18 September 2017 – Astro-Weather: The predawn fireworks appear even more spectacular this morning. A wafer-thin crescent Moon hangs below Venus & above the Mercury-Mars pair. Less than 1° separates brilliant Venus & tiny Regulus as dawn brightens Tuesday & Wednesday mornings September 19th and 20th. Look low in the east.
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Anything you dream is fiction, and anything you accomplish is science, the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction. ~ Ray Bradbury
Lectures by Rudolf Steiner on this date
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Dierec Bouts the Older
900- Feast Day of Saint Richardis, was the Holy Roman Empress, born in Alsace. She married Charles the Fat & was crowned with him in Rome by Pope John VIII The marriage was childless.
Charles’ reign was marked by internal and external strife, caused primarily by the constant plundering of Norman raiders on the northern French coast. By 887, Charles appears to have succumbed to fits of madness. During this crisis, Richardis attempted to rule in her husband’s stead, but was unsuccessful. In an effort to bring down the over-powerful and hated Liutward, Charles’ archchancellor, he & Richardis were accused by Charles of adultery. Charles asserted that their marriage was unconsummated & demanded a divorce.
In a bid to assure him of her innocence, she finally assented to an ordeal by fire. Barefoot, & wearing a shirt covered in wax, the flames nevertheless refused to touch her. Disheartened by her husband’s continued mistrust, Richardis left the imperial palace & wandered into the forest. There she was visited by an angel, who ordered her to found a convent in a certain spot, which a bear would indicate to her. In Val d’Eleon, at the banks of the river, she saw a bear scratching in the dirt. There she built the abbey of Andlau.
An alternative legend recounts that Richardis found the mother bear grieving over her dead cub in the forest. When Richardis held the cub, it returned to life. After the working of this miracle, both mother & cub remained devoted to the saint for the rest of their lives.
1793 – The first cornerstone of the Capitol building is laid by George Washington
1812 – The 1812 Fire of Moscow dies down after destroying more than three-quarters of the city. Napoleon returns from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.
1850 – The Fugitive Slave Act passed by the United States Congress as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests & Northern Free-Soilers. It required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters & that officials & citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law. Abolitionists nicknamed it the “Bloodhound Law” for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves
1851 – First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which later becomes The New York Times
1873 – Panic of 1873: The U.S. bank Jay Cooke & Company declares bankruptcy, triggering a series of bank failures.
1882 – The Pacific Stock Exchange opens.
1895 – Booker T. Washington delivers the “Atlanta compromise” address. The agreement was that Southern blacks would work &submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic education & due process in law. Blacks would not agitate for equality, integration, or justice, & Northern whites would fund black educational charities
1906 – A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
1909 – 1st mention by Rudolf Steiner of the two Jesus Children. GA 114
1910 – In Amsterdam, 25,000 demonstrate for general suffrage
1916 – 1st lecture by Rudolf Steiner on the Mexican Mysteries
1919 – The Netherlands gives women the right to vote
1927 – The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air
1936 – Deathday of Konrad Burdach, author of Faust and Moses
1939 – The Nazi propaganda broadcaster known as Lord Haw-Haw begins transmitting.
1940 – The British liner SS City of Benares is sunk by German submarine U-48; those killed include 77 child refugees
1943 – The Jews of Minsk are massacred at Sobibór
1944 – The British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes Jun’yō Maru, 5,600 killed
1947 – The National Security Council & the Central Intelligence Agency are established in the United States under the National Security Act
1960 – Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations
1962 – Deathday of Therese Neumann, mystic, stigmatic
1988 – End of pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar after a bloody military coup. Thousands, mostly monks & civilians (primarily students), are killed
2001 – First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2007 – Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some call the Saffron Revolution
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POD (Poem Of the Day)
~Over the open face of light
Some sober trails of vapor creep
Enticing a vortex in the somber cosmic night…
Inward I turn my rays of hope
To be come a polished mirror
Hard Obsidian & black silver
Lead into gold
~hag
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Ideas are for Anthroposophy
Vessels, formed out of love,
Into which the being of humanity, spiritually,
Is brought from the spiritual worlds.
Clothed in thoughts formed with love
The light of true humanity
Shall shine through Anthroposophy.
And knowledge is but the form
In which through humanity
It shall be possible
That the true spirit from the widths of the world
Will focus in human hearts
It may enlighten human thought.
And as Anthroposophy
Really can only be grasped through love,
Therefore it is love creating
If it is grasped by the true being of humanity.
Therefore, in the midst of furious hatred
A place of love could be built in Dornach.
And words
Will not be coined in the Anthroposophical realm
As they are usually coined today.
Words are formed
That are all intrinsically pleas.
Every word in Anthroposophy
If it is spoken in the right sense
Is fundamentally a plea
A reverent plea:
A plea
That the spirit may come down to humankind.
~ Rudolf Steiner, From the 1922 The Christmas Foundation; Beginning of a Cosmic Age
May Human Beings Hear it…XOX ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg
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Dear Friends –
What is it you need? What would you like? What can you share? What is your legacy?
Important questions to ponder on this 100 year anniversary of the 3-fold Social Organism; one of the many legacies given to us by Rudolf Steiner, waiting to be fulfilled by us now.
The Economic Life needs our Brother & Sisterhood
The Cultural/Spiritual/Educational Realm calls for Freedom
In the Political or Rights Realm we must foster Equality
“His social theory, based on his profound understanding of the human being, drew upon the ideals of the 1784 French Revolution—liberté (freedom), egalité (equality), fraternité (brotherhood)—yet applied in an unprecedented way…This threesome of practice is the foundation for organizing an empowered self-governing citizenry that would find its authority, responsibility, and accountability through active civic engagement. Further, such a threefold practice would assure that every person matters, and what matters to each person matters to the whole.”*
The Elderberries 3-Fold Café is coming to Chicago in the spirit of Brother & Sisterhood.
Are we willing to meet them?
Go to this link to find out more & donate if you will
https://igg.me/at/michaelgrailroad/x/17233652
Thanks for supporting the future!
*John Bloom, One Hundred Years: In Recognition of Rudolf Steiner’s
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Michaelmas & the Horn of Plenty – Fall Festivals Ancient and New
Saturday September 23rd, 2017 – 4 pm – 6 pm at the Rudolf Steiner Branch,4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL.
The Eleusinian Mysteries – Art & Mythos by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Song of Proserpine by Percy Shelley – Eurythmy with Mary Ruud
Michaelmas ‘The Festival of the Future’ – Art & Leading Thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg
Copper Rod Eurythmy with Mary Ruud
Singing with Elisabeth Swisher
$10 Donation* & Snacks to Share Encouraged * goes to support eurythmist Mary Ruud
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Dear Friends – Please join us for : An Open Conversation with John Bloom, our new General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America
Sunday September 24th, 1 pm – 2:30 pm at the Rudolf Steiner Branch
All are Welcome to discuss the fate of the Branch Building, the Elderberries Initiative; the state of the Anthroposophical Society today; as well as explore how we can best serve the ‘Being of Chicago.’
John Bloom was appointed General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America in October 2016. He is Vice President, Organizational Culture at RSF Social Finance. As part of his work at RSF he has been developing and facilitating conversations and programs that address the intersection of money and spirit in personal and social transformation. He writes frequently for RSF’s Reimagine Money blog and has fostered collaborative dialogues on the challenging social aspects money. As part of his work he has helped develop awareness of issues of land and biodynamic agriculture across the US. John has written two books, The Genius of Money, and Inhabiting Interdependence, both published by SteinerBooks. He lives in San Francisco.
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Saturday September 30th 10:30 am – 4:30pm at the Theosophical Society 1926 N Main St, Wheaton, IL. 60187 – Pre-registration (630) 668-1571
Come join our Experiential Workshop celebrating the Autumnal Equinox to prepare us for the journey into the dark of the year. We will look back to the fruits of the past, & prepare for what is coming toward us from the future. Our ancestors called this Sabbath – Harvest Home or Mabon. The Hebrew folk count this as part of the High Holy Days. In Greece & Rome it is dedicated to The Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter & Persephone. Today, we are invited to stand with the powerful Archangel Micha-el, in balance, between the light & the dark, as we create the ‘festival of the future’, which we call ‘Michaelmas’. Forging confidence through Heart-Thinking, Michael strengthens our Will & reinforces our higher “I” so that we have the Courage to find the Spirit behind the living cosmos.
10:30am –The Eleusinian Mysteries, Art & Mythos
11 – Group Eurythmy with special guest Mary Ruud – ‘Song of Proserpine’ by Percy Shelley
11:20 – Break
11:40 – The High Holy Days – ‘Atonement’ & a Sweet New Year
12pm – Ho‘oponopono an artistic Forgiveness Exercise
12:30 – 1:30 Picnic Lunch
1:30 – ‘Mabon’ Harvest Home Fest
1:45 – Circle of Intuition: Questions as we go into the Dark of the Year
2:15 – Break
2:30 –Michaelmas, The festival of the future NOW, Art & Leading Thoughts
3:30 – Iron Rod Eurythmy with special guest Mary Ruud
4 – Open Conversation – 4:30 pm – Close
Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – is a Spiritual Midwife, and Trans-denominational Minister, working in an eclectic style that inspires connections – initiating us into the magic, waiting to be revealed, in the cycle of the seasons. Festivals Coordinator & Council Member of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, and the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Founder of Reverse Ritual – Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year
