1 August 2020 – “speaking with the stars”: The nearly full Moon this evening forms a triangle with Jupiter & Saturn.

Today is Lammas Day or Lughnasadh, one of the four traditional “cross-quarter” days midway between the solstices & the equinoxes. Over the centuries since this tradition took root in Europe, the calendar drifted with respect to Earth’s position in its orbit. So in 2020, the midpoint between the Summer Solstice & the Autumnal equinox actually falls on August 5th: at 12:08 am CDT. (read more about this Festival below)

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“Bringing in the Sheaves” – Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve: Now begins the harvest and the time of reaping, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves…”

The Wheel turns from St. John’s Tide with its message of the inner Christ Sun and the mirroring of the Holy nights, to Lammas, or Loaf mas, a cross quarter festival traditionally celebrated at the beginning of August, marks the point when we leave the Garden, and earn our own way, “by the sweat of our brow”.

The harvest of grain, and the baking of bread, represents the first child of the cosmic union of Sun and Earth. It symbolizes the essence of humanity, born from this union, for the loaf is more than a gift of nature, it is made by the combined forces of nature with the will forces of human activity.

The harvest season is a time of judgment. We are called upon to sift through the things that have grown up during the past half-year, and decide what we will keep and what we will cut away. We must make choices, and act on them. The cycle of life turns past the peak of growth, into the time of release.

In astrology, the moon, five eighths past the new moon, is called the “disseminating moon”. During this phase, what has built up in the waxing cycle begins to be released into the environment. We start to see the results of our work. At Lammas, the sun is five-eighths of the way around the Wheel from Winter Solstice. Growth has reached its peak, and the life of the Sun God has begun to bleed off into the fruit and grain.

The King is Dead Long Live the King – for now is also the time of sacrifice, of death in service of life. Some of the first fruits are ready for harvest, but some, too unripe to be eaten, must be plucked anyway. These are culls, removed so they won’t drain the life force from the good fruit. If everything was left on the tree, the life force would be diluted, or worse, the bad fruit could weigh down a branch until it breaks, destroying the entire crop, or sometimes killing the tree. The culls are taken so the rest of the fruit, and those who depend on the crop for survival, might live.

John Barleycorn must die… ‘Cut in half and buried, then beaten with sticks, and finally crushed between stones’… as the song goes, nevertheless rises once again. Bread is the perfect offering for “Loaf Mass” or Lughnassadh as the Celtics called it, for they knew that this festival is more than just the first fruits of the earth — it also involves the first fruits of human labor. Grain is processed by human craft, and joined with the four elements to make the staff of life.

What is this day?
It is the day of Lammas.
What is the meaning of this day?
It is the mystery of the corn
What is the mystery of the corn?
That which is cut down will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
We will rise again.

So bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you’ve never made bread before, this is a good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember it was once a plant growing on mother Earth. If you have a garden, add something you’ve harvested–herbs or onion or veggies. If you don’t feel up to making wheat bread, make corn bread, or gingerbread people, or popcorn. What’s most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions.

Saying Grace with you ~hag

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CORN RIGS & WHEELS, a poem for Lammas – Aug. 1st

Cicadas trance
In theta waves of sound
The sickles reap in boarder-time
Opening the gate to the West

Dragons fly
Into the mouth
Of the Hollowman
His eyes ablaze
As he glimpses Her waiting womb
All ripe & hot – Her phoenix tomb
A fierce alchemical furnace.

Baked in the lion fire
Of tetramorph Angels
John Barleycorn must die.

Grind the grain
To make the bread & beer

Molded chrysokolla
The kneaded Wickerman
Fulfills the sacrifice
& sits upon Her altar
Next to braided corn dollies
& moist cake.

At the top of the hill
The Sun covered with pitch & tar
& tied to the wheel of Catherine
Is set aflame
The blazing disk rolls in immolation
To its decline

Burn the old straw effigy
At the funeral games to bless the 1st grain

Watch Sothis rise
Morning 1st scorcher
Celestial Jackal
Herald of the New Year
Flood the fields
With your scintillating serum

Where we meet again
& once again
In a year & day
To behead the Loaf
& eat…

~Hazel Archer Ginsberg

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Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

“An ethical misunderstanding, a clash, is impossible among ethically free human beings. Only someone who is ethically unfree, who obeys natural drives or the conventional demands of duty, will thrust aside someone who does not follow the same instincts and the same demands. To live in love of action, and to let live in understanding of the other’s will, is the fundamental maxim of free human beings.” ~Rudolf Steiner, The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity

Feast Day of Joseph of Arimathea – according to all four Gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after the crucifixion. A number of stories that developed during the Middle Ages connect him with both Glastonbury, where he is supposed to have founded the earliest Christian oratory, & also with the Grail legend.

“One must penetrate to an understanding of the Mystery of the Bread, which is said to have been broken by Christ Jesus in the same chalice in which Joseph of Arimathea caught His blood. As legend tells it, this chalice was then removed to Europe, but was preserved by angels in a region high above the surface of the earth until the arrival of Titurel who created for this Grail, this sacred chalice, a temple on Mont Salvat”  ~Rudolf Steiner, Dornach, April 16, 1921

30 BC – Augustus Octavian enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic

30 BC – Deathday of Mark Antony, Roman general & politician

1464 – Deathday of Cosimo de’ Medici, Italian ruler

1469 – Louis XI of France founds the chivalric order called the Order of Saint Michael in Amboise

1714 – Deathday of Queen Anne of Great Britain

1819 – Birthday of Herman Melville, American novelist, short story writer, & poet

1842 – The Lombard Street riot erupts in Philadelphia. A parade was held by over 1,000 members of the black Young Men’s Vigilant Association on Philadelphia’s Lombard Street between 5^th & 8th streets in commemoration of the 8^th anniversary of the end of slavery in the British West Indies.  As the paraders neared Mother Bethel Church, they were attacked by an Irish Catholic mob. The rioters moved west, setting fires & attacking firefighters & police as they went, heading for the home of African-American leader Robert Purvis. Purvis & his home were reportedly saved from the Irish mob solely by a Catholic priest’s intervention.

Requests to the mayor & police for protection initially led to the arrest of several of the victims & none of the rioters. Over three days of attacks, the 2^nd African American Presbyterian Church, the abolitionist Smith’s Hall, & numerous homes & public buildings were looted, burned & mostly destroyed. The mayor had credible evidence of a plan to burn several local churches, which he ignored. Eventually, as the rioting began to subside, the local militia was brought in to restore order.

1936 – The Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler

1971 – The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by former Beatle George Harrison, is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City

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There are many ways to help us hold this form! You could help by connecting us to Midwestern friends or initiatives, lending or gifting food/supplies, contributing financially, spreading the word, or lacing up your hiking boots and walking with us!

To make a financial donation thru paypal go to urbanfirstaidla@gmail.com

Greetings! My name is Ultra-Violet Archer, a 2018 graduate of the Chicago Waldorf School.I am inviting you to be co-creators of a walking-learning journey taking place in the heartland this coming August.

For ten days, myself, a group of fellow journeyers, and maybe even you, will walk out our living questions across the Midwestern landscape, forging connection with each other, those we meet along the way, and the land itself. Our journey begins in Madison, Wisconsin on August 8th and ends at Elderberries Bio-dynamic Outpost and Threefold Cultural Hub in Chicago Illinois on the 18th.

Along the way we will share food, song, and story, while meeting and holding conversation with local food, farm, and community initiatives. Classroom Alive is the name of the game, and we’d love for you to become a fellow player.

For more information or to register, find Classroom Alive Chicago on Facebook or email circlesforarenewalofculture@gmail.com

Ready to walk? sign up here: https://form.jotform.com/202047534622145…

With love and light,
Ultra, Stefan, Robbie, Frank, Dottie, and the rest of the Classroom Alive sole-power team

August 20-23, 2020 Questions of Courage Youth Conference at Elderberries

Questions of Courage 2020 in Chicago – August 20-23 Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost and 3Fold Cultural Hub 4251 N. Lincolon Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618

August 20: Check-in, share conversation, build the ground for the journey together.

August 21-22: Travel to Wisconsin Move together towards the land, link up with Farmer John and Haidy Angelic Organics Biodynamic Farm, and also with Dana and Phil Burns at Healing Traditions and Alizur farm. Connect with the land, plants, animals, and one another, through creative explorations and “roughin’ it” type amendments. Sleep under the stars or indoors.

August 23: Return to Chicago Enter back into the metropolitan context, into the social questions of urban life, and close the gathering together at Elderberries, setting the ground for future work out of questions of courage that are present.

Other locations and collaborators are currently in dialogue, and will be updated here.

The gathering is essentially about stepping into the living natural element, step by step, making an integral connection, with one another, ourselves, and the elements that support us here on the Earth…”

registration: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdY7KXHkjUPV2h9UD…/viewform

Thank you Elderberries for giving us an anchor to build our heartland gathering around!

Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost + Threefold Cultural Hub, 4251 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618

Co-sponsored in part by The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Festival & Program Coordinator

August 27-30, Dr. Michaela Glockler, John Bloom, Nicanor Perlas, + more -HOW WE WILL 2020

SAVE THE DATE – August 27 – 30 2020 Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost and 3Fold Cultural Hub in person in Chicago and also Online

Friends, Dr. Michaela Glockler, Nicanor Perlas, John Bloom, storyteller Melody Brink, biographer Linda Bergh and Seneca Gonzalez! are added to our collaborators for this How We Will – Forming Curative Communities.

We have a few more responses that we are waiting for before we send out our invitations and our website. Turning Point in Time!

At Elderberries 3-fold Bio-Dynamic Outpost 4251 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL. 60618

for more info. contact Frank Agrama or Dottie Zold

Details TBA

Co-sponsored in part by The Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Festival & Program Coordinator

Michael: His Mission & Ours! Michaelmas Festival Sept. 27-29, 2020

Save the Date for Our Michaelmas Festival & Yourth Gathering Sunday 27 September 2 pm – 4 pm, Monday 28 Sept. & Tuesday 29 Sept.  

Sponsered by: The Rudolf Steiner Branch, Elderrberries Biodynamic Outpost & 3-Fold Cultural Hub, & Angelic Organics  Biodymanic Farm

In person & online presentations

Details TBA

contact Dottie Zold or Festivals coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg