11.11.22

Biography, Celestial Event, Festival, Rudolf Steiner Quote, video recording
~hag

Greetings dear friends – Today, 11.11.22, is the perfect occasion to begin a sharing of my recent AAP experience, being that it is Martinmas. This Feast Day exemplifies the theme of our seminar: Sacrifice & the healing of the ‘Sacred Wound’.  I invite you to explore with me the ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’ given by Steiner around this time of year in 1911. It takes the depictions from ‘Occult Science’ & ‘Cosmic Memory’ to a whole new level, bringing us into the inner experience of the hierarchical beings themselves!  

In the 1st lecture, given on All Hallows, we take a journey into the aspects of the ancient Saturn embodiment of Earth. Steiner describes his struggle to enter into this existence clairvoyantly, how it must be approached with ‘inner firmness’ & certainty’. He reveals that as a modern human being this realm can fill us with ‘fear & terror at the sight of Saturn’s endless void’, because there is an absence of all space & time. Steiner gives us the tools to counteract this sickening vertigo thru the suggestion to uphold the virtues of Christ found within practical Anthroposophy & the Gospels.  When we can get past our horror of the void, by grounding ourselves in love, trust, gratitude, & the will to serve, we can encounter The Thrones, the Spirits of Will, as a ‘surging sea of courage’.

At the same time what lights up for us is a sense of Harmony streaming in from The Cherubim. This becomes a glow that stirs a divine reverence within the Spirits of Will, inspiring them to sacrifice their very Being to the Cherubim. Steiner gives a beautiful imagination of the Thrones kneeling with complete devotion & courage before the Cherubim, offering the flaming warmth of reverence. From this sacrificial union Time is born – The Beings of Time – The Archai. This warmth is the spirit behind what we experience on earth in the physical form of the element of fire.

When we live into these pictures of experience we realize that the existence of these ancient forces work on into our present age & will continue on into the future thru our understanding & active participation.

Next we will enter the experience of the ancient Sun embodiment of Earth.

~hag

Until then, Remember, that as we journey into the darkest time of the year, we can kindle warmth within our soul forces. The example of Martin’s cloak can remind us of the sacrifice of the Spirits of Will in our primal beginnings. This Festival is a call to emulate the higher spiritual beings.

Celebrating Martinmas renews our divine spark so that we may warm the world in our true becoming.

~hag  

~hag

Here is a recording of ‘Martinmas & the 11:11 Phenomenon‘ – The story of St. Martin with Nancy Melvin; & then starting at 25:42 – The 11:11 connection with Hazel Archer

11.11.22 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning gibbous Moon rises less than an hour after nightfall is complete, with Mars shining to her upper right. A week ago it was Jupiter’s turn with the Bella Luna, & 3 days before that it was Saturn’s. The Moon doesn’t play favorites; She makes a point of visiting each planet every month, not to mention its own phase-maker, the Sun.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

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Feast Day of Martin of Tours.

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1918 – Armistice of 11/11 ending the fighting in the First World War between the Allies & Germany – also known as the Armistice of Compiègne after the location in which it was signed – &the agreement that ended the fighting on the Western Front. It went into effect at 11 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 (“the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”), & marked a victory for the Allies & a complete defeat for Germany, although not formally a surrender. The Germans were responding to the policies proposed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson* in his Fourteen Points of January 1918. Although the armistice ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty, the Treaty of Versailles. And the world is still at war.

*”…‘Spiritual science brings forward a truth such as: What takes place in the historical life of man, and consequently in the life of political impulses, has nothing to do with the ordinary consciousness, it can have nothing to do with it; but can only be understood and applied through imaginative consciousness.’ We might even say as regards the most distinctive representatives of the anti-social historic conception, that President Wilson’s view must be replaced by an imaginative knowledge of the truth. And Wilson’s ideas are very widespread (far more people are of his way of thinking than is supposed). Names are of no moment, only the facts under which men live are of consequence. I may be allowed to be somewhat outspoken about Wilson, because in the course of lectures given in Helsingfors before the war, already then I pronounced my judgment of him and did not need to wait for the war to learn of what spirit he is who sits on the throne of America. At that time fulsome praise of Woodrow Wilson could be heard everywhere; it has not long ceased. The world is now very much wiser, and knows that the man who now occupies the throne of America drafted his most powerful republican document from one issued by the late Emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro, in 1864. Wilson copied this exactly except that the passage, ‘I must intervene in the interests of South America’ is altered to ‘I must intervene in the interests of the United States of America,’ etc., with the necessary recasting.” ~Rudolf Steiner, THE PRESENT POSITION OF SPIRITUAL SCIENCE.

“…If we follow this Muavija, one of the earliest successors of the Prophet, as he passes along the undercurrent and then appears again, we find Woodrow Wilson.

In a shattering way the present links itself with the past. A bond is suddenly there between present and past. And if we observe how on the sea of historical happenings there surges up as it were the wave of Muavija, and again the wave of Woodrow Wilson, we perceive how the undercurrent flows on through the sea below and appears again — it is the same current.

I believe that history becomes intelligible only when we see how what really happens has been carried over from one epoch into another. Think of the abstraction., the rigid abstraction, of the Fourteen Points. Needless to say, the research did not take its start from the Fourteen Points — but now that the whole setting lies before you, look at the configuration of soul that comes to expression in these Fourteen Points and ask yourselves whether it could have taken root with such strength anywhere else than in a follower of Mohammed.

Take the fatalism that had already assumed such dimensions in Muavija and transfer it into the age of modern abstraction. Feel the similarity with Mohammedan sayings: “Allah has revealed it”; “Allah will bring it to pass as the one and only salvation.” And then try to understand the real gist of many a word spoken by the promoter of the Fourteen Points. — With no great stretch of imagination you will find an almost literal conformity.

Thus, when we are observing human beings, we can also speak of a reincarnation of ideas. And then for the first time insight is possible into the growth and unfolding of history.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies – Volume I

1821 – Birthday of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian philosopher & author

1855 – Deathday of Soren A. Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher, theologian, & cultural critic who was a major influence on existentialism & Protestant theology in the 20th century. He attacked the literary, philosophical, & ecclesiastical establishments of his day for misrepresenting the highest task of human existence—namely, becoming a free human being in an ethical & religious sense.

1887 – August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer & George Engel are executed as a result of the Haymarket affair. It began Tuesday May 4, 1886, as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day & in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast & ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers & at least four civilians; scores of others were wounded.

The Haymarket affair is generally considered significant as the origin of international May Day observances for workers. The site of the incident was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1992, & a public sculpture was dedicated there in 2004.

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1966 – Deathday of Hilde Boos-Hamburger, painter & co-worker with Rudolf Steiner EXPERIENCES IN PAINTING THE CUPOLAS OF THE FIRST GOETHEANUM by Hilde Boos-Hamburger

“Every artistically striving person making closer acquaintance with Rudolf Steiner and his anthroposophy is likely to have experienced in a quite individual manner the agreeable shock: here lie all the possibilities for the further development of art. In one way or another it may have gone with him as with the writer of these recollections when she first read through (not yet actually studied!) the book Theosophy, without understanding the essential, yet riveted by the crystal-bright formation of this work, and having to say to herself: Even if I cannot survey it, it is nonetheless evident: Here lies a comprehensive work of art! This first impression did not deceive, for with every subsequent work taken up, every book, every lecture, not to mention the Mystery Dramas, there opened up new experiences and vistas previously undreamed of. – These will surely be found most felicitously expressed in the poem by Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914) dedicated to Rudolf Steiner:

“To beauty does your work lead:
For beauty in the end
Streams in through every revelation
That surrounds us.
Out of human-sufferings
Upward to ever higher harmonies
You release the dizzying feeling,
Till, united
In accord with the
Inestimable proclaimer of GOD
And HIS never-to-be-grasped splendor
It vibrates in the love-light
Of blessedness….
From beauty does your work come, to beauty does it lead.”

Faust goes down to the Mothers

Biography, Community, Festival, History, Insight, Poetry

Many of the essay’s here on the RR blog take their inspiration from themes presented by the seasonal round, promoting a co-creation with divine spiritual beings. I work to tie this into the idea of Occult History in light of Anthroposophia – which reveals world karma.

Spiritual Science tells us that the current Michael epoch began in November of 1879. A time when as the human soul forces were increasingly being darkened by materialism, spiritual light began to shine into this darkness (for those who seek to see in the dark). This creates a special double-sided light/dark quality to November.

TODAY 9 November, holds a power spot in the wheel of the year. It is just after the actual astrological Crossquarter time between the Autumn Equinox & the Winter Solstice, bringing us the festival season of All-Souls Tide which open us to the spiritual world where we can more powerfully work with the dead.

Rudolf Steiner notes that on this date in history Goethe has Faust go down to the Mothers, the spiritual archetypes of existence. Mephisto -Ahriman sought to persuade Faust not to take up this poetic spiritual deed. He lied to him about the spirit light which gestates there in the darkness, & declared the spiritual world to be ‘a nothing’.

On 9 November 1888 Rudolf Steiner gave the lecture ‘Goethe as the Founder of a New Science of Aesthetics’ afterward Cistercian Priest Wilhelm Neumann told him that while he was speaking, in a flash of karmic lighting, he saw Steiner as Thomas Aquinas! This was the initial event that led Steiner to the systematic construction of his Spiritual Scientific karmic research, which he later called his “core mission”.

Larry Young

3 x’s 7 years later, Rudolf Steiner spoke of the greatest spiritual event of our time – the incarnation of Ahriman in the West. In total Steiner spoke of this event in 8 lectures, 5 of which fell in November. In 1919 he gives the most precise indication as to when this incarnation would take place: “Before even a part of the 3rd millennium will have elapsed”. One of Ahriman’s tasks is to possess human beings with the fear of the spirit.

Do we have the courage to overcome this fear – giving us the goal of recognizing the doings of this adversarial being – to see the signs of its incarnation here in America? If we take up this task in equanimity we help usher in a world-historical opportunity for the development of new spiritual capacities.  

For this we are called.

~hag

Here are some other November 9th threshold events:

9 November 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The waning gibbous Moon shines with the Pleiades, Aldebaran, and Mars late these evenings.

Also TODAY 9 Nov. Uranus is in opposition with the Sun in Aries. (thanks Steve Hale)

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 Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

 ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1888 – Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Aquinas experience’ – after giving a lecture on ‘Goethe as father of a new aesthetics’ the Cistercian priest Wilhelm Neumann, Steiner’s friend made this remark: “The seeds of this lecture you gave today are to be found already in Thomas Aquinas”. This opened Steiner to his earlier incarnation.

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1918 – The second German Empire ends – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, & Germany is proclaimed a Republic.

1923 – Hitler’s attempted coup in Munich

9–10 November 1938 – Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany, carried out by SA paramilitary forces and German civilians. The German authorities looked on without intervening.  Jewish homes, hospitals, & schools were ransacked, as the attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers.  The rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria, & the Sudetenland, & over 7,000 Jewish businesses were either destroyed or damaged. Kristallnacht was followed by additional economic & political persecution of Jews, it is viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany’s broader racial policy, & the beginning of the Final Solution & The Holocaust.

1989 –Fall of the Berlin Wall: East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel to West Berlin

~Hail claw in my heart
Talon of the Hawk
Bearer of animal urges…
Hail star in darkness
White spider legs dancing on a web of night
I’ve made my home within
The bitter herb I drank killed & cleansed & freed me
& yet the dark moon dragon
Still spills fire water on the wings of the dove
Stealing ashes from the Phoenix
To set my teeth on edge…
As I prepare to meet the Baba Yaga
The sun angles oblique
A golden seed
Staring at the corn
Husks rustle & blink bare
Like a scorpion sting I cling & spit
And now
The work continues…
~hag

Eclipse Report

Biography, Celestial Event
Oksana Budnichenko

So friends, let’s check-in. How is the Full Lunar eclipse playing out for you? How was your night/early morning? – Anything to report? Together we can tally up our experiences for spiritual scientific research. Can you still feel the shadow which is indeed lingering in the etheric, or has the poison been transformed into medicine?

So far I have received a handful of accounts that mention troubled sleep, disturbing dreams or body discomfort; & another handful reporting encounters with their beloved dead across the threshold. A few friends did eurythmy, or sang. And a bunch of folks said they didn’t engage because it was cloudy…I admit it is compelling to actually witness these cosmic & earthly events, but even if we can’t see them physically in the sense world, the energies are there, working even more insidiously because we are not consciously taking them up.

I fell into the category of having nightmares, & actually one of the characters is across the threshold with the ‘so-called dead’. I tossed & turned & kept looking at the clock to see what time it was. Finally when I saw 3:33 am I knew that was my sign to rise up & get to work – I peeked outside my bedroom window, & yep, there she was – Bella Luna with the bite of the eclipse in progress. My cat was mewling, I thought she wanted breakfast, but no, she couldn’t wait to go out into the nocturnal scene.

The sky was completely clear. From my backyard garden I could see Orion’s Belt pointing down to scintillating Sirius with its rainbow colors, which set off the blazing orange of Mars high above.  Aldebaran & the 7 Sisters of the Pleiades were less distinct as they held witness.

At first I stood at the threshold of my kitchen doorway, where the event was unfolding in its frame, remembering how Ernst Katz, a teacher of Anthroposophy & professor of physics at the University of Michigan, used to say that he would never step out into the night during an eclipse. The energies were too overwhelming for him.

As I prayed the ‘Our Father’, taking each of the 7 lines as a universe unto itself, the bright light of Bella Luna was rapidly being diminished by the shadow of our Earth. I was surprised how fast the darkness moved. I worked a bit with the Prologue to John’s Gospel, but then felt called to alternate between the 5th panel of the Foundation Stone Meditation & the Lord’s Prayer.

As the eclipse was nearing totality, I kept feeling drawn – no compelled – to go outside & my speaking became more emphatic, which woke CG my beloved. When he saw what was happening he said let’s go out. Ok I thought – when 2 or more are gathered – so we grabbed coats & stepped into the highly charged atmosphere. It was after 5 am & the totality brought Andromeda into the mix. Whereas before, the darkness had moved so quickly, now as the luminary became rust red, time seemed to stop.

I kept up the prayers, adding this Steiner verse which I like to do along with the eurythmy gesture for ‘Love A’ over & over.

“In purest outpoured light shimmers the godhead of the world.
In purest love toward all the lives
Outpours the godhood of my soul
I rest within the godhead of the world
There shall I find myself within the godhead of the world”.

It was after 6 am & I actually started to feel a wave of panic – like the light was never going to return, so I prayed ever more earnestly & spoke the 5th panel centering on the ‘Cosmic Spirit-Light of the World’ – calling to Michael who stands with us – that humanity may hold the shield & sword of light.

Just then CG & I saw a shooting star! This was such a powerful affirmation, especially because I had several close encounters with shooting stars while I was at Kimberton Camphill, which is a story for another day.

Finally around 6:30 am, as the moon was sliding ever Westward, we could see the top of Bella Luna lighting up to look like a silver chalice that had been turned on its head. As the illumination pushed down, it appeared to us to resemble the blackboard drawing by Rudolf Steiner for Lesson 12 where he shows the human eye looking up into cosmic expanses. This impression was carried behind the tenement building as the Eastern sky lit up with the dawn.

Coming inside the warm house really felt like a homecoming – back to Earth & the human realm. I made some biodynamic Zinniker eggs & we talked over our impressions as the Sun came up.

What an extraordinary journey. All day I have felt heightened, lack of sleep can lift me out of myself a bit. The atmosphere still seems extra permeated with layers of unnamable forces. I wonder what effect it will have – on our midterm elections – & in the long run. How do we work to employ these kinds of cosmic & earthly opportunities to strengthen of our human evolution..?

With you in the Christ-Light

~hag

Daniel Bonnell

“Driven by the Spirit into the Desert” with Rev. Patrick Kennedy 
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Branch of the Anthroposophical Society invites you to 

Join us for a webinar on Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 3:00 PM EST

Our spiritual evolution does not take place separate from what is happening in the world. What used to take place in the hidden places of mystery schooling in the world is now a factor within history: The school of our becoming is life itself. In this presentation we will pick up the key elements that Rudolf Steiner names in his lecture from July 30th of 1918 and with them see better into the nature of what is happening in our time. What is revealed places us within powerful cultural streams of the present time – “Americanism, Bolshevism and Jesuitism” – and reveals the profound challenge we are called to face in establishing the truly a human – and a truly human culture – within this context. It is a societal level expression of what is revealed as a mystery image at the opening of the ancient gospel texts: the temptation of Jesus in the desert.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WDtT9UNVT2-5dS8KxGgdLw

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In preparation for this webinar, please read the following lecture: 

https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/19180730p01.html

Proceeds will benefit the Seminary of the Christian Community in North America

Bio:

In April of 2006, Patrick Kennedy was consecrated into the priesthood in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to attending the seminary in Stuttgart, Germany, Patrick studied and worked in the field of early childhood education and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz in cultural anthropology. He has worked as a priest in the congregations in Devon, Pennsylvania and the Greater Washington, D.C., area. Then, in Chestnut Ridge, New York, he took up the roles of both seminary director and resident priest in the local congregation. In July 2019, Patrick, his family, and the entire seminary moved to the Toronto area.

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Shining a Light into the Darkness

Path of Knowledge inner development is itself a process of shining light into the darkness. 

As social challenges are intensifying, we are called upon more urgently to develop new capacities in understanding the human being, nature and medicine in wholeness. This series will focus on historical thinking influences which still darkly affect the soul of every modern human being. 

Because we see everywhere today that the “light shines into the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not”, what is our response to the recognition of darkness which lives within the thinking of each of us?

This series is open to all who study anthroposophy.

Proceeds will benefit anthroposophic organizations worldwide.

For a list of all webinars in this series:

https://www.ideasbookstorekimberton.com/zoom

SE PA Branch of the A.S.A. thanks IDEAS Bookstore for hosting the series’ announcement/registration page.

Election Eclipse

Calendar of the Soul, Celestial Event, Insight, Quote, Rudolf Steiner Quote

Dear Friends – I am just now landing back from the AAP training with many insights that I hope to share soonly. But I want to send out this message tonight before the Lunar Eclipse begins at 2:02 am CT – so that we might make it our intention to tune in together – to hold the light in the dark. But even if you are reading this after the fact – the eclipse energy is written in the astral script – so, you can still add your enchristened enegries into the mix!

I have often commented on the extremely interesting fact that the ‘powers that be’ have deliberately chosen to hold elections on a Tuesday – the day associated with the planet Mars – bringing with it all the patriarchal associations of male control, war & aggression; but can also provide us with the will for action if we choose to direct our passions for justice & not martial power over, tuning in instead to the Buddha energies that seek to reach us now from the red planet.    

Another thing to ponder is that elections are always held during the season of All Soul-Tide, when the veils between the worlds are thin. Those of us who work with the “so-called dead” know how powerful & healing this interaction can be. The question is how are the ‘powers that be’ working with them?

Rudolf Steiner’s research tells us that: “Certain occult brotherhoods, however, make it their business to work in exactly the opposite sense; they want to retain the wisdom exclusively within their own narrow circles, in order to exploit it in connection with their lusts for power. We are living in the midst of this struggle.”

Ok, so that’s a lot to ponder with just a regular election day – but this year is especially fraught: Starting this evening – in the middle of the night – at 2:02 am Central Time – is the beginning of the Lunar eclipse of the Full ‘Mourning Moon’ – 8 November– Election Day  2022 –

2:02 am CT – Penumbral Eclipse begins – The Earth’s penumbra start touching the Moon’s face. 

3:09 am- Partial Eclipse begins – Partial moon eclipse starts – moon is getting red.

4:16 am – Total Eclipse begins – Total moon eclipse starts – completely red moon.

4:59 am – Maximum Eclipse – Moon is closest to the center of the shadow.

5:41 am – Total Eclipse ends – Total moon eclipse ends.
Moon close to horizon, so make sure you have free sight to West-northwest

6:40 am – Setting – Moonset

6:49 am –  Not directly visible – Partial Eclipse ends Below horizon

7:56 am – Not directly visible – Penumbral Eclipse ends Below horizon

To add to this eclipse energy we also hear Speaking: The Sun, Mercury and Venus which are all in the constellation of Libra, the Scales.

Mercury will be behind the Sun (in superior conjunction with the Sun). This all takes place in the descending Lunar Node, the tail of the dragon, and will stand opposite the Full Moon Total Eclipse – conjunct Uranus in the ascending Lunar Node, the head of the dragon, in the stars of the Aries the Ram!

PLUS: This potent configuration of planets will be in a T-square (at 90-degree angle) to Saturn in Capricorn – which creates a confrontational relationship with Mars.

Here are some curated inspights from astrosopher Jonathan Hilton: ‘In astrosophy, one can understand these lunar nodes as significant cosmic portals or gateways. They are, in a sense, open doors between the cosmic realm and the earthly realm where cosmic forces from the higher spiritual solar spheres may stream unobstructed by the envelope of the lunar sphere into the Earth sphere. Perhaps many of you are aware of the significance of the Moon Node returns in human biography, when the lunar nodes return after 18.6 years to their place at the human birth, thus, opening up the cosmic realm in human biography and bringing new developmental impulses into the human life. So, in a general sense when a planet is in a lunar node, one can say that its impulses are streaming more directly into the Earth sphere and are more accessible.

These nodes are also the source of eclipses, because when the Sun and Moon are along the same axis in these nodes at the same time, the Earth will stand directly between the Sun and Moon causing the Sun to be blocked from shining on the Moon while the Earth shadow passes across the Moon.

These eclipses can be seen as omens of evil and danger, for the Sun activity is blocked allowing the lower “shadow beings” of the Moon to be let loose upon the Earth, since they are not held in check by the sunlight on the Moon.

So here we have, setting up our Election Day, this potential for the subconscious, lower astral forces, or “evil thoughts” to influence or “possess” human souls.”

This eclipse is also occurring with the Moon conjunct Uranus in the Dragon’s Head ascending node, Uranus can be used by the opposing forces to arouse the lower astral forces or, as Steiner says, to attract the evil thoughts which are present in the cosmos to approach ‘those human beings who are desirous of being possessed by them’.

It is for this reason, that we who can be conscious, meet this event with the full presence of the Christic forces of the true I AM, the Spiritual Sun – awake to the working of subconscious forces.

Remember that also in this picture of the Lunar Eclipse Moon and Uranus, we also see standing opposite, the Sun conjunct Mercury and nearby Venus in the stars of the Scales. Mercury and Venus are more of the nature of the Sun and can become real tools of transformation for human beings to consciously work with.

So, with Mercury, Sun, and Venus in the Scales, the stars of Michael, the stars of the threshold, we can hear the cosmic beings speaking to us to address the challenge of this eclipse configuration with Uranus; to recognize the help of Michael in the battle in which we find ourselves on the threshold between the higher thinking and the lower dragon forces which want to drag humanity down into ever darker materialism and the old forms of the past. This configuration altogether can be taken up in contemplation on many levels as a picture of the need in humanity to raise our thinking, to stand on the threshold, and consciously employ the Christ ego force in our thinking and will to transform and heal in this time of transition.

But there’s more: This Eclipse configuration with Moon and Uranus in Aries opposite Sun, Mercury, Venus in Libra comes into a T-square with the planet Saturn in Capricorn. The meaning of this takes us again back to the events of 2020 and the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Capricorn at solstice/Christmas 2020 – setting the stage for the ‘Corona’/ covid experience.

The stars of Capricorn carry both a past and future vision of destruction, catharsis and initiation. They carry both the memory of the Great War in Heaven on Ancient Moon evolution as well as the vision of the 7th Cultural Age and the end of our Epoch which brings the War of All Against All.

Saturn in a square relationship to this eclipse configuration reveals the struggle, the confrontation and conflicts we carry within our humanity around our shared world karma. It wants to bring us back on track with the Divine Plan of evolution, through whatever karma must be taken up to do so. It also stands as a question, reminding us of who we are from our origins and asking us how we will meet this eclipse moment.

One of the most powerful lectures by Steiner is his lecture on the Mystic Lamb, from The Influence of Spiritual Beings on Man, GA 102. In it he develops a picture of the zodiac and the human being in evolution in relation to the Christ. This picture of the mystic lamb can be a balm for us during the eclipse.

Libra – Sun, Mercury, Venus: Michael offering; Heart-thinking; Humanity on the Threshold between the dragon and the divine wisdom; standing between worlds holding the balance through the I AM.

Aries – Moon, Uranus: The new clair-thinking; Imaginative thinking and the Spirit Self; the true I AM; the Lamb of God who sacrificed for humanity

Capricorn – Saturn: the Father Will; World karma and the divine plan of evolution at work through catharsis; cosmic memory of our true nature and our evolutionary goals; the great division and War that will ultimately lead to reunion.

In this context of the significance of Saturn in this configuration, and the karmic call of the Father memory for the I Am to become active and awakened in humanity, I am reminded of Steiner’s re-phrasing of the Prologue to John’s Gospel in Lecture 7 of The Pre-Earthly Deeds of Christ, GA 152.

May we carry this thought into this eclipse configuration:

In the Primal Beginning is Memory,
And the Memory lives on further,
And Divine is the Memory.
And the Memory is Life.
And this Life is the Ego of Man
Which streams into Man himself,
Not he alone, the Christ in him.
When he remembers the Divine Life
In his Memory is the Christ.
And as the radiant Life of Memory
Christ will pour Light
Into every Darkness of the immediate present. ~Rudolf Steiner

~from Jonathan Hilton, read the whole article here: Astrosophy.com

Working with The Lord’s Prayer, & the 5th panel of the foundation Stone Meditation are also very powerful now.

Blessings my dear Michaelic Warriors as we carry the sheild & hold the sword of light during this time out of time

~hag

RUDOLF STEINER’S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
translated (with added titles) by Roy Sadler
ALL HALLOWTIDE II
The Ripening Of Creative Powers
v31
The light from spirit depths
strives outwards like the sun,
becomes life’s strength of will
and shines in senses’ dullness
to birth the forces
that ripen creative powers
in human work the soul initiates.

This is the third verse of the Light Quartet, that begins with v5, when the light from spirit depths reveals the gods’ creative work, and culminates in v48 with the awakening of love in the human heart. Its mirror is the second one, v22, when summer’s light became the spirit light in us to raise the fruits whose ripening will lead us to our higher self.
Rudolf Steiner once spoke of how with every breath of air, we take not only air but also light into ourselves and that we transform this light within us and make it our own as we do any other substance: we digest it, that is, we make it an integral part of our self (qv. The Archangel Michael 11/30/1919).

AUTUMN PRELUDE II
The Ripening Of Self
v22
The cosmic light lives on with inner power,
becomes the light of soul
and shines in depths of spirit
to birth the fruits
that in the couse of time will ripen
the human Self from Cosmic Self.

Cut Bait

Autumn, Community, Festival, History, Poetry
~Mister Tee

POD (Poem Of the day)

~My soul duels with worms
Hidden in the clay of being
That would gnaw the scroll of mythos
Witch i carry in my heart whole
& speak thru the living word…
No worries
I will cut bait & continue singing…
~hag

31 October 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Halloween Moon this year is first quarter (exactly first quarter at 1:37 am CDT tonight). It hangs in the south in early evening, with distant Saturn glowing steadily to its upper left. Much farther left of Saturn is brighter Jupiter. As night deepens, the dim boat-shaped pattern of Capricornus emerges shyly behind Saturn and the Moon.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Daniel Maclise

All-an-tide (Cornwall)

The first day of All-Hallows-Tide, observed until November 7 (Western Christianity)

Halloween (Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom, United States etc…)

Hop-tu-Naa is a Celtic festival celebrated in the Isle of Man on 31 October. Predating Halloween, it is the celebration of the original New Year’s Eve (Oie Houney). It is thought to be the oldest unbroken tradition in the Isle of Man

Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season & the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year. It is the cross quarter between the autumn equinox & the winter solstice.

The Mound of the Hostages, a Neolithic passage tomb at the Hill of Tara, is aligned with the Samhain sunrise. It is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature & many important events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain.

It was the time when cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures & when livestock were slaughtered for the winter. As at Beltane, special bonfires were lit.

Like Beltane, Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world & the Otherworld could more easily be crossed. This meant the Aos Sí, the ‘spirits’ or ‘fairies’, could more easily come into our world. Offerings of food & drink were left outside for them.

The souls of the dead were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend & a place set at the table for them.

Mumming & guising were part of the festival, & involved people going door-to-door in costume (or in disguise), often reciting verses in exchange for food.

Divination rituals & games were also a big part of the festival.

The first day of the Day of the Dead, celebrated until November 2 (Spanish: Día de Muertos) The multi-day holiday focuses on gatherings of family to pray for & remember members who have died, & help support their spiritual journey.

Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, & the favorite foods & beverages of the departed, & visiting graves with these as gifts. Visitors also leave possessions of the deceased at the graves.

Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world, being absorbed within other deep traditions for honoring the dead.

On this day in 683 AD: The Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam, is burned to the ground

683 – During the Siege of Mecca, the Kaaba, catches fire & burns down. The literal meaning of the Arabic word ka`bah (كَعْبَة) is “cube”, or “House of God”, considered the most sacred site in Islam, a similar role to the Tabernacle & Holy of Holies in Judaism.

503 years ago, on Oct. 31, 1517, the story goes, that the small-town monk, Martin Luther, marched up to the castle church in Wittenberg & nailed his ‘95 Theses’ to the door, lighting the flame of the Reformation — the split between the Catholic & Protestant churches. Luther’s act is one of the cornerstones of world history, & remains a lasting symbol of resistance.

Nearly all of American history bears the imprint of that act of protest. Luther’s challenge, the protection he obtained, & the reformers he inspired laid the foundation for the establishment of colonial America.

In 1934, an African American pastor from Georgia made the trip of a lifetime, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, through the gates of Gibraltar, and across the Mediterranean Sea to the Holy Land. After this pilgrimage, he traveled to Berlin, attending an international conference of Baptist pastors. While in Germany, this man — who was named Michael King — became so impressed with what he learned about the reformer Martin Luther that he decided to do something dramatic. He offered the ultimate tribute to the man’s memory by changing his own name to Martin Luther King. His 5-year-old son was also named Michael — and to the son’s dying day his closest relatives would still call him Mike — but not long after the boy’s father changed his own name, he decided to change his son’s name too, & Michael King Jr. became known to the world as Martin Luther King Jr.

Another dynamic measure of the influence of Martin Luther is the quintessentially modern idea of the individual — of our personal responsibility before ourselves & our God, rather than before any institution, whether church or state. This was as unthinkable before Luther. The contemporary idea of “The People,” along with the democratic impulse that proceeds from it –  The more recent ideas of pluralism, religious liberty, & self-government all entered history through the door that Luther opened.

Luther’s second unyielding act of courage was at the ‘imperial diet’ held in the city of Worms in 1521, when he made it clear that he feared God’s judgment more than the judgment of church leaders in that room.

And suddenly the individual had the freedom & possibility of thinking for themselves.

Martin Luther was not inclined to tilt at papal windmills. In fact, until about 1520 he was a vigorous champion of the church. He desired desperately to help Rome elude the fate it ended up experiencing. In fact, in a case of Oedipusian irony he became the very man who brought about everything he had hoped to avoid. As his story illustrates, it was a sublime & ridiculous decoction of forces that created the perfect storm that burst over the European continent, creating what we now call the Reformation.

Today the Catholic & Lutheran churches are taking the memory of 1517 in hand. Pope Francis joined leaders of the Lutheran World Federation in Sweden to hold a joint service in a spirit of unity after 500 years of division.

1517 – Deathday of Fra Bartolomeo, Italian artist

1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards. Riots break out in New Delhi & other cities – 4,000 Sikhs are killed.

VeraPavlova.

On All Hallows-tide, the eve of All Saints’ Day, it was a Medieval Christian tradition for the poor to go to wealthy homes offering to pray for the recently departed in that household, since folks knew that prayers could help the dead on their journey in the after-life. And as a token of their appreciation, the rich would give them food & beer.

Many Halloween customs come from this same ritual. Visitors would show up holding lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips with candles inside, which represented souls in purgatory. Masses were held so that souls wouldn’t feel neglected & haunt believers. There were costumes & masks, & mummers plays to depict the various stages of the after-life.

But after the Protestant Reformation — which can be traced back to a different Oct. 31 event (exactly 500 years ago today): Martin Luther’s 1517 publication of his 95 theses — the idea that souls could be saved in this way began to lose popularity in many of the new denominations.

Some Catholics kept up the practice of going door-to-door on the eve of All Saints’ Day, which became known as “Souling.” By the 1840s, when a wave of Irish & Scottish immigrants brought the custom to the U.S., it was basically a pagan/secular pastime. Young people danced outside tenement apartments in exchange for gifts. Costumes were made out of old clothes, & faces painted with burnt corks, while tricks included stuffing cabbages in chimneys & whacking each other with bags of flour.

Although the Irish Catholics faced widespread prejudice, the celebration having been stripped of its Catholic underpinning, quickly proved to be popular. As those immigrants began to assimilate, newspapers reported the custom trending among 19th century college students. In the early 1900s, high schools, rotary clubs & charities began to throw Halloween parties. By the 1930s, North America had a new term for the old tradition: Trick-or-Treating. And as suburban swelled in the 1950s, Trick-or-Treating grew into the kid-friendly practice seen today.

Here in America, Halloween calls for an interaction with spooky strangers, that come out of the night, knocking on our door, shouting, give me a treat or you’ll get a trick. On a spiritual level, trick-or-treat, can be seen as a demand that strangers, a symbol of the unfamiliar parts of ourselves, give up their gifts to us. There is a lot of energy that gets locked up in the dark, & Halloween is an opportunity for us to dialogue with the dark, the shadow side of The Self, & call that energy back.

Light & dark are not opposites, but 2 parts of the same cycle. In order to fully appreciate the festivals of light, which return with the Winter Solstice, we must 1st grow in the dark womb of our perennial inward journey. With the veil between the worlds so thin, great transformations are possible, since the power of all the dimensions are available to us.

It is not only the veil between the physical & spiritual worlds that thin, it can also be the division between any 2 polarities, like the left & right hemispheres in our brains for instance, or between any 2 realities that are struggling to coexist, like war & peace for instance. This dark night can represent a resolution of paradox, a respectful meeting of the different sides of the same coin, witch can initiate the healing transformation required, in order to let the light back into our lives, once we’ve come to understand & own our side of the dark…

Look for me there, in the dark…

xox~hag

Dear friends – I am heading out for another session of my AAP training at the Kimberton Camphill, so this All Hallows post will be my last until I return on 8 Nov. just in time for the Lunar Eclipse, which also happens to be election day here in Chicago. I voted early, taking the time to research all the candidates, which is not as easy as it used to be, the entitled apathy of these politicians is blatant. But there are a few folks out there fighting for Medical & Reproductive Freedom, who care about community, workers rights, & the environment, who think that we should put kids before guns…etc…So if you are willing to really take your civic duty seriously, & are willing to vote beyond party lines, you can make a difference – VOTE!   

Our Annual All Souls Celebration – 
A Community Circle to Honor Our Beloved Dead
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
In-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 
4249 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL. 60613

Doors open 5 pm
5:15-6:00 Potluck Dinner & Conversation 
Transition to the Upper Room 
6:05 Verse for the So-Called Dead
6:10-6:20 Singing
6:20-6:30 Speak Their Names
6:30-6:40 Social Art for the Dead
6:40-7:10 Conversation RE Experience 
7:10 Closing Verse

For those wishing to attend All Souls Day Vesper Service (Ultra-Violet Archer will be lading the singing) at The Christian Community, please arrive at the Church and be seated by 7:25 pm
The service will begin promptly at 7:30pm

2135 W WILSON AVE
CHICAGO, IL  60625
Church calendar.

For more info. contact Coordinators Deborah Rogers or Paulette Arnold
Rudolf Steiner Branch of The Anthroposophical Society
4249 North Lincoln Avenue. Chicago, IL 60618 (map)
https://www.rschicago.org/happenings/calendar
www.rschicago.org/donate