All posts by ~hag

About ~hag

Having grown up in the wastelands of suburbia, I found refuge in the wilds of nature which sprung up in the empty lots behind the track housing. Developing a rich inner life, singing, writing plays or poetry and harvesting plants to make herbal medicines with my grandmother, helped get me through the mendacity of a public school education, graduating H.S. in 3 years at age 15. I backpacked around the sacred sites of Europe for a year, and then took my heart to San Francisco on a full scholarship to study Philosophy & Comparative Religion (with a minor in Women’s Studies) at SFSU. There in the dusty halls of dead thinking, I met Rudolf Steiner’s Spiritual Science through fate and the discovery of Owen Barfield, and began to work with the basic books on my own. (It was almost 25 years later when I finally discovered that there was such a thing as an Anthroposophical Society!) Destiny had prepped me through Rosicrucianism which came into play at an early age, (that’s another long story I would be happy to relate over coffee) but I didn’t officially join the Societas Rosicruciana in America (S.R.I.A), headquartered in Kingston NY, until I moved to NYC after college. I began applying my Midwest work ethic, and my eclectic blend of teachings in the Big Apple. I became a neighborhood leader working with disenfranchised youth. It was almost impossible for former drug addicts, run aways, and artist types to find affordable housing in Manhattan, so the focus of my community activism was with the ‘Homesteading Movement’. We became ‘squatters’ renovating several blocks of abandoned city owned buildings on the ‘Lower East Side’. Through this community I spearheaded many artistic initiatives such the experiential guerrilla Theatre Troupe, “The Valkyries.” I was also a singer, songwriter, and drummer, performing in several “No New York” genre original bands (Heal, Health Hen, Baby Boom) recording and touring extensively in the U.S. and Europe. In the 1980’s the Lower East Side was a cultural Mecca and we were featured at CBGB’s, the Mud Club, the Bitter End, the Beat Kitchen, etc. When I wasn’t on tour, I was a vegetarian chef; and diligently worked the Rosicrucian path traveling to upstate NY for the S.R.I.A workings. I also studied for 4 years and was ordained as a Trans-denominational Minister at the Spiritual Science Center, of Maryland, a school dedicated to teaching comparative religions, philosophy, & service to humanity. I moved to Chicago when my uncle was dying of AIDS. I became a Sous-chef at a Vegetarian restaurant, and started co-creating with a ‘Hermetic Order’, who had a healing center on the Northside, and sacred land in Indiana, making plant medicines again. I became the Founder & Facilitator of: The SheDrums MysteryLodge, featuring workshops, Retreats & Rites of Passage for Women. ‘the WE drum Tribe’ = “the Heart-Beat of Chicago’s Conscious Community”. E.V.A. (Divine Expressions of Vital Alchemy) A collaborative dance company that embodied the Divine Feminine through seasonal myth-telling performances. Sanctuary Dance: The Chicago facilitator for the annual International EarthDance, a worldwide dance event to promote unity across cultures. Producer, director, writer & videographer for The EarthNetwork, a monthly program focused primarily on environmental, political, & spiritual issues. Mother-Earth-Minute 8x’s a year at Lake Street Church in Evanston Classes on the Wheel of the Year for the Chicago Park District. Videographer for Richard Shay (Art Shay’s son) working with the likes of Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey and Gene Siskel. WRD Environmental Consultant for the Chicago Conservation Corps (C3). When I was almost 40 years old I had my daughter Ultra-Violet Archer, and married Chuck Ginsberg. It wasn’t until my girl was at the Chicago Waldorf School that I finally heard about the Anthroposophical Society, and discovered that the Branch was within walking distance to our house! Through the Waldorf School I Trained with Kim John Payne’s Social Inclusion Intervention & Mediation program called ‘Justice Without Blame’; and went on to do Hakomi, and Matrix leadership training in team building and consensus processes. As a Minster I started a business called “Milestones” Creating Custom Ceremonies for All Occasions: Traditional Weddings, as well as same sex Marriages, Fertility Rituals, Baby Blessings, Renewal of Vows, Home and Corporate Blessings, Crossing over ceremonies, Funerals, Memorials/Celebration of Life, and other Rites of Passage – Specializing in Coming of Age Initiations for girls and women. I studied with Susanne Down and Founded ‘Wisdom Roots Puppetry’ – Working in the Waldorf-Tradition of Therapeutic Seasonal Story, Song and Ensouled Puppetry. I have been the Cultural Events and Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago for about 10 years; and a member of the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society for 7 years. I am a member of the First Class of the School of Spiritual Science, and of the Esoteric Youth Circle. Because I have long been inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s original Calendar of the Soul, where he commemorates feast days, and birth and death days of important individualities; about 4 years ago I founded ‘Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year’ and recently the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast; where I strive to reveal the patterns connecting the seasonal round with human karma, great historical events, as well as repeated weather patterns, natural catastrophes, wars, and the many milestones that can help us understand the past, stand with courage in the present, and see what is wanting to come in from the future. You can find a collection of the many RECORDINGS of Presentations, Programs & Festivals that I offer or facilitate HERE I look forward to serving on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America, especially at this important ‘Turning Point’ in world history as we approach the 100 year anniversary of the Christmas Conference, a true Whitsun event for the evolution of humanity. ~Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – Founder of Reverse Ritual: Understanding Anthroposophy through the Rhythms of the Year & the ‘I Think Speech’ Podcast. Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Poet, Anthroposopher – working as the Cultural Events and Festivals Coordinator of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, & the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. I am ready to bring my Festivals, Lectures & Programs to your community once again!

Flow-Form

Biography, Birth / Death Days, History, Insight, Quote, Upcoming Events

Greetings friends – All my current essay’s are now being posted on Substack. I hope to see you there…xox

~hag

Whenever I reach a Turning Point in my life-stream – I step in. Bringing ‘Biography Work’ into this Conscious Threshold experience shows the flow from the past swirling into the now – conveying clarity into connectivity. And from the analysis of the rhythmic tides, the glacial overview emerges. Slow-motion waves cresting & ebbing, spilling & pooling – exposing a new perception of the undercurrents.

O look – the future flux is rising up in the Wellsprings of my Soul – becoming a welcoming ocean of possibility.

I think about my deep immersion in:

1) The 1st Class of the Michael School of Spiritual Science – working in me to transform my astral body into Spirit-Self.

2) The Consecration of my humanness as I serve at the altar of the Christian Community – opening me to my Higher “I” & the New-Group-Soul in Christ.

3) My daily meditative rhythm as a dedicated member of the Esoteric Kries – to create a New kind of Social-Working imprinting the inner planes with spiritual imaginative impulses.

Bringing these 3 aspects together in my life has led me to the revelation – the duty – to take what was given to us in the Ancient Mysteries – renewed & transmitted 100 years ago by the great Initiate Rudolf Steiner – further – into the New Rosicrucian Mysteries of the 2nd Class of the Free High School for Spiritual Science – this working transforms etheric body into Life-Spirit.

This is the task at hand for humanity – to consciously meet the Being of Christ in the Etheric.

The Misraim Dienst=Service, gives us a modern ritual-working that reveals & galvanizes the revelations that flowed out of the imaginations of the Supersensible School of Michael at the end of the 18th & 19th Centuries. Activating the Reverse Cultus now, but this time – here on earth.

Hella Wiesberger reports that in a letter Marie Steiner von Sivers mentions: “In Class II much of what he had given us in the Mystica Aeterna (the esoteric group working with the cognitive rituals of the Memphis-Misraim Service) would flow into it imaginatively.

And that in Class III this would have been transformed into moral strength.”

The adversarial powers working thru the Jesuits of the Roman Church & the Dark Occult Brotherhoods saw the power of this combination of 1st Class, Christian Community & the Misraim Dienst. Their Jealousy burnt down the 1st Goetheanum & shortened the life of Rudolf Steiner.

That reside lingers & has infected many with unconscious fear, disallowing the right relationships to unfold, & fostering an unwillingness to take Spiritual Science into the New Mysteries.

But friends, as we stand now at the Centennial of the Re-founding of Anthroposophy, we cannot let the destruction of the adversarial beings, or the mistakes of past, keep us from moving forward. We must bring the Imaginations, fired up in the Michael School & thru the burning, down from the ethers into the actions of a New Mystica Aeterna in America.  

Let us keep looking Above & Below the surface – Into the Heights & Depths, the Center & the Periphery, with open-mindedness, in the endeavoring to Know ThySelf…

~hag

P.S. FYI: These essays are now coming to you via the platform Substack, connected to the domain name Cognitive Ritual, https://hazelarcherginsberg.substack.com/

with my new email Hazel@CogRite.com

20 October 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: We won’t be able to see Occult Mercury, reach superior conjunction at 1 A.M. CDT. But this Wandering Planet will become an evening star visible after sunset in November.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1512 – Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology

1781 – At Yorktown, Virginia, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis’ sword & formally surrendered to George Washington & the comte de Rochambeau. The Revolutionary War Ends

1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Austrian General Mack surrenders his army to the Grande Armée of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Ulm. 30,000 prisoners are captured & 10,000 casualties inflicted on the losers

1812 – Napoleon Bonaparte retreats from Moscow

1813 – The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats

1893 – Deathday of Lucy Stone, a prominent American orator, abolitionist, & suffragist, & a vocal advocate & organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone became the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She spoke out for women’s rights & against slavery at a time when women were discouraged & prevented from public speaking. Stone was known for using her maiden name after marriage.

Stone’s organizational activities for the cause of women’s rights yielded tangible gains in the difficult political environment of the 19th century. Stone helped initiate the first National Women’s Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts & she supported & sustained it annually, along with a number of other local, state & regional activist conventions. She assisted in establishing the Woman’s National Loyal League to help pass the Thirteenth Amendment & thereby abolish slavery, after which she helped form the American Woman Suffrage Association AWSA, which built support for a woman suffrage Constitutional amendment by winning woman suffrage at the state & local levels.

In the long-running & influential Woman’s Journal, a weekly periodical that she founded & promoted, Stone aired both her own & differing views about women’s rights. Called “the orator”, the “morning star” & the “heart & soul” of the women’s rights movement, Stone influenced Susan B. Anthony to take up the cause of women’s suffrage. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that “Lucy Stone was the first person by whom the heart of the American public was deeply stirred on the woman question.”

1897 – Deathday of George Pullman, an American engineer & industrialist. He designed & manufactured the Pullman sleeping car & founded a enslaving ‘company town’ for the workers who manufactured it.

During an 1894 downturn in manufacturing demand, he lowered wages & required workers to spend longer hours at the plant, but did not lower prices of rents & goods in his company town. He gained presidential support by Grover Cleveland for the use of federal military troops which left 30 strikers dead in the violent suppression of workers there to end the Pullman Strike of 1894. A national commission was appointed to investigate the strike, which included assessment of operations of the company town. In 1898 the Supreme Court of Illinois ordered the Pullman Company to divest itself of the town which became a neighborhood of the city of Chicago

1902 – Founding of the German Section of the Theosophical Society in Belin with Rudolf Steiner as the General Secretary

1915 – J.P. Morgan arranges the biggest foreign loan in history – a $500 million war loan to Britain & France – passing global financial control from the UK to the US

1936 – Deathday of Lu Xun, a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in Vernacular Chinese as well as Classical Chinese, Lu Xun was a short story writer, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, & poet. After the May Fourth Movement, Lu Xun’s writing began to exert a substantial influence on Chinese literature & popular culture. Though sympathetic to socialist ideas, Lu Xun never joined the Communist Party of China

1937 – Deathday of Ernest Rutherford, a New Zealand physicist & Nobel Prize laureate, who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. Encyclopædia Britannica considers him to be the greatest experimentalist since Michael Faraday

He conducted research that led to the first “splitting” of the atom in 1917 in a nuclear reaction between nitrogen & alpha particles, in which he also discovered & named the proton

1950 – Deathday of Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet & playwright. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, & was also known for her feminist activism. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work.

Save the Dates for Community Workings

October 21-22Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak
October 23Venus at Greatest Western Elongation
October 28Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse

~Alex Gray

All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023

Community Prep-Stir / Bon-fire

Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas

7 – 9 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile

Please Bring a jar for the prep

RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

The reprise of the 2017 Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse

Stay tuned for details about a Retreat for this Solar Eclipse Event in Fort Worth/Austin, Texas

Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude
Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds

Lunar Eclipse Sep 18, 2024

Bio~hag

Why ReverseRitual?

What is Anthroposophy?

Knock

Biography

Greetings friends – I have been experiencing some tech difficulties here on this site. I have lost some data. Many past posts, & other aspects which I have not yet assessed may have been damaged. It appears the name Reverse Ritual conjures negative reactions from those who do not understand Rudolf Steiner’s Spiritual Scientific term, which I have attempted to explore in my essay Why Reverse Ritual? This is one level.

And on other levels I have been hearing a call for change that has been building since 2020. I am taking the timing of this now as a sign from the Universe to shift & clarify the butter of my Soul. I have been needing an impetus, an alchemical catalyst to turn the tide of transformation toward a refinement.

And so with fits & starts & humble re-dedication I step into this new phase – Although of course it is in reality just a continuation of the ‘Great Work’.

~AmericanMisraim

In a nutshell, I can now reveal that I have been preparing for long ages so that in this life I can work the Misraim Dienst as a Practice in the New Mysteries of Anthroposophy.

To bring the Esoteric Knowledge of Spiritual Science into Ritual Gesture – To conduct Experiential Rites in Community that open the path of Initiation into the New Rosicrucian Mysteries where the human being becomes the Temple – Renewing the Craft Mysteries by engaging Art, Science & Spiritualty to manifest the higher “I” – In Selfless Service – for the purpose of enacting the practical Christic task in the development of the highest evolution of humanity – for the Good of the Universe.

To put Anthroposophia on her feet.

To transmute Experience into Wisdom thru Noble Ceremonial Deeds Motivated by Love. That as human beings we may achieve our True Destiny to become Beings of Love & freedom. Our present age requires us to use Imaginative Cognition, to be Inspired by, to Intuit & co-create a Christ-Centered World-View – Awakening our Will forces – to Apply Anthroposophy, not just zoom it in – To be persons of initiative – to gather, to cultivate – to activate a healing response.

To take up the ultimate alchemical Grail Quest which leads us to that spark of cosmic consciousness within ourselves. Nurturing this inner light – cultivating The Word – sounding the Key-Note – An attunement – both in community – & in the Spiritual Universe – which provides us with many hard, but much needed trials, so that we can gain the Truth of Wisdom, the Piety of Beauty & the Virtue of Strength – to reshape our World Temple – in the image of God – reflecting the Countenance of Christ. To Square the Circle. To demonstrate the Magnum Opus.

I will strive to meet this long-awaited opportunity with the beginner’s mind of an Apprentice, with a willing heart & open hands.

I leave for the Fort Worth/Austin area 25 October – 1 November. And go right from there to my next session of AAP. Retuning 6 November in time for our All Souls Festival on the 7th.

And so dear friends, expect some changes here reflecting this enlivened renewal. For one: I am shifting from the use of the term Reverse Ritual to Cognitive Ritual. And while I will always use the Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation, my essay’s may take a new form, more like Confessions of a Modern Rosicrucian, in my striving!

~William Holman Hunt

There is a Knocking on the door of my Rosy-Cross Heart-Hut. I am opening to the virtue of Eagle & Pelican for healing redemption in the Conscious Sacrifice of the Royal Art.

Blessed Be

~hag

18 October 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: As we await the Orionid meteor showers, check out the waxing crescent moon close to the bright red star Antares in the constellation of Scorpius the Scorpion. The subtle illumination on the unlit side of the moon is earthshine. Its glow is light reflected from the Earth enabling us to see the dark side of the moon.

Get Nancy Rollin On The Ranch

This fund raiser is to help purchase an All Terrain Senior Mobility Scooter to enable Nancy Poer, to get back outside and access the beautiful (but rugged) areas of her magnificent White Feather Ranch property, that have recently become inaccessible to her due to recent back-to-back injuries. 

~Nicolas Raymond

“When we look up to the wonder of the starry world, when we contemplate the whole process of the universe with its glories and marvels, then we are led at last to the feeling that all the glory that lies open to our view in the whole universe that surrounds us only has meaning when it is reflected in an admiring human soul”. ~Goethe

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

~Anthonie Blocklandt van Montfoort

Feast Day of Luke the Evangelist. The early church fathers ascribed to him authorship of both the Gospel according to Luke & the book of Acts of the Apostles. The New Testament mentions Luke a few times, & the Pauline epistle to the Colossians refers to him as a Greek doctor; so he is thought to have been both a physician & a disciple of Paul. He is believed to have been a martyred, hung in an olive tree.

The Roman Catholic Church & other major denominations venerate him as Saint Luke the Evangelist & as a patron saint of artists, (He was the first icon painter. He painted pictures of the Virgin Mary & Child) physicians, surgeons, students & butchers.

Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on The Gospel of St. Luke, provides the solution to the riddle of the contradictions in the accounts of the genealogy & childhood of Jesus in Matthew & Luke when he unveils for the first time the secret of the two Jesus children. He also describes the workings of Zarathustra, the relation between the Buddha & Jesus child, & more

320 – Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun & writes a commentary for The Great Astronomer (Almagest)

1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock

Sign in | Canadian history, The famous five, Women in history

1929 – The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v. Canada when it declares that women are considered “Persons” under Canadian law. The case, put forward by the Government of Canada on the lobbying of a group of women known as the Famous Five, began as a reference case which ruled that women were not “qualified persons” & thus ineligible to sit in the Senate. The Persons Case was a landmark, 1st it established that Canadian women were eligible to be appointed senators. Second, it established what came to be known as the “living tree doctrine“, that says that a constitution is organic & must be read in a broad & liberal manner so as to adapt it to changing times

1931 – Deathday of Thomas Edison

1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first transistor radio

Save the Dates for Community Workings

October 21-22Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak
October 23Venus at Greatest Western Elongation
October 28Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse

~Alex Gray

All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023

Community Prep-Stir / Bon-fire

Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas

7 – 9 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile

Please Bring a jar for the prep

RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

The reprise of the 2017 Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse

Stay tuned for details about a Retreat for this Solar Eclipse Event in Fort Worth/Austin, Texas

Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude
Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds

Lunar Eclipse Sep 18, 2024

Bio~hag
Why ReverseRitual?
What is Anthroposophy?
Tip Jar
I Think Speech Podcast
YouTube

Cahokia Eclipse

10:10, Autumn, Biography, Community, Festival, Soul to Soul, Speaking with the Stars, Upcoming Events

~Jane Hudson

Greetings Friends – Today on this anniversary of the Founding of the Esoteric Youth Circle by Rudolf Steiner, I am slowly emerging like the waxing crescent after the New Moon from 3 days in the Underworld. I seek to reflect a sliver of illumination around our Michaelmas 2023 Speaking with the Stars Retreat at ‘Sun City’ – the ancient Native American settlement 5 hours south of Chicago on the Cahokia Mounds state historic site.

We packed up ‘The Beast’ a van gifted to us, & set off down I-55 on Friday the 13th. The sky was muted with a mantle of fog as we traveled, diffusing the fall colors in an Atlantean – ‘Mists of Avalon’ blur. Soon the clouds burst into a pelting torrential downpour that came & went as we hydroplaned down the highway. The farms & wild prairie grass of the Heartland pulsing golden in the silver rain. CG held the wheel, meeting the rainfall with humor & grace, as I pointed out the scenic inspirations along the way & DJ’d the ride with world music.

As we neared Joliet IL. the sky lifted & we pulled off looking for a place to run our dog Winnie (Winifred J. Rabbit) who was also attending the vigil. We weren’t using our devices, just the trusty Rand McNally. We were looking for The National Shrine & Museum of St. Thérèse of Lisieux – the Little Flower – a Carmelite Nun & Doctor of the Church, just off the highway. I always loved the Carmelites who follow the ‘Most Pure Heart of Mary, Christ Jesus & the prophet Elijah to live in God’s presence’.

The “Little Way” of St. Thérèse is a simple approach to a spiritual life that seeks to find holiness thru everyday life – to do ordinary things with extraordinary love. It’s about trust – living a life where ‘small daily sacrifices’ make life a great deed.

I made the mistake of turning on my phone to help us find it, & that allowed Ahriman to send us on a wild goose chase. Well, we got lost. But inadvertently, as the adversarial beings are meant to do, we were led right where we needed to go – granting us the opportunity to put Trust to the test.

And somehow we ended up at ‘Waterfall Glen’, a nature wildlife preserve with trails, & fishing, famous for its glacial lake. It was perfect. The rain stopped just as we pulled up. Ah, such majesty. We took a thoughtful, refreshing hike around the primordial lake with Winnie in the lead.

Without much more ado we arrived in Springfield, IL. home of Honest Abe & settled into the Bungalow house that would be our retreat center for the next nights.

~hag

I picked this place because it is across the street from Oak Ridge Cemetery – a State Historic Site – home of Lincoln’s Tomb. Working with the dead has led me to visit many Burial Grounds – a favorite past time of mine. Our pilgrimage there amongst the rolling hills dotted with founding families & civil war heroes was peaceful & reverent. We extended our inner vision to connect to the Spirit of Place, not just of the Cemetery, but of the larger whole – The Genius Loci of Springfield IL. & the Heartland in general, which helped form the Genius of a great man like Abraham Lincoln.

We shared a delicious meal & prepared for the Michaelmas 2023 annular solar eclipse & our trip to Cahokia. Using the black & white of charcoal drawing how do we live into the qualities of Light & Dark? Tying the eurythmy gestures for “I Think Speech”, & working with various prayers, verses & mantras like: The Lord’s Prayer, The Foundation Stone Meditation, The Verse for the Michaelic Age, The 1010 Thought-Seed mantras, etc, we embody our Speaking with the Stars.  Toning & improvisational singing, as well as harmonizing our favorite Michaelmas Songs is a powerful way to bring unity to community.

~Nancy Melvin

I was thinking to apportion out parts & do a reading together of ‘From Light Through Darkness Into New Light’ a Mystery Drama type Pageant I wrote for the ‘Great American Eclipse’ of 21 August 2017, which the Central Regional Council of the ASA enacted as part of our retreat in St. Louis, but I decided to save it for the big gathering we will have during the solar eclipse on the octave of Easter 8 April 2024.

The next morning 14 Oct. 2023, after bagels & homemade biscuit sandwiches we made our way to the sacred Cahokia Mounds near Horseshoe Lake State Park, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.

The atmosphere still had that Watery ‘Mists of Avalon’/ Atlantean quality with occasional cloud bursts. The hanging waves made the fall colors more vibrant, the etheric essence of the plant world more evident, spread out; deeper, richer.

As we drove the mists lifted. We arrived an hour before the eclipse began to get a lay of the vast landscape, tuning-in to the Genius Loci of this place, so different from where we had just come from.

The site was practically deserted. There were only a few folks around the main areas. The overview of the region with its 94 Ceremonial Mounds rising up out of the prairie, which was once productive farmland, deeply stirs the soul.

We chose to make a pilgrimage on the Blue Nature/Cultural trail, a 5 1/2-mile hike that often intersected with the 10 mile Red trail, & the Yellow shorter Tour trail. We started by walking the periphery thru the forest & marsh areas. At 1st the wildlife was abundant & bounding.

Then as the eclipse began – The shift was palpable. Everything stilled. The trees hushed, with not a squirrel or bird to be seen or heard. Even Winnie stayed with us on the path.

When we came to a Mound or a particularly beautiful tree or other striking feature in the landscape we would organically stop & linger – to contemplate, pray, make a gesture, or sing as the spirit moved us.

CG & Winifred J. Rabbit = Bros. of Christ Woodhenge in the background

Around the max time at the height of the eclipse we quite naturally found ourselves at ‘Woodhenge’. We were the only ones there in that vast circle, which once held 3 interconnecting circles of 5, 7, & 12 posts marking out the measure of the human being, the Wandering Planets & the Fixed Stars of the zodiac. We walked to the center post & sat down facing in the direction of the tallest & largest Ceremonial ‘Monks Mound’, where the Sun rises at the Spring Equinox. At this still point during the greatest darkness we held a silent vigil.

We felt called to ascend ‘Monks Mound’ where there is a panoramic view that includes the St. Louis Arch across the mighty Mississippi. Amazing to ponder that this site marking the stars of Ursa Major, was made without the use of the wheel, beasts of burden, or metallurgy, the mound technology was highly refined, taking hundreds of years of dedication. This agri-culture fostered widespread commerce, artistic expression, & monumental architecture. The model for this urban world was nothing less than the cosmos itself. The epitome of their ritual center was a four-tiered pyramid covering fourteen acres, rising a hundred feet into the sky—the tallest structure in the United States until 1867.

~Andis Kaulins

We decided we wouldn’t eat any food until the eclipse ended. We continued our journey passed the ‘Twin Mounds’ thru the ‘Stockade areas’ where we were attracted to ‘Mound 72’ which had a unique quality about it. We could see that it was laid out differently than the other mounds – its long axis is on a Northwest-Southeast orientation.

We discovered it is the only burial mound! More than 250 skeletons were recovered in various states of preservation there. And one burial spot separate from the rest consisted of a young man & woman in their early 20’s resting on a platform of shell beads that was laid out in the shape of a falcon. The residents of Cahokia were buried in cemeteries around the perimeter of the grounds. So some conclude this was a special ritual burial site. We spent a commanding time of contemplation there.

Later as we were walking out of a forested area, there was a murmuration of Starlings undulating over ‘Fox Mound.’ Then we realized that the eclipse had just ended!

When hiking to a picnic bench, Winnie scared 2 wild animals out of the bush. Yes, the deer were coming back into sight, but these looked like fat wooly sheep!?!

And then all the rest of that day & the next we must have seen at least 8 different bird murmurations on our travels speaking in the mysterious language of the air & sky! Video of murmuration

I won’t go into all the details about our digestion time the rest of that day & the next, except to say we had some intense discussions, great meals, artistic sharings, & more cultural explorations around Springfield before heading home – The landscape completely transformed in the sunshine, hung with low holographic clouds that wanted in on the conversation which is always more priceless than gold!

~Betsy

And friends, we can remember that the effects of this solar eclipse series are still reverberating – this energy has repercussions that reach into every kingdom of Nature, penetrating into the Spiritual Worlds where our Beloved Dead & the Unborn- our Descendants dwell in their life between death & new birth – Working, as we must – to heal the Earth. We don’t have to be in the ‘eclipse path’ – We don’t have to ‘see it’ thru cardboard glasses or a device – to do the work of holding the light.

The Battle of the Soul continues…

Shine on dear Michaelic Souls…

~hag

~Lydia Celmer

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
MICHAELMAS 111
Soul Sunpower’s Awakening
v28
I can, revived within,
now feel my own wide breadth of being,
my strength of sun-empowered soul
whose radiance of thinking solves life’s riddles
and lifts the wish-fulfilling wings
left lame by hope.

The COTS verses can also be imagined in a 24 hour rhythm.
The summer is the soul’s sleeptime in drowsiness of senses.
This verse, the first mention of active human thought,
can be a meditation every morning on awakening,
in an inner light that dawned in the mirror verse.

AUTUMN EQUINOX
Dawning Soul Light
v25
I may, belonging to myself now,
begin to shine a dawning inner light
across the darkening of space and time.
To sleep is nature’s urge;
the depths of soul shall wake
and bear the sun’s warm glow
through winter storms and snow.

October 28–29, 2023 Partial Lunar Eclipse

~Alex Gray

All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023

Community Prep-Stir / Bon-fire

Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas

7 – 9 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile

Please Bring a jar for the prep

RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

The reprise of the 2017 Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse

Stay tuned for details about a Retreat for this Solar Eclipse Event in Fort Worth, Texas

Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude
Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds

Lunar Eclipse Sep 18, 2024

Bio~hag
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The forms of light & dark

Community, History, Insight, Poetry, Upcoming Events

~Szabolcs Bodo

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~The forms of light & dark are many
The shapes of good & evil are hidden
We must discern the fruit from the poison…
In every moment beings of spirit wait
To rise up in our thinking –
That one of darkness has eyebrows that swim on his forehead like fishes
That one of light burns in the cold fire of selfishness
The middle pillar, whose two arms are scales
Stands firm in equanimity…
What cannot be known remains
There I see
With the eye of the sun
As it comes to rest
On my forehead
Throwing light in the dark corners of things
Casting shadows of my selves
Into uncharted lands…
Will you meet me there…?
~hag

Dear friends, Today on this Friday the 13th, remembering the trials of the Templars which began on this day in the 12th Century, I am off to embody the mounds & ‘Woodhenge’ of Cahokia to stand in community during the Annular Solar Eclipse on the Michaelmas New Moon -the first after the Autumnal Equinox.

This sacred place called ‘Sun City’, had its heyday starting in 700 CE flourishing for four centuries (c. 950–1350). It reached a peak population of 30,000 & was the most extensive urban center in prehistoric America north of Mexico – a bustling trading center on the mighty Mississippi River, larger than London or Paris at that time. The area once inhabited by the Tamaroa Tribe was later named Cahokia (kahokiaki meaning “Wild Geese”) for a group of Algonquian-speaking Native peoples of the Illinois Confederation that inhabited the area in the 18th century.

I am also holding in my consciousness that today in 1792, George Washington laid the Foundation Stone for the White House. And in 1917 The “Miracle of the Sun” is witnessed by an estimated 100,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.

May we meet together on the inner planes to uphold the forces of the Sun during the time of the eclipse 14 October 2023

~hag

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Mary Ann Bernal: History Trivia - Emperor Claudius dies from poison

In 1307 October 13 was a Friday – Hundreds of Knights Templar in France are simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair, to be later tortured into a “confession” of heresy. Once freed of the Inquisitors’ torture, many Templars recanted their confessions. Some had sufficient legal experience to defend themselves in the trials, but in 1310 Philip blocked this attempt, using the previously forced confessions to have dozens of Templars burned at the stake in Paris. With Philip threatening military action unless the pope complied with his wishes, Pope Clement finally agreed to disband the Order, citing the public scandal that had been generated by the confessions. At the Council of Vienne in 1312, he issued a series of papal bulls, which officially dissolved the Order. As for the leaders of the Order, the elderly Grand Master Jacques de Molay, who had confessed under torture, retracted his confession & insisted on his innocence. But he was declared guilty of being a relapsed heretic & was sentenced to be burnt at the stake in Paris on 18 March 1314. De Molay reportedly remained defiant to the end, calling out from the flames that both Pope Clement & King Philip would soon meet their end. Pope Clement died only a month later, & King Philip died in a hunting accident before the end of the year

1792 –The cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid

1917 – The “Miracle of the Sun” is witnessed by an estimated 100,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal. The people had gathered because the 3 shepherd children, who originally claimed to have seen Our Lady of Fátim, had predicted that at high noon the lady who had appeared to them several times would perform a great miracle. According to many witnesses, after a period of rain, the dark clouds broke & the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It was said to be significantly duller than normal, & to cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the people, & the surrounding clouds. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth before zig-zagging back to its normal position. Witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became “suddenly & completely dry, as well as the wet & muddy ground that had been previously soaked because of the rain that had been falling.” According to reports, a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, Our Lady of Sorrows, & of Saint Joseph blessed the people. The event lasted approximately ten minutes

The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox – Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse

GLOBAL EVENT:Annular Solar Eclipse
LOCAL TYPE:Partial Solar Eclipse in Cahokia Mounds State Historic SIte, Illinois
BEGINS:Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 10:32 am
MAXIMUM:Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 11:57 am 0.634 Magnitude
ENDS:Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 1:27 pm
DURATION:2 hours, 55 minutes

All are welcome to meet on the inner planes during any part of the duration of the Solar eclipse – which Spiritual Science tells us is like the releasing of a safety valve – allowing the unbridled astral urges of the adversarial forces living in humanity, which are normally held in check by the spiritual beings working in the rays of the Sun, to instead surge out to infect the cosmic spaces, including our beloved dead & the unborn. (More on this soon)

We are all set for the Michaelmas Speaking with the Stars retreat 13-15 October 2023 at Cahokia Mounds – a sacred Mississippian Indian site in Collinsville, Illinois, called by the ancients: Sun City.

Annular solar eclipse total phases composite panorama during Totality , moon covers the sun’s visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” shot using mylar solar film , very rare natural event Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned. A total eclipse , An annular eclipse , A hybrid eclipse, partial eclipse

Save the Dates for Community Workings

October 14Annular Solar Eclipse
October 21-22Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak
October 23Venus at Greatest Western Elongation
October 28Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse

All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023

Community Prep-Stir / Bon-fire

Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas

7 – 9 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile

Please Bring a jar for the prep

RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

The reprise of the 2017 Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse

Stay tuned for details about a Retreat for this Solar Eclipse Event in Fort Worth, Texas

Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude
Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds

Lunar Eclipse Sep 18, 2024

Stepping into the Eclipse

Speaking with the Stars

Greetings Friends – Are you, like me, feeling the anticipation of the upcoming solar eclipse on Saturn-day 14 October 2023, (the day after Friday the 13th)? This stellar event is a prelude to the reprise of the total “The Great American Eclipse” we will experience 8 days after Easter in 2024. This weekend we will be standing in the shadow of that Friday, the 13th in October 1307, when King Philip IV of France, in league with Pope Clement V ordered all Templars to be rounded up & thrown in prison.

And today with the tensions in Isreal & Palestine, the palor of the corona crisis still hanging in the air, along with the ever-growing descent into the dark of the year, there is a feeling of unease, along with a morbid curiosity, & yes, excitement around witnessing this dramatic cosmic & earthly event. This has set in motion some dire predictions, peaking deep anxiety about the state of the world. Or on the other end we have the Pollyanna’s.

But friends, fearful interpretations or Luciferic revelings around these signs in the heavens are not helpful, we need to understand the Spiritual Science involved so that as upright human beings we can meet this event, adding our speaking to the stars. Humanity is not meant to lie down in fear as helpless victims to these “evil omens” The apocalyptic world we live in needs us to step up – to be courageous & creative as we go into the dark moon phase, awaiting our moment to uphold the Sun during the eclipse times, employing our Michaelic sword & shield.

In this Age of Michael, we are called to develop our Consciousness Soul, applying discernment, & overcoming selfish egotism to foster inclusion, to build & awaken true community. To do this we must participate imaginatively in these milestone times. We can perform actions together in person, AND on the inner planes that will bond & strengthen us, giving power to our collective working. ‘When 2 or more are gathered’, we become a beacon that calls in The Christ, as the meaning of the Earth, as the Cosmic Being of the Sun, & as the Son of the Holy Trinity – opening us to a reality where our highest human evolution can be set in motion.

So the question is: “What positive effects can we contribute for the good of humanity, for Mother Earth & the Universe?”

This is an opportunity to be active & creative – To enact the true Rosicrucian connection between Art, Science & Spirituality. The stars are waiting for us join the cosmic conversation. They are ever speaking – Now it’s our turn to embody The Word with them.

What can we do in anticipation & in reply to the solar eclipse on Saturday & the entire eclipse cycle we are in now? For those who would like to take up some indications from Anthroposophy, be encouraged to read Steiner’s amazing lectures called HUMAN QUESTIONS AND COSMIC ANSWERS, GA 213 – This is what the CRC worked with during the ‘Great American Eclipse’ of 2017.

To better understand that an eclipse is ‘Being’, made up of various forces, we can take up the insights of Rudolf Steiner who describes how at a solar eclipse the shadow cast upon the Earth, blocking out the Sun, creates a kind of funnel pathway that allows for dark, destructive forces coming from the immorality living in human beings on earth to be released into the cosmos without the force of the Sun to check them. The solar eclipse provides a kind of ‘Safety valve‘ for these destructive forces to pour out into the cosmos. So it may seem that this may alleviate some of the current tensions on earth. However we must also acknowledge the intense activity of the adversary beings who during a solar eclipse are also released from the mediating forces of the cosmic Sun allowing their ‘evil’ energies to infect all worlds.

It is precisely during this time that the Sun forces in the Earth, enriched thru Christ’s deed, working now thru the conscious human being, must be called forth.

“An eclipse of the sun is due to the fact that the moon comes between the sun and the earth, cutting off the rays of the sun.

At the time of a solar eclipse, for instance, something totally different takes place in the part of the earth affected from what is happening when there is no eclipse. When we know that on the one hand the rays of the sun penetrate down to the earth and on the other hand the forces or rays of will stream out to meet the sun.  At an eclipse, these forces radiate into the darkness, and there ensues a period of time, short though it may be, in which all that is of the nature of will upon the earth flows out into universal space in an abnormal way. It is different altogether from what takes place when there is no eclipse. Ordinarily, the physical sunlight unites with the radiations of will streaming towards it. When there is an eclipse, the forces of will flow unhindered into cosmic space.

The old initiates knew these things. They saw that at such a moment all the unbridled impulses and instincts of humanity surge out into the cosmos. And they gave their pupils the following explanation. They said: Under normal conditions the evil impulses of will which are sent out into the cosmos by human beings are, as it were, burned up and consumed by the rays of the sun, so that they can injure only man himself, but can do no universal harm. When, however, there is an eclipse of the sun, opportunity is given for the evil which is willed on earth to spread over the cosmos. An eclipse is a physical event behind which there lies a significant spiritual reality”. Rudolf Steiner -Human Questions Cosmic Answers.

~hag

There are many practical spiritual activities we can do to be helpful during these heightened times. We have suggested here working with the 1010 Thought-Seed concept to build a positive egregore that can meet these moments with healing & uprightness.

And remember friends, the core here is to apply the best of our soul forces: Thinking Truth. Feeling Reverence & Love. Willing & doing ‘The Good’. We have the mighty Michaelmas-Tide energy working with us now, let’s use it to enact the concept of ‘conscious death’ with the Resurrection forces of Easter – to take interest in the world beyond the selfish comforts of our little self. To be kind-hearted with our sisters & brothers, AND with those we may disagree with. To be thankful to the Animal, Plant, & Mineral kingdoms, who will also be experiencing these events. To be receptive to the opportunities that the ‘Dark Before the Dawn’ can bring. And then to fully participate in that dawning!

~hag

11 October 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”

The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox – Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse

GLOBAL EVENT:Annular Solar Eclipse
LOCAL TYPE:Partial Solar Eclipse in Cahokia Mounds State Historic SIte, Illinois
BEGINS:Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 10:32 am
MAXIMUM:Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 11:57 am 0.634 Magnitude
ENDS:Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 1:27 pm
DURATION:2 hours, 55 minutes

All are welcome to meet on the inner planes during any part of the duration of the Solar eclipse – which Spiritual Science tells us is like the releasing of a safety valve – allowing the unbridled astral urges of the adversarial forces living in humanity, which are normally held in check by the spiritual beings working in the rays of the Sun, to instead surge out to infect the cosmic spaces, including our beloved dead & the unborn. (More on this soon)

We are all set for the Michaelmas Speaking with the Stars retreat 13-15 October 2023 at Cahokia Mounds – a sacred Mississippian Indian site in Collinsville, Illinois, called by the ancients: Sun City.

Annular solar eclipse total phases composite panorama during Totality , moon covers the sun’s visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” shot using mylar solar film , very rare natural event Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned. A total eclipse , An annular eclipse , A hybrid eclipse, partial eclipse

Save the Dates for Community Workings

October 14Annular Solar Eclipse
October 21-22Orionids Meteor Shower Predicted Peak
October 23Venus at Greatest Western Elongation
October 28Full Hunter’s Moon and Partial Lunar Eclipse

All Souls Festival – Election Day 7 November 2023

Community Prep-Stir / Bon-fire

Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas

7 – 9 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile

Please Bring a jar for the prep

RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

The reprise of the 2017 Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse

Stay tuned for details about a Retreat for this Solar Eclipse Event in Fort Worth, Texas

Begins: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Maximum: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm 1.005 Magnitude
Ends: Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Duration: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Totality: 2 minutes, 34 seconds

Lunar Eclipse Sep 18, 2024