Here on this Deathday of Joan of Arc, Receive this recording of our Pentecost Festival for 2023: Anthroposophia & the Redemption of Lucifer with Velsum.

The Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc, born in the Epiphany of 1412 – A sublime individuality that came to be embodied in the small village of Domremy, where a Druidic legend foretold the coming of a maiden, a virgin, chosen by the fairies – was burned alive today, May 30, 1431.

What is the mission of The Maid of Orleans?

Jehanne or Joan is the feminine form of Joannes or John, which is, in the case of John the Baptist & St. John the Divine, a title of initiation – so right there we have a mighty clue.

The powers working thru her directed her to battle against the inflammatory Luciferic forces of deception prevailing in humanity at that special time, right before the beginning of the Consciousness Soul Age.

Joan of Arc, with the aid of Michael, (& other spiritual helpers) was able to harness & vanquish the seductive Luciferic forces which were vying to prevent this shift in human consciousness.

Steiner describes the miracle of her birth, how she went thru a sort of pre-earthy initiation during the potent time of the 13 Holy Nights, incarnating on Epiphany, the day the Christ came into a human being at the Baptism.

And we can also point to her equally auspicious death. Yes it was gruesome, she endured so much, not unlike like the sacrifice of The Cosmic Being of Love at the ‘Turning Point of Time’.

In her case, it occurred because all the selfish Luciferic forces of her enemies joined together to bring about her death by fire.

At her witch trial she prophetically said that within 7 years after of her death: “the English would meet with a much greater reversal of fortune than any they had known before”.

Spiritual Science tells us that the soul of Joan of Arc continued working across the Threshold to shape these events after her death. What the spiritual powers want to bring about, will occur, whatever the external conditions may be.

The Maid’s adversaries were able to bring about her death, but they were not able to prevent her mission. The power behind the will of the Maid of Orleans, the forces of Michael, are working still against the immoral Luciferic forces that rage in the world.

And, of course, dear friends, we are also having to deal with hostile forces in our time, but now-a-days these are predominantly Ahrimanic forces, not inflaming, but hardening, materialistic forces, that came up with the industrial age. These forces are in evidence everywhere, especially if we turn our attention not only to the electric or mechanical element, but also thru-out cyber space; which can be a distractive shrouding for the reappearance of Christ in the etheric realm, if we are not awake & consciously consecrating this medium in the name of Christ. 

Spiritual science tells us if we remain unconscious of these forces working into our sense impressions, these elemental beings that have become enslaved by Ahriman – if we don’t meet the spirit behind every sense impression – we are offering an abode to the dragon that seeks to stupefy us. These sclerotic forces influence our entire earthly life, creating the fearful events happening now all over the globe.

And so as we remember the deeds of Joan of Arc on this her deathday, we are also reminded of our current task, to name & tame the modern beasts, to take our will forces in hand – to be spiritual warriors for peace, & the light of truth. 

~hag

30 May 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: the bright waxing gibbous moon will glow near Spica, the brightest star in Virgo the Maiden. The moon and Spica will set a few hours before dawn.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day (RSarchives) The Gospel of St. John, Lecture 10, THE EFFECT OF THE CHRIST IMPULSE WITHIN HUMANKIND. Lecture 11, The Christian Initiation 30 May 1908

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

“I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience“. ~ Zbigniew Herbert  (Poet) 1924 – 1998

1431 – Deathday of Joan of Arc, French martyr & Saint, burnt at the stake by the British under Duke of Bedford.

1593 – Deathday of Christopher Marlowe, English poet & playwright

1672 – Birthday of Peter the Great Czar of Russia.  He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist & medieval political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, based on The Enlightenment.

1778 – Deathday of Voltaire, French philosopher & author. Rudolf Steiner speaks of him as being a former pupil of the mysteries in Karmic Relationships Vol. 2.

1806 – Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel

1935 – Deathday of Daniel Nicol Dunlop , a Scottish entrepreneur, founder of the World Power Conference & other associations, a theosophist-turned-anthroposophist. Thought to have been a Templar in a former life. Dunlop saw Rudolf Steiner for the first time when he was still General Secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, both of them expressed their intimate spiritual connection &respect for one another.  Dunlop started the anthroposophical “Human Freedom Group & anthroposophical Summer Schools. In 1928 he organized the first & only World Conference on Anthroposophy & in 1929 he was elected General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain. He had a deep friendship with Eleanor Merry, who supported his work, especially after the death of his own wife, Eleanor in 1932. As a result of conflicts & power struggles within the General Anthroposophical Society, leading to its splintering in April 1935, Dunlop was expelled together with a number of other leading members. He died shortly afterwards of an appendicitis. Dunlop enlisted the help of fellow anthroposophist Walter Johannes Stein in the hope of founding a World Economic Organization, but his death prevented this.

1936 – Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz resigns from the General Anthroposophical Society on the 1 year anniversary of his friend D.N. Dunlop’s death, in protest after many of his contemporizes were expelled from the Society.

1937 – Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot & kill 10 labor demonstrators

1989 –The 33-foot high “Goddess of Democracy” statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators

~i am a form in the flame
seen only if one gazes long into the fire…
clouds of smoke tear like a shroud & i see the shine of other hidden ones,
faces aglow with heat
flashing like lightning, speaking with thunder…
rising in the smoke
the scent of my prayer
an incense of hope & wonder…
~hag