As Fate Would Have It

Poetry

10 February 2018, Astro-Weather: Mars passes due north of Antares this morning. This is a perfect opportunity to compare the colors of these two red objects, & come to understand why ancient observers named the star Antares, which literally means “rival of Mars.”

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

547 – Death day of St. Scholastica, foundress of the women’s branch of Benedictine Monasticism. The patron saint of nuns, & convulsive children. She is invoked against storms & rain. The most commonly told story about her is that she would go & visit her twin brother Benedict of Nursia near his abbey once a year, They would spend the day praying & discussing sacred texts. Sensing the time of her death was drawing near, Scholastica asked him to stay with her for the evening so they could continue their discussions. Not wishing to break his Rule, Benedict refused, insisting that he needed to return to his cell. At that point, Scholastica closed her hands in prayer, & after a moment, a wild storm started outside. Benedict asked, “What have you done?”, to which she replied, “I asked you & you would not listen; so I asked my God & he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me & return to your monastery.” Benedict was unable to return to his monastery, & they spent the night in discussion. Three days later, from his cell, her twin saw her soul leaving the earth & ascending to heaven in the form of a shining white dove

630 – Feast Day of St. Austrebertha. A popular legend states that one day, while looking for the donkey whose task it was to carry the laundry of the monks to the convent, she came across a wolf. The wolf admitted to killing the donkey & begged for forgiveness. Austrebertha forgave the wolf but commanded him to carry the laundry himself, a task that the wolf performed for the rest of its life

1258 – Baghdad falls to the Mongols, & the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed

1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriar’s Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence

1355 – The St Scholastica Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars & 130 locals dead

1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o’ Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination

1763 – French & Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war & France cedes Quebec to Great Britain

1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians & the Prussians

1920 – Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs a symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea

1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Just before Leaping into the deep drift
Heaving my wings to give form
To the angel
In waist high snow
Crystals
This prayer/poem/haiku came to me:
Cities of snow swirl
In holographic slow mo
Fresh & light & clean
Sparkle the hot pink sunrise
~hag

***

Penny Lane

My story from “Spinning Destiny with the Fates”: (We all speak together the words ‘As Fate Would Have It)

Once upon a time, in the time when Homer described the ocean as “The Wine Dark Sea”, because humanity was not yet able to perceive the color blue…at that time, on a small Greek isle, a queen gave birth to a baby boy. And as Fate would Have it, & custom required, 3 days after, The 3 Fates gathered around the child to bless him: Clotho, the spinner, Lachesis the apportioner, & Atropos the inevitable; but the last one, shook her head…”I fear it is the prince’s destiny to die by crocodile or serpent or dog, & we can do nothing.” The king & queen were heartbroken & decided not to tempt fate. They built a castle high atop a mountain & hired men to guard it day & night; & there the young prince lived, protected/ One day the boy noticed a dog playing outside his window. At once he wished to have a dog, & since the king & queen never denied him a wish, they decided to grant this as well. But not just any dog, they found him a sweet-tempered puppy, & trained him to protect the prince. Then one day when the price was a fine young man, he told his father he longed to see the world. “I know about the prophecy,” he said, “but my dog will protect me.” Again, the king could not refuse. He took all sorts of precautions to allow the prince & his dog to sail by a mighty ship to the other side of the great water. There a beautiful horse awaited him, & with his fateful dog by his side, the prince rode everywhere, delighted by all he saw.

One day, as Fate would Have it, while visiting a foreign land, he fell in love with a kind & thoughtful princess; & she fell in love with him. “I wish to marry you,” the prince told her, “but my fate is to die at the hands of a crocodile, a serpent or a dog; so I must leave, to save you from having to witness my fate.” But the princess loved him dearly. “We shall create our own destiny,” she said. “True love can conquer anything so long as we believe it can.” And so as Fate would Have it, they were married.  A few years passed, & the prince learned that his father was ill; So he & his loving wife traveled back home.

One night, while they were fast asleep in the palace, the princess heard a sound that woke her. She stared into the darkness & spied a serpent coiled in the corner. She tried to recall all she had heard about the warning from the Fates. Suddenly, it came to her that serpents couldn’t resist milk. So she slipped out of bed & filled a bowl with cool fresh milk. When the creature saw the bowl, it sidled over & greedily sipped up the milk until it was fat & sassy & as Fate would Have it, the snake fell fast asleep. And so the princess summoned the guards to capture it & make it into a pair of fine snake skin boots for the prince. And so, as Fate would Have it, she had saved her husband from the 1st deadly fate. Sadly, the king died the next day. And the prince began his rule.

One day, as he was out hunting with his pack of dogs, he suddenly tripped over a log on the riverbank. To his astonishment, he heard a voice, which came from one of the dogs in the pack, who was, in truth, a crocodile, & it said, “You cannot escape fate. Wherever you go, I will find you…Unless you can dig a hole in the sand & fill it with water so that is never seeps out. Which of course is impossible” just then, as Fate would Have it, his loyal dog rushed over with his teeth bared followed by the rest of the pack, & the crocodile was obliged to slink away. Terrified, the prince shared the news with his beloved wife. “I’m doomed,” he said. But she was determined to save him & never give in to despair. “There is nothing we cannot overcome,” she said; all of a sudden remembering a plant her mother had told her about when she was a young girl. The 3-leafed herb grew in the desert & could keep water in a pit for one whole year. So as Fate would Have it, the princess set out to find it. She left in the middle of the night, guided by starlight. She rode her snow-white donkey west, toward the desert, encouraging the poor, exhausted animal with kind words. “I love you my dear old friend. I am so proud of your courage”. And so the donkey traveled on, & they both together endured heat & storms & thirst. At last they came to a mountain that cast a cool shadow. And as Fate would Have it the very plant she sought grew at the very top of that mountain; but it was surrounded by a deep chasm.

The cleaver princess, however, had brought along a rope. She made a noose with one end & tossed it across the chasm with all her strength, until it caught on a branch. Trusting this to hold her weight, she began to climb across the chasm. A fierce wind assailed her, & still she climbed. Blinded by sand, she felt her way up the mountain to the very top. She climbed on until she felt the soft plants beneath her feet, & plucking one she counted the leaves – 1,2,3– Her heart pounding, she held fast to the plant, slid down the rock; leaped over the chasm, & mounted her donkey. “Let’s go!” she cried, & they rode back across the desert enriched.

Then as Fate would Have it Coming close to her kingdom, the princess spied her beloved standing at the river bank next to a hole he had dug in the sand. Beside the pit was a pot of water, & only a short distance away stood the crocodile – its mouth watering. The princess ran to him. “Pour in the water,” she cried, & as the prince did, she tossed in the plant. Sure enough, the water did not seep through the sand, but remained. As soon as the angry crocodile saw this POOF, he disappeared in a puff of smoke & was never seen again.

The prince stared at his wife with awe, gratitude & love, for he knew that because of her strength & commitment, he had overcome the 2nd test the 3 Fates had predicted so long ago. They kissed & at that moment a wild duck flew past. The prince’s faithful dog began to chase the duck with zest, running by accident into his master’s legs. And as Fate would Have it

The prince & his dog both lost their balance & fell into the river, where mud & rushes caught them. It seemed they might drown, & the 3rd test prove fatal; but as Fate would Have it, the princess ran over quickly with the rope in her hand. She cast the rope to her beloved & pulled him & his loyal dog ashore.

Again the prince gazed into his wife’s eyes. “Your love is stronger than fate,” he said. “This is true,” she said with a smile. “We have made Love our destiny”.  And as Fate would Have it, they lived happily ever after. Snip, snap snout, this tale is all told out.

~hag

 

Rosa Mundi

Insight

3 February 2018 – Astro-Weather: Comet PanStarrs is currently moving thru Taurus – Spending this 1st week of February just east of the stunning Pleiades star cluster.

Comet by Cliff Smith.

From an article by Astrosopher Dr Elizabeth Vreede: ” Comets represent an element that does not wholly enter the usual sphere of cosmic law, although they still contain a trace of the direct working of spiritual powers, indeed, of the very highest — the Seraphim and Cherubim. Before ordinary law may be broken through, the very highest power and insight is required. The various comets, indeed, are agents of a very special nature in our planetary system, their polar antithesis being in the moons. Just as the moons are a kind of corpse which the planetary system trails along with it, so, on the other side, the comets may be spoken of as constant purifiers of the spiritual atmosphere within the solar system. In earlier times men thought of them as the “scavengers of God,” and many superstitions have gathered around them. To the eye of Spirit, too, the mission of the comets is perpetually to expel impure astral forces from the Cosmos or to introduce new impulses.”

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas

1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.

1874 – Birthday of Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright

Freedom of Speech.

1894 – Birthday of Norman Rockwell, American painter & illustrator

1909 – Birthday of Simone Weil, French mystic & philosopher

1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

1913 – The 1st AGM of the Anthroposophical Society in Berlin, where Rudolf Steiner gave the lecture series “The Mysteries of the Orient and of Christianity”

1922 – Deathday of John Butler Yeats, Irish painter & illustrator

1924 – Deathday of Woodrow Wilson. Rudolf Steiner has a lot to say about what was behind this individuality & in his former incarnation as Muawiyah.

1959 – Rock & roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, & J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, & over the next 30 years, a “Doomsday Plane” is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers & missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC’s command post.

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POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Walk willingly between fire & ice…
Where the shadows of forever
& the light of Now
Clutch & release the world…
The empty filling & the full emptying…
So live with the certainty
That your Yin loves your Yang
Over & over, in to the out…
& dance the joy of movement ever changing…
~hag

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In early Celtic times, the light of the growing sun was seen as Brigid’s Fire of Purification, burning away the dross of winter & shining forth Hope & Love for the coming Spring tide.

Here is a meditation that leads you into her Mysteries of the Fire & the Rose:

Rosa Mundi

You are walking through a quiet, dim wood in a dusky February twilight. The trees open out into a clearing where a blazing fire burns, fed by an old peasant woman who is heaping rose petals into the flames that make the sparks dance. The flares of red & gold emit an intoxicating fragrance.

This Fire of Roses cleanses the heart & mind, igniting a Purifying flame through which you must pass. As you draw nearer, the woman looks at you with wise loving eyes & bids you step into her Fire. With no trepidation you step into the leaping flames. The roaring inferno completely surrounds you & there is nothing you can do but surrender in trust to this Cosmic Fire.  You feel two hands firmly clasping your own, & looking down, you see the old woman’s cool, surprisingly smooth hands leading you out of the flames to the other side. The n you notice the Crone has become a tall & beautiful Lady, Brigid herself, who leads you into a sunlit garden of roses. You feel cleansed & made anew.

At the heart of the garden is a clear well filled with water glistening pure in the sunlight, & as you gaze into it, a Rose slowly floats up from its depths, silently illuminating everything around, glowing out of the heart of light. You are aware that you are not alone, many others are with you around the pool of light. There may be some here you recognize….

As the Rose emerges, you see that each person around the pool has become one of its many petals, as you yourself now have…Together all have become the Rosa Mundi, the Rose of the World. Some petals are wider open than others……all are slowly opening, so that in time the heart of the Rose will be revealed to all beings in the world.  Feel yourself as one of the myriad petals…& gaze upon the golden heart within its center, suffusing you with its luminous radiance. As you breathe in the scent of the Rose, you are filled with its healing essence & you feel a sense of renewal & deep peace…

You can stay here in the garden as long as you like……when you are ready to return, allow the images to fade & become aware of yourself once more in your human body in present time, ready to share the radiance of the Rose of the World with all.

`hag

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Greetings Friends – On this cold sunny Brigid’s Day, the Cross-Quarter between the Winter Solstice & the Spring Equinox!

The Karma Project – A Western Approach to Reincarnation & Karma – Zoom Call open to All – February 7, 2018 – 7:15 pm CST

“…The body is subject to the laws of heredity; the soul is subject to self-created destiny or, to use an ancient term, to its karma; and the spirit is subject to the laws of reincarnation or repeated Earth lives.” ~Rudolf Steiner, A Western Approach to Reincarnation and Karma, Chapter 8, “Reincarnation of the Spirit and Destiny” (from Theosophy, Chapter 2) … This chapter is the focus of the February 7 meeting.

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided amongst five volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.

This collection of lectures has been republished by Anthroposophic Press under the title: “A Western Approach to Reincarnation and Karma” The following is the link to Chapter 2 of Theosophy (from e.Lib):
http://wn.rsarchive.org/…/G…/English/AP1971/GA009_index.html

This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:
Option 1. Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended) https://zoom.us/j/831956619
Option 2. Call in using your telephone.
United States: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 558 8656

Access Code: 831-956-619

Option 3. You can use a combination of Options 1 and 2 (computer and phone). If you use the phone, please turn off the audio on your computer to avoid audio feedback.

Agenda for our Study Call
7:15 Verse
7:18 Welcome and Introductions
7:25 Study led by six volunteers
Marianne – page 117 to 120
David – page 121 to page 124
Lisa – page 125 to page 128
Hazel – page 129 to 132
Alberto – page 133 to end
8:05 Conversation
8:20 Identify volunteers for the next study call, April 4
8:25 Share plans re: Speaker for March 7th 2018 – Fred Amrine!
8:28 Close with verse

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Have you ever been curious about the Theosophical Society? The National Headquarters is in Wheaton, IL. about 2 hours from Chicago.

Want to take a road-trip to check it out & promote the Rudolf Steiner Branch?

I could use some help with set-up & break-down –  In exchange you can attend the workshop for FREE – We have room for 3. We leave at 8 am Sat. Feb. 10th

contact Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

Spinning Destiny with the Fates – An Experiential Workshop with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Saturday, 10 February 2018 – 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM – At the Theosophical Society 1926 N Main St, Wheaton, IL 60187

Come face the Fates & meet the Sibyls in the Light of Anthroposophy & 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 interactive drumming, & Socratic questioning; we will journey into our soul-depths to stand before the “Daughters of Necessity” that we will transform to meet our true calling; asking: ‘What is my Highest Purpose?’

Please bring your own vegetarian lunch

$50 or pay what you will – Register here

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg  – Founder of  www.reverseritual.com

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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) – 

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

*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)

*Building Report: Elderberries Update, Peer Space (Daniel, Hazel)

*Introduction of Current Branch Council 

(Andrei Onegin, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Kurt Estep, Chuck Ginsberg, Mihai Rosu)

*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: Programs Committee, Festivals Committee, Study Groups

*Discussion:

Share your ideas for Programs & festivals?

What will you contribute?

*Calendar of the Soul Verse #47 Performed in Eurythmy

by the Monday Eurythmy Group led by Mary Ruud

*Social Time in the Elderberries Space

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

This is a call to All:  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 with the initiative to do biography work & explore important Chicagoan’s. At this meeting, Mary Ruud will share her research on Harold Washington.

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

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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…

 

 

Thig an nathair as an toll

Celestial Event, Central Regional Council, Festival, Insight, Meditation, Poetry, Remembering, Soul to Soul

Thig an nathair as an toll
The serpent will come from the hole

2 February 2018 – Today is Groundhogs Day, where the fate of winter rests on the shoulders of a furry rodent, for those muggles who believe in a more modern folklore.  If he the sticks his head out of his burrow this morning & sees his shadow, we’ll have 6 more weeks of winter. But if the weather is cloudy, it means spring is right around the corner.

What does this have to do with astronomy? Groundhog Day celebrates one of the 4 cross-quarter days, which mark the midpoints between the solstices & equinoxes. February 2 is the traditionally celebrated date betwixt the winter solstice & the vernal equinox. (The actual cosmic alignment happens tomorrow when the Sun reaches 15 degrees Aquarius & is called by some, Candlemas, still others Brigid’s Day or Imbolc – the lambing season – the time of year when the belly of the great mother quickens with the growing light)

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Darlene Davis

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary- The 40th day of the Christmas-Epiphany season, commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Joseph & Mary brought the child into the Temple, & when Simeon & Anna the prophetess, saw Him, they knew the prophesy of ‘The Chosen One’ had been fulfilled.

We see the connection between the Buddha & Jesus of Nazareth in the stories of Asita & Simeon. When Asita, the great Indian sage, saw Siddhartha as a young child, before he had reached Buddhahood, he was able to recognize what the child would become. It was Asita’s heart’s desire to see the Buddha before he died, so he wept because he was an old man & would not live to see him become the Buddha. This wise seer was then reborn in the time of Jesus as Simeon introduced in Luke 2:29-30 as the temple priest who waits for the Messiah. He recognizes the Buddha in the Nathan Jesus, so he praises god & says now he can die happy, having fulfilled his heart’s desire.

1372 – Mariä Lichtmess – Candlemas, Christian Churches bless the candles to be used for the New Year.

 

Imbolc – Among the Celts, the pagan celebration of Imbolc honors the Triple Goddess Brigid, associated with purification & the fires of the forge to call in the sun. Folks would carry torches & cross the fields in procession, praying to the goddess to purify the ground before planting.

Brigid, whose name means “The Exalted One,” The Triple Goddess of poetry (fire in the head), healing, & smith-craft. She was born at sunrise while her mother was walking over a threshold, & so “was neither within nor without.” This is the state known as liminality, from the Latin, limen: a threshold – the state of being “in between” Space & Time.

Saint Brigid was renowned for her gift of healing. She wove the first piece of cloth in Ireland & wove into it healing threads which kept their power for centuries. Many healing wells & springs were named after her

Doris Planter

The legend of Brigid portrays the archetypes of the Maiden, Mother & Crone.

Crêpes with their round form & their golden color are made, reminiscent of the sun, an appropriate symbol during Candlemas, as this is the time of the year when the days get longer. It is also the time of year when the roots begin to stir.

This is traditionally a time of purification — so clean your house! If you have any Christmas greenery lingering, burn it now.

Willa Frigit

Make your own Brigid’s crosses & hang them up, especially in the kitchen where her influence can bless your food. The cross of Saint Brigid is a fiery sun-wheel turning.

Leave a silk ribbon on your doorstep for Brigid to bless: It can then be used for healing purposes.

Meditate upon what you would like to see grow in health & strength this year: for yourself, your family, your community, the Earth, & ask for Bride’s blessing upon your prayers.

Lupercalia – The ancient Romans celebrated this festival in honor of Lupercus, & Feralia the god & goddess of fertility & shepherds. A theme of purification was also present. There was a custom of the Vestal Virgins offering cakes made with wheat from the old crop so that the following crop would be fruitful.

 Francis-Davis-Millet

Thesmophoria: The Festival of Persephone & Demeter – In addition, the Festa candelarum in Rome commemorated the search for the Goddess of Light Persephone, by her mother the Goddess of Life Demeter, kidnapped by the King of the Other World Hades,. The festival of candles symbolizes the return of the Light. The myths of Sleeping Beauty or Theseus & Ariadne, for example relate to the release or liberation of the light (Dawn of the year) by the “solar knight”.

Bart Linder

Feast of the Bear – From antiquity to the Middle Ages, bears were a cult symbol of the Germans, Scandinavians & the Celts. On this day they celebrated the end of hibernation. This was around the time when the bears would leave their dens to see if the weather was mild. For a long time, the Catholic Church sought to eradicate these pagan practices. To do this, it instituted the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple which is celebrated on February 2, which corresponds to the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. However, the celebrations of the bear & the return of the light continued, with bonfires & other torchlight processions. Pope Gelasius I in the fifth century therefore instituted the feast of candles, or Candlemas. From the twelfth to the eighteenth century, Candlemas was called “chandelours” which means bear in French, in many areas (including the Alps, Pyrenees, Ardennes) where the memory of the cult of the bear was still very present. There is also the Aosta Saint-Ours, & Saint Blaise (which means “bear”). Candlemas is also the beginning of the carnival period; the bear is the carnival animal par excellence.

 Gerbrand van den Eeckhout

Feast day of Cornelius a Roman centurion. He is depicted in the New Testament as a God-fearing man who always prayed & was full of good works & deeds.  Cornelius receives a vision in which an angel of God tells him that his prayers have been heard, he understands that he’s chosen for a higher alternative. The angel then instructs Cornelius to send the men of his household to Joppa, where they will find Simon Peter, who is residing with a tanner by the name of Simon (Acts 10:5ff).

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 & fowl being lowered from Heaven in a sheet. A voice commands Simon Peter to eat. When he objects to eating those animals that are unclean according to Mosaic Law, 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. Peter accompanies Cornelius’ men back to Caesarea. When Cornelius meets Simon Peter, he falls at Peter’s feet. Simon Peter raises the centurion & the two men share their visions. Simon Peter tells of Jesus’ ministry & the Resurrection; the Holy Spirit descends on everyone at the gathering & they all begin speaking in tongues, praising God

1786 – Birthday of Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, a French mathematician, physicist & astronomer. Binet’s Formula expressing Fibonacci numbers in closed form is named in his honour.

Delphine Lebourgeois

1882 – Birthday of James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, & poet

1971 – Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda

1972 – The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest at Bloody Sunday

1976 – The Groundhog Day gale hits the north-eastern United States & south-eastern Canada, killing 1,122

1990 – Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress & promises to release Nelson Mandela

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Shelby McQuilkin

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Let the crystals be bright & bitter
To add form to the light
Thru the cold I will see
The single star that calls to me
The waning moon falls away so that I may live
Free to stumble
Free to fly with my fallen angel
Listening, waiting, willing
The sap to rise
~hag

***

Devon Blake

Holy water…Sacred flame
Brigid we invoke your name
Bless my hands, my head, my heart
Source of healing, song & art.

I know, it’s easy to forget at this time of year when the skies are steel grey that stirring in the wind, is the spark of spring – waiting, to be ignited by the passion of our purpose…Can you feel the energy of the earth…Quickening…I feel it groaning & stretching in the earth of my body…Like a snake trying to shed its skin…I just want to be a molting bird…Dancing in the silent belly of February…

We know, She drums in the womb of her slumber…So much to do…So much to Be…Can you feel Her growing rhythms…Her song ever sung…‘Being is Becoming’…

 Keely Brinder

She…has many names…Today we call Her Brigid…Goddess of the forge, of creativity & poetry…Great Goddess of healing…whose feast-day marks the waxing light…called by some, Candlemas, others, groundhog’s day, still others, Imbolc…the lambing season…the time of year when the belly of the great mother quickens with the growing light…

Berttie Lyn

A time to purify & get fertile…So let’s, come together & charm the plow…Kiss the candle…& beat the drum to kindle, a need-fire…as a welcoming beacon…to call back, our dormant power…to heat up, our potential, & re-seed our creativity…as we add fuel to the fire of our community…One spark warms us all…A purifying fire, that burns clean & opens the way to the true power of love & light from deep within us…from the ancient & immortal tribes…from all the quarters of the cosmos…to come & warm our circle…to bring, their respected dimensions, into the eternity, of our circle, now…

Sulamith Wulfing

Our circle…which is open & ever changing…for we have a lot to honor in ourselves today…as we stand on the waning side of the full moon…Whispering the promise of passion like a communal chant that builds…Into the arrows of Eros, embracing our true heart in the eternal now of Valentine’s Day…And as we call in the Earth Dog of Chinese New Year February 16th 2018…

So, let us sing in the forces…Coming up from the center of our true free will, & call the power of our striving humanity into our rhythm of growing light…Together may we will thaw the winter & rouse the mysteries growing within…

~hag

***

Transient by Chris Bodame

The Karma Project – A Western Approach to Reincarnation & Karma – Zoom Call open to All – February 7, 2018 – 7:15 pm CST

“…The body is subject to the laws of heredity; the soul is subject to self-created destiny or, to use an ancient term, to its karma; and the spirit is subject to the laws of reincarnation or repeated Earth lives.” ~Rudolf Steiner, A Western Approach to Reincarnation and Karma, Chapter 8, “Reincarnation of the Spirit and Destiny” (from Theosophy, Chapter 2) … This chapter is the focus of the February 7 meeting.

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing study conversation. The study has been divided amongst five volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.

This collection of lectures has been republished by Anthroposophic Press under the title: “A Western Approach to Reincarnation and Karma” The following is the link to Chapter 2 of Theosophy (from e.Lib):
http://wn.rsarchive.org/…/G…/English/AP1971/GA009_index.html

This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:
Option 1. Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended)
https://zoom.us/j/831956619
Option 2. Call in using your telephone.
United States: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 558 8656
Access Code: 831-956-619
Option 3. You can use a combination of Options 1 and 2 (computer and phone). If you use the phone, please turn off the audio on your computer to avoid audio feedback.

Please join us!

Agenda for our Study Call
7:15 Verse
7:18 Welcome and Introductions
7:25 Study led by six volunteers
Marianne – page 117 to 120
David – page 121 to page 124
Lisa – page 125 to page 128
Hazel – page 129 to 132
Alberto – page 133 to end
8:05 Conversation
8:20 Identify volunteers for the next study call, April 4
8:25 Share plans re: Speaker for March 7th 2018 – Fred Amrine!
8:28 Close with verse

***

Spinning Destiny with the Fates

An Experiential Workshop with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Saturday, 10 February 2018 – 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM

At the Theosophical Society 1926 N Main St, Wheaton, IL 60187

Come face the Fates & meet the Sibyls in the Light of Anthroposophy & 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 interactive drumming, & Socratic questioning; we will journey into our soul-depths to stand before the “Daughters of Necessity” that we will transform to meet our true calling; asking: ‘What is my Highest Purpose?’

Please bring your own vegetarian lunch

$60 nonmembers $50 members $70 at the door

Register here

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg  –Spiritual Midwife, Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Blogger – Anthroposopher, working as the Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago. Founder of  www.reverseritual.com

Tap Root

Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Insight, Poetry, Remembering, Speaking with the Stars

30 January 2018 – Astro-Weather: Anyone with clear skies in parts of North America (not so much here in Chicago) & across the Pacific Ocean to Australia & eastern Asia can witness the total eclipse of the Blue (2nd Full Moon in a month) Super (moon at Perigee) Moon.

From North America, the eclipse occurs before dawn & delivers better views to those who live farther west. The eclipse’s partial phases start at 6:48 a.m. EST (3:48 a.m. PST). Those in the continent’s western two-thirds can view at least some of totality, which gets underway at 6:52 a.m. CST (4:52 a.m. PST). Totality last 76 minutes & can be seen in its entirety west of a line that runs from central North Dakota to New Mexico. The eclipsed Moon hangs among the background stars of Cancer with the Beehive star cluster to its northwest.

The Moon reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit around Earth, just 27 hours before it is Full. At 4:57 a.m. EST on the 30th, it lies 223,068 miles away from us.

To read more about the Spiritual Scientific explanation of this cosmic event, go to this post by Johnathan Hilton

 

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

516 BCE – The Second Temple of Jerusalem finishes construction

1128 – Birthday of Alanus ab Insulis, Teacher at Chartres. Rudolf Steiner speaks about him in many of his Karmic relationships lectures.

1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.

1882 – Birthday of Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States

1889 – Deathday of Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling. From the research of Rudolf Steiner we hear about this suicide as being a karmic consequence of his life as Nero.

1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.

1945 – World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 10,500 people

1948 – Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist. A year earlier on this same date, W.J. Stein sent him Steiner’s Threefold Social Order

1956 – Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.

***

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~Beneath the crust of ice I hear
A ready roar
Rumble up from the tap root
Of the dogwood tree
It knows my secret name
Witch will rise with the sap
When Brigid-Bride calls me…
~hag

***

Today is Tu B’Shvat – the “New Year for the Trees ” which occurs every year on the eve of the Full Quickening Moon, around the time of the Cross Quarter between Winter Solstice & Spring Equinox. This is when the sap begins to rise.

Kabbalists have used the tree as a metaphor to understand the relationship between the spiritual & physical worlds. Spiritual Science tells us that the human being is a reversed plant. Our head is the root. The higher spiritual realms are where these roots come from, which then ultimately manifests their influence through branches & leaves – our heart & lungs & limbs, our thinking, feeling & willing in the world.

In the 16th century, the Kabbalists compiled a Tu B’Shvat “Seder,” similar to the Seder for Passover. It involves enjoying the fruits of the tree, & discusses philosophical & Kabbalistic concepts, like the idea that by eating with the highest intention we can repair the ‘fall’. The ‘sin’ against the Tree of Knowledge was that Adam & Eve ate its fruit before it was ripe.

Henry E. Huntington

So, what is it about waiting (perhaps, wading) that transforms knowledge from hurtful to healthy? Do we have faith that the spring will come & everything will grow & ripen in its season?

Through eating, we have a daily opportunity to correct a part of our soul, so deep & intrinsic that it reaches back into the Garden of Eden.

The custom on Tu B’Shvat is to eat fruits from the seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised: “…a land of wheat and barley and (grape) vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and (date) honey” (Deut. 8:8).

On Tu B’Shvat, it is also customary to eat a “new fruit” something we have not yet tasted this year.

Henry John Stock

This festival lets us ask: Am I getting the spiritual food I need, to truly live with grace, or is my tree being blown down by the forces of information overload & rampant materialism?

Am I part of a strong community, providing a warm & nurturing environment? Or am I cast into the pale bleak anonymity of urban life & cyberspace?

Am I looking to future generations knowing that I am providing them with the proper foundations for their lives?

The word “Shvat” is also related to the Hebrew word for a staff or rod. A staff can be used as a symbol of power; or as a cane to lean on. This is an underlying theme of the month.

So as we open our thinking, feeling & willing to align with the rising sap, in gratitude for the fruits of life; we can use this time to focus on the idea of consciously using our daily behavior as a medium for spirituality.

***

The Karma Project – A Western Approach to Reincarnation & Karma
February 7, 2018 – 7:15 pm CST (8:15 pm EST)
View this email in your browser

“ The course of human life between birth and death is determined in three different ways, and we are likewise dependent on three factors beyond birth and death.  The body is subject to the laws of heredity; the soul is subject to self-created destiny or, to use an ancient term, to itskarma; and the spirit is subject to the laws ofreincarnation or repeated Earth lives.”

~Rudolf Steiner, A Western Approach to Reincarnation and Karma, Chapter 8, “Reincarnation of the Spirit and Destiny” (fromTheosophy, Chapter 2) … focus of the February 7 meeting!

The Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America invites you to join our ongoing  study conversation.  The study has been divided amongst five volunteers who will summarize their section to rebuild it as a foundation for our conversation. Please familiarize yourself with the lecture if possible so you will feel comfortable sharing your reflections and thoughts with the group.

This collection of lectures has been republished by Anthroposophic Press under the title: “A Western Approach to Reincarnation and Karma”
The following is the link to Chapter 2 of Theosophy (from e.Lib):
http://wn.rsarchive.org/Books/GA009/English/AP1971/GA009_index.html

This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer).  To connect to the audio/video-conference:
Option 1.  Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended)
https://zoom.us/j/831956619
Option 2.  Call in using your telephone.
United States: +1 669 900 6833  or +1 646 558 8656
Access Code: 831-956-619
Option 3. You can use a combination of Options 1 and 2 (computer and phone). If you use the phone, please turn off the audio on your computer to avoid audio feedback.

Please join us!
Agenda for our Study Call

7:15  Verse
7:18  Welcome and Introductions
7:25  Study led by six volunteers
Marianne – page 117 to 120
David – page 121 to page 124
Lisa – page 125 to page 128
Hazel – page 129 to 132
Alberto – page 133 to end
8:05  Conversation
8:20  Identify volunteers for the next study call, April 4
8:25 Share plans re: Speaker for March 7
8:28  Close with verse

***

Adrian Asatru

 

Spinning Destiny with the Fates

An Experiential Workshop with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Saturday, 10 February 2018 – 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM

At the Theosophical Society 1926 N Main St, Wheaton, IL 60187

Come face the Fates & meet the Sibyls in the Light of Anthroposophy & 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 interactive drumming, & Socratic questioning; we will journey into our soul-depths to stand before the “Daughters of Necessity” that we will transform to meet our true calling; asking: ‘What is my Highest Purpose?’

Please bring your own vegetarian lunch

$60 nonmembers $50 members $70 at the door

Register here

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg  –Spiritual Midwife, Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Blogger – Anthroposopher, working as the Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago.

Founder of  www.reverseritual.com

***

Pop Up Valentine’s Market – Sunday February 11th – 1pm till 9pm
at the Elderberries Three-Fold Chicago space 4251 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago
Locally Hand-Crafted: Clothing, Art, Jewelry, Soy Candles;
+ Fair-Trade, Essential Oils, Supplements…

20 per cent of sales goes to a new heating & cooling system for the Branch

Would you like to be a vendor? contact Hazel

Thanks to those who responded to the call for items for Peer Space! I forgot to mention we also need folding tables, & a few garbage cans. Come see the newly lazured space & pick up a gift for your beloved ones

***

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.

As a special treat, the Monday Eurythmy group will present a performance of Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul Verse  #47

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…

Gravity

Poetry, Remembering, Rudolf Steiner Quote

27 January 2018 – Astro-Weather: After dark you’ll find the Great Square of Pegasus sinking in the west, tipped onto one corner. Meanwhile the Big Dipper is creeping up in the north-northeast, tipped up on its handle.

***

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Carole Voss

“If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.” ~ Joseph Campbell

407 – The deathday of St. John Chrysostom The epithet Χρυσόστομος or Chrysostomos, means “golden-throat” in Greek & denotes his celebrated eloquence. As Archbishop of Constantinople, he was known for his preaching & public speaking, & his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical & political leaders. Chrysostom was among the most prolific authors in the early Christian Church. The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is sublime.

1302 – Dante Alighieri is exiled from Florence

1756 – Birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1775 – Birthday of Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German-Swiss philosopher

Riddle of Man: German Idealism: Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, a lecture by Rudolf Steiner – “…For Schelling, the world riddle consists in the fact that he sees himself, with his soul awakened to egohood, confronted by a seemingly mute and lifeless nature. Out of this nature the soul awakens. This fact reveals itself to human observation. And the knowing, feeling human spirit delves down into this nature and through this nature fills itself with an inner world that then becomes spiritual life within it. Could this be so if there did not exist between the soul and nature a deeply inward relatedness at first hidden from human cognition? But nature remains mute if the soul does not make itself into the instrument of nature’s speech; nature seems dead if the spirit of man does not free life from the spell of semblance (Schein). The secrets of nature must sound forth from the depths of the human soul. But in order for this not to be a deception, it must be the essential being of nature itself that speaks out of the human soul. And it must be true that the soul only seemingly goes down into its own depths when it knows nature; in actuality, when it wants to find nature, the soul must travel through subconscious passages in order to delve down with its own life into the cycle of nature’s weaving…”

1901 –Deathday of Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer

1951 – Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with Operation Ranger

2011 – Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sana’a

***

POD (Poem Of the day)

~Roundness
+ Gravity
Shapes the Heart
~hag

***

Alexander the Great & the Fates by Bernardino Mei

It is interesting that the Sibyls should 1st appear in Ionia, since it was also at the same time, the birthplace of Greek philosophy: that high wisdom of Thales & especially Aristotle, still considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology & ethics. When Aristotle turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. He also founded his own school, the Lyceum. Did you know he was the tutor of Alexander the Great? Learn more at this experiential workshop:

Spinning Destiny with the Fates

An Experiential Workshop with Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Saturday, 10 February 2018 – 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM

At the Theosophical Society 1926 N Main St, Wheaton, IL 60187

Come face the Fates & meet the Sibyls in the Light of Anthroposophy & 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 interactive drumming, & Socratic questioning; we will journey into our soul-depths to stand before the “Daughters of Necessity” that we will transform to meet our true calling; asking: ‘What is my Highest Purpose?’

Please bring your own vegetarian lunch

$60 nonmembers $50 members $70 at the door

Register here

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg  –Spiritual Midwife, Trans-denominational Minister, Essayist, Lecturer, Blogger – Anthroposopher, working as the Festivals Coordinator for the Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago. Founder of  www.reverseritual.com