10 May 2018 – Astro-Weather: These spring nights, the long, dim sea serpent Hydra snakes across the southern sky. Find his head, a rather dim asterism about the width of your thumb at arm’s length, in the southwest. (It’s lower right of Regulus by about two fists at arm’s length. Also, a line from Castor through Pollux points to it about 2½ fists away.) Lower left of this is Hydra’s heart, orange Alphard. Hydra’s tail stretches all the way to Libra in the southeast. Hydra’s star pattern, from forehead to tail-tip, is 95° long.
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Feast Day of Job
1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
1818 – Death day of Paul Revere, American engraver & soldier. Revere was the Grand Master of the Freemasons of Massachusetts when a box containing an assemblage of commemorative items was deposited under the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House on 4 July 1795 by Governor Samuel Adams.
1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), & remains so until his death in 1972.
1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
1940 – World War II: German raids on British shipping convoys & military airfields begin.
1940 – World War II: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands &Luxembourg.
1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain.
1940 – World War II: Invasion of Iceland by the United Kingdom.
1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom & Nazi Germany.
1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
1997 – The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran’s Khorasan Province, killing 10,567, injuring over 2,300, leaving 50,000 homeless, & destroying over 15,000 homes.
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POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Chaos adds its odd time meter
To the harmony of the spheres
Can we hear beyond the speed of light?
~hag
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Ascension Thursday!
The Christ-Revelation ‘Coming in the Clouds’ is here- Showing us the bridge that brings a harmonizing spring-dialogue between the worlds. At the Ascension Christ becomes “Lord of the heavenly forces upon earth”. The fulfillment of the secret promise of the Ascension, is the Second Coming.
It was said to the apostles, “He will come again, in like manner, as you have seen Him go up into the clouds of heaven.” The Ascension is the seed of this Second Coming, & the Second Coming is the fulfillment of the Ascension.
The poet Novalis touched on this occult truth:
“In heavy clouds let Him ascend
And so also let Him downward tread.
In cooling streams let Him be sent,
In flames of fire blaze His descent,
In air & essence, sound & dew
To permeate our whole earth thru”
These lines from Novalis are a true prayer revealing the occult connection between the Ascension & the Second Coming. Here we also see that elemental beings form the earth under the patronage & protection of the higher worlds. In this way Ascension can be called the Festival of the Elements.
When we attune ourselves to beings such as Raphael, Archangel of spring, we can awaken to the way these spiritual entities constantly interact with earth thru the elements. The messengers of cosmic warmth in the rays of the sun activate the ascension of the element of water. Through its union with air, clouds originate. In the cloud, between depths of earth & heavenly heights, in the sphere of the etheric realm, a mobile balance manifests. – We see it in the blue sky, dancing with ever changing clouds. It is the primal image of metamorphosis, of organic forming & transforming- the never-resting developing, blessed by the heights. For this reason, blossoms & fruits are in reality not just products of earth but heavenly forms filled with earthly substance, like us.
And so for 40 days after the Resurrection, amidst this seasonal activity, the apostles received from the risen Christ his esoteric teachings; essentially the contents of the 5th Gospel given to us by Rudolf Steiner. -Then they witnessed The Christ, being received into the clouds, passing out of their sight – an expansion of His being – like the unfolding of a flower into the universe.
Rudolf Steiner tells us, that at the same time, the vivid spiritual reality of what would have happened to earth existence if the mystery of Golgotha had not occurred; came into their consciousness. – It was revealed to them that human bodies would have so deteriorated that all of humanity would have perished.
Our physical bodies have earth-gravity, but our etheric bodies have sun levity, so if the Christ deed had not taken place, our etheric bodies would have left the physical for good as well, & the existence of mankind would have come to an end, having no formative forces to give them life.
So as a result of the conversations over the 40 days with The Risen Christ, the apostles were able to receive the primal sources of a new imaginative clairvoyance, removing the veil hiding the true image of death, which is really a facet of the Father-God in the aspect of Creator – What is born must die, but thru Christ death becomes life.
So in the scene of the Ascension we have an indication of the all-encompassing influence of the Christ Being, as the Lord of Karma, upon the life of the human soul after death. –
To read the entire lecture: Ascension: Climbing Jacobs Ladder
Blessings & Peace –
~hag = Hazel ArcherGinsberg
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Thursday 10 May 2018 – 7 pm – 9 pm
A Special Study for Ascension Thursday-
“Easter, Ascension, Whitsun and the Essntial Nature of the Foundation Stone of the Christmas Conference” by Sergi O. Prokofieff from his book “The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation”
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Saturday May 12th 2018 – 10 am
Work Party in the Warehouse Space with Mihai Rosu. Snacks to share encouraged. Dress for mess.
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Friday 18 May 2018, 7pm–9pm – The 3rd & final phase of Easter-Tide-
Whitsun: A Festival of United Soul-Endeavor,
Art Projections & Lecture with Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.
Musical Performances TBA,
Experiential Social Art,
Foundation Stone Meditation
for more info. Hazel@ReverseRitual.com
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Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)
The Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…