Witness

November 27, 2019History, Insight, Poetry, Soul to Soul~hag

Memphis Morn– The Journey (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6 )

Image result for pine tree abstract painting — ~Jenn Houle

The mares were bounding all thru the night. I awoke at 4:44 am my head splitting, the dream pounding. I stood at the threshold looking down into a deep gorge shaped like the liberty bell. There was a huge white boulder shaped like a skull that had been cleaved in two by an ancient pine tree growing up from its center. Suddenly I was across the threshold with my back to the tree. Like a strong wind Beings were rushing up & out of the rock, pushing up my spine & out of my mouth: ‘Give me passage or give me peace’. The ground spoke like thunder & unlocked in front of me, revealing more Beings seeking utterance; some to entreat, others to impart ‘The Code’. In the dream I understood; but when I woke I was only left with a deep feeling of unease. Later, tears streaming, I tried to relate the dream to my sisters as we cozyed up on my bed, in the growing light.

After breakfast Angela happened to open a book she didn’t even remember packing, & out fluttered a note that her 11 year old daughter Penelope had hid there which said: ‘This is your Sol calling’. What a blessing from the future, in that now.

With this rich, intense morning as our foundation, we packed up & made our way, this time in the light of day, back to the Lorraine Motel, where MLK was murdered on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST.

Image result for vintage cars outside the Lorraine motel — ~hag

Last night’s eerie feeling moving into a solemn trepidation, we entered the building to find a modern Civil rights museum graphed on to the old motel.

We lingered in the lobby with a sculpture depicting human beings making their way up the mountain. I noticed that behind it was another metal sculpture housing what was meant to be an eternal flame. But it was unlit; standing there neglected, cold & dark. So the 3 sisters gathered around; sending our collective light into it, feeling our eternal flame spreading out from that place in Memphis TN. enkindling the world. Angela placed a red paper rose petal there, from last year’s AGM in New Orleans, that she was using as a book mark – a token of our collective fire.

She chose to stay at the periphery, while Deb & I went inside the ‘National Civil Rights Museum’, a renowned educational & cultural institution.

We made our way thru the interactive exhibits chronicling the American Civil Rights Movement, with compelling presentations of iconic moments, like the video’s of the lunch-counter protests, which were brutal to witness, & a replica of the Greyhound Bus destroyed by white supremacists during the Freedom Rides. It was emotionally charged, to experience five centuries of this dramatic history.

Image result for boarding house from which Ray is believed to have fired the fatal shot. — ~hag

We then went across the street to the boarding house where James Earl Ray initially confessed (& later recanted) to shooting King.

Looking for a spot to plant the ‘Soul Soil’ we found a grassy knoll between the motel & the boarding house, a strange oasis, in the line of fire, peppered with beech trees. This berm, out in plain sight, completely open, but unencumbered by people, was a secluded sanctuary.

There was one patch of ground, shaped like a heart that was devoid of grass, naked & ready for our offering. I made an invocation & prayer, Angela planted the offering, & we did the Hallelujah right there in the open, feeling completely held.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Southern-tour-2019-mississippi-woith-pryamid-rotated.jpg — *~Photo by Deb Abrahams-Dematte*

In a mood of purposeful completion, we knew our next spot was to be the River. The mighty Mississippi, a few blocks away, called & we came.

Then it was time for us to make our way to Nashville. We had a date with Athena at the Parthenon.

until soon

~hag

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Spirit hands raising me up
From the dead
Weight of sunset
With its ballast of offerings –
The suffering of light
Stars blinking out torch-songs
As my limbs decline
Into the wind whipped fall
Of night.
~hag

***

27 November 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast day of Barlaam & Josaphat two legendary Christian martyrs & saints, based on the life of the Gautama Buddha. The tale tells how an Indian king persecuted the Christian Church in his realm. When astrologers predicted that his own son would become Christian, the king imprisoned the young prince Josaphat, who nevertheless met the hermit Saint Barlaam & converted to Christianity. After much tribulation the young prince’s father accepted the true faith, turned over his throne to Josaphat, & retired to the desert to become a hermit. Josaphat himself later abdicated & went into seclusion with his old teacher Barlaam. The tale derives from a second to fourth century Sanskrit Mahayana Buddhist text, via a Manichaean version, the Arabic Kitab Bilawhar wa-Yudasaf (Book of Bilawhar and Yudasaf).

8 BC – Deathday of Horace, the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus; who crafted elegant hexameter verses & caustic iambic poetry. His career coincided with Rome’s momentous change from a republic to an empire. An officer in the republican army, he was befriended by Octavian’s right-hand man in civil affairs, Maecenas, & became a spokesman for the new regime.

511 – Feast Day of Clovis, the first king of the Franks to unite all of the tribes under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of royal chieftains to rule by a single king, ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs. He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries. His name is Germanic, composed of the elements hlod (“fame”) & wig (“combat”), & is the origin of the later French given name Louis, borne by 18 kings of France. Clovis is also significant due to his conversion to Christianity in 496, largely at the behest of his wife, Clotilde, who would later be venerated as a saint for this act, celebrated today in both the Roman Catholic Church & Eastern Orthodox Church. The adoption by Clovis of Catholicism led to widespread conversion among the Frankish peoples, to religious unification across what is now modern-day France, Belgium & Germany, & three centuries later to Charlemagne’s alliance with the Bishop of Rome & in the middle of the 10th century under Otto I the Great to the consequent birth of the early Holy Roman Empire.

784 – Deathday of Vergilius of Salzburg an Irish Bishop & early astronomer.

Image result for Saint Catherine Labouré

1830 – Saint Catherine Labouré reported that the Blessed Mother appeared to her during evening meditations. She displayed herself inside an oval frame, standing upon a globe. She wore many rings set with gems that shone rays of light over the globe. Around the margin of the frame appeared the words Ô Marie, conçue sans péché, priez pour nous qui avons recours à vous (“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”). As Catherine watched, the frame seemed to rotate, showing a circle of twelve stars, a large letter M surmounted by a cross, & the stylized Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns & Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. Asked why some of the gems did not shed light, Mary reportedly replied, “Those are the graces for which people forget to ask.” Sister Catherine then heard the Virgin Mary ask her to take these images to her confessor, telling him that they should be put on medallions, & saying “All who wear them will receive great graces.”

The chapel in which Saint Catherine experienced her visions is located at the mother house of the Daughters of Charity in Rue du Bac, Paris. Her incorrupt body is interred in the chapel, which continues to receive daily visits from pilgrims today.

***

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

$50 for the whole Weekend Workshop or pay what you will

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, 60618

Rüdiger has been working in Curative Education and teaching in professional training programs in Germany and the United States for over 40 years. A long-time student of anthroposophy, he serves on the Collegium of the School for Spiritual Science in North America. His contributions to adult education methods were recognized in the context of an international research project sponsored by the European Union. He has been a member of the core faculty of a joint ‘Training for Trainers’ program supporting Curative Education and Social Therapy in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. He has also taught as an adjunct faculty member of the M.S. Ed program in Waldorf Remedial Education at Antioch University N.H. Having taught many different aspects of anthroposophy and Curative Education, he currently is focused on action research and the development of artistic and experiential approaches to the spiritual scientific study of the human being.

Fro more info. contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

The Kings of Memphis

November 26, 2019History, Poetry, Remembering~hag

Part 6: Memphis – The Journey (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5)

As we drove from the Shoals to Memphis, Deb behind the wheel, the sky stretched out in front of us in a magnificent display of ever changing cloud forms & colors. This twilight show lingered, & we attended every shifting nuance – a lively conversation between human beings, & the elemental world.

After we made dinner in our Memphis digs, Deb was advocating a trip to the famous Beale Street to check out the local music scene. It was a cold evening & we were waffling. Then Angela read some passages from Orland Bishops book ‘The Seventh Shrine: Meditations on the African Spiritual Journey: From the Middle Passage to the Mountaintop’.

And we got fired up.

Image result for red crack earth close up — ~hag, the ground at the Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve

In the blank pages in the back of the book Angela had written down a dream she had when she 1^st read Orland’s book. It was dated November 10^th 2018 & spoke about a tree that had been upended, she was warning people to be careful as the ground was unstable, creating a possible sink hole. When I heard this I got shivers & was reminded of my experience walking in the Clyde Shepherd nature preserve. (see part 3) When I described that strange place, Angela said, O yes, that spot is a dried up reservoir, & it was a good thing I got out of there quickly since the ground was indeed unstable. Then we came to realize that my experience & her dream happened on the same date a year apart!.

That clinched it, even though it was after 9 pm, the 3 sisters felt called, right then & there, to go out to the Lorraine Motel where MLK was murdered.

The site was deserted, eerie in the cold moon light. Intellectually we knew it had been converted into the Civil Rights Museum, but it was hard to fathom. Standing there in front of the facade of this perfectly preserved 50’s style motel, we felt like we had gone back in time. We prayerfully circumambulated, paying homage, & looking for a spot to gather a bit of earth to add to Angela’s ‘Soul Soil’.

There is a feeling that this place is a like a vortex, a portal leading into the inner layers of the earth, where the blood of MLK is mixing with the blood of Christ, feeding the seed that will allow the earth to become a Sun.

It was all too much.

We got back into big Daddy Howell’s truck & drove to Beale Street. We could hear the music ebbing from the neon bedecked clubs calling folks to come dance. But we were the only ones out & about. We asked a local what was up & he said Memphis folks don’t come out when it’s cold.

So we had Bright Beale Street practically all to ourselves. We walked around listening to the music pouring into the street trying to decide where to go. A friendly hawker enticed in where a local band was in full swing.

It turned out to be a place owned by the famous wrestler Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler. And the band on stage was called ‘The Memphis Kings’. Ha! We knew we were in the right place. We danced & enjoyed the easy warmth of the atmosphere. When the set was done, a gentleman came up & called us the ‘Solid Gold Dancers’. We took that warmth into the night.

We continue the Journey Tomorrow in the cold light of day

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

My soul is cupped in the hands of a beggar
Shivering on the street
Held in the dark mouth of a small bird
The shell unbroken,
The heavy yolk floating…
Memories leak through letters bold & sleek.
Adjusting the dials
I swirl in the mind of the mountain
A labyrinth among spiced nectar & bees wax
Savoring the deep dark of the growing New
~hag

***

Image result for dark of the moon painting — ~Darla Blende

26 November 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”: New Moon, exact at 9:06 am CST.

Image result for little dipper 26 nov. 2019

The bowl of the Little Dipper is descending in the evening at this time of year, by about 10 pm CST. it hangs straight down below Polaris.

Image result for The Andromeda Galaxy & the Perseus Double Cluster are cozying up, high toward the east early these evenings, to the right of Cassiopeia .

The Andromeda Galaxy & the Perseus Double Cluster are cozying up, high toward the east early these evenings, to the right of Cassiopeia .

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

***

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

$50 for the whole Weekend Workshop or pay what you will

at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, 60618

Fro more info. contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Shoals

November 25, 2019History, Insight, Poetry~hag

Part 5: Helen Keller & Muscle Shoals – The Journey (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)

The next morning 11/14/19, I woke before dawn, my usual morning headache, worse than most days. Was I feeling the weight of the ‘Trail of Tears’, a constant underlying strain in the symphony of living waters – a true counterpoise to the joyful music of the likes of Etta James & the Swampers?

Was that my mother Betty Mae hanging at the edge of my dreamscape, or maybe it was Columbia, the Spirit of America, calling from the heights & the depths? I can’t quite remember. I got up & did my eurythmy, Chi Gong & morning meditation with the waning moon shining in the west.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Southern-tour-2019-tuscumbia-altar-rotated.jpg — ~hag

In the light of day, Deb went out for a morning walk with the aim of finding the water’s edge. She returned having triumphantly reached her goal, hungry as an hawk. After coffee Angela set up an altar with her potent ‘Soul Soil’- potentized samples from various sacred sites that she has collected since 2013. (read about her adventures here) We circled up, did a check-in, invoked the Spirit of place, the Being of Columbia, & Anthroposophia; said the Foundation Stone Meditation & did the Hallelujah in eurythmy.

Then we packed up, drove out of the Liberty Bell, & made our way, 1^st to Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, not far, in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

The stories from the docent, & the feeling of being in the home of this amazing human being & the women who dedicated their lives working with her, was uplifting & humbly awe inspiring.

Standing at the water pump where Helen had her break thru in understanding language was very powerful – This connection with the spirit of water speaking clearly & living strongly in us.

I was fascinated by what they called the ‘Moon Tree’ stretching up to the slow moving clouds, throwing a blanket of pine needles on the hallowed grounds. Was it really grown from a seed that went into outerspace?

Also on the property is the Lions Club of America, a sort of Masonic lodge. In 1925, Helen attended the Lions Club International convention & challenged the organization to “become the knights to the blind in the crusade against darkness.” Ever since, they have played a key role in service to the visually impaired. They commissioned this statue carved from the local white marble. We marveled at this image of Helen’s open throat chakra!

From there it was a hop skip & a jump to the famous ‘Fame Studios’ in Muscle Shoals, where music runs through the hills, the river, & the spirit of the people. It is a place where, even before the Civil Rights Movement really took shape, the color of your skin didn’t matter inside the studio.

~Photo by Angela Foster, a nod to EB’s General Store!

Angela & Deb had lunch in a local eatery where the helpful inn keepers name was ‘Groovy’. I took a walk, feeling the need to listen for the song of the river.

Together we walked the banks of the Tennessee River, giving homage to the spirit of the water.

Next to the Singing River we did the Hallelujah in a stunning pine grove before we made our way to Memphis…

Tomorrow we explore our meeting with the Kings of Memphis…

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~And then 1 day it happens
The pattern breaks
A healing happens
Just when you think
The pain is fathomless, swallowing all the light
A crack in the sheen of obsidian
Opens the hollow inside
Allowing a trace of fresh born stars
To trail over tears
& apply hope to the color palate of the future
~hag

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

‘The Deep South’

November 24, 2019History, Insight, Poetry, Remembering~hag

The Journey – Part 4 Auburn & Sheffield Alabama – (part 1, part 2, part 3)

11/13/19: With dawn’s first blush, & the ‘just past Full’ Moon pointing us West; the 3 sisters loaded up the truck which belonged to Patrick Foster’s big daddy Howell when he was alive. Stuffed with our abundant food coolers, luggage, the art projector, drawing materials & all the presentation & ritual supplies – we hit the road for Auburn Alabama.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Southern-tour-2019-helene-hag-deb-outside.jpg — ~photo by Angela Foster outside Helene Burkart’s home in Auburn Alabama, Daddy Howell’s truck in the background

Helene Burkart welcomed us “to the deep South” & her handsome home, where 19 of her friends, & fellow long time Anthroposophers gathered. The living room was set up theatre style, & the dining room beautifully adored for our luncheon after.

The thoughtful interest & intimate sharing of the participants during the program was profoundly moving. The questions & comments, the stories & artistic explorations created a sacred chalice, allowing the veil between the worlds to open in grace.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Southern-tour-2019-ala-lunch--rotated.jpg

At the repast, Helene asked me to share about the Elderberries Initiative, so I talked about the shift that was born over our Michaelmas weekend, when we connected with the biodynamic farmers in a gathering at Angelic Organics. The idea came then to bring the city folk & country folk together for the healing of the earth & the mutual benefit of all, by creating EB’s General Store in Chicago!

After our lovely meal & much conversation, Helene gifted the 3 sisters with bags full of local cotton & the famous white marble of the area – A Blessed memento that I will cherish.

Image result for Sheffield Alabama liberty bell housing project

Deb got behind the wheel & we made our way to Sheffield Alabama, where Angela had arranged for us to stay the night in a house situated in a neighborhood configured in the shape of the liberty Bell. (Angela, have I told you lately how amazing you are!)

On Angela’s suggestion, & Deb’s dime, we watched the documentary MUSCLE SHOALS, which we were called to visit the next day. What a thrill! We danced & sang along, laughed & cried as we learned about a place filled with magic & music, legend & folklore, where the river is inhabited by a Native American Spirit who has enticed some of the greatest Rock & Roll & Soul legends of all time, & has drawn from them some of the most uplifting, defiant, & important music ever created. The ups & downs in the story of Rich Hall, who brought black & white folks together in a cauldron of racial equality to create music for the generations, was compelling.

We went to bed tired, with a sigh of gratitude & a joyful prayer for the work done, knowing that the blessing of all worlds was carrying our work into the night.

Tomorrow, more adventures abound…

Until soon

~hag

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~I have come to answer the call
Witch no one wants to hear
My hands cling like hopeful ancestors
To the task.
‘Open thou my lips’
Red as ox blood
‘So that I may show forth thy praise’
& speak charms that drive snakes back into the rocks & Cause
The violets to flower.
Stars fall into my heart, a pool of fire
I stand with She so
I am blame, ignited into flame
Purpose full & lost
In translation…
~hag

***

Image result for orion painting — Leah Hicks

25 November 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”: VENUS-JUPITER CONJUNCTION AT SUNSET: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction little more than a degree apart. Try to catch them before the sky fades to black. The sight of the two brightest planets, side-by-side, surrounded by twilight blue is out of this world.

Whenever Fomalhaut is “southing” (crossing the meridian due south, which it does soon after dark this week), the first stars of Orion are just about to rise above the east horizon. And, the Pointers of the Big Dipper stand upright low due north, straight below Polaris.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

Feast Day of St. Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Catherine of the Wheel, a Christian virgin saint, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess & a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity, & was martyred around the age of 18. More than 1,100 years after Catherine’s martyrdom, Joan of Arc identified her as one of the saints who appeared to & counselled her.

Some modern scholars consider that the legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria was probably based on the life & murder of the Greek philosopher Hypatia, with reversed roles of Christians & pagans.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY (OK so what is it about this day which has brought so many ‘natural’ disasters…?)

1667 – A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha in the Caucasus, killing over 80,000 people.

1759 – An earthquake hits the Mediterranean destroying Beirut & Damascus & killing over 40,000 people.

1783 – American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

1839 – A cyclone slams into south-eastern India, with high winds & a 40-foot storm surge destroying the port city of Coringa (which has never been completely rebuilt). The storm wave swept inland, taking with it 20,000 ships & thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths resulted from the disaster.

1915 – Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

1947 – Red Scare: The “Hollywood Ten” are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.

1950 – The Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950 impacts 22 American states, killing 1353 people, injuring over 160,000

1960 – The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated, turning them into “symbols of both popular and feminist resistance”. In 1999, in the sisters’ honor, 25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

1987 – Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph &a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.

1996 – An ice storm strikes the central U.S., killing 126 people. A powerful windstorm affects Florida & winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees & flipping trailers.

2000 – The Baku earthquake, with a Richter magnitude of 7.0, leaves 1,226 people dead in Azerbaijan.

2008 – Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 1,500 people & displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades.

2009 – Jeddah floods: Freak rains swamp the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during an ongoing Hajj pilgrimage. Three thousand cars are swept away & 1,222 people perish in the torrents.

***

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

Fro more info. contact Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Too Bright a light

November 23, 2019Celestial Event, History, Insight, Poetry, Remembering~hag

Part 3 – Digesting the Journey (part 1, part 2 )

The plan was to bring the All Souls Festival 1^st to Atlanta, so I contacted Jolie Luba, leader of the Death Care Community, who had taken us on a moving song trail in the cemetery during the AGM. We grappled with dates & it became clear that instead, we were to have a gathering exploring the connections on 11:11 with the Mercury Transit. (Read about it here) Angela Foster suggested I come into Atlanta on the evening of November 9^th (the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall) to be there for 1^st Class on the 10th. This was special, since I had been in town last year doing a presentation when Atlanta had their inaugural 1^st Class gathering. The power of Lesson 10 spoke right to the heart of our impending journey, giving insights that enlightened our understanding, which we lived into & brought into the work.

That evening Angela & I sat together cutting out the planetary seals. We had a deep conversation where I shared stories of old karmic patterns & some hard truths about my striving to be human. When she left & I was alone at The ARC (Anthroposophical Resource Center), I was spent, so I took a shower with the intention of going to bed early. I was reading Prokofieff’s book about the Sculptural Group ‘A revelation of the Spiritual Purpose of Humanity and the Earth’ – When all of a sudden both my legs started cramping up, a horrible contorting ‘charlie horse’. I kept getting out of bed to try & walk it off. I went over to a high stair to stretch my calves, when both legs seized up & I took a tumble down the stairs. My left arm broke my fall & was sorely bruised.

Image result for Ahriman carved by Rudolf Steiner in the representative of humanity — ~close up of ‘The Group’ by Rudolf Steiner

The image of Ahriman came before me as I looked at my feet, painfully contorted & unable to straighten. It was a long hard night.

When I did sleep, I dreamt that my brothers, who I haven’t seen or spoken to for years, were my children. They were literly bouncing off the walls spider man style & I was wringing my hands in worry over what to do. (This dream brought up a lot, since my own childhood was turbulent & complicated. I graduated from HS early & left home when I was 16 to get away from my incestuous father)

*~photo by Bill & Bonnie Rogers, 11:11:19 Sunrise in Knoxville TN*

I got finally just up at 4:44 am to do some eurythmy, meditate & watch the sunrise on 11:11.

Image result for Deb Abrahams-Dematte <deb@anthroposophy.org>

Deb arrived that morning, & had a work call. The branch council was meeting there as well. So I went out for to hike in the Clyde Shephard nature preserve. It was a cold day & I had that sacred spot to myself. While walking I came upon a platform which looked out over an open circular prairie-like area. I climbed up to observe. Why had they put this platform here? What was I to look for? Nothing was apparent, so I decided to go & walk in that place. The ground was super soft with huge cracks in the sandy soil so that my feet sunk in deeply. It was a very unnerving feeling. I had the thought that I should quickly leave or the ground would swallow me up.

After I was out, a huge great horned owl swooped past me, so that I could feel the whoosh of air from her wings on my face. And when I was leaving I meet these beautiful sheep.

That afternoon on 11:11 at 4:11 pm – 6:11 pm we gathered at the Martin Clinic. I gave some leading thoughts, Enid Hancock gave us the story of St. Martin of Tours, Angela Foster lead us in Decoupaging candles, Mark Hancock spoke about the inspiration for his ‘Humanizing Medicine’ Martin Clinic, Jolie Luba lead us in some potent biography questions, & we sang songs like ‘This Little Heart of Mine’…An amazing program.

Angela & Patrick Foster, & their girls, Sophie & Penelope, took us out for great sushi dinner. It was a powerful, Blessed day.

Deb & I spent a great time talking into the night at the ARC. And then the next day went out for our various & sundry food supplies for the trip -Scoring also at a great consignment shop that Margret Runyon had recommended.

The journey commences in earnest tomorrow…

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Yes, it’s true
My tone is often sharp, never flat
A briny argot crusted
With cutting honesty
I push into fathomless oceans
Reaching out to the ancient Mother who is all gristle
Salty
Trusting in nothing but death
Scoured by grace & danger
My single solace, the fate
That defines the map
Of a star dream terrain
Speaking in pure tones
Of too bright a light.
~hag

***

Image result for venus jupiter painting — ~Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Venus supplicating Jupiter

23 November 2019 – “Speaking with the Stars”: At twilight tonight & tomorrow evening, Venus & Jupiter are just 1½° apart, low in the southwest. Around 7 pm CST the Great Square of Pegasus floats in very high toward the south. Its right (western) edge points down toward Fomalhaut. Its eastern edge points less directly toward Beta Ceti less far down. Near where the third corner is Alpha Phoenicis, or Ankaa, in the constellation Phoenix. In early dawn Sunday, look low in the east-southeast for the thin crescent Moon, a true chalice in the heavens. Bella Luna is there above Mercury & next to fainter Mars.

Venus and Jupiter by Raphael - Reproduction Oil Painting — ~Raphael, Venus & Jupiter

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

“People will have to learn through the idea of karma that they may not repudiate their earlier deeds with their later deeds. A certain consequentiality in life, a readiness to take on the consequences of what one has done, will have to emerge in human evolution. When one looks more closely, one sees how far removed from this people still are. A greater feeling of responsibility for one’s actions, a greater awareness of karma, that is what a study of this sort might yield.” ~Rudolf Steiner

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast day St. Columban, Stories claim that as he walked in the woods, it was not uncommon for birds to land on his shoulders to be caressed, or for squirrels to run down from the trees & nestle in the folds of his cowl. He was a strong defender of Irish traditions. The following are the principal miracles attributed to his intercession:

Procuring food for a sick monk and curing the wife of his benefactor
Escaping injury while surrounded by wolves
Causing a bear to evacuate a cave at his biddings
Producing a spring of water near his cave
Replenishing the Luxeuil granary
Multiplying bread and beer for his community
Curing sick monks, who rose from their beds at his request to reap the harvest
Giving sight to a blind man at Orleans
Destroying with his breath a cauldron of beer prepared for a pagan festival
Taming a bear and yoking it to a plough.

1644 – John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.

1889 – The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.

Image result for 1924 – Edwin Hubble's discovery, that the Andromeda "nebula" is actually another island galaxy far outside of our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times.

1924 – Edwin Hubble‘s discovery, that the Andromeda “nebula” is actually another island galaxy far outside of our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times.

1978 – Cyclone kills about 10,000 people in eastern Sri Lanka.

1978 – The Geneva Frequency Plan goes into effect, realigning many of Europe’s longwave & mediumwave broadcasting frequencies.

1980 –Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy killing over 5,900, & injuring 7,700–8,934.

1981 – Iran–Contra affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit & support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

1992 – The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

***

13 December 2019 Rudiger Janisch:

The 3 fold human being , the Foundation Stone & the 3 fold social organism 7 pm – 9 pm

14 December 2019- 9 am – noon

Contact rjanisch@camphill.edu

Cognitive Ritual

~Confessions of a Modern Rosicrucian

Witness

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

The Kings of Memphis

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

Shoals

‘The Deep South’

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

Too Bright a light

13 December 2019 Rudiger Janisch:

The 3 fold human being , the Foundation Stone & the 3 fold social organism 7 pm – 9 pm

14 December 2019- 9 am – noon

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

Share this:

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

Share this:

Share this:

13 – 14 December 2019

Rudiger Janisch

“The Spiritual Goetheanum, the threefold human being and the threefold social impulse”

Friday 13 December , 7 – 9 pm

Saturday 14 December, 9 am – noon

Share this:

13 December 2019 Rudiger Janisch:

The 3 fold human being , the Foundation Stone & the 3 fold social organism 7 pm – 9 pm

14 December 2019- 9 am – noon

Share this: