Monthly Archives: July 2023

“How can I do the Good?”

Greeting Friends – I am fresh from The Mysteries of Healing: Realizing AnthropoSophia Conference, put on by the AHA, spearheaded by Dr. Melissa Greer of Carah Medical Arts, a non-profit, Community-supported practice, working with Social 3-folding. In Gaelic Carah means “friend”. In Welsh it means “love” between friends and neighbors. In Indonesian it means “the way” and “wise”.

The Steiner verse spoken each day by Molly McIntyre set the soul mood:

“Wisdom in the Spirit
Love in the Soul
Power in the Will:
They guide me
They hold me
I trust them.
I offer myself to them”.

More than 80 dedicated Anthro doctors, therapists, various practitioners & inter-related souls, gathered on the sacred land of Camphill Soltane to ask “How can I do the Good?.

The impulse to renew the ancient mysteries of healing brought by Ita Wegman to Rudolf Steiner 100 years ago, was alive & palpable.

August 1923 was a profound turning point for the ‘Movement’, which led to the new founding of the Society, with Rudolf Steiner uniting us to AnthropoSophia at the Christmas Conference.

During that potent time in Penmaenmawr = “Head of the Great Stone”, & Ilkley – there on the North coast of Wales, dotted with ancient Neolithic pre-Druidic ritual sites – & more than 250 large spirals, & a curved swastika carved into the rocky outcroppings, a break-thru occurred for Rudolf Steiner & Dr. Ita Wegman.

Connecting to the healing impulse radiating there brought further evidence of the ‘Northern stream‘, described often by Spiritual Science & in Germanic mythology – giving us glimpses into the Druidic, Trotten & Hibernian mystery school traditions.

The Druid Priests in particular were healers, working with the elemental realms to create remedies & medicines. This is captivatingly described by Steiner in THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS, 26 August 1923, Penmaenmawr & in other lectures including: MAN IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: “The actions of the sun on plants was revealed to the Druid Priest; he could see that a particular kind of plant-life flourishes at a particular time when the sun is active in a particular way. He could trace the spiritual activity of the sun and see how it pours and streams into flower, leaf and root; and it was the same with animals...We see it best of all in what the Druid priests possessed as a science of healing.”

Interesting to contemplate the connection between the veneration of the Druid Priests working with mistletoe, a parasitic plant that never touches the earth, intwining instead around a mighty oak tree – & the fact that Ita Wegman was one of the first to use Mistletoe (Viscum album) as a healing remedy for cancer.

Thinking of the Druids as a Priest – as well as a Healer, made me recall the Pastoral Medicine lectures – which Steiner gave just a few days after he had returned from Penmaenmawr…!

Are not the Priests Healers, & the Doctors Priests…?

Yes, I know – at that time Steiner saw the 2 streams as being separate. But more & more it seems we are being called to marry the streams. Perhpas when Ita Wegman asks her question, she is seeing a more integrated reality – a true renewal of the ancient mysteries. Dr. Ursula Flatters mentioned that according to her journals, Ita Wegman had been mulling over this question for 10 years.

During the various talks by Dr.’s Ursula Flatters, James Dyson, Marion Debus – many times their experience showed that to “do the Good” we have to let go of our ego-driven-human-will; this opens the space for the inspiration & intution of our Higher “I” – Anthroposophia, & the Holy Spirit to enter-in the work of healing.

More about that soon.

In ‘Mysterien- und Geisteschichte der Menschheit’, Gunther Wachsmuth reports what was experienced by Rudolf Steiner at the stone circle now known as the ‘Twelve Apostles’, on Ilkley Moor, constructed over 9000 years ago.

And in “The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner.” Wachsmuth writes: “During his trips to England, In Penmaenmawr, Steiner visited a Druid circle: In keeping with the spiritual atmosphere of the place, the conversation centered on the Mysteries of the Druids and their opposite pole in Europe, the cult of Mithras, by which the Southern Mysteries were contrasted to the Northern Mysteries seen here. Before Steiner’s spiritual eye the ancient Druid culture came to life upon the spot. Indeed he himself seemed to change into a Druid priest, speaking with intimate knowledge and understanding as he began to explain the arrangement and the function of the stones, a unique and strange picture, as now in the loneliness of this lofty plateau Rudolf Steiner entered into the midst of the Druid circle. He told me to lift my gaze above the stones towards the mountain peaks surrounding the plateau, and described to me, with an intensity in his retrospect as if the event were occurring at that moment, how once the Druid priests, through viewing the signs of the zodiac passing along the horizon in the course of the year, were able to experience the spiritual cosmos, the beings within it, and their mandates to humanity.”

From Rudolf Steiner a month later in MICHAELMAS AND THE SOUL-FORCES OF MAN: “…In the immediate vicinity of Penmaenmawr were to be found two such sun-circles adjoining each other; and in this particular neighborhood, where even in the spiritual life of nature there is so much that has a different effect from that of nature elsewhere, what I have set forth in various anthroposophical lectures concerning the Druid Mysteries could be tested with the utmost clarity.

There is indeed a quite special spiritual atmosphere in this region where — on the island of Anglesea — the Society of King Arthur had a settlement…

…these sun-circles are arranged in the number twelve, like the twelve signs of the zodiac; and on the mountain we had climbed we found a large sun-circle and nearby a smaller one. If one had ascended, perhaps in a balloon, and looked down upon these two Druid circles, ignoring the insignificant distance between them, the same ground plan would have presented itself — there is something profoundly moving about this — as that of the Goetheanum in Dornach which was destroyed by fire.”

Steiner’s “Druidenstein painting, which he gifted to Ita Wegman after their experiences in Penmaenmawr, depicts the shimmering etheric & astral overlay powerfully resonate there, shown in dramatic stages.

I’m sure there are others better able than myself to share a Spiritual Scientific artistic study of the color details & what the images all represent, so I’ll just emphasize that for me, this imagination describes the Druid Priests being able to perceive The Mystery of Golgothawritten on the Sun-drenched tapestry of the elemental world, & in the stellar script, at the Turning Point of Time.  A fulfillment of the teachings foreseen for thousands of years in the ancient Mystery Schools. The Cosmic Christ had taken human incarnation, & thru the medicine of his blood permeating the body of the Earth, a healing seed was set into all realms which they perceived.  

I picture The Druid Priests working deeply in a sort of ‘biodynamic’ way with the earth thru their healing practices, to prepare the way in the far distant future, for our Earth to become a New Sun…

These potent imaginations along with my impressions of the conference will continue to unfold in a series of essays that I will strive to assemble before I go off to the AAP training 1-8 August…

Until soon

~hag

25 July 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Look for Bella Luna as the 1st quarter Moon near the bright star Spica in Virgo the Maiden.

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

On Saturday the sun entered the sign of Leo,
whose Eurythmy gesture is Enthusiasm,
THE ENTHUSIASM OF THE YEAR
The Spirit’s Treasure
v16
My foresight is commanding me
to harbour inwardly the spirit’s gift
that God’s fruit ripen
in ground of soul
for Selfhood’s harvest.

In the mirror verse the sun enters the sign of Capricorn.
WINTER SOLSTICE – ADVENT IV
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

Feast Day of Mary Magdalene

Yes dear friends the long awaited Feast Day of Mary Magdalene has arrived! Did you receive the Video The Sanctifier? She who Anoints the Anointed One ~Lyrics by hag – Music by Velsum – Originally performed as part of our Easter Festival on Holy Saturday 2023. This deeply moving video was lovingly crafted as a surprise gifting from Velsum to me on my recent Natal Return – Premiering TODAY for all to witness. (see the lyrics below)

22 July 2023 “Speaking with the Stars”: From Astrosopher Jonathan Hilton: “the Moon leaves Leo and steps into the stars of Virgo. If we hold the imagination of Virgo as the great Isis/Sophia with a crown of stars around her head, the Sun in her heart, and the Moon under her feet, then the Moon TODAY will enter the crown of stars around the head of Virgo.

The Sanctifier ~hag
MMMMMMM
He is the eternal flame of love. She is the oil that burns for light.
She who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ (1)
Hers is the path of the Sacred Union, consummated within the soul.
She of ‘The Three Marys’ (15) =
“Rebellious, bitter, & beloved.” (16)
“There were three
who always walked with The Lord:
Mary His mother;
Mary His sister;
And Mary Magdalene, His companion. (17)
Three Marys: Virgin, Sister, Companion
MMMMMM
He is the eternal flame of love. She is the oil that burns for light.
She who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ (1)
Hers is the path of the Sacred Union, consummated within the soul.
She is the Magdala – The Tower ascending
In Christened Catharsis
She is freed from the 7 demons –
“A design was erased by virtue of a higher design” (2)
MMMMMM
“Then Mary Arose”(3)
And Anthropos Sophia entered in
MMMMMMM
He is the eternal flame of love. She is the oil that burns for light.
She who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ (1)
Hers is the path of the Sacred Union, consummated within the soul.
She offers Tears of Repentance –
His feet, her hair.
Thru “her Greater Love” (4)
She breaks open
The “alabaster jar” (5)
Spilling out
The Unction
A Precious Perfume
Confirming the balm of Faith
MMMMMMM
Then – when it was His Time
At the ‘Turning Point of Time’
She prepares the Lamb for sacrifice
She offers the Golden Chrism
She Anoints His head for burial
“Truly I tell you, wherever in the whole world this Gospel is proclaimed,
what she has done will be told and her memory will be honored.” (6)
MMMMMMM
He is the eternal flame of love. She is the oil that burns for light.
She who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ (1)
Hers is the path of the Sacred Union, consummated within the soul.
She sits at the feet of the Master
She stands with the Twelve
She walks with the women who sustained the mission
“By their own means” (7)
MMMMMMM
She kneels
At the foot of the Cross (11)
With the Virgin Sophia
And her risen brother
MMMMMM
Death Doula –
Myrrhbearer (12)
Sacred Witness
At the tomb (13)
Holding Space
Turning Time
Harrowing Hell (14)
MMMMMMM
He is the eternal flame of love. She is the oil that burns for light.
She who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ (1)
Hers is the path of the Sacred Union, consummated within the soul.
The Priestess of Isis Becomes
The “Apostle of the apostles”
So says the ‘Angelic Doctor’. (2a)
MMMMMM
She is the Mercy Seat (20)
The Shekinah
In the Holy of Holies – Revealed –
When “The veil of the Temple was rent in twain.” (21)
MMMMMMM
She is
The first to See
The first to Be
The Holy Grail
She leads us to the Gardener (22)
Of the New Jerusalem
MMMMMMM
He is the eternal flame of love. She is the oil that burns for light.
She who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ (1)
Hers is the path of the Sacred Union, consummated within the soul.
She holds the Red Egg (19)
In The Golden Legend
Cherubim lift her
Out of the cave
Contemplative in her hair-shirt
Soul of Wisdom
Messenger of Christ
“The compassionate Christ said to Mary his companion:
You are the blessed one in whom I will perfect all Mysteries” (18)
MMMMMMM
He is the eternal flame of love. She is the oil that burns for light.
She who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ (1)
Hers is the path of the Sacred Union, consummated within the soul.
MMMMMMM…MMMary MMMagdalene is:
“Beloved of Christ and greatly loved by Christ” (8)
“Chosen because you are beloved, beloved because you have been chosen” (9)
“The Lord loved her more than He loved all other disciples
and often kissed her on her mouth.” (10)
MMMMMMM
He is the eternal flame of love. She is the oil that burns for light.
She who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ (1)
Hers is the path of the Sacred Union, consummated within the soul.
MMMMMM
“The Gospel according to MMMary MMMagdalene

~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Lyrics for a Velsum song, for our Easter Festival on Holy Saturday 2023
(1) Christ comes from the Greek word χριστός (chrīstós), meaning “anointed one”. In the Greek Septuagint, χριστός was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Mašíaḥ, messiah), meaning “⁠[one who is] anointed”.
(2) ‘The Gospel of Mary Magdalene’ page 17 verse 2-5 (2a) Saint Thomas Aquinas
(3) ‘The Gospel of Mary Magdalene’ page 9 verse 12
(4) Luke 7:36-50
(5) Matthew 26:7 & Mark 14:3
(6) Matthew 26: 6-10
(7) Mark 15: 40-47
(8) Vatican City announcement on 3 July 2016 elevating Mary Magdalene – quoting Rabanus Maurus from “dilectrix Christi et a Christo plurimum dilecta”: De vita Mariae Magdalenae, Prologus
(9) Saint Anselm of Canterbury (“electa dilectrix et dilecta electrix Dei”: Oratio LXXIII ad sanctam Mariam Magdalenam).
(10) Gospel of Philip see Verses 55 -125
(11) John 19:25-27
(12) The Myrrhophores are an ancient , secret group of women who work with sacred threshold oils
Mark 15:44-16:8 – 27:56 – Mark 15:40 – John 19:39
(13) Matt 12:14 – 27:66 – 28:1-8 – Mark 6:29 – 15:46 – 16:1-8 – Luke 23:53-55 – 24:1-24 – John 19:41-42 – 20:1-11
(14) referred to in the Apostles’ Creed & the Athanasian Creed (Quicumque vult) – Ephesians 4:9 – Ephesians 4:9 – Acts 2:24 – 1 Peter 4:6
(15) John 19:24
(16) I see the name Mary, like the name John, as an honorific title of initiation. Miriam or Mary originated from the Egyptian language; derivative of the root mr “beloved of Yahweh; derivation from Hebrew, either from marah “to be rebellious”, or from mara “bitter” (cf. myrrh), or mry “rebellious”. St. Jerome (writing c. 390), following Eusebius of Caesarea, translates the name as “drop of the sea” (stilla maris in Latin), from Hebrew מר mar “drop” (cf. Isaiah 40:15) and ים yam “sea”. This translation was subsequently rendered stella maris (“star of the sea”) whence comes the Virgin Mary’s title Star of the Sea.
(17) The apocryphal Gospel of Philip – Verse 32
(18) The Pistis Sophia
(19) The Golden Legend ~ Jacobus de Voragine
(20) Attended by two Cherubim- Exodus 25:17-22 – 26:34 – 30:6 — Hebrews 9:5 – Leviticus 16:2 – Numbers 7:89
(21) Matt. 27 – Mark 15:38 – Luke 23:45
(22) John 20:15

Artemis & Alexander

Greetings friends – Testing 1-2-3 – I am trying something new here – sending these thoughts remotely since I am away at the “The Mysteries of Healing: Realizing AnthropoSophia” Conference. (“work Ahriman, work”)

Those of you who tune-into RR know that I am keen on making karmic connections around the Historic & current events, Feast Days, & birth & death days of influential individualities, inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s Original Calendar of the Soul.

While researching, I came across Steiner attributing 21 July as the Birthday of Alexander the Great – which he also reveals was the very same day in 356 BC that the Temple of Ephesus went up in flames.

Legend has it that the Goddess Artemis, to whom the Temple was dedicated, was away that day – busy attending to the birth of Alexander.

I love to look behind these myths & legends to see the spiritual reality speaking. Steiner connects the Burning of the Temple of Artemis with the burning of the Goetheanum – attributed in the 1st case with ‘The Jealously of the gods’ and with the Johannes Bau – The House of the Word = ‘The Jealously of Men’.

The Mysteries of Ephesus became inscribed into the Cosmic Ethers after the Burning of the Temple. Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great, was able to receive these mysteries by reading the Cosmic Script. Renewing them – he brought these mysteries of The Word back to the world in what we call the ‘Aristotelian Categories’.

So amazing to make these cosmic & historic connections – & bring them into our thinking now – And then really it’s up to us to make something of them.

I have been striving to use my imaginative thinking to carry the clues that Steiner gives to connect the mysteries that stand behind: The Colossus of Artemis, which was a symbol of the Logos before it came to Earth in a human form, & the Representative of Humanity – The Word made manifest – The Christ impulse of Wonder, Compassion, & Conscience giving meaning to human evolution.

A lightbulb goes off in my heart & mind when I add in the open secret that: ‘The Group’ is in reality a veil of the New Isis – which the true human being is called to lift, bringing the full blossom of Wisdom to the seed of Love.

It all becomes clear that we are meant to connect the dots inscribed into the ethers thru the burning of these 2 Temples – One to Artemis, the Comic Logos & the other to Anthroposophia, the Truth-Wrought-Word of the Human Being.

Written in the cosmic script we find the old clairvoyance bestowed thru initiation into the Mysteries of Ephesus, being carried into the thinking of Aristotle, to inform Alexander’s Michaelic Campaign – Bringing the Mysteries of the East in a renewed form to the West; preparing the way for the Christ Event that came at the Turning Point of Time.

And then following the individualities of Aristotle & Alexander into their lives reunited once again on the Dornach hill, standing together before the burning of the Goetheanum – as the New Mysteries of the Reverse Cultus became inscribed also into the ethers, expanding & evolving the Cosmic Script, renewing The Logos – which awaits our interaction.

Friends, the Statue of the Representative of Humanity stands with us today as the living link between the past, present & future – if we will to unveil the New Isis hidden in the hand-hewn carving, whose essence dwells in the Dodecahedron of Love, that we must cultivate within our heart-thinking – to open our humanness to the Wisdom of the Christ – then the burning will not have been in vain…

Here is the Recording from last year’s ‘Roots & Renewal Session’ # 1: From Artemis to the Representative of Humanity and Beyond

21 July 2023 “Speaking with the Stars”: From Astrosopher Jonathan Hilton – “As the Moon passes Mars on Friday, the Sun steps into the stars of Cancer and is opposite Pluto, in Capricorn. So, the Sun will be above in our day consciousness and Pluto will be working through the Earth from below in our night or “unconscious.” We can picture at sunset and sunrise, the Sun on one side at the horizon, rising or setting, and Pluto on the other side, rising or setting. This can, in our time, be a powerful picture of the opposition of the Sun-I, to the anti-Sun forces, or the opposition between the Christic and anti-Christic/Asuric forces.

Pluto has become a central player in recent historical events, particularly beginning in 2020, when it met Jupiter and Saturn leading up to the Great Conjunction of these planets during Holy Nights, 2020. Pluto is now in the same degree as that Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in December, 2020.

It is worth noting that Pluto was opposite the Sun on New Year’s Eve 1922/23 when the Goetheanum was burned, when the anti-Christic destructive fire started below in the basement as Rudolf Steiner was lecturing in the hall above. This current opposition in Cancer and Sagittarius/Capricorn can become an imagination for us of the challenges in our time to, out of the Christic I, meet and transform the powerful forces working from Pluto, which carries both the greatest destruction as well as the highest potentiality of the transformation of the physical, ultimately to Spirit Human or Atman.”

Tomorrow 22 July Is the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene. As promised – to receive the Premier Video of Velsum performing ‘The Sanctifier”  go to my YouTube channel to turn on the notification – I believe it will then be sent to you on MM’s Feast Day at 12 am.

Putting technology to work for the Good

Xox

~hag

Syzygy

Greetings dear friends on this New Moon in Gemini – the constellation of the Twins

We have an opportunity to tune into the tide of etheric forces waving in to nourish the Cosmic Seed of manifestation that is available to us now. This syzygy of Sun & Moon is in conjunction with the head of Pollux – the Immortal Twin of Gemini – the boxer – the protective warrior, part of our “I” that can help us confront the current opposition with Pluto reflecting our unconscious shadow side.

Tomorrow I leave for another spiritual adventure at Camphill Soltane, in Glenmoore PA, for the 2023 AHA Biennial Conference:  “The Mysteries of Healing: Realizing AnthropoSophia”. So I will be off-line until next week. Although, because…

Saturday 22 July is the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene I have prepared a surprise!

Actually I was the one surprised on my birthday by Velsum (who are on tour right now on the East coast!) They made a magical video of the song we wrote together, which they performed during our Easter Festival: “Mary Magdalene & the Women at the Tomb”. I had hoped they would re-record it since the sound on the live stream we did on Holy Saturday did not capture its true essence.

I have set it up on my YouTube channel to Premier on MM’s Feast Day at 12 am.

I believe that if you go to the page you can turn on the notification to receive this resplendent gift that keeps on giving, at that time…

Why does Mary Magdalene resonate with so many of us these days? What image comes to mind when you hear her name?… A woman with long red hair holding a vessel of Spikenard ointment, or a skull, & book? Who is this ‘She, who anoints ‘The Anointed One’ – Do you see her as a holy witness – holding sacred space at the rocky entrance to the tomb? And before that for her brother Lazarus/John while he was in the underworld communing with John the Baptist as part of the first Christian Initiation…? Or maybe what speaks to you is the fact that she was the 1st to see the Risen Christ, initially as the Gardener – spiritual symbol of the cultivation of a New Garden of Paradise – a New Adam & Eve, a New humanity in the New Jerusalem that can come to be, because of the Resurrection…Perhaps you resonate with the 3 Mary’s –depicted as The Sacred Myrrh Bearers, who used essential oils to assist the dead at the threshold…

In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, she uses the Greek word Anthropos, which means the true human being – So maybe we can see her as the 1st AnthropoSophia – vested with the authority of the Risen One to proclaim the good news of the Resurrection to the rest of the disciples. This is the image that lived in ‘The Angelic Doctor’ – our dear Thomas Aquinas, who named her ‘The Apostle of the Apostles’.

Or maybe you are familiar with her many legends that speak of her life after Pentecost? Do you see her holding a red egg, or being ministered by the Angels outside her hermits cave…?

For me, Art is a powerful way to unlock the essence of spiritual truth, which speaks directly to our soul, as well as helping to reveal the spiritual science of these mysteries.  And Velsum’s powerful video of “The Santifier” opens us to the eternal Being of Mary Magdalene & her significance for us today Enjoy.

Until soon

Xox

~hag

Fiery Radiance

Yes, Friends we are still riding the St. John’s-Tide.

Since my experience at the altar last Sunday I have been extra keen on tuning into the Archangel of Summer – Uriel, whose name in Hebrew stands for ‘the radiance & fire of God’. Rudolf Steiner describes Uriel as ‘weaving his being out of the golden radiance of the elemental beings intertwining with the Sun’. If we follow his ‘grave, judicial eyes’, we are directed down towards the crystal realm of the earth, where this fiery being shows us how human thinking, feeling & willing actually affect the earth realm.

Uriel’s gesture is a warning, indicating what we ought to do to receive the baptism of repentance. For just like John the Baptizer, this Archangelic being admonishes us to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

Can we rouse ourselves to see that up above in the clouds, appear shining pictures of beauty, of virtue – our highest goals – woven out of the Sun-gold, which humanity can take in, AND must contribute to as well, so that ultimately, we can achieve that radiance for ourselves & for the Earth.

We can use the golden, fiery, radiant light, to lift ourselves up from complacency, to repair the breach – giving us the will to work for a more perfect future.

Uriel calls us to transform our vices into virtues.

If we can understand the connection of human morality with the crystalline element below, & of human virtues with the shining beauty above — & if we take these connections into our inner experience, Steiner tells us that the real St. John’s Imagination will come to meet us.

What is arising here is an Imagination of the Trinity, which Steiner tells us, is the true St. John Imagination – with the admonishing Archangel of Summer Uriel in the background.

After reading my experience a friend sent me this Steiner quote:

 “In the elements of fire, of water, of air and of earth we have only an outer expression. Behind what our eyes see as fire, and what we feel as heat, is a real spiritual entity, which only has its outer expression in the outer fire.

Behind what we inhale as air, behind what enters our eyes as light, and behind what our ears perceive as sound, are active beings, spiritual and divine, whose outer garments we are only beholding in fire, in water, and in all that surrounds us in the different realms of nature.

In the teaching of the mysteries, there is an experience called: the ‘passage through the elementary worlds.’ One then becomes aware that living beings are hidden behind the fire. We become intimately acquainted with fire, as something quite different from what it appears to be in the world of the senses. We become acquainted with the fire-beings, with what is the soul of the fire.

Just as our souls are hidden behind our bodies, so the soul and spirit of fire is hidden by the outward appearance of fire which we perceive with our senses.

We penetrate into a spiritual domain when we experience the soul and spirit of fire in this way. To use the terms of occult science, we now move among the fire-gods, ‘living in the element of fire’.

When one has acquired true self-knowledge, one can ascend to experiencing the beings in the elements of fire, of water, of air and of earth. These four classes of gods or spirits live a real existence in the elements, and a person who has reached the stage which has just been described is in touch with the divine spiritual beings of the elements.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The East in the Light of the West, Lecture two, 24 August 1909.

These Beings wait for us to tune into their essential nature, so that we can work together to spiritualize matter with the Light of Love.

~hag

16 July 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Look southeast after dark tonight and you should immediately spot the bright star Altair in Aquila, which anchors another point of the Summer Triangle (along with Deneb, from last night, and Vega in Lyra). ~astronomy.com

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated
(with added titles) by Roy Sadler
SAINT JOHNSTIDE IV
The Spirit’s Gift
v15
I feel, as if spellbound, the weaving
of spirit in the glory of the world;
it’s veiled my own being
in drowsiness of sense
to give to me the strength
that in my narrow bounds
I’m powerless to give myself.

The soul is given the strength to be pregnant
and at Lammas she will conceive the Cosmic Word
for the Spirit Child’s birth in this week’s mirror verse.
CHRISTMAS
The Spirit Child
v38
I feel the Spirit Child set free
from spell in womb of soul;
in heart’s bright radiance
from seed of holy Cosmic Word
the heaven’s fruit of hope
is growing into farthest worlds
rejoicing from my being’s ground of God.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Our Lady of Mount Carmel: July 16 | saints-feast-family

Feast Day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order, by Christian hermits living in the Holy Land during the late 12th & early to mid-13th century. They built a chapel conceived of in chivalric terms as the “Lady of the place.” Our Lady of Mount Carmel was adopted in the 19th century as the patron saint of Chile, in South America.

In celebration of the feast day of Our... - Diocese of Palm Beach | Facebook

Since the 15th century, popular devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel has centered on the Scapular, a sacramental associated with promises of Mary’s special aid for the salvation of the devoted wearer. Since the Middle Ages, Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been related to Purgatory, where souls are purged of sins in the fires. In some images, she is portrayed as accompanied with angels and souls wearing Brown Scapulars, who plead for her mediation.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Wikipedia

Our Lady of Mount Carmel was seen in the apparitions of Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal, by Lúcia Santos & her co-visionary companions Jacinta & Francisco Marto & as many as 70,000 witnesses of the extraordinary events during the Miracle of the Sun. She also appeared to Saint Simon Stock to whom she gave the Brown Scapular. The Garabandal apparitions, in Spain, were reported to be images of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. Also in Acquafondata, Italy, the apparition of the Virgin of Mount Carmel, was seen on July 16, 1841. There is still today a small sanctuary on the site.

Mohammed's Flight from Mecca in 622 AD; Algerian color postcard from the  1920s or '30s. Mohammed is the figure dressed in red entering th… | Image  archive, Postcard

622 – Mohammed’s flight from Mecca, which came to determine the beginning of the Islamic calendar.

Byzantine Empire Religious & Political Differences Split Christianity,  Decline of the Empire. - ppt download

1054 – Three Roman legates break relations between Western & Eastern Christian Churches through the act of placing an invalidly-issued Papal bull of Excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the start of the East–West Schism.

1879 – Birthday of Elisabeth Vreede – Dutch philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, astrologer & anthroposopher. Elisabeth Vreede came into contact with Theosophy in her home growing up. She was interested early on in the starry sky, read the works of Camille Flammarion & learned French at the same time. At the University of Leyden she studied mathematics, astronomy, philosophy (especially Hegel) & Sanskrit. She was also actively involved in student life, founding a boat club, & was a council member of the students’ union.

Einige Briefe aus dem Jahr 1943, Elisabeth Vreede

Her first meeting with Rudolf Steiner took place at the Theosophical Congress in London in 1903. Vreede was leader of the mathematics & astronomy sections in the Goetheanum in Dornach from 1926 till 1935. In her capacity as leader of the Mathematical-Astronomical Section she wrote a monthly letter, then available by subscription, about both modern astronomy & classical astrology in the light of spiritual science. The letters included explanations of the fundamentals of astronomy & discussions of astrology in the modern world, with reference to such topics as the procession of the equinoxes, comets, solar & lunar eclipses, & the meaning of the Christian holidays such as Easter & Whitsun. The Letters in English translation were published in 2007 with the title Astronomy and Spiritual Science.

Elisabeth Vreede - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

In 1935 the separation within the Anthroposophical Society took place & she was expelled from the executive council & excluded along with her long-time friend & co-member, Dr. Ita Wegman from the board of directors. She was also cut off from the observatory & archives that she herself helped assemble.

The last years of her life became more lonely. She was cut off from her friends abroad by the War. The death of Ita Wegman at the beginning of March, 1943, was a great shock for her.

Cichorei | Elisabeth Vreede

Rudolf Steiner said of her: ‘this individuality does not wish to be recognized …’ Elisabeth Knottenbelt in her memoirs describes statements about her: that ‘she incarnated too early’ for the sake of serving Rudolf Steiner. “for this task [the work with Rudolf Steiner] she had assumed the sacrifice of a premature incarnation. One who, for the sake of a spiritual mission, comes in this way to earth too early must forego a lot. To a great extent one leaves one’s karmic circle of human beings behind in the spiritual word. Her life was thus really a quite lonely one, only a few persons were grouped around her without any real connection.”

Astronomy and Spiritual Science: The Astronomical Letters of Elisabeth  Vreede: Vreede, Elisabeth, Koetzsch, Ronald, Riegel, Anne, Davidson,  Norman: 9780880105880: Amazon.com: Books

Here is a quote from a letter written by her prior to her removal from the executive council: “The Being of Anthroposophy – I myself have always felt it as a spiritual being newly created by Dr. Steiner, as it were the first hierarchical Being that men have begotten, quite young and still underdeveloped, as is the case with a child—a Being that must now begin to develop further through our common work as a ‘community of knowledge’, and with the cooperation of its creator from the spiritual world. Just for this reason I find it so painful when attacks are continually made against part of the active members such as to exclude them from the work, from creating together the Being of Anthroposophy.”

Elisabeth Vreede - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Read her biography from the Astrosophy Research Center

Revisiting the Vel d'Hiv roundup through the ca...

1942 – Holocaust: Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup.The government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Winter Velodrome in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.

Preserving the History of the Atomic Age and the Manhattan Project - Non  Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly

1945 – Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

1948 – The city of Nazareth, revered by Christians as the hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel, the largest offensive by Israeli forces in the north of Palestine in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Israeli aircraft bombed Saffuriya village & caused panic among the population; many of the villagers fled northwards toward Lebanon, others found shelter in Nazareth, leaving about 100 elderly people behind. Nazareth surrendered to the Israelis.

July 16–17, 1999 — “A Small Plane Is Missing” — The Death Of JFK Jr.

1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies when his plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. His wife & sister-in-law are also killed

2014 – Deathday of Ruth Zinniker – The biodynamic movement owes so much to Ruth and the whole Zinniker family. Their farm has been a source of inspiration for thousands of people, many of whom came there to work as apprentices when they were young people and have gone on to be important leaders in the biodynamic movement. Ruth had a place in her heart for all these people and many others. She warmed the movement with her social gesture and her fiery enthusiasm. Thank you dear Ruth, thank you Zinniker family, for all you have given to help seed the biodynamic movement in North America.

Then I will be heading out for our next training 1-7 August 2023