Monthly Archives: November 2022

better than Sci-Fi

Adrian Salamandre

To live into the pictures that can arise in our souls from the causal stages of our cosmic & earthly evolution – to experience inwardly what the choirs of the great hierarchies give forth of themselves thru their interaction as they went thru their human stage & beyond, opens us to the root of our soul life.

It’s better than Sci-Fi folks, you can’t make these things up, & it explains so much…

We can contemplate that thru the resignation made by the Cherubim during the Sun-evolution, eternity was gained. So when we look into our own soul, we can find the call to exhibit these qualities of renunciation which brings us into the eternal now. We can imagine how eternity & immortality were acquired, but only thru the renouncing of the sacrifice – the letting go of the gifts from the virtue of bestowal.

This reminds me of the vow that Maria makes in the Mystery Dramas to renounce all personal gain so that her achievements, instead of giving her individual power, can foster the spiritual development of others – especially those connected with her in a karmic knot, specifically Johannes.

In this artistic representation by Steiner we see an example of the significance of the renunciation made by the gods during ancient Sun.

From Lecture 3 of ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’ Steiner continues the picture: “From Occult Science we know that the evolution of ancient Moon followed that of ancient Sun, that at the close of the Sun-age all the existing conditions were immersed in a kind of twilight, in a sort of cosmic chaos, & then emerged again as “Moon.”

And we see the sacrifice reissuing in the form of heat. All that remained as heat on ancient Sun reappears as heat on ancient Moon; we see the virtue of bestowal reappearing as gas, or air. And the resignation of the sacrifice also continues…It is actually the case, that what we can ourselves experience as resignation we must think of in everything on ancient Moon, carried over from ancient Sun…

That which had been sacrifice reappears in Maya as Heat; and that which has the virtue of bestowing appears in Maya as gas or air. Resignation as it has now become appears in external Maya as Fluidity, as “Water.”

“Water” is Maya and would not be in the world at all were it not that its spiritual foundation is renunciation, or resignation. Wherever water is to be found in the world there is divine-renunciation.

Just as heat is an illusion behind which is sacrifice, and gas or air an illusion behind which is the virtue of bestowal, so is water as a substance, as an external reality, nothing but an illusion of the senses, a reflection; the only reality existing in it, is resignation…It might be said, water could only flow in the world because resignation underlies it.

WOW…This insight is really changing how I interact with these earthly elements. Even though it’s still hard for me to see them as maya…

Ok so, we have been picturing how since some of the Cherubim refrained from the sacrifice, they passed from mortality to immortality – from a transitory state into a State of Duration. In this we see the 1st polarity.

What does this engender? And what becomes of the substance of the sacrifice not received?

The consequence of the polarity created by the renunciation of the Cherubim made the presence of what we call Luciferic beings who we can say “remained behind” possible. These beings take possession of the sacrifice to use for their own separate desires, outside of progressive evolution.

But it’s Important to note that if those Cherubim had accepted the proffered sacrifice, the Luciferic beings could not have remained behind; they would have had no opportunity of becoming independent & embodying themselves in that substance.

So friends, as Steiner reveals we can see that in cosmic evolution the gods themselves called their ‘opponents’ into being. If the gods had not renounced the sacrifice, these beings would not have been able to oppose them.

We may picture the gods forseeing this. Steiner translates for us what they may have said: “If we purely go on creating as we have done from Saturn to Sun there would never be any free beings, capable of acting from their own initiative. In order that beings of this nature might come into existence, the possibility must be given for opponents to arise against us in the Universe, so that we should meet with resistance in that which is subject to time. If we ourselves ordain everything we shall meet with no such resistance. We could make everything very easy for ourselves by accepting the sacrifice offered to us; then would the whole of evolution be subject unto us. But this will not do, we want beings able to become strong through resistance. We will therefore not accept the sacrifice; so that through our resignation, and because they accept the sacrifice, they become our opponents!”

This explains how in the example I shared of Maria’s sacrifice in the Mystery Dramas, that her renunciation gives rise to Luciferic tendencies in Johannes! And turns the love she gives to her foster child into indifference. Up until now I had never understood why that had to happen.

And so dear striving humans, we have begun to try to understand the origins of what becomes a “Sacred Wound” in our soul life – which we will continue to unfold as we go deeper into the ancient moon stage of evolution in the next installments…

Standing in wonder & awe with you

~hag

15 November 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: With moonrise coming late conditions are perfect for observing Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) shortly after sunset. The comet is making a slow curve through Serpens Caput this month, just south of Corona Borealis. Tonight, ZTF is just due south of Coronae Borealis in the Northern Crown. The comet is essentially at the turning point in its curve and will now start moving slowly north and slightly east as November continues.

Sunrise: 6:45 A.M.
Sunset: 4:43 P.M.
Moonrise: 10:45 P.M.
Moonset: 12:53 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (58%)

 Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

 ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1280 – Death & Feast Day of Albertus Magnus, a German Catholic Dominican friar & bishop, theologian, & philosopher, one of the founders of Scholasticism. Canonized as a saint, one of the 36 Doctors of the Catholic Church. He was known during his lifetime as Doctor Universalis & Doctor Expertus.

Albertus was the first to comment on virtually all of the writings of Aristotle, making them accessible to wider academic debate. The study of Aristotle brought him to take an interest in the teachings of Muslim academics, notably Avicenna & Averroes.

Albertus took part in the General Chapter of the Dominicans at Valenciennes together with Thomas Aquinas establishing a program for the Dominicans that featured the study of philosophy. This innovation initiated the tradition of Dominican scholastic philosophy put into practice, for example at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the “Angelicum

Albert’s writings went to 38 volumes, displaying his prolific habits & encyclopedic knowledge of topics such as logic, theology, botany, geography, astronomy, astrology, mineralogy, alchemy, zoology, physiology, phrenology, justice, law, friendship, & love. He digested, interpreted, & systematized the whole of Aristotle’s works, gleaned from the Latin translations & notes of the Arabian commentators. Most modern knowledge of Aristotle was preserved and presented by Albertus.

According to legend, Albertus is said to have discovered the philosopher’s stone & passed it on to his pupil Thomas Aquinas, shortly before his death.

Among the last of his labors was the defense of the orthodoxy of his former pupil, Thomas Aquinas, whose death grieved him deeply.

Albertus is known for his commentary on the musical practice of his times. Most of his written musical observations are found in his commentary on Aristotle’s Poetics

“Essentially speaking, the task of the time which lies between the fourth and the fifteenth century was, therefore, the development of a technique of thinking. This thinking activity has now adopted a definite attitude in regard to man’s cognitive faculty towards the contents of the world. We may say: Spirits such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas have set forth the position of man’s thinking activity towards the contents of the world in a manner which was, at that time, quite incontestable.

How do their descriptions appear to us?

Thinkers such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas had dogmatically preserved truths which originated from old traditions, but their meaning could no longer be grasped. To begin with, these truths had to be protected as contents of a supernatural revelation, which at that time was more or less equivalent to a super-sensible revelation. The Church preserved these revelations through its authority and teachings, and people thought that the dogmas of the Church contained the revelations connected with the super-sensible worlds. They were to accept what was offered in these dogmas, they were to accept it as a revelation which could not be touched by human reason, that is to say, by the human intellect. The Dual Form of Cognition During the Middle Ages and the Development of Knowledge in Modern Times” ~ Lecture By Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, August 5, 1921, GA 206

1630 – Deathday of Johannes Kepler, German astronomer & mathematician

“Johannes Kepler was as much a natural scientist of an earlier time as of a later one. He drew his thoughts from external observation, but in his inner experience he had an absolute feeling that spiritual Beings are there when man is receiving his thoughts from Nature. Kepler felt himself to be partly an Initiate, and for him it was a matter of course that he experienced his abstract building up of the universe artistically”. ~Rudolf Steiner, The Younger generation

“It cannot be denied that such spirits formerly imparted their oracular sayings to men through idols and oak-trees, out of groves and grottoes, through animals and so on; and sooth-saying from the flight of birds was not merely an art of deceiving the weak. Those spirits were active in guiding the birds through the air, and by this means, with God’s permission, much was intimated to men in former times. Even today we hear stories of fateful birds, such as owls, vultures, eagles, ravens, but the more such stories are despised, the rarer they become. For these spirits cannot bear being despised, as according to the law of God and Christian teaching, they certainly deserve to be: they prefer to fly away and keep silent. From the beginning the lying Tempter was allowed to speak through animals: he spoke to Eve through the serpent and thus he led the human race astray. That was always the way of these spirits from then onwards: whenever they could speak to men through the bodies and movements of animals, through voices or portents, they misused this power, appropriating for themselves the reverence due to God and misleading unhappy men. And now, although Christ came to destroy the work of the Devil, and imposed silence on these spirits, and although they lost their temple-statues, their groves and their caves and the earth they had so long possessed, yet they are always here still in the empty air, and with God’s permission they utter their scattered cries. Often they are God’s scourges; often he allows certain things to be announced through them to men.”

The author of these words gives a gentle indication of how the spiritual revelations come to be permeated by Christ, for he writes in a frame of mind that can truly be called Christ-filled. In 1607 he spoke thus of the changes that had come about in the spiritual world. Who is this man? Is he someone who has no right to speak, someone we can leave unheard? No, for without him we should have no modern Astronomy or Physics: he is Johannes Kepler. And one would like to advise those who call themselves materialists or monists and look to Kepler as their idol — one would like to advise them to consider carefully, just for once, this passage in Kepler’s writings. The greatest astronomical laws, the three Kepler laws, which dominate present-day Astronomy, are his. Yet you have heard how he speaks of the new influence which gradually enters into Earth evolution with the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. We must all again get accustomed by degrees — having thoroughly absorbed the new influence — to recognise something of the spiritual activities connected with the stars. ~Rudolf Steiner, Christ and the Spiritual World: The Search for the Holy Grail

On February 4, 1600, Kepler met Tycho Brahe, he stayed as a guest in his observatory, analyzing some of Tycho’s observations of Mars; Tycho guarded his data closely, but was impressed by Kepler’s theoretical ideas & soon allowed him more access. Through most of 1601, he was supported directly by Tycho, who assigned him to analyzing planetary observations . Tycho secured him a commission as a collaborator on the new project he had proposed to the emperor. Two days after Tycho’s unexpected death on October 24, 1601, Kepler was appointed his successor as imperial mathematician with the responsibility to complete his unfinished work. The next 11 years as imperial mathematician would be the most productive of his life.

Kepler slowly continued analyzing Tycho’s Mars observations—now available to him in their entirety—& began the slow process of tabulating the Rudolphine Table.

In October 1604, a bright new evening star appeared, but Kepler did not believe the rumors until he saw it himself. Kepler began systematically observing the nova. Astrologically, the end of 1603 marked the beginning of a fiery trigon, the start of the about 800-year cycle of great conjunctions; astrologers associated the two previous such periods with the rise of Charlemagne (c. 800 years earlier) & the birth of Christ (c. 1600 years earlier), & so expected events of great portent, especially regarding the emperor. It was in this context, as the imperial mathematician & astrologer to the emperor, that Kepler described the new star two years later in his De Stella Nova. The birth of a new star implied the variability of the heavens. In an appendix, Kepler also discussed the recent chronology work of the Polish historian Laurentius Suslyga; he calculated that, if Suslyga was correct that accepted timelines were four years behind, then the Star of Bethlehem—analogous to the present new star—would have coincided with the first great conjunction of the earlier 800-year cycle

In 1611, the growing political-religious tension in Prague came to a head. Emperor Rudolph—whose health was failing—was forced to abdicate as King of Bohemia by his brother Matthias. However, it was clear that Kepler’s future prospects in the court of Matthias were dim.

In 1615, Kepler’s mother Katharina was accused of witchcraft.

Kepler’s laws of planetary motion were not immediately accepted. Several major figures such as Galileo and René Descartes completely ignored Kepler’s Astronomia nova. Epitome of Copernican Astronomy was read by astronomers throughout Europe, & following Kepler’s death it was the main vehicle for spreading Kepler’s ideas. In the period 1630 – 1650, this book was the most widely used astronomy textbook, winning many converts to ellipse-based astronomy. This culminated in Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica (1687), in which Newton derived Kepler’s laws of planetary motion from a force-based theory of universal gravitation.

Kepler’s self-authored poetic epitaph: “I measured the skies, now the shadows I measure – Skybound was the mind, earthbound the body rests

1670 – Deathday of John Amos Comenius, Czech bishop, philosopher, & educator.

“Our task is to appeal to those forces which we have as a replacement for the ancient way of grasping the spiritual. There are two ways of doing this. One way is to continue to propagate tradition and many secret societies arose from being satisfied with the propagation of what the ancient said through tradition. However, there were people who attempted to reckon with the new soul forces which came in as replacements for it. They attempted to translate that which came in from the ancient way in the form of pictures, of direct perception into the form of intellectual power, this intellect which is bound to the physical body of our 5th post-Atlantean period. One of the people who tried to do this was Amos Comenius.

Very few people today know that Amos Comenius was the actual founder of the modern pedagogy and that he founded the primer in the 16th, 17th century…The whole way of writing children’s books rests upon Amos Comenius. He was connected with many secret brotherhoods all over Europe and he wanted to establish what he called his “Pan Sophia”. In the beginning of our period, in the 16th, 17th century, we have in Amos Comenius a human being who knew that now is the time for a sudden change, that one must transmute all the knowledge from earlier times into the form of external intellect. You do not simply continue it in the form of the ancient tradition. This tradition rests upon that which was the Temple architecture. Amos Comenius had as his task translating in his “Pan Sophia” everything which worked in the 5th post-Atlantean period and he says the following: “Why should the Temple of Pan Sophia be erected according to the ideas, directions and laws of the higher architect Himself? Because we have to follow the primal picture of the totality; measure, number, position and the goal of the paths according to the wisdom of God, Himself, when, indeed, He instructed Moses to erect the Tabernacle, then Solomon to erect the Temple and finally Ezekial to reestablish the Temple. The structure materials of Solomon’s Temple were very precious stones, metals, marble and sappy, good smelling trees like spruce and cedar.” And so we want to establish a school of wisdom, a universal wisdom, a “Pan Sophia” wisdom so that one can say that that which is in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister, which was represented in the Wander Years, is a continuation of what Amos Comenius wanted.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Things in Past and Present in the Spirit of Man

1738 – Birthday of William Herschel, German-born British astronomer, the founder of sidereal astronomy for the systematic observation of the heavens. He discovered the planet Uranus, hypothesized that nebulae are composed of stars, & developed a theory of stellar evolution. He was knighted in 1816.

1741 – Birthday of Johann Kaspar Lavater, a Swiss poet, writer, philosopher, physiognomist & theologian. Goethe was a dear friend for many years, but later had a falling out with him, accusing Lavater of superstition & hypocrisy.

1887 – Birthday of Georgia O’Keeffe, American painter & educator

1893 – Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom (Spiritual Activity) 1st appears

Resurrection of the Temple (The first Goetheanum) by Rita de Cassia Perez, Adriana’s mother

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

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

To register & receive the Zoom code Contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

 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.

Renunciation

Dear friends, first we met Sacrifice, then Bestowing, now we explore Renunciation. Living into the ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’ it’s been interesting to experience the idea that the 4 elements which are the foundation of life on here on Earth are a mirror reflecting the essential deeds of great spiritual beings. I have always related to nature spirits, the elemental beings, but this is a whole new perspective.

The reality behind Fire is sacrifice: the supreme offering of the Spirits of Will.

The Air we breathe, the wind – is ever whispering: the virtue of bestowing, a weaving reverence granted by the Spirits of Wisdom.

So now every time I encounter or work with these elements my entire mood of Soul shifts….And before we get to the last 2 elements, developed in the further Earth embodiments, I’d like to take us deeper into the quintessence of Will & Wisdom.

Being a person of initiative I have always prided myself in being able to get things done. My childhood was taken from me, so I learned early on to use my will to get what I wanted.  But what I am learning now is that deeds connected with the spiritual world require a different kind of will – the will of resignation – of renunciation. This is triggering for me since my mother was very passive, renouncing herself to death, so I was determined to never be like that.

But more & more I know that what worked for me in the past does not apply to my life now. I see that to achieve spiritual results it is not effective to make my personal desires top priority. By consciously subduing my wishes, restraining my self-motivated intentions, & forgoing result orientated satisfaction, I can work my resolve to serve the higher will.

It’s powerfully interesting to explore our will force thru the lens of Spiritual Science which gives us 7 stages of Will:

  1. Instinct
  2. Impulse/Drive
  3. Desire
  4. Motive
  5. Wish/Aspiration
  6. Intention
  7. Resolve for the Good

In lecture 3 Steiner gives the most interesting advice, which was hard for me to hear at first: “The greatest spiritual, magical effects, always require preparation connected with the renunciation of wishes, desires, and impulses of will which may appear within us. The less we “will,” the more we say: We will allow life to flow over us, not longing for this or that, but accepting everything just as Karma sends it to us, the more we are able to accept Karma and its workings in this way, keeping quietly ready to renounce all that we should otherwise wish to choose for this life, the more vigorous we become as regards the activity of our thinking.”

Being fully conscious of the various phases of evolution, guides us on the path of initiation. The Saturn experience can be seen in the fire trial, & on ancient Sun we meet the air trial.

To face the water trial as experienced on old Moon we have to be able to recognize the Luciferic beings who remained behind in their course of development, enabling them to invade our astral body during this phase of earthly evolution.

On the one hand it is because of these Luciferic beings that we have desires, drives & passions. And on the other hand our will to overcome their resistance gives us the impulse toward free will.

Also mysteriously attached to these backward beings is the seed of resignation or renunciation on the part of the Cherubim – Because while some of the choir receives the warmth that flows from the sacrifice of the Spirits of Will into themselves, others renounce the sacrifice – they return what comes toward them – they do not participate in it – they hold themselves back.

So now besides the sacrifice that ascends & is reflected back as light in Time, we have renounced clouds of sacrifice that descend, that return back – to become a separate layer between the outer & inner expanse of ancient Sun.  And thru this diverting back, a ring of clouds comes into being, a division in the Sun substance, like a globe that has a divergent outer ring.

This is the origin of all divisions, what can be called the ‘Sacred Wound’ which some of us carry more than others.

But why did a portion of these Cherubim, these Spirits of Harmony renounce this willing sacrifice?

Well if they had not, everything would have been subject to Time – the coming into being & the passing away – But since some rejected the sacrifice they were able to hold onto eternity. These Cherubim move beyond Time, so that eternity – permanence – may also exist – And we will be able to fully receive this eternity in the New Jerusalem!

One of the questions I hold is: Do these refraining Cherubim move up the ladder – graduate to the realm of the Seraphim, the Spirits of Love? Interestingly enough these highest of the Hierarchical beings – the closest to the godhead, are not mentioned at all in the course of evolution so far. That leads me to imagine that Love, The Spirits of Love, are directing it all – preparing us in all ages to come for the incarnation of The Christ on Earth – the ‘Being of Love’ born into a human body at the Turning point in Time…

A recapitulation occurs within this process before the Old Moon embodiment & in our next installment we will further explore this ‘Sacred Wound’ – how it affected those that were rejected & how that manifests in the human soul today…

Until then remember: Love is who you are…

~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
ALL HALLOWTIDE III
The Gift Of Destiny
v32

I feel my own fruit-bearing power
present me to the world
and strengthen my innate intent
to turn towards the clarity
within life’s web of destiny.

This verse can be regarded as the last autumn verse
and its mirror the first one, with an unknown power
that can now become one’s own creativity for the world
as one’s soul turns towards the clarity of her destiny.

AUTUMN PRELUDE I
My Future’s Power
v21

I feel a strange new strengthening
fruit-bearing power of becoming;
I sense the seed maturing
and on a starlit loom in me
a dawning vision weaving
my pathway to my real being.

Resurrection of the Temple (The first Goetheanum) by Rita de Cassia Perez, Adriana’s mother

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

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

To register & receive the Zoom code Contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

 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.

Bestowing

We continue from yesterday’s Martinmas insights gleaned from the AAP seminar working with ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’

With the sacrifice –
A joyful self-surrendering –
Transformed into a deed,
From the Spirits of Will –
Rising like incense to the Cherubim,
In the ebb & flow of warmth,
The beginnings of our element of fire
On ancient Saturn – The ‘realm of space-less eternity’ –
Time
The offspring
Of the Thrones & the Spirits of Harmony
Is born.

After a recapitulation of this spiritual activity, in the Ancient Sun stage, there is an atmosphere of enlivening bliss & devotion, as the Spirits of Wisdom witness the willing sacrifice of the Thrones.

This inspires the Kyriotetes to give or bestow their Wisdom into the mix, which becomes the essence behind what we know of as air; enhancing the warmth. This gift is preserved in Time. The birth of bestowing in the universe by the Spirits of Wisdom on ancient Sun in turn gave birth to the Archangels who are the receivers of the giving. But they don’t keep what they receive for themselves, they reflect it back – this becomes light.

We can remember that whenever wind or light occurs, the gifts of the Spirits of Wisdom are whirling out to us. And wherever light appears, hidden behind it are the Archangels; but they are only able to ray forth light because they reflect back the bestowing virtue of the Spirits of Wisdom which has streamed out to them.

JJ Pinkerton

Steiner asks us to:  “Imagine the Spirits of Wisdom situated at the centre of the Sun absorbed in contemplation of the vision of the sacrificing Thrones; and by reason of this vision, radiating forth their own being; and receiving back their radiating being which they sent forth, receiving it reflected back from the surface, so that they receive it back as light. Everything is illuminated…Their own being meets them coming back from outside. They see their own inner being outspread in the Cosmos — and reflected back as light, as the reflection of their own being.

The inner and the outer are the two opposites which we now meet. The earlier and the later are transformed into the inner and the outer; and “Space” is born! Space comes into existence through the bestowing virtue of the Spirits of Wisdom on ancient Sun.”

We can now picture a globe of inner space. In the center, Saturn is recapitulated, we see the Thrones kneeling before the winged Cherubim, sacrificing their own being.  

Then we witness The Spirits of Wisdom surrendering in devotion to this vision at the center of this globe. Their reverence coalesces into an image of sacrificial incense, as air ascending, which streams outward & condenses into clouds at the periphery. The Archangels are born of these clouds of smoke. The gift of the incense is radiated back from them in the form of light. Their essence of light illuminates the interior, creating space. The bestowing of the Spirits of Wisdom are taken back in, becoming the sphere of ancient Sun, consisting of: glowing warmth or heat, the air of sacrificial incense, & light.

Peter Yelling

What a glorious picture, inspiring a heightened mood that invites us to joyfully give of ourselves too, in imitation of these Higher Beings.

And what a blessing to have that essence fully received, so the a gesture in kind comes back – transformed – A gift that keeps on giving – A bestowing that engenders a reciprocation that shows us to ourself.

We can think about how without receiving, giving is incomplete. In a way they are one & the same. Receiving differentiates itself from giving only in terms of time. Receiving occurs in response to giving.

Joseph Iorusso

But what happens when something is given – that is not received?

We will explore what has been called ‘The Sacred Wound’ in the next installment when we enter the ancient Moon embodiment of Earth…

Until then

I leave you with this thought: May we give of ourselves unselfishly;  for as Steiner lays out in this lecture: “a person who is unable to create a spirit of self-surrender cannot achieve higher knowledge. What is the opposite of this attitude of self-surrender? It is self-will, the assertion of one’s own will. These are 2 poles in the souls’ life: loss of self in what one is contemplating, & self-willed assertion of what lies within the self. These are 2 great opposites. If you wish to attain real knowledge & permeate yourself with wisdom, self-will is lethal.

In ordinary life, we know self-will only as prejudice – & prejudices always destroy higher insight.”

So much to ponder as we strive for true becoming

~hag

Elizabeth Wang

11.11.22

~hag

Greetings dear friends – Today, 11.11.22, is the perfect occasion to begin a sharing of my recent AAP experience, being that it is Martinmas. This Feast Day exemplifies the theme of our seminar: Sacrifice & the healing of the ‘Sacred Wound’.  I invite you to explore with me the ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’ given by Steiner around this time of year in 1911. It takes the depictions from ‘Occult Science’ & ‘Cosmic Memory’ to a whole new level, bringing us into the inner experience of the hierarchical beings themselves!  

In the 1st lecture, given on All Hallows, we take a journey into the aspects of the ancient Saturn embodiment of Earth. Steiner describes his struggle to enter into this existence clairvoyantly, how it must be approached with ‘inner firmness’ & certainty’. He reveals that as a modern human being this realm can fill us with ‘fear & terror at the sight of Saturn’s endless void’, because there is an absence of all space & time. Steiner gives us the tools to counteract this sickening vertigo thru the suggestion to uphold the virtues of Christ found within practical Anthroposophy & the Gospels.  When we can get past our horror of the void, by grounding ourselves in love, trust, gratitude, & the will to serve, we can encounter The Thrones, the Spirits of Will, as a ‘surging sea of courage’.

At the same time what lights up for us is a sense of Harmony streaming in from The Cherubim. This becomes a glow that stirs a divine reverence within the Spirits of Will, inspiring them to sacrifice their very Being to the Cherubim. Steiner gives a beautiful imagination of the Thrones kneeling with complete devotion & courage before the Cherubim, offering the flaming warmth of reverence. From this sacrificial union Time is born – The Beings of Time – The Archai. This warmth is the spirit behind what we experience on earth in the physical form of the element of fire.

When we live into these pictures of experience we realize that the existence of these ancient forces work on into our present age & will continue on into the future thru our understanding & active participation.

Next we will enter the experience of the ancient Sun embodiment of Earth.

~hag

Until then, Remember, that as we journey into the darkest time of the year, we can kindle warmth within our soul forces. The example of Martin’s cloak can remind us of the sacrifice of the Spirits of Will in our primal beginnings. This Festival is a call to emulate the higher spiritual beings.

Celebrating Martinmas renews our divine spark so that we may warm the world in our true becoming.

~hag  

~hag

Here is a recording of ‘Martinmas & the 11:11 Phenomenon‘ – The story of St. Martin with Nancy Melvin; & then starting at 25:42 – The 11:11 connection with Hazel Archer

11.11.22 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning gibbous Moon rises less than an hour after nightfall is complete, with Mars shining to her upper right. A week ago it was Jupiter’s turn with the Bella Luna, & 3 days before that it was Saturn’s. The Moon doesn’t play favorites; She makes a point of visiting each planet every month, not to mention its own phase-maker, the Sun.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

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Feast Day of Martin of Tours.

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1918 – Armistice of 11/11 ending the fighting in the First World War between the Allies & Germany – also known as the Armistice of Compiègne after the location in which it was signed – &the agreement that ended the fighting on the Western Front. It went into effect at 11 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 (“the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”), & marked a victory for the Allies & a complete defeat for Germany, although not formally a surrender. The Germans were responding to the policies proposed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson* in his Fourteen Points of January 1918. Although the armistice ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty, the Treaty of Versailles. And the world is still at war.

*”…‘Spiritual science brings forward a truth such as: What takes place in the historical life of man, and consequently in the life of political impulses, has nothing to do with the ordinary consciousness, it can have nothing to do with it; but can only be understood and applied through imaginative consciousness.’ We might even say as regards the most distinctive representatives of the anti-social historic conception, that President Wilson’s view must be replaced by an imaginative knowledge of the truth. And Wilson’s ideas are very widespread (far more people are of his way of thinking than is supposed). Names are of no moment, only the facts under which men live are of consequence. I may be allowed to be somewhat outspoken about Wilson, because in the course of lectures given in Helsingfors before the war, already then I pronounced my judgment of him and did not need to wait for the war to learn of what spirit he is who sits on the throne of America. At that time fulsome praise of Woodrow Wilson could be heard everywhere; it has not long ceased. The world is now very much wiser, and knows that the man who now occupies the throne of America drafted his most powerful republican document from one issued by the late Emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro, in 1864. Wilson copied this exactly except that the passage, ‘I must intervene in the interests of South America’ is altered to ‘I must intervene in the interests of the United States of America,’ etc., with the necessary recasting.” ~Rudolf Steiner, THE PRESENT POSITION OF SPIRITUAL SCIENCE.

“…If we follow this Muavija, one of the earliest successors of the Prophet, as he passes along the undercurrent and then appears again, we find Woodrow Wilson.

In a shattering way the present links itself with the past. A bond is suddenly there between present and past. And if we observe how on the sea of historical happenings there surges up as it were the wave of Muavija, and again the wave of Woodrow Wilson, we perceive how the undercurrent flows on through the sea below and appears again — it is the same current.

I believe that history becomes intelligible only when we see how what really happens has been carried over from one epoch into another. Think of the abstraction., the rigid abstraction, of the Fourteen Points. Needless to say, the research did not take its start from the Fourteen Points — but now that the whole setting lies before you, look at the configuration of soul that comes to expression in these Fourteen Points and ask yourselves whether it could have taken root with such strength anywhere else than in a follower of Mohammed.

Take the fatalism that had already assumed such dimensions in Muavija and transfer it into the age of modern abstraction. Feel the similarity with Mohammedan sayings: “Allah has revealed it”; “Allah will bring it to pass as the one and only salvation.” And then try to understand the real gist of many a word spoken by the promoter of the Fourteen Points. — With no great stretch of imagination you will find an almost literal conformity.

Thus, when we are observing human beings, we can also speak of a reincarnation of ideas. And then for the first time insight is possible into the growth and unfolding of history.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies – Volume I

1821 – Birthday of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian philosopher & author

1855 – Deathday of Soren A. Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher, theologian, & cultural critic who was a major influence on existentialism & Protestant theology in the 20th century. He attacked the literary, philosophical, & ecclesiastical establishments of his day for misrepresenting the highest task of human existence—namely, becoming a free human being in an ethical & religious sense.

1887 – August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer & George Engel are executed as a result of the Haymarket affair. It began Tuesday May 4, 1886, as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day & in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast & ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers & at least four civilians; scores of others were wounded.

The Haymarket affair is generally considered significant as the origin of international May Day observances for workers. The site of the incident was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1992, & a public sculpture was dedicated there in 2004.

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1966 – Deathday of Hilde Boos-Hamburger, painter & co-worker with Rudolf Steiner EXPERIENCES IN PAINTING THE CUPOLAS OF THE FIRST GOETHEANUM by Hilde Boos-Hamburger

Every artistically striving person making closer acquaintance with Rudolf Steiner and his anthroposophy is likely to have experienced in a quite individual manner the agreeable shock: here lie all the possibilities for the further development of art. In one way or another it may have gone with him as with the writer of these recollections when she first read through (not yet actually studied!) the book Theosophy, without understanding the essential, yet riveted by the crystal-bright formation of this work, and having to say to herself: Even if I cannot survey it, it is nonetheless evident: Here lies a comprehensive work of art! This first impression did not deceive, for with every subsequent work taken up, every book, every lecture, not to mention the Mystery Dramas, there opened up new experiences and vistas previously undreamed of. – These will surely be found most felicitously expressed in the poem by Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914) dedicated to Rudolf Steiner:

“To beauty does your work lead:
For beauty in the end
Streams in through every revelation
That surrounds us.
Out of human-sufferings
Upward to ever higher harmonies
You release the dizzying feeling,
Till, united
In accord with the
Inestimable proclaimer of GOD
And HIS never-to-be-grasped splendor
It vibrates in the love-light
Of blessedness….
From beauty does your work come, to beauty does it lead.”

Faust goes down to the Mothers

Many of the essay’s here on the RR blog take their inspiration from themes presented by the seasonal round, promoting a co-creation with divine spiritual beings. I work to tie this into the idea of Occult History in light of Anthroposophia – which reveals world karma.

Spiritual Science tells us that the current Michael epoch began in November of 1879. A time when as the human soul forces were increasingly being darkened by materialism, spiritual light began to shine into this darkness (for those who seek to see in the dark). This creates a special double-sided light/dark quality to November.

TODAY 9 November, holds a power spot in the wheel of the year. It is just after the actual astrological Crossquarter time between the Autumn Equinox & the Winter Solstice, bringing us the festival season of All-Souls Tide which open us to the spiritual world where we can more powerfully work with the dead.

Rudolf Steiner notes that on this date in history Goethe has Faust go down to the Mothers, the spiritual archetypes of existence. Mephisto -Ahriman sought to persuade Faust not to take up this poetic spiritual deed. He lied to him about the spirit light which gestates there in the darkness, & declared the spiritual world to be ‘a nothing’.

On 9 November 1888 Rudolf Steiner gave the lecture ‘Goethe as the Founder of a New Science of Aesthetics’ afterward Cistercian Priest Wilhelm Neumann told him that while he was speaking, in a flash of karmic lighting, he saw Steiner as Thomas Aquinas! This was the initial event that led Steiner to the systematic construction of his Spiritual Scientific karmic research, which he later called his “core mission”.

Larry Young

3 x’s 7 years later, Rudolf Steiner spoke of the greatest spiritual event of our time – the incarnation of Ahriman in the West. In total Steiner spoke of this event in 8 lectures, 5 of which fell in November. In 1919 he gives the most precise indication as to when this incarnation would take place: “Before even a part of the 3rd millennium will have elapsed”. One of Ahriman’s tasks is to possess human beings with the fear of the spirit.

Do we have the courage to overcome this fear – giving us the goal of recognizing the doings of this adversarial being – to see the signs of its incarnation here in America? If we take up this task in equanimity we help usher in a world-historical opportunity for the development of new spiritual capacities.  

For this we are called.

~hag

Here are some other November 9th threshold events:

9 November 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning gibbous Moon shines with the Pleiades, Aldebaran, and Mars late these evenings.

Also TODAY 9 Nov. Uranus is in opposition with the Sun in Aries. (thanks Steve Hale)

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 Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

 ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1888 – Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Aquinas experience’ – after giving a lecture on ‘Goethe as father of a new aesthetics’ the Cistercian priest Wilhelm Neumann, Steiner’s friend made this remark: “The seeds of this lecture you gave today are to be found already in Thomas Aquinas”. This opened Steiner to his earlier incarnation.

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1918 – The second German Empire ends – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, & Germany is proclaimed a Republic.

1923 – Hitler’s attempted coup in Munich

9–10 November 1938 – Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany, carried out by SA paramilitary forces and German civilians. The German authorities looked on without intervening.  Jewish homes, hospitals, & schools were ransacked, as the attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers.  The rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria, & the Sudetenland, & over 7,000 Jewish businesses were either destroyed or damaged. Kristallnacht was followed by additional economic & political persecution of Jews, it is viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany’s broader racial policy, & the beginning of the Final Solution & The Holocaust.

1989 –Fall of the Berlin Wall: East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel to West Berlin

~Hail claw in my heart
Talon of the Hawk
Bearer of animal urges…
Hail star in darkness
White spider legs dancing on a web of night
I’ve made my home within
The bitter herb I drank killed & cleansed & freed me
& yet the dark moon dragon
Still spills fire water on the wings of the dove
Stealing ashes from the Phoenix
To set my teeth on edge…
As I prepare to meet the Baba Yaga
The sun angles oblique
A golden seed
Staring at the corn
Husks rustle & blink bare
Like a scorpion sting I cling & spit
And now
The work continues…
~hag