Yes, dear Friends we have arrived at The 4th week of Advent.

By meeting the temptations of the first 3 weeks of Advent, we arrive at the Threshold to the Temple of the human being – the doorway to the Higher “I”.

This is the week that resonates with the human kingdom with its challenge to come to know what it means to be truly human.

The human being is an arena of great mystery.

Not only is Advent a time of preparation, an inner exercise of Becoming present, since the word Advent comes from the Latin advenire, we are invited “to arrive”.

But before we can arrive to open the present of Love’s Light – we must make our passage thru Advent, where we meet the fire, water & air trials. Part of this preparation is facing up to the  forces of Lucifer & Ahriman which are actively working in us. Inner & outer obstacles are an essential part of our experience. We must find our human wisdom – & the only way forward is to use the gift of wisdom in service to humanity.

Gaining insight into ourselves is not an easy task – & it is not meant to be. what’s important is that we plunge willingly into the not knowing – consciously taking the journey towards true knowledge – wisdom of the Self. The Greek word ‘seauton’ speaks of our potential.

This journey of knowing ourselves is a lonely path, & yet it requires interaction with others. We become a mirror to each other. If this causes conflicts with others, it is a clue that we have stirred up a memory of a karmic connection from a former life. If such memories remain unconscious, or are denied, antipathy, & antagonism arises.

Antagonism is our signal to “Know Thyself”. The incarnation of Jesus created antagonism from the moment of birth. The family of the Matthew Jesus had to go to Egypt to escape the massacre of the innocents. And the family of the Luke Jesus had to travel to Bethlehem while Mary was heavy with child – giving birth in a sable!

As we discussed in our work with “Inner Experiences of Evolution” – when we work to “Know Thyself” we may go thru many growing pains, like dealing with rejection, which at its core is like a death. Our growth comes in with how we handle this adversity. Can we see that it gives us an opportunity to change our hearts & minds? What would it be like to transform resentment for those that push our buttons, into immense gratitude for the person who is acting as the catalyst for us to overcome our moral failings?

At the heart of this work is acceptance. We are who we are for a reason. We are in a karmic group for a reason. This reason is embedded in the purpose of our life.

This final week of Advent asks us to stop criticizing human behavior – Instead we can understand that we all have the same “Know Thyself” task – Then Love wells up – the new kind of love that was born in Bethlehem. With this understanding Christmas no longer oscillates between abstract mysticism, sentimentalism or materialism;  it is a practicalopportunity in our lives to give birth (which is painful) to a new aspect of ourselves.

Through the light of the Christ star we are guided to “Know Thyself”. Perhaps like at the altar of the Christian Community Churches, we can picture 2 Christmas trees – For only when the Tree of Life & the Tree of Knowledge become one within us will The Christ be born in the inner manger we are preparing for him.

At the heart of this activity, it is helpful to know that along with the regenerative gifts of the Archangel Gabriel present at this season, upheld by the earnest wisdom of the Archangel Uriel below; we can also experience Michael’s sword which thru our conscious intention separates our lower ego from our Higher Self. This gives us the opportunity to unite thinking, feeling, & willing, in freedom.

The gifts of the Three Kings, which comes as the culmination of the 12 Days of Christmas, reminds us of this.

~hag

18 December 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
ADVENT IV – WINTER SOLSTICE
The Midnight Sun
v37
My heart-anointed impulse strives
to bear the spirit light
into world-winter-night
that shining seeds of soul
take root in cosmic ground,
and in the senses’ dark
God’s all-transfiguring Word resound.

The sun enters the sign of Capricorn, the bridge between the heights and the depths. In the mirror verse the sun enters the sign of Leo, whose spiritual attitude is flaming enthusiasm, the power to incarnate the spirit’s summer gift in soul ground that soul seeds of the Cosmic Word now root in cosmic ground, transfiguring our feeling for the whole of life and birthing their heavenly fruit, the Spirit Child, our higher Self, at Christmas.

THE SUN ENTERS THE SIGN OF LEO
Enthusiasm For The Spirit’s Gift
v16
My foresight is commanding me
to harbour inwardly the spirit’s gift
that in the ground of soul
divine fruit ripen
for Selfhood’s harvest.

v16 is the week between Saint Johnstide and Lammas.

Next week’s verse, 38, is always in Christmas week,
so this verse is only in the week of the Winter Solstice
when Christmas is between Sunday and Wednesday,
but this impulse to carry the Spirit Light, the Christ Light, into the world
with heightened consciousness for our spiritual work is shining in our hearts
in the days before the solstice for the world’s need at the turning of its time.
It is the first of the seven appearances of the heart between now and verse 48.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

 ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

The 1st Night of Hanukkah begin tonight at sunset

1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia & China

1803 – Deathday of Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher, theologian, & poet – associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, & Weimar Classicism.

1829 – Deathday of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, biologist, & academic – an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred & proceeded in accordance with natural laws. He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for special sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, & botany-zoology

1863 – Birthday of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Rudolf Steiner has some very interesting things to say about his assassination  

1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA

1878 – Birthday of Joseph Stalin, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union

1879 – Birthday of Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter & educator

1958 – Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched

1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker

1972 –President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th

1973 –Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev & Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union

1990 – International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers & Members of Their Families is adopted.

1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments

The 4^th Sunday of Advent – 18 December 2022 
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, 2 pm – 3:30 pm CST 
(after Rev. Jonah Evans talk at the Christian Community)

The Individuality of Conscience and the Goetheanum 
with Lucien Dante Lazar

Out of our conscience, we witness the Christ in the other. And through this Seeing, our I is born within us, whose self-conscious interior is the I of God. This is a mystery of John the Baptist.



When Love enters the human heart as an awakening to freedom, the Wisdom of form enters our awareness, and color, that majesty of Light, teaches us about creation. This is a mystery of the painter Raphael.

When the Word approaches us, inspiring us in our language to find the Heavenly Sophia as intellect, we write truth and honor the New Revelation of the Christ and His marriage to Sophia. And out of this marriage, we learn about ourselves. This is a mystery of Novalis.

On this last Sunday of Advent dedicated to the Human Being & the Angels, we will engage in these three Christian gifts through the social encounter, our working with color, and our thinking through language. And we will strive to harmonize these three incarnations of this significant individuality with the birth, death, and resurrection of the Goetheanum.

$10-$50 or pay what you will at the door or online www.rschicago.org/donate(credit card or PayPal)

For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator 
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (map) 
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar 
www.rschicago.org/donate

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’ to designate your payment

For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal.

Please bring food & drink to share.

For more Info. contact Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618(map) https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar www.rschicago.org/donate

You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Adriana Koulias

Time: Dec 21, 2022, 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89586637726

Meeting ID: 895 8663 7726

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 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.