02 | July | 2023 | Cognitive Ritual

Greetings friends on this Feast Day of “Maria Heimsuchung” – The Visitation of Mary.

In our further contemplation of the Summer Mysteries of St. John’s Tide – Thru the Spiritual Science of Rudolf Steiner we learn that the individuality we know as ‘John the Baptizer’ – was, in his 1^st incarnation – Adam – the oldest human being.

Thru the intervention of the Highest Spiritual Beings, a part of Adam’s Higher Self was kept back in the ‘Mother Lodge’ so that it would be protected from “The Fall.” We call this pure part of Adam, ‘the Nathan Soul’. This being was able to work from the spiritual worlds in ‘the pre-earthly deeds of Christ’, to help protect humanity from further adversarial forces as we progressed thru evolution. This Nathan Soul then incarnated for the 1st time at the ‘Turning Point of Time’ as the ‘Luke Jesus’.

And this is why John ‘leaped in the womb’ of Elizabeth his mother at the visitation from Mary – Because even though he was still in utero – in unborness, he recognized the ‘Nathan Soul’ part of himself when he was Adam, gestating in Mary – The incarnated Virgin Sophia.

The Gospel of Luke is a code to deep occult truths waiting to be taken up. It opens with the story of the mystic conception of John the Baptist to the High Priest Zechariah & Elizabeth the cousin of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This is followed by the Annunciation to Mary that she would bear the Son of God – Both these events were facilitated thru the Archangel Gabriel who held the Zeitgeist of that age.

~ Anne Cameron, The Visitation

Right after that we hear how Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was already 6 months pregnant – (Remember JB was born right after the Summer Solstice, 6 months before the Luke Jesus, who was born right after the Winter Solstice)

So these 2 parts of Adam were brought together for the 1^st time on Earth at the ‘Turning Point in Time’ during the “Maria Heimsuchung”.

The Gospel of St. Luke describes the birth of John; how an angel appeared to the priest Zechariah, telling him, “your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, & you shall call him John.” (Luke 1.13.) The angel also foretells the task of this being John: “… even from his mother’s womb will he be filled with the Holy Spirit. And he will turn many sons of Israel to the Lord their God again. He will be his forerunner and will pave his way, bearing within him the spirit and power of Elijah, to change men’s hearts so that fathers shall rediscover the meaning of childhood, and those who have become alienated from God shall find the meaning of Good again. So shall he make a well-prepared people ready for the Lord “(Luke 1.15-17.)

Hear now from Luke 1: 60 – “…They were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” ( We have spoken many times about the importance of this name Johannes – Ιωάννης , made up of the vowels “E – O – Ah)

Zechariah’s Song – Luke 1:67- 80 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “…And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” 80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to the people of Israel.

Christ Jesus Himself tells us “there is no one greater than John” (Luke 7:28)

JC also says -“And if you have ears to hear, John is Elijah, whose return men were expecting” (Matthew 11:14)

~Raphael, The Prophet’s Elijah & Isaiah, & John the Baptist as a boy

Elijah & Isaiah, who were subjects in many of Raphael’s paintings, were both Old Testament Prophets – John the Baptizer was called ‘the Last of the Great Prophets’. The artistry of Raphael, who we learn from Steiner, was a later incarnation of JB, reveals so much.

References to Elijah & Isaiah appear in the Old & New Testament, The Talmud, The Quran, The Book of Mormon, & Bahá’í

John 1:23 “John the Baptist replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.”

The Transfiguration was the very last thing Raphael painted. Check out the detail in the etching of Elijah – the bones of his silhouetted face – the etheric movment in his hairs – his reverant all seeing eyes – his hand on the book…

This highly esoteric painting called ‘The Canigiani Holy Family or Canigiani Madonna’, by Raphael is one of my favs. It shows the Luke Mary & Joseph – with Elizabeth – &…Is that her son John the Baptist? – Or is it the Matthew Jesus…?

I have a print of this – so evocative. Follow the gazes – & the mudra gestures of the hands – The feet – Their expressions – The colors – The 2 backgrounds – What is Mary reading? … What is on the scroll..?

What do you see in the 2 tall trees…& the stream between them – The light – The vegetation – The mountains – The buildings – The Angel beings…?

~Raphael, Madonna Terrranuova

There are actually many paintings by various artists at differing degrees of initiation that show the 2 Jesus children; this one really feels like Raphael painted a memory of himself.

Enlightening mysteries are hidden in plain sight – for all to see

~hag

2 July 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The July Full Buck/Thunder Moon – which is also a supermoon – occurs at 6:39 a.m. CDT tomorrow, 3July. Bella Luna rises just after sunset & sits within the Teapot asterism of Sagittarius the Archer. ~Chart via John Jardine Goss/ EarthSky.

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
SAINT JOHNSTIDE II
The Spirit Bond
v13
And when I am in senses’ heights
the gods’ true Word from spirit fire-worlds
is flaming in my depths of soul:
‘Foreseeing, seek your vision, find your star,
divine in spirit ground
the spirit bond with who you are’.

This is the last verse of the Soul Calendar’s first quarter, descrbed by Karl König as the voice of the Tenor uniting with the spirit through the senses. Next week will be the first verse of the Baritone, incarnating spirit with imaginative insight.

This is the mirror verse.
EPIPHANY
Love’s Offering
v40
And when I am in spirit depths
then in my ground of soul
the heart-formed love world fills
my self-bound vain delusions
with power of the World Word’s fire.