Food for Thought

Greetings Farm Folk Friends –

The Michaelmas Daisies & Arrowleaf Aster are abundant in the fields at Zinniker Farm now. The Sedges & native grasses plumb with radiant spikes. The plantain like little ladders full & tall. So many tiny wild-flowers I couldn’t name in clusters under foot. And O those patches of stinging nettle, yep they were ready & willing to give us a healthy tingle in our limbs.

But before we ventured over to the sacred spots where the ground was already prepped by Farmer Mark for the Autumn interment, we sat together as a community on the hay bundles & filled the cow horns. Mark & Petra’s new pup Mia bounding between us with enthusiasm.

Then comes my favorite prep making activity – stuffing the long translucent cow intestines with Chamomile Flowers. A little girl there kept saying eww, but love everything about it.

It was unsually hot, in the 80’s with a clear blue sky. The Zinniker’s said it was also a very dry season.

There in the shade of the barn, we worked with the Deer Stag Bladders filling them with Yarrow Flowers.

Walking past the free ranging chickens & the pig pen, we paraded down to the magic spot where we always bury the horns in the Autumn. They transform there all winter long in a curation process that creates a deep rich, odorless humus that is full of life forces.

Next we brought the Chamomile sausages to the spot that gets the Winter Sun, but also allows snow drifts to build up, providing a steady melt come Spring. 

Next the yarrow filled bladders were set to rest in their designated hole by a big circle of stinging nettles.

I asked Petra to speak about the qualities of the Stag & Yarrow, so we got a great overview which helped us add our human thoughts to these cosmic & earthly substances. The Antlers of a Deer Stag are receptors from the Animal Kingdom taking in the properties of the cosmos – the fixed & wandering stars – which Spiritual Science calls the astral world. Petra mentioned a special connection with the outer planets, especially Saturn. I got that impression when I handled the flowers.

Later I remembered that the ancients called yarrow ‘the eyebrows of Venus.’ And I wondered at that. But then I thought about how the flower, like the antlers, functions as a little chalice – a vessel for receiving the beneficence of the cosmos thru grace of the Plant Kingdom, connected with the etheric realm.

This enables the yarrow to concentrate trace minerals into the soil. It is also one of the best biodynamic preparations for detoxifying the earth.

As a regulator, yarrow pulls in fine dilutions of invigorating light substances from the celestial spheres, using Potassium & Sulphur to bring cleansing light forces into the soil. It carries organic materials like carbon & nitrogen into the organism of the farm, thru the soil, which forms the crops, which feeds the cows, who feed us.

Dr. Rudolf Steiner called yarrow “a miracle of creation…as if some plant-designer had used an ideal model in bringing sulfur into relationship with the other plant substances’ especially potassium”.

Steiner mentions another benefit: that by using the yarrow preparation in the compost, animals & humans alike will become more sensitive to their surroundings, & ‘any weakness of the astral body – the spirit’s ability to feel & carry forces, will be brought into balance.’

Spiritual Science is fascinating. It makes perfect practical sense. It works even if we don’t understand it all.

AND, these practices are enhanced when WE make the connections, adding our good thoughts & healing intentions. The more we realize the practical aspects of Biodynamic Agriculture the more we can awaken & apply our human responsibility of bringing culture to Agriculture.

We came back to what I like to call the social arena of the farm, there in the shadow of the barn, near Petra’s huge garden, & what used to be the milk house, where folks come now to get their eggs & meat & honey, & soap.

We took the prepared silica out of the old horns. Petra showed us the big flecks of gold in the powdery white substance. Horn Silica can be experienced as a sort of spray of sunlight, promoting vigor, while also reining in excessive growth. It adds a luminous crystalline quality to the plant life & reduces susceptibility to diseases.

Livestock benefit by feeding on plants that have received Horn Silica. The animals themselves become healthier, & the quantity / quality of meat & milk are improved.

Next we did a 20 minute Barrel Compost stir. I call it the Kitchen-Sink Prep. This is potent stuff.  One of the most versatile carriers for all the biodynamic preparations.  

As we took turns stirring, I brought out a few Michaelmas songs. And so we added our voices to the making & unmaking of the vortex in the stir.

Petra poured the Black Gold into buckets & we fanned out to spray the field, dipping & flinging our brooms in every direction making our way toward where the herd was grazing. 

This year’s herd seemed more skittish than on other years. They weren’t as curious or attracted to our singing, but they loved the spray, as it certainly smelled like them.

As the Sun was turning the sky orangey pink, we gathered for a lovely potluck dinner. Chuck Ginsberg, president of the Zinniker Farm Stewardship Association (ZFSA) spoke about: Working to create an economically sustainable community support system so that Zinniker, the oldest Biodynamic Farm in America can thrive into the future. Mark and Petra Zinniker are doing their part keeping the soil rich so that the land can be fruitful for many more generations to come. But in the near future they will need to step down from running the day to day duties on Zinniker farm after 80 years and 3 generations.

And it is up to us to ensure that they and the next farm family can be supported. In order for this to happen our relationship to the farm needs to be different. 

For many years, Hazel and I “purchased” food from the Zinnikers without thinking about ‘true price’ – what it actually costs to bring the farm to our table.

The truth is the Farmers are working 7 days a week, caring for the land, for the chickens, cows and pigs, the equipment etc…There are no days off, no vacations. 

When you come to the farm you see the herd roaming the pasture, the chickens free-ranging naturally, the pigs rolling around in the mud, the bee boxes flourishing on the hill.  You can sense the love and care given to the soil, bestowing vitality to the earth. It is alive with healthy microbial life which nourish in the pastures, inthe animals and in us!

In the factory farm model food prices are artificially low because they produce poor quality industrial food. When we connect the dots we realize that our health as a country is also very poor…Think of the pandemic, and the epidemics of Type II Diabetes, Obesity, High Blood Pressure, Cancer. These health crisis’ are related to the chemicals and poisons used to produce low quality, big volume, highly processed food at under-valued prices.

Or maybe you shop at the high priced places like Whole Foods which is owned by Amazon! Is that really where you want to give your money?

I don’t know about you but I want to eat food that nourishes my body and soul. So

What has to change?

We must recognize that healthy sustainable farming practices cultivates healthier food, and that takes more financial support. But we can’t look at it like, Ok eggs are 6 dollars and that’s that. We have to get rid of the old paradigm that we are purchasing food – that the farm is a commodity – and replace it with a new mind set.

We must value our farmers, who are priceless stewards of the land by supporting them beyond price.

As individuals we can look at our own family budgets & say yes, I can afford to contribute such & such an amount beyond price.

And then as a community, with each of us contributing what we can we all grow stronger.

On August 16, 2023 we took a formal step to create a new way.  We incorporated Zinniker Farm Stewardship Association.

Supporting ZFSA can take shape in many ways.

Perhaps your financial resources are limited but you feel inspired. How do you want to help?

Perhaps your financial resources are bountiful, and you feel inspired to help others too?

Perhaps you are longing for community connection. What does that look like to you?

Do you have kids and want them to know where their food comes from?

Do you feel refreshed spending an afternoon in the country?

Maybe you want to contribute monthly like Hazel and I do on Zelle. Even giving what you would spend for a cup of good coffee can help.

You can contribute even if you don’t live near by:

Zelle: zinnikerfarm@gmail.com 

Some folks use the Patreon page (although this company does take a fee)

Are you looking to change the world?

I’m ready!  Are you?

Contact Chuck Ginsberg with any Questions Chuck@ChuckGinsberg.com

Then after a stimulating conversation we circled round the bonfire, for our Michaelmas Festival: Food for Thought – Working from a 3-fold perspective.

In the Economic Realm we contemplated the Ideal of Mutuality, the spiritual Bounty found in sister/brotherhood. We tossed a ball around each taking a turn to look with gratitude & thankfulness at the spiritual gifts given to us by others that we are harvesting so far this year.

We could pair the ideal of Equity, from the Rights Realm, with the reality that in life we have to have boundries, sometimes we have to say Farewell to what no longer serves. We have to recognize what is over. Say good-bye & thank you. Seeing the equality & beauty of adding to the compost. We moved around the circle tossing herbs into the fire as a representative offering. I brought dried oregano, mint & sage from our garden,  & Hyssop from Angelic Organics Farm for folks to choose from.

And looking to the Cultural Realm where science, art, spirituality & education brings the ideal of unselfish Freedom, we cultivate the seeds of the future. What do we want to Preserve? For this, folks took some of the dried herbs home, thinking about how their various properties enhance us.

We ended with a little community Speech work:

Forge me with fire, a sword for my smiting
Fright to my foes and flames for my fighting
Shape me a shield forceful and fierce
Stalwart and shapely to fend against fears
Strike me a spear of speed as a shaft
Fearless to fly as a shot to the start
Staunch be my front against fury assailed
Strong be my soul where the feeble have failed.

Driving back to the city listening to music by Ultra-Violet Archer. We had the bright waning Harvest Moon shining on our faces, leading the way home – completing one of the many arcs that connect us all on this Good Earth.

Thank you Petra & Mark Zinniker! What a Blessing to be part of this Beloved Community.

Happy Michaelmas!

~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated
(with added titles) by Roy Sadler
MICHAELMAS
Michaelic Firepower
v26
Natura, in the being of my will
I bear your soul of motherhood
and in my will enkindled firepower
my spirit impulses are tempered, steeled,
that feeling of the selfhood formed from them
bear I in me.

It is the last verse of the Baritone’s imaginative insight
to incarnate the spirit’s summer dreamtime gift. Next week
the Soprano will have the longing to find a new soul seed
that will inspire her to birth the Spirit Child at Christmas.
(The Soul Calendar’s voices – Tenor, Baritone, Soprano & Alto –
for the 4 quarters of the year were given by Karl Konig.)

MICHAELMAS II
The Sun Of The Soul
v27
To permeate my depths of being
arouses longing, ardently divining,
that I, self-contemplating, find
I am the gift of summer sunlight in a seed
that germinating warms my autumn mood
with motivating power for my soul.

2 October 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The bright waning gibbous moon glows near Jupiter. Also nearby is the Pleiades star cluster, one of the cosmic gems in Taurus the Bull. The moon will rise about an hour after sunset, so this eye-catching trio will be visible traveling across the sky together until dawn.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

International Day of Non-Violence 2020 is being observed on 2nd October.
Mahatma Gandhi's experiments with food and the lessons we can learn | The  Times of India

1869 – Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, Indian activist & philosopher – referred to in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national festival celebrated in India to mark the occasion of the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the “Father of the Nation”. It is one of the three national holidays of the country

You Won't Believe How Samuel Adams Recruited Sons of Liberty - Journal of  the American Revolution

1803 – Deathday of Samuel Adams, American philosopher & politician

Opus Dei - Wikipedia

1928 – The Opus Dei, is founded by Josemaría Escrivá.

1947 – Deathday of P. D. Ouspensky, a Russian mathematician & esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff, whom he met in Moscow in 1915. He shared the (Gurdjieff) “system” for 25 years in England & the United States, having separated from Gurdjieff in 1924 personally, for reasons he explains in the last chapter of his book In Search of the Miraculous, a recounting of what he learned from Gurdjieff during those years. After Ouspensky broke away from Gurdjieff, he taught the “Fourth Way”, as he understood it, to his independent groups.

Gurdjieff proposed that there are three ways of self-development generally known in esoteric circles. These are the Way of the Fakir, dealing exclusively with the physical body, the Way of the Monk, dealing with the emotions, & the Way of the Yogi, dealing with the mind. What is common about the three ways is that they demand complete seclusion from the world. According to Gurdjieff, there is a Fourth Way which does not demand its followers to abandon the world. The work of self-development takes place right in the midst of ordinary life. Gurdjieff called his system a school of the Fourth Way where a person learns to work in harmony with his physical body, emotions & mind. Ouspensky picked up this idea & continued his own school along this line.

He finally gave up the system in 1947. (“A Record of Meetings”, published posthumously) “you must make a new beginning” after confessing “I’ve left the system”

All Souls in the City – Election Day 7 November 2023

Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire

Celebrating: The Festival of the Dead, & Martinmas

6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile

Please Bring Food & Drink to share, & a jar for the prep

RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

Annular solar eclipse total phases composite panorama during Totality , moon covers the sun’s visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” shot using mylar solar film , very rare natural event Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned. A total eclipse , An annular eclipse , A hybrid eclipse, partial eclipse

Save the Dates for Community Workings TBA:

The 1st New Moon after the Autumnal Equinox – Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse

The reprise of the Great American Eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse

Jehanne d’Arc

Greetings Friends – Before going out to Zinniker – The oldest Biodynamic Farm in America for our Michaelmas Farm Day experience today, I thought to share some thoughts that I hold of Joan d’Arc – a true Christic Warroior inspired by Michael. A few years back our Michaelmas Festival was inspired by Joan of Arc. I called it ‘PURIFYING FIRE: The Power behind the Will’.

My research led me to many amazing resources, including Mark Twain’s heart-felt Book, as well as the work of Anthroposopher Joan M. Edmunds. But my main source came from Rudolf Steiner who gives us many insights into this powerful individuality.

Now I can’t help but think of Joan when it comes to Michaelmas. And Yesterday while getting ready to serve at the Christian Community, my co-server came in wearing one of the red T-shirts with Joan’s likeness on it that everyone got who was involved with that Fest. (Thanks Mary & Deborah!) I had almost worn mine. I love these little clues that work thru to inspire us to take initiative.

The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations: Steiner, Rudolf:  9780880102056: Amazon.com: Books

I was particularly taken by what Steiner says in ‘The Destinies of Individuals and of Nations, Lecture 5, The Nature of the Christ Impulse and the Michaelic Sprit Serving It. Berlin, 1915’; a lecture series he gave right at the start of the 1st world war. I felt called to make that my personal focus. I didn’t get a chance to share it at our Festival since I wanted to keep it more experienical, so here it is for your contemplation. I hope it moves you to take action as it did me.

What is the mission of The Maid of Orleans?

From the time of her enchanted childhood playing around the village ‘fairy tree’ – & then, starting at the age of 12 – & for 7 years till she was martyred at age 19, Jehanne (feminine form of Joannes or John) d’Arc was inspired into by progressive Beings of the Divine Spiritual World. These powers battled the inflammatory Luciferic forces of deception prevailing in humanity at that special time right before the beginning of the Consciousness Soul Age.  

Joan of Arc, with the aid of Michael, (& his helpers St. Catherine & St. Margaret) was able to vanquish the seductive Luciferic forces which were vying to prevent this shift in human consciousness.

Steiner describes the miracle of her birth, how she went thru a sort of pre-earthy initiation during the potent time of the 13 Holy nights, incarnating on Epiphany, the day the Christ came into a human being at the Baptism.

And we can also point to her equally auspicious death. Yes it was gruesome, not unlike like the sacrifice of the Christ. In her case, it occurred because all the jealous, selfish, Luciferic forces of her enemies joined together to bring about her sacrifice by fire; not unlike the burning of Ephesus & of the 1st Goetheanum.

Trial of Joan of Arc - Wikipedia
Paul Delaroche

At what can in truth be be called her witch trial, she predicted her own death, & said that within 7 years after of her sacrifice: “the English would meet with a much greater reversal of fortune than any they had known before”.

Spiritual Science tells us that the soul of Joan of Arc continued working across the Threshold to shape these events after her death.

What the spiritual powers have to bring about will occur whatever the external conditions may be. 

Many great individualities are working with us even now from across the threshold. 

The Maid’s adversaries were able to bring about her death, but they were NOT able to prevent her mission.

Joan of Arc Bio, Age, Height, Death

The power behind the will of the Maid of Orleans, the forces of Michael, are working still against the immoral Luciferic forces that rage in the world.

Rudolf Steiner | Rudolf steiner, Steiner, Rudolf

Dear friends, as you are all so keenly aware, we are also having to deal with hostile forces in our time; but now-a-days these are predominantly Ahrimanic forces; not inflaming, but hardening, materialistic forces, that have come up with the industrial age. These forces are in evidence everywhere, especially if we turn our attention not only to the mechanical element, but thru-out cyber space; a distractive shrouding of the reappearance of the Christ in the etheric.

And so Spiritual science tells us that if we remain unconscious of these forces working into our sense impressions, we are offering an abode to the dragon that seeks to stupefy us. These sclerotic forces influence our earth life, creating the fearful events happening NOW all over the globe.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863 – 1914). On 17 August 1913, the  Emperor promoted Franz Ferdinand to inspector … | Ferdinand, History,  Historical pictures

~Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

In the above mentioned 1917 lecture, Steiner talks about how a sort of denial of the build up to the 1st World War had been present for a long time in the astral world, but was held back by something that was also astral: by the fear, doubt & hatred held in the feeling life of human beings. These negative astral forces were able to hold the war back, to prevent it, for a while. Steiner says: “…at 1st a fearful denial was able to stop war from breaking out. But then with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, there emerged a ‘reversal event’ – this recalls the words from Joan of Arc: “the English would meet with a much greater reversal than any they had known before”.

In that case the selfish Luciferic forces came back to destroy the English reign after the sacrifice of Joan of Arc; and in this case – of the world war, all the elements of fear from the ahrimanic powers began to gather around the sacrificed soul of the Archduke, creating a focal point, a tear at the threshold.

The Changing Face Of Satan, From 1500 To Today

It’s hard to really phantom this, but we know that anything that has a specific character on the physical plane will have the opposite character in the spiritual world. Everything is reversed in the spiritual world. 

An element that had a blocking effect, keeping the 1st world war at bay, was now acting in the opposite way, as a spur, an incitement, to war.

So we see that a flip of the elements of fear, of the deceiving Ahrimanic elements, became a catalyst for war, which now a 100 years later, has led to the events of our present age, where there is constant war, in all realms of society.

Tyrone Dwelzel

But fear not dear friends, Steiner tells us that we must not try to deny or rebel against these materialistic Ahrimanic elements. We must let them strengthen us; we must develop the courage of Michael to see it as something that is necessary in our time, something that has to be present, so that we can learn to reverse the fear thru our heart-thinking – transforming these forces of resistance thru love.

Lebanese artist auctions viral painting of Beirut blast to help people in  need | Arab News
Pas Beirutt

The question is: How do we make it possible for divine spiritual forces, the ‘ever present help of the spiritual world’, to enter into our actions so that we can consciously reverse The Beasts of fear, doubt & hatred?

How do we offer a positive resistance to this deceptive Ahrimanic element in our age, the way resistance was offered to the Luciferic element at the time of Joan of Arc?

Social Threefolding and Commonweal | Feminist movement, Freedom, Road trip

– By taking the path towards a spiritualization of human culture – by cultivating our ability to form ideas & concepts into a thinking will for good. This is the prerequisite foundation needed to manifest the 3-fold social organism. Which we can only do if we stop listening to the prejudices & propaganda currently pounding us deeper into the materialism of our age – a voice that speaks loudly at times, or can be the faintest of whispers from the dragon within.

We generate the great strength we need to offer resistance to these hardening forces by approaching the spirit not only thru the inner powers of revelation & faith, like in the case of Joan of Arc, but by trying to concentrate our powers of understanding on what spiritual science has to give – a rational wisdom, filling us with light.

Irene Olid Gonzalez.

And so dear freinds, when we take ahold of ourselves with this attitude, we can consciously work with what Michael, the Spirit of our Age, has to give us now in our time – Meeting every trial & test with a conscious heart-thinking, motivated by the wisdom of lovewhere we must kindle our own light of thinking.

~hag

Here are some podcasts & video’s on the theme of Michaelmas:

Video – Michaelmas: Festival of the Future

Video: Michaelmas Musings

The Anthroposopher podcast – Preserve the Light

Video – The Central Regional Council – ‘Courage Born of Wisdom

30 September 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning gibbous Moon visits two celestial highlights of October’s late evenings.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

~Bosch

395 – John the Evangelist settles in Patmos to write the Apocalypse

420 – Deathday of St. Jerome also called Hieronymus, Roman priest, theologian, patron saint of translators, librarians & encyclopedists. Rudolf Steiner speaks of him in From Jesus to Christ lecture 4, saying he had to ‘falsify’ the Gospel of St. Matthew, because it was too esoteric for folks at the time:

When we know this, we understand that the original Gospel of Matthew could not be imparted without further preparation because men were not ripe to receive what was in it. For if Jerome, a Father of the Church, was himself not ripe for what it contained, then certainly other men were not. Those who were originally in possession of these communications, the Ebionites, did not impart them because, if received by unripe persons, they would have been so distorted that they must have led to what Jerome meant when he said that they would serve not for edification but for destruction. Now Jerome understood this; yet he allowed himself to impart in a certain way the Gospel of Matthew to the world. ~Rudolf Steiner

1207 – Birthday of Rumi, Persian mystic & poet

1791 – The first performance of The Magic Flute, the last opera by Mozart to make its debut, took place at Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, Austria

1791 – The National Constituent Assembly in Paris is dissolved; Parisians hail Maximilien Robespierre & Jérôme Pétion as “incorruptible patriots”

1882 – Thomas Edison’s first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin

1914 – Birthday of Johannes Tautz – a Historian, Religious scholar, Anthroposophist, Author & Waldorf teacher. After the German capitulation, Tautz was imprisoned by the Czechs, Americans & Russians but managed to escape in the summer of 1945 back to his family in Bad Boll. He was soon approached by Erich Gabert in Stuttgart to join the Waldorf School that was about to be opened as its German & History teacher. On 1 November 1945 he stood before his first 9th grade at the Free Waldorf School, Uhlandshöhe.

Soon Johannes Tautz decided to look up his “predecessor”, the first history teacher at the Waldorf School, Walter Johannes Stein. The conversations with Stein provided an orientation & inspiration for all of his further work as a teacher, lecturer & writer; in his lecturing work at national & international conferences and in the “Hague Circle”, a coordinating international group of Waldorf teachers.

He likewise received particular guidance from Emil Bock regarding a Christological view of world history & from Jürgen von Grone about the destiny of Germany &in particular to the figure of Helmuth von Moltke.

In 1966 Tautz held three lectures about the spiritual background to National Socialism, which later appeared in print under the title Attack of the Enemy – The Occult Inspiration Behind Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in 1976. In it he looks at a number of personalities connected with questionable occult practices with which leading Nazis had been close during the time of the movement’s growth.

In 1979 he edited a collection of biographical portraits together with Gisbert Husemann of the circle of founding Waldorf teachers around Rudolf Steiner.

Together with a young friend, Thomas Meyer, he visited the daughter of Walter Johannes Stein, Clarissa Johanna Muller, in Ireland where she was living in order to look through her father’s literary estate. They found the typescript of Stein’s dissertation annotated by Rudolf Steiner, letters & meditations of Steiner for Stein, his mother & for his brother, who fell in a mysterious manner in WWI. Letters & notes of Ludwig Polzer-Hoditz, Eliza von Moltke, Ita Wegman, D.N Dunlop & many other personalities were discovered & formed the basis of Tautz’s biography of Stein in 1989

In 1993 he initiated the editing of a collection Rudolf Steiner’s letters & notes to Eliza von Moltke together with the post mortem communications & the letters of Helmuth von Moltke himself. The decision to publish these was to prevent or anticipate a partial publication without an appropriate commentary on the subject that had been announced. A previous instance of this content being used had been in the book The Spear of Destiny by Trevor Ravenscroft which, in the opinion of Tautz had been written “without the necessary protection of background knowledge for the deeply-penetrant & difficult to understand material.” Further reading

1938 – The League of Nations unanimously outlaws “intentional bombings of civilian populations”

1962 – Labor leader César Chávez founds the National Farm Workers Association, which later becomes United Farm Workers

1982 – Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills six people in the Chicago area. Seven are killed in all

1993 – The 6.2 Mw Latur earthquake shakes Maharashtra, India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) killing 9,748 & injuring 30,000

1999 – The Tokaimura nuclear accident causes the deaths of 2 technicians, many others affected by radiation poisoning, in Japan’s second-worst nuclear accident

2009 – The 7.6 Mw Sumatra earthquake shakes central Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). 1,115 people dead, many injured & left homeless

30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day – Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought

The time for biodynamic preparation making is upon us. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and working in the soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.

After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –

Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year?
Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye/ thank you.
Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?

Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm
Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner
Please bring a dish to share
Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.

Universal Harvest

~Mariusz Lewandowski

Here are some podcasts & video’s on the theme of Michaelmas:

Video – Michaelmas: Festival of the Future

Video: Michaelmas Musings

The Anthroposopher podcast – Preserve the Light

Video – The Central Regional Council – ‘Courage Born of Wisdom

Greetings friends – I know you are feeling it. A deep holiness broods over the dying light. Now, in ourselves we must find our own power of bestowing warmth; that we may shine from within. In the realm of the senses the plant world sinks down into death. Inwardly the fire-spirits, offspring of the lofty Beings of the Sun, bearing the Archetypal pictures of the plant kingdom, stream down into the womb of Mother Earth. All around us we see withering, the color leaving to reveal the essence. As human beings we must not allow the death of nature to draw us into sleep. In autumn we must discover the force of resurrection within, so that we can pass with full consciousness thru the gate of death with a wakened soul, in our time. This is possible by what Michael bestows as the Fire of Will. We can come into communion with the most hidden secrets of existence now, whispering: Feel yourself as bearer of the Motherhood of Nature, to conceive in love the fiery germ of Self.

Michaelmas is not just a day; it is a season that extends from September 29, the Feast of St. Michael & All the Heavenly Hosts, to October 31, All Hallows Eve

The dragon is not an external reality, but rather lives within all humankind, represented by cold, dead, rationalistic & pragmatic thinking. It is alive within every mortal as a potentially evil force. Michael’s message to humanity is not to try to slay the dragon within ourselves, for we would not live in freedom if we did, but rather to overcome it with consciousness. It is the consciousness in our thinking which calls for Imaginative Cognition & selflessness, as well as the strength of will needed to follow a moral path in life.

Michaelmas is a festival of inner strength & initiative. It is a time when our higher being can conquer anxiety & fear, for it is the task of Michael to awaken humankind to the eternal within.

The old legends always preface the story of the battle against the dragon with an enumeration of the 9 Angelic Realms. This view is revealed to our soul, taking us all the way to the Seraphim. Michael stands before us as the Prince & Herald of all the Hierarchies, that we may look to the Angelic Choirs, that we may look to our future selves, that we may think, what it is to be truly human, here & now, & step by step, to courageously build our own strong & steady rung on the ladder of evolution.

It is our job to strive to complete the never-ending story, with the New Michaelic Mysteries put forth by Rudolf Steiner, a true emissary of Michael, teaching us to count the human being as the 10th hierarchy.

The Michael thought: (to be born again – one has to die), and a Michael festival in the second half of September, must be linked alongside the Easter festival. Then, to the thought of the resurrection of the God after death, could be added the thought, produced by the Michael force, of the resurrection of the human being from death, so that humanity, through the Resurrection of Christ, would find the force to die in Christ and be born again. This means, taking The Risen Christ into one’s soul during earthly life, so as to be able to die in Him — that is, to be able to die not at death, but when one is living. Then that which we need will be present in life. For these are one, and they will once again weave religion, science, and art into oneness, because people will understand how to conceive the trinity. Such a thing could actually become an impulse which singly and alone would be able, in the present condition of humanity, to replace the descending forces with ascending ones.” ~Rudolf Steiner ‘The Cycle of the Year’ 1923 Dornach

~Lois Schoff

In our present age full of these forces that would pull us down, it is essential to align ourselves with the Being of Michael to enable us to overcome all that is of the ‘dragon’ rearing its many heads within us.

We can come to know this mighty ‘Time Spirit’ by taking into our hearts earnest wisdom-filled thoughts concerning the Christ Countenance that this being holds. If we practice this, we will soon see the light of Wisdom transform into fiery flames of will –empowering us to fulfill the tasks that are incumbent upon us.

During Harvest season these energies firing up our will are especially available & are strongest when joined in a community effort. In concert with friends & co-creators, we can work with Sophia-Michael/Christ at this crucial time, when the Mystery of Evil unfolds together with the Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric.

Mi-cha-el is a Hebrew name consisting of three separate words – the word Mi, pronounced My, means “Who?” cha, pronounced kai, means “like” or “as.” And El pronounced “L”, is the abbreviated form of Elohim – the name of God in the plural – the 7 Spirits of Form or the Creator Gods referred to in Genesis: “In the beginning God [Elohim] created heaven and earth…” Put these three word-syllables together & we get Mi-cha-el: “Who is like God?” This name prods our ordinary thinking – providing an opportunity to penetrate beyond the surface – to pose important questions.  Facts are dead if they are not stepping-stones to more penetrating questions which allow further answers.

The very essence of Michael is not a proper noun but a verb – a deed. What if we applied this kind of spiritual questioning to all our striving toward knowledge?

~Hilma af Klint

Who, or what, is the essence behind the Word? What is it that we seek in all our ‘Questing’ for Wisdom, knowledge & understanding?

The ‘Holy Grail’ up-holds the Wisdom of god – The knowing of the spiritual foundation of things.

Rudolf Steiner reminds us that “Every idea we hold that does not become an ideal slays a power within us.” Instead of slaying the dragon in us, this kind of lazy thinking slays the Michael power within us. But when our thoughts rise to the ideal, they have a force that is useful & eternal, imbued with will – fired with an indomitable force. These thoughts rise-up to God.

~Carlline Maniele

Michael as Time Spirit is cosmopolitan – universal – a role-model preparing us for the collective culture of the future which began with the Christ event – blossoming in the future into ‘Philadelphia’ – the culture of ‘Brotherly Love’ which leads us into the ideal community of the New Jerusalem – where we are the 10th hierarchy – the universal human being – co-creators in the cosmos.

What is universal goes completely beyond groups, beyond divisions – into the All as One – the Christ within us.  This divine spark that we have in common with all of humanity is universal. Until we can embrace all, accept all, love all—as Christ shows us—we have not achieved the Freedom of Universal Individualism. As students of the Michaelic intelligence we are called to mirror the highest in the other.

~Vlad Apetrei & Irene Olid

This is how we can work with Michael. We become co-workers – mirroring the highest in the other –mirroring the countenance of Christ – this is what we come to understand in the School of Michael.

Anyone who is striving to do ‘The Great Work’ on the path of personal development & spiritual research knows that it is an arduous, lonely path – And ironically it is often in community where the most suffering & pain is triggered, offering our deepest sorrow as well as our biggest opportunities for growth.

~Beela Dentley

From a broad evolutionary perspective, we can understand that every soul is on ‘the path’.

Can we recognize & feel the cry of the spirit, the seeking soul within our family members, or co-workers, the annoying person on the street? Can we have compassion for others & for ourselves in our various conditions of soul & spirit-sickness?

Can we see beyond this soul-sicknesses, to meet the hungering individual who is, in their own way, hoping for a fulfillment that only the spirit can bring?

When we are recognized by another on the level of spirit, we naturally awaken to our latent potential & connect more readily with our unique life-purposes.

Can we trust that no matter where a fellow human being is on their journey that we can acknowledge the Christ within them? Or do we hold the individuals around us captive to their past? Do we unconsciously cast judgment on them? We have seen them fail perhaps countless times. Is there a subtle condemning in us when we speak to them or of them to others?

How about those who ascribe to a different social philosophy or support a different political party – do we judge them as inferior for their beliefs & unworthy of our help or support? Do we think of them as evil – never able to progress or change? If so, we are aligning ourselves with the adversary stunting our own soul’s progress as well as theirs.

Can we forgive them & ourselves, & step up to be the person in their life that helps them see their true potential?

Are we living up to our own true potential? 

If we are able to do this, then we are working with Michael as a mirror to the divine nature within others. What a beautiful harvest that will bring to the world.  

Let this season enkindle in us a renewed hope, an unshakeable faith, a sure strength – endowing us with the spiritual will of Sophia-Michael. In the name of Christ, we can stand fast in freedom – to sure up the practical reality that Spiritual Science offers as a world view.

~hag

29 September 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” ~Mark Twain

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

The Feast Day of St. Michael All the Heavenly Hosts, also called MICHAELMAS

1227 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades. A man of extraordinary culture, energy, & ability Frederick II was called stupor mundi (the wonder of the world), by Nietzsche, also the first European, the first modern ruler – by many historians, Frederick established in Sicily & southern Italy a modern, centrally governed kingdom with an efficient bureaucracy.

He was a King of Germany, of Italy, & Burgundy. His other royal title was King of Jerusalem by virtue of marriage & his connection with the Sixth Crusade.

He was frequently at war with the Papacy, hemmed in between Frederick’s lands in northern Italy & his Kingdom of Sicily (the Regno) to the south. Pope Gregory IX went so far as to call him an Antichrist.

Speaking six languages (Latin, Sicilian, German, French, Greek & Arabic, Frederick was an avid patron of science & the arts. He played a major role in promoting literature through the Sicilian School of poetry. His Sicilian royal court in Palermo, saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school had a significant influence on literature & on what was to become the modern Italian language.

He was also the first king who explicitly outlawed trials by ordeal as they were considered irrational.

1571 – Birthday of Caravaggio, Italian painter

1717 – An earthquake strikes Antigua Guatemala, destroying much of the city’s architecture & making authorities consider moving the capital to a different city

1812- Birthday of Caspar Hauser, grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Theories link  him with the grand ducal House of BadenThese claims, & his subsequent death by stabbing, sparked much debate & controversy.

“…It was the case of that human being, so enigmatic for many people, who was once placed into this city in a mysterious way, and who in just as mysterious a way met his death in Ansbach. An author, in order to indicate the mystery of his life, wrote that as he was carried out to burial the sun was setting on the one horizon and the moon was rising on the other. I speak, as you know, of Caspar Hauser. If you disregard all the pros and cons that have been asserted, if you look only at what has been fully verified, you will know that this foundling — who was one day simply there in the street, and who since he did not know whence he came, was called the Child of Europe — could neither read nor write when he was found. At an age of twenty years he possessed nothing of what is gained through the intellect but he had a remarkable memory. As they began to instruct him, as logic entered his soul, his memory disappeared. This transition in consciousness was accompanied by something else. He possessed at first an incredible, an entirely inborn truthfulness and it was precisely in this truthfulness that he went more and more astray. The more he nibbled, so to say, at intellectuality, the more it vanished. There would be many things to study were we to enter deeply into this human soul which had been artificially held back. It is not difficult for the student of Spiritual Science to credit the popular tradition, so unacceptable to the learned people of to-day, which relates that while Caspar Hauser still knew nothing, while he still had no idea that there were beings besides himself of different form, he exercised a remarkable effect upon quite savage creatures. Savage animals humbled themselves and became mild, something streamed from him that made such beasts gentle, although they savagely attacked anyone else. We could in fact penetrate deeply into the soul of this remarkable personality, so enigmatic to many, and you would see how things that cannot be explained from ordinary life are led back through Spiritual Science to spiritual facts. Such facts cannot be learnt by speculation but only by spiritual observation, though they are comprehensible to an unbiased and logical thinking.

All this has only been said in order to show you that the modern consciousness has evolved from another, an age-old-state when man was not in direct touch with outer objects in the modern sense, but on the other hand was in connection with facts and beings of the spiritual world.” ~Rudolf SteinerThe Apocalypse of St. John, Spiritual Science — The Gospel — The Future of Mankind

1885 – The first public electric tramway in the world is opened in Blackpool, England

1902 – Deathday of Émile Zola a French novelist, playwright, journalist, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, & an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France & in the exoneration of the falsely accused & convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in the renowned newspaper headline J’accuse. Zola was nominated for the first & second Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 & 1902. His death from carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected to have been murder

1924 – Ludwig Polzer holds his 1st First Class Lesson

1954 – The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed

1957 – Twenty MCi of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk

1981 – Deathday of Adolf Arenson, German composer & Anthroposopher. Arenson editied many of Rudolf Steiner’s works, & composed the music for many of the plays & productions. Steiner mentions him at the end of Wonders of the World lecture 1

2008 – Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers & Washington Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history

30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day – Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought

The time for biodynamic preparation making is upon us. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and working in the soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.

After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –

Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year?
Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye/ thank you.
Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?

Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm
Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner
Please bring a dish to share
Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.

Last Address

~George Mason

Greetings Dear Sisters & Brothers on this auspicious Eve of the Full Harvest Moon, coupled with the ancient Jewish celebration of Sukkot, which brings the community together for a unique opportunity to experience an amazing blend of Honoring the Ancestors, Giving Thanks, & opening to receive prosperity’s blessings…Yes, the season of in-gathering is upon us once again…Sweet with the seal of At-One-ment…

In the New Christian Mysteries this is also the Eve of The Feast Day of St. Michael & All the Heavenly Hosts. Referred to as Michaelmas, a season that really begins during the Perseid Meteor showers, is celebrated specifically on September 29th, & lasts until The Feast of All Hallows.

~hag

TODAY – 99 years ago – on 28 September 1924, Rudolf Steiner rose from his sick bed where he worked at the foot of his unfinished sculpture – the ‘Representative of Humanity’, to give what has been referred to as: THE LAST ADDRESS, GA 238, THE INDIVIDUALITY OF ELIAS, JOHN, RAPHAEL, NOVALIS. Rudolf Steiner died 6 months later on 30 March 1925.

On the eve of Michaelmas, Steiner gives a mysterious example of what is called ‘Spiritual Economy’ – which he had been revealing all thru 1923 in his ‘Karmic Relationships’ series – the idea that powerful individualities can share the results of their initiations which have developed their various bodies: physical, etheric, astral & I, with other worthy souls for the purpose of furthering human evolution.

In this last public lecture, he gives a truncated glimpse into the special relationship between John the Evangelist, who in earlier incarnations was Cain, Hiram Abiff, Christian Rosenkreutz, Count of St-Germain…& John the Baptist, who was the first man Adam, the Zealot Phinehas-grandson of Aaron & great-nephew of Moses, then the prophet Elijah, the painter Raphael, & the poet Novalis…

It is up to us now as part of the Centennial renewal to take up the threads.

Thru Steiner’s 5th Gospel we can understand that John the Baptist worked with all the apostles from the spiritual world after his beheading, becoming like the “overshadowing spirit of the disciples”

And in particular JB participated, along with other powerful individualities, in the first Christian initiation of a human being by Christ Jesus: the ‘Raising of Lazarus’ = An integration of the pure essence at the core of the ancient Mystery Schools with the New Christian Mysteries working simultaneously. And here we see this principle of ‘Spiritual Economy’ or as Marie Steiner called described it:  “incorporation secrets, the line of interception of individualities”. For while Lazarus was undergoing this new 4-day initiation, JB endowed Lazarus with his Consciousness Soul which he had achieved as Elijah, & the advanced level of his astral body as Spirit-Self. Bestowing on Lazarus the initiatory title John, which signifies the Air (Hebrew=Ruach) Initiation. Steiner describes the title John as “one who has awakened his higher self, who governs the occult forces of air”.

~Van Gogh

From the Last Address we hear: “At the rising of Lazarus, the spiritual being of John the Baptist, who since his death had been the overshadowing spirit of the disciples, penetrated from above into Lazarus as far as the Consciousness-Soul. The being of Lazarus himself, from below, intermingled with the spiritual being of John the Baptist from above. After the rising of Lazarus, this Being is Lazarus-John, the disciple whom the Lord loved. And he was then able to write the Gospel of John & the Book of Revelation”. ~Rudolf Steiner

This initiation of Lazarus-John, as a representative of future humanity, pre-figured on the micro-level the death & resurrection that Christ Jesus accomplished macrocosmically on Golgotha. Since this was such an important task, other powerful individualities not able to be mentioned at that time by Steiner in the Last Address, were involved:

The Being known as Zarathustra, who had incarnated as the Matthew Jesus, visited by his followers the 3 Magi, merging with the Nathan Soul of the Luke Jesus at age 12, who then left the body of Jesus of Nazareth at the Baptism by JB to allow the Christ to enter, worked now from the Moon Sphere, offering Lazarus his advanced etheric-body (Buddhi).

And it was Aristotle, who later became Rudolf Steiner, working with Michael from the Sun sphere at the Turning Point of Time, made his powers of Atman (Spirit-Man) available to Lazarus-John.

Christ himself bestowed the Higher “I”.

The Raising of Lazarus ~Juan De Flandes

Lazarus’ sister Mary Magdalene kept his physical body intact enough to rise from the grave (even though Martha his other sister said “by this time there is a bad odor…”) Mary worked thru the advanced power of her Sentient Soul to hold him grounded in the physical while he underwent the initiation.

Perhaps that is why some say ‘the Disciple who Jesus loved’ looked like a woman. Some say it was even Mary…

And so dear friends on this eve of Michaelmas thru the inspiration of Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Last Address’, as well as comments he made in connection to other incorporations, such as between Demetrius & Kaspar Hauser, which Steiner spoke about to Count Polzer-Hoditz a few weeks before he died, we can see that at the ‘Raising of Lazarus’ we are dealing with a new kind of Initiation where a human being stands before Christ, reaching from the earthly depths to the highest heavenly heights – Assisted thru the interception of spiritual organs of high initiates working from the Spiritual Worlds: John the Baptist, Zarathustra, Aristotle, & the Apostle of the Apostles Mary Magdalene.

May more threads of our evoultion continue to connect us in our seeking to be ‘Christ in me’.

~hag

28 September 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The full moon closest to the equinox, or Harvest Moon – rises just before sunset. It’s the last of 4 full supermoons in a row in 2023. Also, on September 28, look for the full super Harvest Moon to be about halfway between the 2 planets, very bright Jupiter and golden Saturn.

Humanity and divinity | thehumandivinedotorg
William Blake

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

551 BC – Birthday of Confucius, Chinese teacher, editor, politician, & philosopher of the Spring &Autumn period of Chinese history

1203 – Deathday of Alanus ab Insulis, Theologian, poet, teacher at Chartres. Alan’s philosophy was a sort of mixture of Aristotelian logic and Neoplatonic philosophy. The Platonist seemed to outweigh the Aristotelian in Alan, but he felt strongly that the divine is all intelligibility and argued this notion through much Aristotelian logic combined with Pythagorean mathematic

 “Do not hold as gold all that shines as gold”

In the Anticlaudianus he sums up as follows: Reason, guided by prudence, can unaided discover most of the truths of the physical order; for the apprehension of religious truths it must trust to faith. This rule is completed in his treatise, Ars catholicae fidei, as follows: Theology itself may be demonstrated by reason. Alainus even ventures an immediate application of this principle, & tries to prove geometrically the dogmas defined in the Creed

Rudolf Steiner speaks extensively about this powerful Platonic individuality in many place such as: Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies – Volume III, lecture VI – THE SCHOOL OF CHARTRES

Giovanni Segantini - Wikipedia

1899 – Deathday of Giovanni Segantini,an Italian painter known for his large pastoral landscapes of the Alps. He was one of the most famous artists in Europe in the late 19th century. In later life he combined a Divisionist painting style with Symbolist images of nature. He was active in Switzerland for most of his life.

TODAY in 1924 – Rudolf Steiner gave his ‘Last Address’ in Dornach GA 238  ‘The Individuality of Elias, John, Raphael, Novalis’ with the Michael Meditation:

Springing from Powers of the Sun,
Radiant Spirit-powers, blessing all Worlds!
For Michael’s garment of rays
Ye are predestined by Thought Divine.

He, the Christ-messenger, revealeth in you —
Bearing mankind aloft — the sacred Will of Worlds.
Ye, the radiant Beings of Aether-Worlds,
Bear the Christ-Word to Man.

Thus shall the Heralds of Christ appear
To the thirstily waiting souls,
To whom your Word of Light shines forth
In cosmic age of Spirit-Man.

Ye, the disciples of Spirit-Knowledge,
Take Michael’s Wisdom beckoning,
Take the Word of Love of the Will of Worlds
Into your soul’s aspiring, a c t i v e l y !

1978 – Deathday of Pope John Paul I, born Albino Luciani, served as Pope until his sudden suspicious death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history.

30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day – Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought

The time for biodynamic preparation making is upon us. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and working in the soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.

After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –

Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year?
Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye/ thank you.
Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?

Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm
Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner
Please bring a dish to share
Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.

Inscribed

Greetings Friends 
During this time after the Autumnal Equinox & the beginning of the Michaelmas Season, a shift occurs within us, echoing outside of us in nature, & reflected in various cultural expressions & traditions.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, comes 10 days after Rosh Hashanah, & is the culmination of the entire High Holy Day drama. It is the Holiest Day of the Jewish year or, as the Bible describes it, the “Sabbath of Sabbaths”. During the 24 hours of Yom Kippur, the biblical commandment to fast from food & water, while engaging in intense soul-searching, & praying for forgiveness is practiced. Yom Kippur is a day of inner purification & of reconciliation with the creator & with our fellow human beings. It is a reminder of the frailty of human existence & our duty to act charitably toward the less fortunate. 

This ancient tradition is just as important now as it was for our ancestors, maybe even more so.

Yom Kippur Sermon 2018: A Eulogy for Isaiah • Rabbi Jay Asher LeVine
Isaiah by Marc Chagall

The inspiring, yet sobering, words of Isaiah 58 are read publicly in the synagogue on Yom Kippur “This fasting I have chosen,” says the prophet Isaiah, “Is it not done to loose the chains of injustice & untie the cords of bondage? To set the oppressed free & break every yoke? Are we not meant to share our food with the hungry & to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, you must clothe him, & not turn away from your fellow man?”

Sin and forgiveness in Psalm 51 | Marc chagall, Painting, Chagall
Forgiveness Marc Chagall

It is the moment in time to dedicate mind, body, & soul to reconciliation – with God, our fellow human beings, & ourselves; a time to turn to those whom we have wronged, acknowledging the pain we might have caused. At the same time, being willing to forgive & to let go of certain offenses & the feelings of resentment they provoked in us. This journey for both seekers & givers of pardon mirrors the journey a soul takes after death.

There are number of customs & traditions associated with the Holy Day of Yom Kippur. For example: the mikvah, or ritual bath.  The scripture says “You shall immerse yourselves in water & be purified.” This practice, from which Christian baptism originated, symbolizes purification & regeneration, as well as new birth, through repentance. Another custom is to greet each other by saying ‘May your name be inscribed in the Book of Life’ Gmar Chatimah Tova.

The High Holy Days are divided into two parts: The first is the inscribing which begins on Rosh Hashanah & finishes on Yom Kippur when the final “sealing” of fate takes place for the year. Parents customarily bless their children with the priestly benediction: “May it be the will of our Father in Heaven to put into your heart love & reverence. May your eyes be directed, may your mouth speak wisdom, & your heart strive for holiness. May your hands be occupied with good deeds & your feet hasten to do the will of the divine. May He grant you sustenance without stress & with profit, out of His hand that is open wide. May you be inscribed & sealed unto a good, long life. And so shall it be. Amen.”

Our names are inscribed into the Mother Earth at the time of our birth. And thruout our many lives we add to this imprinting – Thru our thoughts, words & deeds – thru our interactions with other people, we create a trail that we traverse. And this pathway makes its mark.

So what happens to all that we inscribe into the Earth?

I think of the tale of ‘Eros & Fable’ by Novalis. In it there is a wise woman, named Sophia of course, who has a bowl of oracle water. When a scroll is immersed in it, all the nonessential writing is dissolved, leaving only what has lasting significance. Then this inscription is set into the great book.

But what happens to the rest? Does it become food for the adversary?

At this time of year we can imagine that our life story is dipped into this chalice. Our true name, our true eternal Self is not dissolved. But everything that must dissolve represents how we didn’t live up to our true name – How we missed the Mark.

And so it is that the question arises for each of us: How much of us is junk food & how much of our divine nature can be inscribed in the Book of Life?

It is also customary to give extra charity before the holiday, & to light memorial candles for departed family members.

As with all Jewish festivals, the woman formally ushers in the holiday by lighting the candles at sundown. Evening services commence with the recitation of the Kol Nidrei prayer, a plea for absolution from any & all unfulfilled vows a person may have made in the course of the year.

Chagall_20160928_042 | Landerneau en Finistère. Fondation Le… | Flickr |  Marc chagall, Chagall paintings, Chagall
Marc Chagall

Contrary to popular belief, Yom Kippur is a day of hope & optimism in addition to a solemn day of soul-searching. The Day of Atonement provides a unique awareness of one’s own character, a track record, as well as the opportunity to upgrade relationships with relatives, friends, associates & the community at-large. Yom Kippur’s focus on forgiveness, highlights humility, fallibility, compassion, soul-searching faith, thoughtfulness, being considerate, & accepting responsibility

Second vision. Adam as Mankind - Hildegard of Bingen | Medieval art, Sacred  art, Romanesque art
Hildegard

Cabalistic tradition states that the first human being, Adam, was created on Rosh Hashanah.  And so it is that Human-beings are given an opportunity to recreate themselves spiritually, each year, on Yom Kippur.  This holiday is celebrated when the constellation of the scales give way to the virgin as herald in the heavens. Libra & Virgo symbolize key themes of Yom Kippur: Justice, balance, truth, symmetry, wholeness.

Libra is ruled by the planet Venus which reflects the beauty of love, & Virgo is ruled by Mercury the god of communications.

a t H o m e

During this season it is customary to walk to a body of fresh water & recite a special prayer, symbolically casting bread crumbs into the waters, a symbol of our sins: those actions that have missed the mark.

Ho' oponopono & Let it Be

And now, at the risk of mixing metaphors, I’d like us to put into practice the Hawaiian ritual of forgiveness, called Ho‘oponopono – It stems from an understanding that everything in the world is connected, in spite of our feelings of ‘separateness’.

Healing Earth. You are the healers, teachers, and leaders of this new age.  You are here to bring through new informati… | Mother earth, Spirituality,  Energy healing
Trudy Suden

What we do to ourselves & others has repercussions. Because of this unity everything that occurs in our own little world creates a resonance in others & in society as a whole. To heal the planet we first have to heal ourselves; to do this, we will rely on four magic sentences: I am sorry.  Please forgive me.  I love you. Thank you. x4

In earnest wakefulness & practiced Peace –

~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler

AUTUMN EQUINOX
Soul Luminescence
v25
I may, belonging to myself now,
begin to shine a dawning inner light
across the darkening of space and time.
To sleep is nature’s urge;
the depths of soul shall wake
and bear the sun’s warm glow
through winter storms and snow.

The Equinox was on Saturday. I align the verses so that v38 is always
at Christmas, so this Equinox verse is a week late… until next year
when Christmas will be on Tuesday and the Autmn Equinox on Sunday.

This week’s mirror verse can be a meditation every morning on awakening.
MICHAELMAS 111
Soul Sunpower
v28

I can, revived within,
now feel my own wide breadth of being,
my strength of sun-empowered soul
whose radiance of thinking solves life’s riddles
and lifts the wish-fulfilling wings
left lame by hope.

24 September 2023 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The bright gibbous moon moves into the constellation Capricornus on the evenings of September 24 and 25. Comet Nishimura, has now moved from the morning sky to the evening sky. The comet is in bright twilight!

Lectures by Rudolf Steiner on this date

According to the Calendar othe Soul today is the Festival of Persephone, part of The Eleusinian Mysteries, held annually in honor of Demeter & Persephone. The most sacred & revered of all the ritual celebrations of ancient Greece. They were instituted in the city of Eleusis, just  west of Athens, possibly as far back as the early Mycenaean period, & continued for almost two thousand years. Large crowds of worshippers from all over Greece (& later, from throughout the Roman empire) would gather to make the holy pilgrimage between the two cities & participate in the secret rites, generally regarded as the high point of Greek life.

622 – Muhammad & his followers completed their Hijra from Mecca to Medina to escape religious persecution. Rudolf Steiner tells us Muhammad was able to see into the etheric realm. Legend has it that the enemy was just seconds from capturing them when they ducked into a cave, where they surly would been found, except a spider wove a giant web & a dove made a nest at the entrance, so when the enemy come to the cave they thought – they can’t be here, since the web was so intricate & the nest so well established.

Image result for Second Council of Nicaea

787 – Second Council of Nicaea: The council assembled at the church of Hagia Sophia

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1046 – Deathday(drowned) /Feast of St. Gellert

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1541 – Deathday (murdered) Theophrastus Paracelsus, a Swiss German philosopher, physician, botanist, astrologer, & occultist. He is credited as the founder of toxicology. He is also a famous revolutionary for utilizing observations of nature, rather than referring to ancient texts, something of radical defiance during his time. He is credited as the first to note that some diseases are rooted in psychological conditions.

Paracelsus’ most important legacy is his critique of the scholastic methods in medicine, science & theology. As a physician of the early 16th century, Paracelsus held a natural affinity with the Hermetic, Neoplatonic, & Pythagorean philosophies central to the Renaissance. Paracelsus rejected the magic theories of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa & Nicolas Flamel in his Archidoxes of Magic.

Astrology was a very important part of Paracelsus’ medicine & he was a practicing astrologer. Paracelsus devoted several sections in his writings to the construction of astrological talismans for curing disease. He also invented an alphabet called the Alphabet of the Magi, for engraving angelic names upon talismans.

1916 – Rudolf Steiner’s 2nd lecture on the Mexican Mysteries

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1789 – The United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act which creates the office of the United States Attorney General & the federal judiciary system, & orders the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States

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1869 – “Black Friday“: Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould & James Fisk plot to control the market

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1896 – Birthday of F. Scott Fitzgerald, novelist & short story writer

1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation’s first National Monument

1914 – World War I: The Siege of Poland begins

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1948 – The Honda Motor Company is founded

1950 – Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada & New England. A blue moon is seen as far away as Europe

1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation

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1960 – USS Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched

SUNDAY 24 September 2023

Community Prep-Stir / Potluck / Bon-fire 

Celebrating:

*The Autumnal Equinox

*World Eurythmy Day

*Yom Kippur

*Michaelmas Festival

6 – 8 pm at the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg domicile

Please Bring Food & Drink to share, & a jar for the prep

RSVP Hazel@ReverseRitual.com

30 September 2023 – Our Annual Michaelmas Festival & Zinniker Farm Day – Biodynamic preparation making and Michaelmas 2023 – Food for Thought

The time for biodynamic preparation making is upon us. We will be making and burying the chamomile, yarrow and dandelion compost preparations. This offers hands on activity. We will be walking through grass and working in the soil. Please dress accordingly and be ready to get dirty.

After the potluck join Hazel Archer-Ginsberg in an experiential activity at the bon-fire called: Food for Thought –

Bounty: What spiritual gifts have you harvested in your life so far this year?
Farewells: What no longer serves? What is over? Say good-bye/ thank you.
Preserves: What will you keep as seed for the future?

Date: September 30th, 2023 at the Zinniker Farm
Time: 1:30pm, potluck dinner
Please bring a dish to share
Suggested donation: $15-25 for more info.