~Michael O’Brien
Tomorrow, August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary as the Theotokos (Greek: Θεοτόκος) “God-Bearer“. This mysterious event, which represents the 1st fruits of the Resurrection, comes during what the Farmers call the Season of Lammas / Loaf-mass – the Cross-Quarter time between, the Summer Solstice (St. John’s) & the Fall Equinox (Michaelmas) – when John Barleycorn is cut & ground to make our bread; it is a time of sacrifice, of death, in service to life; a time when we leave the sleepiness of Summer, to begin the conscious work of harvest.
We see this same theme of life & death in the Festival sacred to the Celtic Solar-Savoir-god Lugh, called Lughnasdh, which is drawn from his name associated with light, & nasdh which means, death – The ancient prefiguring of the decrease of John the Baptist & the increase of the Spiritual Sun thru sacrifice.
Celebrated with athletic competitions as a ‘Funeral Feast’ = Funeral Games – to commemorate the death of the earth goddess, Tailtiu who represents the dying vegetation which is offered up to feed humankind. The physical Sun forces die & are taken up into the substance of earth – becoming the fruits of the 2nd harvest –
The image of the scythe cutting down the ripened grains to be fashioned by human hands into the bread of life – to fortify us as we move into the unfolding of the Spiritual Forces of the Sun that we have to consciously take up as we progress into the dark of the year…
Also as we have mentioned, at this Cross-Quarter time we experience the Perseid meteor showers – our wake-up call – so we can activate & forge the iron in our blood for the battle that takes place at Michaelmas.
It is a powerful contemplation to see Michaelmas as a reversed Easter festival. Easter reveals 1st: the Mystery of Death, (conscious sacrifice) -then Resurrection, (transformation).
Michaelmas, a festival of the future-now, gives us 1st: a Resurrection of our soul forces, thru the awakening of our heart-thinking – then a Conscious Death, the courage to make a mindful sacrifice; to give up nature consciousness to achieve Self-Consciousness & ultimately to sacrifice the little self – to gain Spirit Consciousness – “Not me, but Christ in me”
And the Dormition or Feast of the Assumption is a symbol of this Sacrifice: a Conscious Death; the transformation that makes it possible to go into the spiritual world awake. –
The life of The God Bearer show us a way to live a life that prepares us for a worthy death, which is a revolution, like the sacrifice the caterpillar makes to become a butterfly. A Conscious Death in the physical world is a Resurrection into the Spiritual World.
So today, on this eve of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, we have an opportunity to remember that thru our work with Anthroposophy, individually & in community, we too can re-emerge like the butterfly, enlivened by an Inner Sun, fortified by cosmic iron from the stars, ready to work with Michael & the being of Anthroposophia, in full wakefulness.
~hag
14 August 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
“What is to be the starting force & impulse for events in social & ethical life must come out of the spiritual world.” ~Rudolf Steiner, New Spiritual Impulses in History” Dornach 16 December, 1917
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
600 BC – Birthday of LaTzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, writer – thought to be a contemporary of Confucius. The author of the Tao Te Ching & the founder of Taoism, also thought of as a deity in traditional Chinese religions.
1340 – Birthday of Meister Bertram of Minden, a German International Gothic painter primarily of religious art, 1st to paint the serpent as a temptress with a human head
1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminole tribe forced from Florida to Oklahoma
1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral is completed
1888 – An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord”, one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison’s phonograph in London, England
1912 – U.S. Marines invade Nicaragua
1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Lorraine
1916 – Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the Entente in World War I
1922 – Deathday of Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) British press baron & pre-1914 warmonger
1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired
1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter
1945 – Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II
1945 – Deathday of Helene Rochling, proof reader, & helper to Rudolf Steiner
1947 – Pakistan gains Independence from the British Empire & joins the Commonwealth of Nations
1956 – Deathday of Bertolt Brecht
2013 – Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi
2015 – The US Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years
Saturday 23 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire
*Autumnal Equinox
*Yom Kippur
*Michaelmas Festival
6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile
Please Bring Food & Drink to share, & a jar for the prep
