Can we hear the speed of light?

Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Insight, Poetry, Remembering

6 March 2018 – Astro-Weather: Jupiter & Bella Luna showing her waning gibbous face, rise in company around the middle of the night. By early dawn on Thursday, they hang together in fine view in the south.

If you head outside after darkness falls & look to the west, you’ll see the stars of Taurus the Bull about halfway to the zenith. The V-shaped Hyades star cluster, which forms the Bull’s face, points straight toward the horizon. To the right of the Hyades lies the spectacular Pleiades star cluster & to the left are the glittering jewels that form Orion the Hunter’s shape.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

12 BC – The Roman Emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.

632 – The Farewell Sermon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Daniele da Volterra

1475 – Birthday of Michelangelo, Italian painter & sculptor

1619 – Birthday of Cyrano de Bergerac, French author & playwright

1806  – Birthday of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. – poet. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery & her work helped influence reform in the child labor legislation. Her prolific output made her a rival to Tennyson as a candidate for poet laureate on the death of Wordsworth.

1888 – Deathday of Louisa May Alcott, American novelist & poet, best known as the author of the novel Little Women. Raised by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May & Amos Bronson Alcott in New England, she also grew up among many of the well-known intellectuals of the day such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, & Henry David Thoreau. Alcott was an abolitionist & a feminist & remained unmarried throughout her life.

1943 – Norman Rockwell published Freedom from Want in The Saturday Evening Post with a matching essay by Carlos Bulosan as part of the Four Freedoms series

1964 – Boxing champion Cassius Clay takes the name Muhammad Ali

1975 – For the first time the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown

1986 – Deathday of Georgia O’Keeffe, American painter – the “Mother of American modernism”. In 1905, O’Keeffe began her serious formal art training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago & then the Art Students League of New York, but she felt constrained by her lessons that focused on recreating or copying what was in nature…The rest is herstory…

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

Sam Brown

~Awaken & contemplate
The inward clues
& open your eyes
To the outward signs
Chaos adds its odd time meter
To the harmony of the spheres…
Can we hear the speed of light?
~hag

***

Every morning that week I awoke to greet the Sun rising over the intercostal, a spit of sea in Boca Raton, set apart from the great expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

Before commencing with my morning meditations, I made a point to commune with the local elementals, so diverse from the usual beings near the Great Inland Sea of Chicago.

On the day of Purim, which also happened to be the Full Sap Moon, the Storm Moon, the Worm Moon; the iridescence of a tiny dragonfly caught my eye. It was a happy surprise since I had never once seen an insect on the actual balcony, which I had always wondered about. Seeing it hovering so close cheered me greatly. I sang & honored the small creature, & went on to marvel at the busy pelicans & loud Jackjaws & graceful hawks, my usual friends, then went on to work my Circle & Foundation Stone Meditations.

Later my family spent the day exploring an open reserve bird sanctuary, where the mating & nest building was furious with nonstop activity, & many young fledglings with their fine downy heads & raised beaks filled there air with a cacophony of exuberant life.

On my return I went again to the balcony, where to my delight, I was greeted by an enormous, dazzlingly luminous dragonfly, which I immediately considered to be the mother of the tiny creature I had communed with that morning. I sat with her in reverence & adoration, blessing her & all her species.

Later everyone in the family gathered on the balcony for a snack. I mentioned my tiny friend, & the old man said “Yes, I saw it too, we never get insects here. Don’t worry I killed it”.

My throat tightened, my face flushed, tears rose, but just at that moment I saw 1, 2, 3 huge dragonflies darting at the edge of the balcony.  I made a sound & stood up. They all looked around – And another & another came, more & more, a literal swarm of perhaps 50 or more giant dragonflies, zipping around us. The old lady starting waving her arms in fear “We have to kill them, they will bite us”. I was aghast. I tried to tell her that they don’t bite, that they are good luck, that they are a sign from the spiritual world. Time stood still. I could hear their wings moving in the hot air. And then just as quickly as they had come, they were gone.

And everyone went on eating.

~True Story by hag

***

The Karma Project – A Western Approach to Reincarnation & Karma –
March 7, 2018 – 7:15 pm CST (8:15 pm EST)
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to our FREE conversation with special guest Frederick Amrine.

Fred Amrine is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in German Studies at the University of Michigan. A prolific author and translator of Rudolf Steiner, Fred has been an anthroposophist his entire adult life.

Steiner’s Karma lectures of 1924 are, strangely (and against usual press practices) not arranged chronologically. Moreover, two key lectures are entirely missing from the series, including Rudolf Steiner’s all-important “Last Address.”

This is very unfortunate for a number of reasons. These lectures, above all, should be read as one continuous cycle, and it is extremely important to read them in the right chronological sequence, for reasons that Fred Amrine will detail in his talk.

Audioconference Details

Option 1. Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended): https://zoom.us/j/499410574

Option 2. Call in using your telephone.

United States: (646) 558-8656 or: (669) 900-6833
Access Code: 499-410-574

Please join us – All are Welcome!

Agenda

7:15 Welcome and introductions
7:18 Verse
7:20 Introduce guest speaker
7:25 Guest Speaker: Frederick Amrine (45 minutes)
8:10 Q&A – Please state your name, location before asking a question
8:28 Close with verse

***

From Necessity to Freedom – Social Sculpture & Experiential Discourse with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Friday March 9th 2018 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 7 pm – 9 pm

From the vaporous cleft of Mount Parnassus, & the birth place of Greek Philosophy, to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, on to the Holy Grail. From Prophesy to Warning, from Fate to Karma, From Destiny to Free Will.

Through the insights of Spiritual Science, the power of Social Arts, & Story-Telling, we will journey into our soul-depths to stand before the “Daughters of Necessity” that we will transform into “Freedom Fighters” to meet our true calling; asking: ‘What is my Highest Purpose?’

$10 Love Donation

***

Our Monthly Community Conversation

Friday March 23rd 2018 – 7 pm – 9 pm

Come be part of our ongoing Goethean Conversation about the future of Anthroposophy and its cultivation here in Chicago.

***

The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz –

Our Holy Week Study & Easter Festival 

Palm Sunday, March 25th – 2 pm – 4 pm,

Holy Monday – Good Friday, March 26- 30th – 7 pm – 9 pm

Holy Saturday March 31st & Easter Sunday, April 1st 2018 – 2 pm – 4 pm

This primary Rosicrucian text provides a 7 stage initiation, which we will traverse together on each of the days of Holy Week. We will discuss the symbolism & render some of the images from the text using various artistic mediums.

Please print your own  PDF copy

for more info. Contact  Hazel (at) ReverseRitual.com 

Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

 

 

March in

Celestial Event, Central Regional Council, Chicago Event, Festival, Poetry, Remembering

3 March 2018 – Astro-Weather: Today Venus, the Goddess of beauty & Mercury, the messenger of the gods stand closest together, look for them low in the bright twilight.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1859 – The Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history.

1861 – Abolition of serfdom in Russia.

1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.

1904 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison’s phonograph cylinder.

1913 – Thousands of women march in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C.

1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.

1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.

1939 – In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India.

1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

***

 Robert S. Connett

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~in seafoam, in swirlings
i am fish, tadpole, crocodile…
i am urge,
idea, portent of
the impossible
the moment in-between
patience & explosion…
~hag

***

Sally Long

March is abundant with ‘Holy Days’, finding voice through many cultural expressions…

For instance Purim, which was celebrated this year on March 1st  – the Full Sap Moon – is a joyful spring holiday that features a festive meal, gift-giving, costumes, & noisemakers. The word “Purim” means “lots,” & refers to Haman’s casting of lots in the story of Esther. It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations where cross-dressing & drunkenness are encouraged. Americans sometimes refer to Purim as the Jewish Mardi Gras…

 Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 am on Sunday March 11th 2018.

 Vincenzo Camuccini

 The 15th is the famous Ides of March; which we all know as the day Julius Caesar was warned by the soothsayers to beware – the day he was assassinated…But did you know that according to the ancient Roman calendar, the Ides of March was considered New Year’s Day, & marked the 1st day of Spring…?

The 21st also happens to be the Iranian New Year celebration, Norooz, or New Day…

This tradition has been commemorated by all the major cultures of the east…near, far & middle for centuries…

Delray Kooper

Here on this side of the world we call it the Spring or Vernal Equinox, Festival of the Trees, Ostara, Lady Day…for us it’s calculated by the solar progressions, when the Sun enters the 1st sign of fiery Aries, (which was the case 2000 years ago, but with the ‘procession of the equinox’s’, the Vernal Sun now rises in Pisces) This year it falls on March 20th 2018.

 

The Equinox is all about harmony & balance…that brief yet eternal time of equilibrium, when day & night are of equal length. What a perfect opportunity to tap into this celestial energy as it intersects our earthly ecliptic…a perfect opportunity to bring balance into our lives, harmony into our bodies…

 

Now vernal means green, right, so it’s not too farfetched to see a connection with St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th…with its emphasis on the shamrock & the wearing of the green…

 

St. Patrick, that once pagan boy from Wales, turned Christian priest with a vengeance, made it his mission to run the snakes out of Ireland. Of course no snake was ever native to Ireland, so we can take this as a metaphor for the ‘conversion’ of the Pagans; or a more affirming way to look at it, is to see the snake as the symbol of change, transformation & regeneration…

Related imageFra Angelico

Another Catholic holiday also get mixed up in this ancient symbolism of Spring’s fertility…March 25th is called the ‘Annunciation of Mary’… Annunciation means announcement…so this is the day that the Angel Gabriel announced that Mary, the Christian version of The Great Mother Goddess, was pregnant; with the son of god no less; who is born of course 9 months later on Dec. 25th…How’s that for a nice little spring fertility symbol…

  Alen Kopera

Holy Week starts on Palm Sunday March 25th 2018, but Easter Sunday falls on April Fools day this year!

 Image result for March women's month

It is fitting that March is International Women’s month, since this is the time of the rebirth of nature. It’s a gentle reminder that we give birth to the future. The future is in our hands, the hands of the midwife, the lap of the mother, the hands of the drummers for peace, the heart & soul of the Divine in each of us…

 

So let’s honor ourselves & thank the powers of love & light, knowing, March may march in like a lion, but it goes out like a lamb – as we re-conceive ourselves in alignment with the powers of Spring…

 Peace & Blessed Bee ~hag

***

Transient by ChrisBodame

The Karma Project – A Western Approach to Reincarnation & Karma –
March 7, 2018 – 7:15 pm CST (8:15 pm EST)
The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to our FREE conversation with special guest Frederick Amrine.

Fred Amrine is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in German Studies at the University of Michigan. A prolific author and translator of Rudolf Steiner, Fred has been an anthroposophist his entire adult life.

Steiner’s Karma lectures of 1924 are, strangely (and against usual press practices) not arranged chronologically. Moreover, two key lectures are entirely missing from the series, including Rudolf Steiner’s all-important “Last Address.”

This is very unfortunate for a number of reasons. These lectures, above all, should be read as one continuous cycle, and it is extremely important to read them in the right chronological sequence, for reasons that Fred Amrine will detail in his talk.

Audioconference Details

Option 1. Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended): https://zoom.us/j/499410574

Option 2. Call in using your telephone.

United States: (646) 558-8656 or: (669) 900-6833
Access Code: 499-410-574

Please join us – All are Welcome!

Agenda

7:15 Welcome and introductions
7:18 Verse
7:20 Introduce guest speaker
7:25 Guest Speaker: Frederick Amrine (45 minutes)
8:10 Q&A – Please state your name, location before asking a question
8:28 Close with verse

***

John Collier

From Necessity to Freedom – Social Sculpture & Experiential Discourse with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Friday March 9th 2018 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 7 pm – 9 pm

From the vaporous cleft of Mount Parnassus, & the birth place of Greek Philosophy, to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, on to the Holy Grail. From Prophesy to Warning, from Fate to Karma, From Destiny to Free Will.

Through the insights of Spiritual Science, the power of Social Arts, & Story-Telling, we will journey into our soul-depths to stand before the “Daughters of Necessity” that we will transform into “Freedom Fighters” to meet our true calling; asking: ‘What is my Highest Purpose?’

$10 Love Donation

***

Image result for community painting

Our Monthly Community Conversation

Friday March 23rd 2018 – 7 pm – 9 pm

Come be part of our ongoing Goethean Conversation about the future of Anthroposophy and its cultivation here in Chicago.

***

Thomas-Vaughan

The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz – Our Holy Week Study & Easter Festival

Palm Sunday, March 25th – 2 pm – 4 pm,

Holy Monday – Good Friday, March 26- 30th – 7 pm – 9 pm

Holy Saturday March 31st & Easter Sunday, April 1st 2018 – 2 pm – 4 pm

This primary Rosicrucian text provides a 7 stage initiation, which we will traverse together on each of the days of Holy Week. We will discuss the symbolism & render some of the images from the text using various artistic mediums.

Please print your own copy: http://hermetics.org/pdf/Chymical%20Wedding%20of%20Christian%20Rosenkreutz.pdf

for more info. Contact  Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

***

Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

 

“I am for Going Forward” Ita Wegman’s Birthday

Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Insight, Poetry, Quote

22 February 2018 – Astro-Weather: This evening Bella Luna shines with Aldebaran & the Pleiades.

Under the feet of Orion, & to the right of Sirius, hides Lepus the Hare. As with Canis Major, you can connect Lepus’s dots to make it look like what it’s supposed to be – a crouching bunny, with his nose pointing lower right, his faint ears extending up toward Rigel, & his body bunched to the left. His brightest two stars, Beta & Alpha Leporis, form the front & back of his neck.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1632 – Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.

1651 – St. Peter’s Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people

1732 – Birthday of George Washington, American general & politician, 1st President of the United States

1788 – Birthday of Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher & author

1876 – Birthday of Ita Wegman, founder of Anthroposophical medicine & close collaborator of Rudolf Steiner. She also developed a special form of massage therapy, called rhythmical massage, & other therapeutic treatments.

Ita Wegman, as she was known throughout her life, was born as Maria Ita Wegman in Indonesia, the first child of a Dutch colonial family. Around the turn of the century, she returned to Europe (she had visited before) & studied therapeutic gymnastics & massage. In 1902, when she was 26, she met Rudolf Steiner for the first time. Five years later she began medical school at the University of Zurich, where women were not discriminated to study medicine. She was granted a diploma as a medical doctor in 1911 with a specialization in women’s medicine & joined an existing medical practice.

In 1917, having opened an independent practice, she developed a cancer treatment using an extract of mistletoe following indications from Steiner. This first remedy, which she called Iscar, was later developed into Iscador & has become an approved cancer treatment in Germany & a number of other countries.

By 1919 she had a joint practice together with two other doctors, also women. In 1920 she purchased land in Arlesheim, where she opened her own clinic, the Klinisch-Therapeutisches Institut, the first center for anthroposophical medicine. In 1922 she founded a therapeutic home for mentally handicapped children, Haus Sonnenhof, also in Arlesheim, & co-founded a pharmaceutical laboratory, Weleda, that has since grown into a significant producer of medicines & health-care products.

In the following year, Rudolf Steiner asked Wegman to join the Executive Council of the newly reformed Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. She also directed the Medical Section of the research center at the Goetheanum. Together, Wegman & Steiner wrote what was to be Steiner’s last book, Extending Practical Medicine, which gave a theoretical basis to the new medicine they were developing. The book was partly written while Wegman cared for Steiner, who was already terminally ill. Wegman founded a new medical journal, Natura, the following year.

In 1936, the clinic opened a second home in Ascona, Switzerland. Shortly thereafter, difficulties between Wegman & the rest of the Executive Council flared up, & Wegman was asked to leave the Council; in addition, she & a number of supporters had their membership in the Anthroposophical Society itself withdrawn. The medical work flourished, however, & Wegman travelled extensively in support of the rapidly growing movement to extend medicine’s limits; she was especially active in the Netherlands & England during this time. Wegman died in Arlesheim in 1943, at the age of 67.

Ita Wegman is a close collaborator of Rudolf Steiner thruout many incarnations including: Alexander the Great to Steiner’s Aristotle; Gilgamesh & Ebani… On the Work of the Archangel Michael by Ita Wegman

1943 – Deathday of 1943 – Hans & Sophie Scholl, German activists. Sophie a German student along with her brother Hans were anti-Nazi political activists, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. They were convicted of high treason after distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich (LMU).

In the early summer of 1942, Scholl, his sister Sophie, Willi Graf, Kurt Huber, Christoph Probst, & Alexander Schmorell, co-authored 6 anti-Nazi Third Reich political resistance leaflets. Calling themselves the White Rose, they instructed Germans to practice nonviolent resistance against the Nazis. The group had been horrified by the behavior of some German soldiers on the Eastern Front, where they had witnessed cruelty towards Jews in Poland & Russia.

Hans & Sophie Scholl & Christopher Probst were beheaded by Johann Reichhart in Munich’s Stadelheim Prison. The execution was supervised by Dr. Walter Roemer, the enforcement chief of the Munich district court. Scholl’s last words were “Es lebe die Freiheit!” (“Long live freedom!”). Shortly thereafter, most of the other students involved were arrested & executed as well.

1932 – Birthday of Ted Kennedy, an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts for over forty years from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died & is the fourth-longest-continuously-serving senator in United States history, having served there for almost 47 years.

For many years, Ted Kennedy was the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family, & he was also the last surviving, longest-living, & youngest son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. & Rose Kennedy. He was the youngest brother of John F. Kennedy—the 35th President of the United States—& Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both victims of assassination, & the father of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy.

1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly was successfully cloned.

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

Susan Balyar

~TODAY I AM –
An old gnarled tree near the shore,
Roots swallowing the sand & rock
Pecked by the high-tide & the wild wind…
A 1000 fledglings have nested in my boughs
& beneath, I give shelter to all…
How do you see me?
As firewood or freedom…?
~hag

***

Prayer to our Angel by Rudolf Steiner

‘You my heavenly friend, my angel who has led me to the earth and who will lead me through the gate of death, into the spirit-home of the human soul; You who knows the paths since millennia, do not cease to enlighten me, to strengthen me, to advise me so that I will emerge from the weaving fire of destiny as a stronger destiny vessel and will learn to fill myself ever more with the meaning of divine world goals.’

Rudolf Steiner goes on to say:

‘This prayer is a direct invocation of the human soul to their angel. Every human being has an angel, an individual guiding being, who constantly accompanies the individual, and who gives this earthly human being, out of immediate perception of the total web of destiny, the right impulses and indications – IF this soul wishes to take them up. The angel accompanies this human soul intimately, its strivings, tasks, needs and fears. The angel grabs this soul with its entire being, at the same time grasping the spiritual world with its laws and possibilities. The angel helps and guides the human soul on its assigned paths.’

Sulamith Wulfing

***

Denise Yocco

Friday February 23rd 2018 -Open Community Conversation 7 pm – 9 pm

This is a call to All: Especially those working out of the various Steiner initiatives – Folks from The Chicago Waldorf School, City Garden & The Urban Prairie Waldorf School, The Christian Community, Arcturus, the Rudolf Steiner Branch, Elderberries, Angelic Organics, Zinniker’s Bio-Dynamic Farm…

Come be part of our ongoing conversation about the future of anthroposophy & its cultivation here in Chicago.

We will set the tone of the evening with The Calendar of the Soul Verse #47 Performed in Eurythmy by the Monday Eurythmy Group led by Mary Ruud

We will also continue to explore the biography of famous Chicagoans. At this meeting, Mary Ruud will share her research on Harold Washington.

And as always, the floor will be open for conversation.

All are welcome

“We come here
To embrace what is common in each one of us –
Our love for a higher knowledge
Which unites us in understanding.
Let this Light of Knowledge unite
Each and All of us
Making rise in each
The raising of the Other”.
~Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

***

Spinning Destiny with the Fates – An Art Presentation & Experiential Discourse with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Friday March 9th 2018 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 7 pm – 9 pm

Come face the Fates & meet the Sibyls in the Light of Anthroposophy, as we trace the evolution of human consciousness & ask: Does Fortune smile? Is Justice blind? How can I Co-Create with Destiny, to spin the thread of my life with integrity, to heal and clear the collective karma, & achieve my True Becoming?

Through the insights of Rudolf Steiner, the power of Myth-Telling, & Ritual-Tasks, such as Socratic questioning; we will journey into our soul-depths to stand before the “Daughters of Necessity” that we will transform into “Freedom Fighters” to meet our true calling; asking: ‘What is my Highest Purpose?’

$10 Love Donation

***

Matthaus Merian

The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz

Our PDF Holy Week Study & Easter Festival

Palm Sunday, 2 pm – 4 pm,

Holy Monday – Good Friday, 7 pm – 9 pm

Holy Saturday & Easter Sunday, 2 pm – 4 pm

***

Sacred Time

Celestial Event

15 February 2018 – Astro-Weather: New Moon (exact at 3:04 p.m. CST). The Moon partially eclipses the Sun for southern South America & much of Antarctica. (*See more below)

 

Under the feet of Orion & to the right of Sirius –  Lepus the Hare is hiding. Like Canis Major, this is a constellation with a connect-the-dots which looks like what it’s supposed to be – a crouching bunny, with his nose pointing lower right, his faint ears extending up toward Rigel (Orion’s western foot), & his body bunched to the left. His brightest two stars,  Beta & Alpha Leporis, form the front & back of his neck.

 

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

TODAY in 1924 Rudolf Steiner gave the 1st ‘First Class’ Lesson, restoring the ‘School of Spiritual Science’ as an esoteric institution in Dornach.

***

Gyen Boery

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Thought finds form
All that is forgotten returns
Transformed in the doing
This moment marks a time
Like a black obsidian
Reflecting sunlight
Into my mind’s eye
~hag

***

*TODAY is the New Moon / Solar Eclipse in Aquarius occurring 3:06pm CST – visible in South America, including places in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, & Uruguay. The eclipse will also be visible from some areas of the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans.

Some folks are calling this a ‘Black Moon’ – What does that mean? It occurs every 19 years when the month of February has NO Full Moon, only a New moon. (Remember how January had a Blue Moon ie. 2 Full Moons in 1 month, well January stole February’s Full Moon!)

The Black Moon is defined by a materialistic, man-made calendar time, but it is on a 19-year cycle, the same length as an eclipse cycle. That imbues the 19-year Black Moon with the same energy as an eclipse, creating a double eclipse effect today.

The length of the cycle – 19 years – reveals a connection with the timeline of human destiny. (the moon’s nodes)

The last time we had a 19-year Black Moon was in 1999. The next time will be in 2037.

Because this eclipse is in the sign of Aquarius – the sign of revolution, & radical change, perhaps it plants a seed for society to break free of linear time.

Everyone alive today in the Western world were born into the Gregorian Calendar. We know our birthdates & have lived our lives according to Gregorian time. This 365-day calendar was decreed by Pope Gregory the 13th, on February 24, 1582. It has its roots in the Julian calendar, put into place by Julius Caesar in 45 AD.

So it makes sense to think that this Gregorian calendar carries the energy of the Roman Empire & The Roman Catholic Church.

Maybe this Black Moon Eclipse in Aquarius can be seen as an opportunity to perceive Time as a Spiritual Reality in preparation for the next cycle when it appears again in 2037.

~hag

Here is another excellent article by Johnathan Hilton of the Astrosophy Center 

***

Dear Friends –

Please contribute to our Vegetation Pot-Luck meal after the AGM to welcome new members Daniel Evaeus & Frank Agrama from Elderberries LA; & Angela & Patrick Foster, & their 2 children Penelope & Sophie, from Atlanta.

Frank, Daniel, Patrick, Chuck… will be doing some construction work in the Elderberries space Sunday Feb. 18th before & after the AGM; & all day on Monday Feb. 19th. Feel free to drop by & lend a hand – Or come by with a vegetarian meal for the workers!

***

The Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago needs the support of members and friends to carry out its work. Membership is not dependent on your financial situation. Contributions are based on a sliding scale. The Suggested rate is $50 annually. Please choose whatever amount that is right for you.

Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago – Sunday February 18th 2018 – 2 PM – 5 PM

Agenda:

* Calendar of the Soul Verse #47 Performed in Eurythmy by the Monday     

   Eurythmy Group led by Mary Ruud

* Group Eurythmy – Hallelujah

* Welcome: New members & those that have crossed the Threshold (Mihai) 

* Reading & approval of the minutes from the 2017 AGM (Kurt)

* Acting Presidents Report (Andrei)

* Treasurer’s Report (Chuck)

* Peer Space & Elderberries Update  (Daniel, Frank, Hazel)

* Introduction of Current Branch Council (Andrei Onegin, Kurt Estep,

   Hazel Archer- Ginsberg, Mihai Rosu, Chuck Ginsberg)

* Nominations of New Candidates for the Council (If you wish to nominate

   someone, please let that person know ahead of time)

* Discussion

* Election of the Branch Council

* Reports: Festivals; Programs Committee; Study Groups

* Discussion: Share your ideas for Festivals & Programs?

What will you contribute? Tasks at hand – Who will step up?

* Calendar of the Soul Verse #47 Performed in Eurythmy by the Monday      

    Eurythmy Group led by Mary Ruud

* Pot-Luck Meal & Social Time in the Elderberries Space

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Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society, 4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map) Check out our Web site! Chicago, IL (Anthroposophical Society in America)

The newly renovated (& lazured) Elderberries 3-Fold Space is currently available for rental on PEER SPACE for classes, events, meetings, retreats, art exhibits, family parties, etc…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in Shambalha with Richard Dancey

Remembering, Soul to Soul

14 February 2018 –Richard Dancey Crossed the Threshold into the Spiritual World on this day a year ago today – Valentine’s Day – And on this 1 year anniversary of his death, it is also Ash Wednesday –  & the Eve of the New Moon Solar Eclipse, before the Sun enters Aquarius & brings in The Chinese New Year of the Dog!

This morning when I woke, this picture of “The Path of Shambhala” by Nicholas Roerich was in my mind’s eye.

Shambhala =”the golden place of peace/tranquility/happiness/just-so”.

In Tibetan Buddhist & Hindu traditions, Shambhala is a mythical kingdom hidden in the Hollow Earth.

Hindu texts such as the Vishnu Purana mention Shambhala as the birthplace of Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu who will usher in a new Golden Age (Satya Yuga)

The Kalachakra, a Buddhist text, prophesies that when the world declines into war & greed, & all is seems lost, the 25th Kalki king, Lord Maitreya, will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish “Dark Forces” & usher in a worldwide Golden Age. Using calculations from the Kalachakra Tantra, scholars put this date at 2424 AD.

The legends, teachings & restorative practices associated with Shambhala are older than any of these organized religions. Shambhala may very well have been an indigenous belief system, of ‘sun worshipers’ yet to come, with amazing healing abilities, wisdom & long life.

The idea of Shambhala is said to have “outer”, “inner”, &”alternative” meanings. As the 14th Dalai Lama noted during his 1985 Kalachakra initiation, Shambhala is not an ordinary country:

“Although those with special affiliation may actually be able to go there through their karmic connection, nevertheless it is not a physical place that we can actually find. We can only say that it is a pure land, a pure land in the human realm. And unless one has the merit & the actual karmic association, one cannot actually arrive there”.

During the late-19th century, Theosophical Society co-founder HP Blavatsky alluded to the Shambhala myth, giving it currency for Western occult enthusiasts. Madame Blavatsky, who claimed to be in contact with a Great White Lodge of Himalayan Adepts, mentions Shambhala in several places.

Later esoteric writers further emphasized & elaborated on the concept of a secret land inhabited by a hidden mystic brotherhood whose members labor for the good of humanity.

Alice A. Bailey claims Shamballa is an extra-dimensional or spiritual reality on the etheric plane, a spiritual centre where the governing deity of Earth, Sanat Kumara, dwells as the highest Avatar of the Planetary Logos of Earth, & is said to be an expression of the Will of God.

Nicholas and Helena Roerich led a 1924-1928 expedition aimed at Shambhala.

French Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel associated Shambhala with Balkh in present day Afghanistan, also offering the Persian Sham-i-Bala, “elevated candle” as an etymology of its name.

In a similar vein, the Gurdjieffian J. G. Bennett published speculation that Shambalha was Shams-i-Balkh, a Bactrian sun temple.

And of course our beloved Dr. Steiner spoke about Shamballa many times, especially in regards “The Reappearance of the Christ in the Etheric”

But none of all that really mattered when Richard Dancey stood in the Upper room at the Rudolf Steiner Branch & told us the legend of Shambhala on Easter 3 years ago .

And now Today on this Ash Wednesday, today on this Valentine’s Day, Today in the dark of the New Moon, exactly a year after Richard became once more a spiritual being – try as I might, I can’t really remember the details of the tale he told us that bright Easter afternoon, yet the feeling it invoked in me resonates still – fuel for the journey into this mythic place that lives within each of us – A spiritual reality illuminated by his enthusiasm & magical ability to carry us all along in the telling. I will continue to follow this journey with you Richard, knowing you are living into this future reality in the spiritual world today, paving the way for us all.

Blessings dear friend

~hag