How we Think has consequences – in our actions – in relation to others – to nature, to ourselves, & in the course of human evolution…
Is there a way that human beings can see, & be, in & with, the world, so that we can take hold of the process of becoming in such a way that it constantly develops anew, thru this seeing & being – A seeing that becomes a cognition of the heart; a way of being that develops a moral life?
To be moral is to be in right relationship.
Terrence Blackhold
This is a living expression of spiritual reality – the essence behind the workings of this world. This kind of reality which we can seek to unveil for each other – which we can envision in every human being – is needed for us to become active co-creators – unfolding a reality of transformation – a humanizing – in all its relation-ships.
Earnest Quenttan
Rudolf Steiner advanced a quest for knowledge that sought & recognized the power of our personal development in the meeting with the world & thru the meeting with others. The act of knowing, becomes participation in these often challenging relationships, creating a wise perspective that is open to tolerance, developing interest, which can manifest Love.
Vin Blaxor
Understanding ‘the other’ as a free human being, poses the difficult trial of understanding them thru their own concepts. Not always an easy thing, since we have to put our own opinions & judgement aside. According to Steiner in his “Philosophy of Freedom”: “…We must take over into our own spirit those concepts by which the other determines themselves.“
It is mutuality that enables knowing, which leads to empathy & understanding. Then a shared space can arise which not only has a center, but which is formed from the relationship of both “focal points.”
Feast Day of the 1st Prophet – Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord shall give you by itself a sign; Behold, a virgin shall be with child and will bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel”
Feast Day of Saint Romulus of Fiesole. Like the Romulus of ancient Roman legend, the story goes he was also abandoned, suckled by a wolf, & captured, raised & baptized by Saint Peter
1415 – Deathday of Jan Hus, considered the first Church reformer, since he lived before Luther, Calvin & Zwingli. Hus was a key predecessor to Protestantism. He was burned at the stake for heresy on this day.
1535 – Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England
1887 – Birthday of Marc Chagall, Belarusian-French painter & poet
1892 – 3,800 striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead & dozens wounded
1907 – Birthday of Frida Kahlo
1917 – World War I: Arabian troops led by Lawrence of Arabia capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt
1935 – Birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama
1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court-martial
1944 – The Hartford circus fire, kills approximately 168 people &injures over 700
1947 – The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.
1957 – John Lennon & Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles
1962 – Deathday of William Faulkner, Nobel Prize laureate
1962 – As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place
1971 – Deathday of Louis Armstrong
1988 – The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions & fires. 167 oil workers are killed
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August 8-18 ‘Classroom Alive’ Youth Open-Source Learning in Chicago
UVA
We’re starting up with Culture in our community – join young people here in Chicago for a 10 day walking journey – Classroom Alive Chicago!
Exploration & experiencial learning all over Chicagoland, starting at at Elderberries 3-Fold Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultrual Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618
August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.
August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.
August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.
Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.
The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”
From the get-go I have been actively researching the many angles (angels) in my striving to apply Michaelic Thinking to connect the dots, as well as seeking to find the spirit behind this current world situation. Doing my daily meditations, the hygienic eurythmy, & aligning with the Festival energies, helps to keep me from falling into the rabbit-hole. I don’t always share everything, since I know what it’s like to feel overwhelmed or burnt out by the vastness of it all. But this morning, July 5th 2020, I awoke with a start, after a night of bombs bursting, under the lunar eclipse. Perhaps it is the Spirit of Columbia calling to be heard – & so it is that I will try to put into words what cries for utterance & understanding.
Barley Fetere
In a nut shell: These times are prompting humanity on a global scale to evaluate evidence & build discernment – to think, for & from our higher selves.
The adversarial beings on all sides, are working hard to place obstacles in the way of the individual’s ability to think – to evaluate conflicting information – to truly know, in freedom. This is an orchestrated suppression of the Consciousness Soul – which is meant to come in now, to provide an individual relationship to the truth, beyond sympathy & antipathy.
Elizabeth Kolbert
Everyone knows how easy it is to consider truth to be only what we prefer – determined thru our feelings, desires, our social conditioning, etc.
by Annael (Anelia Pavlova)
Only truth that has freed itself from the aftertaste of our selfish sympathies & antipathies, is enduring – This Eternal, Universal Truth, is real even if all personal feelings revolt against it. That part of the soul in which this truth lives is the Consciousness or Spiritual Soul. For this we strive. How do we develop it in freedom?
Ayham Jabr
Another obstacle is the indiscriminate use of the label “conspiracy theory” used in reference to thinkers striving to do independent research, to think outside the box – thoughts not in accord with the mainstream narrative, which serve to strengthen a wave of suppression against independent thinking, & the development of the Consciousness Soul.
Ken Onewn
Where does this urge to silence critical thinking, inherent as a potential attitude in each of us, originate? And what causes governments, agencies, or media platforms, as well as people among us, to categorically dismiss, censer, & possibly penalize, any information or action, that thoughtfully challenges conventional medicine, lock-down policies, 5G, vaccines, etc?
Waldorf 6th grader Jeremy Gold
We must take control of our ‘ship’ of thinking, & direct it thru the dual hazards of Scylla & Charybdis – One side of the narrow place representing self-satisfied, obedient faith in authority; & the other, an ungrounded, emotionally driven fantasy. (There is much practical advice for this task in Rudolf Steiner’s foundational book ‘Knowledge of the Higher Worlds’.)
Can we see the signs of the times, & recognize them as pointers from the past & harbingers to the future? We have seen the “medicalization” of society before – leading up to & thru out the Nazi era.
Institutional health measures become “equivalent to systematic health denial” & result in “disempowerment through experts,” & a “surveillance economy.”
As Anthroposophers we know that Ahriman is the spirit of deception; so it is especially important to actively look behind the outer appearances of world events in order to discern their true causes & motives – a task that Rudolf Steiner termed “historical symptomatology” –This, my friends, is the study of, & the preparation for, Ahriman’s incarnation.
seen on FB
To further add to the mind-fuck of this topsy-turvy confusion & dis-order, a few days ago I started seeing the above meme on FB.
At 1st glance I am attracted to what it says on the surface, I agree with it all; but then inlooking more closely, it is revealed that her t-shirt has the # 45 & a small #2…
& it dawns on me that this is a message appealing to the far-right to re-elect trump (45) for a 2nd term!
I am thankful this outrageous meme knocked me over the head to help me wake up – To see that this narrative creates a reverse psychology – If trump says it, then it must be false.
This is a brilliant strategy ‘proving’ to those whose immediate sympathies push us to disagree with anything that trump says, to instead conform to the WHO / CDC / Big Pharma plot. (& to further complicate things, how do we find equanimity in a narrative that legally compels us to comply, or give away our personal freedoms?
Emily Theeters
Dear friends, please take the time to do your own research to get past the doctored Covid counts, the fear / shame based directives, & most of all, our own sympathies & antipathies, so that we might stand together, in the center, where Love is the only command.
These 3 highly respected resources hold power full perspectives:
August 8-18 ‘Classroom Alive’ Youth Open-Source Learning in Chicago
UVA
We’re starting up with Culture in our community – join young people here in Chicago for a 10 day walking journey – Classroom Alive Chicago!
Exploration & experiencial learning all over Chicagoland, starting at at Elderberries 3-Fold Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultrual Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618
August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.
August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.
August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.
Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.
The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”
Does anyone know what DC stands for? Yep that’s right The District of Columbia.
~hag
In fact, when the original founders of this country built the ‘District of Columbia’, they called it the Holy City, & envisioned it as a Temple to this Goddess. But who is she? And how is it that we as a nation have come to forget her, despite her ubiquitous presence atop the nation’s most prominent institutions of power?
~hag
Columbia comes from the word “Columba” meaning “dove”. From the beginning, when Columbia was first revealed as the Goddess of this land, she was seen by the native peoples as an Indian Queen, a guardian of Liberty, freedom & a generous provider of plenty.
~hag
After the colonists came to America seeking freedom from oppression, Columbia changes, she is then pictured wearing the cap of freedom, later seen in the French revolution, & holds a cornucopia. The eagle & the rattlesnake are sacred to Her.
~hag
She is known as a guardian spirit. In the terminology of Anthroposophy she is The Archangel, or Folk Spirit of the American People.This spirit is called by various names: sometimes referred to as Liberty, as in the Sons of Liberty, or the Statue of Liberty; other times Independence, as in the Declaration of Independence; and Columbia, as in the City of Washington, DC. & You have heard of the South American country Colombia; & there is a British Columbia in Canada as well.
~hag
The name Columbia is borne by many other beings: a great river, towns & counties, business & cultural organizations, ships, & songs. But, the Folk Spirit Columbia of the Original Native Peoples, perceived also by the American Revolutionaries as an Indian goddess, has been usurped by Uncle Sam, her opposite in every way.
~hag~hag
The true Spirit of America is a strong & beautiful peer of all the other national cultures, interestingly enough all personified by the Divine Feminine.
~hag
The American Revolution later inspired the French Revolution, which became the catalyst for their gift of the Statue of Liberty.
~hag
And did you know that the song ‘Hail Columbia’ was actually the National Anthem, until it was changed in 1931 to the Star-Spangled banner?, a song glorifying war.
~hag
As the authentic potential of the American People, Columbia has hardly manifested. Her destiny, if ‘We the People’ will it, is to take back Her divine power, to manifest a true Land of the Dove. For many immigrants who end their long journey to freedom at Her feet, justice & hope are personified in Her form. America’s true folk spirit welcomes everyone into New York harbor with the promise of ‘life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness’. She offers these gifts to the world’s downtrodden as they enter the New World seeking a New Life; asking the world to give Her their ‘tired, poor & huddled masses’.
~hag
Have you ever really looked at the symbolism in the statue? The seven points of her crown represent the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters.
~hag
And These words, from the sonnet “The New Colossus” written by Emma Lazarus, are engraved inside the statue of Liberty. Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand – A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame – Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name – Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand – Glows world-wide welcome; “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
~hag
Can we renew this conception in our thinking now? Let us reclaim our past; this will give us the courage to love the world that we are in. Then we can envision & co-create a future of hope & light, in Love & Freedom!
Dear friends, if you go out at around 10 pm on the 4th of July, & gaze at Bella Luna & if you are observant, you will notice something strange happening on the moon – a partial penumbral eclipse – the last of 3 eclipses of this eclipse season.
This July full moon – the Thunder / Buck Moon will shine on the sky’s dome among the stars of Sagittarius, near Jupiter, whose 12 year cycle gives us insights into the dimension of space, & Saturn – god of Time. These Beings of Space & Time are now at their best. Later this month, Earth will pass between each of these worlds & the Sun, so that both Jupiter & Saturn reach their oppositions, Jupiter on July 13-14 & Saturn on July 20.
Sea of Time & Space – William Blake
A lunar eclipse can only happen at full moon, but more often than not the full moon swings above or below the Earth’s shadow. Astronomers say the moon is full when it’s precisely 180 degrees opposite the Sun. Since this kind of eclipse is very subtle, we will have to apply our imaginative cognition to call up the cosmic mysteries available – a means of slipping thru Time & Space to gather deep insights from the starry script –unveiling the secrets of the Beings of the stars. Not only can you be a witness to these mysteries you can be part of the conversation inscribing into the realm of the Stars, not only your own personal hopes & dreams, but taking up if you will, the responsibility of holding the light for all of humanity during this obscure Summer-time eclipse.
Clare Radigan
How interesting that it should come on July 4th! Can we hold the true values of Independence Day during this darkening? Can we envision an Interdependence during this current pandemonium, that brings the countenance of humanity together in the light of Freedom & Love…???
J. Buie
From almost everywhere worldwide, the moon will appear plenty full to the eye on the nights of July 4-6. That’s because, for several days around full moon, the moon remains more or less opposite the Sun, & appears in Earth’s sky for most hours of the night. The ancient mystery schools celebrated the Full Moon for 3 days, starting on the Eve – which is TONIGHT.
Hans Wallner
Look for Bella Luna to appear low in your eastern sky around sunset. She will climb highest up for the night around midnight & will shine low in your western sky at dawn. In other words, look for the Moon to light up the sky from dusk till dawn.
Ben Libber
In North America, we call the July Full Moon the Buck Moon, Thunder Moon or Hay Moon. At this time of year, buck deer begin to grow velvety antlers, while farmers are working to put hay in their barns, & trying to avoid the summer season’s frequent thunder showers.
Bobby Fanterling
Global Event: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
Local Type: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, in Chicago
Begins: Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 10:07 pm
Maximum: Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 11:29 pm -0.644 Magnitude
Ends: Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 12:52 am
Duration: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Guilio Romano
I think my thought.
And, I am a thought; thought by the Hierarchies of the cosmos.
My eternal being consists in this: That the thought of the Hierarchies is eternal. And when I have been thought out by one sphere of the Hierarchies, then I am passed on—just like the thought of the teacher is passed on to the pupil—from one Being to another, in order that each choir of angels may ponder me in my eternal, true nature.
And so it is; that I feel myself within the thought-world of the Cosmos.
May I make of myself a fit food for the gods – That I may add to the body of Anthroposophia, working consciously with Michael & The Christ in me…
~hag
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Looking at the past to see the present, co-creating the future:
Those who work with the Original indications in the Calendar of the Soul know that Rudolf Steiner lists the birth & death days, as well as other significant occurrences of various individualities, along with the dates in the calendar. He said of this: “What is presented here can be useful to those who wish to follow the path of mankind’s spiritual development” ~Rudolf Steiner
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
Deathday of Cornelius – a Roman centurion who is considered to be the first Gentile to convert to the faith. Cornelius receives a vision in which an angel who instructs Cornelius to send the men of his household to Joppa, where they will find Simon Peter. The conversion of Cornelius comes after a separate vision given to Simon Peter (Acts 10:10–16) himself. In the vision, Simon Peter sees all manner of beasts & birds being lowered from Heaven. A voice commands Simon Peter to eat. When he objects to eating unclean animals, the voice tells him not to call unclean that which God has cleansed. When Cornelius’ men arrive, Simon Peter understands that through this vision the Lord commanded the Apostle to preach the Word of God to the Gentiles.
283 – Deathday of Anatolius. Prior to becoming one of the great lights of the Church, he enjoyed considerable prestige at Alexandria, & was credited with a rich knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, physics, rhetoric, dialectic, & astronomy. He was one of the foremost scholars of his day in Aristotelean philosophy.
Deathday of St. Norbert of Xanten, who avoided ordination to the priesthood & even declined an appointment as bishop. One day as he rode to Vreden, a thunderbolt struck him off his horse. After this near-fatal accident, his faith deepened, he renounced his appointment at Court & returned to Xanten to lead a life of penance. St Norbert was a great devotee of the Eucharist & Our Lady.
1035 – William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy
1863 – The U.S. Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, PA, ended after three days. It was a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreated
1940 –In order to stop the ships from falling into German hands the French fleet is bombarded by the British fleet causing the loss of three battleships, 1,200 sailors die.
1944 –Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration
1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
1988 – The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing a connection between Europe & Asia over the Bosphorus.
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Not being able to travel to present my Spiritual Research, I made a little page to share some recorded offerings. Please tune in & freely pass them on…Thanks…xox
As of September 2020 I am ready to bring my Festivals, Lectures & Programs to your community once again!
***
August 8-18 ‘Classroom Alive’ Youth Open-Source Learning in Chicago
UVA
We’re starting up with Culture in our community – join young people here in Chicago for a 10 day walking journey – Classroom Alive Chicago!
Exploration & experiencial learning all over Chicagoland, starting at at Elderberries 3-Fold Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultrual Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618
August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.
August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.
August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.
Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.
The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”
Every morning I go out into my wild garden. I do my meditations. I breathe in the sunrise. I watch & listen to the signs & signals from the natural world, ever present in my little piece of bio-dynamic bottom-land, at the edge of the Great Inland Sea of Chicago.
The Milkweed is flowering & the butterflies have come to lay their eggs on the leaves. So fascinating to contemplate this delicate creature – I think of what Steiner says: “…it is the butterfly corona, which first calls us into earthly existence.” (Symphony of the Creative Word) I spoke about this in ‘The Crowning’.
The clover, feverfew, & spiderwort are rampant & the bees are all over it.
Bees have a special place in human history. The mythology, art & mystery that surrounds them is potent, & indicates a close & reciprocal relationship between the bee, the secrets of the Universe, & humanity, as partners in life’s great journey.
Traditionally the bee was perceived as a being that bridged the gap between the physical & the unseen world, the intermediary between two states of existence.
In many cultures priestesses or ‘illumined ones’ have been referred to as ‘Bees’. The bee was an emblem of Potnia, the Minoan-Mycenaean “Mistress”, also referred to as “The Pure Mother Bee”. Her priestesses received the name of “Melissa” which means bee.
Those worshipping Artemis & Demeter, as well as the Delphic priestess, are also referred to as a “bee”. Pindar, an Ancient Greek poet from Thebes, notes that she remained “the Delphic bee” long after Apollo had usurped the ancient oracle & shrine. “The Delphic priestess chewed a laurel leaf, & sought her inspiration in the honeycomb”.
Fabio Deltrica
The Homeric Hymn to Apollo acknowledges that Apollo’s gift of prophecy first came to him from three bee maidens, usually identified with the Thriae – a trinity of pre-Hellenic Aegean bee goddesses.
The Kalahari Desert’s Sand people tell of a bee that carried a mantis across a river. The exhausted bee left the mantis on a floating flower but planted a seed in the mantis’s body before it died. The seed grew to become the first human.
In Egyptian mythology, bees grew from the tears of the sun god Ra when they landed on the desert sand.
The bowstring on Hindu love god Kamadeva’s bow is made of honeybees.
Leonardo Digenio
Orators, powerful speakers, & those who can enrapture their audience thru their linguistic ability are said to have lips that have been anointed with honey.
Doug Lefpton
From the earliest times of our agrarian history the relationship between farmers & the bees that pollinate & confirm their crops has been one of reciprocal respect. The bee is the agent of pollination, the catalyst that brings about change & the connection that facilitates fertilization, allowing the crop to mature, develop & reproduce. It is easy to see why their function is considered so important & why the bee is ascribed a mystical place within the human experience.
Daisy Mellen
In the last decade there has been an alarming decline in bee colony numbers. It is a worldwide happening & indicative of a shift occurring within the planet’s own equilibrium – a call to ‘Repent, & make straight the path’, as John the Baptist would say.
Miyazaki
The bees are allies; not only the key to our food supply, but an important intermediary, a messenger from those peripheral realms of human awareness where perceptions come from ‘beyond the veil’ – they are messengers of the Sun.
The bee carries a signal or a frequency that enables transformation; what is barren becomes fertile, initiating the process of regeneration.
Cappy Thomson
The bee, in this context, represents an interlocutor between our immediate mundane awareness & the potential of human cognizance.
eddy Kendell
Look to the flora & fauna; experience & honor the elemental worlds; all nature – as messengers of what was, what is, & what is to come.
Mare Delivin
Yes, friends, we live in challenging times. Good, bad or indifferent is not a criteria; we are seeing events in our lifetimes that have a significant bearing upon the way human evolution will unfold.
Burt Lonner
The relationship between human interaction & the planet is fragile, & the most potent expression of what we will become – either architects of our own demise, or the agents of a transcendent future, is in our hands.
2 July 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Today is the midpoint of the year. There were 182 days before today & 182 days after.
Look for Antares to the lower right of bright Bella Luna this evening. The name Antares means anti-Ares, “rival of Mars” in Greek. Both are fiery orange. Around 1 or 2 a.m. these nights you can compare them yourself. Mars & the Moon get low in the southwest, & Mars will rises in the east. Mars, is 4 X’s brighter than than rival Antares.
Perhaps no month better epitomizes summer in the Northern Hemisphere than July. The Summer Triangle is on prominent display. The trio’s brightest member, Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp, stands nearly overhead shortly after midnight. The asterism’s second-brightest star, Altair in Aquila the Eagle, then lies more than halfway from the southeastern horizon to the zenith. Deneb, the luminary of Cygnus the Swan, marks the Summer Triangle’s third corner. Although it is the dimmest star, it’s the brightest point of light in the northeastern sky.
church of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria
Maria Heimsuchung – Rudolf Steiner lists this in his original Calendar of the Soul, as an ancient German Feast Day celebrating the Visitation Of Mary to Elisabeth.
437 – Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over & ongoing dismemberment the Western Roman Empire.
1566 – Deathday of Nostradamus, French astrologer & author
1698 – Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine
1778 – Deathday of Procopius of Caesarea the last major historian of the ancient Western world. He Accompanied the Roman general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian, writing the Wars (or Histories), the Buildings of Justinian & the celebrated (& infamous) Secret History discovered centuries later in the Vatican Library. The Secret History reveals his deep disillusion with the emperor Justinian & his wife, Empress Theodora, as well as Belisarius, his former commander & patron, & Antonina, Belisarius’ wife. The anecdotes expose the secret springs of their public actions, as well as their private lives. Justinian is portrayed as cruel, venal, prodigal & incompetent; as for Theodora, the reader is treated to the most detailed & titillating portrayals of vulgarity & insatiable lust combined with shrewish & calculating mean-spiritedness: “Often, even in the theatre, in the sight of all the people, she removed her costume and stood nude in their midst, except for a girdle about the groin: not that she was abashed at revealing that, too, to the audience, but because there was a law against appearing altogether naked on the stage, without at least this much of a fig-leaf. Covered thus with a ribbon, she would sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back. Slaves to whom the duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into the calyx of this passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose, would next pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat.”
Her husband Justinian, meanwhile, was a monster whose head could suddenly vanish—at least according to this passage: “And some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at night, men who were pure of spirit, have thought they saw a strange demoniac form taking his place. One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne and walked about, and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian’s head vanished, while the rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder stood aghast and fearful, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But presently he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely as it had left it.”
1816 – The French frigate Méduse struck the Bank of Arguin & 151 people on board had to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault’s painting The Raft of the Medusa
1822 – Thirty-five slaves are hanged in South Carolina, including Denmark Vesey, after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion
1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship Amistad
1897 – British-Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London
1900 – The first Zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany
1921 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States & Imperial Germany
1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, sometimes called Operation Hummingbird, or in Germany, sometimes mockingly called Reichsmordwoche (Reich Murder Week), a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political executions. Leading members of the left-wing Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), along with its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, were killed, as were prominent conservative anti-Nazis (such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher & Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had suppressed Adolf Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in 1923). Many of those killed were leaders of the Sturmabteilung (SA) – the paramilitary Brownshirts.
Hitler moved against the SA & its leader, Ernst Röhm because he saw the independence of the SA as a direct threat to his newly gained political power. Hitler was uncomfortable with Röhm’s outspoken support for a “second revolution” to redistribute wealth.
At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds, & more than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. Most of the killings were carried out by the Schutzstaffel (SS) & the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), the regime’s secret police. The purge provided a legal grounding for the Nazi regime, as the German courts & cabinet quickly swept aside centuries of legal prohibition against extra-judicial killings to demonstrate their loyalty to the regime. The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point for the German government. It established Hitler as “the supreme judge of the German people,” as he put it in his July 13, 1934 speech to the Reichstag. “The New York Times”stated that Hitler had acted to crush a revolt & that SA leader Ernst Röhm had committed suicide.
1947 – World UFO Day, commemorating the supposed UFO crash at Roswell
1964 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places
1976 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.
2001 – The AbioCor self-contained artificial heartis first implanted
***
Not being able to travel to present my Spiritual Research, I made a little page to share some recorded offerings. Please tune in & freely pass them on…Thanks…xox
As of September 2020 I am ready to bring my Festivals, Lectures & Programs to your community once again!
***
August 8-18 ‘Classroom Alive’ Youth Open-Source Learning in Chicago
UVA
We’re starting up with Culture in our community – join young people here in Chicago for a 10 day walking journey – Classroom Alive Chicago!
Exploration & experiencial learning all over Chicagoland, starting at at Elderberries 3-Fold Bio-dynamic Outpost & Cultrual Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618
August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.
August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.
August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.
Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.
The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”
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