this be if we can’t even wake up to the Higher Self within ourselves or truly see the divinity within other human beings…since we seem to be facing the ruins of a social karma..?

Rudolf Steiner’s core mission was to bring a practical understanding of karma & reincarnation to the West, but he had to take over the task of bringing Anthroposophy into the world since his teacher Karl Julius Schroer (Plato in an earlier incarnation) was not able to bring his cosmic thinking into the consciousness soul age. Dyson thinks that if Steiner hadn’t died so young he would have brought more insights connecting his core mission with Psychosophy.

Further notes: The human encounter is a threshold experience. Therapy (ie. the knowing of thyself) helps us to have a new kind of relationship to others & to the world.

How can we expand the idea of subject / object in the realm of the physical out into the etheric where the angels & elemental beings as well as our interrelationships live..? This involves the redemption of thinking.

Tomorrow we will explore ‘Psychosythesis’…

Until soon

~hag

23 August 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: As summer progresses and Arcturus moves down the western sky, the kite figure of Bootes sprouts from Arcturus toward the upper right. The Big Dipper slants at about the same height in the northwest, to the Kite’s right.

Vuk

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (sourced from Steiner orginal Calendar of the Soul, Wikipedia Commons, Sky&Telescope)

Sergiu Roman

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” ~Aldous Huxley

Feast Day of Vulcan – The god of fire – including the fire of volcanoes, deserts, metalworking and the forge in ancient Roman religion and myth. He is often depicted with a blacksmith’s hammer. The Vulcanalia was the annual festival held August 23 in his honor. His Greek counterpart is Hephaestus, the god of fire and smithery.

Black Ribbon Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism & Nazism

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade & its Abolition

vesuveus

79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire

1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city’s citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to Khwarezmian (Persian) Empire

1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by khan Tokhtamysh lays siege

1572 –St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Catherine de’ Medici, the mother of King Charles IX.

1754 – Birthday of Louis XVI of France – the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as Citizen Louis Capet during the four months just before he was executed by guillotine. He was the son of Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir-apparent of King Louis XV, and Maria Josepha of Saxony. When his father died in 1765, he became the new Dauphin.

1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong. The ensuing 3-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War

1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Germany

1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany & the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, & Poland are divided between the two nations.

1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad

1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies

1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people

earth rise nasa

1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon

1970 –César Chávez leads the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history

1973 – A bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis, who begin to sympathize with their captors, leading to the term “Stockholm syndrome”

song revo

1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands for restoration of independence

1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union

1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western “guests” (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War

1991 – Tim Berners-Lee opens the World Wide Web to new users

1996 – Osama bin Laden issues message entitled ‘A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.’

2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf killing 143

2011 – A magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurs in Virginia as a result of ‘Fracking’. Damage occurs to monuments & structures in Washington D.C. with damage estimated at 300 million

Marilina Mascias

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~The portals of perception
Raw & cluttered await
The revealing –
It is my Self I see –
A 1000 colors swirling in liquid light
A star covered in rising clouds
Hung by a thread from its ocean Moon
Hail Self
Traversing eternity
In moral steps of time
Where the Guardian beckons
~hag

Soul Muse

Biography, History, Poetry, Remembering
Primavera ~Botticelli (I never noticed before how it looks like lungs around the main figure…)

The amazing painting by Botticelli called ‘Primavera’ – was the perfect way to engage us in an AAP presentation with Vincent Roppolo & Laurie Schmiesing where we got to ‘Experience the Soul Forces & the Observer Self through Art’.

Thinking – past –judgment – Can we lift it up & just witness? Then in thinking we can know ourselves.

Feeling – present –an inside / outside experience where sympathies & antipathies are like a wave in our emotional life.  Can we live in the now with equanimity?

Willing – future –action – Say yes & then the future unfolds.

In the spiritual world: Thinking comes from the Fixed Stars – Feeling from the Wandering stars – & Willing, from the Inner Earth.

We looked at the ‘Primavera’ painting by Botticelli – specifically The 3 Muses –  Thinking of them as the representations of the 3 Soul Forces portrayed thru Eurythmy in Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery Dramas – Which one is Philia, what posture does Luna hold, & Astrid…?

We got into groups of 3 & mimicked the poses – the arms the feet, the tilt of the head, the gaze. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. We danced around & traded places – A fun informative way to live into the gesture of the Soul. Each group shared their experience.

Which one is which for you?  Which of the 3 do you most resonate to…?  What a delightful way to live into these concepts.

We are left asking: Are my soul forces able to dance in harmony?

Ever dancing

~hag

22 August 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
LAMMASTIDE IV
Transition from Summer to Autumn
The Nemesis Of The Lower Self
v20
So I begin to feel my being, I,
who far from universal being
would perish, I who self-confined,
developing from me alone,
must die.

This week’s Soul Calendar quartet is unique. It is the square quartet,
the only one with the words of death (v20 & v33) and threatening
(v7 & 46). They are verses testing the soul, and to me they appear
as initiation verses preparing for a new season.
The astronomical seasons begin at the equinoxes and solstices;
the meteorological ones on month dates, Autumn in September.
I think these verses, often described as corner verses, can be felt
as transitions to new seasons, requiring new soul developments.
Autumn this year then in the soul calendar would begin next week.
The summer’s expanded soul with a new seed of consciousness
must now surrender its lower self, pass through death for a new life,
or else her potential higher self will die.
The mirror verse presents the need for new human work on ourselves
to save our Earth. Communing with Her… may a new world arise!

ALL HALLOWTIDE III
Transition from Autumn to Winter
World Nemesis, Or Resurrection?
v33
And so I come to feel the world,
which left without my soul’s communion
would be just frosty, empty life,
and powerless to resurrect in souls,
arise anew in human self-creation,
would in itself alone find only death.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history… It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science.” ~Rachel Carson

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary & the Queenship of Mary– a logical follow-up to the Assumption, now celebrated on the octave day of that feast

392 –Birthday of Eugenius elected – the last Roman Emperor to support polytheism

Image result for Odoacer a soldier became the first King of Italy

476 – Birthday of Odoacer a soldier became the first King of Italy. His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire

565 –Birthday of  Columbaa, Christian saint -one of the ‘Twelve Apostles of Ireland’ reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness, Scotland

Image result for Pope Gregory IX, established the Papal Inquisition

1241 – Deathday of Pope Gregory IX, established the Papal Inquisition

Image result for 1849 – The first air raid in history. Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice

1849 – The first air raid in history. Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice

Image result for first geneva convention 1864

1864 – Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention

1862 – Birthday of Claude Debussy

1902 – Cadillac Motor Company is founded

1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President to ride in an automobile

Image result for Rudolf Steiner’s 4th Mystery Drama: The Souls’ Awakening

1913 – 1st performance of Rudolf Steiner’s 4th Mystery Drama: The Souls’ Awakening

Image result for 1932 – The BBC begins television broadcasting using John Logie Baird’s system

1932 – The BBC begins television broadcasting using John Logie Baird’s system

1941 – World War II: German troops begin the Siege of Leningrad

1944 – World War II: Holocaust of Kedros in Crete by German force

Image result for Francis Delaisi, French social economist

1947 – Deathday of Francis Delaisi, French social economist spoken of by Rudolf Steiner in ‘Fall of the Spirits of Darkness’ Lecture 14 Dornach, 28 October 1917 (see except below)

Image result for 1961 – Ida Siekmann dies attempting to cross the Berlin Wall

1961 – Ida Siekmann dies attempting to cross the Berlin Wall

Image result for 1962 – The OAS attempts to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle

1962 – The OAS attempts to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle

Image result for 1971 – J. Edgar Hoover & John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28, a group of “Catholic left”

1971 – J. Edgar Hoover & John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28, a group of “Catholic left” anti-Vietnam War activists who executed a raid on a Camden, New Jersey draft board

2006 – Russian passenger plane crashes over eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board

~i am the word
before it’s utterance
i am a thought
in the throat of god –
She spits me out
in a belly laugh
& thought finds it’s form
in me…
~hag

Vidarmas

Biography, Community, Festival, Poetry, Rudolf Steiner Quote

Greetings – On Saturday 20 August 2022, a group of us met in the Upper Room of the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago, to explore the idea of co-creating a New Festival called Vidarmas to acknowledge the Archangel Vidar, in connection to our need to experience ‘The Etheric Christ‘ which is our task in this age.

We opened with the recitation of a Poem by ~Mac Andrew called ‘Woden and the Grail‘:

And Odin hung for nine days
from the Earth’s One Tree,
his eye gouged for wisdom gained,
a loss so he could see.

He waited long upon this throne
as Godlike days passed.
For the future he’d wait to see;
how to make his time last.

The One-God was coming
for this was surely told
but how to manage tomorrow
for the long lost Gods of old.

His wolves, and horse, and crows
they stood and gathered near
looking long for his wisdom
against the lives they held so dear.

Then Odin smiled upon the ninth day
for the answer there did lie
within the Earthen Tree
he had helped himself to tie.

Lowered now to the ground,
sodden by his many tears,
he drew nigh his greatest friends
those who waited the many years.

Turning to the tree he drew
deep from within its heart
a living chalice made of wood
from which to make a start.

Come my friends gather round
and for the past do not wail
as we hold the future steady now
within this Earthen Holy Grail.

While Lucien wrote on the black board, I shared a few leading thoughts gleaned from my work with Prokofieff’s indications encapsulating the Spiritual Science of Rudolf Steiner in his amazing book: “The Cycle of the year as a Path of Initiation Leading to an Experience of the Christ Being, An Esoteric Study of the Festivals” – the 12th & final chapter on: “The Modern Mysteries of the Etheric Christ” expounding on “The Vidar Mystery”.

Druidic ‘gravestone’ of Vidar found in Niederdollendorf near Colonge

a few Highlights:
“This individuality of Wotan or Odin (who Steiner calls an Archangel) is the same as the one who later appeared with the same mission under the name Buddha”. (GA105 August 14 1908)

“When the Buddha appeared to the shepherds in the picture of the ‘heavenly host’, he was not in a physical body but in an astral body. He had assumed a body in which he could still send his influences to the Earth….This body is called a Nirmanakaya’. ” (GA 114, 17 September 1909)

Every human being has a guardian angel; before Siddhārtha became the Gautama-Buddha he had one too. When he achieved Buddhahood his angel was ‘freed’ & went on to work with the Christ thru the pre-earthly deeds & with the Nathan Soul who then incarnated as the Luke Jesus. You can read about this angel in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 2 & in Matthew 1:18–25.

Steiner speaks about the Nirmanakaya of the Buddha with all its “Youthful forces” becoming the astral body of the Nathan Jesus when he was 12.

It is the Buddha’s’ Angel, who we later learn is Vidar, who comes to the aid of the etheric body of Christ Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when the Ahrimanic death forces were threatening to kill the body before Christ’s deed on Golgotha was completed. “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him”. (Luke 22-43)

According to Rudolf Steiner in 1879 the Angel of Gautama Buddha ascends into the sphere of the Archangels, taking the place vacated by Michael, who at this time completes his ascent to the rank of Archai. This angel being then went on to work with the Christ in the etheric.

Then we went around & read together Rudolf Steiner’s Lecture THE MISSION OF FOLK-SOULS, GA 121,, Lecture XI, 17 June 1910, Christiania – Here is a powerful quote from our study:

“All these details which are set forth in the ‘Twilight of the Gods’, correspond with that which is to appear to humankind in a newer etheric vision, which in reality refers to the future. The Fenris Wolf will still remain. Oh, there is a deep, deep truth concealed in this account of the Fenris Wolf remaining behind in conflict with Odin. In the near future of humankind there will be no danger so great as the tendency to remain satisfied with the old clairvoyance, — instead of developing the new by means of new forces — the danger that humanity might be tempted to remain satisfied with what the old astral clairvoyance of primal ages could give, namely, soul-pictures such as that of the Fenris Wolf. It would also be a severe trial for that which has to grow up in the domain of Anthroposophy, if in that, the tendency towards all sorts of confused, chaotic clairvoyance should arise…

Something very different must come in. And what that is, is, however, known to Celtic-Germanic-Norse mythology — it is well aware of its existence. It knows, that there exists the etheric form in which will embody that which we shall once again see as the etheric form of Christ. And this alone will succeed in driving out the confused clairvoyant power which would bewilder humankind…
Vidar, who has kept silence all the time, will overcome the Fenris Wolf. That also is told us in the ‘Twilight of the Gods’.

Anyone who recognizes the importance of Vidar and feels him in their soul, will find that beginning in the twentieth century the capacity can again be given to humanity with which to see Christ.

Vidar, who belongs to us all, will again stand before the human being. Vidar was kept secret in the Mysteries and secret Schools as a god who would receive his mission only in the future.”

We had lively discussions throughout the evening. Then to get us up on our feet to vibrate from our lips & lungs, Lucien Dante Lazar & Ultra-Violet Archer of The Musical initiative: Velsum: Voices of Ancient Futurism brought us a song they wrote for the occasion.

Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Come upon us.
Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Give us your trust.

Let us meet you in the threshold.
Let us know you in the Light.
Let us carry forth your banner
In selfless might!

Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Come upon us.
Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Give us your trust.

In the flowing of the spirit
From the Northern sickle moon,
We will harvest your new impulse
In joyous truth!

Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Come upon us.
Vidar!
Vidar!
Vidar!
Give us your trust.

Lucien & Ultra invited us to co-write a 3rd verse; so folks pop-corned ideas, & we will work more with that for our next gathering…

Here are the links to the recordings of the song they taught us.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QLvn4bSTEbjSptZe6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AGbartxJFFJmNvTf9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cc8YQTQHZeyGBsaL7

Lucien suggested we end by doing a group poem, each going around saying 1 word. Here is what came forth from our collective efforts for our closing verse: “Speak from the light wherein resolution leads to our hearts fulfillment of the Etheric Christ with courage.”

Vidar at the gates of Shambala by Daniel Ospina

Daniel Ospina the artist of this amazing painting held a meeting at the same time in Ireland where they also read the lecture. The invitation was taken up by other branches including one in Colombia as well. If you dear reader have also taken up this impulse to know Vidar, please share your insights. Let’s keep this knowing going.

Many Thanks to Are Thoresen for sparking our interest in this Being whose powerful mission is calling us to participate.

May the Spiritual Scientific Research that we began into the Festival we are calling Vidarmas, continue to thrive.

~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago

The Music in You

Biography, Celestial Event, Community, Festival, Rudolf Steiner Quote

Continuing on from yesterday’s “Awakening to Community” exploration of the AAP training (Association for Anthroposophical Psychology) I will open with a question Alan Thewless began his seminar with: What is the soul’s connection to the whole cosmos?

The astral body is music! – The etheric body works out of the rhythms of cosmic sculpture, with the astral body moving in the cosmic melody – We are the Rhythm & Melody of the Uni-verse!

The 7 planets living in our organs & chakras are the bridge to the Music of the Spheres! We go out to the periphery & then come back into the center of ourselves.

tobiasart

Saturn is as the Guardian to the Solar System – a boundary to the Stars of the constellations – from the sense world to the spiritual world, holding the energy of the ‘Priest’.

Jupiter asks: What is wisely working in us? The Kingly energy

Mars is our critical thinking – bringing us necessity & discernment: Yes or no; affirming our individuality – our ability to assert ourselves. We can ask: Am I being too critical, to harsh? The warrior.

In the Sun Sphere we say Yes to who we are. The administrator

We come to earth to give this something to the world – we come to care, bringing in the Venus quality of faithfulness & our gift of experiencing & creating beauty – to be & to give Love. The Care Giver

Once this love is part of us we can truly share & teach, working out of the Mercury sphere. The teacher.

The Moon brings our digested experience into our thinking. The Artist.

The planets – the wandering stars – are connected with Time – the vowels. The constellations of the Zodiac – the fixed Stars – bring us the concept of Space – the formative forces of the consonants. Our etheric body is the bridge between the 2.

Experiencing the cosmos within us, as well as out in nature, revitalizes our etheric being & the universe responds with joy at our interaction.

Alan asked: Which planetary quality do you most resonate to? Then we were invited to stand with a group of our fellows each in their chosen place. I was with the Saturn group – the Priests. What about you?

More tomorrow…Until soon (BTW: you can still join our cohort for the 3 year the training)

~hag

20 August 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The last-quarter Moon shone between Mars and the Pleiades early Friday morning the 19th. On Sunday morning the 21st it’s between the horntips of Taurus: Beta and fainter Zeta Tauri.

Chirila Corina

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day – “…Suppose that you could take the human being as you see him here and turn him inside out so that his inside — the heart, for instance — would become the outer surface. If this could be done taking hold of him in the inmost heart and turning him inside out like a glove, then man would not remain man as we see him here; he would enlarge into a universe. For if we had the faculty to concentrate in a single point within our heart, and then to turn ourselves inside out in spirit, we could become this world that we otherwise experience between death and a new birth. That is the secret of the inner side of the human being. The heart of the human being is also a world turned inside out. That is how the physical, earthly world is really connected to the spiritual world. We must get used to this “turning inside out.” If we do not, we will never get the right idea concerning how the physical world that surrounds us here relates to the spiritual world.” ~Rudolf Steiner, TODAY 100 years ago – THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY, PART 2: THE MYSTERY OF TRUTH, GA 214, I. Meditation: The Path to Higher Knowledge, 20 August 1922, Oxford

Vidar at the gates of Shambala by Daniel Ospina

Dear freinds – Anthroposophy gives us the opportunity to work with the Cycle of the Year as a modern path of Initiation into the New Mysteries. In our striving we not only renew, but we are being called from the future to co-create entirely new Festivals.

Join us in doing Spiritual Scientific research into the Being called Vidar – 

Vidar-mas? – An exploration that may perhaps lead into a new Festival for this Archangel of our Time.

Having received insights from Are Thoresen at the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago last week, we are taking up our own research into the new Archangel Vidar, who stands as Guardian to the Threshold of the Etheric Realm, in protection of the Nathan Soul, opening the Northern Stream of Initiation to those who would approach the Etheric Christ . In a recent spiritual experience, Are Thoresen suggested that August 20th may be the Feast Day of Vidar..?

All are invited to join us, where ever you are, in reading a lecture by Rudolf Steiner which brings to life this new Archangel Vidar.

We welcome your feedback as to whether or not August 20th resonates as a new Feast Day that we might call Vidar-mas..?

THE MISSION OF FOLK-SOULS, GA 121, Lecture XI, 17 June 1910, Christiania https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/19100617p01.html.

Meeting in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago or wherever you are
20 August 2022, at 5 pm PT / 6 pm MT / 7 pm CT / 8 pm PT

From Maverick a student of Astrosophy: “On the sheets given us by the Star House called “Sun Chronicle of the Christ Events”, Aug. 20th shows the Sun in sidereal longitude at 2 to 3 degrees in Leo – where the Sun is at home in the sign it rules. The Christ events occurring then are: Aug.20th – the conversation at Jacob’s well (so the 1st time Christ Jesus revealed to anyone other than the disciples that He was the Messiah), and Aug. 20/21st – the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago

Dear friends – As Anthroposophers we are called to do active Spiritual Scientific research, not take any persons word for anything. So being that the Festival Life can be a path of initiation into the New Mysteries, we thought to explore this Being Vidar further in connection to our task in this age of understanding the etheric Christ, which Rudolf Steiner speaks about in GA 121, the lecture we will study together today. By doing so we are in no way suggesting that we are to replace Michael as the Time Spirit holding the Zeitgeist of the age, or that this exploration would in any way eradicate Michaelmas as the true Christian Festival that it is.

Druidic gravestone of Vidar found in Niederdollendorf near Colonge 

“…The communications given out from Rosicrucian sources must be tested rather than believed, tested not superficially by the superficial methods of modern science, but ever more conscientiously…The more you test them, the more you will find them confirmed from this source. You must accept nothing on authority. The best students of Spiritual Science are those who take what is said as a stimulus in the first place and test it by the facts of life itself. For in life too, at every stage of life, you can test what is given out from the sources of Rosicrucianism. It is far from my intention in these lectures to lay down dogmas and claim that the facts are such and such and must be believed. Verify them by an exchange of views with people of able and active mind and you will find confirmation of what has been said as a prophetic indication of the future manifestation of Christ. You need only open your eyes and verify it objectively; we make no appeal to belief in authority. This need to test everything received from Spiritual Science should become a kind of basic attitude permeating our whole approach.

I should like to impress upon you, therefore, that it is not anthroposophical to accept a statement as dogma on the authority of this or that person; but it is truly anthroposophical to allow oneself to be stimulated by Spiritual Science and to verify what is communicated by life itself.” ~Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE INDIVIDUAL FOLK SOULS, GA 121, 11. Nerthus, Freyja and Gerda. Twilight of the Gods. Vidar and the new Revelation of Christ, 17 June 1910, Oslo

Awakening to Community

Biography, Community, Festival, History
Elizabeth Wang

“All community building eventuates in a higher being descending from the world of the spirit to reign over and unite people who have come together in a common cause.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Awakening to Community, Lecture 9, 3 March 1923

I felt this Steiner quote to be true in a very real sense as we were building the container during our 1st session of cohort #5’s AAP training (Association for Anthroposophical Psychology).

45 diverse folks from various backgrounds came together in Rose Hall at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills of for an intensive week of learning amidst sacred encounters.

The tag team sessions with Tonya Stoddard & Susan Overhauser really made familiar themes like the Soul Forces pop, enlivening us with head, hands & heart. The topic ‘Empathic Resonance & Self Knowledge’ had a deep impact on me. (Empath – a path to meet “I to I”)

Resonance begins by emptying the dissonant chatter of the monkey mind, or any preconceived judgmental baggage that gets in the way of truly listening & being present in the encounter. To do this we must really strive to ‘Know Thyself’ – to recognize our own content – to be willing to let it go, so the “I” of the other can enter.

Reactions get in the way of resonating. We have to ask ourselves what are we attached to – see it,  & then move it aside – It is a sacrifice to set yourself aside – to release the fear of not being seen ourselves. Just Like in meditation our “I” needs to ‘go to sleep’ to truly witness the essence of the other. This strengthens our will.

As we work with our angel, actively engaging our angel with the angel of the other, we can hear what karma is calling in from the future. Yep, it’s about listening to hear, not to talk. Will my question enhance their experience, or is it just my curiosity, my need? Can I stay quiet inside & outside?

We have to hold the silence to let the resonance resound. This allows space for a 3rd Being to arise between the 2 “I’s”. A Being created out of interest, reverence & love. This living Being has phases just like the relationship does. Our etheric life processes that come from warmth are nourishing to it. Co-creating a mood of wonder, reverence & awe helps continue the advance of this 3rd being.

Dr. James Dyson wasn’t present but the few things he said on zoom stood out, like: ‘The human encounter has the potential to develop future worlds.’ I have certainly taken that into my thinking.

Knowing the group was consciously working together with the help of the ‘Digestion Sessions’ in the evenings lead to a powerful backward review every night – welcoming in the future stream of time, allowing the beings of the spiritual worlds to be more conscious. And the ‘Echo Space’ in the mornings was a wonderful way to bring the lessons from ‘Night School’ into perspective.

And throughout, the eurythmy with Karen Derreumaux created the perfect atmosphere, molding the group into an etheric chalice, the beginnings of a spiritual vessel for a new AAP Archangel as per Steiner’s quote:

“All community building eventuates in a higher being descending from the world of the spirit to reign over and unite people who have come together in a common cause.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Awakening to Community, Lecture 9, 3 March 1923

More tomorrow

In gratitude for this working

~hag

19 August 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: For months, most of the naked-eye planets have been hanging out in the early morning sky. Now Saturn becomes the first of the crew to return to evening view as early as late twilight. Saturn emerges low in the southeast as twilight fades. Once night is dark, look just lower left of it for Delta Capricorni.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

 “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” ~H.G. Wells

World Humanitarian Day

Temple of Venus 1747 Painting by Louis - Joseph Le Lorrain ...

295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty & fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War

43 BC –Caesar Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul

Stats Geeks Reveal Shocking Trend in Mortality of Roman Emperors ...

14 AD – Deathday of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus

Lancashire Witch Trials of 17th-Century England

1612 – The “Samlesbury witches“, three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury, England, are put on trial, accused of practicing witchcraft, one of the most famous witch trials in British history

TOP 25 QUOTES BY BLAISE PASCAL (of 727) | A-Z Quotes

1662 – Deathday of Blaise Pascal a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer &Christian philosopher. He was a child prodigy, while still a teenager he started some pioneering work on calculating machines. Following a religious experience in late 1654, he began writing influential works on philosophy & theology. His two most famous works set in the conflict between Jansenists & Jesuits. Rudolf Steiner wrote about him in GA 131, From Jesus to Christ: Lecture I: Jesuit and Rosicrucian Training

What Were The Salem Witch Trials? Explore The Facts And History ...

1692 – Salem witch trials: In Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five women, & a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft

France gave the daguerreotype photographic process as a free gift ...

1839 – The French government announces that Louis Daguerre’s photographic process is a gift “free to the world”. Viewing a daguerreotype is unlike looking at any other type of photograph. The image does not sit on the surface of the metal, but appears to be floating in space, & the illusion of reality.

Two Treaties of Fort Laramie | What Really Happened at Standing Rock?

1854 – The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear & in return are massacred

Producing helium from natural gas

1868 – Jules Janssen discovered Helium during a solar eclipse

1919 – Afghanistan gains full independence from the United Kingdom

40 Adolf Hitler Quotes on War, Politics, Nationalism, And Lies

1934 – The German referendum of 1934 approves Hitler’s appointment as head of state with the title of Führer.

1936 – Deathday of Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet, playwright, & director He was executed by Nationalist forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War

FRANCE END OF WWII | Buy Photos | AP Images | DetailView

1944 – World War II: Liberation of Paris: against German occupation with the help of Allied troops

collapse of the Soviet Union | Causes, Facts, Events, & Effects ...

1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine

art -Vidar at the gates of Shambala Daniel Ospina

Vidar-mas? – A new Festival for the new Archangel of our Time

Spiritual Science gives us the opportunity to work with the Cycle of the Year as a modern path of Initiation into the New Mysteries. In our striving we not only renew, but we are being called from the future to co-create entirely new Festivals.

Having received insights from Are Thoresen at the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago this weekend, we are taking up our own research into the new Archangel Vidar, who stands as Guardian to the Threshold of the Etheric Realm, in protection of the Nathan Soul, opening the Northern Stream of Initiation to those who would approach the Etheric Christ . In a recent spiritual experience, Are Thoresen suggested that August 20th may be the Feast Day of Vidar..?

All are invited to join us, where ever you are, in reading a lecture by Rudolf Steiner which brings to life this new Archangel Vidar.

We welcome your feedback as to whether or not August 20th resonates as a new Feast Day that we might call Vidar-mas..?

THE MISSION OF FOLK-SOULS, GA 121, Lecture XI, 17 June 1910, Christiania https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/19100617p01.html.

Meeting in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago or wherever you are

20 August 2022, at 5 pm PT / 6 pm MT / 7 pm CT / 8 pm PT

From Maverick: “On the sheets given us by the Star House called “Sun Chronicle of the Christ Events”, Aug. 20th shows the Sun’s sidereal longitude at 2 to 3 degrees in Leo – so the Sun’s at home in the sign it rules. The Christ events occurring then are: Aug.20th – the conversation at Jacob’s well (so the 1st time Jesus revealed to anyone other than the disciples that He was the Messiah), and Aug. 20/21st – the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg,

Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Chicago