Last evening when the Sun was setting on the heat of the day, softening the oblique spear of light; a coolness wafted thru the bean plants & the sprawling pumpkin patch in our backyard. It was then that I saw Her.

The Sun in Virgo – the Virgin Mother holding a sheaf of wheat like a secret in her heart.
I stood with Her in that luminous space in Nature between the dense & the subtle.

I held my mind out in reverence, wondering: When does the subtle become physical? Where is it, this ineffable space, where one fades into the other? – When the subtle becomes heavy, when the etheric becomes matter?

This gesture – so delicate & quick, often veiled – enigmatic & challenging; a fleeting moment, eternal in its becoming – It is the womb of possibility, holding the mysteries of substance & transubstantiation.

It can also be the place where we fall – the error of the missed target – The overlooked opportunity – The grasping clench…

There, at the abyss – at this sacred threshold – a Goddess dwells, who holds out her hand to us. The Divine Feminine Spirit of a gentle Alchemy, awaits our response.

~hag

13 September 2021 – “Speaking with the Stars”: First-quarter Moon shining in the feet of Ophiuchus. Bella Luna is midway between Antares & the Sagittarius Teapot. Look soon after twilight ends, before they sink lower.

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. ~ Carl Jung

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Birthday of Hector, who Rudolf Steiner said was a living individual, later to be incarnated as Hamlet (See GA139 / 15.9.12)

Consider one of his characters, Hector. If you have any time available, you ought to study the figure of Hector in the Iliad — how plastically he is described so that he stands as a complete personality before us; how we see his affection for his paternal city, Troy, his wife Andromache, his relationship to Achilles, and to his armies; and how he commanded them. Try to call up this man before your minds, this man who possessed all the tenderness of a husband, and who clung in the ancient way to his home city of Troy, and who suffered such disillusions as only really great men can. Remember his relation with Achilles. Hector, as presented by Homer, is a towering figure from very ancient times, a man of great all-embracing humanity, for of course what Homer is describing belongs to a period well before his own, in the darkness of the past. Hector stands out above all the others, all those figures who seem mythical enough in the eyes of modern men.

Now take this one figure. Skeptics and all kinds of philologists may indeed doubt that there ever was a Hector at all, in the same way as they doubt the existence of Homer. But anyone who takes into consideration what may be understood from a purely human viewpoint will be convinced that Homer describes only facts that actually occurred. Hector was a living person who strode through Troy, and Achilles and the other figures were equally real. They still stand before us as personages of real earthly life. We look back to them as people of a different kind from ourselves, who are difficult to understand but whom the poet is able to bring before our souls in every detail. Now let us place before our souls a figure such as Hector, one of the chief Trojan commanders, who is defeated by Achilles. In such a personage we have something that belongs to the old pre-Christian age, something by which we can measure what men were before the time when Christ lived on earth..

I cannot go into everything underlying the historical prototype of the poetical figure of Hamlet, but through the research of spiritual science, I can offer you a striking example of how a man, a spirit of ancient times, reappears in the post-Christian era. The real figure underlying Hamlet, as presented by Shakespeare, is Hector. The same soul that lived in Hamlet lived in Hector. It is just by such a characteristic example as this, and the striking way the two different souls manifest themselves, that we can interpret what happened in the intervening time. A personality such as that of Hector stands before us in the pre-Christian age. Then comes the intervention of the Mystery of Golgotha in human evolution, and the spark it kindled in Hector’s soul causes a figure, a prototype of Hamlet, to arise, of whom Goethe said, “This is a soul that is unable to deal with any situation and is not equal to its position, who is assigned tasks but is unable to fulfill them.” ~Rudolf Steiner

*Feast of St. John Chrysostom*

The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others. ~Saint John Chrysostom

(The name JOHN is an initiatory title, used not in the personal sense, but as a way to designate the True Human Being, & CHRYSOSTOM = Golden-Throat or Honeyed lips)John Chrysostom’s preaching, by word & example, epitomizes the role of the prophet to comfort the afflicted & to afflict the comfortable. For his honesty & courage he paid the price of a turbulent ministry as bishop, personal vilification & exile.

There is much intrigue surrounding this great preacher from Antioch. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly service in Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic, unimposing, dignified, yet troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John became a bishop under the cloud of imperial politics.

If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his exegesis of Scripture, were never without an exquisite exclamation point. Sometimes the point stung the high & mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours.

His lifestyle at the imperial court was not appreciated by many courtiers. He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial & ecclesiastical favors. John deplored the court protocol that accorded him precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept man. His zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into office were deposed.

Many of his sermons called for concrete steps to share wealth with the poor.

The rich did not appreciate hearing from John that private property existed because of Adam’s fall from grace any more than married men liked to hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as much as their wives were. When it came to justice & charity, John acknowledged no double standards.

Aloof, energetic, outspoken, especially when he became excited in the pulpit, John was a sure target for criticism & personal trouble. He was accused of gorging himself secretly on rich wines & fine foods, & yet he was as skinny as a stick. Also his faithfulness as spiritual director to the rich widow, Olympia, provoked much gossip attempting to prove him a hypocrite where wealth & chastity were concerned. His actions taken against unworthy bishops in Asia Minor were viewed by other ecclesiastics as a greedy, uncanonical extension of his authority.

Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria, & Empress Eudoxia were determined to discredit John. Theophilus feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople & took occasion to charge John with fostering heresy. Theophilus & other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress resented his sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel (1 Kings 9:1—21:23) & impious Herodias (Mark 6:17-29) were associated with the empress, who finally did manage to have John exiled. He died in exile in 407.

“Open thou my mouth, that I may sing forth thy praises”

Greetings kindred souls – This year for the APO fund raiser I plan to hold a Dance-A-Thon & Biodynamic Prep-stir 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…

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

‘Building the Temple of the Heart’ 
ASA Annual Conference and Members Meeting 7-10 October 2021: 

• 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. For more info. contact jenny.meyer17@gmail.com
• To apply as a vendor, Please complete the form by September 20th: https://forms.gle/AfpDueWSo9dRfYUH7 for more info. contact Elizabeth Kelly eilisaineariadne@gmail.com