Greetings friends on this Eve of the New Moon – I am striving, like you, thru Spiritual Science, in the continual digestion of past, present & future world events, to not only uncover the supersensible reality behind the various physically manifested phenomenon – naming the forces working in what we see out-pictured in our collective reality – but also to ask questions?
And one of the main questions many of us are asking is: How can we affect positive change?
We know that as individuals we are tasked with consistently practicing the inner development work described in Rudolf Steiner’s basic book: ‘How to Know Higher Worlds’. This first step is a life-long process, not a theory – but a conscious Initiatory practice… – Then with a firm moral foundation that allows us to build new spiritual organs, we are meant to join our gifts together to build the Temple of the New Mysteries – A Michaelic Oasis/Fortress that enables us to counteract the adversarial forces thru our collective endeavor – which involves rising in our thinking to meet the spiritual beings who are willing to work as our allies for the highest evolution of humanity.
Here on RR we have brought forth the intention to co-create change thru what I call: Project Thought-Seed (Egregore 10:10 )
Do you feel as I do that we must become spiritual warriors? We cannot realistically hope to affect change by physical means alone. The 3-fold Social Organism is in deep dis-ease. The Economic & Political realms are thoroughly corrupt, so in re-awakening the moral civil center of the Spiritual/Educational/Cultural realm in freedom, we can endeavor to take up the practice of building up affirmative imaginations on the inner planes as a counterforce to the adversarial powers working in the world.
This kind of willed-visualizationbecomes a “key-call” to the Spiritual Powers aligned with love & light, to enlist their aid.
Our collective Good Will can form a cosmic energy field for healing – planting what Dion Fortune called “Seed ideas in the group mind of humanity” to co-create intentions for our Highest human evolution – that the Earth may become a Sacred Planet – a Sun – & every Human Being a Star.“What is sown in our highest thought will grow and bear seed.” It only takes the square root of any number of people to create true change.
To further explain ‘the working’, we can do together, let’s look at what this positive group energy can be, from a spiritual scientific point of view:
An egregore is a positive group thought-form, & when intentionally created, becomes a kind of ‘entity’ with the power to help & influence.
Whenever we meditate, pray, study a sacred image, or create an inspiring work of science, art, or literature, we radiate into time & space positive thoughts & emotions which benefit the all. Thru concentration exercises we can build Thought-Forms in the astral where we can meet in spirit.
Our goal is to co-create a new ‘Group-Soul United in Christ’ – which has the power to affect the ultimate positive change we want to see in the world.
As a psychic ‘entity’, the egregore exists between the material & spiritual worlds, & is connected to both. It is a living creation of our highest intentions.
We have the power to manifest thought-forms of good will together –to collectively build a cognitive imagination of Michael-Christ-Sophia, protecting & embracing us with love & light.
The forces built up thru our collective egregore fortifies & sustains us. The intentional visualization of the Earth as a Sun, increases thru our efforts over time – becoming more & more realized thru our repeated affirmational actions.
Here is the Meditative Thought-Seed I have been working with:
For Thinking: “When I think light, my soul shines, When my soul shines, the Earth is a Star, When the Earth is a Star, I am, a true human being”. ~Herbert Hahn
I love to reverse the verses: I Am A True Human Being The Earth is a Star My Soul Shines I think Light
For Feeling: When I feel Love, my heart sings When my heart sings, the Earth resounds When the Earth resounds, I am a true I AM
I Am A True I am The earth Resounds My Heart Sings I Feel Love
For Willing: When I will life, my hands help When my hands help, the Earth heals When the Earth heals, I am a free human being
I Am A Free Human Being The Earth Heals My Hands Help I Will Life
~ hag
Of course just a simple moment of sending your good will out into the ethers is potent too.
If you are interested you can read about the origins for this Thought-Experiment which came about during the start of the Corona Crisis.
So dear friends, here is something we can actually do to counteract evil – to make our world a better place.
I hope to see you in the ethers every day 10:10 AM, (&/or PM) (but please don’t worry if you can’t tune in at 10:10, just do it whenever you think of it, which may be many times a day, or perhaps only occasionally, don’t stress it, just do what you can with a loving heart-mind)
~hag
RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler AUTUMN PRELUDE III The Yield Of Summer v23 In autumn haze the senses’ lure fades; a mist arising veils the light’s revealing. In widths of space I see the autumn landscape fall asleep; the summer’s yielded me her being for me to reap
This week’s octave is its mirror verse: the Celtic Wise Woman festival of Samhain [‘Summer’s End’] when the summer’s being begins to shine as the summer of the soul, the cosmic light living on with inner power.
SAMHAIN – HALLOWEEN The Summer Of The Soul v30 In sunlight of my soul the fruit of thinking ripens; all feeling turns to sureness of self-awareness. I joy to sense the autumn’s rousing of the spirit; within me will the winter wake the summer of the soul.
PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE: Due to the farm day at Angelic Organics we are changing our Chicago Festival to: FRIDAY 22 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire Celebrating
*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
30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day
Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought
The time for biodynamic preparation making is come up again very soon. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and work in soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.
After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –
Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year? Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye and thank you. Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?
Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner Please bring a dish to share Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.
Most folks can remember where they were, on that September morning, 22 years & counting ago.
It was autumn, & the new school year had just started. The Perseid meteor showers had been weak in 2001. Michaelmas was on my mind. My husband & I had slept late that day. My morning mediation was scattered, distracted. I went into the kitchen to make breakfast, my daughter, who was not yet 2 years old, was playing up in her room, when the phone rang. It was my friend Rowan. She was crying & whispering: ‘Turn on your TV’. I laughed & said ‘Rowan what is it? You know we don’t watch the tube”. She said ‘O Hazel honey, just turn it on’.
We were in shock. I don’t have to go into what we all felt at that world turning moment.
We tuned off the TV, & I called to see if school was still in session. The folks at the Chicago Waldorf School said, yes, stressing how we all needed to keep the media away from the young ones. In a daze I got the girl ready for our parent/child class. While the children played, the parents sat, quiet, nodding to each other, holding the sacred space for the innocents, speaking only with our eyes about what we had seen.
When I got home my husband said the 2nd tower was hit -The horrendous images repeating in an endless loop on every screen.
Miguel Tio
For many days after, when I would take my girl for walks, or wherever I was, – at work, at the market, I felt a deepened connection to my fellow human beings. People looked each other in the eyes. Folks were kind, helpful, really considerate, even in traffic. We were all brothers & sisters, bonded by this world altering event.
We were all one. Humanity united that day.
In trying to make sense of it all, I thought, perhaps this horrible tragedy would become a catalyst for true change. I saw it as a loosening of our collective etheric bodies, providing an opportunity for the angels to work with us, opening humanity to a threshold experience, an initiation, preparing us for the sister/brotherhood of the next epoch.
Remember how still, & quiet it was under clear blue skies in those 1st few days, after, when all the air traffic was halted? Peaceful, heightened, open.
But soon the shock, & vulnerable open eyed connection gave way to patriotic rhetoric; hateful & boiling, it radiated out infecting the planet. And anyone not jumping on the war wagon was called unpatriotic / trader / ’conspiracy theory’ lunatic, & roundly silenced.
Lies became truth. Phantoms became reality. Blood was exchanged for oil. Corporations became people. Our civil liberties were bought & sold. Homeland security invaded our right to privacy – The human soul oppressed by systematic illusion.
Never mind that VP Dick Cheney was running the largest war-games exercise at the same time as the ‘attacks’. Never mind the connection of the Saudi’s with the Bush dynasty. Never mind the mind, for thinking had been outlawed.
The fallout from 9/11 continues, but perhaps with time, truths will continue to surface bringing change & healing, AND there is always help from the ever present spiritual world, if we look for it. Michael will continue to pour his cosmic iron into our blood; it is up to us to use it to tame the dragon.
David T Nelson
“For once, therefore, a man woke up and saw that what mattered was not to proclaim democracy but to see the full reality, not to follow slogans, but to see things as they are. This would be particularly important today, for people would then realize that the events which reign with such blood and terror over the whole of humanity are guided and directed from just a few centers. People will never realize this if they persist in the delusion that nation is fighting nation, and allow the European and American Press to lull them to sleep over the kinds of relations that are said to exist between nations.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Fall of the Spirits of Darkness, : Lecture 14: Into the Future, Dornach, 28 October 1917
Dear Friends, This entire series of lectures: The Spiritual Background of the External World, given at the end of 1917 following 4 horrific years of WW1 – The war that begot every war since – gives Spiritually Scientific insights into the complex forces working behind the scenes. Revealing how most of humanity is asleep to the fact that fallen spirits, cast out of the spiritual worlds, have become intensely active on earth – working particularly in people’s thinking, & in their false perception of world events. It also gives a thru-line that says the defeat & fall of these spirits is ensured when we apply a science of the spirit which is available to us & needed now more than ever.
Insider Traders Knew About Attacks Before They Happened. Right before the 9/11 attacks, some fishy business happened within the stock market & insurance firms. An “extraordinary” amount of put options were placed on United Airlines & American Airlines stocks, the same airlines that were hijacked during the attacks. Many speculate that traders were tipped off about the attacks & profited from the tragedy. The Securities & Exchange Commission launched an insider trading investigation in which Osama bin Laden was a suspect, after receiving information from at least one Wall Street firm.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) generals reported that they learned of the hijackings in time to scramble fighter jets, but that they were ordered to stand down ‘because it was a part of a Military war game’.
Is this just like Pearl Harbor? Did our government want to use the attacks to justify an invasion on Iraq & Afghanistan to secure oil interests?
Commercial airplanes’ frames are constructed with a very light aluminum material in order to make it easier to fly. Some believe that missiles or explosives were used to ensure the buildings collapsed. Many scientists & engineers say it looked like a controlled demolition. Many speculate that the towers were in fact blown down with explosives placed in selected locations. Some witnesses recounted hearing explosions inside the building as they attempted to escape. Many architects even maintain that a plane’s fuel cannot produce enough heat to melt the steel frames of the two buildings that collapsed.
The Pentagon crash may be the most puzzling event of the day. Theorists maintain that the impact holes in the Pentagon were much smaller than a commercial American Airlines plane. They also question why the plane was not shot down prior to impact, as well as why the plane impacted a section of the Pentagon that was vacant due to renovations.
According to official reports, the passengers onboard Flight 93 attempted to take back the plane from the hijackers & the subsequent struggle caused the aircraft to crash into an open field in Pennsylvania. As with the Pentagon attack, theorists state that very little plane wreckage was actually discovered in the field – that the crash site itself was too small for an airliner that size, arguing instead that the plane was shot down by the military & so it disintegrated over a larger area.
In the aftermath of the attacks, passports & identification were found as evidence. How did the passports of the terrorists made out of paper survive the same explosion that destroyed buildings?
The vision of St. John ~el Greco
I know you are tired dear friend. It’s all so much. And I know today is an emotional day – But together we can continue to ask urgent & difficult questions, so that we may share healing, which often comes thru shattering insights. This can help us achieve humanity’s highest evolution.
Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn
We can’t rest until we reveal what lies at the root of the corona – our individual & collective Crown – vs. the ‘virus’, & the worldwide pandemic it has caused. What are the deeper, spiritual realities? Which entities stand behind this world-wide-illness? What can we do to meet this? How can we be spiritually hygienic? What therapeutic practices can we employ?
~hag
Is this present world situation meant to be seen as part of a larger series of world-events? – Can we find the connections? All of humanity is being called upon to respond in a radically transformative way. How will we face the issues relating to government lockdowns, police corruption, & the rise of the protest movements that have sprung up in opposition to them. How do these events point to real questions of individual freedom – not a selfish ‘me 1st freedom’, but a true freedom based on love, good will & compassion toward everyone?
~hag
And above all, how does all this relate to the essential event of our time – The revealing of The Christ in the etheric; which remains largely hidden behind the veil of materialism?
Here are a few recordings around these important themes:
1932 – Deathday of Fritz Lemmermayer – an Austrian writer, journalist, & close childhood friend of Rudolf Steiner in Vienna.
His father was a portrait painter, his mother a pianist. The shy boy had a particularly close relationship with her and his sister Marie. When Fritz was eight years old, his father died and his mother had to support four underage children under difficult circumstances, and Fritz had to help earn money from then on.
He studied philosophy, history and literature and discovered his love for poetry and soon wrote for a wide variety of journals. His large circle of friends also included the poets Robert Hamerling and Fercher von Steinwand Above all, however, Fritz was also an ardent admirer of Friedrich Hebbel and Richard Wagner , in whose house he visited regularly. His initial inclination towards Schopenhauer’s pessimistic philosophy soon gave way to an unshakable belief in the healing powers of the world Love . A passionate anti-materialist, he wanted to dedicate his life to creating and nurturing spiritual values.
In 1883, Fritz Lemmermayer completed his novel “The Alchemist”, his most important literary achievement, for which Hamerling also found very appreciative words. In 1884, his beloved sister Marie, who had been married to the musician Carl Udel, a confidante of Crown Prince Rudolf , died, which meant that Lemmermayer learned much of the Crown Prince’s life from close quarters. Lemmermayer’s mother also died in 1886 .
Rudolf Steiner met Lemmermayer in the same year 1886 in the circle of the poet Marie Eugenie delle Grazie . An extensive exchange of letters testifies to the close friendship that developed between the two. In “ My Journey ” Steiner reports: “He had just prepared his own meal: two soft eggs on a high-speed cooker; plus bread. He spoke with emphasis as the water surged to boil our eggs: “This will be delicious.” (Lit .: GA 028, p. 141f )
Lemmermayer and Steiner also joined the Vienna artists’ circle, which met weekly in the house of the Protestant pastor Alfred Formey (1844-1901) and his wife Marie on Dorotheergasse. Christine Hebbel , Friedrich Hebbel’s widow, also frequented here .
“It was also in 1888 when I was introduced to the house of the Viennese Protestant pastor Alfred Formey. Once a week a circle of artists and writers gathered there. Alfred Formey had appeared as a poet himself. Fritz Lemmermayer characterized him from the hearts of friends out like this: “Warm-hearted, intimate in his feeling for nature, enthusiastic, almost drunk in faith in God and happiness, this is how Alfred Formey writes his poems in soft, roaring chords. It is as if his step did not touch the hard earth, but as if he was going up in the clouds dozing and dreaming.” And that’s how Alfred Formey was as a person. You felt quite distant when you came to this rectory and at first there were only the master and the housewife there.” ( Lit .: GA 028, p. 157f)
In 1891, Lemmermayer became vice president of the Iduna Writers’ Association , named after Iduna , the Nordic goddess of youth and immortality , which had been founded as a counterweight against the currents of naturalism and in particular against the Young Vienna group led by Hermann Bahr .
After Steiner went to Weimar in the fall of 1890 to work on the publication of Goethe’s scientific writings for the large Weimar Goethe edition , Lemmermayer’s friendship with Martin Greif deepened. In 1893, Lemmermayer published his tragedy “Simson and Delilah,” which ends with the words: “Blessed is it to leave this world of madness and confusion.”
On September 24 , 1924, Lemmemayer was the victim of a dramatic incident. During a walk on the castle grounds in Brodzany, he was attacked by several dogs and was so badly injured from neck to feet that he had to stay in bed for six months. Fever, thrombosis and bilateral pneumonia brought him to the brink of death. It was only thanks to the self-sacrificing care of the then 23-year-old Heinz Robert von Wallpach that he was able to leave his sick bed for the first time at the end of March 1925 and soon afterwards moved to Vienna accompanied by his nurse.
In Vienna, Lemmermayer lived at Neubaugasse 29 until his death. He now got to know and appreciate Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy better and became a member of the Anthroposophical Society in 1926 . In 1927, Lemmermayer fell ill with a severe and rare form of measles and a new case of pneumonia. He now connected more and more with Steiner’s spiritual science and on many journeys through Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland and England he spoke in his subtle way about the time he spent with Steiner in Vienna and also cultivated the memory of Robert Hamerling and Fercher von Steinwand. This resulted in theIn 1929 he published memories of Rudolf Steiner, Robert Hamerling and some personalities of Austrian intellectual life in the 1980s . In addition, Lemmermayer also published some articles in the weekly magazine “ Das Goetheanum ”. ~Anthrowiki
Saturday 23 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire Celebrating
*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
30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day
Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought
The time for biodynamic preparation making is come up again very soon. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and work in soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.
After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –
Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year? Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye and thank you. Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?
Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner Please bring a dish to share Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.
Greetings freinds – Here is today’s essay on the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast
The Virtue associated with Virgo is: Courtesy becomes Steadiness of Feeling.
In taking up the work of understanding Mary Magdalene in her overcoming of the 7 demons, to become ‘She who anoints the Anointed One’ – I have been working with the 12 virtues as the antidote – turning those vices into virtues.
Being a double Cancer with a Pisces Moon, this virtue of Equanimity or steadiness of Feeling has never been my strong suit – too much water! But the other day it also dawned on me that perhaps it’s partly because I have always looked on ‘courtesy’ as a false societal mask, a convention that my – ‘Say it like it is’ attitude didn’t allow me to fully appreciate; especially since my dear mother, who always very courteous, another Cancer native, was often martyred. So, I thought I had to be tough – I didn’t want to be walked on like she was. But I know that because of this need to adjust to my childhood experiences, I have often let my hard crabby shell be too heavy an armor. And it hurts that some can see me as aloof, thinking my need to protect my overly sensitive feeling life is a conceit. And yet it woke me up to seek to understand & deal with my own vulnerability.
And I see that to practice this virtue I must also deal with my impatience. I must learn to see that tolerance, & patient interest, is the real form of courtesy. It shows me that to be kind, to be truly courteous, I have to practice a real ‘steadfastness of feeling’ the virtue seen in the 6 basic exercises as Equinimity. – It can’t come from a rule outside me, an unconscious convention, a dutiful patent ‘please & thank you’, or an overt inconsiderateness – but from a tactful heart, centered in equanimity, bringing a calm sobriety & the resolve to cultivate & harvest right relationship.
Erdal Bölükbaşı
We are in the season cycle when the contemplative Virgin of the heavens holds the Sun forces, sparking wholeness, to gather us up in her blue mantle, like ears of corn. We are brought home from the far fields of Summer.
The constellation of the Virgin has always been regarded since the ancient mysteries, as the bearer of the bread of life – Full-filled at the ‘Turning Point of Time’ in the ‘miracle of the loaves & the fishes’, as well as the ‘Last Supper’ & in the birth of the Sun into humanity.
If cosmic provisions are to become nourishment for the Higher Self – The “I”, we must make a connection with the powers of the depths, which lie opposite the Virgin along the axis of the Zodiac, in the constellation of Pisces, the sign of the Fishes. With this balance of Above & Below we can truly feed the “I” – & say as St. John The Divine did: “I am the Bread of Life”!
This begs the question, which our current culture has to answer: How can the food of life, which is so often taken in unconsciously, in greedy gulps -instead, be taken up & internalized with a wakeful & reverent consciousness?
If the Bread of Life is to be fully digested by the “I”, then what is required is the destruction of our selfish desires, making us ‘virgin’ again, Whole – that we may give birth to the ‘Christ in me’, to preserve & focus the activity of the will, freeing the “I” from outdated husks, to feed the Christ self.
In the social realm, the royal virtue of courtesy brings the giddiness of summer’s unconscious expansion back into a steadfast feeling of thoughtful care. A soul hygiene that brings the pendulum into right relationship, just as every out-breath is followed by an in-breath –The austerity of the Virgin leading us into the balanced scales of Libra in preparation for Michaelmas.
This must be developed in the practice of our social life. If we practice this high ideal of courtesy, not just a surface, conventional politeness, we can acquire the right heart-felt feeling, which awakens an inner organ that can reveal to us the true being of the other person, as well as opening our connection to the elemental beings, that look to us to release them from the withering blooms.
~hag
“If the sheath-bearing Virgin, who draws near with golden rays of autumn sun, in the blue firmament, is to nourish you with what she provides, you must take up this food that is the Bread of Life in your innermost being.
That you can only do, when you develop not only your senses, but with them, open up the spirit of your soul to the world around you, & deepen in your heart the fruits of your life, that you gather, shape & organize. Only the right heartfelt tact gives you the possibility of recognizing the human being in others & of becoming aware of your own human nobility!” ~Rudolf Steiner
~Petr Horalek, Slovakia 09/09/2023 – 04:00 am – Comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura, discovered on 12 August by Hideo Nishimura from Japan, next to Venus (Occult Mercury).
720 – Death/Feast Day of Aubert of Avranches According to legend, in 708 he had a vision in which the Archangel Michael instructed him to build an oratory on the rocky tidal island at the mouth of the Couesnon. Aubert did not pay attention to this vision at first, until in exasperation Michael appeared to him again, this time driving his finger into Aubert’s skull & ordering him to complete the task again. Michael is said to have appeared to him a total of three times. After this the oratory was built.
The relic of Aubert’s skull, complete with hole where the archangel’s finger pierced it, can still be seen at the Saint-Gervais Basilica in Avranches.
1305 – Death/Feast Day of Nicholas of Tolentino, known as the Patron of Holy Souls, was an Italian saint &mystic. There are many tales & legends which relate to Nicholas. One says the devil once beat him with a stick, which was then displayed for years in his church. In another, Nicholas, a vegetarian, was served a roasted fowl, for which he made the sign of the cross, & it flew out a window. Nine passengers on a ship going down at sea once asked Nicholas’ aid, & he appeared in the sky, wearing the black Augustinian habit, radiating golden light, holding a lily in his left hand, & with his right hand, he quelled the storm. An apparition of the saint, it is said, once saved the burning palace of the Doge of Venice by throwing a piece of blessed bread on the flames. He was also reported to have resurrected over one hundred dead children, including several who had drowned together.
1509 – An earthquake known as “The Lesser Judgment Day” hits Constantinople killing over 2,000
1721 – The Treaty of Nystad was signed ending the twenty-one year Great Northern War between Russia & Sweden. Rudolf Steiner speaks about the significance of this in GA 119 Macrocosm/Microcosm: Lecture 6: Experiences of Initiation in the Northern Mysteries
1898 – Deathday of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, Queen of Hungary & Queen consort of Croatia and Bohemia. While travelling in Geneva in she was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni who selected her because he had missed his chance to assassinate Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans, & wanted to kill the next member of royalty that he saw. Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress-consort of Austria, at 44 years. Rudolf Steiner gives us much to think about concerning her destiny in this lecture – BEHIND THE SCENES OF EXTERNAL HAPPENINGS, GA 178, Lecture I, Zürick, 6th November, 1917
1919 – Austria & the Allies sign the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye recognizing the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia
1933 – Deathday of A.W. Sellin, Anthroposopher & Fremason
1935 – Birthday of Mary Oliver, poet & author
1943 – World War II: German forces begin their occupation of Rome
2008 – The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland
World Suicide Prevention Day
Saturday 23 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire Celebrating
*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
30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day
Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought
The time for biodynamic preparation making is come up again very soon. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and work in soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.
After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –
Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year? Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye and thank you. Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?
Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner Please bring a dish to share Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.
Greetings Friends – The Miraculous birth of someone who has a special destiny, is a big theme in myth & legend. These powerful tales often include interventions by a deity, an angel, some sort of supernatural elements, or profound astronomical signs, often accompanied by barreness in old age, or other hardships. Sometimes complex plots around the birth are related to creation myths or the progress of human evolution.
In the story of Krishna, the deity Vishnu is the agent of conception & also the offspring. Because of his sympathy for the earth, the divine Vishnu descended into the womb of Devaki & was born as her son, Krishna.
In Ancient Mesopotamia we hear that Ea (Sophia) Conceives Marduk. The conception of Horus by Isis is understood in terms of the Egyptian doctrine of parthenogenesis.
Mithra was born from the rock.
The Second Book of Enoch contains a section, called ‘Exaltation of Melchizedek’, which says that the Priest/King Melchizedek was conceived of a virgin, Sopanima, a brother of Noah – born after she died! Melchizedek sat on the bed beside her corpse, already fully grown, speaking & blessing the Lord, dressed with the badge of priesthood. Forty days later, Melchizedek was taken by the archangel Gabriel (Michael in some manuscripts) to the Garden of Eden to keep him safe from the Deluge without having to be in Noah’s Ark. Then later:
“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he is the priest of the most high God.” — Genesis 14:18–20
There is also a reflection in the Old Testament story of Hannah (also spelled Anna) the mother of the prophet Samuel. Childless, she prayed for a son, promising to dedicate him to God. Her prayers are answered, & she brings forth Samuel, giving him up to the Temple for religious training.
Alexander the Great (with the help of Artemis) the Ptolemies, & the Caesars were said to have been “virgin-born.”
Romulus & Remus, the legendary twin founders of the city of Rome, were born to a Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia, & raised by the Wolf Goddess.
The virgin Chimalman conceived Quetzalcoatl by swallowing an emerald.
Huitzilopochtli’s mother was Coatlicue – She of the Serpent Skirt. One day, while sweeping she discovers a bundle of feathers on the ground. She decides to save them placing them next to her heart. Without realizing, the feathers impregnate her.
~Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo, The Nativity of the Virgin Mary
I could go on & on with examples…But why am I thinking about this today – Well, According to the original Calendar of the Soul by Rudolf Steiner, TODAY is the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Mary’s September birth, with the Sun in the constellation Virgo, has ‘officially’ been celebrated since the 6th century. Also noteworthy – the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is nine months earlier on 8 December.
St. Augustine connects Mary’s birth with the work of The Christ. He tells the earth to rejoice & shine forth in the light of her birth. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed...
Today the barren Anna claps her hands for joy, the earth radiates with light, kings sing their happiness, priests enjoy every blessing, the entire universe rejoices, for she who is queen and the Father’s immaculate bride buds forth from the stem of Jesse”
Anne, the mother of Mary, first appears in the 2nd-century Apocryphal Gospel of James. Anne & her husband, Joachim, (name of a pillar in the sacred Temple) are infertile, but God hears their prayers & Mary is conceived without sexual intercourse. – The story goes that Anna prayed beneath a laurel tree near their home in Galilee. Gabriel appeared & said: “Anne the Lord hath heard thy prayer & thou shalt conceive & bring forth, & thy seed shall be spoken of in all the world” Anna replied: “As the Lord my God liveth, I will bring this child as a gift to the Lord thy God in all Holiness.”
When Mary was 3 years old, Anna & Joachim took Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem where she entered into the inner Sanctuary, & they never saw her again in that life.
Legend has it that the body of “Good Saint Anna” was brought to France by Saint Mary Magdalene in 47 AD
Happy B-day BVM. May your miraculous birth work to awaken the virtuous tasks at hand, so that we may live into the potential of our human nobility… ~hag
~Chart via John Jardine Goss/ EarthSky.
8 September 2023 – “Speaking with the stars”: The waning crescent moon is near the twin stars of Gemini: Castor & Pollux. Bright Venus (occult Mercury) will rise below them as morning twilight begins. Also, look for the bright star Procyon of Canis Minor the Lesser Dog shining nearby. Can you see earthshine glowing on the moon?
1504 – Michelangelo’s David is unveiled in Piazza della Signoria in Florence
1565 – The Knights of Malta lift the Ottoman siege of Malta, the climax of an escalating contest between a Christian alliance & the Islamic Ottoman Empire for control of the Mediterranean
1637 – Deathday of Robert Fludd, a prominent English Paracelsian physician & occultist, an astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist & Rosicrucian apologist.
1900 – Galveston hurricane: A powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people
1941 – World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins
1949 – Deathday of Richard Strauss, German composer
1978 – Black Friday, a massacre by soldiers against protesters in Tehran, provoked 700-3000 deaths, it marks the beginning of the end of the monarchy in Iran
1988 – Deathday of Dr Rita Leroi a few days before her 75th birthday. She attended the Stuttgart Waldorf School as a child. She went on to became a Clinical Assistant at the Ita Wegman Clinic in Arlesheim. She developed a deep interest in cancer & the Iscador treatment of this disease. In 1954 she married Dr Alexandre Leroi who was the leader of the Society for Cancer Research & Director of the Hiscia Research Institute in Arlesheim. It is here that Iscador is produced & researches into the many problems to be solved in developing it into an effective remedy are undertaken. In October 1963 the Lukas Klinik, devoted to the care & treatment of cancer patients, opened in Arlesheim & Rita Leroi became its Director & selected to be President of the International Anthroposophical Medical Association
Saturday 23 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire Celebrating
*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
30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day
Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought
The time for biodynamic preparation making is come up again very soon. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and work in soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.
After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –
Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year? Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye and thank you. Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?
Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner Please bring a dish to share Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.
Greetings friends – I trust that your Labor Day was light filled.
Matthew 11:28-30: “28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
We brought a highlight to the biography of Elizabeth Vreede on her Death-day recently. And today I ran across this lecture which she gave on 11 July 1930, so I thought to share this interesting snippet:
“In conclusion, I would like to share with you the beautiful words of comfort which Rudolf Steiner spoke once during the time when we were standing in the midst of battle. It was in Copenhagen in 1911, when he was giving three lectures which were then printed in the little book ‘The Spiritual Guidance of Humankind.’
The three lectures that were then used as a basis for the book were preceded by this introduction, which, however, was not included in the printing, and which indeed also would not have fitted there. I would like to read to you the conclusion from this lecture. It is my own transcription- I do not have any other- and regrettably incomplete in places. But even if it were complete, it could hardly convey the immeasurable love, forgiveness and comfort that streamed from Rudolf Steiner to his listeners in this lecture. These were approximately his words:
~Henry Brown Fuller
‘A period of time such as ours, portending such tremendous events of soul, presents a special opportunity for us to enter profoundly into ourselves. In addition to the many duties that flow out of our movement, we must also draw into our own hearts, our own souls, so that we may clearly appreciate that only through sacrifice, are we able to follow the way which can bring a certainty in regard to the Mystery of Golgotha.
Significant times such as these must necessarily bring us something confirming the truth of the old saying, ‘where there is great light, there is much darkness’- Shadows that arise along with those gifts of which we have spoken here. This possibility of error necessarily exists in combination with the outpouring of great truths. Thus, more than at other times the human soul is at present open to error. It is also true that in the coming days of enlightenment, the greatest possible errors may occur. Error is easily possible for the weak human heart precisely because we shall be experiencing enormous events.
In consideration of what the occultists of all ages, with clear warning voices, have spoken about this possibility of error, we must learn to practice the tolerance of which we have spoken here. A blind subjection must, on the one hand, be avoided, for that can actually foster the possibility of error. On the other hand, it is also necessary to have an open heart for the new forces that will to flow now from spiritual worlds into humankind. Whoever is a good Anthroposophist knows that if we wish to foster the Light that is now wanting to stream into humankind, then we must recognize the errors that will flow into us along with the light.
Let us take confidence in knowing that there has never been a movement in which such open, loving hearts could be fostered as in our present- day movement. May we realize that it is better to be attacked by those who believe they have the only truth, in their opinion, than to attack them ourselves…between those two extremes there lies indeed a long path.
Despair may descend on us with the thought in these difficult times ‘How can I distinguish truth from error?’ In our striving, let us try to live in such a way that we can be strengthened by the idea that the truth will indeed be what can provide the highest impulses for humankind: The truth shall be closer to me than I am to myself. If I have this relationship to truth and if I should err in this Incarnation, then in the next Incarnation the truth itself will lead me back to what is right. It is better to err in this frame of mind than to cling to dogmas.
If we honestly strive for truth, then truth will be the victorious impulse in the world; through us, and through its inherent power.
If the communications of spiritual truths can awaken such feelings in the human soul, then there will be fulfilled in these Souls the mission of the new spiritual Revelation which has come into humankind – and will come ever more strongly in the future – in order to lead us up into spiritual worlds’ “.
TODAY in 1919 – Opening of the 1st Waldorf School in Stuttgart “A Ceremony of Cosmic Order”
“We can accomplish our work only if we do not see it as simply a matter of intellect or feeling, but, in the highest sense, as a moral spiritual task. Therefore, you will understand why, as we begin this work today, we first reflect on the connection we wish to create from the very beginning between our activity and the spiritual worlds. With such a task, we must be conscious that we do not work only in the physical plane of living human beings.
In the last centuries, this way of viewing work has increasingly gained such acceptance that it is virtually the only way people see it. This understanding of tasks has made teaching what it is now and that the work before us should improve. Thus, we wish to begin our preparation by first reflecting upon how we connect with the spiritual powers in whose service and in whose name each one of us must work. I ask you to understand these introductory words as a kind of prayer to those powers who stand behind us with Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition as we take up this task.
It is our duty to see the importance of our work. We will do this if we know that this school is charged with a particular task. We need to make our thoughts very concrete; we need to form our thoughts so that we can be conscious that this school fulfills something special. We can do this only when we do not view the founding of this school as an everyday occurrence, but instead regard it as a ceremony held within Cosmic Order. In this sense, I wish, in the name of the good spirit whose task it is to lead humanity out of suffering and misery, in the name of this good spirit whose task it is to lead humanity to a higher level of development in education. I wish to give the most heartfelt thanks to this good spirit who has given our dear friend Mr. Molt the good thoughts to do what he has done for the further development of humanity at this time and in this place, and what he has done for the Waldorf School. We are united with him in feeling the greatness of the task and of the moment in which it is begun, and in feeling that this is a festive moment in Cosmic Order, he will be able to work in our midst with the necessary strength.
We wish to begin our work with this in mind. We wish to see each other as human beings brought together by karma, who will bring about, not something common, but something that, for those doing this work, will include the feeling of a festive Cosmic moment. ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Foundations of Human Experience’.
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF WALDORF EDUCATION Even the large scale of the photograph did not permit the inclusion of hundreds of personages and Beings who deserve to appear. Among those from the Past are: Adam and Eve, Abraham, Joseph, St. Luke, St. Paul, St Odelia, St Christopher, Pythagoras, Thales, Julius Caesar, William Blake, Buddha, Cicero, Albertus Magnus, Brunetto Latini, Zarathustra, Gilgamesh and Ibani, Novalis, Schiller, Christian Morgenstern, Karl Koenig, A.C. Harwood, Margaret Froehlich, Henry Barnes, Roy Wilkinson, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and many, many others.
Our thanks to Paul McCartney, Jann Haworth, and Peter Blake, creators of the iconic album cover for the Beatles’ inimitable Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band .
Among those from the Present who should take their place in this photographic Pantheon are: Patrick Wakeford-Evans, Ted Mahle, Roberto Trostli, Torin Finser, Karine Munk Finser, John Alexandra, Betty Staley, Douglas Gerwin, Arthur Auer, Norman Davidson, Clifford Monks, Arline Monks, Ida Oberman, Brian Gray, Michael Heffernan, Jaimen McMillan, Bonnie River, Thom Schaefer, Donna Long, Prairie Adams, Anna Rainville, David Mitchell, Chip Romer, Allegra Allesandri, Susan Olson, Kim John Payne, Jamie York, and many, many others. ~Eugene Schwartz
Saturday 23 September 2023
Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire Celebrating
*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
