Buddah Moon

Celestial Event

Haiku’s, ants & worms

Buddha-like the Moon sitting

All have the same face

On Buddha’s birthday

Spring rain beneath a full moon,

On Buddha’s deathday

Enlightenment in the Lake

Another sunset

                                                                       ~hag

 

The Buddha (whose name means: *The Awakened One* or *One who Knows*) is regarded as the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was born in 563 BC on the Full Moon of May in Vaisakh. Traditionally, Buddha’s Birthday is known as Wesak or Visakah Puja (Buddhas Day).

Wesak, the major Buddhist festival of the year, celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha on one and the same day, when the Sun is in Taurus, and the Moon in Scorpio.

The Full Moon in May is a mystically auspicious time – This ‘Buddha Moon’ is considered to be the greatest moment of spiritual contact for the entire year.

Great polarities are said to be synthesized and consequently united at this festival.

Hope is revived in the world, and great seeds of beauty, truth, and goodness are planted within us — qualities needed for the unity of humankind.

Ancient Wisdom asserts that there will be a new coming of the World Avatar and those beings who assist them. But the reality set forth and embedded within this festival, is that WE, as a living unit called humanity, are to be that World Avatar, when we can live as “Christ in me”…

The Wesak Festival provides us each year with a reception of the tools of love and wisdom, to fulfill this ancient prophecy. What all the higher beings have done, we can do also, taking up our responsibility as the 10th hierarchy to radiate the Christ Impulse out to all the kingdoms of Earth -becoming like little suns – emanating rays from the very core of our “I”, through the vehicle of our bodies, from our purified hearts, and specifically from our forehead, where our third eye is located. This is the Bulls Eye of Taurus – the Sun of May – and the mystery of the transformative Scorpio Moon.

The Full Buddha Moon is exact at 12:42pm CST, on May 3rd 2015, we will see it rise over the Great Inland Sea of Chicago at 7:32pm, and it will set on May 4th at 6:13am.

 

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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May 8th & 9th, 2015

Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago

Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul and the Christ Impulse

A Lecture and Seminar with Herbert Hagens

 

Friday, May 8, Lecture – 7pm –9pm The weekly verses in the Calendar of the Soul create a special dynamic for one’s meditative life during the course of the year. In his lecture, Herbert Hagens will speak about how working with the Calendar can awaken us to the Christ impulse and the development of ego-consciousness. We will focus in particular on the period between Easter and Whitsun. ($10 suggested donation)

 

Saturday, May 9, Seminar – 10am – 4:30pm (Lunch break: 12:30 – 2pm)  The seminar will allow us to explore in greater depth through conversation and artistic activity (eurythmy). We will also trace the relationship to the seasons and the major Christian festivals. Herbert will offer some basic guidelines for working with the verses through the course of the year and for setting the dates from one year to the next. ($25 suggested donation)

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Spring into Eurythmy with Alison Biagi

Location: Upstairs at the Branch

Days: 5 Fridays in May and perhaps into June, with a possible show of the work?

Dates: May 1st, May 8, May 15, May 22, May 29…

Time: 11am – 12:30pm

 

We will work with seasonal poetry, and some forms and indications from the ‘Calendar of the Soul’ as given by Steiner.

Financial Contribution: Recommended $50 for 5 sessions,  or $12.00 for individual classes, but no one who has the will to do eurythmy will be turned away for lack of funds.

Outfit: please wear something loose fitting and eurythmy shoes or socks.

For more information contact Alison (312) 543-6136

Easter Week – Saturn Mysteries

Festival,

Dear friends –

We rest on the Sabbath, Saturn-day – In Christo Morimur.

Picture the Garden of Gethsemane as the midpoint of the earth, the epicenter of the cosmos.  Imagine that between the rocky hill of Golgotha – part of the lunar Mount Moriah, & it’s polar opposite the Solar Mount Zion, the body of Christ was laid to rest.

It was a new tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea, & yet it was truly the oldest Tomb – formerly a primal fissure, a gorge splitting Jerusalem in two,   Called by some Adam’s Grave –known as the gate to the underworld.  The eclipse & earthquakes of Good Friday through Holy Saturday tore open the original fissure.  The veil of the Temple was “rent in twain”.

Steiner tells us that eclipses & earthquakes can be seen as messages of unrest from the adversarial powers within the earth, stirred by human compulsions.

On Holy Saturday, vistas open into the interior of the earth. “He was lowered into the grave of the earth’, & so it was, that

The Christ went into the Earth’s Interior; His blood becoming the medicine for our continued evolution.

The darkness of Saturn is lit up from within by the Resurrected Sun. The Easter garden begins to bloom, so that our soul can behold, like the Magdalana before us, The Risen One as the gardener of the New Jerusalem.

The Tomb becomes the altar, a sacred place to commune with the gods, with the souls of the departed as our intermediaries.

The tomb becomes the Round table, & the Parsifal question leads us to find Christ in the etheric.

Before the mystery of Golgotha, the task of evolution was that the cosmos would become human, after this turning point, the human becomes cosmos -The New Sun -The imperishable Resurrection-Body uniting with the Cosmic- Sophia.

~Erkenntnisfeier~

A Cosmic Recapitulation of the Mystery of Golgotha

 

5 April 2015, Easter Sunday 2-4pmat the branch

Midwest Eurythmy Group Performanceof:

The Calendar of the Soul Verse for Easterwith speech artist Christa Macbeth

And the Hallelujah

Group Study of Emil Bock’s “Holy Week” forEaster Joy

The Legend of Shambhalla by Richard Dancey

Singing “Now the Green Blade Riseth”

Group Eurythmy: Hallelujah in the 7-pointed Star –

which Rudolf Steiner called: The ‘Lamb of God Heptagram’ with Johanna Rode

Pot-Luck to Share Encouraged

All Donations go to the Midwest Eurythmy Group

For more info Contact Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer Ginsberg

 

 

“The Harmony of the Universe at the Moment of the Mystery of Golgotha “

 

“The moment of the (original) Mystery of Golgotha, that is, the time from the 3rd to the 5th of April 33 AD, displays a unique situation in the cosmos.

During those days there existed a harmony throughout the heavens, right down to the Earth, which did not exist before and will not return (if at all) for 26,000 years.”

 

The essence of this essay on Golgotha is that the ‘3 Zodiacs’ were aligned:

  1. The Constellations (the fixed Stars or astral body of the cosmos – World Soul)
  2. The Signs (associated with the seasons, with the yearly rhythms of life in nature – an image of the etheric, or life forces, in the universe)
  3.  The Houses (that which radiates as space segments from the geographical point where one stands – an image of the physical body)

 

“At the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, particularly on Easter Sunday just before sunrise, these space sectors were oriented into space in perfect harmony.

This wonderful harmony of the three Zodiacs, between heaven and Earth, is a vivid symbol, or image of the resurrection body that was then re-established.

 

The disharmony before was connected with the ‘Fall’ of humanity, and with the corruption of the spirit body. The ‘Fall’ in Paradise did not mean that only Adam and Eve went through

those experiences, the entire universe was affected and changed in that moment. The position of the Earth was changed.

 

We are faced in our work with the difference between the geocentric and heliocentric world conceptions. Rudolf Steiner, on the basis of his spiritual investigations,

pointed out that in the medieval Rosicrucian schools the pupil was first introduced to the geocentric view. Then, when the pupil had learned this, he was told that this is how it should be,

but that it is not so on account of the ‘Fall.’ The Earth had thereby lost its central position.

That which happened in Paradise affected the entire Earth and therefore the possibility of disharmony entered cosmic history.

 

However, on that Sunday morning, 5 April 33 AD, just before sunrise, the original harmony was re-established.

 

The cosmos was jubilant about what happened when the Christ rose from

the grave of the Earth. At the same time it was the hope of all future Earth existence and of all future humanity. ”

 

~Summary & excerpt from Astrosopher Willi Sucher‘s Cosmic Christianity pg.82

 

Easter Week – A Cosmic Recapitulation of The Mystery of Golgotha

Festival

Dear Friends –

For three years the Fire of divine Ego-hood has burned in the body and soul of Jesus. The human vessel, from within outwards, has almost been consumed to ashes.

What still has to be suffered and completed demands so much strength from the earthly sheaths that there is a real danger of premature death. Ahriman lies in wait and hopes to make use of this moment.

But Christ is victorious and death is repulsed.>>~summary excerpt from Emil Bock’s “Holy week”

 

3 April, 7-9pm at the Christian Community 2135 W. Wilson, Chicago

Good Friday

Love’s Sacrificial Death – the transformation of the Venus-principle

Thru the Sun-principle of Christ – the rending of the Temple Veil

7pm –Eurythmy: Hallelujah in the ‘Lamb of God Heptagram’ with Johanna Rohde

Group Study of Emil Bock’s “Holy Week” forGood Friday

8:15pm –“Judas” a Good Friday Easter Drama with music & Eurythmy

  

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In the New Mysteries we follow the path of Rosicrucian/Christian initiation throughout Holy Week.

Each of these steps through the planetary spheres leads to a conquest of a corresponding layer in the interior of the earth.

The Beatitudes are the spiritual weapon we must wield to fortify the development of self-determination in the human ego led by Christ, giving us the strength to make the darkness transparent. Like Christ, we must descend to ascend.

 Every year we have a chance to recapitulate the Easter event. And this weekend it is especially true, as Astrosopher Willi Sucher tells us, the original dates were ‘from the 3rd to the 5th of April 33 AD.’

Our 1st Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox is always spiritually significant – heralding the feasts of Passover & Easter.

This year on Holy Saturday April 4th, 2015, the Spring Moon will be in total eclipse!

Joining this celestial dance, look for Uranus, the first planet discovered with a telescope.

This ‘modern’ planet is regarded as a representative of change. With a Total Eclipse of the Spring Moon, & the planet Uranus in the same region of the zodiac as the Sun, there certainly seems to be change on our horizon.

Could it be a cosmic call to destiny? The eclipse begins at 5:15am CST, max at6:22am. 

The sun rises at 6:27am, & the moon sets at6:31am. The eclipse ends at 7:02am CST.

Also working with us, from the time of the Vernal Equinox, is the Archangel Raphael, who holds the staff of Mercury, offering us the healing power of the Caduceus through the grace of the living Christ, who stands as the middle pillar within us all.

So during the Lunar eclipse of Holy Saturday 4 April 2015, we have the opportunity to stand as Michaelic warriors holding the light, sending our shining heart-thinking into the heights and the depths.

Remembering all the while what was written on the urn that holds the ashes of Rudolf Steiner:

“To create centres of peace & love in which the Christ can resurrect.”   ~ Hazel Archer Ginsberg

 

4 April 2015 (Full Lunar Eclipse)5AM – 7AM at the branch

Holy Saturday (The Harrowing of Hell)

Christ laid in the tomb is taken by the quake into the grave of the earth Saturn darkness becomes Easter Light, healing the realm of the dead 

The Interior of the Earth asChristian/Rosicrucian Initiation & the Spiritual Significance of Eclipses byHazel Archer Ginsberg

Group Eurythmy: Hallelujah in the ‘Lamb of God Heptagram’ with Johanna Rode

Group study of Emil Bock’s “Holy Week” forHoly Saturday

The “Golden Legend”

into an Artistic Exploration of the Rose CrossMeditation with Nancy Melvin

 Snacks to Share & a Donation for Art Supplies Welcome

For more info Contact Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer Ginsberg 

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~Erkenntnisfeier~

A Cosmic Recapitulation of the Mystery of Golgotha

 

5 April 2015, Easter Sunday 2-4pmat the branch

The New Sun

The Octave of Resurrection – Mary Magdalene meets the Angels

& sees the ‘Gardener’ – The Risen One in His Spirit-Body

 

Midwest Eurythmy Group Performanceof:

The Calendar of the Soul Verse for Easterwith speech artist Christa Macbeth

And the Hallelujah

The Legend of Shambhalla by Richard Dancey

Singing, Group study of Emil Bock’s “Holy Week” for Easter Joy

Group Eurythmy: Hallelujah in the ‘Lamb of God Heptagram’ with Johanna Rode

Pot-Luck to Share Encouraged

All Donations go to the Midwest Eurythmy Group

For more info Contact Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer Ginsberg

 

Easter Week – Mandy Thursday – The Sacred Round Table

Festival,

Greetings Friends –

On Maundy Thursday a holy stillness descends, shortly before the deep red sun sets in the west, faced by the silver disc of the rising full moon, the trumpets sound from the Temple and give the signal for the beginning of the day of Preparation, the eve of the Passover.

Jesus and His disciples also withdraw to the upper room in the house of the Order of the Essenes. There, on Mount Zion, a sanctuary has existed from times immemorial. Here the words of the 23rd Psalm are fulfilled,

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.”

Before the Meal, Jesus the Christ follows the custom observed by the Essenes and washes the feet of each of the disciples, even Judas.

“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.” This last parable, enacted, not merely spoken, teaches Love as the ultimate purpose of Christ’s Gospel.

Then for the first time Transubstantiation is consummated; now the Spiritual lights up in earthly substance.

The lunar sacrifices of antiquity are at an end; the solar sacrifice of Christianity comes into being.

Christ’s soul surrenders itself and streams into the bread and wine. In the transition from the blood offerings of the past to the bloodless offering of bread and wine; the sacrifice of the soul is founded, and there begins the true tradition of inner sacrifice.

Then the sacred Round Table breaks up dramatically. It is a strict regulation of the Passover that on this night no one may leave the protection of the house.

If he does so, he meets the Destroying Angel. The streets remain empty of people. Yet Judas does go out; to the house opposite, where Caiaphas and his circle are waiting, eager for the business that Judas wants to transact.

Jesus then rises from the table and beckons to the astonished disciples. They follow him out into the night, where the light of the full moon had for some time been extinguished, passing through an eclipse.

The two acts of going-out-into-the-night symbolize inner events. The going out of Judas shows that his true self has abandoned him;  outside he meets the Angel of Death, in reality, ahrimanic spirits make him their pawn.

The going-out of Christ is a picture of the free surrender of the soul, which has been from the beginning,

the cosmic bearer of Sacrifice.>>      ~summary excerpt from Emil Bock’s “Holy week”

 

Tonight, 2 April, Our Holy Week Studywill meet

6pm-9pm at the Christian Community 2135 W. Wilson, Chicago

Maundy Thursday (Last Supper)

Christ washes the feet of the disciples & administers to them the New Sacrament

The benevolence of the Jupiter King

6pm – optional Silent Meal (simple Potluck to share)

7pm –Eurythmy: Hallelujah in the ‘Lamb of God Heptagram’

Group Study of Emil Bock’s “Holy Week”for Maundy Thursday

8:15pm – Contemplation and ‘Close of Day’

with Richard Dancey and Ann Burfeind

 

For More Information Contact Festivals Coordinator

Hazel Archer Ginsberg

Festival – April 1st – April Fools Day

Festival

Blessings of the Wise Fool on this April 1st –

Both Judas and Mary Magdalene are typical Mercury people; they are active and temperamental; something is always happening round them.

Mary Magdalene transforms her restlessness into peaceful devotion, and the capacity for love.

She anoints the head of Christ with precious spikenard oil, a spiritual act.

Christ accepts what this woman does as a sacrament of death – a fulfillment of the Last Anointing.

 

Judas declares her deed extravagant and becomes indignant. He pretends to want something for the poor; yet it is only self-deception, not a genuine social impulse, but his own inner restlessness. His unrest springs from a deeply hidden fear, and it leads to his betrayal of Christ.

Such a soul cannot show devotion; above all, it cannot love. A restless person is not capable of real love; for love is possible only where the soul has found peace.

Thus, in the two figures, Mary Magdalene and Judas, two roads separate as at a crossroads. One leads to the realization of the nearness of Christ; the other into the dark night.

All the figures taking part in these scenes on Holy Wednesday -Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Judas, show us separate approaches in the expression of the mysteries.

Judas is the man without ritual. He loses self-control when he comes into the sphere of true ceremonial worship.

Mary Magdalene is the sacramental soul.

Mercury, who for the Greco-Roman world was both the God of Healing and also the God of merchants and of thieves,

comes now into the orbit of the Christ Sun. The scene in the house of Lazarus and her sisters at Bethany shows how Mercury, the God of Healing, can himself be healed by the Sun of Christ.»

 

~ excerpted from Emil Bock’s “Holy Week”, A Spiritual Guide from Palm Sunday to Easter

 

‘The Best Fool is the Fool for Love’

 

1 April Fool’s Day, 7-8pm* at thebranch

Holy Wednesday

 

The 2 sides of Mercury: Healer/Thief

Mary Magdalene’s pre-burial anointing, the impulse for Judas’s betrayal

 

Group Eurythmy: Hallelujah in the ‘Lamb of God Heptagram’

Study of Emil Bock’s “Holy Week”, A Spiritual Guide from Palm Sunday to Easter

*Followed by an Optional ‘Close of Day’ at 8:15pm, at the Christian Community 2135 W. Wilson