Uphold

Autumn, Biography, Community, Festival
Christine Silvio

Dear Sisters & Brothers – In our present world crisis 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 in our time. We can come to know this mighty Time Spirit by taking into our hearts earnest wisdom-filled thoughts concerning the countenance that this being holds. If we do this we will soon see the light of wisdom mount into fiery flames of will – that empower 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 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 of our striving toward knowledge? Who, or what, is the essence behind the Word? What is it that we seek in all of our ‘questing’ for wisdom & knowledge? The ‘Holy Grail’ is to uphold the wisdom of god – to know 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.

Michael as Time Spirit is cosmopolitan – universal – a role model to prepare us for the collective culture of the future that began with the Christ event, blossoming in the future with ‘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-creator in the cosmos.

What is universal goes completely beyond groups, beyond divisions – to the One -to 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 arrived at universal individualism. As students of the Michaelic intelligence we are called to mirror the highest in the other.

Anyone who 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.

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 the annoying person on the street, our family members, or co-workers? Can we have compassion for others & for ourselves in our various conditions of soul &spirit sickness? Can we see beyond the soul sicknesses, to meet the hungering individual who is, in their own way, seeking for a fulfillment that only the spirit can bring?

This is how we can work with Michael; then we are a co-worker learning to mirror the highest in the other – striving to hold the countenance of Christ – this is what we come to understand in the school of Michael. 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 of 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?  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 Michael-Sophia. 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

Rev. Craig Wiggins

Meeting the Dragon with our 4-Fold Being
Our Annual Michaelmas Festival
Leading thoughts with Rev Jeana Lee, 
Collaborative sculptural creation, & transformation with Rev Victoria Capon.
(Bring your found objects to help build the dragon!)

September 28th, 2021
Potluck at 5:30 pm in the Branch Schreinerei –
Please bring a dish to share
Talk at 7pm in the Upper Room

Our inspiration can come to life  through our collaboration
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch – 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Donations encouraged

REGISTRATION CLOSES OCTOBER 1ST

  • 1st make sure you are registered at https://www.anthroposophy.org/fallconference and have indicated that you will be attending in person at the RSBranch Chicago.
  • Then Register by October 1st with the Chicago Branch using PayPal (this requires that you have a PayPal account of your own).

OR

  • Register and write a check and it mail by October 1st to: Rudolf Steiner Branch, Attn: Jenny Doty 4249 N Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618

OR

In order to know how much food to order REGISTRATION ENDS OCT. 1ST

Details for the in-person conference:

  • $75 will cover the expenses for facilities, 3 lunches and 3 dinners, snacks, and printing.

You will enjoy a pre-AGM dinner on Thursday Oct. 7 Doors open at 5 pm. 
Lunch and Dinner on Fri. and Sat.
and Lunch post-conference on Sunday.
As well as Snacks/Coffee-Tea during the breaks.

  • $40 will cover only the bare expenses – no meals
  • Be a Master Builder Patron for $100 or more, to help pay for the tech costs!

Registration Link

For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.

I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ –

The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.

See you there

~hag

Sharpen & Shine

Autumn, Calendar of the Soul, Celestial Event, Chicago Event, Community, Festival, History
Yentra Veome

Beloved Michaelites, polish your shield until it shines like the Sun, & sharpen the sword of your clear thinking, so that together, we may redeem the Cosmic Intelligence to bring right perspective to our world thoughts today. 

We are called to see the true image of the ‘corona’: a circling wreath, an auric rainbow of light revealing the realm of formative forces, the etheric glow of the human being wearing the crown of our divine birthright.

Our role-model for this crowning can be seen up in the starry sky. Have you ever noticed this circle of light around the Sun on a cloudy day, or embracing Bella Luna when she is Full?

Kate Morgan

Will we make it our intention to attend humanities Coronation? Or will we participate in the fear-based counter-image of the Corona – a piercing crown of thorns, eclipsing our true nature, a panicked rush toward the war-of-all-against-all, come too soon…?

Is this another attempt to darken & obscure our vision of the etheric Christ -a continued coup, usurping the Crown of Isis-Sophia – a corporate weapon of terror, gone viral, by the bought & sold media, employed by the lethal beasts of fear, hatred, & doubt…?

For some time now the world appears to have fallen under the spell of these 3 beasts. And their contagion is like a fast spreading virus –constricting the human heart, creating a shrouding corona of darkness around Mother Earth.

Is this manufactured (or karmic?) pandemic meant to trigger the negative side of the consciousness soul age, that anti-social part of us – that keeps us from unifying – from developing genuine compassion, interest & love of the other – labeling anyone who is asking questions as selfish.

These dark spikes of dis-ease drive us apart, dismember us, pin us in isolation. Will it justify the imposition of a type of global martial law unless we submit to a medical dictatorship…?

Sure it’s easy to get caught up in trying to find the narrative, but we must not let the 3 beasts of fear, hatred & doubt creep in & set-up a breeding ground in our thinking, multiplying in our feeling life, infecting our willing – so that we act out, or simply comply, taking the path of least residence, surrendering our sovereignty.

These beasts certainly create a cold environment, freezing-up the immune system, tightening tensions, giving rise to anxiety. The dots need connecting, but fear, hatred, doubt, or love of ease will not be good resources for solutions or collaborations.

Marie Dalton

Perhaps we can start by practicing Common Sense, which encourages us to keep our physical body healthy, by eating well, & exercising; Our mental body strong by practicing the 6 basic exercises, meditating…etc…; Our etheric body agile, with good rhythmic habits; And, purifying our astral body, by letting go of negative emotions & building healing imaginations. Because we know that when we are living in fear, propagating hatred, or fostering doubt, we are not only more susceptible to illness, but we close ourselves off from the spiritual world & our fellow human beings – we put up a wall, so that instead of the power of a true Democratic Republic where the people can work together to find solutions & find safety in numbers, we are hiding behind our masks or fighting against each other.

How can we call out the adversarial powers without getting infected by them? Rudolf Steiner tells us we must recognize, & name these materialistic counter-powers, which foster lies, gossip, suspicion, racism, & hypocrisy. These are the counter-images of the healthy human qualities of warmth, enthusiasm, & reverence – Faith, Hope, Charity & Love – which we must strive to cultivate.

We can work to redeem these traits in ourselves; this will have its reflection in the world.  Will we take this opportunity to build our courage? This builds the health of our Soul-forces of Thinking, Feeling, & Willing, & makes straight the path of our highest evolution.

Aristotle taught us that courage can be trained. Today, more than ever, dear Michaelites we are being called to take up this training, & put it into action in our every thought, word & deed.  

~hag

Jupiter and Saturn in Capricornus, late Sept. 2021

27 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Jupiter and Saturn shine in the south-southeast at dusk, Venus low in the southwest. They’re all close to the ecliptic, so a straight line from Jupiter through Saturn points almost exactly to Venus. ~skyandtelescope

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 thy 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.

The end of this week will be the Soul Calendar’s second mirror point.
At Easter the soul turned outwards into the sense world’s dream.
Now with the powerful gift of the summer sun the spiritual sun
can consciously expand within my inner being all through the autumn.
(qv. Eloise Krivosheia in anthroposophyla.org)

MICHAELMAS II
Soul Springtime
v27
To fathom
my depths of being
arouses longing, ardently divining,
that I, self-contemplating, find my Self
as summer sunlight’s gift that lives
in autumn mood as germinating seed,
warm spring of strength within my soul.

Lectures by Rudolf Steiner on this date

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1066 – William the Conqueror begins the Norman conquest of England

1322- Consecration of Cologne Cathedral

1722 – Birthday of Samuel Adams, statesman, political philosopher, & one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the American Revolution, & was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to President John Adams

1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone

1825 – The world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives, the Stockton & Darlington Railway, is ceremonially opened

1854 – The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean

1875 – The merchant sailing ship Ellen Southard is wrecked in a storm at Liverpool. 400 die

1896 Birthday of Sigismund Von Gleich, German Anthroposopher. While serving in the army he became ill with lung disease, & during convalescence was given a book by Rudolf Steiner. He was soon immersed in Steiner’s philosophy, & became one of the most prolific lecturers & writers in the early years of the anthroposophical movement. He fled Nazi Germany in 1936, after publishing The Transformation of Evil, And the Subterranean Spheres of the Earth

1905 – The physics journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein’s paper, “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?“, introducing the equation E=mc²

1908 – The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan

1917 – Deathday of Edgar Degas, French painter & sculptor

1940 – World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan & Italy

1959 – Typhoon Vera kills nearly 5,000 people in Japan

1962 – Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring is published, inspiring an environmental movement & the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1993 – The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia, violent ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by the separatists perpetrated against Georgian civilians by militia forces, North Caucasian & Russian allies. 50,000 were killed

1996 – The Julie N- a tanker ship, spills thousands of gallons of oil after crashing into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine

1998 – Birthday of Google

Rev. Craig Wiggins

Meeting the Dragon with our 4-Fold Being
Our Annual Michaelmas Festival
Leading thoughts with Rev Jeana Lee, 
Collaborative sculptural creation, & transformation with Rev Victoria Capon.
(Bring your found objects to help build the dragon!)

September 28th, 2021
Potluck at 5:30 pm in the Branch Schreinerei –
Please bring a dish to share
Talk at 7pm in the Upper Room

Our inspiration can come to life  through our collaboration
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch – 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Donations encouraged

REGISTRATION CLOSES OCTOBER 1ST

  • 1st make sure you are registered at https://www.anthroposophy.org/fallconference and have indicated that you will be attending in person at the RSBranch Chicago.
  • Then Register by October 1st with the Chicago Branch using PayPal (this requires that you have a PayPal account of your own).

OR

  • Register and write a check and it mail by October 1st to: Rudolf Steiner Branch, Attn: Jenny Doty 4249 N Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618

OR

In order to know how much food to order REGISTRATION ENDS OCT. 1ST

Details for the in-person conference:

  • $75 will cover the expenses for facilities, 3 lunches and 3 dinners, snacks, and printing.

You will enjoy a pre-AGM dinner on Thursday Oct. 7 Doors open at 5 pm. 
Lunch and Dinner on Fri. and Sat.
and Lunch post-conference on Sunday.
As well as Snacks/Coffee-Tea during the breaks.

  • $40 will cover only the bare expenses – no meals
  • Be a Master Builder Patron for $100 or more, to help pay for the tech costs!

Registration Link

For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.

I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ –

The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.

See you there

~hag

Who do you Serve?

Community

Besides having fun & raising money for APO, our Dance-a-thon was a vehicle to employ the artistic talents of the young people who shared their musical talents.

We also took the biodynamic prep stir outside the Rudolf Steiner Branch where we engaged passersby in education & conversation around this powerful practice, inviting them to put in a pinch of prep, take a turn stirring, or come in & join the dance party.

Many were moved to tears when we read out the poems from the prisoners. I look forward to reaching out to the new folks that expressed an enthusiastic interest in exploring more practical Anthroposophy in the future.

Afterward while cleaning up we had a deep conversation around how the current world crisis is a call to initiation. We got on to talking about the farm initiative with a gentleman who is asking the same questions we are around the social aspects of 3-folding & furthering sustainable biodynamics.  

Good tired I took the experience into sleep & woke up after only a few hours on fire with these thoughts:

Ever virulent are the powers of light & darkness, around, within & between us. Which force am I feeding? Every kind, helpful, loving thought, feeling & action is a luminous reality, & every selfish intention fosters a baneful dark reality. Spiritual Science even says that the grey area – that place of ‘lukewarmness’ where we just go along, can be even worse, since it remains unconscious, making us into puppets.

It’s not as easy as pointing a finger at ‘evil people’ who rule us, the hard work is recognizing the fear based, seductive, evil thoughts which we harbor – this is what is pulling our strings. Through our own thoughts we are forming the visible & invisible worlds.

Also, our feeling life, if it is hyper self-involved, becomes tyrannical & unhealthy. We often experience feelings that take hold of us & lead us around without understanding them, this colors our ability to think, & influences our actions.

Can we truly employ discernment, learning to assess whose spirit-child our intentions, motivations & deeds are born from? In Goethe’s Faust Mephistopheles says ‘the little people never feel the devil, even when he has them by the collar’.

The good news is: Thru our thoughts we can bring seemingly invisible spiritual powers to life. It takes a strong will for self-knowledge to admit which motivation, which drive, is at the basis of our decision making – Or how pure the intention is that guides us.

To achieve Freedom in our soul forces of thinking, feeling & willing, we must ask questions. When we work to discern whether the consequences of our decisions will promote human sovereignty, it becomes easier to recognize whether the intentions & goals in question respect & promote human dignity, or not. Then it will also become transparent which spirit is served.

Today we are off to the Zinniker farm for our Michaelmas/Fall Prep day. What a blessing to be able to help create the alchemical magic that sustains this land which feeds my family & heals the planet.

~hag

Rev. Craig Wiggins

Meeting the Dragon with our 4-Fold Being
Our Annual Michaelmas Festival
Leading thoughts with Rev Jeana Lee, 
Collaborative sculptural creation, & transformation with Rev Victoria Capon.
(Bring your found objects to help build the dragon!)

September 28th, 2021
Potluck at 5:30 pm in the Branch Schreinerei –
Please bring a dish to share
Talk at 7pm in the Upper Room

Our inspiration can come to life  through our collaboration
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch – 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Donations encouraged

REGISTRATION CLOSES OCTOBER 1ST

  • 1st make sure you are registered at https://www.anthroposophy.org/fallconference and have indicated that you will be attending in person at the RSBranch Chicago.
  • Then Register by October 1st with the Chicago Branch using PayPal (this requires that you have a PayPal account of your own).

OR

  • Register and write a check and it mail by October 1st to: Rudolf Steiner Branch, Attn: Jenny Doty 4249 N Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618

OR

In order to know how much food to order REGISTRATION ENDS OCT. 1ST

Details for the in-person conference:

  • $75 will cover the expenses for facilities, 3 lunches and 3 dinners, snacks, and printing.

You will enjoy a pre-AGM dinner on Thursday Oct. 7 Doors open at 5 pm. 
Lunch and Dinner on Fri. and Sat.
and Lunch post-conference on Sunday.
As well as Snacks/Coffee-Tea during the breaks.

  • $40 will cover only the bare expenses – no meals
  • Be a Master Builder Patron for $100 or more, to help pay for the tech costs!

Registration Link

For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.

I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ –

The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.

See you there

~hag

Initiative

Community

Dear friends it’s all about bringing the practical application of Spiritual Science into the world these days . I hope you will join me:

Jesse in the APO program

We ask ourselves where is the diversity in Anthroposophy? Well friends – it’s in prison. 

For over 20 years APO has served 4,700 seekers who are serving time in prison and would not otherwise have access to these Michaelic teachings! They have been given the opportunity to view their lives in a totally different way and to take up a path of transformation through meditation and self-development.

We invite you to be a sponsor to help us raise money for this powerful program. Together we can plant seeds for change in our world! DONATE HERE

Friends in the Chicagoland area – Join us TONIGHT for our DANCE-A-THON
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, 60618 (map)
7 – 9 pm Friday 24 September 2021 

Featuring Waldorf alum DJ ‘Grapefruit Effect’ + Circle’s Edge

It’s a potluck Family-Friendly community gathering, so please bring food & drink to share – Along with your generous donation to this amazing program.

We also plan to read poetry from some of the inmates who are working with Anthroposophy!

For more info.contact
Cultural Events Coordinator Hazel Archer hazel@reverseritual.com
https://www.rschicago.org/
RSBranch Calendar

Here is an project close to the heart of my husband Chuck Ginsberg & me: Family Farm Initiative. We sent this out to our Zinniker Farm co-op recently:

Dear Egg group – I hope everyone is well and enjoying the change of seasons.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve had a few conversations with Mark and Petra about the succession of the oldest biodynamic farm in America; their Zinniker farm.  It’s likely that their kids will not take over “the family business” and it’s easy to understand why, as you will see below.

As long as people “buy” food from a farm, the farm loses, because they cannot compete against big Ag on price. This has led to family farms disappearing across the United States. Until recently, I have not thought deeply about the economics of the Zinniker Farm and quite honestly, I’m shocked at what I now understand.

What I’ve come to realize, is that Mark and Petra Zinniker have been subsidizing the food that we “buy” from them. It may be eye-opening to you too, because in reality, the actual cost to produce this quality food is much higher than what we pay.

Petra does not receive a wage for her dedicated work on the farm, or for doing jobs like the books, answering our emails, making the preps, keeping things organized, etc.  She has had to work outside the farm to make ends meet. Mark earns $1300 per month for dedicating his life to running the farm… think about that for a minute, only $1300 per month.

They cannot hire anyone because they cannot afford to pay a worker a reasonable wage.

This inequity has to change – otherwise the Zinniker Farm will cease to exist.

I’ve had a few conversations with Petra and Mark about trying something new and they’re ready for change! We’ve come up with a working question: How can we as a community support a viable succession plan so the farm of the future can thrive?

In an effort to stimulate innovation we invite you to join the conversation, share your ideas, energy and enthusiasm. I know if we all come together, we can create something sustainable.

Here are a few things that I’ve thought about. Recently, I looked back to see how much we spend at the Zinniker Farm and it’s $125-$150/month… we buy eggs, ¼ cow, honey and soup chickens…

We have decided that we will not ‘buy’ any more food from the Zinnikers.  Instead, we have started contributing $250 a month to the Farm, so that now we contribute to, as well as share in, the bounty of the land.  (We still receive the same amount of food, we believe this contribution is a more equitable way)

In order for the farm to support health and sustainability for everyone, there has to be financial stability, which means, enough money coming in every month regardless of the ups and downs of farming, so the best food possible can be produced. 

With that idea of stability, our financial goal is $20,000/month – 100 families sharing in the bounty of the farm, as well as supporters of this way of life by folks around the world.

As we work towards this goal, what would be different? –

+The Zinnikers could hire farm help and pay them a fair wage

+Mark could focus on soil building to create the highest quality food. 

+Raise the ideal number of animals based on the needs of the land.

+Expand the offerings to meat chickens and turkeys.

+Bring in people with other skill sets to the farm to grow vegetables, nuts or bees.

+Petra could continue with our help, to actively bring the community to the farm for prep days, farm dinners, and festival celebrations.

+Perhaps someone wants to hold a workshop at the farm or an art class?

All these ideas would be based on what YOU want. If you feel inspired and are ready to stop “buying” food from the Zinnikers, contact Petra and set up your own individual plan to help change the current system. Or go to their Patreon page

We understand that we all have different means and needs, there is no ‘one size fits all’ formula.  Let’s figure this out together. Come and roll up your sleeves and let’s plant some new seeds… together!

Best, Chuck Ginsberg & Hazel Archer

P.S. We will be having some community meetings to address the question, How can we as a community support a viable succession plan so the farm of the future can thrive? If you are interested in joining the conversation, you can sign up here: https://zinniker.familyfarminitiative.com/email-sign-up

We contribute directly to Petra, but we set this up hoping to get support from others https://www.patreon.com/zinnikerfarm

Rev. Craig Wiggins

Meeting the Dragon with our 4-Fold Being
Our Annual Michaelmas Festival
Leading thoughts with Rev Jeana Lee, 
Collaborative sculptural creation, & transformation with Rev Victoria Capon.
(Bring your found objects to help build the dragon!)

September 28th, 2021
Potluck at 5:30 pm in the Branch Schreinerei –
Please bring a dish to share
Talk at 7pm in the Upper Room

Our inspiration can come to life  through our collaboration
at the Rudolf Steiner Branch – 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Donations encouraged

Greetings friends – We Enthusiasticly invite you to join us at the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago – one of 6 “HUBS” that will co-lead the conference content with the Central Regional Council. We are also a ‘Hybrid-Host’ where attendees will gather in-person. When you come to Chicago for the AGM, you will experience a conference that is a mix of projected Zoom presentations, in-person small group work, artistic activities, and catered vegetarian meals.

  • 1st make sure you are registered at https://www.anthroposophy.org/fallconference and have indicated that you will be attending in person at the RSBranch Chicago.
  • Then Register by October 1st with the Chicago Branch using PayPal (this requires that you have a PayPal account of your own).

OR

  • Register and write a check and it mail by October 1st to: Rudolf Steiner Branch, Attn: Jenny Doty 4249 N Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60618

OR

In order to know how much food to order REGISTRATION ENDS OCT. 1ST

Details for the in-person conference:

  • $75 will cover the expenses for facilities, 3 lunches and 3 dinners, snacks, and printing.

You will enjoy a pre-AGM dinner on Thursday Oct. 7 Doors open at 5 pm. 
Lunch and Dinner on Fri. and Sat.
and Lunch post-conference on Sunday.
As well as Snacks/Coffee-Tea during the breaks.

  • $40 will cover only the bare expenses – no meals
  • Be a Master Builder Patron for $100 or more, to help pay for the tech costs!

Registration Link

  • Free street parking is available on the side streets near the Branch, requiring a few-block walk to the conference.
  • The nearest public transportation can be found here https://www.transitchicago.com/planatrip/
  • If you opt-out of meals, you may contact jenny.meyer17@gmail.com for a list of restaurants within walking distance (bear in mind time restrants) or bring your own food (that doesn’t require refrigeration or kitchen usage).
  • There are 3 bathrooms available at the Branch.
  • If you need lodging, consider using AirBnb.com, Vrbo.com, or a nearby hotel. Contact Jenny if you have an interest in finding someone that would allow you to couch-surf or share an AirBnB.
  • Be prepared to participate in the group work of Biography, Eurythmy, Singing, and Speech as well as being part of the Experiential Pageant—the culmination of the conference on Sunday 10 October.
  • Bring your open heart and community spirit!

For any other questions, please contact Jenny Doty at jenny.meyer17@gmail.com.

For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.

I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ –

The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.

See you there

~hag

Six Basic Exercise Practice Group, in just 15 minutes a day

Beginning on Monday, October 11, 2021 and ending on Friday, May 27, 2022.
This group will meet every weekday.

Eastern Time Zone (ET)
12:00 – Opening thought/reading
(Six Basic Exercise or Eightfold Path)
12:05 – 5-minute individual practice space
12:10 – Journal time
12:13 – Closing thought/reading
12:15 – Close the space
We intend to adhere to the scheduled time as closely as possible.

18 | June | 2021 | Reverse Ritual

Everyone is invited to participate. Come when you can and will. Free of charge.
We are a diverse group of newcomers and old-timers, and we welcome anyone interested in taking up the exercises. We will practice each of the 6 basic exercises for one month, with weeks in between where we’ll focus on the Eightfold Path.

Join Zoom Meeting Online (it’s the same link every day)

PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Oct 11 – Nov 5 (4 weeks) Clear Thinking
Nov 8 – 12 (1 week) Daily Exercises/Eightfold Path
Nov 15 – Dec 10 (4 weeks) Control of Will
Dec 13 – Dec 17 (1 week) Daily Exercises/Eightfold Path
Dec 20 – Jan 7 No meetings – Holy Nights – Festival TBA
Jan 10 – Feb 4 (4 weeks) Equanimity
Feb 7 – 11 (1 week) Daily Exercises/Eightfold Path
Feb 14 – Mar 11 (4 weeks) Positivity
Mar 14 – 18 (1 week) Daily Exercises/Eightfold Path
Mar 21 – Apr 15 (4 weeks) Open Mindedness & Holy Week
Apr 18 – 22 (1 week) Daily Exercises/Eightfold Path
Apr 15 – May 20 (4 weeks) Harmony
May 23 – 27 (1 week) Daily Exercises/Eightfold Path & Celebration Week!

Shiloh Sophia McCloud

SAVE THE DATE: April 22-24, 2022

SOPHIA RISING: UNVEILING THE WISDOM OF BEING HUMAN

A conference of the Divine Feminine in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Stay tuned for more details coming soon


Equilux

Autumn, Celestial Event, Festival, History, Speaking with the Stars
Ernestine Grindal

22 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”:  Autumn begins in the Northern Hemisphere, & Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, at the Equinox – 2:21 p.m CDT. This is when the Sun crosses the equator heading south for the season

Our Day-star rises due east & sets due west today. Equinox” comes from the Latin words “equi” meaning “equal” & “nox” meaning “night.” This implies that there will be equal amounts of daylight & darkness, however that is not exactly the case

If the Sun were a point of light & Earth had no atmosphere, everyone would get 12 hours of sunlight & 12 hours of darkness. But the presence of air & the finite size of our star make today 8 minutes longer than 12 hours. This year, the sun will rise at 6:38am CDT on the equinox & will set at 6:47pm

Exactly equal day & night won’t happen until September 25 with sunrise as 6:42 am CDT & sunset at 6:42 pm CDT. This day is known as the Equilux! -“Lux” being Latin for light.

Also, every year when summer turns to fall, Deneb takes over from brighter Vega as the zenith star around the time when twilight fades into night

Develan Maontalphy

At the Autumnal Equinox – the wheel of the year turns & we find ourselves moving into the time of the harvest.  In the tropical zodiac, at equinox, we say the Sun is crossing the celestial equator, moving from Virgo into Libra, the sign of the scales – a time to take stock. Are the scales balanced? Do they tip & spill? Are they full? Do we know what to harvest & what to plow under? Can we identify & cut away outworn habits & emotional baggage that can choke our growth?

Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis

But in sidereal astrosophy we see the Sun in relation to the actual constellations as they are now, with the Sun actually appearing in the crown of stars in the constellation of the Virgin.

When we use the tropical zodiac, the 4-foldness of the Equinoxes & Solstices form The Cross, which reminds us of an event that occurred only once in history, at the time of the incarnation of Christ. Then, the start of Spring was at 0 degrees of Aries, the Ram – the 1st sign in the zodiac.

At the Equinoxes we have the horizontal beam, a balance of light & darkness. At the Solstices we have the vertical beam, an opposition of light & dark. At Autumn Equinox the Sun is balanced in Libra, which then marks the transition from light to dark. Libra is a threshold, a gateway between the upper chakras & the lower chakras. In the upper signs, from Aries thru Virgo we have a memory of the cosmic human being before we were formed on Earth. From Libra to Pisces, the human form meets the physical world. So we can look at the upper half of the zodiac as being related to our past cosmic creation by the ‘gods’ & the lower half of the zodiac as our human journey of ‘The fall’ & then hopefully our redemption out of our own ego forces.

Iona Miller

The Sidereal zodiac shows us the vernal point has moved thru the ‘procession of the equinoxes’, (The Sun moves backward thru the constellations) so that it is now descending thru the lower half of the zodiac, taking humanity along on its evolutionary journey.

Adorning this great cross, formed from the 4 Cardinal Points of the Equinoxes & Solstices, are the 7 Festivals: Michaelmas, Advent, Christmas, Easter-tide Ascension, Whitsun & St. John’s-tide. These festivals are the 7 Cosmic Roses unfurling from the center of The Cross.

So today on this Autumnal Equinox, we can contemplate & celebrate this solar moment of equality & balance, experienced by everyone around the globe. We can also think about how the world has changed, how the constellations have moved on, how The Christ has united with the Earth, & is now working in us to redeem our evolution.

We can take our initiation in hand when we consciously co-create the festivals in the solar-cycle of the year, working to unfold the 7 Roses of transformation within, & out in the world.

Kristina Carroll

And so it is my friends, that we begin our journey, like Persephone, into the dark of the year…Feel your power go within, like the seed planted deep within the darkness of the Earth…We must be initiated into these dark mysteries before we can truly celebrate life’s renewal…

The apples fall from the tree, the corn & grain are gathered in, the grapes are crushed for wine…The Sun God is sacrificed to the night & the fertile Mother assumes the face of the Wise Crone – the Harvest Hag challenging us to face our shadow…

Balanced Blessings

~hag

Brenda Loschiavo

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Lectures by Rudolf Steiner on this date

1452 – Birthday of Savonarola, an Italian Dominican friar, prophet & preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of secular art & culture, & his calls for Christian renewal. He denounced clerical corruption, despotic rule & the exploitation of the poor.

While Savonarola intervened with the French king, the Florentines expelled the ruling Medici &, at the friar’s urging, established a “popular” republic, declaring that Florence would be the New Jerusalem, the world center of Christianity.

When Florence refused to join Pope Alexander VI’s Holy League against the French, the Vatican summoned Savonarola to Rome. He disobeyed & further defied the pope by preaching under a ban, highlighting his campaign for reform with processions, bonfires of the vanities, & pious theatricals. In retaliation, the Pope excommunicated him & threatened to place Florence under an interdict. A trial by fire proposed by a rival Florentine preacher to test Savonarola’s divine mandate turned into a fiasco, & popular opinion turned against him. Savonarola & two of his supporting friars were imprisoned. Under torture, Savonarola confessed & the Church condemned, hanged, & burned the three friars in the main square of Florence.

Savonarola’s devotees, the Piagnoni, kept his cause of republican freedom & religious reform alive well into the following century, although the Medici—restored to power in 1512 with the help of the papacy—eventually broke the movement.

1791 – Birthday of Michael Faraday, English physicist & chemist. Although Faraday received little formal education, he was one of the most influential scientists in history. It was by his research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current that Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics. Faraday also established that magnetism could affect rays of light & that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena.  His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, & it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became practical for use in technology.

As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the Bunsen burner & the system of oxidation numbers, & popularized terminology such as “anode”, “cathode”, “electrode” & “ion”.

Faraday was an excellent experimentalist who conveyed his ideas in clear & simple language. Albert Einstein kept a picture of Faraday on his study wall, alongside pictures of Isaac Newton & James Clerk Maxwell.  Physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, “When we consider the magnitude and extent of his discoveries and their influence on the progress of science and of industry, there is no honour too great to pay to the memory of Faraday, one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time.”

1991 – The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time by the Huntington Library

Greetings kindred souls – This year for the APO fund raiser I plan to hold a Dance-A-Thon & Biodynamic Prep-stir 7 pm – 9 pm on Friday 24 September 2021 at the Rudolf Steiner Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America – Chicago

Featuring Waldorf Alum DJ ‘Grapefruit Effect’ + Circle’s Edge

It’s a potluck community gathering, so please bring food & drink to share – Along with your donation to this amazing program.

We also plan to read some poetry from some of the inmates who are working with Anthroposophy!

If you live out of town you can dance in your neck of the woods in solidarity with us. Please show your generous support…

Xox ~hag, hazel@reverseritual.com

Donate here https://secure.anthroposophy.org/…/anth…/campaign.jsp

Hazel’s Dance-a-thon page for APO

Here is an easy link to get involved in the APO Walk-a-thon this year!

Craig Wiggins

Festival Gathering: Tuesday 28 September on the eve of Michaelmas with Rev’s Jeana Lee & Victoria Capon

Potluck at 5:30
Talk at 7pm

At the Rudolf Steiner Branch, 4249 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Meeting The Dragon With Our Four Fold Being – A talk and collaborative sculptural creation

Bring Food & drink for the potluck & a found objects to help build the dragon!
Then our inspiration can come to life through our collaboration.

Jeana Lee was recently ordained as a priest of the Christian Community Movement for Religious Renewal and sent to the congregation in Chicago.  Previously she taught chemistry and math at Green Meadow Waldorf high school.  She enjoys swimming in the lake and is interested in questions of sin and redemption.

Victoria Capon hails from the east coast and is new to Chicago. Before attending seminary she taught at the Waldorf School of Cape Cod. Now she is happily settling into serving the chicago CC congregation and exploring the Windy City

Greetings friends – Come Join us in Chicago
*Special in-person activities for ‘Building the Temple of the Heart’ 
ASA Annual Conference and Members Meeting 7-10 October 2021: 

For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.

I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ –

The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.

See you there

~hag