“The first light of Advent is the light of stones.
Stones that live in crystals, & in seashells & in bones.”

Greetings friends on this 1st Sunday of Advent – Everything feels displaced for me this year – Even our Thanksgiving weekend was more untraditional than usual. Somehow this morning I don’t quite feel ready to meet the sting of Advent – Latin for ‘that which is coming’ – A time of preparation, of waiting in the dark, for the return of the light, at Winter Solstice, a time deeply connected with the challenge of the Scorpion.

Can we overcome the consequence of the error & evil in our astral nature, reflected also in society so strongly today, which has separated us from our true divine nature – So that we might prepare the way for the birth of Christ in us at Christmas-tide..?

YES! We can use Advent as a time for transforming the fallen parts of our souls, so we can truly meet the Christmas birth. Advent is a true festival of our current time in world evolution -a karmic call to rededicate ourselves to our spiritual development with its focus on the confrontation with evil.

In the northern hemisphere, the darkness, & the death of nature, mirror the descent of humanity from the light into the darkness of matter at the Fall. 

This ‘missing of the mark’ gives us the chance to cultivate freedom. I am ever striving to connect inwardly to the love, conscience & intelligence of my higher self, listening deeply to what is coming up in my thoughts & feelings.  

I offer them up as questions, as hopes, for transformation, for healing, for redemption of my lower self. It’s hard to sit still, to wait, to be observant, to be malleable & open to change. I have received many not so pleasant insights into parts of myself that need purification, terrifying, or shameful glimpses into my double. Sometimes coming from very unexpected sources, blunt synchronicities, various frenemies, uncanny dreams & visions.

The transformation of the Scorpion, into an Eagle, is a big step; but we can go further – We are called to bring in the essence of the Dove!– This must be our work –  Opening to the Michael-Sophia-Christ flame, the true I Am, born anew in the chalice of the heart at Christmas.

I am inspired by the image of Mary – the Mother God – gestating the emergent body of Jesus within her. Every breath she takes, every beat of her heart, every thought in her mind, devoted to forming the perfect human being capable of holding the divine.

I think of the approaching soul of Jesus, the pure, innocent Nathan soul, described in Luke’s Gospel, preparing to enter into this immaculate body – This soul which has never incarnated into a human being before.

But then I can’t help comparing that original purity & dignity with the way people treat each other these days – so much cliquish derision, cruel disrespect & hatred; all the discrimination – Delusions! that separate & enslave us.

Then I try to think about how this is part of some great plan – to wake us up – to divide the wheat from the chaff, so that we can reclaim our place in the universe as conscious, Christened human beings.

Can we use this time to become more aware of the way in which we are disconnected from our source?  Can we strive to fulfill to our purpose, as we work to remember our Divine origin?

YES! We celebrate Advent to awaken our connection with the cosmic purpose in the Universe.

With Prayers for Peace & Healing-
I Am  ~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler

ADVENT I
New Selfhood’s Wonder
v34
Mysteriously to feel
with newly risen sense of Self
old treasure re-enlivening in me
shall rouse a tide of cosmic forces
that pouring into my endeavour for the world
will print me into what is real.

LAMMASTIDE III
May Memory Awake My Self
v19
Mysteriously to sheathe
my life’s new seed with memory
be now my striving’s further aim
that strengthening it shall awake
my inner power to become

Greetings Dear Ones – Yes, the Holiday Season is upon us.
Come join us today at 2 pm CT on this 1st Sunday of Advent
27 November 2022 

‘Being Mary’ – A Creative Advent Exploration
with Rev. Jeana Lee

Doors open at 1:45 pm, program starts at 2 pm CT 
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society
4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map)

Rev. Jeana Lee grew up in the central coast region of California before attending Smith College where she earned a degree in Chemistry.  She encountered Anthroposophy and Waldorf Education while living in Boulder, CO, and worked as a Waldorf high school teacher in Spring Valley, NY.  There she met The Christian Community and was ordained in May of 2021.  She is now a priest in the Chicago, IL congregation.

For more info. contact the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar
www.rschicago.org/donate

Holiday Market at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 
4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago
10 December 2022 – from 11 am – 4 pm

Handcrafted gifts, décor & toys
Featuring Live Music, Puppetry & Candle Dipping!!!

If you would like to be a vendor contact Elizabeth Kelly 
eilisaineariadne@gmail.com

The ‘Envy of the Gods’ – The ‘Envy of Human Beings’

Presented by Adriana Koulias*

A Winter Solstice offering preparing us for the Centennial commemoration of the burning of the first Goetheanum.

21 December 2022, at 5 pm PT, 6 pm MT, 7 pm CT, 8 pm ET

Here is a link to the World Clock for your time zone

Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago

Dear Friends – This special presentation is supported by your generous donations. $10-$50 or pay what you will www.rschicago.org/donate (credit card or PayPal)

Please type ‘Adriana’ on the line of your payment that says: Purpose

To register & receive the Zoom code email your receipt of payment to the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.

For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal. Please bring food & drink to share.

 Work on building the First Goetheanum, which was designed and supervised by Rudolf Steiner, began after the laying of the double dodecahedron foundation stone on the 20th of September 1913. Construction proceeded for a decade under enormous difficulties in the political, economic and cultural realms, brought on by the advent of the First World War. After the war when the building was near completion, the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arsonist on New Year’s Eve 1922/1923.

This NYE 2022-23 will be the 100th anniversary of this event and the world is again facing many difficulties, political, economic and social.  Adriana’s lecture will explore what Rudolf Steiner meant by the ‘Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human beings’ and how a consciousness of this during the coming 12 Holy Nights can provide the necessary strengthening for the coming twelve months.

During this presentation Adriana will speak about the three gifts given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913: The naming of Anthroposophy, The Fifth Gospel, and The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum. She will explore with us how we can link our hearts to the old Goetheanum during the coming 12 Holy Nights to prepare ourselves for the coming 12 months in 2023, so we can work towards a Cosmic New Year.

In this way we will celebrate the Jubilee of the Christmas Conference and the resurrection of the living impulse of the First Goetheanum in the most auspicious way.

For Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘My dear friends, may this link our hearts to the old Goetheanum which we had to consign to the elements. May it link our hearts also to the Spirit, to the Soul of this Goetheanum. With this vow before whatever is best within our being we want to live on not only into the new year. In strength of deed, bearing the spirit, leading the soul we want to live on into the new cosmic year.’ ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human Beings.’

Adriana Koulias was born in 1960 in Brazil. Adriana moved to Australia when she was 9 years old where she lives today. She has studied art, operatic singing and nursing.  She has been studying Anthroposophy (awareness of our humanity) as given by Rudolf Steiner for 33 years and has since 2002-3 integrated this knowledge into several novels and a number of books, international lectures and articles online and in magazines.